| Thursday, May 19, 2022 |
| MSU to hold preparedness exercise with emergency drill Thursday | |
 | MSU's Crisis Action Team and local responders will participate in a preparedness exercise on campus Thursday [May 19]. The MSU campus community may notice emergency vehicles Thursday morning as part of a hypothetical scenario. MSU's Crisis Action Team conducts training exercises periodically to drill the emergency response skills of top administrators and key decision makers. This group meets regularly to ensure the university is prepared to respond to a variety of potential threats to the campus community. The most common types of threats include inclement weather incidents, but the team trains for a wide variety of other potential emergency scenarios. The Crisis Action Team advises all MSU students, faculty and staff to periodically update Maroon Alert contact information and opt in to receive Maroon Alert text messages. For more information about Maroon Alert and registration instructions, visit https://www.emergency.msstate.edu/maroon-alert. Follow @MaroonAlert on Twitter. For preparedness information, emergency procedures and additional resources, visit https://www.emergency.msstate.edu/. |
| Growth the focus as Jeffery Simmons returns to Starkville for Boys & Girls Club event | |
 | Jeffery Simmons didn't realize during his time at Noxubee County High School that the football field house never had a name. Broken treadmills and bent weights sat inside the building, although the lack of resources never stopped the Tigers. During Simmons' four years at the school from 2012 to 2015, Noxubee County went 51-9, winning three state titles. "We didn't make excuses," Simmons said. "We had to get it out (of) the mud. No matter what type of equipment we've got, no matter what we have, we're going to make the best of it." But beginning with the 2020 season, Noxubee County's field house has had a new name and a new look. Simmons and his entourage fixed it up, applying paint and providing several new weight racks. The building was christened the Jeffery B. Simmons Field House and will be officially dedicated July 8. "I'm excited to see how far we can keep it going," Simmons said Wednesday. "Hopefully we can keep actually building on it, try to make it a little bigger." That growth -- both as a servant of the community and as a professional football player -- was the focus of Wednesday's Sports Talk event for the Boys & Girls Club of the Golden Triangle, held at the Bryan Building at Mississippi State. "It is home for me, especially here on this campus," Simmons said. "I love this university." |
| New campaign looks to tackle mental health crisis worsened by COVID-19 | |
 | May is known across America as Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Mississippi Department of Mental Health (DMH) is encouraging those experiencing mental health or substance abuse problems during the COVID-19 pandemic to seek help. Through a new campaign called "Behind the Mask," DMH is encouraging individuals not to hide "behind the mask" but to understand that the pandemic has affected nearly everybody across the state and realize that these issues are not only common but treatable. "Even before COVID, even before we were talking about wearing masks, people with mental health issues often put on a mask to disguise what's happening in their lives," Molly Portera Taylor, DMH Director of Outreach and Training, said during a recent episode of Good Things with Rebecca Turner. "And so, this campaign is really about taking off that figurative mask and not being afraid to reach out for help." The campaign's website offers free screenings, tips, routes to find a provider, as well as testimonials from those Mississippians who sought mental health resources during the pandemic. According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. |
| Mississippi investigators and Capitol Police get new leaders | |
 | The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has a new director, and the state Capitol Police have a new chief and assistant chief. Gov. Tate Reeves and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell on Wednesday announced the hiring of the new employees in the department. Charles Haynes will lead MBI. According to a news release from the governor's office, Haynes has worked at the Department of Public Safety more than a decade. Capitol Police officers patrol state office buildings and other parts of the capital city of Jackson. Bo Luckey has been hired as chief of Capitol Police. He has spent the last decade as a senior criminal investigator in the Mississippi Attorney General's office. Joshua Shipp is the new assistant chief of Capitol Police. He served as a patrol shift lieutenant in the Oxford Police Department. |
| Gov. Reeves: Miss. families deserve to feel safe walking around their neighborhoods | |
| In a press conference Wednesday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced "key hirings" to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety's Leadership Team that, he hopes, will help quell violence across Mississippi. He said that the three new hires will be "key players in preserving the security of Mississippians and the security of our state." Reeves noted the rise in crime throughout the country, and that many major cities have been hit by this crime wave. The state's capital city, he said, has not been immune. He said that there have been too many shootings, drug crimes and too much violence in Jackson, Mississippi. So far this year, 51 homicides have been reported in the capital city, according to WLBT figures. The Jackson Police Department says there are 53 homicides, but has not provided details on those. Jackson was also the site of a recent shooting at the Mississippi Mudbug Festival, the alleged gunmen being only 15 and 16 years old. "Mississippi families deserve to feel safe walking around their neighborhoods," Reeves stated during the press conference, adding that his administration refuses to accept the crime wave as the norm in the state. |
| Mississippi struggling to retain educated citizens, auditor says | |
 | According to state auditor Shad White, Mississippi loses its college-educated population at the fifth-highest rate in the country. He explained how the "Stay in the 'Sip" program has helped counter that on Wednesday. White gave a presentation at the Southaven Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Luncheon inside the Landers Center in Southaven. In front of dozens of business owners, he acknowledged the struggle to find educated workers, even when work has been readily available in Mississippi. "Last month I spoke to 200 accounting seniors at the University of Mississippi," White said. "By show of hands, about half the students were from Mississippi. I asked how many of them will stay in Mississippi after they graduate and the number was small enough to count. About seven." White said nearly one-third of college graduates who have remained in Mississippi work in Hinds County, where the city of Jackson is located. But the recent uptick in crime, one that left Jackson with the highest per-capita homicide rate in the country, graduates have been further deterred from staying in the state. But according to White, the current troubles in Jackson could benefit DeSoto County, according to White. "Our biggest magnet (Jackson) is at risk of being a turn-off if we don't fix some of those basic problems," White said. "Fortunately here in DeSoto County, you have a very stable government. You have a great place to live and a great quality of life. You're going to benefit from some of that." |
| Wiggins again misused state campaign funds for congressional race, complaint alleges | |
| State Sen. Brice Wiggins used his state campaign funds to fund a Super PAC that is aiding his campaign for the 4th Congressional District seat -- which appears to be prohibited by federal election law. The campaign for incumbent Congressman Steven Palazzo confirmed on Tuesday that a complaint regarding Wiggins' campaign spending was filed to the Federal Election Commission by a constituent from the district. The Fight for Mississippi PAC, which has aired television commercials in south Mississippi supporting Wiggins' candidacy for the U.S. House seat, received $165,000 in funding from Wiggins' state campaign fund in March, according to Federal Election Commission records. U.S. law generally prohibits funds raised for a state campaign from being used in federal elections. When asked to comment on his own alleged campaign misspending this week, Wiggins initially directed questions to the Super PAC. Elizabeth Curtis of Alexandria, Va., who is listed as the treasurer of the Super PAC, did not respond to questions from Mississippi Today. After this article published, Wiggins sent Mississippi Today a statement. "At the time of the publishing of Mississippi Today's article this afternoon, neither the Committee to Elect Brice Wiggins (Senate) nor Brice Wiggins for Congress had seen or received any complaint that had been filed," Wiggins said in the statement. "The allegations in the article published today are based on an erroneous understanding of the law. This is just another attempt by Mr. Palazzo to avoid the real issue -- that the people are tired of his D.C shenanigans." |
| Hyde-Smith to EPA: Enough talk, it's time to get the Yazoo Pumps back on track | |
| U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) said a "quick resolution" is needed to revive the Yazoo Backwater Area flood control pump project that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stopped last November. Hyde-Smith directed all her attention to the Yazoo Backwater dilemma during EPA Administrator Michael Regan's appearance at a Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. "If you look at the facts and the science, you can get it done," Hyde-Smith told Regan after he said the Yazoo Backwater project is a priority for EPA and other federal agencies. "It's been a long time coming and I just hope that this is a quick resolution to this and that it's not two or three years more down the road because these people in the Mississippi Delta need your help," the Senator continued. "It did come to a screeching halt after it was congressionally approved. So I think you have a lot of explaining to do. I think you've got a lot of corrections to make." Asked by Hyde-Smith whether pumps remain an option, Regan testified, "There are no options off the table, to your question. Green and gray, hard and natural infrastructure solutions are on the table." Regan's testimony on the possibility of fulfilling the 1941 authorization of a Yazoo Backwater Area pumping station, fits with Army Corps testimony in April that "pumps are still in the mix." |
| Senate to test waters on money for restaurants, small businesses | |
 | Supporters of a $48 billion small-business aid bill to help restaurants and select other industries that suffered revenue losses during the pandemic are lobbying senators to back it ahead of a key procedural vote Thursday. But the pleas may not be enough for most Republicans suffering from deficit-spending fatigue after lawmakers approved over $5 trillion worth of COVID-19 relief since 2020. "My understanding is there may be the votes to stop that," Senate Small Business ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Wednesday ahead of the cloture vote on the motion to proceed, which requires 60 votes for adoption. The cost of the $48 billion is only partially paid for, with $5 billion in unspent funds from the lapsed Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable loan program first enacted in March 2020 that helped small businesses keep employees on payroll. "While we understand that there is a desire to see the legislation fully offset, the situation for these industries is too dire to ignore any longer," the bill's lead authors, Senate Small Business Chairman Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter earlier this week urging support for the bill. Cardin and Wicker noted the PPP loans would not have been as successful had Congress delayed action over concerns about offsets. |
| Biden warns of 'another tough hurricane season' this year | |
| President Joe Biden warned Wednesday that the country will likely see "another tough hurricane season" this year, and he pledged that his administration was prepared to respond to the storms and help Americans recover from them. "We know hurricanes are coming our way. They grow more extreme every season," Biden said before a briefing from top federal officials, including Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge. Biden urged Americans to "pay attention to hurricane warnings and follow the guidance of your local authorities." This year, Colorado State, the University of Arizona and Accuweather are all forecasting a busier-than-average hurricane season. Kenneth Graham, director of the National Hurricane Center, frequently points out that the United States has had more category 4 and 5 hurricanes make landfall from 2017 to 2021 than from 1963 to 2016. This year, he recently told a Florida television station:: "It looks like we are going to be busy again." |
| Speculation over whether Biden will run again heats up | |
 | Everywhere you go in Washington, people are wondering the same thing: Will Joe Biden run for reelection? The 79-year-old Democrat and his closest allies say he wants a second White House term and plans to run again. Biden told former President Obama he intends to launch another bid. But that hasn't silenced the whispered questions about whether he will do so given his age -- he will be 81 in November 2024 -- and his rocky approval ratings. The party is also bracing for a difficult midterm election season, and some think negative results could change the president's calculations. "If he's weakened, the sharks will be circling the tank," said one Democratic strategist who asked to speak candidly on background. Few doubt Biden's desire for a second term, and some Democrats are convinced he'll do it regardless of the skepticism of many others in political circles. Former President Trump is also a shadow on everything -- and a waking nightmare of sorts for Democrats. Trump was the reason Biden ran for the White House in 2020, and a big reason he won the party's nomination. Many Democrats wanted to elect the candidate best positioned to defeat Trump. That question will reverberate again as Democrats consider who is best to lead the party against Trump or a Trump-like successor -- such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). |
| A Rising Texas Republican's Advice for His Party: Update Your Look | |
 | A Black conservative and a rising star in the Republican Party, Wesley Hunt is almost certain to be elected to Congress this fall in a majority-white district in and around Houston. The district is new, one of two added in Texas after the 2020 census, and was drawn in large part for Mr. Hunt, an example of Republican lawmakers crafting safe seats out of Texas' diversifying suburbs rather than going after incumbent Democrats. That safety has enabled Mr. Hunt, a regular on Fox News supported by top Republicans like Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, to focus his attention on something bigger than his own election: his conviction that the Republican Party needs more conservatives who look like him if it is going to survive. "Diversity in the Republican Party is not the best," Mr. Hunt, 40, said in an interview. "If you don't have people like me, and women, step up and say, actually, it's OK to be a person of color and to be a Republican, then we're going to lose the next generation." Mr. Hunt has been traveling far beyond his Texas district, raising money and giving support to conservative Black and Hispanic candidates, and talking frankly about the need for Republican officeholders to better reflect the nation's changing demographics. He is part of a growing Republican effort to diversify its roster of candidates and undercut Democrats among voters they have long counted on. For his supporters, Mr. Hunt is evidence that whom they vote for is driven by policy and ideology and not by what a candidate looks like. |
| U. of Mississippi biologist's findings could have impact on Gulf of Mexico's 'Dead Zone' | |
| A University of Mississippi biologist is working to understand how the Mississippi River's floodplain lakes and wetlands, or "backwaters," might help remove nutrients that contribute to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia, or as it's more commonly known, the "Dead Zone." With funding from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, biology professor Cliff Ochs and his research team will evaluate the role that backwater lakes and wetlands in the Mississippi River floodplain play in removal of nutrients and production of algae. They also will create a computer model that helps to determine the controlling factors for these processes. Gulf hypoxia occurs when an excess of nutrients – namely nitrogen and phosphorus -- are carried down the river into the Gulf of Mexico. This is mainly the result of runoff from the landscape, including fertilizers and wastewater, getting into the river and its many tributaries. When these nutrients flow into the Gulf, they promote the growth of large amounts of microscopic algae, called phytoplankton, which eventually sink into deeper water and decompose. The bacteria that decompose the algae deplete the water of oxygen. "Gulf hypoxia is harmful to lots of living things that live in the deep water of the Gulf," said Ochs, the project's senior investigator. "It especially affects invertebrate organisms like shellfish; they can't easily move out of the hypoxic zone. |
| UMMC hosts job fair to combat nursing shortage | |
| As part of efforts to address a shortage of nurses and respiratory therapists, the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) hosted a walk-in job fair on Monday. Pre-pandemic, UMMC would have an average of 30 open nursing positions at a time. That number has ballooned to over 200 over the past few years. For respiratory therapy, the hospital has 30 open positions in its adult hospital and 20 to 25 openings in its pediatric unit. During the five-hour job fair, 16 applicants showed up and 11 were offered jobs on the spot. All accepted their offers. Patrice Donald, a registered nurse and manager of clinical recruitment and retainment at UMMC, said that the streamlined job fair process cuts down the time from the interview to hiring by around 42 days. Abigail May of Madison is one of UMMC's recent hires. May will graduate from UMMC's nursing school on May 27 and start her new job in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit just three days later. May said that her experience at UMMC, both as a student and a patient, along with the center's focus on medical research, makes her want to stay in Mississippi. "I love helping the sickest of the sick patients," May said. "I feel like that's definitely my calling." Mississippi has lost more than 2,000 nurses over the course of the pandemic due to burnout or higher paying jobs in other states, often in travel nursing. This strain is being felt all across the country, and the national shortage of nurses is likely to get worse over time. |
| Southern Miss Spring 2022 Graduates Celebrate Achievements, New Beginnings | |
| Shania Young is moving on to the next chapter in her life after graduating from The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) May 13, while also reflecting fondly on a place and core group of faculty, staff, and fellow students who she credits for "making her the woman she is today." Young, a native of West, Mississippi was among approximately 2,000 USM graduates for the spring 2022 semester. Commencement ceremonies were held for graduate and undergraduate students, respectively, at ceremonies held at Reed Green Coliseum on the Hattiesburg campus May 12-13 and for USM Gulf Coast students at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum Saturday, May 14. An elementary education major with an endorsement in social studies, Young already has a job lined up to teach first grade students in the fall, and says she plans to be a positive force for change whenever and wherever it is needed to help her students achieve. She praised Assistant Dean of Students Delores McNair and her sisters in her sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, for their mentorship, friendship, and encouragement throughout her college career. Cole Russell of Niceville, Florida graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting and minor in management. After considering in-state universities, he decided to follow an older brother to USM and says it was one the best decisions he's ever made. "I've loved my time at USM, and as I reflect on graduation, it reminds me of my decision to attain my minor in management just to be able to stay here a little bit longer," he said. |
| 'A huge victory': Minimum wage workers at USM get pay raise after protest | |
| University of Southern Mississippi's president announced a pay increase for hourly employees on Wednesday, two weeks after United Campus Workers, a labor union, held a rally to demand a $15 an hour minimum wage. The last time USM increased its minimum wage was nearly a decade ago. Starting July 9, benefit-eligible, hourly workers will see the minimum wage increase to $11.25 an hour, up from $10.10 an hour, President Rodney Bennett wrote in an email to faculty and staff. These workers will also receive a 3% adjustment. Graduate assistants, as well as many faculty and staff, will see pay increases, but non-benefit eligible positions such as visiting faculty and adjunct instructors will not be included. Samuel Ewing, an adjunct instructor who helped organize UCW's rally, said he was thrilled at the raise, calling it "just the beginning." He said he hopes the raise will become a "catalyst" for more faculty and staff to get involved with UCW, which will continue to push for $15 an hour and for adjuncts to receive a raise. "This is a huge victory for all working people at this university," Ewing said. "It demonstrates that organizing isn't just our right as working people, but that it actually works." In his email, Bennett, who is stepping down next year, thanked faculty and staff like Ewing for participating in UCW's protest on May 5. He wrote that the university was not able to commit the institutional funds needed to raise the campus minimum wage to $15 an hour. |
| USM Marine Education Center Partners with Tuskegee University on Unique Field Trip | |
| Tuskegee University (TU) students and faculty visited a variety of facilities affiliated with The University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Coastal Operations during the 2022 Ocean Exploration Club field trip held last month. The Tuskegee contingent participated in activities to explore the field of ocean exploration, science, and research. The field trip is part of the Ocean Explorers Internship Program that addresses the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute's (OECI) theme of increasing the utility of ocean exploration information by engaging and encouraging the next generation of ocean explorers, scientists, and engineers. The paid internship program, coordinated by USM's Marine Education Center (MEC), engages undergraduate students from Tuskegee in the field of ocean exploration and research. A relationship between the MEC, the Tuskegee student body and faculty has been cultivated through the Ocean Exploration Club, which is composed of several dozen TU students and coordinated by MEC staff and TU faculty. MEC Director Dr. Jessie Kastler explains that several staff members traveled to Tuskegee in November 2019 to develop the undergraduate ocean exploration partnership. When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in March 2020 and became widespread, the groups were forced to meet online. "I can't believe the students kept returning despite our interactions being solely online," said Kastler. |
| Microsoft launches program in Jackson to grow tech job opportunities, workers skills | |
| Microsoft has tapped a University of Mississippi grad to lead its new philanthropic efforts in Jackson through its "TechSpark initiative," which targets communities vulnerable to being left behind in a tech-driven economy. JJ Townsend, a Long Beach native, will manage TechSpark Jackson, the tech giant announced Wednesday. Microsoft's goals with TechSpark largely mirror what the state has acknowledged as shortfalls through its year-old workforce development office Accelerate Mississippi. Accelerate Mississippi and the state's economic council have both pointed to Mississippi's lack of qualified workers as the top concern for businesses across the states. The program's immediate focus is on Jackson, but Townsend expects that to change over time. In the program's launch, Microsoft said it is helping bolster Jackson State University -- a historically Black college -- cyber-readiness program to build career opportunities. Microsoft says the program will train at least 100 students and help get them real-world cybersecurity experience. The company is partnering with Innovate Mississippi, a 20-year-old nonprofit that supports local entrepreneurs, to run a 12-week program to help grow Mississippi startups. The program is already in the process of training 21 founders -- more than 300 applied -- on how to secure funding and win investors. |
| 86 to graduate from WCU's College of Osteopathic Medicine Saturday | |
 | More than 80 students will graduate Saturday from the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Some will stay in Mississippi to do their residency. George Stevens, a 31-year-old student from St. Louis, Missouri, will do his residence at Delta Health in Greenville. Hannah Ramsey, who's from Jones County, will do hers at Forrest General Hospital. "It's what I've been working for ...," Stevens said. "The ability to able to use my hands in actual real-time practice, I'm chomping at the bit for it, really." "It's gonna be exciting to kind of treat the people of the area because I just want to give back to the people who've taken care of me my whole life," Ramsey said. The graduation will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. at WCU's Thomas Fine Arts Auditorium. Nearly 700 students have graduated from WCU's College of Osteopathic Medicine. It accepted its first class in 2010. |
| Billions in School Covid-Relief Funds Remain Unspent | |
 | U.S. school districts are struggling to spend billions of dollars in federal pandemic-relief money before the funding expires. Districts have yet to spend 93% of $122 billion sunk into the K-12 education system last year as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Education. The money, the largest-ever disbursement of federal funding for American schools, is meant to address learning loss, mental-health problems and other issues in schools caused by the pandemic. Districts are spending the money on teachers, counselors, technology, after-school programs and upgrades to school facilities. If local districts don't spend or direct the funds by September 2024, the money will disappear from their budgets. Some school officials and observers are concerned by the coming deadline and the large portion of the funds that remain unspent. The short-term nature of the money has made it harder to use, school officials said, because any new staff may have to be laid off when the money expires. Workforce shortages and supply-chain issues have also posed challenges, officials said. Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, said federal efforts to track spending have failed to capture whether programs are working and warned that districts that use relief money to hire school staff might not have the means to continue paying them when the funding runs out. "Whenever you do a labor reduction in a school district, it's really problematic," Dr. Roza said. |
| Saban Center update highlights sports science, learning components of facility | |
 | An updated plan for the Saban Center brings a four-pronged science learning component to the offerings of the Children's Hands-On Museum and Tuscaloosa Children's Theatre. That was part of the announcement made Wednesday in a City Hall-produced video featuring University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban and his wife, Terry. "This learning hub will draw people from across the nation to enjoy and inspire learning and to socialize in a spirit of togetherness ...," Terry Saban said. "We are proud to call Tuscaloosa our home as it continues to grow and evolve." Nick Saban and his wife joined Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox in 2019 to announce the Saban Center, which is meant to occupy what is now The Tuscaloosa News building, converting the 100,000-square-foot complex into the new headquarters for both the Children's Hands-On Museum and the Tuscaloosa Children's Theater. The Saban Center, made possible, in part, with a $1.25 million gift from the Saban family and the $8 million purchase of The Tuscaloosa News site by the City Council, will offer science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs, theater, and outdoor recreation. It also will show what goes into making the world-class athletes -- both physically and mentally -- that are produced by Nick Saban and the University of Alabama athletics department. "There are many trophies and championships in the game of football," Nick Saban said, "but the most life changing achievement is getting an education -- that's the real-game changer." |
| Alabama students must fill out FAFSA forms to graduate. State leaders say it's helping scholarships. | |
 | Several Birmingham seniors will head to college in the fall for free -- thanks to a single form, they said. "Coming from a low income household, I always struggled with and worried about affording college and getting to that next step after high school," said Sydney Cook, a senior at Ramsay I.B. High School who recently received a full ride to the University of Chicago. "Completing the FAFSA is a necessary requirement if you don't want to have those worries." Birmingham, state leaders say, is "leading the way" in a new state effort to get high school students to complete the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA. Alabama is now tied for 10th place nationally in FAFSA completion rates and leads the country in recent growth. Alabama now requires high school seniors to complete the FAFSA -- or request a waiver -- in order to graduate. Leaders say the change, made this year, has helped completion rates. According to the National College Attainment Network, 92% of students who completed their FAFSA before graduating high school enrolled in college the following fall, while only 51% of non-completers did. Experts say students are missing out on billions of dollars in free money when they don't fill out the form, which doesn't just qualify students for Pell Grants, but can open the door for other kinds of scholarships and work-study opportunities. |
| UGA's answer to dorm overcrowding? Cash to students who forgo rooms | |
| The University of Georgia is offering sophomores, juniors and seniors up to $3,500 to give up their dorm rooms to make space for incoming first-year students. UGA is seeing more accepted high school seniors deciding to enroll at the Athens campus, spurring a rush on dorm rooms. The university requires first-year, full-time undergraduate students to live in campus residence halls. "The on-campus living and learning experience is a hallmark of an undergraduate education at UGA, and we firmly believe it contributes positively to our stellar retention rate for first-year students, as well as to our high graduation rates," said UGA spokesman Gregory Trevor. "University Housing is implementing an incentive program for current 2022-23 residence hall contract holders to accommodate our incoming first-year students." UGA is offering older students a discounted rate on campus if they transfer out of main campus residence halls that traditionally house freshmen. Students are being promised rooms at a 50% reduction in Brown Hall, which is not on the main campus. It is off Prince Avenue and 2 miles from the UGA Arch. UGA is also offering older students willing to live off campus $3,500 to cancel. Finding a place off campus now poses challenges. Athens has seen a rise in short-term rentals through such sites as Airbnb. |
| Parents' drive for better life inspires U. of Missouri President Mun Choi | |
| A survey completed in 2016 shows Asian Americans make up only 2% of America's college and university presidents. That same year, the University of Missouri made history and hired its first Asian American President, Mun Choi. Choi told ABC 17's Deborah Kendrick that he attributes much of his success to his parents' determination to give him and his siblings a better life. On July 4, 1973, their American dream started. Choi was 9 years old when his family moved to Akron Ohio. Choi was named the University of Missouri's 24th system president in 2016. It was also the first time an Asian American held the position. He officially started his role in March 2017. He was later appointed chancellor of the Columbia campus. "I do hear from some students, they say that it's great to see an Asian American as a role model," Choi said. "I think representation is critically important, but beyond that, it's what the individuals accomplish with that representation, to bring that diverse perspective." |
| New Report Offers First Look at DEI Practices in Tenure Review | |
| Although American college and university faculties have become more diverse over recent decades, tenured faculty remain more likely to be white and male. According to a Pew Research analysis of data from 2017, while 27% of junior faculty were nonwhite, only 19% of tenured professors were. Until now, however, no data existed about what schools were doing -- or not doing -- to mitigate these issues. In a report issued Wednesday, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released the results of the first national survey to include questions on DEI practices in the context of tenure. It provides the first snapshot of institutional efforts to address the comparative lack of diversity at the highest levels of their faculty. The reasons for this lack of diversity are various and complex. Students may evaluate faculty from different backgrounds in different ways, and tenure committees may be implicitly biased, less likely to know and respect the journals in which minority faculty have published. And decision-makers may not recognize the mentorship and service obligations that disproportionately fall on faculty of color, a form of DEI work that has often been likened to a "cultural tax." AAUP asked whether schools had taken several specific steps to mitigate these issues. The survey found that around 22% of institutions included DEI criteria as part of tenure reviews, and that around 39% had reviewed their tenure standards for implicit bias. |
| The Presidential Exit Interview: Nine departing presidents on how the job -- and higher ed -- is changing. | |
 | The wave of turnover among college presidents feels portentous. The list of college leaders who have announced their retirement over the past two years includes some of the best-known presidents in the nation at some of the most-revered institutions. We don't know yet whether the changing of higher education's senior guard signals a change in how institutions are run. But it is the latest evidence of how the world is changing around higher education. Many of the presidents now retiring began their climb to leadership in the late 1990s and 2000s, when higher education itself seemed irrepressibly ascendant: enrollments were on a steady climb, a larger share of the public and politicians had a positive view of higher education, and even state appropriations to public colleges were still on the rise. Now consider higher education's more recent misfortunes. The Great Recession in 2008, a rapid shrinking of per-student state appropriations, public dissatisfaction with the price of college revealed in polling, persistent demands from politicians and activists across the partisan spectrum, the looming enrollment cliff, and a global pandemic that triggered another major recession. All of that on top of longstanding financial challenges for all but the wealthiest institutions. The Chronicle interviewed nine college presidents who are stepping down soon or have left their post over the past year. They reflected on the nature of leadership, the changing demands of running a college, and their concerns about the increasing headwinds facing higher education. |
| Young adults today are slower to gain financial independence | |
 | Young adults today need more time, education and work experience to secure what's considered a "good job" than previous generations did, according to a pair of new reports from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW). Today it takes most young adults until their 30th birthday to get a good job, while 40 years ago most had a good job by their late 20s. CEW defines a "good job" as one that allows young adults to be economically self-sufficient. For workers 45 and younger, that means earning at least $35,000 annually, and for those over 45 it's at least $45,000 a year, a figure that varies somewhat according to the local standard of living. Nationwide, the median annual salary for a good job for workers between 25 and 35 is $57,000. The surest path to financial self-sufficiency is a college degree, according to the reports, published under the rubric "The Uncertain Pathway from Youth to a Good Job." Today 80 percent of workers with a bachelor's degree or higher have a good job by age 35, compared to 56 percent of those with some college or an associate degree, 42 percent of those with only a high school diploma and 26 percent of workers with less than a high school diploma. "Clearly, getting a bachelor's degree or higher is increasingly the best bet when it comes to boosting one's chances of having a good job," the research states. |
| How the Department of Education is recommending higher ed spend money on mental health care | |
| During the pandemic, the federal government provided more than $76 billion to institutions of higher education to keep them -- and their students -- going through the pandemic. A lot of that money has been accounted for, but there's a good chunk of it left, a quarter by one estimate, and this morning, the Department of Education is announcing new guidance on how schools can spend the money on mental health care. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes covers education for us and just talked with the Secretary of Education, and we spoke with her. Below is an edited transcript of the conversation. |
| White House turns focus to youth mental health | |
| For Jazmine Wildcat, a young member of the Northern Arapaho tribe in Wyoming, finding a therapist who understood her struggles was difficult. "Where I'm from, on the reservation, it's not very talked about," she said Wednesday, with tears in her eyes, during an event at the White House focused on the nation's youth mental health crisis. "I've been to way too many funerals, and so I took the liberty to really, you know, say this isn't OK." On Wednesday, Wildcat was not alone. At an event featuring 30 youth activists, actress and singer Selena Gomez, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, first lady Jill Biden and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, the nation's youth mental health crisis was front and center. The event comes as Congress has amped up its focus on passing legislation to improve access to treatment, crisis care, and prevention strategies and other aspects of behavioral health. The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up its mental health package Wednesday, and Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee markups on mental health packages are also expected this summer. The Biden administration announced $2 million in grant funding Wednesday to establish a National Center of Excellence on Social Media and Mental Wellness to help protect children online. |
| Student loan forgiveness: Biden's next move | |
| President Biden has hinted that he is considering relieving at least some of the $1.7 trillion in debt owed to the federal government by more than 40 million student loan borrowers. However, with the final proposal still up in the air, the feasibility of that approach has been questioned by both Department of Education officials and higher education experts. Concerns have also been raised about the long-term implications of debt relief, including the need to reform the country's highly complex student loan and servicing programs and system. "It seems increasingly apparent that the Biden administration intends to announce some sort of loan cancellation or forgiveness effort, but there is absolutely no information available to help people understand even the most basic elements of what such a policy would look like," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. "There's a great deal of confusion and uncertainty about what might happen." With the current pause on student loan payments expiring in September, weeks before the midterm elections, the Biden administration has yet to make a move on one of its central campaign promises: to relieve at least $10,000 in student debt per borrower. Facing mounting political pressure from fellow Democrats and voters, Biden has indicated that he is likely to announce some sort of forgiveness plan in the coming weeks. Many higher education officials said although forgiveness would provide temporary relief to borrowers, broad reforms are needed to simplify student loan programs and fix administrative issues to increase transparency between borrowers, the Education Department and loan servicers. |
| Republicans Introduce Bill to Stop Biden Canceling Student-Loan Debt | |
| Student-loan borrowers eager for broad debt forgiveness will be out of luck if Sen. Mitt Romney has anything to say about it. On Wednesday, the lawmaker from Utah and several of his Republican colleagues introduced a bill that would bar the Biden administration from broadly canceling student-loan debt -- a political move the president has been considering since he took office last year. The Student Loan Accountability Act would prohibit Biden's Education, Justice, and Treasury Departments from taking any action that would cancel or forgive student-loan borrowers' outstanding balances or even portions of those balances, a Wednesday press release said. The bill would include exemptions for student-loan forgiveness, cancelation, and repayment programs that are already in effect, such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Teacher Loan Forgiveness programs. Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana joined Romney in introducing the bill in Congress this week. The bill is unlikely to become law anytime soon with a 50-50 Senate, a Democratic-controlled House, and Biden in the Oval Office. The Republican lawmakers sponsoring the bill said student-loan forgiveness would raise inflation rates, worsen inequality, and incentivize colleges and universities to continue raising tuition. A May analysis found that Biden's $10,000 plan would cost the government $321 billion. |
| FAFSA verification waiver extended by Education Department | |
 | The Biden administration said Wednesday the Education Department will continue to temporarily relax its audit of students who apply for federal grants and loans, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic still rippling throughout higher education. The decision means fewer students from low-income households will be asked this year to submit documents to prove the accuracy of information on their 2022-2023 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Instead the department will continue to focus its audit process, known as verification, on rooting out identity theft and fraud. It's been nearly a year since the Education Department first relaxed its audit of students seeking federal financial aid during the pandemic. Higher-education advocates grew concerned that the department would reverse course as months went by without word of an extension. They said ending the temporary waiver would exacerbate already low FAFSA completion rates and depressed enrollment at colleges that serve high proportions of low-income students. Verification is supposed to maintain the integrity of the $120 billion federal financial aid system, but it is widely criticized as an invasive, time-consuming and unnecessary hurdle for some of the most vulnerable populations. |
SPORTS
| Diamond Dawg Gameday: vs. No. 1 Tennessee | |
| Mississippi State will host No. 1-ranked Tennessee in the final regular-season series of the campaign beginning with the opener set for 6 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 19, at Dudy Noble Field in Starkville. Thursday's series opener will air nationally on SEC Network with Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson on the call, while all three games will be available on SEC Network+. The series will also be carried on the Mississippi State Sports Network powered by Learfield along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/plus. Mississippi State will honor its senior class throughout the weekend series. On Friday night, those Bulldogs who have earned their degrees this semester will participate in a pregame graduation ceremony at Dudy Noble Field. Prior to Saturday's first pitch, the traditional senior day ceremony will take place for the Diamond Dawgs. Mississippi State and Tennessee will meet for the 92nd time in Thursday's series opener in Starkville. The Dawgs own a 60-31 record over the Vols in the series. The series between State and Tennessee dates back to the 1917 season when the Diamond Dawgs won by a score of 7-4 in Starkville. Tennessee enters the series ranked No. 1 in the nation after posting a 46-7 overall record and 22-5 mark in SEC play. UT has already clinched the SEC regular-season championship and the top seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. |
| Everybody cut footloose: Bulldogs want to have fun against No. 1 Vols | |
 | Most seasons, this would not be the time for Mississippi State seniors to reminisce on their time at Dudy Noble Field. However, this season as defending national champions has been an atypical one for the Bulldogs – who are in danger of not qualifying for the SEC Tournament much less hosting an NCAA regional. The curtain will fall at one of college baseball's most historical sites after this weekend. The encouragement for players to pitch, hit and field better is always there, but for now, it's a secondary message from MSU coach Chris Lemonis. "I just challenged them to have fun this weekend. I want them to enjoy it. Some of the guys are playing in the Dude for the last time. We'll play a lot better if we're enjoying it instead of being stressed," Lemonis said after the Bulldogs ended a nine-game losing streak with a 14-4 win over North Alabama at Dudy Noble Field on Tuesday night. No. 1 Tennessee visits tonight at 6 in a game that will air on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs (26-27, 9-18 SEC) trail Kentucky by a game and Alabama by a game and a half in their bid to reach the SEC Tournament. |
| Mississippi State baseball: Hunter Hines leads SEC freshmen in HR, RBI | |
| Hunter Hines knew the struggles would come eventually, but he didn't know what the severity would be. The Mississippi State baseball freshman figured SEC pitching would figure him out over time, but a 1-for-30 stretch? "I just didn't know it was going to be that big," Hines said. He opened by hitting .330 (29-for-88) prior to his slump in late March and into early April. It resulted in ugly at-bats where Hines was swinging at strike three well above the zone and slamming his bat into the ground. Pitchers were flooding at-bats with changeups to throw him off balance – the pitch he considers toughest to hit. Hines knew what pitchers were doing. Hitting coach Jake Gautreau knew it. Hines' dad and lifelong coach, Richey, knew it from watching in the stands every game. "It's a longer season than I've ever played, so I kind of hit a little wall there," Hines said. "It was a little frustrating for me, but I just kept grinding to get out of it every day." Rather than removing Hines from the lineup, coach Chris Lemonis let his freshman phenom learn through the fire. It resulted in Hines recovering and turning in one of the SEC's top freshman seasons. "I'm glad it happened to me now, because I've learned from it," Hines said. "Now, it won't happen to me again." The Madison, Mississippi, native is hitting .296, and .358 since his slump. His 15 home runs and 50 RBIs lead SEC freshmen. |
| Alabama's Nick Saban sounds off on Texas A&M, Jackson State buying players with NIL money | |
 | Alabama football coach Nick Saban said Wednesday that Texas A&M "bought every player on their team," referring to name, image and likeness deals for the top-ranked 2022 recruiting class. Saban and Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats spoke at an event promoting the World Games 2022 Birmingham at The Fennec. The World Games begin July 7 at venues in and around the city. Saban said Alabama didn't offer NIL deals to its recruits. "We were second in recruiting last year," he said. "A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn't buy one player. But I don't know if we're going to be able to sustain that in the future because more and more people are doing it." Saban, who has been vocal about NIL in college athletics, also said 25 players on Alabama's roster last season earned NIL revenue totaling $3 million and did it "the right way." "Our guys earned it and no one in our locker room had a problem with that," said Saban. Saban also accused Jackson State of paying a football player a million dollars to attend the school during the speech. Rumors of a multimillion dollar NIL deal between top prospect Travis Hunter and Barstool Sports began to surface shortly after Hunter committed. Jackson State coach Deion Sanders later took to Twitter and said Saban's comments were a "lie" and that he plans to address them on Thursday. |
| Huge surplus in UGA NCAA financial report, but school says it's not 'full financial picture' | |
 | Georgia athletics reported an operating surplus from its fiscal year 2021 NCAA financial report of $46,341,763, more than double any other department nationally. The school listed $169,064,656 in operating revenue and $122,722,893 in operating expenses for the fiscal year that started July 1, 2020 and ended June 30, 2021, according to information it released Wednesday afternoon to the Athens Banner-Herald through an open records request. The school views its true surplus at around $5 million based on the way it says the report is constructed compared to how Georgia accounts for revenues and expenses. Donor contributions from Magill Society members intended for facility projects are counted as operating revenue in the NCAA report. Georgia says about $17 million the school spent on capital projects like its new football operations center is not counted as an operating expense. The school said $15.9 million in interest income from investments is also reported as a revenue and $4.6 million in contributions to the university from athletics is also not counted as an expense. But athletics chose not to account for $3.2 million in student fees as an excess transfer to the school which would have reduced the surplus. Another $3.1 million went to deferred facility maintenance and $5.7 million into reserves. |
| Pac-12 scraps divisions moments after NCAA paves way | |
| Moments after the NCAA Division I Council tossed out requirements that dictate how football conferences can determine a champion, the Pac-12 announced Wednesday that it was scrapping its divisional format for the coming season. The Pac-12 will now match the teams with the highest conference winning percentages in its title game after 11 seasons of matching winners of the North and South divisions. Other conferences are expected to follow, most notably the 14-team Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC is looking to implement a new scheduling model as soon as 2023. NCAA rules previously required football conferences that want to play a championship game to split into divisions if they cannot play a full round-robin schedule. The D-I Council also approved Football Oversight Committee recommendations meant to aid with roster management, lifting the yearly scholarship cap of 25. While the maximum of 25 so-called initial counters would be scrapped under the proposal for the next two years, the overall scholarship limit of 85 per team in the Bowl Subdivision and 63 in the Championship Subdivision will remain in place. The change, backed by the American Football Coaches’ Association, is aimed at helping teams replenish rosters that have been thinned by transfers. Still pending was a proposal to set designated periods when players can enter the transfer portal and be immediately eligible at a new school. Coaches proposed two, multiweek dates, starting after the completion of the regular season in late fall and after spring practices typically end in late April. |
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