The Chronicle of Higher Education
Read The Chronicle’s Top Stories of 2022
Some of The Chronicle’s most resonant work this year has been on the theme of disconnection – faculty members feeling distant from their students, students feeling less a part of their campus communities, and administrators and college staff "eyeing the exits" and considering jobs at other campuses or outside of higher ed altogether. After almost three years of living with Covid, higher ed is increasingly recognizing that reconnecting with each other and rebuilding a shared culture is one of its most important tasks.
Here's a list of The Chronicle's ten most read articles and essays of 2022. We hope they help you make sense of the broader higher-ed landscape and spur some fresh thinking on how to reinvigorate your campus's culture. In the new year, we’ll bring you more stories about trends and about campuses that are innovating to create sustainable solutions to challenges facing the sector. We thank you for your continued readership and support. It’s what makes our work possible.
- A ‘Stunning’ Level of Student Disconnection by Beth McMurtrie
Professors are reporting record numbers of students checked out, stressed out, and unsure of their future. - Who Does Your College Think Its Peers Are? by Jacquelyn Elias
The Chronicle compiled the peer institutions for nearly 1,500 institutions from the 2020-21 year. - The Great Faculty Disengagement by Kevin R. McClure and Alisa Hicklin Fryar
Faculty members aren’t leaving in droves, but they are increasingly pulling away. - The Dredging by Tom Bartlett
She was an Ivy League student with an inspiring story. Then her university started investigating. - The Big Quit by Joshua Doležal
Even tenure-line professors are leaving academe. - Right Now, Your Best Employees Are Eyeing the Exits by Marci K. Walton
To stay, they need better pay, reasonable hours, and an end to mission-based gaslighting. - The Shrinking of Higher Ed by Karin Fischer
In the past, colleges grew their way out of enrollment crises. This time looks different. - Higher Ed Is a Land of Dead-End Jobs by Kevin R. McClure
Colleges have done a spectacularly bad job of managing talent. - How Much Has Faculty Pay Changed Over Time? by Brian O’Leary
See the latest federal data on compensation for all ranks of the profession at thousands of American colleges. - They Signed a Letter in Support of a Colleague. Now They Want to Take It Back. by Nell Gluckman
Prominent scholars at Harvard signed a letter questioning the university’s treatment of a professor who was sanctioned. In a new statement, nearly all said they wish to retract their signatures.