Senior Writer
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Expertise: Affirmative action | Minority students | Educational research | Academic freedom | State higher-education policy | College admissions | Faculty governance | History of higher education in the United States
Background: Peter Schmidt is a senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of the critically acclaimed Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action (Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press, 2007). He routinely discusses issues raised in his book in the media, at educational conferences, and on college campuses. Schmidt’s public-speaking engagements have included appearances at Stanford University and at the University of Texas at Austin. He substituted for Jesse Jackson as the keynote speaker at the 2008 National Conference on Best Practices in Black Student Achievement.
At The Chronicle, which he joined in 1996, Schmidt has also covered state and federal higher-education policy, historically black colleges and universities, and issues related to students’ progression from pre-kindergarten through doctoral education.
From 1989 to 1995, he was a staff writer for Education Week, where he covered school desegregation, urban education, immigrant education, and education research. He has also reported for the Associated Press, the Detroit Free Press, the Northern Virginia Daily, and the Ann Arbor News. A native of Detroit’s suburbs, he received a bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College.
Honors: National Education Writers Association: Special citations for beat reporting, 2008 and 2007; second place for opinion writing in newspapers above 100,000 circulation (2007); and second place for coverage of federal student-aid policy (shared), 1996 | Unity Award for coverage of minority issues, Lincoln University, 2007 | Dateline Award, Washington D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, 2005, for coverage of lobbying by colleges (shared) | PASS Award, from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1994, for outstanding reporting on juvenile justice | First place, Virginia Press Association, 1989, general news writing (shared) | First place, Virginia Press Association, 1988, lifestyle writing
Publications: Color and Money: How Rich White Kids Are Winning the War Over College Affirmative Action (Palgrave Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press, 2007)
Media appearances: Schmidt has been interviewed on TV and radio news shows including C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, NPR’s Justice Talking, Sirius Radio’s Mike Feder Show, and public radio news programs in Boston and Michigan.
