The Chronicle Review

How Affirmative Action Really Works

Understanding it is crucial, especially now that it’s in existential peril.

From the Archives

Both Sides at Harvard Trial Agree on One Thing: The ‘Wolf of Racial Bias’ Is at the Door

Students for Fair Admissions, which alleges that Harvard discriminates against Asian-American applicants, forced the university to reveal the inner workings of its admissions process. But what did all the evidence add up to?

Enrollment

Inside the UC System’s New Focus on Transfer Students

The University of California wants to increase diversity, save money, and protect the state from economic downturns. The key? Enabling more community-college students to successfully leap to four-year programs.

Re:Learning

One Way to Set Up Liberal-Arts Majors for Success: Focus on Skills

Without some intentional tweaks, two reports argue, liberal-arts departments won’t necessarily equip students to avoid underemployment or help them navigate a work environment increasingly dominated by automation.

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Finance

Moody’s Gives Higher Ed a Negative Outlook, Again

The main reason for the finding, according to the credit-rating agency, is low revenue growth from tuition.

Idea Lab: Faculty Diversity

Colleges face growing demands to hire more minority faculty members. But doing so requires revamping how search committees usually operate, confronting unconscious bias, and improving the Ph.D. pipeline. This collection examines how colleges are changing to bolster their faculty ranks with more people from underrepresented minority groups. Get your copy in the Chronicle Store.

Commentary

Actually, Academe Never Was All That Great

American higher education has always had some profoundly serious flaws, so let’s stop pining for an idealized past and work on a better future.

Lingua Franca

What Gets Covered in ‘Coverage’?

Coverage seems to invoke two complementary ideas, the dream of completeness and the desire to be kept safe. They meet, says Bill Germano, in the classroom, where there are no assurances.

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