Academe Today

Leadership & Governance

Chapel Hill’s New Civil War

A monument to the Confederacy known as Silent Sam stands at the main entrance of the University of North Carolina. It’s ripping the campus apart. So what’s keeping it there?

Students

Welcome Students! Need a Checking Account?

A growing number of institutions are making deals that help connect banks with students. The banks — and the colleges — make money. But do students come out ahead?

Campus Unrest

Is Protesting a Privilege?

A study finds that protests against racial microaggressions are likelier at elite colleges, and asks why.

Finance

Moody’s Downgrades Higher Ed’s Outlook From ‘Stable’ to ‘Negative’

The credit-rating agency cited muted growth in tuition revenue and “uncertainty at the federal level over potential policy changes.”

Graduate Students

8 Grad Students Are Arrested Protesting the GOP Tax Bill on Capitol Hill

“I’ve put a lot of work into this, and to have to throw that all away because some Republicans don’t like universities is really upsetting,” one student said.

The Chronicle Review

How a Skeptic Became a Stoic

How Massimo Pigliucci became the new face of an ancient philosophy.

Government

After 10 Years in Court, a Student-Loan Whistle-Blower Fights His Last Battle

Jon Oberg was an Education Department researcher nearing retirement when he discovered that student lenders were improperly pocketing millions of dollars. Thus began his unexpected final act.

Chronicle Focus

In a new feature, available to individual subscribers only, The Chronicle offers carefully curated collections of articles on important issues in higher education. So far, there are more than 25. Here are a couple of examples:

Are Colleges Engines of Inequality?

Higher education still falls short of providing enough opportunity to low-income students. This 44-page collection looks at some of the root causes of that phenomenon, and how colleges might better serve disadvantaged students.

Confronting History on Campus

Students, campus officials, and historians are all asking, What’s in a name? Especially when the name is Woodrow Wilson, John Calhoun, or Jefferson Davis. The 10 articles in this collection examine how universities are trying to resolve complaints about buildings and statues named for leaders associated with harmful acts.

The Chronicle Review

Higher Ed’s Dysfunctional Devotion to Meritocracy

Social and economic chasms in our country are growing wider, and higher education is part of the problem.

Advice

Academic Conference Panels Are Boring

Here are seven ways to improve them.

Lingua Franca

(W)racked

Examining the difference between wrack and rack, Lucy Ferriss finds a brain-racking wreck of spelling and definition that wreaks disaster on anyone who tries to draw totally clear distinctions.