Can a New Pact Help Higher-Ed Workers Secure Better Pay?
Labor unions at 125 Northeastern campuses have signed the Amherst Compact, a regional agreement that coordinates bargaining strategies across nine states and multiple institution types. The compact outlines common goals such as cost‑of‑living wage adjustments, pathways to permanent employment, enhanced health benefits, paid leave, professional development, and AI governance. It marks the first cross‑union, cross‑institution pact in higher education, coming as faculty and staff strikes rise nationwide. Union leaders hope the pact will set industry standards, while legal experts caution about its practical impact.
With DEI Training, Higher Ed Made a Lot of Mistakes. Now We're Repeating Them.
Higher education’s diversity‑equity‑inclusion (DEI) trainings have long relied on off‑the‑shelf workshops that ignore faculty expertise, leading to shallow, prescriptive sessions. The authors recount a 2016 UNC‑Chapel Hill workshop that reduced complex oppression topics to simplistic exercises, illustrating the broader failure...
When AI Can Do Everything, What Is Left to Learn?
Generative AI can now create essays, code, data models and dashboards, making traditional artifact‑based assignments feel obsolete. However, students and faculty cannot reliably judge whether AI‑generated outputs are correct, exposing a gap between production and understanding. Professor Chrysanthos Dellarocas redesigns...
To Prevent AI From Taking Graduates’ Jobs, Comp-Sci Professors Try ... More AI
More than 100,000 U.S. computer‑science graduates are confronting a 7 percent unemployment rate in early 2024, outpacing the 4.4 percent average for all new graduates. To counteract AI‑driven job displacement, professors are weaving artificial‑intelligence projects into senior‑year capstone courses, hoping to turn...
AI Is a Better Researcher Than You
Political scientist Alexander Kustov used Claude Code to draft a provocative Substack essay claiming AI can outperform most professors at quantitative social‑science research. The piece went viral, garnering over one million views and prompting a flood of backlash, including demands that Notre Dame...
Big Tech Owes Scholars. It's Time to Pay Up.
Big Tech’s reliance on free scholarly content has sparked a call for payment after Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement over unlicensed use of 500,000 books. The article argues that AI firms profit from zero‑priced academic knowledge, which fuels model hallucinations and undercuts...
This President Defended Taking Pride Flags Off Faculty Windows. Now She's Paused the Practice.
Boston University announced it will pause the removal of pride flags and other signs from faculty windows after intense campus and public criticism. President Melissa L. Gilliam said the issue merged policy discussions with core values, prompting a need for...
Identity-Based Student Groups at Mizzou Lose Designated University Funding
University of Missouri‑Columbia announced that five multicultural umbrella organizations, including the Legion of Black Collegians and the Queer Liberation Front, will lose their dedicated funding from the Student Affairs unit this summer. The cut follows Justice Department guidance interpreting race‑based...
'Bordering on Insubordinate': How George Mason's Conservative Board Chair Went After Its President
George Mason University’s board chair, Charles Stimson – a Heritage Foundation fellow – used private text messages to pressure President Gregory Washington to dismantle the school’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The board’s aggressive stance intensified after the Trump...
A Board Asked Its President to Resign. He Won’t.
University of Wisconsin System President Jay O. Rothman wrote to the Board of Regents refusing to resign despite a no‑confidence vote. He said the board gave no specific reasons and threatened to fire him if he did not step down....
Rutgers Faces a Lawsuit Over Its Hundreds of Millions in Athletics Debt
Rutgers University is facing a class‑action lawsuit alleging it has accumulated a $516 million athletics debt since joining the Big Ten in 2014. The plaintiff, an alumnus and former judge, claims the university squandered public funds through wasteful spending, inadequate oversight,...
Harvard Was Once 25% Jewish. Now It's 7%. What's Going On?
Harvard’s undergraduate Jewish population has dropped from roughly 25% in the mid‑20th century to about 7% today, the lowest among Ivy League schools. A Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance report flags the decline but offers no definitive cause, while constitutional law...
We Looked at How Campus Staff Salaries Have Changed Over Time. Where Does Your College Land?
The Chronicle’s latest IPEDS analysis shows average annual compensation for full‑time non‑instructional staff at U.S. colleges rose to $128,637 in the 2024‑25 academic year, with total payroll outlays surpassing $33.5 billion across 260,000 employees. Salaries vary widely: private research powerhouses such...
Oregon's Largest College Has Been Shut Down by a Mass Strike
Portland Community College, Oregon’s largest post‑secondary institution, halted operations on March 11 when faculty and staff unions launched a mass strike affecting over 53,000 students across four campuses. Approximately 85% of eligible employees walked off the job, demanding wage and health‑care...
U. Of Kansas Faculty and Students Voted No Confidence in the Chancellor. Or Did They?
Faculty and students at the University of Kansas completed an online poll in which roughly 80% expressed no confidence in Chancellor Douglas Girod. The university administration dismissed the poll as an informal, unscientific straw‑vote, pointing to verification gaps and limited...
How Much Has Faculty Pay Changed Over Time?
The Chronicle’s new dataset shows that the average nine‑month faculty salary in the United States reached $100,238 for the 2024‑25 academic year, up from roughly $85,000 a decade ago. Male faculty earned $108,707 on average, while women earned $91,745, highlighting...
The Spokesperson for NYU Law Wrote a Novel Skewering Law Schools
NYU Law’s public affairs director Michael Orey released a satirical novel, *Dean’s List*, that lampoons the obsession with rankings and fundraising in elite law schools. The 321‑page book follows a fictional dean at a made‑up Brown‑affiliated law school as he...
In a Rare Move, a University System Sues the Trump Administration
California State University system filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging a Department of Education finding that San Jose State violated Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to play volleyball. The suit argues the university complied with existing...
He Vibe-Coded a Crisis for Higher Education
A 22‑year‑old engineer, Advait Paliwal, released an agentic‑AI tool called Einstein that can retrieve assignments from Canvas, solve complex computer‑science problems, and generate completed PDFs. The service, priced between $40 and $200 per month, attracted over 100,000 site visits before...