The Weekly Dispatch

By Sara Hebel & Scott Smallwood | Open Campus

A weekly newsletter about the role of higher education in society, exposing failures and examining solutions. Plus, updates as we build Open Campus.

Previous issues

Helping More Than Just Star Students

#16 Nov 15, 2019

What Do College Athletes Really Think?

#15 Nov 8, 2019

Some College, No Degree. Now What?

#14 Nov 1, 2019

#13

Oct 25, 2019

To Fight Skepticism, Colleges Need To Engage with the Public – Here's one associate dean's pitch for how colleges can make a better case for themselves: Start talki
#12

Oct 18, 2019

Early Decision Isn’t As Common As You Might Think — But It Still Favors the Wealthy – We can debate whether or not early decision is now “the norm.” Either way, it still favors the wealth
#11

Oct 11, 2019

How Parent Borrowing Makes College Possible — at a Steep Price — for Black Families
#10

Oct 4, 2019

Under the Spell of Meritocracy – We take stock of the part of the Harvard admissions ruling that doesn't deal with race-based admissio
#9

Sep 27, 2019

The Poor Are Getting Poorer. Professors Can Stop Making It Worse. – This chemistry professor believes everybody can get an A. First, faculty need to change their attitud
#8

Sep 20, 2019

This One University Enrolls More Pell Students Than the Whole Ivy League – How well are colleges moving people up social and economic ladders? And are we paying enough attentio
#7

Sep 13, 2019

The Surprisingly High Cost of Our Public Flagship Universities — At Least for Most Americans – Make $167,000 a year? Then you can afford your state's public flagship university. Otherwise ...
#6

Sep 6, 2019

Resentment Starts With Campus Parking — It Doesn't End There – Is college a scam? Read a fascinating thread about why people think so. Also, a new book examines the
#5

Aug 30, 2019

Reflections From Our Trip Down the Mississippi – We took ourselves back to school on our Back-To-School Road Trip from Minneapolis to New Orleans. Her
#4

Aug 23, 2019

The Difference Between a College Town and a Town with Colleges – We're on the road. Our first stops are in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, where we're talking with peo
#3

Aug 16, 2019

What Do College Accountability Metrics Really Tell Us Anyway? – We're not being very thoughtful about how we judge how much good a college is doing — for students or
#2

Aug 9, 2019

Most people go to college close to home. What if there isn't one nearby? – More than one in two public-college students go to college within 50 miles of home. What does that me
#1

Aug 2, 2019

Launching our weekly newsletter and mapping out our road trip – First, a little bit about how and why we've started Open Campus. Then we're seeking your road trip ad