Higher Ed Chat with Sarah Brown from The Chronicle of Higher Education

John, and Scott welcome Sarah Brown, Senior Reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education (https://bit.ly/3nEw1gq ) for some decompression after a long, long year in higher ed world. A ton of good laughs, a little musical deep dive, and of course, some higher ed chat. Sarah talks about her lifelong connection to higher ed, how she landed on covering higher ed for The Chronicle, and some of the big issues facing the industry at the end of 2020. Sarah shares her incredible insight on student mental health and developmental challenges, the impact of student reliance on digital technology and social media, the complexity of student life today, balance and nuance in reporting, Title IX process expectations and communication, and the tension between compliance and culture. We are big Sarah Brown fans here at Higher Ground, and we appreciate her journalistic integrity and style and her contributions to an outstanding episode!  

Some of Sarah’s recent higher ed coverage – all of them worth a read:

• Sarah Brown (Nov. 10, 2020). Meet Covid-19’s Freshman. The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/3fdEeVC
• Sarah Brown (Nov. 2, 2020). Trump’s 2016 Victory Sparked Unrest on College Campuses. What Might 2020 Bring? The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/38YCheE 
• Sarah Brown (Oct. 13, 2020). Did the Pandemic Worsen the Campus Mental-Health Crisis? Maybe Not, Data Show. The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/2ISjQO3 
• Sarah Brown (Oct. 9, 2020). How Colleges Can Ease Students’ Fear and Anxiety in Quarantine. The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/3pJ2fZv 
• Sarah Brown (Sept. 27, 2020). The Trump Administration Says Diversity Training Can Be Harmful. What Does the Research Say? The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/3ffx3MD 
• Sarah Brown (Aug. 13, 2020). Colleges Had 3 Months to Overhaul Sexual-Misconduct Policies. Now They’re Scrambling. The Chronicle of Higher Education available at https://bit.ly/36Ln6CY 

Special Mentions:

• John’s favorite new pastime: checking Twitter every night to see how many more schools have joined @SUNYSCI https://system.suny.edu/sci/ 
• Georgetown University Professor Cal Newport’s outstanding book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World https://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/