Academe Today

Applying the Yardstick, Department by Department

An effort to measure academic units passes the test at Oklahoma State University.

Sizing Up Departments, Dollar by Dollar

At colleges where enrollment is stagnant or falling and public funding is scarce, some administrators have responded by measuring the financial viability of each academic unit.

A World of Ideas in Idea Lab

A collection of more than two dozen explorations of the problems colleges face, and how they are solving them. The articles include news, analysis, data, advice, and opinion.

Academic Freedom

What Lies Ahead in the Campus-Speech Wars?

Campus free-speech experts discuss the challenges and strategies they see for the First Amendment during a volatile era — and what colleges can do about them.

Faculty

How a Group of Instructors Is Standing Up to the Right-Wing Outrage Machine

Eighty are pre-emptively answering threats to progressive, minority faculty members after a year of social-media anger.

The Ticker

DACA Student Says She Was Harassed by Classmate Over Immigration Status

She accused Transylvania University, in Kentucky, of failing to act after postings about her on a “racial hatred page” led to a stream of online attacks.

The Ticker

UVa President Says Protesters Who Shrouded Jefferson Statue ‘Desecrated’ Campus

The sculpture at the University of Virginia was covered up in order to criticize the campus administration’s response to the “Unite the Right” rally last month.

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:

Reining In Fraternities

Fraternities are associated with good times and some darker events as well. The groups have been accused of fostering a culture of excessive drinking and indifference to students’ physical and emotional well-being. This 36-page collection looks at how colleges are renewing their efforts to prevent such harm.

Alcohol’s Influence on Campus

However forbidden it may be for underage students, alcohol is a pervasive part of campus life. The 11 articles gathered here delve into why the problem of student drinking is so difficult to resolve.

Commentary

To Change Students’ Dangerous Behavior, Understand Their Motives

We need to help students make better decisions.

Commentary

Don’t Let Faceless Complaints Replace Reasoned Discourse

Anonymous hotlines undermine collegiality and pose a threat to academic freedom.

Advice

The Stress of Academic Publishing

The waiting is, indeed, the hardest part, but some academics cope with it better than others.

Lingua Franca

Who’s Entitled?

The rights of DACA students across the country, and the end of Title IX as we have come to know it, have Bill Germano thinking about the history of the word entitlement.