As colleges and universities respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, many in the media call it "unprecedented." This is not the first time that institutions of higher education have had to respond to an epidemic, however. A historical review of college and university reactions to illnesses such as yellow fever and the 1918 influenza pandemic…

Rather than banking enormous gifts, Harvard University built its wealth by adhering to a coherent strategy that gradually became the common sense--the prevailing ideology--of how to build and maintain the wealth of private universities. President Charles W. Eliot formulated this "free money" strategy over the course of his administration from 1869…

Efforts to make over German universities in the image of Nazism failed, not because of the strength of the moral convictions of the professors or their faith in the professional values of the universities, but rather because of the weaknesses inherent in the ideology and organization of Nazism.(RM)

Traces the resistance toward establishing an economics curriculum at Cambridge University from 1776 to 1860. Complex reasons include inertia, low intellectual standards, fear of being considered partisan, and avoidance of change during good times. The eventual introduction of economics was achieved only when wholesale reforms were enacted within…

Considers the student behavioral problems that afflicted colleges in the Early Republic and the solutions college authorities ultimately enforced. Highlights the struggles to combat student disorder at the University of Pennsylvania, in particular the role of Provost Frederic Beasley, and focuses on the growth of meritocracy. (CMK)