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The Review

The Chronicle’s opinion, analysis, and culture section, with op-eds, book reviews, interviews, letters, scholar profiles, and essays about the ideas and controversies shaping higher education.
Photo-based illustration with repeated images of a student walking, in the pattern of a graph trending down, then up.
The Review | Opinion
7 Ways Community Colleges Can Boost Enrollment
Illustration of an ocean tide shaped like Donald Trump about to wash away sandcastles shaped like a college campus.
The Review | Essay
Why Universities Are So Powerless in Their Fight Against Trump
By Jason Owen-Smith July 14, 2025
The administration has turned our institutions’ traditional strengths into paralyzing weaknesses.
Photo-based illustration of a closeup of a pencil meshed with a circuit bosrd
The Review | Essay
How Are Students Really Using AI?
By Derek O'Connell July 14, 2025
Here’s what the data tell us.

Latest Letters

Civic Education Must Not Be Reduced to Identity
A recent essay missed the mark, writes Karen Taliaferro.
JSTOR Is Not Part of the Publishing Problem
It is part of the solution, writes Kevin Guthrie.
What’s Behind a Canceled Scholarship
White supremacy, writes Jack D. Ellis.

More Review

John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson July 10, 2025
But today, the right to teach the truth remains under threat.
Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine July 8, 2025
Some even more punitive proposals were passed over, but this will still sting.
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky July 1, 2025
His ouster is the clearest sign yet of a growing authoritarian grip on higher education.
Photo-based illustration depicting a close-up image of a mouth of a young woman with the letter A over the lips and grades in the background
The Review | Opinion
When Students Want You to Change Their Grades
By James K. Beggan June 27, 2025
They say “it never hurts to ask.” But it does.
Photo-based illustration of a student and a professor, each occupying a red circle in a landscape of scribbles.
The Review | Opinion
Meet Students Where They Are? Maybe Not.
By Mark Horowitz June 25, 2025
Lax standards will void the value of a college education.
A stack of coins falling over. Motion blur. Falling economy concept. Isolated on white.
The Review | Opinion
Will We Get a More Moderate Endowment Tax?
By Phillip Levine June 20, 2025
The Senate’s proposal is less onerous than the House’s. Here’s how much it could cost your college.
Photo illustration of a classical column built of paper, with colored wires overtaking it like vines of ivy
The Review | Essay
The Latest Awful Ed-Tech Buzzword: “Learnings”
By Kit Nicholls June 20, 2025
Knowledge isn’t something that can be quantified.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
The Review | Interview
William F. Buckley Jr. and the Origins of the Battle Against ‘Woke’
By Evan Goldstein June 20, 2025
The Ivy League gadfly sparked the conservative war on colleges.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The Review | Opinion
What RFK Jr. Got Right About Academic Publishing
By Robert M. Kaplan June 20, 2025
The system no longer works for anyone except corporate publishers.
Photo-based illustration of a tentacle holding a microscope
The Review | Essay
In Defense of ‘Silly’ Science
By Carly Anne York June 18, 2025
Basic research and the value of curiosity.
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