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academia

“By presenting their expertise as part of a political fight, academics were not only squandering their credibility. They were asking to be treated like political adversaries.”

John Fea   |  February 25, 2025

I am not a regular reader of Megan McArdle’s writing, but her recent piece on academia at The Washington Post has a strong ring of truth to it. Here is a taste: The Trump administration is not just trying to […]

A new era for humanities and social science PhD programs?

Nadya Williams   |  November 20, 2024

BU is suspending admission into humanities and social science PhD programs for next year. What does this mean?

Valentine’s Day and the old academic hiring calendar

Nadya Williams   |  February 14, 2024

This year’s unusual combination of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday brings to mind Valentine’s Day in the old academic hiring calendar.

The Author’s Corner with Adam R. Nelson

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 12, 2023

Adam R. Nelson is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This interview is based on his new book, Capital of Mind: The Idea of a Modern American University (University of Chicago Press, […]

The Author’s Corner with Adam R. Nelson

Rachel Petroziello   |  December 11, 2023

Adam R. Nelson is Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This interview is based on his new book, Exchange of Ideas: The Economy of Higher Education in Early America (University of Chicago […]

The “thought criminals” gather

John Fea   |  May 18, 2023

Here is Emma Green at The New Yorker: Every month, more than two hundred people from the media, academia, and other intellectual circles are invited to a private hangout in New York City, which is known as the Gathering of […]

Do journalists have more freedom than professors?

John Fea   |  May 5, 2023

Ross Douthat begins his recent New York Times piece by engaging with the recent pushback against “wokeness” on university campuses. If what is happening on the campuses of Stanford, Harvard, Penn State, Cornell, and Vanderbilt is any indication, and Columbia’s […]

Your favorite professor might be a dirtbag

Elizabeth Stice   |  March 27, 2023

Your favorite professor might be kind of a dirtbag. Dirtbag, in this case, referring to climbing subculture and people willing to eschew running water and good housing to spend their time scaling rock faces. According to climbinghouse.com, “dirtbagging emerged out […]

More on the plagiarism accusations made against Princeton historian Kevin Kruse

John Fea   |  August 3, 2022

Get up to speed here. The Daily Princetonian has more reporting. Kruse has not interacted with his more than 500,000 Twitter followers since the story broke on June 14, 2022. Here are some highlights from the piece by Amy Ciceu […]

Why did Princeton fire Joshua Katz?

John Fea   |  May 25, 2022

Princeton University just fired a tenured classic professor. Read about it here. And now read Katz’s view of his firing at The Wall Street Journal: Nearly two years ago, I wrote in these pages, “I survived cancellation at Princeton.” I was […]

What have social media platforms done to academia?

John Fea   |  March 8, 2022

Jeffrey Lawrence, an English professor at Rutgers, gives us a lot to think about in this piece at The Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is a taste of “Who Owns Your Academic Community”: During the past five years, I have […]

The Jeopardy! professors tournament

John Fea   |  November 22, 2021

Fifteen profs will compete for $100,000. They are: J.P. Allen, a Professor of Business at the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, Calif. Hester Blum, a Professor of English at Penn State University in University Park, Pa. Sam Buttrey, […]