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Christa Dutton

Reporting Fellow

What I Cover

I write about many facets of academe, usually going where the headlines of the day or week take me. I’m especially curious about how colleges protect free speech, preserve academic freedom, and promote civic dialogue. I’ve also written about moments when politics and the academy collide, like a controversy around gender equity in college volleyball or how the presidential election tested colleges’ commitment to institutional neutrality.

My Background

I got my start in journalism at Wake Forest University when I joined the student newspaper, the Old Gold & Black. As a student journalist, I earned 2nd place for human-interest story of the year from the Associated Collegiate Press and was named a finalist for Reporter of the Year. I also earned the Bynum G. Shaw Prize from the Wake Forest journalism department for outstanding work at a campus publication.

I joined The Chronicle in 2024 as a Reporting Fellow. Prior to that, I interned at the Triad Business Journal, covering the restaurant and retail industry in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region. I earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Wake Forest University.

Connect

You can email me at christa.dutton@chronicle.com or follow me on social media:

X: @christa_dutton
Bluesky: christadutton.bsky.social
Linkedin: christa-dutton

Highlights

Austin Smith is a poetry instructor protesting a shift in Stanford University’s Creative Writing Program, which will cycle Jones lecturers out instead of the previous practice of renewing their contracts annually. He is photographed at Mariposa House, which houses the program.
The Workplace
At Stanford, a Change to Creative Writing Feels Personal
By Christa Dutton October 28, 2024
Vector illustration depicting two hands with visible suit sleeves hitting a white ball bearing the transgender symbol over a volleyball net.
'A Flash Point'
The Controversy Roiling College Volleyball Just Keeps Growing
By Christa Dutton November 20, 2024
illustration of different colored speech bubbles
'Dialogue Is a Skill'
Can You Teach Free Speech? These Colleges Are Trying.
By Christa Dutton September 3, 2024

Recent Stories

Illustration of a steamroller rolling over a colorful road and leaving gray asphalt in its wake.
Newly Updated
After Suspension, U. of Alabama Alumni Offer to Fund Black-Culture and Women’s-Fashion Student Magazines
By Erin Gretzinger, Maggie Hicks, Christa Dutton, and others December 8, 2025
We’ve documented actions taken on hundreds of college campuses to alter or eliminate jobs, offices, hiring practices, and programs amid pressure to end identity-conscious recruitment and retention of minority staff and students.
Dinkar Jain
Copyright in the classroom
He Wrote a Course Syllabus. Is It Still His?
By Christa Dutton June 26, 2025
After an AI expert finished teaching a class at the University of California at Los Angeles, he was alarmed to discover that a version of his syllabus was still being used.
Pano Kanelos, founding president of the U. of Austin.
Q&A
One Year In, What Has ‘the Anti-Harvard’ University Accomplished?
By Christa Dutton June 10, 2025
The University of Austin is a well-funded, well-publicized effort with a stated mission to bring ideological diversity back to higher education. Is it delivering?
Illustration showing three classical columns on stacks of coins, at different heights due to the amount of coins stacked underneath
State politics
Here’s What Utah’s Colleges Are Doing to Win Back State Funding
By Christa Dutton June 6, 2025
Lawmakers told campuses to shift money from “operational inefficiencies” to high-demand majors.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees convenes for a regular meeting at the UNC Center for School Leadership Development in Chapel Hill, N.C., on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The meeting came a few days after the board voted to cut $2.3 million of diversity spending to reallocate toward public safety. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
Better Late than Never
UNC Chapel Hill Approves Tenure Bids for Faculty Outside the Health Sciences, Ending Unexplained Delay
By Christa Dutton June 4, 2025
The Board of Trustees’ inaction on tenure cases for professors not in the health sciences had stoked confusion on the campus.
University of North Carolina Board of Trustees Chairman John Preyer awaits the start of a press conference announcing the hiring of Bill Belichick to be the next head football coach at North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024.
'Selective Inaction'
At Chapel Hill, Only Health-Sciences Professors Have Been Getting Tenure
By Christa Dutton May 27, 2025
The UNC Chapel Hill board hasn’t tenured a single professor in fields outside the health sciences since January. The inaction has prompted confusion and alarm among faculty.
Photo-based illustration of calendars on a wall (July, August and September) with a red line marking through most of the dates
'A Creative Solution'
Facing Federal Uncertainty, Swarthmore Makes a Novel Plan: the 3-Month Budget
By Christa Dutton May 20, 2025
With an expanded endowment tax, research cuts, and a possible chill on international enrollment looming, the college opted to budget for just a quarter “to avoid overcorrecting.”
New York City police arrested dozens of Pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University on Wednesday evening after they took over part of a central library in New York, USA on May 7, 2025.
'A Different Playbook'
Facing New Protests and Political Pressure, Colleges Are Taking a Harder Line
By Christa Dutton May 8, 2025
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the past several days have led to more than 100 arrests, as well as suspensions for violating colleges’ policies and protest restrictions.
Presidents Jeffrey Armstrong (Cal Poly SLO), Wendy Raymond (Haverford College), and Robert Manuel (DePaul University).
On Capitol Hill
5 Key Moments From Another Congressional Grilling of College Leaders
By Christa Dutton, Alissa Gary May 7, 2025
The hearing featured attempts at contrition, testy exchanges, and a brief discussion of donuts.
Indiana University professor Ben Robinson talks at during a "Day of Action" press conference on April 17.
Teaching Under Scrutiny
Indiana Required Colleges to Accept Complaints Against Instructors. Here’s How Many They Got.
By Christa Dutton May 1, 2025
Less than two dozen complaints were submitted in the six months after a controversial law was enacted last year. But its influence has been felt in other ways.