Another year of the News Blog, another roller coaster between straight news that readers needed to know and news of the weird that they wanted to know. Since the last installment of this feature, some 2,000 blog posts ago in December 2007, the United States has elected a new president and the world has faced a financial cataclysm, yet what are people in higher education interested in reading about?
To judge from our statistics, they want to know about drug scandals in academe, threats to the academic pecking order, and any news that takes the elites down a peg or two. Oh, and also occasional news about issues like open access, sustainable campuses, and dealing with the financial crisis. But see for yourself, in the following list of the 10 blog posts that drew the most Chronicle readers in 2008:
1. Palin Attended 4 Colleges in 5 Years to Earn Diploma (September 4) — the Republican vice-presidential candidate’s path to a degree.
2. What’s Up, Doc? German Law Bars American Ph.D.‘s From Calling Themselves ‘Doctor’ (March 12) — an American researcher in Germany faces an unexpected criminal charge for “misuse of title.”
3. Harvard Faculty Adopts Open-Access Requirement (February 12) — professors will have to allow the university to make their scholarly articles available free online.
4. ‘U.S. News’ Releases 2009 Rankings of Graduate Schools (March 28) — the top graduate programs in business, law, medicine, engineering, and the fine arts.
5. Texas State U. Cuts Ties to Troubled Foundation After a Cocaine Arrest (April 17) — a downward spiral by a foundation and its president leads the San Marcos university to pull away.
6. Student Who Died at Professor’s Home Suffered a Drug Overdose (June 5) — the local police said the overdose was accidental and the faculty member was not a suspect in the student’s death.
7. 2 Ivy League Universities, Hit by Financial Crisis, Announce Hiring Freezes (November 5) — Brown and Cornell show that even elite institutions are not immune to the global financial meltdown.
8. Princeton Review Ranks Happiest and Greenest Campuses — and Top Partyers (July 28) — the country’s top party schools, among other annual rankings. Need we say more?
9. Conduct of President’s Wife Is Reviewed by U. of Tennessee’s Board (December 1) — an argument with a donor prompts an apology and discussion about the proper role of a presidential spouse.
10. Another College President Quits After Drunken-Driving Arrest (November 3) — the fifth president in the last year to face an accusation of driving while intoxicated.
Thank you for your faithful readership and your many comments, more than 21,000 this year alone. We welcome your avid interest. —Andrew Mytelka
