Weekly Briefing: Is college a transaction?

Plus, we asked why there are so few conservative professors. ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. When students see college as a transaction - Students increasingly think college is a transaction. Faculty members are seeing the effects. Prospective students are often promised by tour guides, lawmakers, and parents that a college degree will bring economic security. But many students are worried about landing the right job after graduation. Faculty members report that students see college as a means to an end. Students panic over poor grades and demand second chances. Others justify cheating as a way to cope with time and financial pressures. [Our Beth McMurtrie reports on the emerging dynamic](. - Teaching Gen Z. This article — and last week’s featured story on [students struggling to work independently]( — is part of a series about teaching a generation with a new set of challenges and quirks. [Check out all the stories](. - Conservatives are few and far between on college faculties. Does it matter? The public perception that higher education has become closed-minded is correct, Steven M. Teles, a Johns Hopkins political scientist, [argued in a recent essay]( in The Review. The declining number of conservatives on college faculties and in graduate cohorts is an example of this, he wrote. Editors at The Review asked 11 academics: Why are conservatives underrepresented in academe, and what, if anything, should be done about it? [Read their responses](. - The story you can’t quit. The English department at Pomona College self-destructs amid battles over money, accusations of racism, and testy emails. [Our Emma Pettit’s article]( was again the most clicked-on from last week’s newsletter. - New Age thinking enters the chat. In the Review newsletter, our Len Gutkin focuses on one part of the Pomona saga: New Age thinking. Valorie D. Thomas, an English professor at Pomona, requested $2,400 to attend a training session on the “Innerlight Method,” which [bills itself]( as an “energy therapy system for intuitive and highly sensitive adults and children.” New Age spirituality can be found in many institutional programs that deal with the politics of identity. [Read more](. SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. ADVERTISEMENT Lagniappe - Read. Interesting work, if you can (or want to) get it: professional whistle-blowing. A provision in the Dodd-Frank Act, a federal law that aims to prevent the risk-taking that led to the 2008 financial crisis, allows whistle-blowers who report financial fraud to take a cut of the funds collected. [One man has made a career of sorts from this](. (GQ) - Listen. [This is the story]( of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and all the prosperity and costs that followed its 1913 opening. (NPR) —Fernanda Upcoming Workshop [The Chronicle's Early-Career Faculty Bootcamp | September 2024] Join us in September for a half-day virtual workshop that will offer early-career faculty the opportunity to build their skills, understand institutional and role-specific contexts, and gain access to the insights that experienced faculty wished they had known. [Learn more and register!]( Chronicle Top Reads THE REVIEW | OPINION [The University of Michigan’s Assault on Truth]( By Silke-Maria Weineck [STORY IMAGE]( College leaders crack down on protests — and lie about it. COLLEGE ACCESS [On Their Own, Without a Home, and Waiting for Federal Aid]( By Eric Hoover [STORY IMAGE]( Changes to the FAFSA were supposed to make it easier for students experiencing homelessness to apply for federal aid. But things got complicated. INVESTIGATION [How One University’s Cost Cutting Became Mired in Confusion and Distrust]( By Erin Gretzinger and David Jesse [STORY IMAGE]( The data-driven process that consultants purport to offer at places like the U. of North Carolina at Greensboro can be frustratingly subjective, a Chronicle and Assembly investigation finds. ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE CHRONICLE STORE [Campus Housing for Tomorrow]( [Campus Housing for Tomorrow]( Student housing has undergone substantial shifts in recent years, due to inflation, the high cost of building, and drops in enrollment. [Order this report]( for insights on how to navigate these challenges and meet students’ evolving needs. 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