InsideHigherEd.com: Adding Some Spice to Higher Ed. Reportage

by Mark Drozdowski

When you want news and views on higher education, where do you turn? Well, yes, of course you pick up the Adjunct Advocate. But for many in this field, The Chronicle of Higher Education represents the gold standard, the journal of record, the “bible.” Most industry folks I know refer to it by first name, as if they’re talking about Madonna, Kobe or Shaq.

Well, move over, Cher, and make way for the anti-Chronicle. Since 2004, faculty, staff and curious onlookers—numbering over 500,000 in a recent month—have made the online pilgrimage to Inside Higher Ed (www.insidehighered.com), a website offering many of the same features as the Chronicle, but with a few twists. Inside exists only online; you can’t rifle through it at the newsstand. All of its content is free, while much of the Chronicle’s editorial is reserved for subscribers who pay $82.50 per year. And here’s the kicker: Inside is interactive. More on that later.

To be fair, the top brass at Inside don’t portray their site as the anti-Chronicle, even though its very existence begs comparisons. Inside’s senior staff—the publisher and two chief editors—emigrated from the Chronicle after working at the paper for a combined 55 years. They left together to form something markedly different, just as disaffected Puritans defected from Harvard to establish rival Yale.

Inside aims to be more democratic than the Chronicle—or any other subscription-based publication, for that matter. It calls itself “the online source for news, opinion and career advice and services for all of higher education” and claims readers will “find no pecking orders or second-class citizens.” No subscription cost means everyone can access its content—even the impecunious grad assistant or the part-timer living on a shoestring budget.

The site divides that content into several categories. Leading off is news, delivered as traditional reportage covering every conceivable educational topic. Recently, for example, the site chronicled the Duke lacrosse scandal, President Summers’ demise at Harvard, the aftermath of Katrina, NCAA reforms, new financial aid regulations, and the proliferation of distance learning. Stories are written by the editors and a couple of full-time reporters; they’re well-researched, timely and fresh daily. Often you’ll find news items presented in the Q&A format or as “quick takes.” Because the site is Web-based, pieces tend to be short, requiring only a few scrolls to reach the finish line.

Weaved throughout are links to additional sources elsewhere online.

Following news are “views”: book reviews and opinion columns, a few of which are written by regular contributors. Reviews are provided mostly by Scott McLemee, another former Chronicle writer who, despite not having any degree, demonstrates an encyclopedic knowledge of the most arcane scholarship. A few other regular contributors populate the opinion stable; they include a university chancellor, several faculty and a pseudonymous columnist who evidently prefers to stir the pot without fear of reprisal. In this section you’ll also find first-person accounts of life in academe and life on the market, testimonials that echo the tribulations so many Chronicle writers lament in its popular “Careers” area.

Alongside “views” is the “workplace” section, which presents varying accounts of toiling in academe. I can’t quite determine the purpose of this feature, given that the first-person reflections in “views” comment similarly on the academic milieu and its peculiar cast of characters. It’s somewhat redundant.

Adding spice to all of this are reader comments. As I mentioned earlier, the site is highly interactive, allowing readers to post their thoughts on articles and opinion pieces. Don’t agree with the author? Let everyone know. Want to elaborate on a point? Go right ahead. Become part of the conversation. All posts are fair game, save for potentially libelous attacks or off-topic rants.

Within these boundaries, posters can test the limits of propriety. One article I found recounted the sad tale of a professor who was suspended for using the “F” word liberally in class. Naturally, a few folks felt it necessary to chime in. Here’s what one reader posted: “I just can’t f***ing believe that some f***ers are so f***ing upset at using the “f-word” that they would go and f**k over a f***ing professor for saying f**k in class when every f***ing student in that class has probably uttered the f***ing word like five or six f***ing times. What the f**k?” I substituted the asterisks, of course.

Most readers, by comparison, maintain decorum. “What a wonderfully honest assessment,” wrote one reader of a column on professorial isolation. People are as quick to praise, it seems, as they are to criticize. Still other respondents baffle us with lapses of logic, grievous grammar and political manifestos that run longer than the article itself. Posters, too, draw commentary, often creating tangential conversations between a couple of combatants.

“I must say,” wrote one miffed soul, “some of Inside Higher Ed’s readers do provide the most entertaining spectacle. What ever could the point of the above comment be? How could it be related to the topic of the above essay? Oh, that is where the fun is to be found. We will puzzle and puzzle and puzzle. Well played, sir!” Alrighty then. When you invite the masses to dinner, you have to expect appetites of every stripe.

Helping to pay for all this free content are the job ads. Colleges can post ads for $125, which buys a 30-day run. They can also pay a flat rate to run all of their ads throughout the year, resulting in a wider array of advertised positions. So while a given university may post only a handful of top jobs with the Chronicle or on HigherEdJobs.com, it might trumpet all of its opportunities with Inside. Those opportunities naturally include adjunct teaching jobs.

So if you’re looking for that next teaching gig, are curious about the latest issues and trends in higher education, or are eager to see what others are experiencing in the classroom, be sure to visit Inside Higher Ed. You won’t discover an entirely new species, and you’ll recognize some carryover from the Chronicle, such as the “news-views-careers” format and a similar editorial tone. But you might bookmark it, as I did. I browse the site daily, even posting comments when the spirit provokes me.

I do hope Inside eventually uploads interviews or campus-event footage via streaming videos or podcasts; if you live only online, why not take advantage of emerging technologies and further differentiate yourself from the print competition? Heck, at least throw in a few photographs to enliven things.

Those quibbles aside, I highly recommend the site to anyone looking to probe deeper inside higher ed.