Administration

After Nassar Conviction, Michigan State Goes on Trial

But holding the university or its employees accountable for wrongdoing in any of the several investigations that are underway may prove difficult.

Admissions

Reading an Application in Under 10 Minutes? Way Too Fast, One Admissions Dean Says

Jonathan Burdick of the University of Rochester explains his team’s approach, which he says avoids superficial reviews and “vanilla” freshman classes.

Student Aid

In West Virginia, Free Community College Would Come With a Drug Test

The state Senate unanimously passed a bill that would create a scholarship to pay tuition costs and mandatory fees not covered by grant aid. But students would have to pay for their own drug tests, and that has raised some objections.

Teaching

Can the Large Lecture Be Saved?

Some readers weren’t so sure that gathering 600 students in a physical classroom made sense. Others offered strategies for making it work.

Leadership

Southern Illinois U. President Orders Investigations Into Hiring of Chancellor’s Kin

Randy J. Dunn, the system’s head, acted two days after the student newspaper on the Carbondale campus reported that the chancellor’s daughter and son-in-law had been hired for jobs that were not publicly advertised.

‘Deeply Troubling’

U. of Pennsylvania Revokes Honorary Degrees to Steve Wynn and Bill Cosby

The university called the allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against the two men inimical to its core values.

The Must Reads for 2018

Want to get a jump-start on the year ahead? Here’s a collection of Chronicle articles and essays picked by the editors to help college leaders gain insight into the trends and controversies likely to affect campuses in 2018. Purchase a copy here.

First Person

Lady Bird’s Cheating Problem

I can’t be the only faculty member to notice that sweet, lovable Christine is an unrepentant academic cheater.

The Chronicle Review

The Futile Quest to Make Trumpism Intellectually Respectable

Academics may be flunking Trump 101, but paying more attention to conservative ideas won’t help.

Lingua Franca

Fear of Flying With Books

Bill Germano wasn’t carrying contraband on his Chilean flight. But had he been reading a hardback, he might have been.