| Monday, February 22, 2021 |
| University holding virtual spotlight on state's storytellers | |
 | Mississippi State University is hosting a statewide virtual event bringing together more than a dozen storytellers from different genres. The Feb. 25 event "Story State: Fostering Innovative Storytelling" invites storytellers to share their experiences and offer advice. The event is free and open to the public and will be broadcast at 1 p.m. from storystate.msstate.edu. "Everyone knows about Faulkner, Welty, Elvis and Robert Johnson, but there are a whole lot of other great storytellers in Mississippi," said Josh Foreman, an instructor in the university communication department and chair of this year's Story State planning committee. Speakers include Duwayne Burnside, a Mississippi Blues singer, David Garraway, Mississippi State University Television Center director, Zach Lancaster, a crew member for HGTV's "Home Town" and Benjamin Saulsberry, tour coordinator at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center. |
| Starkville commits additional $1.2M to TIF at old Garan site | |
 | Aldermen voted 6-1 Friday afternoon to increase the city's tax-increment financing obligation for the redevelopment of the old Garan Manufacturing site from $3 million to $4.2 million. The city entered a TIF agreement with Castle Properties in 2019 to convert the 10-acre former plant site on Highway 12 to a 90,000 square-foot shopping center. The ALDI grocery store and T.J. Maxx department store chains have already signed letters of intent to anchor the development. In exchange for the amended TIF agreement, Castle Properties will relinquish its claim to more than $4.1 million worth of remaining TIF obligations for two other developments -- Middleton Marketplace shopping center, which includes Umi restaurant; and the Cooley Center, anchored by The Mill at MSU. Castle Properties owner Mark Castleberry told the board Friday that increased material costs to meet contractual obligations for his clients, as well as for landing commitments from other national chains, would require more in tax incentives from the city. Otherwise, he told The Dispatch after the meeting, he would be "losing money on the development" he is valuing at $20 million. |
| Food sales requirement dropped for brewpubs, breweries in limited area | |
| Aldermen voted unanimously Friday afternoon to allow brewpubs and small craft breweries in the city's Leisure and Entertainment District to sell beer, wine and light spirits on premises without having to also sell food. As City Attorney Chris Latimer put it, he and aldermen went "back to the drawing board" after previous drafts of the ordinance change couldn't gain consensus, and they "came full circle" to approve something that looked very much like the first draft. The ordinance, as passed, exempts brewpubs and small craft breweries located in the designated district -- which includes much of downtown, Russell Street and the Cotton District -- from a city requirement that food must account for 25 percent of gross sales at businesses that sell alcohol for on-premises consumption. Most immediately, the ordinance change will allow John Higgins, owner of Tupelo-based Spring Street Cigars, to open a cigar lounge and brewpub in the old Mugshots Restaurant building at the corner of Main Street and Douglas L. Conner Drive. Aldermen have already granted cigar lounges in the Leisure and Entertainment District an exemption to the city's anti-smoking ordinance, but an establishment that allows smoking still cannot serve food, making a separate exemption for Higgins' brewpub necessary. |
| Local leaders praise Project EJECT; program's future is uncertain | |
 | In February 2019, then-U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst announced that Meridian would be the fourth site in the state for Project EJECT, a statewide initiative meant to reduce violent crime. Since then, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi has prosecuted about 23 Meridian residents for violent crimes in federal court, Hurst said in mid-January. With Hurst's departure in January from the Department of Justice, Project EJECT will continue, but it's long term future is uncertain. It will depend on the policies that the Biden administration will put in place. Amanda Cook, assistant professor of criminology/sociology at MSU-Meridian, said that if you can identify the "key players" in crime in an area and move them out of the state court system and into the federal system, you are able to reduce the caseload for local prosecutors. She also said that when individuals are prosecuted in the federal system, they are more likely to have longer prison sentences, as they would not be eligible for parole like they would be in the state system. To Cook, the legacy of Project EJECT will be seen in the partnerships that it formed. Cook said she thinks that these partnerships, which allow different entities to work together, will have "the biggest impact on decreasing violent crime" in the Meridian area. |
| Mississippi Lottery adds $75M to state revenue since July | |
| Mississippi has collected more than $75 million since July 1 from the state lottery. State law specifies that the first $80 million collected each budget year will go toward highway construction and maintenance, and the next $80 million will go to education. The budget year runs from July 1 through June 30. The Mississippi Lottery Corporation is the private company that runs the lottery. It announced Thursday that the state collected $23.6 million from lottery games in January. The corporation president, Tom Shaheen, says there was "astonishing growth" in people playing Powerball and Mega Millions games because of large jackpots. |
| AG's office provided inaccurate information to municipal election officials | |
 | The Attorney General's office provided inaccurate information to hundreds of municipal elections officials about a request to interpret a new residency requirement, according to a video obtained by the Daily Journal and information provided by state agencies. As part of training conducted in January for local leaders ahead of municipal elections to take place this year, a staffer for the office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a video pre-recorded in December that no request had been made for an official interpretation of a new law requiring a two-year residency for candidates in local elections. "There are no official opinions that we have issued on Senate Bill 2030," says an unidentified Attorney General's representative in a video obtained by the Daily Journal. "We have not received any official opinion requests to issue an interpretation with regard to Senate Bill 2030." But that wasn't true when the video was recorded, and it wasn't true when the video was used in January during virtual training sessions for local officials, according to information provided by the offices of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. The Attorney General's office did not respond last week to repeated attempts by the Daily Journal to ask about this discrepancy. |
| Analysis: Mississippi finds wedge issue, even amid pandemic | |
| Some Mississippi legislators thought the 2021 session might be tightly focused on responding to the coronavirus pandemic, and that might dampen enthusiasm for delving into divisive social issues. They were wrong. The state Senate voted Feb. 11 to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls' or women's sports teams in Mississippi schools, community colleges and universities. No senator asked whether any transgender athlete has tried to compete. "I've had numerous coaches across the state call me and believe that they feel there's a need for a policy in Mississippi because they are beginning to have some concerns of having to deal with this," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune. Mississippi is one of a dozen states with lawmakers proposing restrictions on athletics or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors this year. Democratic President Joe Biden signed an executive order Jan. 20 -- the day he took office -- that bans discrimination based on gender identity in school sports and elsewhere. |
| Marijuana advocates raise concerns about Legislature's replacement program | |
| While Mississippi voters overwhelmingly endorsed a specific medical marijuana legalization plan in November, the state might ultimately create a program that looks drastically different. That's because the Mississippi Supreme Court could invalidate Initiative 65 in the coming months. The possibility has led the Legislature to push a replacement pot program that deviates significantly from the constitutional amendment voters wanted. Marijuana experts and industry players told the Daily Journal they have several technical concerns about the legislative proposal, Senate Bill 2765, from excessive licensing fees for growers and dispensaries to limited patient access. But their central frustration is that the legislation simply does not mirror what was on the ballot, which they argue is the only fair resolution for Mississippians if the initiative is killed in court. "If the point of the bill is to create something that's going to be in place of Initiative 65 if it fails, why are we changing so many things up?" asked Jessica Rice, executive director of the Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association, which formed in mid-November. |
| Mississippi State Department of Health reports 242 new COVID-19 cases | |
| The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) on Monday reported 242 additional cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths. No counties in Northeast Mississippi reported new deaths. The statewide total number of cases since March 11, 2020 is now 290,874 with a death toll of 6,553. As of this week, around 264,456 people are presumed recovered from the virus. The seven-day moving average for new COVID-19 cases in Mississippi is 19 per 100,000 people, as of Feb. 20. In Mississippi's 1st Congressional District, the seven-day moving average is 16 per 100,000 people. MSDH also reported 93 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Several counties in the Daily Journal's coverage area reported new cases: Alcorn (2), Benton (1), Calhoun (1), Chickasaw (1), Clay (3), Lafayette (6), Lee (7), Marshall (11), Monroe (1), Pontotoc (3), Tippah (4), Tishomingo (4) and Union (5). |
| Stimulus and a secretary on the way to USDA | |
 | Two key pieces of President Joe Biden's food and agriculture agenda start falling into place this week, from policy to personnel: The House is set to advance his coronavirus rescue package, and the Senate will vote on his nominee for Agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack. The former USDA chief is expected to be confirmed by a comfortable margin on Tuesday after breezing through his confirmation hearing on Feb. 2. That would put him in office two months earlier than his predecessor, Sonny Perdue, who was confirmed on April 24, 2017. But it's a month later than Vilsack was confirmed his first time around -- on Inauguration Day in 2009 -- despite the Senate Agriculture Committee's attempt to fast-track his nomination at the beginning of February. Once Vilsack is sworn in, the department's pandemic relief efforts can kick into high gear. The Biden administration has already taken executive action to expand food assistance, extend a moratorium on evictions under USDA rural housing programs, pause farm loan debt collection for struggling borrowers and deploy staff to help with vaccinations. But other efforts have been on ice without a secretary to sign off, including a batch of farm rescue payments that have been frozen since January. Those funds were meant to reach producers who struggled to access prior rounds of aid. |
| AG nominee Merrick Garland to focus on civil rights, political independence | |
| Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden's nominee for attorney general, will appear for his confirmation hearing vowing to prioritize civil rights, combat extremist attacks and ensure the Justice Department remains politically independent. Garland, a federal appeals court judge who was snubbed by Republicans for a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016, will appear Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and is widely expected to sail through his confirmation process with bipartisan support. Garland's nomination has gained public support on both sides of the political aisle, from more than 150 former Justice Department officials -- including former attorneys general Loretta Lynch, Michael Mukasey and Alberto Gonzales, along with 61 former federal judges. Others, including two sons of former Attorney General Edward Levi, have also written letters of support to Congress. Biden's choice of Garland reflects the president's goal of restoring the department's reputation as an independent body. During his four years as president, Donald Trump insisted that the attorney general must be loyal to him personally, a position that battered the department's reputation. Garland's high-court nomination by President Barack Obama in 2016 died because the Republican-controlled Senate refused to hold a hearing. |
| Merrick Garland tells senators Capitol riot investigation will be his first priority as attorney general | |
 | Attorney general nominee Merrick Garland said Monday that his first priority and briefing if confirmed as attorney general would center on the sprawling investigation into the Jan. 6 riot the U.S. Capitol. Testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland drew parallels to the domestic terrorism threat the Justice Department faced in confronting the Ku Klux Klan and the prosecution he led of Timothy McVeigh in the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. When Garland was last in the Justice Department, he supervised that case. But, Garland said, "we are facing a more dangerous period than we faced in Oklahoma City at that time." He said he imagined that investigators would explore not just those who entered the Capitol, but those who might be involved in other ways. "We begin with the people on the ground and we work our way up to those who are involved and further involved," Garland said. "And we will pursue these leads wherever they take us." Garland, a federal appeals court judge, is expected to be confirmed with bipartisan support, though Monday's hearing offered Democrats and Republicans a chance to press the nominee on how he will manage the department. |
| Supreme Court Denies Trump's Final Bid to Block Release of Financial Records | |
 | The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a last-ditch attempt by former President Donald J. Trump to shield his financial records, issuing a brief, unsigned order requiring Mr. Trump's accountants to turn over his tax and other records to prosecutors in New York. The court's order was a decisive defeat for Mr. Trump, who had gone to extraordinary lengths to keep his tax returns and related documents secret. The case concerned a subpoena to Mr. Trump's accountants, Mazars USA, by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat. The firm has said it will comply with the final ruling of the courts, meaning that the grand jury should receive the documents in short order. Mr. Vance issued a three-word statement in response to the court's order: "The work continues." Under grand jury secrecy rules, it would ordinarily be unclear when, if ever, the public would see the information. But The New York Times has obtained more than two decades of tax return data of Mr. Trump and his companies, and it recently published a series of articles about them. In July, the Supreme Court soundly rejected Mr. Trump's central constitutional argument against the subpoena -- that state prosecutors are powerless to investigate a sitting president. |
| Supreme Court won't hear 2020 election case that questioned some Pennsylvania ballots | |
 | The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a dispute over whether absentee ballots received up to three days after Election Day in Pennsylvania should have been counted in the 2020 presidential election. In a decision that split the court and prompted dissents from three conservative justices, the high court shut down a challenge from Pennsylvania Republicans who sought to block a state court ruling that allowed the deadline extension. But even the dissenting justices acknowledged the legal questions in the case would not have affected the outcome of the November election. Republicans argued the extension was improper because it was not approved by the state legislature and they have raised questions about the impact on future elections. "That decision to rewrite the rules seems to have affected too few ballots to change the outcome of any federal election," Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a dissent. "But that may not be the case in the future." Associate Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch also would have heard the cases, one shy of the four votes needed for Supreme Court to accept an appeal. |
| Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit | |
 | Jared Stacy is still processing his decision to leave Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., last year. Until November, he was ministering to young parishioners in their 20s and 30s. But in the four years since he had joined the church as a pastor, Stacy had found himself increasingly up against an invisible, powerful force taking hold of members of his congregation: conspiracy theories, disinformation and lies. Stacy has seen the real consequences of these lies build up over the years; he says it has tainted the name of his faith. "If Christians in America are serious about helping people see Jesus and what he's about and what he claims, then the label 'evangelical' is a distraction because it bears, unfortunately, the weight of a violence," he told NPR. "I would not use that term because of its association with Jan. 6." That's the day the U.S. Capitol was attacked and invaded by a violent mob driven by what's commonly known as "the big lie": that President Biden wasn't legitimately elected. The rioters moved toward the Capitol following a rally held by then-President Donald Trump, during which he repeated that big lie. Rioters say they were compelled to stop Congress' certification of Biden's election, which was happening at that time at the Capitol. The lie is so powerful that a recent survey by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shows that 3 in 5 white evangelicals say Biden was not legitimately elected. |
| UM campus closed for sixth day straight due to winter weather | |
 | The University of Mississippi's Oxford Campus will be closed on Monday, Feb. 22, though virtual operations for Oxford's campus will continue. All regional campuses will make separate announcements about operating hours. According to The Weather Channel, the temperature in Oxford is expected to get as high as 52 degrees on Monday, but according to the National Weather Service of Memphis, temperatures are expected to freeze over Sunday night in the West Tennessee and North Mississippi area, causing black ice. About 35 miles of road have been cleared of snow in Oxford, according to Mayor Robyn Tannehill. She posted a map on Facebook with multiple updates on the conditions of the roads and when they are expected to completely clear. The post said only 2.53 more miles of road needed to be cleared as of Saturday night. Garbage and rubbish pick ups will resume on Monday, Feb. 22, according to a city of Oxford Facebook post. The service will be accepting trash in the green bins and bagged on curbs. |
| Arthur Doctor Receives IHL Diversity Educator of the Year Award | |
 | Arthur Doctor was given a monumental task when he arrived at the University of Mississippi in 2018: Increase equity in some of the university's most established spaces, fraternities and sororities. And, he did it as the first person of color in his position. His work hasn't gone unnoticed as the Institutions of Higher Learning's board of trustees named him Mississippi's 2021 Diversity Educator of the Year during its Feb. 18 meeting. "I don't often think of myself as a diversity innovator or formal educator in my role," said Doctor, a native of Charleston, South Carolina. "I just try to create opportunities to build equity and to provide education to our stakeholders." Doctor hit the ground running as director of fraternity and sorority life, hiring a diverse staff and bringing conversations about diversity and equity into all aspects of his team's programming, from onboarding new staff and students to leadership development. Doctor said his goal is not simply for students participating in Greek life to have more conversations about diversity, but to think about how the organizations themselves interact with the greater community. |
| USM selects new head for Coastal Operations | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi announced their choice to lead their coastal teaching and research sites In Long Beach, Gulport, Ocean Springs and at the Stennis Space Center, as Dr. Shannon Campbell has been named Senior Associate Vice President for Coastal Operations. Campbell will plan, develop and arrange all proceedings for a wide range of activities, programs and services that will increase student life at USM, along with serving as the lead strategist and relationship builder for coastal initiatives. "Dr. Campbell has a deep understanding of the state of Mississippi and has spent decades cultivating rich relationships with community partners," said USM President Rodney D. Bennett. "I am confident her strong ties across our state will elevate and further enhance the University's Coastal Operations, which remain a key component in our larger vision to be the model for public higher education across the country." Campbell was the director of Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship at USM in recent years. She administered economic impact studies, created strategic partnerships and connected business and industry with knowledge offered by the university. Dr. Chad Miller, Professor of Economic Development and Program Coordinator for the Master of Science in Economic Development, will serve as interim Director at the Center while USM searches for a new director. |
| Cynthia Buob named East Mississippi Community College's Humanities Teacher of the Year | |
| East Mississippi Community College Humanities Teacher of the Year Award recipient Cynthia Buob will present a lecture titled "Drawn to Life" Feb. 23 at 2:30 p.m. in room 607 in the student union on the college's Golden Triangle campus. The lecture, which will be followed by a reception, is free and open to the public. Space will be limited to meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for the novel coronavirus. Face masks are required. Buob, a figurative artist who has garnered national recognition for her work, has taught art full time at EMCC for six years. "Cindy is an exceptional artist and instructor who is devoted to her craft and her students," EMCC Vice President of Instruction James Rush said. "The caliber of instruction Cindy provides to our art students is top notch." Buob's lecture will focus on her art, which she views as a type of visual storytelling. Buob said much of her art is inspired by stories told to her. "I like to recreate the feelings and emotions behind the stories," Buob said. |
| William Carey University students serve at COVID-19 vaccine sites | |
 | William Carey University students have been giving it their best shot during the COVID-19 pandemic by serving at vaccine sites in Mississippi and Louisiana. School of Nursing students from the Hattiesburg, Tradition and Baton Rouge campuses and School of Pharmacy students from the Tradition campus have been providing assistance since mid-December. "Our students and faculty are proud to work with other health care professionals to fight this pandemic," Dr. Karen Sicard of the College of Health Sciences said in a media release. "We hope that our efforts will be effective in protecting people and allowing them to return to a more normal life soon." The students from the WCU School of Pharmacy have been assisting during their clinical rotations at Singing River Health System. The effort was organized by three assistant professors of pharmacy practice at WCU who also practice as pharmacists at Singing River -- Dr. Michael Bounds, Dr. Ashley Hawthorne and Dr. Anthony Todd. |
| AU Archives preserves pandemic relics | |
| Many are hopeful for the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as vaccinations roll out, and some may want to forget that it ever happened. There's one group, however, who feel it will be important to remember how Auburn fared throughout the present health crisis. The University's Special Collections and Archives Department has begun an archival project titled AUnique Time. The project collects COVID-related items, documents, photos and experiences pertaining to the Auburn Family and the local Auburn community. The department is seeking the help of students, faculty, staff, alumni and local Auburn residents for contributions, according to Tommy Brown, archivist and associate professor. Brown said the idea for the project developed when the department noticed it had very little in its collection directly from the 1918 influenza pandemic and its impact on the University. A plaque commemorating the work of Auburn's student nurses exists in the archives after it was removed from Langdon Hall, but it is not directly from the time of the pandemic, he said. |
| U. of Tennessee finds new COVID-19 clusters, lifts some restrictions | |
 | The University of Tennessee at Knoxville said Friday it will lift some restriction at on-campus housing sites because of strong participation in COVID-19 testing. Visitor restrictions will be lifted in Dogwood Hall, Orange Hall and the Greek houses Alpha Gamma Rho, Beta Upsilon Chi, Delta Zeta, Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Phi Epsilon houses, Chancellor Donde Plowman said during her weekly COVID-19 update. The goal is to have 75% of residents participating in community saliva testing weekly in order to lift restrictions. Across campus, the participation rate is around 64%. The testing program helped UT identify two more COVID-19 clusters announced Friday, both caught early through the campus' testing programs. The Delta Gamma and Alpha Delta Pi sorority houses are the latest clusters identified on campus. They are the seventh and eighth clusters this semester. "In both situations, students' participation in our community saliva testing program helped identify cases early," UT spokesperson Owen Driskill said. "Their commitment to our testing program and cooperation with contact tracing are greatly appreciated." |
| A Georgia Lawmaker Asked How Colleges Teach 'Privilege' and 'Oppression.' Here's How They Responded. | |
 | When a state lawmaker asked the University System of Georgia about how it teaches "oppression" and "privilege," it set off searches through course catalogues and syllabi, conversations with deans, department chairs, and faculty members -- and a 102-page response. In January, Georgia Rep. Emory Dunahoo, Republican of Gillsville, asked campuses if any classes fell into three categories: Do they teach students that "possessing certain characteristics inherently designates them as either being 'privileged' or 'oppressed'?" Do any classes instruct on "what constitutes 'privilege' and 'oppression'?" Are there classes that characterize white, male, heterosexual, or Christian students as "intrinsically privileged and oppressive, which is defined as 'malicious or unjust' and 'wrong'?" In their responses, few campus leaders gave much context or explained how such instruction might meet colleges' missions. Instead, they cited accreditation requirements, denied teaching about "privilege," or, in one case, promised that discussions of these topics were conducted "in an objective, non-biased manner." But it was clear that the searches -- which resulted in more than 900 listed classes across 26 institutions -- required immense effort. |
| UF plans to loosen COVID-19 restrictions starting in Summer B | |
| The University of Florida could return to a pre-pandemic world with the start of the Summer B 2021 semester. Some of UF's face-to-face courses, which begin June 28, will return back to normal capacity levels, according to an email sent to a course scheduling listserv from Colin Yokomi, UF's assistant university registrar, and several departments across campus. An academic schedule will be released mid-March, UF Provost Joseph Glover said at a UF Senate Faculty meeting Thursday. It is unclear if masking will still be mandatory and which courses this will affect. UF Spokesperson Cynthia Roldan did not answer questions about what the university means by a return to normalcy; what masking, capacities, cleaning and social distancing will look like; the classes that will be affected; what encouraged the university to make these decisions nor the medical professionals who were consulted about this matter. Roldan wrote in a statement Friday that UF is still finalizing its Summer class plans. "We will continue to monitor developments with vaccines and conditions with the virus, and we will announce plans for this summer when we have more certainty," Roldan wrote in an email. |
| U. of Missouri Faculty Council extends test-optional admissions for another year | |
 | Prospective students seeking to attend the University of Missouri won't have to worry about taking a college admissions test to be admitted for the fall semester. The MU Faculty Council on Thursday approved extending the pilot test-optional admissions policy for an additional year for all campuses in the University of Missouri System. It was implemented for the current academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of which are still being felt. "We know there are still a lot of students who won't have the opportunity to test," said Kim Humphrey, MU vice provost for enrollment management. Under the pilot program, all first-time students who apply for fall 2021 will be allowed to have their applications reviewed with or without test scores. Staying competitive was another reason listed in the proposal for the action. "Our research shows that the majority of our competitors have either announced test-optional policies for fall 2021 or they are currently considering this option," the proposal reads. "Most of them are publishing these new admission policies as temporary." |
| Emergency grants provide relief for college students | |
 | "I work like 45 hours or more every week." For 23-year-old Sydni Boyd, the pandemic has been financially stressful. The University of Missouri senior has not only had to worry about school and the virus, but money as well. "The pandemic has been rough," Boyd said. "Trying to keep a roof over my head, food in my stomach, stuff like that, has been a really huge struggle." Boyd is one of roughly 8,300 MU students who received an emergency grant this week. She says it helped her with basic necessities. "I was able to get my groceries, my cat food, simple stuff like that," Boyd said. "Things that I've been down to the bare minimum." These grants are part of December's COVID-19 relief package. MU was allotted $8.15 million to provide relief directly to students. The grants range from $700 to $1,000. MU Financial Aid Executive Director Emily Haynam said more students should expect relief. "We anticipate, once we award the graduate and professional population, about having approximately 10,000 recipients," Haynam said. "We've already awarded about 8,300 students, of which about 6,500 of those received $1,000." |
| Penn State President Eric Barron announces plans to retire next year | |
| Penn State President Eric Barron announced Friday that he intends to retire once his current contract ends in June 2022, with a phased approach to find his replacement set to begin this spring. Barron started his Penn State tenure in 2014 as the university's 18th president, guiding it through the post-Jerry Sandusky era. He made his retirement plans public during Friday's board of trustees meeting. "It has been my greatest professional honor to serve as president of Penn State and to be able to collaborate with and learn from our amazing faculty, staff and students every day," Barron said. "Together, we have elevated Penn State as a leader in higher education poised to meet the future and to attract the best and brightest students." According to board of trustees chairman Matt Schuyler, Barron's replacement will be found using a "phased approach." The first step will occur this spring with a "Next Gen Penn State" listening phase, where students, faculty, donors and the like will simply share the qualities and qualifications they're looking for in the next university president. In the short term, details will be released early next month on the composition of the board of trustees' Presidential Recruitment and Selection Committee, which will be co-chaired by trustees Mark Dambly and Julie Anna Potts. |
| Ohio State president to offer a 'zero-debt degree,' hire diverse faculty and invest in research | |
| Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson wants Ohio State undergraduates to be able to leave school debt-free in the next 10 years. It's just one of the ambitious goals Johnson laid out in her first State of the University address Thursday afternoon, which was held virtually because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "This is well within our reach, and we will lead the nation as the first university to offer a zero-debt bachelor's degree at scale," Johnson said. She said making Ohio State a debt-free institution for undergrads is closely tied to her desire for the university to become a "truly anti-racist community" and to be a national leader in recruiting, retaining and graduating underrepresented and minority students -- all within the next decade. She recognizes there is an achievement gap for low-income students --- four-year graduation rates are 11% lower than the school's average --- and taking on student debt in order to graduate can be a real burden, she said. The average Buckeye who graduates incurs $27,000 in debt. Zero-debt bachelor's degrees would not only alleviate the financial burdens of college; Johnson said it would also eliminate equity barriers in accessing higher education. |
| A warning sign that the freshman class will shrink again in the fall of 2021 | |
| High school seniors are filling out more financial aid forms than they were in the midst of the pandemic autumn of 2020, when there were record high drops in completions. But as of Feb. 12, 2021, filings of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as FAFSA, were still down a whopping 9.4 percent from a year ago, which does not bode well for college going in the fall of 2021. FAFSA filings remain especially depressed at high schools with higher concentrations of students of color, in rural areas and small towns and in low-income schools everywhere. "We're clawing back some ground from where we were in November, but 9 percent is still a massive number," said Bill DeBaun, director of data and evaluation at the nonprofit National College Attainment Network, who tracks FAFSA completion rates every week. "We've made progress on getting more students of color and financially disadvantaged students to college. But given the trends we've seen, we risk backpedaling on that progress if we fail to help those kids find a post-secondary pathway now." FAFSA filings are seen as a leading indicator of future college enrollment because students need to fill out the form to obtain financial aid, including grants, loans and work-study jobs, important steps for most students in the college application process. More than half of the nation's 3.8 million high school seniors typically fill out the form every year and even a 1 or 2 percentage point drop is considered a big change. Thus far, only 39 percent of the current high school class of 2021 has completed the FAFSA, adding up to roughly 150,000 fewer students than usual at this point in the college application cycle. |
| Educational Testing Service unveils a new TOEFL but keeps the old TOEFL | |
 | The past year has been a terrible one for the standardized testing industry, as colleges have shifted to test-optional policies and test cancellations have plagued administrations. But even as colleges have gone test optional (or test blind), most have still required foreign students to take a test to demonstrate their English proficiency. For many years, the primary test used for admission to colleges in the United States was the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known by its acronym TOEFL. But during the year of the pandemic, an alternative -- shorter and less costly -- offered by Duolingo has gained market share. It was around before the pandemic but has taken off during the year of COVID-19. So the Educational Testing Service is unveiling a new version of TOEFL, which will cost about half of what the regular TOEFL costs (but still about twice the cost of Duolingo). The new test will be called TOEFL Essentials, while the old version will be called TOEFL iBT. The timing may at first seem odd for a major battle for the international student testing market. New international students dropped in enrollment by 43 percent this fall, and more drops are expected next year. But every indication exists that international students still want to study in the U.S., and American colleges want them -- both for the educational experience they provide and for the tuition dollars they bring. In this environment, colleges have been anxious to recruit the foreign students who are already in the United States, or who can get here. |
| U-Va., VMI among Virginia colleges seeing increases of coronavirus cases | |
| Virginia universities are ramping up testing and at least one is banning in-person gatherings to deal with surging cases of the coronavirus and protect against a more contagious variant that was first detected in the state in late January. More than 600 students have been sickened this week at the University of Virginia, spurring restrictions that have left the campus divided. And cases at the Virginia Military Institute have been on the rise since early this month. Schools like George Mason University have also noticed an uptick in cases, and the campus is preparing to ramp up testing -- with a goal of testing every student twice a week, said Gregory Washington, the university's president. Elsewhere, the number of coronavirus cases have recently been falling across the greater D.C. region. U-Va. officials are blaming widespread incidents of noncompliance for that campus's spike. But cases began to surge after a weekend of in-person fraternity and sorority recruitment events that U-Va. President Jim Ryan admitted at a town hall on Friday that "perhaps, we should have tried harder to discourage." |
| Could Fall Bring Some Return to Normalcy? These Colleges Say Yes | |
| No Zoom class can replicate the experience of studying forestry management or salmon habitats on 1,000 acres of woodland along the Puget Sound. That's at least partly why Evergreen State College, a campus in Olympia, Wash., known for environmental studies, has joined the growing number of institutions declaring their intent to resume in-person classes this fall. "A large portion of our students are first-generation, low-income students, and in person is the way we connect best with them," said Evergreen's president, George S. Bridges. Announcements like Evergreen's are trickling out despite admitted uncertainty and with plenty of caveats. While Covid-19 rates are generally declining across the country, cases of the disease are still spiking in some regions. The rollout of vaccines has been slower than expected, and the emergence of Covid-19 variants continues to worry some experts. Still, for tuition-dependent colleges that were already suffering from declining enrollment, the pressure has been intense to give students and their parents a glimmer of hope for a more normal semester. Many college officials were encouraged when President Biden said, during a televised town hall in Milwaukee this week, that he expects enough vaccine doses will be available by the end of July to vaccinate every American, including the 18- to 24-year-olds who haven't yet been prioritized. However, it could take at least a few months more -- well into the fall semester -- until those vaccines are actually injected into the arms of everyone who wants them, the president's chief medical adviser, Anthony S. Fauci, has said. |
| For many scientists, the pandemic changed research | |
| Over the past year, while some scientists turned their attention to COVID-19 and creating vaccines to fight it, most others had to pause their research -- and re-imagine how to do it. Isabella Rauch, an immunologist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, has mostly worked from home. Now, she occasionally works in her lab. But the lab where Rauch studies how pathogens enter the body through the intestines looks different these days. All the machinery -- incubators, freezers, scanners -- used by multiple people were located in one common space before the pandemic began. "But we really tried to make it possible for people to access these machines now during their work without having to cross someone else's path or come close to someone else that's doing their work," Rauch said. It's taken a while to get things up and running. She had to organize social-distance scheduling for researchers, breed new mice for experiments, thaw out frozen cells and then figure out how to virtually share images of those cells under a microscope. Her lab now operates at 70% capacity. And because of all the restrictions, the spontaneity that can cultivate scientific insight is lost. "It's less fun, I have to say. Like, for me the big part of the science is discussing the science with other people, getting excited about projects," Rauch said. And it may be harder to do that next project. |
| James Kvaal gets higher education position in Education Department | |
| In nominating James Kvaal to be under secretary of education -- the nation's top official on policies affecting colleges and universities -- the Biden administration has selected a longtime education policy expert who has focused on increasing access for low-income and other underrepresented students. Kvaal, who must still be confirmed by the Senate, most recently served as president of the Institute for College Access & Success, where he has also called for greater oversight of for-profit colleges and universities and tried to bring attention to the role skyrocketing tuition has played in driving up student debt. Kvaal, who had widely been speculated to be chosen for the position, served in the Obama administration as the deputy White House domestic policy adviser, focusing on issues related to economic opportunity and education, as well as deputy education under secretary. He is expected to be an influential voice on higher education in the Biden administration, particularly because Biden's nominee for education secretary, Miguel Cardona, has focused on K-12 issues throughout his career. The nomination was praised by a number of higher education leaders, including Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, who had served as the under secretary during the Obama administration. |
| We are the modern Jetsons | |
| Angela Farmer, an assistant clinical professor in the Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University, writes: While the creators of the once tremendously popular cartoon "The Jetsons" imagined a futuristic reality based strictly on imagination in 1962, 2021 definitely holds witness to some of those realities. Not only is everything in the Jetsons' cartoon lives automated, the very idea of human contact outside of an automated system is considered entirely foreign in their land of 2062, exactly 100 years from the actual date of the series' airing. Some items worth reflecting upon include the way in which people communicated and interacted on the show. There was telecommunication with visual and real time interaction, much like today's Facetime or Zoom applications. Their "smart" televisions were a bit of a computer hybrid, allowing one to work or attend school from home and supply work or homework assignments remotely, enter flat screens, smart phones, interactive watches, and tablets. ... The imagery of "The Jetsons" showed an alternative, progressive lifestyle where everything was easier, quicker, and more reliant upon machines and artificial intelligence than archaic human interaction and problem solving. In today's pandemic environment, we should recognize how useful it has been to access many of the digital tools and devices necessary to support student learning outside the school setting. Much like the Jetsons' regular challenges with errant devices, families of 2021 can definitely relate. |
| Republicans' bills defy Gil Carmichael goal to strengthen governor | |
| Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford writes: My political godfather, the late Gil Carmichael, fought hard for a new state constitution. A key purpose was to strengthen the office of Governor. He called Mississippi's chief executive "one of the weakest in the nation." As one of the pioneers of the modern Republican Party in Mississippi, he would be aghast that the Republican controlled Legislature is actively considering two bills that would do the opposite. House Bill 1013 introduced by Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, provides, effectively, for a takeover of the Division of Medicaid by the Legislature. The bill would abolish the Division of Medicaid as an executive agency under the Governor. Instead, it would put the agency under the control of a new Medicaid Commission. Further, the Lt. Governor, currently Delbert Hosemann, would get to appoint a majority of the commission members, with a sneaky assist by the Speaker of the House, currently Philip Gunn. ... Senate Bill 2727 introduced by Sen. Mike Thompson of Long Beach simply brought forward code sections dealing with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, not an unusual way to get legislation started. Once it got to the Senate floor, Thompson offered an amendment to change the way members of the department's board get appointed. |
| Could Mississippi constitutional change pave the way for winning independents? | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: When former Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. was weighing a run for governor in 2019, research was done on whether he could conduct a viable campaign as an independent. Waller, of course, opted to run as a Republican and later lost a runoff election in the primary to then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who had a massive campaign war chest and was viewed as the heavy favorite. At the time, Waller and others feared that an independent -- even a former Supreme Court justice -- would not be taken seriously in Mississippi, where there is not much history of viable third-party candidates. And perhaps more importantly, Waller would face a near impossible political task because of provisions in the Mississippi Constitution. Those provisions dictated that if no candidate in a statewide election garnered both a majority of the popular vote and a majority vote in the state's 122 House districts, the House of Representatives would vote to decide the winner. ... But things are different now. Elections can no longer go to the House after 75% of Mississippians voted in November to remove those provisions from the state Constitution. Now, if no candidate obtains a majority of the vote, there is a runoff for voters to decide between the top two vote-getters. |
| Landowners yet to reap benefit of higher prices | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: At $1.13 billion, timber is the third biggest agricultural crop in Mississippi, behind poultry/eggs at $2.16 billion and soybeans at $1.21 billion. There are 125,000 timber landowners with 19.7 million acres. That's two-thirds of the total acres in the state. So when lumber prices goes through the roof, it's big news in Mississippi. This week lumber prices hit $982 MBF (thousands of board feet.) That's 3.7 times higher than the 52-week low. Lumber MBF prices have hovered around $300 for the last 15 years. The lumber cost increase is hurting homebuilders, adding something like $17,000 to the average new home. Housing starts peaked at 2.2 million a year in 2007 then dropped to .5 million after the financial crisis of 2007, which was caused by a collapse in housing prices. In 2020, housing starts were 1.5 million. That's equal to the 40-year average from 1960 to 2000. Studies estimate the two million houses a year need to be built for the next three decades to replace dilapidated ones. That level would increase demand for lumber and pine trees. |
SPORTS
| Iverson Molinar scores 17 as Mississippi St. beats Ole Miss 66-56 | |
| Iverson Molinar scored 17 points, Mississippi State picked up 36 in the paint, and the Bulldogs defeated in-state rival Ole Miss 66-56 on Saturday. D.J. Stewart Jr. added 16 points with six assists and Tolu Smith scored 12 points as the Bulldogs (12-11, 6-8 Southeastern Conference) avenged an 18-point home loss to Mississippi on Jan. 19. Mississippi State opened with a pair of dunks from Abdul Ado and Smith and never trailed. The Bulldogs led 31-25 at the break and Molinar scored 12 of his 17 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half to keep Ole Miss at bay. The Rebels and the Bulldogs are the SEC's most-played rivalry, having met 263 times, and Ole Miss had won 11 of the previous 15 matchups. The Bulldogs host South Carolina on Wednesday. |
| Mississippi State men's basketball travels to Oxford, stifles rival Ole Miss | |
| Mississippi State and Ole Miss are rivals. They don't need incentive to put forth their best effort when they meet, but there was plenty of it to go around when the two met in Oxford on Saturday night. Ole Miss (12-9, 7-7 SEC) came in trying to strengthen its resume for the NCAA Tournament, but that took a hit after a 66-56 home loss to Mississippi State (12-11, 6-8). Rebels coach Kermit Davis said he sensed the effort the Bulldogs put forth ahead of Saturday. "I couldn't warn them anymore how desperate Mississippi State was going to be," Davis said. "I knew what kind of game it was going to be. We just didn't have our best edge. We didn't play like a team that was chasing the bubble tonight." After four straight wins, two over Top 10 opponents, the Rebels found themselves in a precarious position heading into Saturday evening. ESPN's Joe Lunardi had them as one of the "Next Four Out" in his most recent tournament bracket projection. And as for the Bulldogs, they entered the game all but out of the NCAA Tournament talks. However, after a 64-46 shellacking at the hands of Ole Miss on Jan. 19, this matchup was about pride and revenge. |
| Bulldogs put the bite on Devontae Shuler, end Rebels' streak | |
| NCAA Tournament talk got a little more dicey for Ole Miss on Saturday thanks to its rival. Mississippi State dominated the paint and held the Rebels' best player, senior guard Devontae Shuler, to 1-for-15 shooting in a 66-56 win at The Pavilion. The Rebels (12-9, 7-7 SEC) had won 11 of the last 15 in the series, but the latest result stings as it ends a four-game win streak that had sparked March Madness hopes. The Bulldogs (12-11, 6-8 SEC) made amends for a 64-46 loss to the Rebels in Starkville on Jan. 19. That loss set in motion a downward spin for MSU which had lost six of eight going into the rematch. MSU center Abdul Ado said this one was personal for the Bulldogs. "We got punked the first game, no question. We decided, 'Hey, it's not like they are way better than us, not like they're some NBA team. We feel we have the same talent they do and probably better players." Ole Miss plays at Missouri Tuesday night at 8; MSU is at home against South Carolina Wednesday at 6. |
| No. 7 Mississippi State baseball beats No. 10 Texas on opening day | |
| Welcome back, baseball. With maroon-clad Mississippi State fans spaced out in the seats down the third-base line and their burnt-orange Texas counterparts occupying the green chairbacks down first, two of college baseball's most storied programs started their seasons against each other at Globe Life Field on Saturday. The Bulldogs and Longhorns battled severe winter storms that left their respective hometowns covered in ice and snow for most of the week, but both still made it to Arlington -- which was also heavily affected by the storms -- for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown. While both fan bases showed up, it seemed as if only one of the teams did. No. 7 Mississippi State dismantled No. 10 Texas 8-3 to beat the Longhorns in the first game the programs have played since Texas beat Mississippi State in the 1985 College World Series. "We hadn't played in front of fans since (March) of last year," MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. "So it was an exciting experience for our players' families getting to see them play." |
| Luke Hancock, bottom of Bulldogs order deliver in No. 7 Mississippi State's season-opening win over No. 9 Texas | |
| For 346 days, Mississippi State waited for afternoons like Saturday. Through a promising start to a season that came to an abrupt halt, a global pandemic and a once-in-a-century winter storm that threatened to cancel the Bulldogs' season opener entirely, the ghosts of months past have held steady since last spring's two-game sweep of No. 4 Texas Tech in Biloxi. Finally, after months of anticipation, MSU (1-0) took the diamond once more, handling No. 9 Texas (0-1) 8-3 in the first game of the State Farm College Baseball Showdown Saturday in Arlington, Texas. "Oh, it was a blessing," Bulldogs head coach Chris Lemonis said. "It has been a long year and an even longer week with all the stuff that we've had to go through." In a year in which offense was a legitimate question mark heading into 2021, MSU, at least for now, answered offseason prognosticators' doubts decisively in its first victory of the year. With Jordan Westburg and Justin Foscue off to the professional ranks, the Bulldogs have noticeable holes in the middle of their lineup. But on an afternoon in which MSU's star-studded junior trio of Rowdey Jordan, Josh Hatcher and Tanner Allen recorded just one hit in their first 13 at-bats, catcher Luke Hancock anchored a prolific day from MSU's bottom of the order quartet. Together, Hancock, Scotty Dubrule, Drew McGowan and Landon Jordan combined for seven of the Bulldogs' 12 hits and four of their seven RBIs. |
| MSU's Christian MacLeod, Landon Sims dominate opener | |
| The Mississippi State baseball team used a dominant pitching performance to open up the season with a Top 10 win on Saturday. No. 7 Mississippi State beat No. 9 Texas, 8-3, in the season-opening game at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The game kicked off the 2021 State Farm College Baseball Showdown, which features six Top 10 teams. Mississippi State (1-0) used four pitchers -- Christian MacLeod and relievers Landon Sims, Riley Self and Spencer Price. They combined to allow nine hits, three earned runs and struck out 18 batters. "This was a pretty cool experience and I'm really happy with the way we played," head coach Chris Lemonis said. "I thought we pitched well and got out of some jams with some great performances. I thought we defended well and man, what a gritty approach at the plate." MacLeod got the Opening Day start and allowed only one run in four innings. He struck out seven batters while the MSU offense offered up a 5-0 lead. Landon Jordan and Drew McGowan each had RBI singles in the second inning, while designated hitter Luke Hancock (Houston HS) drove in two runs on a solo home run in the fourth inning and a RBI single in the fifth. He finished the day 3 for 3. |
| No. 7 Mississippi State baseball ninth inning rally comes up just short in loss to No. 11 TCU | |
| Everything about Sunday was different from Saturday at the College Baseball Showdown for Mississippi State until it was too little, too late. Bulldog fans coated the first base side with maroon and white inside of the seats surrounding third at Globe Life Field. The players wore white jerseys instead of maroon. And they couldn't touch TCU's pitching like they did against Texas the day before. Until the bottom of the ninth. Mississippi State loaded the bases with one out, only trailing by one. Sophomore left fielder Drew McGowan grounded into a double play to leave the tying runner 90 feet from home plate and the winning runner 180 away. No. 11 TCU (1-1) held on to defeat No. 7 Mississippi State (1-1) by securing a 3-2 victory playing just 20 miles away from their campus in Fort Worth. Mississippi State plays its final game of the College Baseball Showdown on Monday at 11 a.m. against Texas Tech. |
| No. 7 Mississippi State baseball suffers first loss as comeback effort against No. 10 TCU falls just short | |
| Scotty Dubrule dropped the bat and jogged to first base. When the Mississippi State freshman second baseman walked on four pitches to load the bases with one out against No. 10 TCU (1-1) in the bottom of the ninth Sunday afternoon, the maroon-and-white faithful at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, reached a fever pitch. MSU had cut a 3-1 lead in half on a Josh Hatcher single and was suddenly poised to tie the game if not win outright. What momentum the Horned Frogs had held a few minutes earlier, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs had seized. But a few pitches later, it was gone. Drew McGowan hit into a game-ending double play, and the Bulldogs' frantic comeback effort came up just short in a 3-2 loss Sunday in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown. "Our guys fought to the end," Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said. "We had some really good at-bats there in the ninth." The Bulldogs (1-1) brought home their first run of the inning after Logan Tanner hit a one-out double and Hatcher poked the ball up the middle to score him. Hatcher went first to third on a Luke Hancock base hit, and Dubrule took a free pass from Garrett Wright. But McGowan's hard ground ball to second on a 1-1 count found the glove of TCU second baseman Gray Rodgers, who flipped to shortstop Tommy Sacco. Sacco threw on to first to complete a critical 4-6-3 double play that promptly erased Mississippi State's comeback chances. |
| Mississippi State softball's school-record 17-game winning streak snapped at Snowman tournament | |
| The Mississippi State softball team typically has no problem turning on the offense when it's sorely needed in the late innings. But a nagging inability to bring that intensity from the beginning of every game finally cost the Bulldogs on Sunday at Nusz Park. A late comeback against Southern Illinois in Mississippi State's second game at The Snowman (Alex Wilcox Memorial) Tournament couldn't save the Bulldogs from suffering their first loss in 18 games and 365 days. No. 22 MSU (3-1) lost 6-5 to SIU in eight innings, the team's first loss since Feb. 22, 2020, against Oregon. The Bulldogs beat Stephen F. Austin 4-2 earlier Sunday, but Mississippi State coach Samantha Ricketts said the issue came into play in both contests. "I think it kind of showed up a little bit today -- not bringing it from the beginning in both games," Ricketts said. In the nightcap against the Salukis, Mississippi State scored all five of its runs in a stunning sixth inning featuring three home runs as the Bulldogs' bats came to life. Chloe Malau'ulu led off the frame with a homer to left, Montana Davidson tied the ballgame with a two-run blast just inside (and well over) the left-field foul pole, and Jackie McKenna put Mississippi State ahead with a solo blast to straightaway center. But the steadier offense of the Salukis -- and some help by an uncharacteristically poor Mississippi State defense -- gave SIU a big win in Starkville. |
| Deion Sanders era at Jackson State kicks off with no shortage of drama | |
| Deion Sanders sauntered into his first postgame news conference as a college head coach sporting a letterman-style jacket and a nasty snarl. "This is about to be the best news conference you've ever seen," the Jackson State coach flatly told a group of reporters. Sanders fumed with rage. He beat upon a table. He raised his voice. He stared daggers at cameras. And he delivered a stirring message: I'll find the person who stole my stuff. During Jackson State's 53-0 win over Edwards Waters, Sanders says that someone gained access to the JSU locker room during the game and stole his belongings. He'd reached into his locker to find no phone, no wallet, no nothing. He hissed with agitation. An hour later, in a bizarre and stunning turn of events, Jackson State officials announced that Sanders's belongings were never stolen. They were only "misplaced" after being moved for "safekeeping," a JSU official told Sports Illustrated and multiple other media outlets. The belongings were recovered and returned to the coach, Jackson State athletic director Ashley Robinson confirmed Sunday evening. But that wasn't the end of it. In a tweet, Sanders claims his belongings were, in fact, stolen and that his assistant caught the burglar in the act. He further confirmed that in a statement to SI. This was a spectacle of sorts that centered around one man---they call him "Coach Prime"---stalking the sideline in a football game, in February of all months, played at a stadium without running water and in a city only just thawing from a week-long freeze. |
| Coach Prime got a Gatorade bath, a game ball -- and, he got his stuff back | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Deion Sanders got his first head coaching victory Sunday, and that was just for starters. He also got an icy Gatorade bath. He was presented a trophy on the field, and then his players awarded him the game ball in the locker room -- "one of the best moments of my professional sports career," he would call the game ball presentation. You'd think he'd would have been smiling from ear to ear in his first postgame press conference as head football coach at Jackson State. He was not. "I'm pissed. I've got mixed emotions," Sanders said, and then he said a whole lot more. He said he had been robbed, that someone had stolen his belongings out of the coaches' dressing room while the game -- a 53-0 JSU victory over Edward Waters College -- was being played. He said somebody had pilfered his wallet, credit cards, cell phone and watches. "Thank God I had on my necklaces," he said. "So when I talk about raising the quality and raising the standards, that goes for everyone, not just the people on the field, not just the coaches, not just the teachers, not just the faculty -- everybody, security and everybody." Just a few minutes later came the remarkable news that Sanders had not been robbed after all. His belongings had been moved for safekeeping. They were back in his possession. |
| How UGA baseball plans to bring 'community together' through social initiatives | |
 | UGA baseball freshman Josh Stinson led a protest for racial justice in downtown Athens last summer after the death of George Floyd, a Black man from Minnesota who died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a police officer's knee. Since then, the Bulldogs baseball team has held team meetings and guest speakers to have conversations on equality and justice. One speaker, Kevin Carr, opened the floor for players to speak. Teammate Kameron Guidry spoke up with a message that has stuck with Stinson, a moment that pointed to unity and inspiration moving forward. "Change is uncomfortable, and if you aren't going to be uncomfortable then you can't make change," Stinson recalled Guidry saying. Earlier this month, the players launched the G-Series Initiative and participated in a virtual discussion via Instagram Live to connect with the local community. The initiative is aimed at engaging in conversations about social equality, diversity and unity. The conversation was held by graduate Riley King and two freshmen, Dwight Allen and Stinson, as a new effort in the baseball program's continued push for justice. |
| U. of Oregon student government wants to stop payments to athletics | |
| Members of the student government at the University of Oregon were reviewing their $17 million annual budget last summer when they came across a decades-old contract with the athletics department, which gave students access to tickets for football and basketball games. About 10 percent of the student government budget, or $1.7 million, was going to the athletics department each year in exchange for "free" student tickets to athletic events, according to members of the Student Senate's Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee. The discovery immediately raised red flags. The university had canceled athletic events during the spring term because of the pandemic, and students were not attending any sporting events on campus. The Ducks' upcoming fall football season was also in question. What's more, committee members said, the tickets aren't free, and they're not guaranteed. Under the current contract, students pay $25.50 each during the fall, winter and spring terms for access to tickets, even if they don't attend any athletic events, according to Annika Mayne, a student senator and chair of the committee. The fee gives students access to a lottery for a game ticket, not an actual ticket. The charge is part of a mandatory $271.50 Incidental Fee, which funds student government programs and clubs and is paid by students each term. According to the university, the contract has been in place since 1987. Even so, members of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon, or ASUO, are now questioning how many students even attend games during a normal year and asking why they should be paying for games this fall when no one knows when they will be played again or when fans will be allowed back in the stands, Mayne said. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
