College Matters from The Chronicle

In states across the country, conservative lawmakers and university governing boards are purging what they describe as gender ideology from college campuses. As part of a larger backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, several universities have in recent years shut down women’s and gender-studies programs and closed LGBTQ-focused campus spaces. These developments are particularly worrying to Judith Butler, a pioneer of queer theory whose 1990 book, Gender Trouble, is considered a seminal work of the field. But what does Butler, a distinguished professor in the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley, have to say to the increasingly vocal critics of the discipline they helped to popularize?

Related reading

Berkeley Professor Explains Gender Theory (Big Think) 

Tracking Higher Ed’s Dismantling of DEI (The Chronicle) 

This President Defended Taking Pride Flags Off Faculty Windows. Now She’s Paused the Practice. (The Chronicle) 

Berkeley’s Judith Butler Revels in Role of Troublemaker (The Chronicle)

Guest

Judith Butler, distinguished professor in the Graduate School at UC-Berkeley 

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

As a professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Ian Bogost spends a lot of time trying to connect with his Gen Z students. He knows the stereotypes about this crop of young people: lazy, grade-grubbing, incapable of resolving problems without running to an administrator. But Bogost, who frequently writes about his teaching experiences for The Atlantic, says there are larger forces at work that have changed the way college students think about higher education. If there’s a problem with “kids today,” Bogost says, the adults who’ve shaped their world have a lot to do with it.

Related Reading

⁠Why Are Students Obsessed with ‘Points Taken Off’⁠ (The Atlantic)

⁠Is Gen Z Unemployable?⁠ (The Wall Street Journal) 

⁠Nobody Cares if Music is Real Anymore⁠ (The Atlantic) 

⁠What We Know About Gen Z so Far⁠ (Pew Research Center) 

Guest

⁠Ian Bogost⁠, professor and director of film and media studies, and professor of computer science and engineering at WashU

For more on today’s episode, visit ⁠chronicle.com/collegematters⁠. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

As public attitudes toward higher education sour, many college presidents are either staying mum or defending their institutions. But a handful of high-profile college leaders have taken a different tack of late, publicly conceding that the sector’s critics have a point. Concerns about rising tuition, the value of degrees, and higher education’s liberal tilt are all valid, these leaders argue. But what’s driving these self-critical administrators? Is this about principle? Branding? Or is it just a cynical ploy to cozy up to the Trump administration?

Related Reading

The Self-Flaggelating President (The Chronicle)

Sian Beilock’s Star Turn (The Chronicle)

The University’s Voice: Principled Silence and Purposeful Speech (Johns Hopkins University Press)

Guests

Nell Gluckman, senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education

Eric Kelderman, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

After about a year of battling with the Trump administration, higher-education leaders and analysts are collectively catching their breath. But this doesn’t feel like a break: The discourse around colleges and universities of late has taken on a dire tone. There’s open talk about the end of the great American research university as we know it. And no one feels fine.

Related Reading

The Unmaking of the American University (The New Yorker) 

Some Data on College Earnings (Bob Shireman’s Substack) 

Young Graduates Face the Grimmest Job Market in Years (The New York Times) 

Guest

Andy Thomason, assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.

Ted Carter’s resignation this month as president of Ohio State University carries the hallmarks of a tabloid scandal. Announcing his departure, the university cited Carter’s "inappropriate" relationship with a woman who was “seeking public resources to support her personal business.” Reporting from The Columbus Dispatch suggests Carter had a romantic relationship with a female podcaster, and that Carter had used his university position to connect the woman with influential state leaders. Carter is just the latest high-profile academic to imperil an institution through reckless personal conduct. Given what social scientists know about how people in power behave, he’s unlikely to be the last.

Related Reading

‘Inappropriate Relationship’ Leads Ohio State’s president to resign (The Chronicle) 

Carter's relationship included dinner with OSU leaders, business lobbying (The Columbus Dispatch) 

Flirty emails got Mark Schlissel fired. A deeper history weighs on Michigan’s Flagship. (The Chronicle)

Guests

Sarah Brown, senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Nell Gluckman, senior reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the U. of California at Berkeley

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.