| Tuesday, February 1, 2022 |
| MSU professor named president of the National Weather Association | |
 | Mississippi State University (MSU) veteran professor of geosciences Kathy M. Sherman-Morris was named the president of the National Weather Association (NWA). NWA is a nationwide professional association that supports and promotes "excellence in operational meteorology." Sherman-Morris previously served as NWA's 2021 president-elect. She will serve as the president of the board of directors for a one-year term, ending in December 2022. Her duties include setting the agenda and presiding over NWA meetings, communicating with key partners regarding the weather enterprise and organizing the annual meeting. |
| Mississippi wildlife director retires after 29-plus years | |
 | The longest-serving leader of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is retiring after more than 29 years on the job. "I could have never imagined in 1992 that this opportunity would evolve into a life's calling that would endure for nearly three decades," Sam Polles said in a news release Monday. Monday was the last day for Polles to be executive director, the agency said. He was first nominated to the post in July 1992 by then-Gov. Kirk Fordice, a Republican. Polles was kept in the job by Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and Republican Govs. Haley Barbour, Phil Bryant and Tate Reeves. Reeves, who's in his third year as governor, will nominate a new executive director who will need to be confirmed by the state Senate. Polles described the department's employees as "capable, committed and talented." "The men and women of this department are often not appreciated for their tireless efforts, but they remain steadfast in their commitment to preserve Mississippi's rich and historic conservation heritage for generations to come," Polles said. |
| Bill would expand hate crimes law for gender ID, disability | |
| Some clergy members, a group that advocates for LGBTQ rights and a group that advocates for rights of people with disabilities are calling on Mississippi legislators to expand the state's hate-crimes law to cover offenses committed because of a victim's disability, sexual orientation or gender identity, just as federal law already does. "When a person is targeted simply by who they are or what abilities they do or don't have, it isn't just a crime against them. It's a crime against everyone like them," Scott Crawford, who serves on the board of the Mississippi Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities, said during a news conference Monday at the state Capitol. "It intimidates and terrorizes the entire community of people." Mississippi enacted a hate crimes law in 1994 over the veto of then-Gov. Kirk Fordice, a Republican. The law provides enhanced penalties when people are convicted of crimes motivated by the "actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, national origin or gender of the victim." The proposal to create enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by a victim's disability, sexual orientation or gender identity are in House Bill 1467, which faces a Tuesday deadline in the House Judiciary B Committee. The bill will die if the committee does not consider it. Similar proposals have died at the Mississippi Capitol the past four years. Leaders of the Catholic, Episcopal and United Methodist churches in Mississippi were among the clergy members signing a letter in support of House Bill 1467. |
| Legislative leader declines to expand hate crime law to include LGBTQ, disabled people | |
 | A north Mississippi lawmaker says he does not plan to advance legislation that would expand the state's hate crime law to include offenses committed because of a victim's disability, sexual orientation or gender identity. House Speaker Philip Gunn's office has referred House Bill 1467 to the Judiciary B Committee, led by Rep. Nick Bain, R-Corinth. If passed, the bill would give prosecutors the option of pursuing harsher penalties against people who intentionally target someone because of their disability or sexual orientation. But Bain told the Daily Journal on Monday that he is unlikely to take up the legislation, commenting on his belief that the "political climate" isn't ready. The deadline for committees to pass bills out of committees is Feb. 1. Ahead of the major legislative deadline, LGBTQ and disability rights advocates, including leaders and supporters of the state chapter of the Human Rights Campaign, gathered outside the Capitol to pressure lawmakers to pass HB 1467 and expand the state's protections for some of their most vulnerable citizens. "Here's the bottom line: No Mississippian or any American should be targeted based on who they are," said Rob Hill, the director of the state HRC chapter. "This should be something we can all agree on." |
| House committee makes first move to restore ballot initiative process | |
 | The right for Mississippians to bypass the Legislature and place issues on the election ballot would be restored under a proposal approved Monday by the House Constitution Committee. Mississippi has been without a ballot initiative process since May 2021, when the state Supreme Court struck down the medical marijuana initiative passed by voters in November 2020 and the entire ballot initiative process. The court ruled the process invalid because language in the state Constitution mandated that the required number of signatures necessary to place an issue on the ballot be gathered equally from five congressional districts. Mississippi has had only four congressional districts since losing one as a result of the 2000 Census. While the state has lost a congressional district, various entities in state government are still configured based on the five districts, such as the board that oversees the state's 15 community colleges. And other initiatives that remain in state law have been approved based on the five districts. The proposal passed Monday, Constitution Chair Fred Shanks, R-Brandon, pointed out, would require a pro rata share of signatures be gathered from whatever number of congressional districts the state has. It would allow for citizens to amend general law, not the Constitution. |
| Bill would allocate $40 million to help Jackson address 'big-picture, long-term' water and sewer needs | |
| A bill being proposed by one Jackson lawmaker would allocate $40 million to address the city's water and sewer needs but would mandate that the funds be administered by the Mississippi Department of Finance Administration. District 64 Rep. Shanda Yates has introduced H.B. 1031, which would create a capital city water/sewer projects fund and place it under the authority of DFA. Under the bill, the state would set aside $40 million in the fund, which, in conjunction with Jackson's remaining American Rescue Plan Act dollars, would be enough to address several major issues with both its water and sewer systems. "These would be large, big-ticket, big-picture, long-term projects that we would be able to complete," she said. The bill recently passed the House Ways and Means Committee. Yates expects the whole floor to take up the bill in the next two weeks. She says the amount being offered by the state would serve as a match to what Jackson received directly from the federal government in ARPA dollars. The amount being provided is also based on documents she received from the city. Under current provisions, Jackson would not receive a direct allocation of funds. Instead, money would be set aside in a special account that would be governed by DFA. DFA would be responsible for putting together a comprehensive plan to map out how the funding would be spent. It also would be advised by a nine-member advisory panel. Yates said the additional oversight called for could make it easier for her bill to pass. |
| Wicker: Black woman Supreme Court nominee would be 'quota' | |
| One of Mississippi's Republican U.S. senators said that if President Joe Biden nominates a Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, that nominee would be the beneficiary of a "quota." Sen. Roger Wicker spoke about the nomination Friday on the Gallo Radio Show, which aims primarily at a conservative audience on the statewide network Supertalk Mississippi. The host, Paul Gallo, asked Wicker about Biden's promise to nominate a Black woman to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Gallo said Biden should want to say the nominee is the best of any ethnicity or any gender. "It's exactly what Biden said he would do in his campaign, so he's just fulfilling a campaign promise and he told the whole world that's exactly what he was going to do," Wicker said of Biden's plan to nominate a Black woman. "The irony is that the Supreme Court is, at the very same time, hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota," Wicker said. "The majority of the court may be saying, writ large, it's unconstitutional. We'll see how that irony works out." Wicker declined to explain his remarks Monday in Washington. "I'll let that interview stand," Wicker told reporters. |
| Supreme Court shouldn't be covered in Ivy, 2 lawmakers say | |
| Enough already with the Supreme Court justices with Harvard and Yale degrees. That's the message from one of Congress' top Democrats to President Joe Biden, and a prominent Republican senator agrees. Eight of the nine members of the current court went to law school at either Harvard or Yale. But it would be good if the person named to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer doesn't have an Ivy League degree, according to Rep. Jim Clyburn, a Democrat, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican. The bipartisan message from the two South Carolina lawmakers neatly aligns with the background of the South Carolina judge they've praised as a good candidate to fill the seat. Biden, a Democrat, has pledged to make history by nominating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Clyburn, Congress' highest-ranking Black member, says Biden should be concerned about the court's lack of educational diversity, too. "We run the risk of creating an elite society," said Clyburn, a graduate of South Carolina State University. "We've got to recognize that people come from all walks of life, and we ought not dismiss anyone because of that." While the overwhelming dominance of Harvard and Yale law degrees on the court is something of a modern phenomenon, about a third of all the justices who have sat on the court attended an Ivy League law school. The court's newest member, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is the outlier. Barrett, a graduate of Notre Dame's law school, mentioned the fact at her 2020 confirmation hearing. "I am confident that Notre Dame could hold its own," she said. "And maybe I could even teach them a thing or two about football." |
| How Trump's political groups are spending their huge cash haul | |
 | Former President Donald Trump's political organization announced Monday that it has more than $122 million socked away, a massive sum that reaffirms his grip on the Republican Party -- and could well scare away potential challengers for the next GOP presidential nomination. Trump's Save America leadership political action committee drew more than 1.6 million donations, much of it raised through Facebook, text messages and other online solicitations. The former president has tapped into a deep well of small-dollar donors that he cultivated during his time in the White House, supporters he would likely be able to carry into a 2024 comeback bid. Most of the money --- over $105 million --- is in Save America PAC, which wouldn't be able to transfer that money into a prospective future Trump campaign. But the former president can spend it at will to affect the 2022 midterms, and his ability to raise so much money in the first place highlights his singular position in the GOP. Trump's finance report, which reflects the second half of 2021, provides clues as to how his political operation is shaping up ahead of the next election, pulling back the curtain on which consultants he's paying, how he's using social media and which down-ballot allies he's rewarding. The former president has continued to keep a small -- and familiar -- circle of aides and advisers on his payroll, according to filings. Save America PAC unloaded some of its money to Trump-backed candidates for the first time in the last six months of 2021. The PAC also gave money to state-level candidates, including several running for secretary of state in key battleground states. |
| Republicans lead 2022 money race as both parties hit record levels of cash on hand | |
 | Major Republican organizations focused on winning back control of the House and the Senate ended last year with significantly more money than their Democratic counterparts, a reversal of past fortunes that suggests shifting momentum ahead of the midterm elections. The new fundraising totals, revealed Monday in filings to the Federal Election Commission, showed both parties holding record amounts for the off-year of the congressional cycle. But the growth in the Republican cash hoard compared with the 2020 and 2018 cycles outstripped Democratic gains, as GOP donors, particularly those who give seven- and eight-figure checks, leaned into the effort to take back control of the House and the Senate this fall. The Republican Party's campaign committees for the House and the Senate, along with the super PACs affiliated with Republican House and Senate leadership, reported nearly $220 million in combined cash on hand on Dec. 31. By contrast, the corresponding Democratic organizations reported $176 million in cash reserves. The same Democratic groups had nearly $161 million in cash on hand at this point in the 2020 cycle, about $50 million more than the corresponding Republican groups. The disclosures come as Republican leaders have become increasingly confident about taking back control of the House and Democrats have begun to criticize each other publicly about the strategy for winning over voters. Some Democratic leaders say worries about the election environment and the sidelining of former president Donald Trump as a unifying target have diminished donor enthusiasm on their side. |
| FBI chief: Threat from China 'more brazen' than ever before | |
| The threat to the West from the Chinese government is "more brazen" and damaging than ever before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday night in accusing Beijing of stealing American ideas and innovation and launching massive hacking operations. The speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library amounted to a stinging rebuke of the Chinese government just days before Beijing is set to occupy the global stage by hosting the Winter Olympics. It made clear that even as American foreign policy remains consumed by Russia-Ukraine tensions, the U.S. continues to regard China as its biggest threat to long-term economic security. "When we tally up what we see in our investigations, over 2,000 of which are focused on the Chinese government trying to steal our information or technology, there's just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation, and economic security than China," Wray said, according to a copy of the speech provided by the FBI. The bureau is opening new cases to counter Chinese intelligence operations every 12 hours or so, Wray said, with Chinese government hackers pilfering more personal and corporate data than all other countries combined. The threat from China is hardly new, but it has also not abated over the last decade. "I've spoken a lot about this threat since I became director" in 2017, Wray said. "But I want to focus on it here tonight because it's reached a new level -- more brazen, more damaging, than ever before, and it's vital -- vital -- that all of us focus on that threat together." |
| Anonymous donor seeds Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship in African American studies | |
| A generous gift from an anonymous donor will provide the University of Mississippi African American studies program with an endowed scholarship that honors a Mississippi civil rights leader. The $100,000 gift establishes the Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship Endowment to help students who are pursuing an education in African American studies through the UM College of Liberal Arts. Hamer, a Mississippi Delta native who co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, was instrumental in the fight for voting equality and women's rights. "Ms. Hamer was vital to the progression of African Americans in Mississippi and nationally, and her work really began at the grassroots level and the struggle for voting rights," said Derrick Harriell, interim director of African American studies. The African American studies program seeks to develop and coordinate an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on the African American experience in the United States, especially in Mississippi and the South. The program provides students with an interdisciplinary understanding of Black history, culture, politics and society while preparing them for professional careers in relevant areas. "We are hoping to grow our majors and our program and continue to be active on campus and in the surrounding community, in Mississippi and across the nation," Harriell said. "To do so requires dynamic faculty and, more importantly, dynamic students who are at the heart of what we hope to represent as a program. These scholarships will assist in this mission, and we are grateful for the support." |
| FBI called to 'aggressively' investigate bomb threats made to several HBCUs over 2 days | |
 | For the second day in a row, at least a dozen historically Black colleges and universities reported bomb threats Tuesday, prompting calls for federal law enforcement to investigate the threats as campuses around the U.S. were locked down. David Wilson, president of Morgan State University in Baltimore which closed its campus Tuesday after a bomb threat was reported, called for the FBI to "aggressively" investigate the threats made to its campus and other HBCUs. "The FBI is aware of the series of bomb threats around the country and we are working with our law enforcement partners to address any potential threats," the statement said. Among the other campuses to report new threats Tuesday were: Kentucky State University in Frankfort; Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans; Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, Florida; Fort Valley State University in Georgia; Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi; Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Jackson State University in Mississippi. Jackson State University said police determined the threat to its campus was unsubstantiated, according to a tweet. The campus was open Tuesday but with "a heightened presence of law enforcement as a precautionary measure." Tougaloo College, also in Jackson, Mississippi, received a bomb threat Tuesday, WLBT reported. The threats come as Black History Month begins Tuesday. |
| 'You're Not Safe as a Black Person': New Round of Bomb Threats Rattles HBCUs | |
 | GeColby Youngblood doesn't usually answer the phone while he's driving. But as the North Carolina Central University graduate student was on his way to campus on January 4, he noticed that he was getting lots of email notifications and text messages. He got a call from his friend who worked at the university, telling him that there had been a bomb threat and he should turn around. Once he saw on social media that his institution wasn't the only one that received the alarming message, fear started to settle in. "I haven't been to campus since," he said. "It was scary. I took off work the next day because I just wanted to be sure." Youngblood saw it as a warning. "I think it's just like a matter of time before it happens and we won't get a warning," he said. The recent string of bomb threats across a handful of historically Black colleges and universities has sparked fear within higher education's Black community. "This is probably one of the clearest examples of hate crimes based on race," said Paulette Granberry Russell, the president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. A string of campuses, including Youngblood's, were threatened earlier this month. And a new volley of threats shut down HBCUs on Monday, when six HBCUs, including Bowie State University and Howard University, received bomb threats, prompting them to close or lock down their institutions and investigate. Bowie State announced an emergency alert, temporarily shut down campus, moved all classes online, and advised everyone on campus to shelter in place "until further information is available." The threats also caught the attention of the Biden administration, which said it was in touch with federal law enforcement about the threats. |
| Jackson State faculty denounce CRT legislation | |
| Jackson State University's Faculty Senate passed a resolution Friday opposing legislation that seeks to ban the teaching of critical race theory in Mississippi. The faculty senate at Mississippi's largest historically Black university is the first to formally speak out against efforts by the Legislature to curtail discussion of racism in the state's K-12 and college classrooms. In the Jan. 27 resolution, the faculty senate writes that it "resolutely rejects any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice, and will stand firm against encroachment on faculty authority by the legislature or the Boards of Trustees." Earlier this month, every Black senator in Mississippi walked out of the chamber when the Senate passed SB 2113. The bill's description states it will "prohibit" critical race theory, but the language in the legislation is more broad and includes that no public school or public college or university "shall make a distinction or classification of students based on account of race." The House has not yet taken up its bill, HB 437, which is more specific and would ban teaching fourteen "divisive concepts," including that "racial equity and gender equity ... should be given preference in education and advocacy over the concepts of racial equality and gender equality." These bills would impede faculty at Jackson State faculty from fulfilling the university's mission of providing a quality education to students from diverse communities, the resolution states. |
| Markham to speak at MCC Black History Month program | |
 | Meridian Community College alumnus the Hon. Kenneth Dustin Markham will present the keynote address at the College's program, "Know the Past, Shape the Future," on Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. in the MCC Riley-Workforce Development Center. This event is a part of the College's Celebrate Black History Month programming. Campus and community residents are welcome; admission is free of charge. "We want to take strides to provide informative and encouraging programming for students which will engage them with other students and also by addressing matters that are relevant in our current culture," said Brandon Dewease, director of student engagement at MCC. Markham, an honors graduate from MCC in 2005, is Meridian's first Black city court judge. After MCC, he went on to graduate with highest honors from Jackson State University, majoring in political science and earned a juris doctor degree from the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law in Lansing, Mich. He established a general law practice in Meridian and was elected to the Meridian City Council in 2013 serving for four years. |
| Some states are considering raising teachers' salaries. Is it enough to keep them on the job? | |
| Schools have historically dealt with a high level of attrition. Approximately 30% of teachers leave within their first five years on the job. Now, with the hope of keeping them in the classroom, many governors are proposing salary increases. For example, in Alabama, Republican Governor -- and former high school teacher -- Kay Ivey has proposed a 4% raise. That would reportedly bring the starting salary for teachers there to around $43,000 per year. If one state increases teachers' salaries, others are likely to as well, according to Jacob Vigdor, who studies education policy as a professor at the University of Washington. "There's a little bit of an element of an arms race that goes on," he said. It's hard to bring in teachers without a competitive salary, he added. That's also because they could make more money doing something else entirely. A study from the Economic Policy Institute found that public school teachers earn about 20% less than other workers with the same levels of experience and education. "We need to erase that gap, that teacher penalty gap," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. It's a union that has 1.7 million members, many of them educators. Weingarten said that we need seasoned teachers in the classroom. "I'm speaking from my own experience now: You're a better teacher your third year than you are your first year. We need to keep teachers in teaching." |
| Over half of teachers want to leave the profession early, NEA poll finds | |
 | Teachers are picking up slack for absent colleagues. They're covering for unfilled positions. And 55% of them say they will leave teaching sooner than they had originally planned, according to a poll of its members by the nation's largest teachers union. The National Education Association poll, conducted in January, helps quantify the stress being placed on educators right now and it found that the number who say they'll leave the profession sooner has risen significantly since August. Among the NEA poll's other findings: 90% of its members say that feeling burned out is a serious problem. 86% say they have seen more educators leaving the profession or retiring early since the start of the pandemic. 80% report that unfilled job openings have led to more work obligations for those left. "Last summer, I started traveling across the country," says Becky Pringle, president of the NEA, which has nearly 3 million members, talking about the impetus for the survey. "Without exception, every stop I made, from Kentucky to Oakland, I heard those similar stories of educators who were exhausted, overwhelmed, feeling unloved, disrespected." Of course, saying that you're thinking about leaving, or reporting the perception that others are leaving, is not the same as actually putting in your notice. Still, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are 567,000 fewer educators in America's public schools today than there were before the pandemic. And the NEA's data indicates that 43% of jobs posted are going unfilled. |
| Teachers Are Quitting, and Companies Are Hot to Hire Them | |
 | Burned out teachers are leaving the classroom for jobs in the private sector, where talent-hungry companies are hiring them -- and often boosting their pay -- to work in sales, software, healthcare and training, among other fields. The rate of people quitting jobs in private educational services rose more than in any other industry in 2021, according to federal data. Many of those are teachers exhausted from toggling between online and classroom instruction, shifting Covid-19 protocols and dealing with challenging students, parents and administrators. The potential for career and pay growth -- some roles are paying tens of thousands of dollars above typical teacher salaries -- is alluring amid a long stretch of Zoom learning and pandemic-stressed classrooms, former teachers say. "Every time I met somebody, they'd say, 'We love teachers! I don't know how you do it,'" says Amelia Watson, who is 24 years old and taught sixth grade in Pearl, Miss. She quit in early January to work for a staffing agency as a recruitment coordinator after posting on LinkedIn that she was open to work. "That feels good, but it's simply not enough to get you through each day." Ms. Watson now helps onboard new hires for a global staffing agency. The money is the same, she says, but the career shift has been transformative. "I'm treated with respect by my supervisors," Ms. Watson says. "I really feel like the intelligent, driven, real person that I am again for the first time in three years." |
| Salaries topped $1 million in 2021 for at least nine of Georgia's state employees | |
| Thanks to a strong economy and federal spending, Georgia ended the most recently completed fiscal year with a record surplus, and some of its leaders had a good year as well. At least nine state employees -- from professors and coaches to pension fund investors -- made more than $1 million during fiscal 2021, according to the state's Open Georgia salary website. That came in a fiscal year -- which ended June 30 -- during which most state employees didn't get a pay raise. The public is used to football coaches earning big money --- University of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart made $6.9 million in fiscal 2021, according to Open Georgia, and Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins $3.5 million. Charles Cary, longtime chief investment officer at the Teachers Retirement System, was paid $1,018,238, up from $980,000 the previous year. The TRS had a big year in fiscal 2021 because the stock market skyrocketed, topping $100 billion in assets. Other $1 million noncoaches, according to Open Georgia, were James D. St. Louis, chief of pediatric and congenital heart surgery at Augusta University, $1.35 million; and Richard Lee, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at Augusta University, $1.2 million. Two others came close: Fernando Vale Diaz, neurosurgery chairman at Augusta University, $985,500; and Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera, $975,000. Two top 10 names traditionally on the annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution list are no longer in their jobs. University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley, who was paid $524,000 in fiscal 2021, retired. And the Gwinnett County school board decided not to renew the contract of Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks, who led the largest school system in the state for 25 years. |
| Mizzou will move to remote operations, online classes due to winter weather on Wednesday, Thursday | |
 | All classes at the University of Missouri will be online Wednesday and Thursday, with the campus moving to remote operations as a strong winter storm is expected to hit. "Instructors should communicate this shift with their students as soon as possible, share plans for their classes and provide any necessary resources, such as Zoom links or online learning materials," the university wrote in an announcement Monday afternoon. "If a class has significant in-person requirements, such as laboratories or clinical classes, arrangements will be made to address the requirements at a later time." Staff who aren't required to work on-site but can telework from home or another location are expected to do so; those who can telework but don't must take paid time off. Staff who cannot carry out their duties online and are instructed that they aren't required to work on-site will be compensated. Non-exempt hourly workers required to work on campus may be eligible to receive premium pay; those who are required to work but choose not to must take paid time off. "As always, faculty, staff and students are expected to exercise good judgement when deciding if they can travel safely to campus during inclement weather," the university wrote in its announcement. Columbia is expected to get between 6 to 12 inches of snow between Tuesday night and Thursday morning, the National Weather Service predicts. |
| Why a Rural-Serving College May Look Different Than You Think | |
| It used to be easier to tell which colleges served rural communities. Just rewind to the birth of land-grant universities, non-urban campuses that specialized in teaching skills that rural areas needed, like agricultural and technical training. Fast forward a century and a half, and things are more complicated. College-going students are much more mobile, and some of those same land-grant institutions have since helped urbanize their communities. In short, gauging whether a college serves rural students is more complicated than simply charting its coordinates. That can impede conversations about how to educate rural parts of the country. A group of researchers has come up with a metric they say provides a helpful scale for classifying whether a campus is rural serving. The metric, the result of a year of work by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, identifies over 1,000 institutions that can be classified as rural-serving, and which currently educate nearly five million students. "Without a language to talk about RSIs, without some formal framework identifying who rural-serving institutions are -- it's really hard to do better by them because it makes it hard to find all of them," said Andrew Koricich, executive director of the group and an associate professor of higher education at Appalachian State University. |
| UCLA cancels in-person classes after ex-lecturer appears to threaten mass shooting | |
 | UCLA canceled in-person classes Tuesday after a former lecturer and postdoctoral fellow sent a video referencing a mass shooting and an 800-page manifesto with "specific threats" to members of the university's philosophy department Monday. Several emails from department leaders and obtained by The Times inform students and faculty that Matthew Harris made threats toward the philosophy department and people in it. In some of the emails, sent over the course of Monday evening, department heads recommend moving to virtual learning, and multiple instructors did so, alerting students that in-person classes would be canceled. A campus alert sent shortly after midnight stated that authorities didn't have "specific information" Harris was in California. "Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, all classes will be held remotely tomorrow, Feb 1," according to the alert. "We will keep you updated on developments." Sherrilyn Roush, UCLA's philosophy department chair, had told faculty members to avoid holding in-person classes "until Harris' location is determined," the Daily Bruin reported. According to one email sent by a philosophy instructor to students, Harris' messages included "a video entitled 'UCLA Philosophy Mass Shooting' and an 800-page manifesto with specific threats towards some members of our department." Reports of Harris' video and manifesto quickly circulated on social media platforms such as Twitter and Reddit, where students and others expressed fear for their safety and criticized officials for not informing the campus as a whole. |
| A possible model for identifying riskiest colleges for students | |
 | Perhaps more than any other group of prospective college students, veterans have been at risk of being mistreated by unscrupulous institutions. That's partially because the federal GI Bill makes billions of dollars in aid available to hundreds of thousands of enrolled veterans (and their family members) each year, and because the funds historically have had fewer strings attached for institutions that enroll those students than do many federal student aid programs. That is about to change. Two pieces of legislation enacted by Congress in recent years have required the agencies in each state that approve colleges for eligibility in the GI Bill program to conduct "risk-based" reviews to gauge whether the institutions leave students better off and provide a good return to taxpayers. The uptake has been slow, however, in large part because those agencies -- like many bodies charged with regulating industries -- don't have enough employees or time to make informed judgments about all potential providers. To aid their work, some nonprofit groups and the National Association of State Approving Agencies developed and tested a framework, based on publicly available data about student outcomes, complaints and institutional financial and enrollment trends (such as sharp increases or decreases in enrollment), designed to help the agencies identify the education providers that pose the most risk to veterans and taxpayers, so they can focus their scrutiny on those institutions. The "risk-based" framework is noteworthy not just for its possible role in veterans' education, but also for how it could be used by state agencies, accreditors and federal officials in identifying low-quality providers in the federal student aid programs, too. |
| States Show Recovery in Support for Higher Education | |
| State spending on higher education in the 2022 fiscal year increased from the previous year -- fueled, in part, by some states' reversal of the funding cuts they made during the pandemic-induced recession, according to a report released on Tuesday. The annual Grapevine report, a joint project of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University, shows that state support for higher education in 2022, excluding federal stimulus money, was up 8.5 percent over the previous year. The report provides a first look at state higher-education funding in the current fiscal year, which for most colleges ends June 30. It also sheds light on the evolving fiscal dynamics and public-policy response to Covid-19. The early predictions were that the pandemic would wreak havoc on public-college budgets, but billions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief served as a backstop. Now, as the report makes clear, states are stepping up. "States had better-than-projected state revenues," and some states increased funding for higher education this year, said Sophia Laderman, senior policy analyst at the association. "States recognized higher education is important, and it was prioritized more than in the past." Indeed, when factoring federal stimulus funding into the calculation, 18 states reported a decline in support for higher education from the year before. The report attributes that decline to the reduction in federal money, not a change in state support. In 2021, higher education received the bulk of the federal stimulus funds that had been allocated to it through the states. |
SPORTS
| Gameday: Five Things To Know MSU-South Carolina | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball team begins its busy February slate which features nine games over a 26-day span as the Bulldogs renew its annual home-and-home series with South Carolina on Tuesday at Humphrey Coliseum. State (13-7, 4-3 SEC) has protected its home floor with an 11-1 mark inside The Hump fueled by SEC victories over Arkansas (81-68 on 12/29), Georgia (88-72 on 01/12), No. 24 Alabama (78-76 on 01/15) and Ole Miss (78-60 on 01/22). The Bulldogs are in sole possession of fifth place in the SEC standings. The Maroon and White is a half-game clear of four teams which includes South Carolina (13-7, 4-4 SEC). State trails Arkansas and Tennessee by a half-game for the third spot. The Bulldogs are in the midst of six of seven games against NCAA NET Quad 1 competition from Jan. 25-Feb. 16 with trips to Arkansas, LSU and Alabama on the horizon. A balanced scoring effort has been key to Mississippi State's success this season. The Bulldogs have posted a 9-1 mark when at least four players register 10-plus points. State has accomplished that feat during three of its four SEC victories. The Gamecocks have pieced together a three-game winning streak against Georgia (83-66 on 01/22), Vanderbilt (70-61 on 01/26) and Texas A&M (74-63 on 01/29). South Carolina has outscored its opponents by a 17.0 points per game margin during the second half to spark the three-game run. |
| 'Who are we to say that's a trap game': Mississippi State isn't overlooking South Carolina | |
| There was no frustration in the voice and attitude of Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland when he took the podium Saturday following his team's 26-point loss at Texas Tech. He felt MSU -- a bubble team seemingly this entire season -- was simply dominated by a Texas Tech team he considers the best in the Big 12. That came four days after Mississippi State lost at Kentucky -- a team Howland believes can win the SEC. "We've lost two in a row to two of the best programs in the country," Howland said following the loss at Tech. But the path ahead gets no easier as meetings with Arkansas, No. 22 Tennessee, No. 25 LSU and Alabama loom. Before getting to those matchups, MSU has to face South Carolina -- a team sitting at No. 97 in the NET. Amidst the shuffle of difficult teams, South Carolina can be overlooked. Perhaps that's how MSU pushed Kentucky to overtime as UK was playing MSU between trips to No. 1 Auburn and then-No. 5 Kansas. But to call Tuesday a trap game, Howland says, would be completely uncalled for as MSU sits just one game above South Carolina in the loss column in the SEC standings despite sitting 47 spots higher in the NET. "Who are we to say that's a trap game?" Howland asked Monday. "...This is going to be an all-out war (Tuesday). I'll make that very clear to our team what we're in for. We're gonna have a very firm understanding that we're in for a first-fight war." |
| Mississippi State football promotes Drew Hollingshead to inside receiver coach role | |
 | Mississippi State football has decided to promote from within. The Bulldogs are raising Drew Hollingshead, an offensive quality control assistant, to the vacant inside wide receivers coach role, the program announced Monday. Hollingshead is replacing Dave Nichol, who joined Lincoln Riley in December at Southern California. Former Mississippi State wide receiver Chad Bumphis was another consideration for the position, but coach Mike Leach opted to stay internally with his choice. "Drew is one of the rising offensive minds in college football and a tremendous coach, teacher and tactician of the game," Leach said in a school release. "He is incredibly detail oriented, brings a great deal of energy and passion to our program, and has played a pivotal role in our offensive success over the years. He will continue to make a positive impact on our team, and we are fortunate to have him at Mississippi State." The Bulldogs also made other coaching changes, making Matt Brock the lead on all linebackers. Eric Mele became the new special teams coordinator, replacing Brock. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett coaching safeties, and Jason Washington coaching running backs. Steve Spurrier Jr. added passing game coordinator to his duties, and offensive Mason Miller adds run game coordinator to his role. Hollingshead has worked with Leach as an offensive assistant for the last six seasons, primarily working with quarterbacks. He helped develop Will Rogers into one of the top passers in the country in 2021. |
| Mississippi State football shakes up roles among assistant coaches | |
 | Mississippi State named Drew Hollingshead its new inside receivers coach Monday, promoting the longtime offensive assistant under Mike Leach to a full staff role. It wasn't the only move the Bulldogs made Monday. Far from it. Along with Hollingshead's hiring, MSU took the opportunity to announce a shakeup among its coaching staff, resulting in new roles for four assistant coaches and new duties for two more. Matt Brock will no longer serve as the Bulldogs' special teams coordinator, with former running backs coach Eric Mele stepping into that role instead. Safeties coach Jason Washington will take over for Mele, and defensive coordinator Zach Arnett will coach safeties. Arnett previously handled inside linebackers while Brock coached outside linebackers, but Brock will be in charge of all linebackers in 2022. "We're excited to have our 2022 coaching staff roles finalized here in Starkville," Leach said in a news release from Mississippi State. "I'm thrilled for our program's direction with this staff of hard-working football coaches and outstanding recruiters who share a unified vision for achieving success. Our players are already hard at work in the weight room this winter preparing for next season, and we can't wait to get back on the field in a couple of months for spring practices." The changes put some of Leach's assistants in familiar roles while giving others completely novel assignments. |
| Mississippi State names Drew Hollingshead inside receivers coach, shakes up coaching roles | |
| Drew Hollingshead, an offensive assistant the past six seasons under Mike Leach, was named Mississippi State's inside receivers coach, the program announced Monday. Hollingshead takes over after Dave Nichol departed for Southern California following the hire of Lincoln Riley as the Trojans' head coach. "Drew is one of the rising offensive minds in college football and a tremendous coach, teacher and tactician of the game," Leach said. "He is incredibly detail oriented, brings a great deal of energy and passion to our program, and has played a pivotal role in our offensive success over the year. He will continue to make a positive impact on our team, and we are fortunate to have him at Mississippi State." Hollingshead's previous title with MSU was offensive quality control. In addition to Hollingshead's promotion, MSU announced a series of role changes within its current staff. "We're excited to have our 2022 coaching staff roles finalized here in Starkville," Leach said. "I'm thrilled for our program's direction with this staff of hard-working football coaches and outstanding recruiters who share a unified vision for achieving success. Our players are already hard at work in the weight room this winter preparing for next season, and we can't wait to get back on the field in a couple of months for spring practices." |
| Mississippi State basketball's Denae Carter suffers torn ACL, ending season | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball faces another crushing blow. Forward Denae Carter, who has carried much of the weight in the frontcourt this season, suffered a torn ACL in the third quarter of Sunday's win against Texas A&M and will miss the remainder of her freshman season. Carter was a pivotal piece for the Bulldogs, providing length on a team without much size. Her 8.1 rebounds per game and 40 blocks overall lead the Bulldogs (13-7, 4-4 SEC) , and she chips an average of 6.1 points. "To the HailState family, I am sorry to announce that after last night's injury, I am unable to return this season due to an ACL tear," Carter wrote on Twitter. "Thank you for all of your support and to everyone who has reached out. I have loved every second of my freshman season repping MSU!" Carter's impact on the offensive end was limited. But her defending and rebounding were critical, and her loss is massive for a team that's also without forward Rickea Jackson for the rest of the season. Charlotte Kohl and Raven Farley will shoulder increased roles without Carter in the mix. In Mississippi State's lone game without Carter, the Bulldogs suffered a heavy loss to Ole Miss, unable to compete down low. "This could be a problem. She's the one who ultimately ends a lot of possessions for us with her ability to rebound or consume a bunch of people so someone else can get a rebound," interim coach Doug Novak said Sunday. "That's a big piece to who we are." |
| NCAA rules committee exploring changes to limit faked injuries in college football | |
| Concern over faking injuries has become such a prominent issue in college football that it has risen to the top of the agenda going into the next rules committee meeting. National coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told The Athletic on Monday that faking injuries is going to be "a big topic" at the next meeting of the NCAA Football Rules Committee on March 1. This is a rule-change year, meaning the group can put forth its recommendations for immediate consideration from the NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel. "Obviously, we want to take feigning injuries out of the game," Shaw said. "It's a bad look for the game. It's an integrity issue. If you have a feigned injury, it garners an unmerited timeout for your team. We're really looking at: What's the next step to move away from that?" The sport knows it has a problem. Some defenses are willing to take whatever measures they can to offset up-tempo offense, and the appearance of an unnecessary stoppage can draw complaints from coaches and fans alike. Last season, multiple high-profile games featured a partisan crowd booing at a suspected fake injury while the home team had the ball; the fallout from one such controversy in Iowa's win over Penn State compelled both Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz and Nittany Lions coach James Franklin to comment on the situation in the days after the game. Administrators have said for years it's an issue, but they haven't found an effective way to combat it yet. |
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