| Monday, September 14, 2026 |
| Auburn University faculty protest Board of Trustees' dissolution of university senate | |
 | Auburn University's Board of Trustees dissolved its faculty senate in June with little notice to faculty in order to comply with a state law that does not apply to the flagship university. On Friday, more than 100 faculty and community members gathered outside the trustees' meeting to protest the decision and warn that it could have broader consequences. "These are the voices for people coming from many parts of the Auburn family. They are current and emeritus faculty. They are students and alumni. They are staff and administrators. They are community supporters," said Heidi Hausse, a history professor and one of the organizers of the protest. Auburn's decision came a few months after the Alabama Legislature passed HB 580, putting limits on the powers of faculty senates. However, that bill specifically exempted Auburn and the University of Alabama, both of which have standing in the state constitution. |
| AU BOT approves fiscal year 2027 budget, increases student rates | |
| Kelli D. Shomaker, chief financial officer, proposed the 2027 fiscal year budget at $2.12 billion. The BOT approved a 7% increase from the 2026 fiscal year in the 2027 budget, resulting in a $143 million increase. As part of the increase, tuition, housing and dining are slated to rise in price beginning Fall 2027. Tuition will increase by 2% for Alabama resident students and 5% for non-resident students. When the floor opened for comment, Trustee Walt Woltosz brought attention to the freshman engineering student tuition, which will nearly double. Housing rates are slated to increase Fall 2027, ranging from an extra $180 to $430 per semester. "The rate increase will be used to provide adequate funds for renovation and deferred maintenance projects and continue to provide the best possible campus living experience for our students," Shomaker said. On-campus dining plans are also set to have a $20 to $35 increase starting Fall 2027. According to Shomaker, inflationary costs of food were cited as the reason for the increase. |
| Collaboration or Cheating? The Debate Over AI Use Is Dividing Scholars. | |
 | For one foreign-born professor, generative AI was a way to make minor wording tweaks, mostly to improve punctuation and grammar. Another academic offloaded nearly all his writing to an AI helper before pitching an article to a leading science journal. Somewhere in between, faculty members have turned to large language models like ChatGPT and Claude to smooth sentences, organize ideas, and condense summaries, saving time but sometimes raising uncomfortable questions. If the ideas and expertise are theirs, does it matter how much help a chatbot provided with the writing? Is it hypocritical to restrict students' use of AI but then rely heavily on it in their own scholarly and public work? How much responsibility does a scholar have to disclose how a published piece came together? Answers from the academic community are inconsistent and constantly changing. Look beneath the swirling debate and you'll see the bigger question that lies at its heart: What does it mean to be an author in an age of AI? |
SPORTS
| Dawgs 'Dictated The Terms Of The Fight' To Pass Huge Test | |
| It's funny. Praise feels good coming from those in your corner. However, it's oftentimes even sweeter coming from a foe. Those who love you care about your feelings. Those who oppose you are often only concerned with the facts. So, when Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck offered up his opinion on Mississippi State following the Bulldogs' 38-13 beatdown of his Golden Gophers on Saturday, it served as an objective opinion of what this 2026 MSU squad is capable of. "They dominated in all three phases," Fleck said of the Bulldogs. "You've got to give them all the credit in the world because they dictated the terms of the fight." Fleck wasn't asked to grade Mississippi State's team. If he had been, his postgame comments seemed to point towards an 'A' or 'A+'. That's just educated speculation of course, but there's no denying that MSU has now passed its first huge test of the season with flying colors. This was no easy task for State. |
| Kamario Taylor is blossoming for Mississippi State. A daunting SEC schedule awaits the sophomore QB | |
 | Mississippi State has found the perfect player to lead its push to reestablish a competitive program in the unrelenting Southeastern Conference. Kamario Taylor is blossoming into a star, and the sophomore quarterback has given the Bulldogs a boost of confidence and energy as they embark on their daunting SEC schedule. With a dominant performance at Minnesota in the first road start of his career on a national telecast on CBS, Taylor produced more evidence that he's one of the best quarterbacks in college football with a bright future in front of him. The sophomore had 227 yards and three first-half touchdowns on 16-for-22 passing and ran 13 times for 86 yards on the Gophers. "The way he played in the first half was about as clean and good as you can possibly play," third-year Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said. "I'm proud of his presence, his command, his leadership." |
| Volleyball: Bulldogs Sweep Memphis To Extend Winning Streak To Five | |
| Mississippi State volleyball earned their second sweep in as many days and moved to 7-1 on the season after taking down the Memphis Tigers in straight sets to conclude the Carrie Yerty Classic. One day after hitting for their best hitting percentage of the season against Alcorn State, the Bulldogs bested it, hitting .357 as a squad. The Bulldogs opened the contest on fire, hitting .700 in the first set en route to a 25-7 set victory. The Dawgs would win the second set 25-11 and concluded the day with a 25-23 triumph. The Bulldogs will return to action in the Ragin' Cajuns Classic beginning on Thursday against Louisiana. State will also take on Jackson State on Friday before wrapping the event against UT Arlington on Sunday. Thursday's match can be streamed on ESPN+. |
| Western Michigan U.'s President on How a Devastating Loss in Football Became 'a Remarkable Opportunity' | |
| The first weeks of the college football season are filled with what's often called cupcake games, in which a big powerful university runs up the score while a smaller college, often a public regional one, garners a big paycheck for the privilege of being able to play in a big stadium and get creamed. That script was almost flipped last Saturday when Western Michigan University narrowly lost to the University of Michigan on a controversial last-second play. Referees had put one second back on the clock after it had seemingly expired on a Western Michigan win. With that second restored, Michigan managed to score and walk off with a win, sparking fierce controversy and demands for the NCAA, the Big Ten Conference, and the Mid-American Conference to step in and vacate the win, awarding it to Western Michigan. In the middle of the storm, which raged all week, was Western Michigan's president, Russ Kavalhuna, who has been at his alma mater for just over a year. |
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