College Matters from The Chronicle

Office hours with an android? We’re not quite there yet, but the science-fiction future of higher education is closer than you might think. Thanks to a slew of new products known as courseware, college professors can practically run a class on autopilot.

Guest: Taylor Swaak, tech and innovation reporter 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.

Cap down. Earbuds in. Eyes on phones. Despite what you may see in college viewbooks, many students say they feel lonely on campus — isolated in dorm rooms or walled off in tech bubbles. But talking about student loneliness is a tricky issue for colleges.

Related Reading: 

Guest: Alexander C. Kafka, senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.

During his September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump amplified a debunked rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s pet cats and dogs. Soon, Wittenberg University, a private institution in Springfield, began receiving violent threats. Michael Frandsen, the university’s president, feared the worst — and got an education in the viral power of misinformation.

Related Reading: 

Guest: Michael Frandsen, president of Wittenberg University

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

You may not have heard much about higher education in the presidential campaign, but it’s definitely on the ballot.

Related Reading: 

Guest: Rick Seltzer, senior writer 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.

Outside consultants are helping cash-strapped colleges cut majors, like foreign languages, that once seemed essential — and are taking the heat for those unpopular decisions.

Related Reading: 

Guest: David Jesse, senior writer 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.

As president of the U. of Florida, Ben Sasse, a former U.S. senator, steered millions of dollars toward consultants and hired his Republican allies to serve in lucrative jobs. And he threw some expensive parties.

Related Reading:

Guest: Garrett Shanley, reporter for The Independent Florida Alligator / intern at The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.

Would big-name universities pay a magazine to write puff pieces about them? You bet.

Guest: Francie Diep, senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education 

Related Reading:

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.

A feud among three professors inspired a debate over woke politics in academe.

Guest: Emma Pettit, senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education

Related Reading: 

For more on today's episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.

The lure of decent-paying jobs available without college degrees has some people rethinking whether college is necessary. The trend has big implications for the workforce, society, and the communities where people live and work.

Guest: Eric Kelderman, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education

Related Reading:

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. 

When protests against the Israel-Hamas war swept across college campuses this past spring, student activists were joined in some cases by their professors. That’s what happened at Indiana University, where state police led a particularly aggressive crackdown on demonstrators. The professors’ reasons for participating were varied and complex, but their decisions point toward a thorny and persistent question: Do faculty members have any business joining student protests?

Guest: Kate Hidalgo Bellows, staff reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

Related Reading: 

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters.