Academe Today

Leadership & Governance

How a Transformational President Set Michigan State on a Course to Disaster

The university prospered under Lou Anna K. Simon’s leadership. But for many who witnessed that growth, the Nassar scandal demands hard questions about the consequences of that ambition.

Idea Lab

A Primer for Nontraditional College Presidents

Nontraditional leaders from business, NGOs, or government face pitfalls and suspicions. But seasoned administrators can acclimatize them to the strange new world of shared governance.

Students

Faculty Member Who Rushed U. of Florida Students Off Graduation Stage Is Put on Leave

The unnamed commencement marshal was sharply criticized for manhandling students at the ceremony. The president has apologized.

Faculty

Seeking to Lay Off Tenured Professors, Catholic U. Provost Blasts Critics for ‘Spreading Half-Truths and Fear’

In the administration’s most forceful counterargument to date, the provost says the faculty aims to “mutilate” and “neuter” a controversial cost-cutting proposal.

In the States

Faculty Senate Criticizes Tennessee System’s President After Sudden Firing of Knoxville Chancellor

The group passed a resolution censuring Joe DiPietro for “administrative actions that directly and negatively affect” the campuses he oversees.

Idea Lab: Deans and Fund Raising

For current and would-be deans, raising money is a tough skill to master. And with colleges increasingly reliant on private donors, more administrators are expected to be good at it. This collection of articles from Idea Lab, our section on helping college leaders solve problems, offers insight for both new and experienced deans on how to ask for money and cultivate donors. Buy your copy in the Chronicle store.

Commentary

How a Nontraditional Presidency Can Succeed

New leaders must be open to learning the culture of higher education, and faculty members must give them time.

Advice

The Case for Student-to-Student Mentoring in Bench Science

The benefits of graduate students’ mentoring undergraduates in the lab flow in both directions.

Lingua Franca

Fish, Cheese, and Gossip: 2,000 Years of Snobbery in the Suffix ‘‑Monger’

Geoff Pullum detects more than a hint of millennia-old bias in words like warmonger.