A report out of Harvard argues that its grading practices interfere with its educational mission. Is this a common problem in higher education? https://chroni.cl/49kTsGz

Opinion | The sociologist Jukka Savolainen explains what's wrong with sociology--and how to fix it. https://chroni.cl/4oGzvPr

Texas A&M System Sharply Restricts How Faculty Can Teach About Race and Gender https://chroni.cl/49eeDtT

A recent UC-San Diego report finds that a number of first-year students’ math skills fall below middle school standards, sparking fierce online debate over college readiness levels. https://chroni.cl/4nTNOig

Opinion | A long-time, and controversial, higher-ed leader talks civic centers, politics, and the future of the sector. https://chroni.cl/49OTXJ5

Breaking news: In a letter to UVA faculty, former president James Ryan gave his first detailed account of the circumstances that led to his departure. https://chroni.cl/3M163Vz

For years, observers worried about careerism among some college grads. But the rise of careerism is symptomatic of a broader trend: the perceived need to commit to a path as early as possible. https://chroni.cl/4hTkO8Q

Opinion | Religion and society are complicated, interrelated, and finally indefinable; attempts to grasp them are bound to obscure as much as they illumine. https://chroni.cl/3WTXRc8

Virginia -- It's a key political battleground state in national politics and in the war over higher education. Listen to our latest episodes of College Matters to understand why. https://chroni.cl/441sAYB

Social 1: Security details for college leaders are “likely to become the norm,” one higher education expert said. https://chroni.cl/3LAVLvj

After an instructor showed a graphic depicting the "pyramid of white supremacy," she found herself under investigation. Her own dean was listed as the complainant. https://chroni.cl/4hYwzuH

Opinion | At Colorado State, a couple of zealous social work instructors were practicing something that looks a lot like indoctrination. https://chroni.cl/3Lti7yW

Has the United States’ businessman-in-chief embraced the economic argument for international students at American colleges? “It’s not that I want them,” President Trump said in an interview. “I view it as a business.” https://chroni.cl/3JvtRjR

A Texas community college misinformed faculty how much they were required to teach over the summer. Now it's demanding repayment. https://chroni.cl/49MDQM6

Turning Point USA showed up at homecomings. Is what happened next safety or censorship? https://chroni.cl/4nVnG6P

With tenures shrinking, new presidents have precious little time to learn a new campus. Here's how they can use that transition time. https://chroni.cl/47TZtYr

Are all the just-in-time notifications and reminders in your learning management system contributing to students’ stress? One professor thinks so. https://chroni.cl/497GN9T

What's the breakdown of all noninstructional college employees according to gender, race, and ethnicity? See the data. https://chroni.cl/3LEnJWV

In Advice | Fall is a good time to take stock of your work habits, gauge whether they’re serving you well, and make changes if they’re not. https://chroni.cl/497QTaO

Fall enrollment growth shouldn't obscure important changes in who is going to college, and for how long. https://chroni.cl/4p7zwf5

Opinion | Every year American researchers produce relatively fewer papers, and their quality declines while Chinese universities produce relatively more papers and more high-quality papers in science and engineering. https://chroni.cl/3XjPtCS

Harvard is sounding the alarm on grade inflation. What gives? Listen to our latest episode of College Matters from The Chronicle to get the scoop. https://chroni.cl/3JBDI7H

Harvard's grade inflation report is a treatise on rigor, fairness, money, and power. https://chroni.cl/3LxiwjN

Colleges are reaching settlements with the government to restore research funding. Here's everything you need to know. https://chroni.cl/4oHlWPB

Cornell University has made a deal with the Trump administration, agreeing to pay $60 million and give up anonymized admissions data to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen grants. https://chroni.cl/3Xl4OTD

Mahmood Mamdani: "If you want to demonstrate at Columbia, you have to step outside the gate. Whatever freedom is left is outside the gate." https://chroni.cl/4p1k57W

AI tools are becoming commonplace in course design. That’s fueling competing visions of the future. In one version, AI raises the bar, freeing professors from tedious hours of labor. In another, AI leads to a breakdown in foundational relationships. https://chroni.cl/485Tgd9

I went to a higher-education conference abroad. People were talking about the political assault on colleges in the United States.

Opinion | Writing pedagogy faces a huge number of challenges. But we still need it, badly.

In accusing George Mason's president of lying, a House Judiciary report relied on testimony from some of his own administrators.

The Department of Education is making changes to federal borrowing limits, and the result could affect whether students will be able to afford graduate school.

Opinion | Colleges have devoted very little time to defining “excellence." That's a problem.

You may have heard about the former college president who left a university in New Mexico amid accusations that he misused government funding to travel abroad and decorate his home. Now, he’s alleging he was forced out for trying to blow the whistle.

Higher ed's enemies know that faculty members and administrators are "internally riven, and they have their own ideas about how to manage us," writes Ian McNeely, a professor of history and senior associate dean at UNC Chapel Hill.

The University of Austin says it will never charge tuition or take government funding. Can it make good on those commitments?

Opinion | If colleges and universities start outsourcing tasks to tech companies, they could rapidly find that they have outsourced their reason for being.

Harvard is sounding the alarm on grade inflation. What gives? Listen to our latest episode of College Matters from The Chronicle to get the scoop.

In a peer-reviewed publication, two social work scholars analyzed their white students perceived defensiveness when learning about racial oppression. When those students felt guilty, or sad, or angry, they “lashed out” to “re-establish white comfort,” the scholars concluded.

An anonymous hacker claims to have obtained the personal information of 1.2 million people affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania.

Opinion | Generative AI does not fit well into existing categories or expectations around student use, presenting academics with a set of complicated questions.

UT-Austin affirms a "non-negotiable" commitment to academic freedom, and its writers considered Trump's compact as "part of the context under which we were working."

Professors rarely embrace academic-program cuts, but some U. of Nebraska faculty feel they're the victims of a rushed and slapdash process.

Opinion | Don't miss this interview with UT-Austin's provost.

Opinion | FIRE responds to a recent critique of its attitude toward heckling.

Opinion | When it comes to shouting down speakers, free-speech law is more complicated than FIRE and others allow.

What if joy is the thread that runs through all effective teaching practices, the antidote to many of the things that make students and professors miserable?

Why does Colorado — a monied, innovative, and seemingly forward-thinking state — have some of the widest educational disparities? Many Coloradans would point to the state’s arcane tax structure that has diminished money for education.

In September, a Texas A&M professor was fired after a viral video depicted a heated exchange with a student in a children's literature course. New public records shed light on how the situation escalated.

Why do you think grading is included in the Trump compact? And how similar or different is this from the way you view what you’re doing when you grade your students?

Opinion | When things begin to fall apart, some communities hunt out witches. Some target vulnerable populations. But some grabs their spades and get digging.