| Friday, March 4, 2022 |
| MSU hosts Red Bull for paper airplane contest | |
 | Mississippi State University junior chemical engineering major Christian Weekley grew up making paper airplanes. Even as an adult, whenever he has a blank piece of paper, he almost always will fold it into an airplane, especially if bored during class, he said. The trick to mastering the perfect paper airplane is to bend the tip of it, which he dubbed "the dove," down just slightly, providing the airplane with more pocket air and allowing it to glide smoothly through the air. "When you fold the tip down, it allows for better airflow," Weekley said. "It keeps its stability. In keeping stability, that means a better airplane." Along with Weekley, several students participated in the Red Bull Paper Wings contest Thursday evening at MSU's Sanderson Center. The event was a "qualiflyer" for the national and world finals. Paper Wings, the world's largest paper plane competition, tests individual creativity, imagination and technical skills through simply folding up a sheet of paper and making it fly through the air. With more than 400 qualiflyer events, Red Bull contacted MSU about hosting one due to the university's Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, a nationally recognized aviation program, Raspet Director Tom Brooks said. "They knew about us and our reputation through aeronautical research and we responded positively and the university got behind the event," Brooks said. |
| Red Bull paper plane competition comes to MSU | |
 | Paper planes were flying all over Mississippi State University today for the Red Bull Paper Wings. It is the world's largest paper plane competition. Timothy Hunt is one of the students flying his paper plane. He said he's just going to try his best to keep the plane in the air as long as possible. "It's cool to see a big brand do a fun competition for students," he said. "I'm just going to go for distance and throw it as hard as I can. It's just a standard whatever you call middle school paper airplane. Just a normal fold in half and go for it and hope I can chunk it far enough." The two categories were distance and airtime. This regional qualifier determines who will advance to the National Finals in Huntsville, Alabama. National winners will be invited to the World Finals in Austria. The competition was held in the Sanderson Center on the MSU campus. |
| Veterans on MSU campus attend networking fair | |
 | Veterans on the Mississippi State Campus and from around the area get a chance to make connections they need to put their military experience to work. The MSU Career Center and the G.V. Sonny Montgomery Center for America's Veterans teamed up to host the Veterans Networking Fair. The event brings in industry professionals and hiring managers, and connects them with student veterans, military-connected students, and current service members. The Networking Fair allows the veterans to talk with companies and find out how their skills may fit with the civilian workforce. And it gives the companies access to a pool of potential employees that may have leadership skills they're looking for. This is the 4th year for the event. |
| Rep. Johnson: 'It took a lot of courage,' leaders speak on move to retire Confederate state flag | |
 | In June 2020, the flag of the State of Mississippi bearing the confederate battle emblem was retired after being the state's only flag since 1894. While the issue of changing it has come up many times before then, state leaders spoke out on Wednesday during the Mississippi Department of Archives and History's weekly program, History is Lunch, regarding what generated the momentum to push legislation to retire the flag forward. Included in this panel were Lieutenant Governor Delbert Hosemann; Speaker of the House Philip Gunn; Senator Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg; Senator Derrick Simmons, D-Greenville; and Representative Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez -- three Republicans, two Democrats. All of them were united on one front, to change the state flag. In his introduction, Spence Flatgard, who serves as president on MDAH's nine-member board of trustees, said there have been moments throughout Mississippi's history where leaders who were often divided on certain issues "step up and bring us together" so the state as a whole can move forward. "I can think of no better example of that in recent history than this flag vote," he said. MDAH Director Katie Blount said Mississippi legislators "made history" when they voted 92 to 23 in the House and 37 to 14 in the Senate to pass House Bill 1796. |
| Talk about race: Mississippi House passes bill to set limits | |
 | The same Mississippi Legislature that proclaimed racial reconciliation after removing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag nearly two years ago passed a bill Thursday to limit how race can be discussed in classrooms. Several Black legislators said during the six-hour debate that the bill could squelch honest discussion about the harmful effects of racism because parents could complain if history lessons make white children uncomfortable. Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Jackson opposed the bill. He said some people support it because they are fearful of Black people and are fearful of when white people will no longer be in the majority. "In Mississippi, we always tend to live in the land of purgatory of the most negative things around. This bill adds to that purgatory," Bell said. The Republican-controlled House voted 75-43 to pass Senate Bill 2113. It will go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who has pledged to sign it into law. The bill's short title says it would prohibit "critical race theory." But the main text of the bill does not mention or define the theory, and many supporters of the bill also have said they cannot define it. The bill says no school, community college or university could teach that any "sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior." State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright said critical race theory is not taught in Mississippi schools. The University of Mississippi law school offers an elective class on the theory. |
| Mississippi Legislature passes anti-CRT bill after strong rebukes from Black lawmakers | |
 | After more than five hours of passionate debate, the Mississippi House of Representatives largely along partisan lines on Thursday passed legislation labeled as anti-critical race theory bill. The lawmakers passed the bill 75-42. All of Northeast Mississippi's Republican lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, and all of the region's Democratic members opposed it. "All this bill does is basically say that there's going to be no discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin," Republican Rep. Joey Hood of Ackerman repeatedly said. Democratic lawmakers tried to use parliamentary tactics, such as offering 17 amendments and speaking for extended periods, to delay the passage of the bill. Their efforts eventually failed. The bill forbids public schools from forcing students to agree "that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or nationality is inherently superior or inferior," which is not what proponents of critical race theory describe is the aim of the theory. If public schools, colleges or universities violate any provision of the bill, the educational boards that oversee them are prohibited from giving them public funds. No lawmaker who supports the legislation has defined to the Daily Journal what critical race theory actually is. Several representatives asked Hood, who presented the bill, to define the theory, and he did not. "A lot of people have a lot of different definitions," Hood said. |
| Despite objection from every Black Mississippi lawmaker, anti-critical race theory bill passed to governor | |
 | After more than six hours of debate and filibuster with 17 attempted amendments and many passionate floor speeches from Black lawmakers, the Republican and white-majority state House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday entitled, "Critical Race Theory: prohibit." The bill was passed even though the academic theory is not being taught in Mississippi K-12 schools and proponents of the measure assured Black lawmakers it really wouldn't do anything -- other than check a Republican political box. But the bill has ripped the Band-Aid off the issue of race in the Mississippi Capitol less than two years after the historic vote legislators made to remove the state flag with a Confederate battle emblem in its canton. For hours Thursday, Black lawmakers spoke on the floor about their or their families' experience with racism, segregation and Jim Crow in Mississippi and urged their white Republican colleagues to vote against the bill. "If Mississippi wants to go forward in this world's economy and be a leader like we say we want to do, then we've got to stop this," said Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson. "This is not going to bring a single business to Mississippi. It's not going to bring a single tourist here." The bill passed 75-43 with three white members -- two Democrats and an independent -- joining all Black lawmakers in voting against it. The bill now goes to Gov. Tate Reeves, who has said preventing teaching of critical race theory is a top priority for him. After hours of debate and questions, it still is not clear what the results of the three-page bill will be if it signed into law by the governor. While the bill's title says it prohibits the teaching of critical race theory, that phrase is nowhere in the legislation. |
| 'Buddy's Law' dies in the House on deadline day | |
| While "Buddy's Law" was passed by the Senate in February, it died this week when the House committee failed to take it up before the latest deadline. After a long 10 months of recovery, Buddy the dog was released from the hospital last month after being set on fire by a 12-year-old boy back in April 2021. But while Buddy has moved on to better things, the law that could both protect animals like him and help troubled children has failed in the House. "I'm not really sure why 'Buddy's Law' died in the House. I tried to ask the chairman, tried to ask the speaker as to what the problem was," Senator Angela Hill, (Rep., District 40), said. Hill, author of "Buddy's Law," said the bill would have required psychological evaluations, counseling, and/or treatments for children who torture domesticated cats and dogs. But on March 1, the bill failed to be taken up in the House. Senator Hill said she believes the bill failed due to others' political goals. "Sometimes there's bills that they want to come out the other chamber and good bills are held hostage or killed. I would just encourage members to read their oath of office, because your oath of office says that you don't trade one bill for another," Sen. Hill said. |
| Mississippi Speaker of the House asks business leaders to back his plan to remove state income tax | |
 | As business leaders from across Mississippi gathered in Jackson for the Mississippi Economic Council's Capital Day event, Speaker of the House Philip Gunn questioned why the organization had not yet backed his plan to eliminate the state income tax. He says multiple organizations, think tanks and agencies have publicly backed his bill. "Why is MEC not on this list? Every one of these organizations are looking for ways to promote economic prosperity. This organization by its very mission statement and vision and why do we join MEC is right in line with the missions of those other organizations," Speaker Gunn told the crowd. Gunn's plan would eliminate the full income tax in Mississippi, while another tax-reduction bill from the Senate would reduce more types of taxes overall and eliminate a portion of the state's income tax. Scott Waller, President and CEO of the Economic Council, says tax reductions are generally great for businesses and employees. But he says he would like to see lawmakers in the House and Senate find common ground to pass consistent and fair tax cuts. "Last year when this issue came up, we had some conversations with the Speaker and House leadership about what we felt like we need to see," says Waller. "There's been some movement there. I think you have a different approach in the Senate. Hopefully, the two sides can get together and find some common ground. If that can happen then maybe there will be a way to move forward on this that will provide that opportunity for us to start moving in that direction." Business leaders say one of the best ways to invest in Mississippi's workforce is to improve opportunities for higher education and trade school. |
| Mississippi Economic Council holds 2022 Capitol Day | |
 | On Thursday, the Mississippi Economic Council (MEC) held its 2022 Capitol Day, an event that highlighted recent legislative accomplishments in Mississippi, as well as looked forward at new initiatives on the horizon. The event featured a panel discussion on educational achievement and speeches from state leaders and elected officials. The first speaker of the morning was Speaker of the House Philip Gunn. The Mississippi Speaker discussed the House's plan to eliminate the state income tax and how economists have shown the economic growth that could come from the plan. He discussed how Mississippi could become the 10th state to eliminate the income tax. Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney discussed the need to pass bills that will allow the state to address healthcare, education and infrastructure. Chaney said that citizens cannot afford to not have quality healthcare in the state of Mississippi. Secretary of State Michael Watson discussed his office's Tackle the Tape initiative which sets out to cut regulations that are anticompetitive and do not further the safety and well-being of Mississippi citizens. State Senator Briggs Hopson, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, keyed on the historical revenue collection in state government. Sen. Hopson said that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) bills have passed the Senate and will now head back to the House. Hopson stated that there is a lot of additional money coming into the state, both from federal funds and productivity in Mississippi. "This is an opportunity for Mississippi to invest in their future," Hopson said. "I want Mississippi to be in a position to excel." |
| February Jobs Report Keeps Fed on Track to Lift Rates | |
 | The February jobs report is likely to do little to alter the Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates in two weeks, but a continued run of strong hiring points to further increases in borrowing costs this spring. Employers added 678,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.8%, the lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. economy two years ago, the Labor Department reported on Friday. Average hourly earnings were flat in February compared with January and rose by 5.1% from a year earlier. The report shows how very strong demand for labor persisted despite the surge in infections due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus this winter. Hiring figures were revised higher than initially reported for December and January by a combined 92,000 jobs. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers this week that before last week's invasion of Ukraine, he had expected the Fed would begin to raise rates at its March 15-16 meeting and to follow that increase with several more this year. "For now, I would say that we will proceed carefully along the lines of that plan," he said Wednesday. Mr. Powell said, "I'm inclined to propose and support a [quarter-percentage] point hike" at the Fed's meeting in two weeks. Mr. Powell accelerated the Fed's plans to remove stimulus and begin raising rates at the end of last year, largely because of growing evidence of rapid tightening in the labor market. Mr. Powell on Thursday said that a historically elevated level of job opening was a sign of "an overheated labor market." |
| Lawmakers push Navy to reconsider plans in light of Ukraine | |
 | Citing the failure to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine, lawmakers pushed the Navy on Thursday to stop favoring long-term priorities over near-term needs. At a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Seapower and Readiness subcommittees examining naval strategy, Republicans argued the Navy needs to focus on assembling the most potent fleet it can in the near term to deter China from invading Taiwan. Virginia Rep. Rob Wittman, the top Republican on the Seapower Subcommittee, wondered how the Navy reconciled its planning for the future with current circumstances. The Navy's Battleforce 2045 plan may position the service well for future decades, but Wittman noted that some people, including former Indo-Pacific Command chief Adm. Philip Davidson, have suggested that China could move on Taiwan within the next decade. This concern undercuts the Navy's divest-to-invest approach to budgeting, in which current assets are retired in order to pay for investments that could produce future strategic advantages over potential adversaries. "If our focus is 2025, shouldn't our entire force structure be focused on the near term?" Wittman asked. "Navy brings a strong view that the decade of concern is [the 2020s]," replied Adm. William Lescher, the Navy's vice chief of operations, while acknowledging that position is not universal within the service's leadership. "We consistently believe and have thought that that's the decade of peak risk." In that light, Lescher said, the Navy's ranked spending priorities remain first: funding and keeping the Columbia-class submarine on schedule; second: readiness today; third: modernization, i.e., updating and replacing aging ships and platforms with more lethal and survivable versions; and fourth: capacity. |
| Russia seizes Europe's biggest nuclear plant in 'reckless' assault | |
| Russian invasion forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant on Friday in what Washington called a reckless assault that risked catastrophe, although a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe. Combat raged elsewhere in Ukraine as Russian forces surrounded and bombarded several cities in the second week of the assault launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin. A presidential adviser said an advance had been halted on the southern city of Mykolayiv after local authorities said Russian troops had entered it. If captured, the city of 500,000 people would be the biggest yet to fall. The capital Kyiv, in the path of a Russian armoured column that has been stalled on a road for days, came under renewed attack, with air raid sirens blaring in the morning and explosions audible from the city centre. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called the Russian assault on the Zaporizhzhia plant a "war crime". Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said it showed how reckless the Russian invasion has been. "It just raises the level of potential catastrophe to a level that nobody wants to see," he told CNN. Although the nuclear plant was later said to be safe and the fire out, officials worried about the precarious circumstances. |
| NATO chief says coming days 'likely to be worse,' rejects call for no-fly zone | |
 | NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that the days to come in Ukraine "are likely to be worse," but he rejected calls for a "no-fly zone" over the besieged nation, citing the risk of escalation with Russia. He made the remarks Friday at an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with counterparts from Europe and Canada ahead of visits to Moldova, Poland and the Baltic states to discuss Russia's assault on Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Western partners to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying that only such a step could guarantee Russia would not bomb nuclear installations. Stoltenberg dismissed the idea, saying to do so would risk, "broader conflict in Europe" and more human suffering. "We will not be part of the conflict," he said. The military alliance has already bolstered its eastern flank, Stoltenberg said, and will now work more closely with Finland and Sweden, two NATO partners but not formal allies. Russian President Vladimir Putin "has failed to divide us," he said. Blinken, along with the foreign ministers of Britain and Canada, joined a meeting of other foreign affairs officials at the European Union on Friday. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was expected to join by video conference. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Josep Borrell, the E.U.'s foreign affairs chief, said that Russia conducting the war in a "barbarian" way. "This is Putin's war," he said. "And Putin has to stop this war." |
| Ukraine seen as training ground for some on far right | |
| In 2019, members of the violent neo-Nazi organization the Base gathered on a North Georgia compound to train and plan terrorist strikes they hoped would lead to the fall of the United States government, but they had no real experience with combat. Matthew Ryan Burchfield, who had been living in Savannah, was among them as he passed through the Rome compound on his way to Ukraine to fight with a far-right paramilitary group. He is part of a collection of thousands of foreign fighters who have poured into eastern Ukraine since the conflict began with Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. Many are white supremacists and neo-Nazis who have been animated by the struggle in a vastly white European nation and the opportunity to gain real-world fighting experience. Watchdogs that monitor extremist groups say they are particularly concerned about those who have traveled from western nations because it is believed they view the fighting in Ukraine as a training ground for future violence in their home countries. "There's been recruitment, saying, 'This is your training for boogaloo, a second civil war in the States,'" said David Malet, a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University and an expert on transnational fighters. And while in recent years Ukraine had discouraged such radical foreigners from entering the country, the government has issued new calls for international volunteers to help turn back the Russian invasion. On Wednesday, the Counter Extremism Project issued a fresh warning that the invasion "has sparked online activity from far-right white nationalists and neo-Nazi groups" motivated to join the conflict. |
| UN report paints dire picture of the Gulf of Mexico's future | |
| Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on parts of the Texas coast in 2017. Then in 2020, ferocious winds from Hurricane Laura destroyed homes across coastal Louisiana. Hurricane Ida hit in 2021, leaving the entire city of New Orleans without power for days. Such extreme weather is becoming more common, and that's just one of the warnings for the Gulf of Mexico region in a United Nations report released this week. The devastating effects of climate change in the region also include rising seas, collapsing fisheries and toxic tides, even if humanity somehow manages to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era. "The hurricanes that we get, there's a higher probability that they can bloom up into major hurricanes," Louisiana's state climatologist Barry Keim said, agreeing with the report's details on more dangerous weather. The region, home to major oil and gas production in Texas and Louisiana and tourist destinations in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, tends to be conservative politically, and its mostly Republican leaders have stressed adaption to climate change -- higher roads, sea walls, preventing saltwater intrusion -- more than broad efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or promote cleaner energy. Sea level rise poses an existential threat to much of Louisiana, because so much of the Mississippi River delta has been sinking due to human interventions. The loss of sediment from leveeing the river and saltwater intrusion caused by coastal oil and gas development are two big culprits, Keim noted. "South Louisiana is probably the most vulnerable place to climate change in the United States," Keim said. |
| Mask wearing optional at MUW | |
| Mississippi University of Women has dropped its face covering mandate after new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines marked the COVID-19 community level in Lowndes County as low. Masks became "recommended" on campus as of Tuesday. According to the CDC, a low community level classification is determined by three different factors: new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days. Lowndes County currently has 31 active cases over the last seven days, and at MUW there are only two active cases among students, faculty and staff as of this past Monday, according to MUW's case tracker on its website. While MUW is highly encouraging mask wearing in all campus indoor settings, face coverings are still required in health care settings on campus. James King, a part-time communications student from Columbus who is rarely on campus for class, said Thursday he is fine with shedding his mask at this point. He also pointed out several safety measures MUW still offers despite lifting the mandate. For those choosing to continue to wear a face covering, the university will continue to support them, and employees are allowed to request face coverings to be worn inside private offices, according to a university press release. MUW is still encouraging faculty, students and staff to be fully vaccinated, and they offer all doses of the vaccine, including boosters, on campus. |
| Thousands of Mississippi nursing school applicants rejected each year as faculty shortage grows | |
| When Lydia Hall takes her nursing students to make rounds at the hospital, she watches closely as her students give patients medications and fix IV lines. She guides them, usually 21 or 22 years old, through evaluating heart rates, oxygen levels and blood pressure. She does what she can to help them process seeing people in their worst situations and accepting they can't fix everything. Sometimes the Mississippi College instructor fields a question from the overworked nurses eager to recruit new colleagues to the hospital: Would she consider taking a full-time job there, making $100 an hour? "I mean, it's tempting," Hall said. "I do think about all my different options." Hall teaches because she loves training the next generation of nurses. But as nursing salaries skyrocket, the choice to teach involves sacrifice. With 35 years of nursing experience, Hall could make more money if she returned to the bedside. In part because of that financial reality, there aren't enough instructors to train the next generation of nurses in Mississippi. That's making it harder to address the nursing shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic -- a problem that led chief nursing officers from 36 Mississippi hospitals to beg state leaders for help in November of last year. According to a survey of nursing deans and directors conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning, the average nursing program in Mississippi would need to hire three more faculty to admit to full capacity. Accreditation requires maintaining a strict student-to-faculty ratio, so every faculty vacancy means about 15 fewer Mississippians admitted to nursing programs. Nursing schools in Mississippi have recently had to turn away an average of about 2,400 qualified applicants every year, according to IHL statistics. Some of them may apply again, but others give up on a dream. The faculty shortage is predicted to worsen. |
| CBS News' '48 Hours' to cover Ally Kostial murder case | |
| When investigators found the body of Ally Kostial, a student at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, in July 2019 near a remote fishing camp not far from campus, they wondered why someone would so brutally take the life of the 21-year-old. Kostial, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, who was studying business and marketing, was shot at least nine times. 48 HOURS and Michelle Miller, co-host of CBS SATURDAY MORNING, will investigate the murder of Kostial and the digital trail investigators followed to find her killer, in "What Ally Kostial Didn't Know," to be broadcast Saturday, Mar. 5 at 9 PM Central Standard Time on the CBS Television Network and streamed on Paramount+. Prosecutors say this case raises questions about missed warning signs in relationships and whether the murder could have been prevented. Investigators were able to track Kostial's life before her death through her Apple Watch, which stored text messages, leading Lafayette County sheriff's deputies to fellow student Brandon Theesfeld. He was arrested three days after Kostial was found. "The hardest thing is to go back and read her messages," said Lafayette County district attorney Ben Creekmore. Brandon Theesfeld pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and admitted to shooting Kostial. Theesfeld was facing a capital murder charge, but defense attorney Tony Farese and the State of Mississippi agreed on reducing the charge to murder in the first degree. |
| USM hosts 14th Annual Economic Outlook Forum | |
 | Scholars, researchers and business professionals gathered for an economic outlook forum at the University of Southern Mississippi. They discussed trends in the state and what is important to invest in going forward. Wages, workforce and what to watch for were all big topics at USM's 14th Annual Economic Development Outlook Conference. Keynote speaker, Adrianne Slack, is the regional executive for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, New Orleans Branch. She is also a Southern Miss graduate who says it's an honor to be a part of the exchange of ideas. "That exchange of ideas that you're talking about is incredibly beneficial in normal times. But there's so much we can learn from one another in times of uncertainty. When the economy is performing in ways that we don't have insight down the road, to how things are going to change how businesses are going to behave," she explains. She says it's hard to predict the future, especially in a time when many outside forces like foreign relations and global trade are impacting local prices for goods. But, it's important to gather and share what business trends denominated the past year. The crowd participated in real-time polls sharing their thoughts on the biggest challenges facing Mississippi business growth and their thoughts on where to expect the most growth this year. |
| USM to celebrate Women's History Month | |
 | The Committee on Services and Resources for Women (CSRW) at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) sill sponsor and co-sponsor events in March for Women's History Month. Dr. Candice Salyers, chair of CSRW and professor of dance, said, "USM's programming honors the contributions of women artists, healers, historians, activists, and entrepreneurs to the health and wellbeing of society. This month offers us an opportunity to come together across disciplines to acknowledge and reflect upon issues of importance in the lives of women." On Friday, March 4 from 10–11:00 a.m. in a virtual presentation via Zoom, Dr. Aisha Johnson, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Archives and Records Management at North Carolina Central University, will give a lecture titled, "Relentless Advocacy as Purpose." On Tuesday, March 8 from 5:30–6:30 p.m. at Gonzales Auditorium, Liberal Arts Building 108, a Louisiana native currently living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia, E. Gabrielle Walker, will give her 2021-22 Baird Fellowship Lecture titled, "When We Were Freshmen': Judson College and the Rise of the New Baptist Woman." |
| After a wave of HBCU bomb threats, a look at another era of violence at Jackson State | |
| On the first day of Black History Month, more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities across the country received bomb threats, inserting a wave of hate into a time meant for reflection and celebration. "It's not really surprising to me just because how many events have we seen occur in places where Black people come to gather and share camaraderie in," Aria Brent, a senior journalism student who works as a resident assistant in Alexander Hall at Jackson State University, said. In 1970, that residence hall was the scene of a violent and deadly attack spurred by law enforcement that left two young men dead, many others injured and campus changed forever. The recent bomb threats at Jackson State, and at least seven other HBCUs in the Gulf States region, stirred up memories of that event, known as the Gibbs-Green tragedy. Since the beginning of 2022, the total number of bomb threats directed at HBCUs in the U.S. surpassed 50 and the FBI is pursuing the wave as a hate crime investigation. Many of the residents in Alexander Hall said they are not shocked to learn about what happened on their campus in 1970 -- the same way they weren't shocked when their university and other HBCUs across the country were targeted with bomb threats this year. So far, the FBI has identified six persons of interest in this investigation, but no charges have been filed. |
| Carson Band Hall to open at East Central Community College Tuesday | |
 | East Central Community College will officially open the new Thomas W. Carson Band Hall with a ribbon cutting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8. The public is invited to attend. The ceremony will be held inside the new facility located to the north of the existing Vickers Fine Arts Center on North 6th Avenue on the Decatur campus. Self-guided tours will be available following the ceremony. The nearly 11,000 square-foot, $3.5 million band hall will house the college's Wall O' Sound Marching Band practice hall, music practice studios, music teaching studios, instrument storage, a music library, and office space. The building is named in memory of the late Carson who was associated with East Central for more than half his life, including two years as a student and 30 years as Director of Bands and music instructor. He passed away on May 6, 2013, at age 57. "This will be an important day for our college and our band program," said ECCC President Brent Gregory. "The Thomas W. Carson Band Hall is a much-needed performance and training facility for our band students and our music faculty. The Wall O' Sound Band is already one of the best marching bands in the state of Mississippi and has been an important part of this college and our local communities for many years. This new state-of-the art facility will help the band grow and provide more opportunities for students across our five-county district and beyond to participate in the program." |
| Louisiana state trooper demoted for partying with LSU students he was assigned to protect | |
 | A Louisiana State Police trooper's behavior around a group of LSU students has earned the trooper a demotion after an internal probe found he drank alcohol and committed various other policy violations on a trip to Mississippi with the school band. The investigation found that trooper Thomas Noto flouted State Police rules including use of intoxicants, conduct unbecoming an officer and neglect of duty, LSP spokesman Nick Manale said Thursday. Noto was a sergeant in the agency's patrol division, but was demoted to trooper this week -- a development first reported by WBRZ-TV. State Police announced the internal probe into Noto's behavior in a news release in October, but withheld details about the alleged misconduct. The release said the probe was spurred by a complaint about the trooper's behavior while working with LSU. Later, LSU officials said the incident had been reported to their Title IX office. Sherman Mack, an attorney for a female LSU student who complained about Noto, said Thursday that his client experienced "inappropriate behavior" by the trooper that "crossed the line." He declined to share additional details about what that conduct entailed, saying the woman prefers not to elaborate on it. The woman is "satisfied" with the discipline handed down by LSP, Mack said. |
| Students connecting from abroad put U. of Arkansas law class's focus on Ukraine | |
| The sights and sounds of war did not keep 18-year-old Pavlo Zelenskyi from joining his University of Arkansas School of Law classmates on Wednesday. "Ten minutes before our lesson, there were air raid sirens," Zelenskyi said calmly, appearing from Ukraine via a Zoom link just as he had in past weeks for the Rule of Law course taught by Christopher Kelley. The class Wednesday marked the first since Russian military forces on Feb. 24 began their violent push into the country of more than 40 million people. Though Zelenskyi is not a UA student, he and about a couple of dozen others from Ukraine had been regular course participants throughout the semester, taking part as "volunteers" without getting course credit, said Kelley, a former Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine. Of his own safety fears, Zelenskyi said little, though he and others who spoke Wednesday told of Russian firepower damaging familiar urban targets, like a TV tower a short distance from the Kyiv university where Zelenskyi studies international relations. Olha Poliukhovych, a Kyiv-based scholar and class guest Wednesday, shared images of such destruction. "It is really too dangerous to go anywhere," Zelenskyi said matter-of-factly. Class participants from Ukraine described the sudden immediacy of war while also forcefully stating their resolve to remain independent. |
| Amazon partners with UK, other Kentucky universities to provide scholarships for workers | |
 | Amazon has partnered with the University of Kentucky and other Kentucky universities in an effort to provide higher education opportunities to its front-line employees, the company announced Thursday. Along with UK, Amazon also partnered with the University of Louisville, Thomas More University, Campbellsville University, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, Gateway Community and Technical College and Jefferson Community and Technical College to provide fully-funded college tuition to local front-line employees. The partnerships are part of Amazon's "Career Choice program" -- an initiative created to help frontline employees grow their skills for career success at Amazon or elsewhere. Employees with Amazon are eligible for the Career Choice program and fully-funded college tuition 90 days after employment. "We are appreciative of the support Amazon is providing their employees to improve and learn new career skills," Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said in a statement, according to Amazon. "With the Career Choice program, and this new partnership with University of Kentucky, our residents can continue to learn, grow, and gain access to more highly-skilled careers." |
| Salary cuts, shared governance again hot topics for U. of Missouri Faculty Council | |
 | Shared governance and faculty salary cuts on Thursday again dominated conversation in a meeting of the University of Missouri Faculty Council. Members discussed a meeting some of them held last week with UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi about the issues. A faculty petition last month showed overwhelming opposition to the cuts to the salaries of tenured faculty members. A separate resolution sought a commitment to shared governance. Choi issued brief written responses, but members of the Faculty Council sought more details from Choi. Faculty member Rabia Gregory said she appreciated that Choi listened to their concerns. "He will not rescind salary reductions," Gregory said, adding that Choi told them that it is shaping the way he's developing workload policy for employees with a nine-month assignment. Kathleen Trauth, Faculty Council chairwoman, and Gregory said Choi suggested faculty members seek connections with other faculty members with which to partner on research in increasing their productivity. Choi's answer on shared governance didn't indicate much interest in the concept, said faculty member David Singh. "Shared governance isn't just about, 'Yes, my door is open, and if you want to chat, we can chat,'" Singh said. |
| Mizzou defends president's right to cut faculty pay by 25% | |
 | In the COVID-19–induced chaos of spring 2020, the University of Missouri system quietly added a section to its rules and regulations that allows for individual tenured faculty salaries to be cut by up to 25 percent. This could be for productivity, enrollment or other reasons. The rule change went largely unnoticed for a year, until news broke last summer that the School of Medicine at the university's flagship campus at Columbia, or Mizzou, planned to slash multiple professors' salaries by 10 to 25 percent following productivity reviews. According to information from Mizzou, fewer than 10 professors in three programs -- medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture -- have been affected to date. But the system expects that more professors will see pay cuts as additional academic units adopt criteria for evaluating professors under the new policy. Alarmed by this policy shift, both in substance and how it was adopted, system professors have been fighting it for months. Mun Choi, system president since 2017 and also Mizzou's chancellor since 2020, recently told professors that he's not backing down, however. "I will not be making changes to the executive order," Choi said in a memo to Kathleen Trauth, chair of the Faculty Council and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Mizzou. "Individuals who work for the university, whether faculty or staff, must fulfill important responsibilities that contribute to the mission of the university." Christian Basi, university spokesperson, said the system chancellor has long had the authority to change faculty pay, and Choi has been meeting with other administrators about "areas where we need to be paying attention and there was concern about faculty workload related to salary related to job expectations." |
| UC Berkeley will meet court-ordered enrollment cap with online, deferred admission offers | |
 | The California Supreme Court on Thursday declined to lift an enrollment cap on UC Berkeley, forcing one of the nation's most popular campuses to scramble for ways to avoid what it initially feared could be cuts as large as one-third of its incoming fall class, or 3,050 seats, just weeks before it was set to release admission decisions. A university spokesman said the campus would meet the court-ordered cap by offering at least 1,500 incoming first-year and transfer students online enrollment for fall or deferred admission next January for the spring semester. In addition, some students plan to be away from campus on study programs abroad or in other cities, which would help Berkeley meet the enrollment cap. And many students graduate each winter, freeing up seats for spring. As a result, Berkeley may only need to cut its incoming 2022-23 class by a few hundred students rather than thousands as initially feared. The high court rejected the University of California's appeal to stay a lower court ruling issued in August that froze enrollment at Berkeley until the campus more thoroughly examined the impact of its burgeoning growth on housing, homelessness and noise. The court left intact a ruling by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman, who capped the enrollment of students on the physical campus while the lawsuit filed by Save Berkeley's Neighborhoods proceeds. In a statement, UC Berkeley said it was "extremely disheartened" by Thursday's ruling but vowed to continue fighting. |
| Amazon's Employees Can Go to College, Free. What's in It for Higher Ed? | |
 | At the College of Lake County, a two-year institution outside of Chicago, the mission is clear: educating and uplifting a predominantly Hispanic, low-income student population. That's why the college has decided to join Amazon's sweeping free-tuition program for hourly workers. Amazon announced on Thursday that its employees will have tuition covered at the College of Lake County, and at more than 200 campuses and certificate programs across the country, through its Career Choice program. More than half of Career Choice's participants identify as Black, Hispanic, or Native American -- the same groups of students that the College of Lake County wants to serve. Amazon's announcement is an eye-catching development in the yearslong effort across higher education to enroll more adult learners and increase the share of the U.S. population that has some education beyond high school. While the jury's still out on whether tuition-benefit programs deliver on all their promises, as most are relatively new, they have become an increasingly popular offering for major corporations. Last fall, Amazon announced a $1.2 billion investment to expand its efforts. So, what's in it for the colleges? For institutions in Ohio, the Amazon partnership is, in part, a way to expand enrollment in a state that's struggling mightily to enroll enough students, according to Crain's Cleveland Business. |
| Biden Was Silent on Student-Loan Debt Relief in This Week's Speech to the Nation. It's Not the First Time. | |
| When President Biden took office, just over a year ago, many advocates of student-loan debt relief hoped their moment had finally arrived, and a broad swath of Americans would soon see those loans wiped away. Once a fringe idea, such debt relief had gained significant traction in recent years, embraced by progressive Democrats and some Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump. On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to cancel at least $10,000 in debt for each student-loan borrower. He also promised to forgive federal student debt incurred at public colleges and universities, historically Black colleges and universities, and other minority-serving institutions for borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year. More than a year into his term, however, those promises have not materialized. Notably, in the State of the Union address on Tuesday, Biden touched on increasing the maximum Pell Grant and expanding support for HBCUs and community colleges, but made no mention of student debt. And though he spoke about college affordability in an address last year to a joint session of Congress, then too he did not mention student loans. By contrast, President Barack Obama talked about student debt in every one of his State of the Union addresses. Biden's omissions may indicate concerns about the policy tools he has the power to wield and the political feasibility of wielding them. The issue affects 45 million people, who hold a combined $1.7 trillion in student debt, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center. The issue is also top of mind for many student borrowers now because the pause that was put in place for federal student-loan repayments during the pandemic is set to expire on May 1, although it has been extended several times and could be again. |
| Colleges offer counseling, resources to students following invasion of Ukraine | |
| Colleges are offering both international and domestic students support and resources, like counseling and advising, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week. Institutions like Pennsylvania State University, the University of Utah and Princeton University have addressed students directly in community-wide messages and are providing services to help those affected. Education advocates, meanwhile, are pushing for federal protections for Ukrainian students in the U.S., such as Temporary Protected Status that would extend work permit eligibility and protection from deportation. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday said he would give a TPS designation to Ukrainians living in the U.S., including those on temporary student visas, according to CBS News. More than 1,700 Ukrainian students studied in the U.S. during the 2020-2021 school year, according to Open Doors data. Exponentially more students likely have ties to the country, with over a million Americans reporting Ukrainian ancestry, according to 2019 Census data. In a Feb. 25 letter to the Syracuse University community, Chancellor and President Kent Syverud called the pictures coming out of Ukraine horrific and offered mental health resources and student advising options to students, faculty and staff. |
SPORTS
| Softball Hosts Bulldog Invitational, First Responder Day This Weekend | |
| Mississippi State softball will host its final non-conference tournament weekend on March 4-6 when the Bulldogs welcome Furman, Alcorn State and Jacksonville State to Nusz Park for the Bulldog Invitational. The weekend marks MSU's first meeting with Furman (6-7). MSU (10-7) holds an 11-3 edge in the all-time series with Jacksonville State (7-6) and has won each of the last five meetings. The Bulldogs have never lost to Alcorn State (7-8) in 12 meetings. State enters the weekend ranked sixth nationally in home runs (25) and ninth in home runs per game (1.47). The Bulldogs have hit at least one home run in each of their 10 wins this season with six run-rule victories. MSU's pitching staff has thrown five shutouts, which is No. 17 in the nation. Admission to MSU softball games is always free. Friday afternoon will be TikTok Day at Nusz Park and fans in attendance will receive free MSU pop sockets. The evening game against Alcorn State is the Bulldogs' annual "Think Pink" game presented by OCH. Originally scheduled for Saturday, First Responder Day has been moved to Sunday afternoon. Members of the Starkville police and fire departments will compete in a home run derby on the field immediately following MSU's game with Alcorn State at 12:30 p.m. CT. |
| 'She's the real deal': How Mia Davidson put Mississippi State softball 'on the map' | |
| They raged against the machine. The Mississippi State softball team hated whenever coach Samantha Ricketts set up her pitching machine to fire what former MSU outfielder Christian Quinn called "the craziest drop ball you have ever seen." No Bulldogs hitter could move on from the drill until they hit five balls to a specific level of the batting cage behind the machine. Players were known to spend their whole practice flailing away, trying to reach a benchmark so difficult that Ricketts' standard fell from five hits to three after the 2019 season. "It's either going to make or break your entire practice," Quinn said. "We would call that pitching machine all kinds of terrible names because we hated it so much." Mia Davidson didn't mind it, though. During a practice early in Quinn's first season with the team, the sophomore catcher stepped into the cage for the drill her teammates all despised. For the reigning Southeastern Conference freshman of the year, it was just "fun competition." "I love drop ball pitches," Davidson told The Dispatch. Davidson swung five times, hit the mark all five times and walked right out of the batting cage, completing the drill effortlessly. Quinn and her teammates looked on, stunned. "Wow," Quinn told herself. "She's the real deal." More than three years later, Davidson -- now in her final college season -- has proven that and then some. |
| Scuffling Mississippi State baseball set to face red-hot Tulane in New Orleans | |
| Logan Tanner knows everyone remembers what happened late last February when Mississippi State hosted Tulane at Dudy Noble Field. After the Green Wave bench harangued the Bulldogs throughout the Feb. 28 series finale, MSU reliever Brandon Smith screamed at the visitors' dugout following a key eighth-inning strikeout. It was the culmination of plenty of tension on both sides, though it wasn't the deciding moment in that rubber game. After Luis Aviles put Tulane ahead with a ninth-inning home run, Tanner Allen delivered a walk-off two-run single to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 win as they took two of three from the Green Wave in Starkville. "That was a rowdy series," Tanner said. Another one could be in store this weekend when No. 9 Mississippi State (5-4) limps into New Orleans to face Tulane (8-1) once again. For a Bulldogs team that lost a series to No. 25 Long Beach State, dropped a game to Northern Kentucky, barely held off Grambling State and lost to Southern Miss, the Green Wave might be just about the last team they want to see. "They're really good, and they're one of the hottest teams in the country -- and probably pissed off about last year, so we're going to have our hands full," Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said. |
| Tulane bats stay hot in win over Texas Southern | |
| The Tulane University baseball team (8-1) defeated Texas Southern University (6-4) by a score of 10-2 on Wednesday night inside Greer Field at Turchin Stadium. The Green Wave scored 10 runs on nine hits. Nine Tulane pitchers took the mound, and held TSU to two hits in the Wave's fourth straight victory. "All-in-all, we continued to play good defense, throw strikes, and come up with some opportunistic hits," head coach Travis Jewett said. "I like the depth of this team. We made some changes, got some guys of their feet, and had a lot of firsts tonight." Tulane has now scored 46 runs in its past three games. Freshman Grant Siegel got his first start of the year for the Green Wave and went two hitless innings, striking out three. The right-hander had made three previous relief appearances for Tulane. "The game in front of us is the most important one," Jewett said. "Now this one's over, we found a way to win, and we are looking forward to playing a very good Missippi State team this weekend." Tulane plays host to Mississippi State this weekend for a three-game series. Game one is at 6:30, game two is 2:00, and game three is at 1:30. |
| MSU women's basketball players hope Doug Novak remains coach | |
| "We want Doug" signs held up by Mississippi State women's basketball fans Thursday night at the SEC Tournament provided inspiration for the Bulldogs who got off to a strong start against Kentucky at Bridgestone Arena. The signs mirrored the support Mississippi State's players have expressed in terms of their desire for interim coach Doug Novak to be given the job on a fulltime basis. A win for the No. 10 seed Bulldogs over the No. 7 seed Wildcats may have strengthened the players' case to make Novak their permanent coach. But that didn't happen. The Wildcats (16-11) handled the trouble Mississippi State (15-14) gave them early and claimed an 83-67 victory, but it didn't diminish the players' resolve to keep Novak, who replaced Nikki McCray-Penson who resigned abruptly in the preseason. "Those signs (supporting Novak) were pretty amazing; when I saw them I kind of laughed and smiled," said junior guard Myah Taylor. "He clearly knows the Xs and Os in and out, which is definitely one of his strengths. But I think it's his confidence in us only having seven players and what he's been able to do with this program that is just amazing." Taking over a team on short notice was just the start of a long string of obstacles Novak had to overcome. A series of defections and injuries left the Bulldogs with only seven available players for most of the season. Those seven were clearly committed to give their best for Novak on Thursday. |
| Mississippi State men prepare to close disappointing regular season at Texas A&M | |
| The Mississippi State men's basketball team can no longer reasonably rely on luck to make the NCAA tournament. Last week, Bulldogs coach Ben Howland said wins over Vanderbilt, No. 5 Auburn and Texas A&M plus a trip to the Southeastern Conference tournament finals could allow his team to "get lucky" and secure an at-large bid. MSU beat Vanderbilt on Saturday, but after Wednesday's overtime loss to the Tigers, the automatic bid that comes with winning the SEC tourney is just about the Bulldogs' only shot at returning to the Big Dance. Still, Mississippi State (17-13, 8-9 SEC) has to finish out the regular season at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against a Texas A&M team that has been streaky -- to say the least -- all season. But despite A&M's instability, the Aggies are practically right in line with the Bulldogs in most metrics. KenPom has Mississippi State No. 50 overall and Texas A&M No. 59; in the NCAA NET rankings, MSU and A&M are back to back at Nos. 56 and 57. That makes Saturday's game at Reed Arena in College Station another Quadrant 1 contest for the Bulldogs, their 12th so far this season. But Mississippi State is just 2-9 in such games against top competition, a mark likely to keep MSU out of the tournament. |
| Men's Tennis: No. 24 MSU Opens SEC Play Against No. 2 Tennessee | |
| No. 24 Mississippi State men's tennis team hosts second-ranked Tennessee to start off Southeastern Conference play on Friday at 3 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre. The Bulldogs have won six of the last meetings in the series including the last match held in Starkville in 2019, 4-3. The match will mark the 59th contest between the two teams with the Volunteers holding a 36-22 lead. Tennessee won last year's contest 6-1 in Knoxville and are riding a two-match winning streak in the series. The Bulldogs currently hold a 9-3 overall record after beating Jackson State and Jacksonville State in a doubleheader last Sunday 6-1 and 4-0 respectively. Tennessee is currently 12-2 overall having downed Furman 5-2 at home during its last outing on Tuesday. The first 100 students to attend Friday's match will receive a free rally towel to help cheer on the Bulldogs. For more information on the Bulldog men's tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. |
| Proposed Louisiana bill would let schools facilitate NIL deals and give boosters more freedom | |
| An amended bill proposed in Louisiana would let state universities and their employees compensate players for the use of their name, image and likeness; facilitate NIL deals; and give boosters more freedom to pay prospective recruits. Senate Bill 250 filed Thursday by Sen. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero) would repeal those sections of the original state law passed last summer, which unintentionally created more restrictions than the NCAA's sparse guidelines. The bill will be considered during the upcoming legislative session that begins March 14. "The NCAA did not take any action," Connick said, "and so this was our response." If passed, Louisiana schools and their employees can compensate and direct payment to current players or recruits through NIL deals. The proposal would also remove limitations on athletic boosters, striking language that prevented them from using NIL "as a recruiting inducement or as a means of paying for athletics participation." Since NIL started last summer, the federal government has provided no framework and the NCAA gave little direction. The governing body of college athletics, stripped of its authority by the Supreme Court, only prohibited pay-for-play, making deals legal as long as the athlete provided a service in exchange for their compensation. As NIL evolved into what many called "the wild, wild, west" over the last eight months, Connick spoke to administrators at LSU and other state universities about how to alter the legislation. Though at the forefront of NIL laws, Louisiana's guardrails prevented LSU from getting involved, other than arranging group licensing agreements and education. |
| Coach K's Last Game at Duke Spawned a $20 Million Real Estate Bubble | |
| The hottest real-estate market in the country right now is a muddy patch of campground next to a basketball arena in Durham, N.C., where a bunch of tents are suddenly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. Their owners aren't selling. They can't. Those homes also happen to be their tickets to Mike Krzyzewski's last game at Duke. Every year, Duke students pitch tents and spend months sleeping outside for the chance to see the annual game against rival North Carolina, taking advantage of a remarkable deal: They get the best seats in the house for free. That prime real estate has never been worth so much. This year, they're roughing it for Krzyzewski's final home game before the winningest coach in men's college basketball retires, and tickets for the last regular-season stop on his farewell tour are fetching Super Bowl prices. With a dozen students per tent, and hundreds of tents next to Cameron Indoor Stadium, the economy of Krzyzewskiville is so booming that even math majors like Rebecca Bell can't wrap their minds around the numbers: The property inside this tent village would be appraised for about $20 million. "It is kind of mind-blowing to think about the value of our tickets," says Bell, a senior who will be standing in the front row at halfcourt on Saturday. There is so much competition for so little space in this exclusive hamlet that each square foot of Krzyzewskiville is worth about $1,000, says Chris Glynn, Zillow's senior managing economist. "That's comparable to typical home values per square foot in Palm Beach, Vail or Southampton," said Glynn, who earned his Ph.D. at Duke. |
| Study: Percentage of Black college coaches remains low | |
| The lack of Black head coaches in college sports remains problematic, according to a diversity study for racial and gender hiring practices. The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida released its annual report on Thursday, showing the representation of Black head coaches for all college sports has not shown much improvement over the last year. Black coaches held only 9% of head positions at the Division I level, which was the same as last year. There were minimal increases at the Division II level (6.2%, up 0.2%) and in Division III (5.9%, up 0.4%) sports. In all, 82.2% of men's basketball head coaches are white, along with 89% of football head coaches and 94.5% of baseball head coaches across all three divisions. On the women's side, white people comprised 82.1%, 84.9% and 88.7% in Divisions I, II, and III of head coaching positions, respectively. In men's Division I basketball, 24.3% of all head coaches were Black. While that is up 1.6% from last year, it remains 0.9% short of the all-time high of 25.2% reported in 2005-2006. Dr. Richard Lapchick, the director of TIDES and the primary author of the study, called the continued lack of minority hires "unacceptable" adding that it is "concerning that we are not headed in the right direction." |
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