The youthfulness of artists in the 1960s was something that impressed Alloway. Near the time of his departure from Carbondale he wrote a piece for House Beautiful on “The Young Crowd.” In it he thankfully remarked that “the proliferation of young artists is not only exhilarating as an experience to anybody who knows their work; in addition, it is the promise and hope of a long future.” His mood was as optimistic as the decade: “One of the characteristics of young American artists now is their confidence. They may work in doubt… but all this rests on a confident mood unlike that of European artists… American artists… are producing the best art in the world at the moment.” Today an artist can work in any style; “all moves are possible.” The move that became possible to Alloway and Sylvia Sleigh was back to New York City. At the beginning of the 1967–1968 academic year he took up the post of Chairman of the Fine Arts Division of the School of Visual Arts. It was an unhappy and stressful year because of internal politics at the School.

In 1970 he was appointed Professor—initially a visiting professor in 1968—in the Department of Art, and the Director of the Gallery, at the State University of New York (SUNY) at the Stony Brook campus. It was a job that involved teaching and arranging exhibitions, both of which he enjoyed. More importantly, it gave him time to write. Most importantly, it meant he and Sylvia were back in New York and he felt rehabilitated. Shortly after, still within 1968, he started to write a regular, fortnightly column on art for The Nation, a weekly publication devoted to politics and culture. The magazine described itself as “the flagship of the Left” and Clement Greenberg had been a regular contributor between 1942 and 1949. Alloway was originally employed as a temporary cover for Max Kozloff who was on leave of absence for a year but (to the immediate detriment of his friendship with Kozloff) came to replace him as the Art Editor, a position he held until resigning because of his decline in health in 1981—the same time as he retired prematurely from SUNY. In 1973 he described himself as “a critic who teaches.