Prominent Higher-Education Reporter to Step Down at New York Times

By JEFFREY J. SELINGO

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Karen W. Arenson, who has been one of the most visible higher-education reporters in the country for the past 12 years from her perch at The New York Times, has accepted a buyout package from the newspaper.

Her last day on the job is today. In a telephone interview, Ms. Arenson, 59, said that she had planned to work until she was in her 70s, but that the buyout offer had come at a time when she needed to "focus on her personal life." Her father, a retired economics professor at Hofstra University, suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and she plans to spend her time caring for him.

"In many ways, it is hard for me to walk," Ms. Arenson said. "I love this beat. It's incredibly important and fun. The issues and people are interesting, and the Times has been a wonderful platform in giving me access and an audience."

Ms. Arenson, who earned her undergraduate degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master's degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, is well known for her penchant for numbers. Indeed, as a self-described pack rat, Ms. Arenson said she had filled 21 boxes with higher-education files from her desk that "could provide for interesting research some day."

Although Ms. Arenson was assigned to the metro desk at the Times, many of her articles ended up covering national trends in higher education. She was one of the first journalists in the mainstream press to write about early decision in admissions, the aggressive investments colleges were making with their endowments, and the growth of for-profit colleges.

"Our readers care deeply about education and higher education," Ms. Arenson said. "It's been an important topic for us."

Many Changes at the Times

The Times, which for years had resisted making cutbacks in the newsroom like those happening elsewhere in the industry, announced in February that it planned to cut 100 editorial jobs, mostly through buyouts.

A spokeswoman for the New York Times Company said on Wednesday that more changes were pending. "The New York Times has always considered coverage of education one of the jewels in its crown," the spokeswoman, Diane McNulty, wrote in an e-mail message. "After Karen Arenson leaves, and after other newsroom changes are behind us, we will continue to strive for excellence in covering higher education, but we have not yet made decisions about personnel."

Sources at the newspaper said the education desk at the Times was in transition. The education editor, Alison Mitchell, was recently named weekend editor. Suzanne Spector is now the acting education editor. The sources, who said they were not authorized to speak about the changes, said that, for now, Tamar Lewin, Sara Rimer, and Sam Dillon will continue to write about higher education as part of their broader education beats. Two other reporters who covered higher education, Alan Finder and Jonathan D. Glater, have moved to the foreign and business desks, respectively.

The changes at The Times come at a time when American newspapers are paring back on their coverage of higher education, a trend that was the subject of a recent commentary in The Chronicle by the president of the National Education Writers Association.

The trend troubles Timothy J. McDonough, assistant vice president for public affairs at the American Council on Education. "For institutions to reach new people and new areas of support among policy makers and other supporters, you really need to have people out there in the general-interest press to cover these issues," Mr. McDonough said.

The ramifications go beyond college campuses, he said. "A lot of the policy discussions in Washington deal with very complex topics, whether it's matters of financing, endowments, accountability," he said. "It's very difficult just to pick up a press release and make a few phone calls to get to the heart of the issue. No one has the time to devote to these topics anymore."