| Monday, May 24, 2021 |
| Mississippi State University lifts mask requirement for those vaccinated | |
 | Mississippi State University will lift its mask mandate in the classroom only if students are fully vaccinated. Students like Hawa Abdalla are eager to ditch their masks. "I'm excited to be able to just see faces and kind of just get things back to normal," she said. Abdalla is a junior at MSU. She was in her freshman year when the pandemic changed the way she knew college. The mask mandate brought her challenges, as she is hard of hearing and found it difficult to understand her professors and fellow classmates during class. State announced by June 2nd, students and employees will no longer need to wear a mask while in the classroom if they have received their coronavirus vaccine. MSU said they are urging all students and staff to get the vaccine. |
| MSU theatre student makes history with Broadway scholarship | |
 | A Mississippi State Senior has made theatre history. Donovan Andrade is one of 5 students of color nationally, who were given a chance to learn from the best of the best theatre professionals. "To me, it's monumental because I never truly saw myself as a theatre major coming into college. I kind of really wanted to stick with like science. But when I hoped into it, it was something I truly fell in love with. And then from there one, I developed myself as a student but also as a professional when it came to working in the theatre realm," Andrade said. "We had, the five of us had like that personal connection, one on one, with a certain stage manager to kind of go under their wing, we'll say," Andrade added. Andrade isn't the only one who benefits from the symposium. This opportunity gives the Mississippi State Theater Department more recognition in the future. In addition to the 4-day symposium, he now has a long-term connection to the theatre world. After getting his bachelor's degree, he plans on getting a master's degree in Fine Arts and Stage Management. |
| Commissioner Andy Gipson hosts Agriculture Technology Roundtable | |
 | On Tuesday, the Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson hosted an Agriculture Technology Roundtable discussion with farmers, university officials, legislators and industry stakeholders at Mississippi State University's (MSU) Delta Research and Extension Center (DREC). "The future of agriculture, Mississippi's top industry, is driven heavily by the introduction and adoptions of new technologies," said Gipson. "This roundtable provided us the opportunity to bring together various stakeholders to discuss the vital role technology plays in agriculture and its importance to the industry and farmers' bottom lines." Panelists included Pete Nelson, executive director of AgLaunch in Memphis, Tenn., who discussed the AgLaunch's efforts to grow ag tech startups and build collaborative farmer networks across the surrounding region. Dee Boykin of the Southern Soil & Plant Lab, LLC, in Yazoo City, also discussed various agriculture technology practices used by farmers including aerial imagery, drones and variable rate applications, as well as the challenges faced by farmers with inadequate broadband access. |
| Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson Hosts Agriculture Technology Roundtable | |
 | On May 18, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson hosted an Agriculture Technology Roundtable discussion with farmers, university officials, legislators and industry stakeholders at Mississippi State University's (MSU) Delta Research and Extension Center (DREC) in Stoneville. "The future of agriculture, Mississippi's top industry, is driven heavily by the introduction and adoptions of new technologies," said Commissioner Gipson. "This roundtable provided us the opportunity to bring together various stakeholders to discuss the vital role technology plays in agriculture and its importance to the industry and farmers' bottom lines." Dr. Steve Martin, associate director of the MSU Extension Service and interim head of the Delta Research and Extension Center, opened with a brief overview of DREC. Dr. Alex Thomasson, department head of MSU's Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, discussed the importance of various technologies including precision ag, drones and robots, plant phenomics, and traceability and block chain. |
| New website streamlines flood irrigation resources | |
| A new online resource is helping agricultural producers find technologies to improve water conservation on irrigated land. The Mississippi State University Extension Service is among four land-grant universities collaborating on this web page, which is available at http://surfaceirrigation.extension.msstate.edu. The page hosts dozens of publications and videos related to irrigation, as well as product demonstrations. "Many regions in the U.S. have converted from flood to sprinkler and drip irrigation systems on their farmland to increase water efficiency, but one-third of irrigated acres nationally remain under flood systems for any number of hydrologic, agricultural and economic reasons," said Drew Gholson, an assistant MSU Extension professor and irrigation specialist based at the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. "It is important to not overlook flood systems and to foster efforts towards improving water conservation in these systems." |
| LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins: Golden Triangle striking 'balance' with solar | |
 | In the span of less than 18 months, three 2,000-acre sites in the Golden Triangle -- two in Lowndes County, another in West Point -- are under contract for solar power production facilities. Another 2,000 acres adjacent to the Clay County project, along with another comparable site near the Industrial Park in Starkville, have been identified as possible solar facilities as well. So how big are these facilities? Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins didn't answer immediately when asked the question. Instead, he swiveled in his office chair, tapped on his keyboard. Up popped a Google Earth image on his desktop. "This is the steel plant," he said, referring to the Steel Dynamics property at the Lowndes County Industrial Park. "This is everything out there, the steel mill and all the other businesses. It comes out to about 1,200 acres. That should give you an idea of how big these solar projects are." The three planned solar facilities are being built by Florida-based Origis Energy, which has contracted with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Together the three sites, which will begin to come online in successive years starting in the fall of 2022, will generate a combined 550 megawatts of energy along with another 300 megawatts in battery storage. They represent capital investment of more than $500 million and will produce millions of dollars in tax revenue for West Point and Clay County (although the facility is located in Clay County, the city and county split tax revenue as part of an interlocal agreement), Lowndes County and the West Point-Clay and Lowndes County school districts. What they won't produce is permanent jobs, at least not in significant numbers. |
| Key procurement reform soon to be scuttled by new law | |
| A large part of a key procurement reform passed in 2017 that was saving taxpayers money will be struck down when a new law passed this session goes into effect. Senate Bill 2024 was signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves and removes the need for state and local governments to use reverse auctions for term contracts. These types of contracts govern the supply of a commodity at a set price over a term, often a year. This is done with some types of commodities, such as asphalt or concrete pipe, to lock in a low price when fluctuations are possible. A reverse auction is one where sellers bid against each other in real time to win a buyer's business, usually electronically. Each vendor is pre-qualified and it allows a seller to purchase commodities from multiple bidders. Also known as an E-auction, the auction facilitator receives a fee from the winning vendor for helping put on the auction and secure bidders. The bill originally was aimed revising the bid process on counties and municipalities for banking services for taxpayer funds, but both chambers attached reverse repealers, which means the bill can't reach the governor's desk without further work. That further work turned out to be language added in conference that ended the requirement for reverse auctions on term contracts. This has the effect of largely doing away with the reverse auction requirement, according to the author of the 2017 legislation, state Rep. Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn. |
| Justice Department wants Mississippi to expand community mental health services | |
 | The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to force Mississippi's mental health agency to increase the number of community-oriented mental health services in the state. As part of the ongoing litigation between the federal government and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, attorneys for the federal government in court documents on Friday submitted the detailed plan to U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves that asked him to appoint an external monitor to ensure Mississippi complies with any court-ordered remediation. "The Proposed Remedial Plan provides for a Court-appointed Monitor both because of the complexity of the issues in this case and because of the State's decade-long failure to remedy widely acknowledged deficiencies in its adult mental health system," the DOJ's filing reads. The main thread the federal government uses to weave its arguments together is that the state relies too heavily on state-run hospitals to treat mental health patients, instead of allowing them to get mental health treatment in their own communities. The DOJ argues that when patients go to state hospitals, they often stay there for long periods of time and become recurring patients. |
| Mississippi could gain 21,700 jobs under Medicaid expansion | |
| Expanding Medicaid in Mississippi will create roughly three times the number of jobs as the Nissan plant in Canton and the Toyota Motors Manufacturing plant in Blue Springs did combined, according to a national report released Thursday. In Mississippi, of the 21,700 new jobs possibly created with Medicaid expansion, 12,500 of the jobs will be created in healthcare, 1,400 in construction, 2,600 in retail, 400 in finance and insurance and 4,900 in other sectors, according to the report, The Economic and Employment Effects of Medicaid Expansions Under the American Rescue Plan. As a comparison, the Nissan plant in Canton had roughly 5,250 employees pre-pandemic and the Toyota Motors plant had about 2,000 employees pre-pandemic. The report by the Washington-based Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy, and the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health says expanding Medicaid in Mississippi and 13 other states can help those states and the rest of the nation recover from recession and the negative effects of COVID-19. "Medicaid expansion is a no-brainer for Mississippi," said Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson. "Refusal to expand Medicaid has cost our Mississippi hospitals and health care providers billions of dollars." |
| Mississippi's last abortion clinic at center of US debate | |
 | The bright pink building in an eclectic neighborhood of Mississippi's capital goes by different names. To the anti-abortion protesters whose demonstrations have sparked a noise ordinance, it is an "abortion mill." To those who work and volunteer there, the facility known as the "pink house" provides the last safe haven in Mississippi for women who choose to have an abortion. Now, the only abortion clinic in Mississippi is facing what could be its biggest challenge. The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear arguments this fall over a Mississippi law that would limit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy -- a case designed to test how far a court remade under former President Donald Trump is willing to go to restrict the right to an abortion. The 2018 Mississippi law has been on hold because of the court fight. If justices allow it to take effect, that wouldn't have a huge impact on who can get an abortion in Mississippi. Health care providers at Jackson Women's Health Organization don't perform abortions after 16 weeks. But clinic director Shannon Brewer said upholding the ban would prompt lawmakers in conservative states to push to more restrictions. "They'll steadily chip away at it. And then once they know they can, they're going to constantly do it," Brewer said Tuesday. |
| USDA moves forward with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock's $4B debt relief plan for Black farmers | |
| The White House's plan to provide $4 billion in debt relief to Black farmers took a major step forward Friday when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cleared the way for eligible borrowers to receive the payments as early as June. The debt relief plan was tucked into the $1.9 trillion stimulus package at the urging of Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock to help disadvantaged farmers who have faced a legacy of financial discrimination. It's advancing despite stiff pushback from opponents, including some Republicans in Congress, and skepticism from some Black farmers worried it won't take effect. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an interview that eligible farmers will soon receive notices for payments that will cover up to 120% of outstanding debt. Under the plan, the USDA expects payments to begin in early June and continue on a rolling basis. The program is moving forward despite growing controversy. White farmers have sued the USDA to stop the initiative, claiming reverse discrimination, an opinion echoed by some congressional Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens. Three major banking groups recently complained the government initiative will undercut their profits and risk future loans. |
| 'You Can Feel the Tension': A Windfall for Minority Farmers Divides Rural America | |
 | Shade Lewis had just come in from feeding his cows one sunny spring afternoon when he opened a letter that could change his life: The government was offering to pay off his $200,000 farm loan, part of a new debt relief program created by Democrats to help farmers who have endured generations of racial discrimination. It was a windfall for a 29-year-old who has spent the past decade scratching out a living as the only Black farmer in his corner of northeastern Missouri, where signposts quoting Genesis line the soybean fields and traffic signals warn drivers to go slow because it is planting season. But the $4 billion fund has angered conservative white farmers who say they are being unfairly excluded because of their race. And it has plunged Mr. Lewis and other farmers of color into a new culture war over race, money and power in American farming. "You can feel the tension," Mr. Lewis said. "We've caught a lot of heat from the conservative Caucasian farmers." The program is part of a broader effort by the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress to confront how racial injustice has shaped American farming. |
| Conservatives lash out at the military over 'woke' policies | |
 | Republican lawmakers and right-wing personalities are increasingly criticizing military leaders over what they say is political bias against conservatives in the armed forces and the new Pentagon leadership's "cancel culture" and focus on being "woke." The latest uproar comes as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has focused on rooting out extremism and increasing diversity in the military, a priority of President Joe Biden's administration. Austin's new mandate that troops complete a diversity and inclusion training program has been a particular source of mockery, along with his previous move to end the last administration's ban on transgender troops. Conservatives this week slammed the decision to relieve Space Force commander Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier after comments he made about diversity training in the military. "The diversity, inclusion and equity industry and the trainings we are receiving in the military ... is rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism," he said on a podcast, Military.com reported. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, sent Austin a letter Thursday demanding the Defense Department publicly explain the rationale for Lohmeier's dismissal. "As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I am committed to stopping this cancerous ideology from corrupting the world's greatest fighting force," Wicker wrote to Austin. "I urge you to recognize the harm and division being sown in our Armed Forces and to commit to uprooting un-American [critical race theory] activism from our United States military." |
| White House, Republicans remain far apart on infrastructure | |
 | The White House on Friday lowered its original $2.2 trillion infrastructure proposal by roughly $500 billion, calling it an effort to attract bipartisan support. Republican lawmakers said the parties remain far apart. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the White House, in its third meeting with GOP senators, "put forward a reasonable counteroffer that reduces the size of the package from $2.25 trillion in additional investment to $1.7 trillion." "In our view, this is the act, the art I should say, of seeking common ground," she said. Psaki said the new proposal reduced funding for broadband to match the Republican offer and reduced the proposed investment in roads, bridges and major projects to come closer to the number proposed by the GOP senators. The counteroffer comes as Democrats are urging Biden to move forward on the package without GOP support. Republicans said they see room for more cuts. "There continue to be vast differences between the White House and Senate Republicans when it comes to the definition of infrastructure, the magnitude of proposed spending, and how to pay for it," a spokesman for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in a statement after Friday's talks. Republican Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Michael D. Crapo of Idaho, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Roger Wicker of Mississippi also participated in the meeting. |
| President Biden doubles FEMA funding to prepare for extreme weather events, citing climate change | |
 | President Biden will announce Monday afternoon that he's doubling the amount of money the U.S. government will spend helping communities prepare for extreme weather events, while launching a new effort at NASA to collect more sophisticated climate data. While the $1 billion in funding is a fraction of what taxpayers spend each year on disasters, it underscores a broader effort to account for the damage wrought by climate change, and curb it. Last week the president signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to identify and disclose the perils a warming world poses to federal programs, assets and liabilities, while also requiring federal suppliers to reveal their own climate-related risks. The president will make the announcement during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's headquarters Monday afternoon, where he will receive a briefing on this year's outlook for the Atlantic hurricane season. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program helps communities prepare in advance for hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters. The administration will target roughly 40 percent of the additional money to disadvantaged areas. |
| Armed drones crisscross Middle Eastern skies, bringing havoc and a new threat to U.S. | |
 | The masked fighters in camouflage uniforms trudge across the dunes of Gaza, lugging two gray drones with wooden propellers and warheads. Loaded on metal launchers, the winged aircraft shoot into the sky, headed off to strike Israel. The propaganda video, made public this month by Hamas in the midst of the worst fighting with Israel in years, was meant to cast the militant group as a formidable fighting force, capable of overcoming its foe's advanced military with its own homemade technology. But the video also served to highlight the proliferation of military drones crisscrossing the region's skies in unprecedented numbers. They target oil facilities, militant hideouts, Israeli and Palestinian territory and even U.S. bases in the region. Some are shot down, but they are cheap to build and so many are in the air that some reach their targets, sometimes with devastating results. "These small- and medium-sized [drones] present a new and complex threat to our forces and those of our partners and allies," Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, told Congress last month. "For the first time since the Korean War, we are operating without complete air superiority." |
| Hattiesburg Pocket Museum, USM hosts story walk event | |
 | It was a fun-filled day in downtown Hattiesburg as the Hattiesburg Pocket Museum held a story walk Saturday. A story walk is an event that encourages children to explore the world of reading. The museum partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Library and Information Science Center to put on the event. Children were given free books and were able to make arts and crafts with family and friends, while a local band was playing for those in attendance. "We did the story walk. We decorated her binoculars here and so, she has taken part in everything here and it's been really nice," said Brandi Twillie, an attendee who took her daughter to experience the event. Associate professor of the School of Library and Information Science Stacy Creel shares insight into the story walk event. "Story walk is the idea of taking a book apart. You take two copies and you separate them out, and then is the idea of moving while reading getting people active," said Creel. |
| LSU's Memorial Tower sets soft re-opening for June 1; formal re-dedication on Veterans Day | |
 | A new LSU Military Museum inside a renovated Memorial Tower at LSU will have a "soft" reopening June 1 and a formal rededication service on Veterans Day. The curator says the museum will be open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from June 1 to June 6. There will be no admission charge. "The soft opening will afford us the opportunity to conduct a trial run to ensure that everything is functioning properly as we prepare for the formal opening in November," Curator Ellen Brown said. Memorial Tower, on the campus' oldest buildings, was designed, financed and dedicated by the American Legion posts of Louisiana. It was given to the university in memory of Louisiana citizens who died during World War I, and their names are inscribed on the four large bronze tablets in the rotunda. The reopening follows a three-year renovation. |
| U. of South Carolina boss called Strom center renaming debate a 'train wreck' that is 'going to get ugly' | |
 | Call it a decision no one wants to make: Whether to rename the University of South Carolina fitness center named after U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond. USC President Bob Caslen had a few names for the quandary heading for a resolution in early June. "I truly believe it will be a head-on train wreck, but we'll need to mitigate the fallout," Caslen wrote to his predecessor Harris Pastides in August. That same month, Caslen wrote to his chief of staff, Mark Bieger, that renaming the Strom wellness center was an "elephant in the room." In emails obtained by The Post and Courier under a public records request, Caslen and his team struggled with calls to remove Thurmond's name. School leaders worried about the perception of USC versus archrival Clemson University and the slow pace of deliberation by a university history commission that Pastides co-chairs. Donors, alumni and staff sent Caslen and the university trustees emails expressing divergent concerns about proposals to remove Thurmond's name from the 19-year-old wellness center near the school's basketball arena. Supporters for keeping the name worried about "cancel culture." One graduate threatened to cut off future donations. |
| UF lifts hiring pause as it shifts to pre-COVID-19 operations | |
| The University of Florida will resume faculty and staff hiring and employee business-related travel this Summer. The university announced May 13 it will lift the hiring pause, along with all other COVID-related restrictions on travel and visitors put in place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The update is effective immediately as UF's campus prepares to return to full capacity for Summer B and Fall. The hiring pause was announced on March 27, 2020, and the non-essential travel ban on March 16, 2020, as precautionary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19. Only essential travel relating to university business was permitted and had to be approved by the dean of a college, senior vice president or vice president. Although travel is now permitted, the university will be monitoring the situation as restrictions lessen throughout the year and more so in 2022, Chris Cowen, senior vice president and chief financial officer at UF, wrote in an email. The UF cabinet decided to enact the hiring pause to address the possible economic impacts of the pandemic, such as funds needed to fill staff positions, Jodi Gentry, vice president for Human Resources at UF, wrote in an email. |
| Most institutions are resuming or even restoring the retirement benefits cut during COVID-19 | |
 | With some exceptions, colleges and universities are planning to restore or have already restored the faculty retirement benefits they cut during COVID-19. Having fared better than expected during the pandemic in term of finances, certain institutions are even retroactively contributing to their professors' retirement plans to make up for those cuts. A forthcoming full-length report on faculty compensation from the American Association of University Professors says that more than a quarter of institutions eliminated or reduced fringe benefits for full-time faculty members during the 2020-21 academic year. Private institutions were much more likely to do so than public institutions. According to data from the College and University Professionals Association-Human Resources, 71 percent of college and universities contributed to employee 403(b) plans, the most commonly offered retirement plan in higher education, in January 2020. As of January 2021, that figure was just 63 percent. While the AAUP and CUPA-HR don't have current data on how many institutions plan to resume their stalled benefits, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, or TIAA, said that nearly all of its top 200 client institutions that are still suspending retirement matching contributions plan a full reinstatement by July 1. |
| As Pandemic Eases, College Fundraisers Are Optimistic About Meeting Goals | |
| College fundraisers' confidence in meeting financial goals is the highest it's been since before the pandemic began. Eighty-one percent of college advancement professionals say they are confident they will meet their fundraising goals for the 2021 fiscal year. That's a big reversal from last April, when only 22 percent felt that way. The results come from the latest edition of a survey by fundraising consultancy Washburn & McGoldrick. The firm has regularly polled college fundraising officials since April 2020 to gauge how they are responding to the pandemic's shifting set of challenges. The latest survey includes responses from 461 individuals at 103 institutions, and its results have a roughly 4 percent margin of error. As recently as October 2020, only 40 percent of college advancement professionals felt they would meet their goals that fiscal year. "Some of the confidence is just a sense that there will be a return to campus, whereas last year at this time, we were just hoping there would be," said Karin George, managing principal at Washburn & McGoldrick. "People are feeling like, 'OK, I can actually go and engage with people one-on-one. I'm going to be able to achieve some of the things that were just so difficult to achieve during the pandemic.'" |
| Colleges line up to accept Bitcoin, cryptocurrency donations | |
| In addition to cash, stocks, art and land, colleges and universities are letting donors know they are happy to accept a new type of gift: cryptocurrency. The University of Pennsylvania announced last week it had received $5 million worth of Bitcoin from an anonymous donor. The money was earmarked for the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at the Wharton School. The gift pales in comparison to some of the university's other newsworthy donations, including a $125 million gift to the law school in 2019 and a $225 million donation to the school of medicine in 2011. But still the gift made headlines -- it's the largest cryptocurrency gift the Ivy League university has ever received. "It also sends the message that the university is capable of receiving gifts of all sizes of cryptocurrency," said John Zeller, senior vice president of development and alumni relations at Penn. "That's why this was such a big deal." Several years ago, many universities had no way to accept virtual currency. As the cryptocurrency market has grown, more and more donors are approaching institutions with gifts of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. Disinclined to turn away anything of value, colleges and universities have scrambled to build infrastructure to accept virtual currency or contract with companies that can process the donations for them. |
| For Colleges, Vaccine Mandates Often Depend on Which Party Is in Power | |
| For more than 400 colleges and universities, it is being billed as the ticket to a normal year on campus: Require all students to be vaccinated for the coronavirus before they can matriculate next fall. From just one university in March, to a dozen by the first week of April, the trickle has become a tide over the past month -- depending on just where students are attending school. In a divided nation, college vaccine mandates are mostly following familiar fault lines. As of this weekend, only 34 -- roughly 8 percent -- are in states that voted for Donald J. Trump, according to a tracker created by The Chronicle of Higher Education. Nine of those were added on Friday, when Indiana University and its satellite campuses became rare public universities in a Republican-controlled state to mandate vaccines. Though the 400 campuses are only about 10 percent of the nation's roughly 4,000 colleges and universities, experts say the political gap is likely to persist. With many colleges facing falling enrollments and financial pressure, the decision whether to require vaccinations can have huge consequences. Particularly in Republican-controlled states, college presidents are weighing a delicate equation -- part safety, part politics, part peer pressure and part economic self-interest. Public universities — and to a lesser extent, private ones — in conservative states are feeling the squeeze from all sides, say college officials and experts on academia. |
| Behind Nikole Hannah-Jones's Tenure Case: A Decade of Political Interference in College Leadership | |
 | Nikole Hannah-Jones's tenure bid at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill came to a screeching halt earlier this year. Professors had presumed that Hannah-Jones -- who has been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize and a fellowship from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for her incisive reporting on race in America -- would have a slam-dunk case. But then her submission reached the campus's Board of Trustees. Public-college and university boards in many states have become political thickets, mired in the polarized dysfunction that govern policy-making agencies from town halls to Congress. And in the last decade, the University of North Carolina's system Board of Governors -- like many other state-appointed boards -- has become a culture-war playground for local political heavyweights instead of a restrained, deliberative body guiding campuses through a period of major change. It appears to higher-education experts that the case represents a challenge to existing norms for universities. A Pulitzer Prize winner who receives the blessing of academic colleagues? That should be an easy tenure approval, said Neal Hutchens, a professor and chair in the University of Mississippi's department of higher education. The fact that it wasn't points squarely to politics. To Hutchens, it is "nonsensical, troubling, absurd." |
| Senate bill would impose taxes on large endowments to fund apprenticeships | |
| A bill introduced in the Senate by Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas proposes a new tax on the largest endowments of private institutions -- revenue that would then be used to support apprenticeship programs. The Ivory Tower Tax Act, introduced by Cotton this month, would impose a 1 percent tax on the fair market value of private colleges' endowments worth more than $2.5 billion and $500,000 per full-time enrolled student. It would only apply to colleges that don't have a religious mission and that have more than 500 full-time students. The bill would also require these institutions to disburse at least 5 percent of their endowment per year "to support their educational mission," according to a release. The penalty for failing to distribute the funds would be equal to 30 percent of the undistributed excess endowment amount. Private college endowments are funded by private charitable donations, and the money is often used for student financial aid, research and campus improvements, among other expenses. Endowments of private colleges weren't taxed until the enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which imposed a 1.4 percent tax on investment income at institutions with at least 500 students and endowments worth at least $500,000 per student. |
| Supreme Court relies on literal reading to reach initiative ruling | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Gov. Tate Reeves made three appointments last week to the Mississippi Community College Board -- appointments from the same five congressional districts that resulted in the demise of a medical marijuana program and of the state's initiative process that allowed people to gather signatures to place issues on the ballot. The law, which is still on the books, enacted a Community College Board in 1986 and mandated the governor to appoint members to staggered terms from five congressional districts. Other agencies of state government also are governed by appointees from those infamous districts that are so disdained by the Supreme Court majority. Earlier this month the Mississippi Supreme Court in a landmark 6-3 decision struck down the medical marijuana initiative approved overwhelmingly by voters in November and the initiative process itself because of those five pesky districts. The court ruled, in a lawsuit filed by Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler, that the initiative process was unconstitutional because it required signatures to be gathered equally from five congressional districts to place an initiative on the ballot. The problem is that Mississippi has four congressional districts, having lost one based on the 2000 U.S. Census data. That, the majority reasoned, voided the medical marijuana initiative and the overall initiative process. |
SPORTS
| No. 10 Bulldogs sweep Alabama, secure first-round bye in SEC tourney | |
| Mississippi State finished the regular season in sweeping fashion on Saturday afternoon. No. 10-ranked MSU beat Alabama, 7-3, in the regular-season finale at Sewell-Thomas Stadium to cap off a three-game sweep of the Crimson Tide. It was MSU's fourth SEC sweep of the season, the most since 1989. The Bulldogs (40-13, 20-10 SEC) finished second in the SEC West behind Arkansas and clinched a top-4 seed in the SEC Tournament that begins next week in Hoover, Alabama. With a first-round bye, MSU will avoid the single-elimination portion of the tournament that begins on Tuesday. |
| Mississippi State's season ends in regional finals | |
| Mississippi State's softball season came to a close on Sunday afternoon. No. 1 seed Oklahoma State beat No. 2 seed Mississippi State, 10-2, in the regional final of the Stillwater Regional. The Bulldogs went 2-2 this postseason and reached the regional championship for their third consecutive season. Like Saturday's affair in the winner's bracket, Mississippi State (35-25) jumped ahead early on the Cowgirls. Fa Leilua singled up the middle and after moving into scoring position, Mia Davidson hit a RBI single to score her. The Cowgirls, however, scored four runs in the second, one in the third, and five in the fourth inning to put themselves up 10-2. Reagan Wright started the scoring with a two-run home run, while Sydney Pennington also hit a solo home run and Hayley Busby capped off the game's scoring with a grand slam in the fourth inning. |
| College Gameday Homes Impact Housing Prices, Neighborhoods in the American South | |
| Absentee property ownership in many small college football towns has a negative impact on permanent residents of those communities, according to a study by a Georgia State University geosciences researcher. The research is the first known attempt to quantify and map local geographies of gameday home investments. Each weekend in the fall tens of thousands of football fans flood into college towns to watch their favorite teams kick off against rival schools. Many of them stay in gameday homes, investment properties that sit vacant for much of the year. Taylor Shelton, assistant professor of geosciences and the study's author, examined data from more than a dozen college towns in the South where schools in the Southeastern Conference attract large fan followings. He compared cities like Athens, Ga., Gainesville, Fla., and Auburn, Ala., and developed a study of Starkville, Miss., home of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. "The city of Starkville only has 25,000 people, and Mississippi State students make up nearly another 20,000," said Shelton. "But the football stadium holds over 60,000 fans, so the population of the city doubles or triples on gameday weekends, meaning the entire nature of the town is transformed." The study, published in Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, analyzed local property ownership records, construction permits and U.S Census data. |
| Alabama baseball swept by Mississippi State, draws No. 10 seed in SEC Tournament | |
 | Alabama baseball is heading to the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2016 as the No. 10 seed. The Crimson Tide will face seventh-seeded South Carolina on the SEC Network in the single-elimination first round on Tuesday (1 p.m. CT) at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Alabama (29-22, 12-17 SEC) was swept by No. 10 Mississippi State (20-10, 40-13), falling below Georgia and LSU in the conference standings. The Crimson Tide lost Saturday's regular season finale 7-3 after taking a three-run lead in the second inning in a game that could have lifted Alabama to the No. 8 seed. After finishing the season 1-7 in the final eight games, Alabama has work to do in the SEC Tournament if it wants to reach the NCAA Tournament. Alabama's focus now shifts to South Carolina (33-20, 16-14), which is 5-3 in its last eight games. The winner will advance to the double-elimination portion of the tournament and face No. 2 seed Tennessee on Wednesday (1 p.m. CT) on the SEC Network. |
| Gators eye better results in SEC Baseball Tournament | |
| OK, so Florida ended the baseball regular season on a four-game losing streak, including being swept by top-ranked Arkansas in a three-game series in Fayetteville. Time to turn the page for the Gators (35-19, 17-13 SEC) to the postseason. The Gators dropped from No. 9 to No. 13 in the latest D1Baseball Top 25 rankings. "Yeah, we talked about that at the end of the game," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said after Saturday's 9-3 loss to the Razorbacks. "Bottom line is as difficult as this weekend was, we have to move on. The postseason starts Tuesday and we'll have a good practice on Monday and get ready to play on Tuesday." The postseason begins at the SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The Gators received the No. 6 seed and will take on 11th-seeded Kentucky (29-22) at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the single-elimination round of the 12-team tourney. Florida won the series at Kentucky earlier this month, 2-1. The winner plays three-seed Mississippi State (40-13), which is ranked No. 8 nationally, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when the tourney turns into the double-elimination portion. The first five of the six days of the tourney will be covered by the SEC Network. |
| Kentucky Baseball's Tournament Hopes are on Life Support | |
| After being on the NCAA Tournament bubble for seemingly all of 2021, the Kentucky Baseball Wildcats will likely not make the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The reason why their tournament hopes are not dead yet is due to the mathematical possibility that UK could win the SEC Tournament to secure a spot in the NCAA Regionals. Beating Vanderbilt yesterday afternoon will breathe some life into the Bat 'Cats resume, but Kentucky still needs to make a deep run in Hoover. In a conference that is dominated by college baseball's best teams, the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. It was absolutely paramount for Kentucky to win the series against South Carolina at KPP last weekend, instead, the 'Cats got embarrassed throughout, getting swept by a combined score of 22-11. However, there was still a sliver of hope if Kentucky could manage a series win in Nashville, or miraculously sweep the Vandy Boys. But, the 'Cats could only manage to take one game in the series to go 3-9 in their last 12 conference games. The Bat 'Cats finished the regular season with a record of 29-22 (12-18) and have earned the No. 11 seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. They will get a crack at becoming SEC Champions in Hoover, AL when they take on the six-seeded Florida Gators on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. EST. |
| Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn: Heat will be a factor in Hoover | |
| Logic says the University of Arkansas does not need to win a game at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., this week to secure the national No. 1 seed for next week's NCAA baseball tournament. The No. 1 Razorbacks (41-10, 22-8 SEC) won all 13 weekend series it played this season, including five against teams ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today Coaches poll. Saturday's 9-3 win over No. 8 Florida gave the Razorbacks a sweep of the Gators and a 10-1 record against the current top 10 in the coaches poll. Expanding further, Arkansas is 17-4 against the Top 25, the kind of resume builder the NCAA baseball selection committee salivates over. Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn would rather not go two and out once the double-elimination part of the tournament starts Wednesday. "I would like to see all of our weekend starters get on the mound in Hoover," Van Horn said. "It'd be nice to play at least three games. I'd like to play more. I'd like to win it." Van Horn noted the temperature in central Alabama is expected to be in the mid-90s today as the Razorbacks arrive after a workout at Baum-Walker Stadium. "We haven't played in that type of heat," Van Horn said. "We have to monitor that, the grind, just watch them, get a feel, see how they're acting. So we'll just obviously try to get through game one on Wednesday and then go from there." |
| Texas A&M baseball coach Rob Childress' contract will not be renewed | |
 | Texas A&M head baseball coach Rob Childress is out after 16 seasons, with the school opting not to renew his contract, which will expire on June 30. "In our analysis, we believe the program needs a new voice and a new identity, and our search for the next head coach will begin immediately," A&M athletics director Ross Bjork said Sunday morning in a statement. "We, as Aggies, have high expectations for Texas A&M baseball, and we believe this is the best college baseball program in the country and we will attract a great head coach." A&M's 13-6 loss to LSU in 13 innings ended the Aggies' chance of making the Southeastern Conference's 12-team tournament next week in Hoover, Ala. That also ended any chance the Aggies had of extending their school-record 13 straight NCAA tournament appearances, which was the third-longest streak in the country, trailing Florida State (42) and Vanderbilt (14). The Aggies also missed a conference tournament for the first time since 2006, which was Childress' first season. The Aggies ended the season with an 8-2 loss to LSU on Saturday. A&M (29-27, 9-21), failing to make the SEC tournament for the first time since joining the league in 2013, finished 13th in the conference, ahead of only Missouri (15-36, 8-22). |
| Texas House approves name, image and likeness bill for college athletes by overwhelming margin | |
 | The Texas House on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a Senate bill that would allow college athletes in the state to earn compensation for use of their name, image and likeness, paving the way for the legislation to reach the governor's desk this week. The House approved by a 117-27 vote Senate Bill 1385 authored by Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, that is designed to keep the state in step with a nationwide movement by state legislatures to allow student-athletes to profit off their own names. The Senate originally passed the bill by a 28-2 vote. Creighton now must decide to concur with the bill, as amended by the House to disallow college athletes from signing with an agent and become effective in July rather than September, or send to committee, but he is expected to sign off quickly and send the measure to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. Neither Creighton's office nor Abbott's office immediately returned a phone message Sunday afternoon. The bill would take effect July 1. However, Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, who sponsored the bill in the House along with Rep. Jim Murphy, R-Houston, who presented it on the floor, was confident about the passage of the bill. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told the Austin American-Statesman last week that he was optimistic the bill could be passed quickly. "We're close," he said. "Very close. I think it will happen." |
| Tampering has arrived in college football, and it looks like NBA free agency | |
| It was late December, not yet the end of the season, and already the wolves were circling. An assistant at a high-level Power 5 program knew two of his school's best young players -- one on offense and one on defense -- were being actively recruited by other programs. In fact, he said, it was "unbelievable" how many coaches were reaching out to players on his team's roster. "The cheaters," the frustrated assistant said, "just keep cheating." Tampering officially arrived in college football this offseason, leaving coaches to both lament the current state of the game -- and try to keep up. They know if they wait for a quality player to enter the transfer portal to begin recruiting him, they're too late. So they've been reaching out to third parties and using players as go-betweens. It's a violation of NCAA rules, of course, but enforcement is nearly impossible. An SEC head coach said that not only is tampering happening, "it happens most of the time." A prominent high school coach told ESPN's Tom VanHaaren he has seen it increase to the point that he estimates 60% of college teams are doing it. "With one player, last season I got four calls from four different conferences," the high school coach said. "'Is he happy? They're not using him like we would use him.' These are SEC, Big Ten and some big-name schools." A Power 5 coach surveyed the current landscape. It looked to him, he said, like the "wild, wild West." |
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