Bob Woodward ’65 is not teaching the English seminar “Journalism” this spring. Woodward began teaching the seminar — the foundational requirement for students in the Yale Journalism Initiative — in 2014, and he has taught it nearly every spring since. The last time Woodward taught the class, in the spring of 2021, students left several class sessions unsatisfied with discussions about reporting on race and sexual harassment. Woodward’s habit of cold-calling on students could make for uncomfortable conversations, several said, even as many praised class assignments and Woodward’s mentorship.
Woodward’s departure makes way for Susan Dominus ’92 LAW ’99, who has been a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine since 2011. Beyond a routine faculty turnover, the change signifies a generational shift in the teaching of journalism at Yale.
