Jim DeRogatis, a groundbreaking music critic known for his reporting and investigation into allegations against singer R. Kelly, is leaving Columbia College to teach at Northwestern University.
DeRogatis, a professor of instruction in the School of Communication and Culture, will be a professor of practice in the Medill School of Journalism, Media, and Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.
He will take Sound Opinions, a music talk show he co-hosts, to Northwestern. Sound Opinions airs weekly across 100 radio stations and in the past has offered internship opportunities to Columbia students.
DeRogatis told the Chronicle that the college’s decision to eliminate the Department of English and Creative Writing, which was merged into a new school as part of a historic restructuring last fall, prompted him to leave.
“I believe that Columbia’s elimination of the Department of English and Creative Writing was a step in the wrong direction,” DeRogatis said. “While I will miss my colleagues and Columbia’s extraordinary students, the opportunity to teach arts criticism and journalism at Medill offers an exciting new opportunity and a mission to which I’ve devoted my career.”
Columbia still offers a creative writing major but the English major was eliminated.
Before joining Columbia as a part-time instructor in 2010, DeRogatis spent 15 years as a pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and continues to freelance for various publications. He is also the author of 10 books.
At the Sun-Times, DeRogatis and Abdon Pallasch, broke the first story in 2000 that Kelly had engaged in sex with teenage girls. He continued on the story for nearly two decades. Kelly was convicted in 2022 of child pornography and inappropriate sexual relations with teenage girls. He also was convicted of racketeering charges the year before. He is serving a 30-year sentence in a North Carolina prison.
DeRogatis taught the popular “Reviewing the Arts” course for two semesters before he was hired full-time as a teaching-track instructor, a position that is renewable by contract and does not lead to tenure.
In 2024, DeRogatis was promoted to professor of instruction, the highest rank for full-time instructors. He continued to teach “Reviewing the Arts,” but also taught “Cultural Criticism and the Arts,” “Journalism as Literature” and “Big Chicago: Music & Media in Chicago,” where he taught hundreds of students.
Ames Hawkins, director of the School of Communication and Culture, said most of the courses previously taught by DeRogatis “have been and will continue to be taught by others.”
In Fall 2025, “Reviewing the Arts” will be taught by Joshua Adams, assistant professor of instruction in the School of Communication and Culture. The “Cultural Criticism and the Arts,” “Journalism as Literature” and “Big Chicago: Music & Media in Chicago” courses are not being offered in the fall.
Matthew Cunningham, associate professor of instruction in the School of Communication and Culture, said DeRogatis “is a very successful journalist and a champion of the students of Columbia College Chicago.”
Cunningham told the Chronicle that DeRogatis’ co-hosted podcast was supported by Columbia students as interns.
“For the past several years, the podcast he co-hosts, Sound Opinions, has been housed here and supported by Columbia students as interns,” Cunningham said. “That will be a great loss for opportunities for those looking for careers in that industry, as there are limited other opportunities to work on a podcast or radio show.”
Columbia’s radio major was also eliminated in the restructuring.
Cunningham added that DeRogatis’ Big Chicago course was a great opportunity for every student, regardless of major.
Hawkins said DeRogatis made significant contributions to the college.
“Jim DeRogatis has left an indelible mark on the college,” Hawkins said. “For the past 15 years, Jim has given this college and our students his all. We are all incredibly grateful for his contributions and wish him all the very best as he starts the next chapter in his amazing career.”
Copy edited by Vanessa Orozco
