By Colleen Flaherty. Who’s better suited to teach about American institutions and ideals: cultural anthropologists or historians of U.S. history? That question is at the heart of a debate about a general education requirement at Sacramento State University that’s riled historians there. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. The idea that most adjunct instructors have day jobs and teach one or two courses per semester to make a little extra cash or fulfill a desire for service, or both, has been pretty thoroughly debunked. But a new study published in The Journal of Higher Education offers the most up-to-date data on just how many part-time instructors want a full-time teaching job and can’t find one: some 73 percent. Read more...

By Colleen Flaherty. “[T]hey can employ not just metaphor, but caricature, which can be harsh… Humor, mockery, satire. People don’t like to be made fun of. They don’t like their views to be made fun of, they don’t like their religion to be made fun of. And sometimes they perceive a harsh personal insult where one is not intended, or maybe where one is intended.” Read more...

By Michael Stratford. Corinthian declared bankruptcy on Monday. Will that affect debt relief for students?
The Education Department’s decision making about loan forgiveness for Corinthian students will not change because of Corinthian’s bankruptcy, a department official said. Read more...

By Michael Stratford. Corinthian Colleges’ declaration of bankruptcy on Monday finalizes the for-profit college’s unprecedented collapse that has morphed into a political firestorm for the Obama administration -- which U.S. Department of Education officials are racing to extinguish. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. German intellectuals created the idea of the research university, and, with it, academic disciplines. In Organizing Enlightenment: Information Overload and the Invention of the Modern Research University (Johns Hopkins University Press), Chad Wellmon explores this history and its impact on academe in the United States, right up through the creation of massive open online courses. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. This is the time of year full of hysterical news articles about what a small share of applicants gained admission to the likes of Stanford University or the University of California at Berkeley. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Duke University announced Friday that the student who left a noose on a tree in April, unsettling the campus, had done so out of "ignorance and bad judgment." While the student has received a sanction from the university, Duke will allow the student to return next semester. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. Smith College's board on Saturday approved an admissions policy that explicitly welcomes applications from transgender people who identify as female. Read more...

By Scott Jaschik. For decades, many colleges and universities had mascots and team names based on American Indian tribes. Many of these colleges -- under pressure from Native Americans and the National Collegiate Athletic Association -- have dropped those names. But the impact of these team names (and those that remain) is much broader than many people realize, argues a new book, Indian Spectacle: College Mascots and the Anxiety of Modern America (Rutgers University Press). Read more...