| Friday, May 19, 2023 |
| MSU to honor national alumnus Clark, other alumni this week | |
 | Mississippi State University will recognize Albert C. Clark of Starkville, as its National Alumnus of the Year during the Friday [May 19] MSU Alumni Association 2023 awards banquet. "We are proud and grateful for the opportunity to honor Albert Clark and the accomplishments he has reached along his journey as a respected leader and dedicated servant to his community, career and Mississippi State," said Jeff Davis, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association. "He is an excellent role model for current and future generations of the Bulldog family and is a distinguished selection for the National Alumnus of the Year." Born and raised in Starkville near the university campus, Clark has been a Mississippi State Bulldog his entire life. He grew up in the Coca-Cola industry and began working in the family business after graduating from MSU's College of Business in 1965. Today, he continues to serve as president and CEO of C. C. Clark Inc., a family holding company and parent corporation with subsidiary corporations selling soft drinks in Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Indiana and distributing beer in Kentucky and Mississippi. Along with the national alumnus recognition of Clark, each of MSU's eight academic colleges will honor a graduate for outstanding personal, professional and community achievements. |
| One Call, and Many Virtual Dates Later, They Found Love: Jennifer Kizza and Field Brown felt an immediate connection during their first phone conversation two years ago | |
 | Jennifer Frances Namuli Kizza was feeling tired after work one evening in March 2021. And yet she still kept a scheduled first phone call with Donald Mayfield Brown, whom she had met through a dating app. Ms. Kizza, 28, from Gainesville, Fla., had previously given up on finding a serious relationship. But now, as a medical student at Harvard, she wanted to make the time. "It was really challenging for me to find people where I felt like we both had the same goals for our relationship and for what romance looked like," she said. Mr. Brown, 31, who goes by Field, was living in Starkville, Miss., at the time, teaching in the English and African American studies department at Mississippi State University and finishing his dissertation research. He changed his location on the dating app Hinge to Boston with the hope of pursuing a relationship while finishing his doctoral degree at Harvard. Ms. Kizza expected their first phone call to be brief, but it lasted for nearly an hour. The two bonded over a shared Southern upbringing, their families and similar poundcake recipes they were fond of. Mr. Brown's came from his mother. ... They wed on April 29 at the Chapel of Memories on Mississippi State University's campus, a nod to Mr. Brown's Southern roots and time as an undergraduate. |
| Fox Weather Names Haley Meier as Full-Time Meteorologist and Multi-Media Journalist | |
 | Fox Weather has elevated Haley Meier to the full-time position of meteorologist/multi-media journalist beginning July 24. Meier was the inaugural recipient of the Fox Weather scholarship program in partnership with Mississippi State University. The program, announced by Fox Weather in 2021, named Meier the scholarship's inaugural recipient in April 2022. The scholarship program is part of a long-term partnership between Fox Weather, Fox News' ad-supported streaming weather service, and Mississippi State University to support the future of the meteorology industry. The endowment is set up in perpetuity and features a Fox Weather internship and a dedicated Fox Weather meteorologist to serve as a mentor throughout the process. Meier's mentor was Fox Weather meteorologist Marissa Torres. Meier is a recent graduate from Mississippi State, where she studied broadcast meteorology and has been serving as a freelance field Meteorologist for Fox Weather since January 2023. She did this while she was completing her senior semester at MSU. Prior to her freelance assignment with Fox Weather, Meier worked as a meteorologist for WTVA in Tupelo, Miss. Meanwhile, in keeping up with its recently established tradition, Fox Weather has named Mark Kimoto its second annual scholarship recipient. Kimoto completed his first year at Mississippi State and is pursuing a degree in Geoscience with a concentration in Professional Meteorology and a minor in Communication. |
| Noxubee County leaders help find new ways of transportation | |
 | Pedaling towards better health is the goal for leaders in Noxubee County. The people with Mississippi State University's AIM for Change program were researching a transportation plan for Noxubee County. That's when they found another problem they said needed to be addressed. "That's how we got the results that transportation was needed in Noxubee County and that people didn't have a way to get around and Mississippi speaks for itself as far as obesity so we wanted to address that aspect as well so it's like killing two birds with one stone," said MSU Extension office manager Yolanda Pruitt. Here's how you check out a bike; first, ensure you have a valid library card. Present your card at the library, it's just like checking out a book. There will be 20 bikes split between the libraries in Noxubee County. "Basically bridge a gap between transportation and physical activity so we know in rural areas and counties of Mississippi transportation can be a problem so the bikes are meant to connect everyday destinations and provide physical activity," said MSU Extension agent Keltra Chandler. Chandler and Pruitt agreed that they want to see the Bike Share Program in Noxubee County expand within the next year. |
| Food pantry program revived as 'Neighbors Helping Neighbors' | |
 | Starkville Strong has revived its Pantry Hours program under the new name "Neighbors Helping Neighbors." Brandi Herrington, executive director for Starkville Strong, said Neighbors Helping Neighbors will serve people in the Golden Triangle who are struggling to find food, no questions asked, since food insecurity often shows up in unexpected ways. "We don't ask questions because it is not just people who are under the poverty line who are food insecure," Herrington said. "We have had teachers, firefighters, policemen, who have said they have had to use the Free Little Food Pantries before. It's anybody." Neighbors Helping Neighbors will be held every fourth Sunday of the month, with the second event starting at 1:30 p.m. on May 28 in the Starkville Daily News parking lot on East Lampkin Street. Herrington said the first event in April was not publicized except through minimal social media posts, but she estimated about 100 people, including 25 volunteers, attended. Starkville Strong is a nonprofit focused on four main pillars: food insecurity, homelessness, housing insecurity and community advocacy. The organization has been working in the city since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| First responder staffing shortage is affecting fire station across Mississippi | |
 | Thousands of first responder jobs are open across the United States. Many of those openings are here in Mississippi. Fire chiefs in the Magnolia State say it's becoming more difficult to fill spots on the truck. Starkville Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough said he has nearly ten spots to fill the uniforms. According to Yarbrough, this is an issue not just in Mississippi, but across America. "If we can't fill the trucks and we can't fill the stations, then that puts the public in danger," said Yarbrough, "Then, we don't have enough personnel to ride the trucks. So, it's national... This is not a statewide problem, this is a national pandemic...this is a national problem." The Starkville Fire Department said more people are choosing college after high school. But, Chief Yarbrough explains they have a program for full time students to do both, starting pay is $38,000 a year. |
| Man charged with burglary of realty company, restaurant, doughnut shop | |
| A Starkville man has been arrested and charged with three counts of commercial burglary. Tamarris Gandy, 34, allegedly robbed Tommy Morgan Realtors and Mugshots Grill & Bar, both at 550 Russell St., along with Dapper Doughnut at 100 Maxwell St., according to a Starkville Police Department press release. SPD Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady said the first burglary took place shortly before midnight on May 1, while the other two burglaries were after midnight on May 2. When Gandy was arrested on Wednesday, he was also charged with seven other unrelated misdemeanor warrants, according to the release. Gandy was taken to Oktibbeha County Jail. Lovelady said no felony bonds have been set yet and no other arrests are expected. |
| Finished Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive paves way for area industries | |
| A $4.8 million project to complete a decade-long effort to repave Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive was completed late last week, just in time for the construction of Aluminum Dynamics. The 4.6-mile road extends from Airport Road, north of Golden Triangle Regional Airport, and connects with Artesia Road to the south. Roughly 3 miles had already been paved. The latest upgrade completed 1.6 miles of the southern portion. Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Trip Hairston told The Dispatch the project, which started paving in March, will provide safe and steady access for trucks hauling construction equipment and materials to build ADI's flat-rolled aluminum mill, which will begin construction in the summer. The freshly paved road will also give access to companies within the industrial park, which include Altex Tube, the FedEx Ground facility, Steel Dynamics Incorporated and Paccar, to name a few. In November, The Mississippi State Legislature passed a $243 million incentive package to assist the $2 billion project for ADI to locate its aluminum mill off of Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive and the construction of a biocarbon manufacturing plant on Artesia Road, near the International Paper pulp mill. Of that package, $24 million was allocated to Lowndes County to finish Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive, upgrade portions of Artesia Road and for the construction of Manufacturers Drive Loop. |
| Meridian homeless population affects local businesses | |
 | In Mississippi, the homeless population has risen by nearly 27% from 2021 to 2022. According to the Mississippi Balance of State Continuum of Care, Meridian has the second-highest homeless population in the state. As that number rises, many local businesses are beginning to feel its impact. "We have definitely hit some major struggles, and we are not quite sure exactly what to do," said Addie Fields, owner of Bakery 900. Bakery 900 has been open for less than one year, but in the last 5 months, the owner has experienced many interactions with homeless people, and when asked if she was ever scared from one of these interactions and she gave a quick response. "Absolutely, I come in at 3 a.m. every morning, and when people are banging on your windows, I mean, I'm all windows here in downtown Meridian, so I'm all windows. And you know, they'll prop up a chair across the street and watch you. That's crazy scary. And with no support, you know, what do I do? What do I do?" said Fields. And these business owners are willing to help when needed, but say things are getting so bad they feel like something needs to be done sooner rather than later. |
| Saylor Wheel locating in Greenwood | |
| The Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) has announced that Saylor Wheel LLC is locating manufacturing operations in Greenwood. The project reportedly represents a $23.4 million corporate investment that will create 145 new jobs. According to MDA, the investment includes the purchase and rehabilitation of an existing building in Greenwood, as well the purchase of manufacturing and non-manufacturing equipment. Saylor Wheel will manufacture tire and steel wheel assemblies for the trailer industry with the steel wheels vertically integrated into the manufacturing process. Governor Tate Reeves welcomed the news, saying the announcement is a testament to the strength and vitality of Mississippi's economy. "The products produced by Saylor Wheel right here in Mississippi will help drive economic growth and strengthen Leflore County. I'm thankful for Saylor Wheel and look forward to seeing the positive impact of their manufacturing operations in Leflore County," Governor Reeves was quoted as saying. MDA noted that it is providing assistance in support of the project through the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive, while Leflore County and Greenwood also are assisting with the project. |
| Mississippi Gaming Revenues Exceed $3B in 2022: Larry Gregory speaks to Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce | |
| Larry Gregory, Mississippi Gaming and Hospitality Association executive director, spoke to members of the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce during Wednesday's monthly luncheon. "Thirty years after the first casino opened its doors, gaming has become a major revenue source for the state of Mississippi, with 2022 revenues exceeding $3 billion," Gregory said. "That's huge." Speaking at the chamber's monthly luncheon Wednesday, Gregory broke down the latest revenue figures and gave a brief history of the gaming industry in Mississippi. According to Gregory, gaming revenue hit $3.3 billion in Mississippi in 2022, the most recent numbers available. "We're looking at $2.5 billion, which was gross gaming revenue, and $800 million that was nongaming, which is just as important -- the hotels and the food and all the other things that our industry provides statewide." Gregory said the state's central region, which includes Vicksburg, had $364 million in revenue during the same period; with $329 million in gross revenue and $35 million from nongaming revenue, adding gaming was also responsible for 1,620 employees in the central region, primarily in Vicksburg. |
| PSC candidate, campaign manager take on issues facing district | |
 | Members of the Northeast Mississippi Board of Realtors heard views from the Republican candidates for northern district public service commissioner during a Thursday afternoon forum. Only one candidate made the meeting: Tanner Newman, who recently took a leave of absence from his position as Tupelo Development Services director to campaign full-time. State Rep. Chris Brown of Nettleton did not attend the event, citing a scheduling conflict. Brown, who has missed multiple speaking engagements throughout the district, instead sent campaign manager Jamie Peavy. Brown did not respond to attempts by the Daily Journal to reach him after the event. The two tackled a handful of specific topics, from water accessibility, power cooperatives, real estate, partisanship and broadband internet access. All questions were prewritten and provided to the candidates ahead of the event. Newman, 28, said there were multiple issues he hoped to bring to the forefront if elected, including the rolling blackouts the area experienced in December, water supply issues, high-speed internet and polarized politics. Newman said, if elected, he would focus on continued expansion of broadband internet services across the district. He noted that while the state gave utility cooperatives the ability to run fiber optic wiring throughout the counties they serve, municipalities were left in a void where only private companies could provide high-speed internet coverage. |
| Debt limit talks stall as Republicans 'press pause,' criticize White House | |
 | A top debt ceiling negotiator for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Friday it's time to "press pause" on talks as negotiations with the White House came to an abrupt standstill at the Capitol. Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., tapped by McCarthy, R-Calif., to lead the talks, emerged from an hourlong session and said gaps remained between House Republicans and the Democratic administration. "It's time to press pause because it's just not productive," Graves told reporters. He added that the negotiations have become "just unreasonable" and that it was unclear when talks would resume. Wall Street turned lower as talks on raising the nation's debt limit came to a sudden halt, raising worries that the country could edge closer to risking a highly damaging default on U.S. government debt. President Joe Biden's administration is racing to strike a deal with Republicans led by McCarthy as the nation careens toward a potentially catastrophic debt default if the government fails to increase the borrowing limit to keep paying the nation's bills. Experts have warned that even the threat of a debt default would send shockwaves through the economy. |
| Zelensky Plans Visit to G-7 Summit in Hiroshima, Where Nations Pledge Support for Ukraine | |
 | President Biden and U.S. allies said they would further wall off Russia from global trade and offered support for Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is set to join them Sunday for a show of solidarity. Meeting here for their annual summit, leaders of the Group of Seven nations said they would clamp down on Russian sources of revenue including limiting the country's diamond industry. "We salute the Ukrainian people for their brave resistance," said a joint statement from the leaders of the U.S., Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany. "Our support for Ukraine will not waver." As the leaders met Friday, the summit's first full day, news broke that Zelensky planned to travel to Hiroshima for Sunday's session, as he pushes for more weapons ahead of an expected offensive. The Ukrainian president's expected appearance in Hiroshima, the site of the first U.S. atomic bombing in 1945, would be steeped in symbolism after Russian President Vladimir Putin last year raised the threat of a nuclear response in the conflict in Ukraine. Also on Friday, Biden told his G-7 counterparts the U.S. would support an effort to train Ukrainian pilots to fly Western jet fighters, including F-16s, while Kyiv's allies weigh whether to provide planes, a senior administration official said. The training will take place outside of Ukraine in Europe, and is to begin within the next few weeks. |
| Anti-Trump Republicans increasingly desperate to shake up race | |
 | Republican senators who don't want Donald Trump to be the GOP's nominee for president in 2024 are feeling a growing sense of urgency to shake up the race as recent polls show Trump dominating the primary field and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) losing momentum. Many Republican senators viewed DeSantis as the best candidate to supplant Trump atop the ticket after the 2022 midterm election in which DeSantis won a resounding reelection victory; GOP candidates won every statewide race in Florida. But after DeSantis committed what some GOP strategists viewed as a few high-profile political gaffes and lost ground to Trump in the polls, Republican senators are stepping back and reevaluating the presidential primary field -- as are some big Republican donors. "It's way early. It's way early, and I'm not going to let the media define who our frontrunners are," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Republican colleagues and many voters are "looking for a practical conservative with a positive message." "We'll see if that emerges among the narrative in the field," he said. "I think the thing about DeSantis kind of rising and fall[ing,] let's keep in mind that he has intentionally not entered the race. So, let's measure what that looks like a month or two after he's in the race." |
| Who is Vivek Ramaswamy, the 37-year-old entrepreneur and GOP presidential hopeful? | |
 | Vivek Ramaswamy, a political newcomer and former pharmaceutical executive, describes himself as a nationalist who believes that America needs to rebuild its sense of civic pride. "I will unapologetically embrace and advance the ideals that this nation was founded on," Ramaswamy said in a conversation with The NPR Politics Podcast. "That is distinct from an opposite movement in this country, which increasingly wishes to apologize for a nation founded on those ideals, to apologize or moderate free speech or meritocracy or the rule of law evenly applied, or the idea that citizens can be trusted to sort out their differences on questions like climate change or racial equity." "Maybe you would classify me as a nationalist," he said. "I think it's a label I'm willing to wear. I don't think that that has to be a bad word. As long as it's a nationalism built around the ideals that set a nation into motion, that can actually unite us as a country." |
| A frail Sen. Dianne Feinstein continues to vote as new details emerge about her health | |
 | It's police week here at the nation's Capitol, and, with law enforcement officers flowing through the halls, the Senate Judiciary Committee took up several bills meant to support law enforcement. Amid debate about legislation Thursday to recruit officers who agree to serve in their home communities, California's senior senator spoke up. "I just wanted to say one thing, and that's about cops on the beat," Sen. Dianne Feinstein said -- in her first extended public remarks since she returned to Washington, D.C., after several months at home in San Francisco with shingles. "I was mayor of San Francisco for nine years," she said. "There was no program more favorable with people than police on the streets. They got to know them. There was a positive relationship. The crime rate went down. "Anything we can do to help I think we should," Feinstein added. Feinstein, 89, used a wheelchair to move around the Capitol and appeared sprier than in recent days. She walked into the hearing chamber and spoke for longer and more cogently than she did last week. During the May 11 hearing, she read her yes vote from a note and asked to be recorded as voting in person on three other judges whose nominations were raised before her arrival. In the ensuing days she was scarcely seen except to vote on the Senate floor. Moving through the halls with Nancy Pelosi's eldest daughter, Nancy Corinne Prowda, at her side, Feinstein looked frailer than before her absence and struggled to walk very far without the supportive arm of an aide. Prowda is a longtime family friend who is not on Feinstein's staff. |
| America's Semiconductor Boom Faces a Challenge: Not Enough Workers | |
| Maxon Wille, an 18-year-old in Surprise, Ariz., was driving toward Interstate 17 last year when he noticed a massive construction site: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at work on its new factory in Phoenix. A few weeks later, as he was watching YouTube, an advertisement popped up for a local community college's 10-day program that trains people to become semiconductor technicians. He graduated from the course this month and now hopes to work at the plant once it opens. "I can see this being the next big thing," Mr. Wille said. Semiconductor manufacturers say they will need to attract more workers like Mr. Wille to staff the plants that are being built across the United States. America is on the cusp of a semiconductor manufacturing boom, strengthened by billions of dollars that the federal government is funneling into the sector. President Biden had said the funding will create thousands of well-paying jobs, but one question looms large: Will there be enough workers to fill them? Semiconductor manufacturers have long found it difficult to hire workers because of a lack of awareness of the industry and too few students entering relevant academic fields. Company officials say they expect it to become even more difficult to hire for a range of critical positions, including the construction workers building the plants, the technicians operating equipment and engineers designing chips. |
| Saving the farm: Heartland clergy train to prevent agriculture workers' suicides | |
| With traces of winter's unusually heavy snow still lingering, farmers were out dawn to dusk in early May, planting corn and soybeans across southwestern Minnesota fields many have owned for generations. The threat of losing beloved family farms is a growing worry, affecting many farmers' mental health and raising concerns of another uptick in suicides like during the 1980s farm crisis. Much of the stress stems from being dependent on factors largely outside their control -- from the increasingly unpredictable weather to growing costs of equipment to global market swings that can wipe out profits. "You'd be surprised how many people are suffering with depression. Farmers have been a group of people who keep problems to themselves," said Bob Worth, a third-generation crop farmer near the hamlet of Lake Benton, who credits his wife with saving his life during a bout with depression in the 1980s. "The more you talk about this, the more you realize it can be fixed." States such as Minnesota and South Dakota are offering suicide prevention training to clergy -- a crucial, trusted presence in rural America. In Pipestone, the bigger town down the dirt road from Worth's farm – with 4,200 residents and a dozen churches -- pastors from three Lutheran parishes are taking the four-week suicide prevention program that Minnesota's departments of agriculture and health launched this spring. "I want to learn to help. This could be anybody," said the Rev. Robert Moeller, recalling his first realization of the scourge of suicide among farmers, when a customer in the feed business he once worked at killed himself. While rising levels of stress and anxiety are affecting Americans from students to service members, the dynamics are different in the farmland, where churches remain essential social gathering points. |
| Former Blue Cross executive takes helm of UMMC finances | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center has hired a former Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi executive as its new chief financial officer. Jennifer Sinclair will oversee the finances and budget for the entire medical center, according to a release last month from UMMC. Her first day was April 24. Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the medical school, described the position as "challenging" and introduced Sinclair to the Institutions of Higher Learning trustees at April's health affairs meeting. Sinclair, who has more than 23 years of experience as a health care executive, comes to UMMC from Blue Cross where she was vice president. Previously, she was the vice president and regional CFO at Bon Secours Mercy Health, the largest health system in Ohio. She also worked at St. Dominic Memorial Hospital in Jackson for 17 years in several different capacities, including executive vice president of operations and senior vice president of finance. She graduated from Mississippi State University and is from Morton. Sinclair replaces Nelson Weichold, who's been in the position just a few months shy of four years. Weichold has accepted a position with Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, his home state. |
| IHL approves new USM provost | |
 | The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning approved Thursday The University of Southern Mississippi's pick for provost. The university had announced Tuesday that Dr. Lance Nail had been selected as the new Provost/Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. The state College Board approved Nail's salary at $365,000 per year on a 12-month contract, according to the IHL's board book. Nail will start on July 1, the first day of the university's fiscal year. |
| JSU and Stamps Super Burgers partner to feed generations, build community | |
| Jackson State University and Stamps Super Burgers are partnering to offer students a great meal and a sense of community. For more than 50 years, Stamps Super Burgers has been a staple in the community, just walking distance from the campus. Recently, the restaurant introduced the Royal Court Meal - paying tribute to Mr. and Miss JSU. "For a long time we've prided ourselves in feeding Jackson State students," said Stamps Super Burgers Operations Officer Phil Stamps Jr. Founders Algernon and Barbara Stamps have fed generations of alumni. Phil Stamps Jr. is the third generation to continue the bond with the university. "When I was young my responsibility was to go and wash potatoes," said Stamps. "Every Saturday my grandfather would have a step stool or something next to the sink, and I would step on that." Now, the grandson is sharing the family passion with Generation Z. "It's something that we want to focus on here in 2023," said Stamps. "Making sure that they're aware of our presence here, but also making sure that they know they don't have to go far to get really good food." "Not only is JSU willing to go out into the community, but the community has buy-in to JSU as well," said Jackson State University Student Engagement Coordinator Brent Harris. The student government administrative leader sees hundreds of students daily who he hopes will build relationships and invest in the community. |
| Former Alcorn State President Felecia Nave was terminated, IHL minutes show | |
| Executive session meeting minutes show that the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees "terminated" Felecia Nave as president of Alcorn State University -- a modicum of information but more clarification than the board has provided in other instances of presidential turnover this year. The board initially refused to say if it had fired Nave or let her resign, but per executive session meeting minutes released Thursday, the unanimous decision on April 20 was to terminate Nave "for the board's convenience, effectively immediately." Just two days earlier, Nave -- the first Black woman to lead Alcorn State, the oldest public historically Black university in Mississippi -- interviewed as a semi-finalist for the chancellor position at Louisiana State University, Shreveport. Nave did not get the position. Though it's unclear what role that interview played in the board's decision, Tom Duff, the outgoing IHL board president, said in a press release announcing her departure last month that "the Board wishes Dr. Nave well as she pursues new opportunities." |
| State Education Board announces plan for new interim state superintendent | |
| The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) announced Thursday that it will hold a special-called meeting on June 15 to consider the appointment of an interim state superintendent of education effective July 1. The SBE also voted to allow the person named interim state superintendent to be eligible to apply for the permanent position. The new interim state superintendent will succeed Mike Kent, who was appointed to serve as short-term interim state superintendent from April 3 through June 30. Kent was named interim state superintendent after the State Legislature rejected the nomination of Robert Taylor, a 30-year veteran educator and deputy state superintendent for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, that had been named state superintendent of education in November 2022. |
| Trans girl is told not to wear dress to Mississippi graduation, lawsuit says | |
| A Mississippi school district is refusing to let a transgender girl wear a dress and heeled shoes with her graduation cap and gown for high school graduation this weekend, her family says in a federal lawsuit against the district. The lawsuit filed Thursday demands that the Harrison County School District allow the 17-year-old to wear what she wants as she and her classmates graduate from Harrison Central High School on Saturday. The teenager is listed in court documents by her initials, L.B. The lawsuit said L.B. had worn dresses to classes and to extracurricular events throughout high school, including to a prom last year. The Harrison Central principal, Kelly Fuller, told L.B. and her parents May 9 that the school on the Mississippi Gulf Coast would make L.B. follow a dress code requiring male students to wear white shirts, black slacks and black shoes for graduation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the family. The dress code says girls are to wear white dresses. U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden scheduled a Friday hearing on the family's request for temporary restraining order against the school district. |
| Third graders score above pre-pandemic levels in state reading test | |
| Just over 75% of Mississippi third-graders passed the "third grade reading gate" test on their first try, a rate that is higher than pre-pandemic levels. The results of the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program third grade ELA exam were presented at the Thursday meeting of the State Board of Education. The Mississippi Legislature created the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in 2013, which requires all third-graders to pass a reading test before moving up to the fourth grade. Students must score a three or higher out of five on the test to be promoted, which indicates they are competent in skills such as identifying main ideas, paraphrasing texts, understanding figurative language, and using root words, prefixes and suffixes to change word meanings. The initial passing rate has hovered around 75% since the Legislature raised the passing threshold from a two to a three on the exam. Department officials expressed satisfaction with the results, particularly as they surpassed previous years. "You can see my smile," said Kristen Wynn, state literacy director. "Our students and our teachers exceeded pre-pandemic results. In 2019, we got those results that put us number one in growth for NAEP and now we've surpassed that in 2023 ... For us I feel like the sky is the limit." |
| Alabama Initiatives Aim to Help More Adults Finish College | |
| Alabama is working to offer incentives to adult learners to reengage with their education if they had to leave college before graduating. The All in Alabama initiative and Senate Bill 175 aim to break down barriers, specifically to help adults who started college, to return and complete their degrees. Jim Purcell, executive director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, said he is optimistic helping more people return to school will pay off, not just for the individuals but for the state, with a better-educated workforce. "The world has changed; we've got to retool, help people maintain their middle-class status; give people the opportunity to be middle class," Purcell asserted. "To me, it's all about building community, helping people do that." The All in Alabama Initiative was created by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and offers education programs, financial aid opportunities, and career pathways for returning to school. Purcell pointed out about one in four Alabama residents have earned some college credit, but no degree. |
| Whataburger Ditches Normal Orange Signs at New Location on U. of Alabama Strip | |
| When Tuscaloosa's third Whataburger opens later this year, things are going to look different -- the Texas-based chain is ditching their normal bright orange branding at the new store on the Strip. As the Tuscaloosa Thread first reported more than two years ago, Whataburger is coming to the University Town Center on the Strip near the already open Mediterranean Sandwich Company, Insomnia Cookies and the new joint precinct operated by the Tuscaloosa and University of Alabama Police Departments. Work on the new restaurant is well underway, and an eagle-eyed passerby noted on Facebook earlier this week that the new signs are purely white -- the brand's signature orange is missing completely. Even the city's other two locations feature the brand's standard signage, so this seemed intentional. The Tuscaloosa Thread reached out to the University to ask if the unique signage was deliberate, and sure enough, a UA spokesperson confirmed that the prime real estate came with the stipulation that no one be subjected to an orange they can't sit with. As a requirement for occupancy of the space, Whataburger needed to adjust their typical signage for the location in University Town Center. This type of requirement is typical to ensure aesthetic consistency in developments," UA's assistant director of communications Shane Dorrill said. "The University appreciates Whataburger's willingness and eagerness to offer the campus community another dining selection." |
| Award-winning playwright coming to Auburn | |
 | Award-winning playwright Alicia Kester will showcase a staged reading of her new play at Auburn University on June 8. The staged reading of "Water Spirits," which is free and open to the public, will be held at 8 p.m. at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. It explores the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the experience of people coming home to the devastation of the Lower Ninth Ward and the things that were lost when people were forcibly displace, according to a press release from the Auburn Area Community Theatre. Andrea Holliday, AACT artistic director, said she's excited to be able to present this play to the community and hopes to fill up the museum auditorium on June 8. She said it will be a great, thought-provoking experience. "It is a new work that no one has ever seen before by an up-and-coming filmmaker, playwright, poet and activist. Alicia Kester is an amazing person...," Holliday said. "This play has already won a couple of awards, even though it's never been staged before." The staged reading will be directed by Abdul-Khaliq Murtadha, the assistant professor of theater and dance at Auburn University. |
| Texas A&M System Board of Regents approve lease for Tiger Woods-designed mini-golf course | |
 | Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp said he wants to see Tiger Woods and A&M standout men's golfer Sam Bennett together for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in College Station next year. That's because the A&M System Board of Regents approved a lease agreement with PopStroke Entertainment group to bring a Tiger Woods-designed miniature golf venue at Century Square at the Regents' meeting on Thursday. PopStroke's College Station venue will be located near the intersection of University Drive and South College Avenue. Construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed in about a year, according to A&M officials. "I think it's going to be a great deal for not just students, but give families a place to take your kids and grandkids and go have fun playing not putt-putt, but mini golf," Sharp said. "So, we're pleased to bring that to the community." Sharp said last summer A&M officials decided they wanted to bring an entertainment venue to the open piece of land. They were able to visit PopStroke's Katy location in recent months and noticed how popular it was. Selfishly, Sharp said he wanted PopStroke to come to town as a way to recruit faculty, but said it would benefit the rest of the community, too. "When we're recruiting faculty members, we don't want them to come to town and say, 'Hey, there ain't nothing to do,'" Sharp said. "So we wanted to create things ... and when you do that you help the community at-large." |
| With clock ticking on legislative session, Texas Democrats delay debate on university tenure bill | |
| Texas House Democrats successfully delayed debate Thursday on the House's version of a bill meant to put guardrails on faculty tenure at public universities, kicking the legislation back to the Higher Education Committee. Just as Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, started to lay out his version of the legislation, Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, raised a point of order -- a parliamentary procedure used to delay or kill legislation on a technicality -- arguing that the analysis of the legislation was misleading. In their point of order, Democrats argued that the bill analysis says that university governing boards must file a copy of their policies and procedures related to performance reviews of tenured faculty to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. But the new legislation would also require university system leaders to provide their tenure policies on other areas like granting tenure, reasons for dismissal and due-process procedures, which is much broader information than the analysis states. After the House recessed for the day, the Higher Education Committee voted the bill out of committee again along party lines. The bill now heads to the Calendars Committee to get back on the House floor for a vote. The House has until May 23 to give preliminary approval to Senate bills. If the legislation goes back to the House floor and is voted out by the full chamber, the House and Senate would have to agree on the version that emerges from closed-door meetings before sending the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott. The two chambers have until May 26 to come to agreement. |
| How much U. of Missouri students pay for tuition will depend on area of study | |
 | The tuition University of Missouri students will pay in fall 2023 depends upon their area of study, which, in turn, should determine their future income. The "differential" or "tiered" tuition has been in development for several years, said Ryan Rapp, University of Missouri System executive vice president for finance, during a Thursday special meeting of the UM System Board of Curators over Zoom. The undergraduate tuition rate will be a flat rate for students taking 12 to 15 hours of credits and supplemental fees have been eliminated under the new model. "We are going to have a rate of tuition based on a program of study," Rapp said. It's meant to be easier for students to understand, without the surprise of added course fees, which students only found out about after enrollment, he said. "The goal of this is how do we simplify the pricing to make it more predictable?" Rapp said. The flat rate encourages students to take at least 15 hours per semester to graduate on time, he said. The tuition tiers consider potential salary outcomes for areas of study, Rapp said. |
| U. of California considers hiring undocumented students despite federal ban | |
 | The University of California is moving toward employing undocumented students who lack work permits, teeing up a possible test of decades-old U.S. legal norms. The UC Regents voted Thursday to create a working group that will explore hiring such workers and advise the board on a decision, which it expects to make by the end of November. The board took the vote after meeting for more than two hours behind closed doors with attorneys. "I want to do the best we can for our students, but I also realized that it does take time," said board Chair Richard Leib. "We have to go through and analyze and talk to everybody, and make sure we're doing this the right way, so we have the best case forward." Allowing campuses to employ such workers could change thousands of students' lives -- and invoke a bevy of court challenges. The ten-campus system would be the first to openly skirt a law then-President Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 that banned employers from hiring people who lack federal work authorization. A group of students and progressive legal scholars -- led by UC law school deans and professors -- have argued the Immigration Reform and Control Act does not apply to states. They've for months pressured the university's governing board to allow campuses to hire undocumented students, who've been placed in a precarious position since a federal judge in 2021 blocked the Biden administration from approving new recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. |
| Colleges Race to Hire and Build Amid AI 'Gold Rush' | |
 | OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in late 2022 launched an artificial intelligence arms race among Google, Microsoft and countless other tech giants and start-ups. That development has since reverberated across higher ed, unleashing a surge of new faculty hires, buildings and institutes -- all for AI. The University at Albany, part of the State University of New York, will hire 27 new faculty members -- all specializing in AI -- in the largest cluster hire in the institution's history. Purdue University will recruit 50 new AI faculty. Emory University will hire between 60 and 75 new faculty members, including an endowed chair, for its AI Humanity Initiative. When it comes to artificial intelligence, some universities are going big -- very big. The University of Southern California has invested more than $1 billion in its AI initiative that will include 90 new faculty members, a new seven-story building and a new school. The institution seeks to bolster its economic impact in the tech industry, integrate computing across multiple disciplines and programs at the university, and influence AI applications, development, policy and research. "It's a gold rush," Phil Hill, an educational technology market analyst at Phil Hill and Associates, said. "But it's a gold rush where you don't know where the gold mine is or how to get the gold." |
| Students Are Disoriented by Gen Ed. So Colleges Are Trying to Fix It. | |
 | On many campuses general ed still takes the shape of a checklist: two courses from this category, three from that. Because there is no overarching design to this approach, students often flock to courses with the easiest requirements, or the ones that check the most boxes, rather than those that genuinely interest or challenge them. The language used by students, advisers, and professors, too, is telling: These are courses that you want to get through, get over, get done. But at a time when the value and purpose of college has come under intense scrutiny, neglect of general education has become increasingly untenable. Families are asking what they're getting for a costly, four-year degree. Credentialism has led many students to seek out double majors, or minors that provide job-ready skills, reducing their patience for poorly thought-out extras. The utility of disciplines that have historically been staples of gen-ed programs, in the humanities and social sciences, has also been called into question by families and politicians. And when students learn that they may have accidentally taken a gen-ed course that doesn't count, or that they need to take a different set of required gen-ed courses because they switched majors, their skepticism grows. Completing a confusing chart of mandated courses is nobody's idea of a meaningful educational experience. |
| New college graduates greeted with best job market since 1953 | |
| With graduation season just around the corner, millions of young adults are poised to join the workforce -- and they're in luck. A new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute found the Class of 2023 is graduating into the best labor market for young workers since 1953. The youth unemployment rate for workers between the ages 16 and 24 tumbled to 7.5% in March, according to the study. While that is nearly double the national rate of 3.4%, it also marks the lowest level in 70 years for the unemployed youth. Historically, young adults in the U.S. are unemployed at 2.6 times the rate of their older counterparts due to their lower levels of education, work experience and skills. But when businesses faced a pandemic-driven labor shortage, they turned to younger workers with less experience to fill those employment gaps. "In the pandemic recession, young workers were among those hurt the most because their jobs were more vulnerable to pandemic closures," the analysis said. "Even so, their unemployment rate is now below their pre-pandemic level." On top of that, young workers are now more likely to have predictable work hours, according to the study. Nearly half of young adults are working full time in 2023, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from 2019. A small percentage of workers -- 6.8% -- have hours that vary in their main job in 2023, down from 7.5% in 2019. |
| New data highlights the big gap between college grads and everyone else | |
| Americans without college degrees are more likely to be denied credit than those who finished college, finds a new report shared first with Axios from left-of-center think tank Third Way. The report highlights the different economic worlds these two groups move in, and comes at a time when the White House and Democratic party are trying to regain a foothold among voters without college degrees -- or, as the New York Times put it, "bridge the 'diploma divide'." The report, an analysis of government data, doesn't dive into why those without degrees at all levels of income are more likely to be denied credit. But an older study also found that less educated adults were more likely to be rejected for mortgage loans, submit incomplete mortgage applications or withdraw those applications; they also were offered higher interest rates. "There also might be some bias from financial institutions against those without a degree," said Zach Moller, director of Third Way's economic program. Overall, college graduates do have more debt -- mortgages, student loans -- than those who didn't get a four-year degree. College grads have double the yearly income, three times the retirement savings, and four times the net worth of working-age, non-college Americans. 74% of college households invest in the stock market compared with 43% for non-grads. |
| 'Enormous Surge' in Unions Reflects Disconnect Between Colleges and Graduate Employees | |
| Andrew Eneim has a front-row seat to what he describes as the "leaky pipeline" of graduate school. Low stipends, high workloads, and "rampant" poor treatment force some students, particularly those without independent wealth, to drop out and give up their tenure-track dreams to pursue more-secure careers, said Eneim, a Ph.D. candidate in biophysics at the Johns Hopkins University. Such working conditions, he said, exacerbate higher ed's struggle to diversify the faculty. "We're basically just not being paid enough to live," Eneim said in an interview. Those concerns prompted Eneim and other Johns Hopkins graduate students to vote in favor of a union this spring. Johns Hopkins officials said in a message to the campus that they looked forward to working with the new union. Johns Hopkins isn't alone. Energized by the biggest strike in the history of higher education at the University of California last fall, as well as a renewed national enthusiasm for organized labor, graduate students across the country spent the spring semester drumming up support for unionization and pushing their colleges to raise pay and benefits. Five months into the year, graduate employees at at least nine colleges have voted to establish unions, already more than the seven formed in all of 2022. Colleges have traditionally argued that graduate students are primarily students who earn small stipends to work part time as instructors and researchers. The surge in union organizing is putting pressure on colleges to restructure that relationship -- a shift that could have major financial and philosophical consequences for higher ed. |
| At Michigan, Getting an A Because Your Instructor's On Strike | |
| The University of Michigan graduate student workers' strike may have been a boon to certain students: some department chairs have said they plan to give out A's. "Any classes that don't have grades submitted by noon tomorrow (May 16th) will have to have grades inputted by the department," Gaurav Desai, chair of the English Language and Literature Department at Ann Arbor, wrote in an email Monday. "We do not have any mechanisms for submitting 'real' grades. So any students with outstanding grades will receive an 'A.'" Desai wrote, "The provost and the college are requiring departments to post grades in all classes in which grades have not yet been posted. We have no choice in this matter." He also mentioned "emails and calls from many angry students demanding departmental action on submitting grades." He didn't respond to requests for comment this week. "The vast majority of classes in this department had their grades posted on time, but there were still a few outstanding," said Kim Broekhuizen, a university spokesperson. "Some graduate student instructors who were the sole teachers of certain classes did not turn in any grades. Our understanding is that this email was sent out to offer a final opportunity for those graduate student instructors to post their own grades." Multiple instructors of record have signed a letter saying they plan to complain to the university’s accreditor about the institution’s “decision to falsify” grades. |
| Why We Need More College Graduates Behind the Badge | |
| Policing may not be the future most college students contemplate, but ensuring that it is an attractive career option for them could help make law enforcement agencies more representative and effective. It could also give graduates who might otherwise be adrift a focused career path and sense of purpose. Law enforcement agencies across the country are coping with spiking vacancies amid increased retirements. Despite rhetoric about defunding the police, it is an inability to fill funded positions that is plaguing the field. Many factors contribute to the problem, from pay to challenging working conditions and the image policing holds with younger generations. Now, with President Biden pledging to help jurisdictions hire another 100,000 officers and bipartisan House legislation designed to bolster police ranks, college students represent a source of recruits that is far from fully tapped. The most recent data indicates that just 30 percent of police officers have a four-year degree. While education is certainly not the only factor that affects police performance, research suggests that officers with college degrees generate fewer substantiated complaints and are less likely to use force. A July 2022 study also found that police with a college degree are less likely to shoot or kill members of the public. Attracting more college graduates to policing also overlaps with the imperative of recruiting more women, a task being undertaken by the 30x30 Initiative, which seeks to increase the representation of women in police recruit classes to 30 percent by 2030. Given that girls are unlikely to have had a mother or other woman role model in policing, college could be the first and only opportunity to introduce many of them to law enforcement as a career option. |
| Default Likely to Negatively Impact Country's Economy, Higher Ed | |
| The United States is heading toward defaulting on its debt -- a move that could lead to "economic calamity" unless Congress acts soon, experts and lobbyists warn. Negotiations to avert a default are ongoing. A default would likely have vast implications for the nation's economy and the ability of the federal government to operate, though it's unclear what would actually happen. Higher education experts and lobbyists are unsure what a default would mean for colleges and universities and the financial aid that students rely on, but they agree institutions will be affected by the resulting economic turmoil. The immediate and more far-reaching consequences of the default will likely depend on how long it persists. "We've experienced many federal government shutdowns; we've never experienced a default," said Craig Lindwarm, vice president of governmental affairs at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. "So there's a lot of unknowns. One would assume the federal government remains open but without sufficient revenues to meet its obligations." Lindwarm said APLU has "grave concerns" that a default could bring government-funded research at colleges and universities to halt if the government can't keep paying for grants. |
SPORTS
| 'These guys aren't giving in': Hoover still alive after another comeback victory by MSU baseball | |
| At some point when Mississippi State second baseman Amani Larry began rounding the bases following his game-winning two-run homer Thursday night against Texas A&M, everything turned to a blur. The moment was that big. His home run was even bigger, especially when it came to keeping the Bulldogs' postseason hopes alive. "Emotions were running pretty high," Larry said. "I might have blacked out around the bases." MSU baseball's 10-8 walk-off victory over the Aggies, its third straight come-from-behind win in Southeastern Conference play, felt like it was stewing in "Dude Effect" all night. That's the vibe around this team right now. There are nine innings and 27 outs in a baseball game and these Bulldogs plan to use every single one of them. If it wasn't clear after last weekend in Baton Rouge, when they took two of three against mighty LSU, it should be now; someone may need to physically restrain these Bulldogs from getting to Hoover, because they certainly aren't doing it on their own. "We are not playing perfect by any means, but you are going to have to get us out in the ninth," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. "These guys aren't giving in." Thursday's win, paired with LSU's extra-inning victory at Georgia AND Missouri getting rained out at Auburn, put MSU just one game back of Georgia and 1 1/2 games back of the Tigers, who will play in a Friday double-header, for the final spot in Hoover. |
| Amani Larry gives Mississippi State baseball walk-off vs. Texas A&M | |
 | Before he could make the turn at third base, his teammates were waiting at home. The lights of Dudy Noble Field were already flickering. An ice bucket was ready to be dumped. For Amani Larry, this was why he transferred to play for Mississippi State baseball: A two-run walk-off blast with two outs in the ninth inning for a 10-8 win against Texas A&M (30-23, 12-16 SEC). "(Emotions) were running pretty high," Larry said postgame Thursday. "I might have blacked out around the bases." Entering the bottom of the ninth down one, Mississippi State (27-24, 9-19) got a leadoff walk from Dakota Jordan. That was followed by a flyout and a walk to pinch hitter Bryce Chance. Postgame, Chance's walk was discussed almost as much as the walk-off. Chance is hitting above .300, but an injury sidelined him early in the season. Outfield depth made it difficult for Chance to work his way back into consistent playing time. Instead, he's been serving as a pinch hitter when needed. "He's a dude," Lemonis said of how Chance handled the move. "He is a great teammate. He hasn't pouted." Chance waited his turn. That came Thursday when he turned a 1-2 count into a walk. Jordan and Chance advanced to third and second, respectively, on a groundout from Luke Hancock. That brought Larry to the plate thinking he needed a hit to at least tie the game. Instead, Jordan scored on a wild pitch. Facing a pitcher with no command, Larry knew a fastball was coming on a 3-1 pitch. He turned on it for his seventh home run. |
| Texas A&M baseball team drops opener at Mississippi State on walk-off homer | |
| A walk-off, two-run home run by Mississippi State second baseman Amani Larry, his second homer of the game, completed a come-from-behind 10-8 win over the Texas A&M baseball team on Thursday at Dudy Noble Field. The Aggies (30-23, 12-16) held a 7-2 lead midway through the fifth inning in the opener of the three-game Southeastern Conference series, but the Bulldogs (27-24, 9-19) answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie the game at 7. A&M outfielder Ryan Targac's second home run of the game in the top of the seventh broke the stalemate until the bottom of the ninth. A&M closer Brandyn Garcia issued a pair of walks to lead off the ninth, forcing head coach Jim Schlossnagle to go back to his bullpen for veteran lefty Will Johnston, who was slated to start later in the series. Johnston threw a wild pitch that allowed the game-tying run to score before throwing the last pitch of the game on the Larry home run. Garcia (2-3) took the loss for the Aggies, while Bulldog reliever Nate Dohm (6-4) earned the win. Two games remain in the regular season with the Aggies' hopes of making the NCAA tournament on the line. The teams return to action at 6 p.m. Friday. |
| Women's Golf Ready for NCAA National Championships | |
| Mississippi State is set for its fourth NCAA Women's Golf Championships appearance on Friday. The NCAA Championships, hosted by Arizona State, will be held at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., from May 19-24. The Bulldogs will tee off at 1:52 pm CT and will be paired with fellow SEC foes South Carolina and Texas A&M. For the third consecutive year, the Grayhawk Golf Club will set the stage for the crowing of a new NCAA women's golf champion. The par-72 course stretches through the Sonoran Desert across 6,368 yards. The competition consists of four stroke play rounds, during which the field is reduced to 15 teams after the third round. Subsequently, the remaining eight teams proceed to the match play stage after the fourth round. The quarterfinals and semifinals of match play take place on Tuesday, while the final is scheduled for Wednesday. "We know that we are going to have to play really great golf to be successful this week. It is going to be a journey to earn those tee times beyond the cutline with such a talented field playing at Grayhawk this week. We know that if we take care of our business and we focus on ourselves, we believe that we will have a lot of tee times to come later on in the week. We want to have a successful and long week in Scottsdale," said head coach Charlie Ewing. |
| Southern Miss coach Scott Berry addresses retirement: 'I'm very excited about the future of this program' | |
| Southern Miss coach Scott Berry addressed his retirement announcement after the Golden Eagles' 4-0 win against Louisiana on Thursday night. According to Berry, it's a decision that he made back in August. "I made the decision last August to do that," said Berry after the game. "I didn't come out with it. I didn't want to come out with it, but I knew this would be my last one. I said at that time this year will go quick and on Tuesday morning when I woke up the first thing, I thought of was that this has gone quick. It's been a great quick and been a great career. "To be here for 23 years at this school, the people I have been associated with, the people I met, the support, it's like second to none. It's like a dream come true." Berry didn't release any specific information on the future of the program but also said the school has a plan. "We have a plan in place," Berry said. "I'm very excited about the future of this program. It's in a great position moving forward. I've been blessed to work with a lot of great people. Like I said in the statement, nobody does it by themselves. "Moving forward this program is in a position with where it needs to be. I'm proud of that. I've proud of everybody that's been with me to get it here." |
| Texas A&M played major role in new NIL bill that is close to becoming state law | |
| The rules that govern how college athletes in the state of Texas can be compensated for their name, image and likeness (NIL) is nearing a change and Texas A&M's fingerprints covered the legislation. House Bill 2804, authored by Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin, and sponsored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, passed the Senate on Wednesday. The House needs to approve changes and then the bill is a Gov. Greg Abbott signature away from becoming law. A&M's lawyers were integral in policy input and the writing of the bill, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp told The Eagle. Athletics director Ross Bjork testified in the House Higher Education Committee hearing on the bill and A&M University System deputy general council Brooks Moore testified in the Senate Education Committee hearing. Jim Cavale, CEO of the NIL content platform INFLCR, said Bjork has played a major part in the NIL legislative update. The A&M athletic department was an early adopter of Cavale's INFLCR software. Highlights of the new bill include giving universities the ability to be involved in facilitating deals with athletes, allowing athletes the ability to license the universities' real and intellectual property as a part of NIL deals and bars the NCAA or any athletic organization or conference from penalizing a university for anything that is spelled out in the bill. |
| Jim Phillips calls for standardized rules across NIL landscape | |
| Jim Phillips and various college athletics leaders have spent months attempting to address the supposed problem of NIL-fueled roster tampering and subsequent transfers. The ACC commissioner on Wednesday laid out some things he'd like to do to level out the playing field. Speaking with reporters at ACC spring meetings, Phillips shared a number of action items he'd like to see implemented. Some are more extreme than others. "But, as it relates to name, image and likeness, there has to be agent registration. There has to be a standardized contract. There has to be a registry. And then four there has to be education on campus," Phillips said. "And that should just be open, that should be --- that should be available for schools to see. Each other, etc. And I think it allows at least a little bit of disclosure that we're not seeing in that space. The standardized contract, again, just everybody fills out the same thing whether it's a $500 name, image and likeness opportunity or a $500,000 name, image and likeness opportunity. So, that's part of it." Agent registration is something the NFL and other sports have in place and would likely have broad support from decision makers. Alabama head coach Nick Saban has signaled he'd like to see agents be registered. Education on campus is also not going to be too controversial and fall to each respective school. |
| Former Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs retires after 6 years at Florida | |
 | Former Auburn athletics director Jay Jacobs has announced his retirement from college athletics after nearly four decades. Jacobs, 62, has been executive associate athletics director for external affairs at Florida since 2018. He was Auburn's AD from 2004 until his resignation in late 2017. "It's bittersweet," Jacobs told The Associated Press. "Made some great relationships over the years. It's tough to leave, but it'll be fun what I'm about to do regardless of where I'm at geographically." Jacobs' Auburn tenure had some major successes --- including the 2010 national championship in football. He also hired Gus Malzahn as football coach in 2013, Bruce Pearl as basketball coach in 2014 and Butch Thompson as baseball coach in 2015. However, there was also controversy, including a wrongful termination lawsuit by former baseball coach Sunny Golloway that was eventually settled out of court. The FBI investigation into college basketball corruption that ensnared former assistant coach Chuck Person happened on Jacobs' watch, as did a Title IX investigation into allegations of abuse and sexual harassment of softball players. Though he said he plans to possibly serve as a consultant for college athletics in the future, he won't be working full time for the first time since he first took a job mowing lawns at age 12 in 1972. |
| Auburn's John Cohen promises 'due diligence' as Under Armour contract runs up | |
| Auburn athletics' 17-year partnership with Under Armour could soon be over. The athletic department's exclusive negotiating window with the apparel company is set to expire Sept. 1, at which point Auburn athletics director John Cohen and the department would be free to converse with other apparel companies -- like Nike and Adidas, among others -- about the future of the school's athletic apparel. Cohen said Wednesday at an AMBUSH alumni event that "we've had conversations" with Auburn's current Maryland-based apparel partner, but he acknowledged that his "knowledge of the history of this relationship is a little bit limited." "Although, I'm getting information from our coaches, from our student-athletes," Cohen said. "Obviously, our fans, as in most cases, have an opinion. So we're doing a lot of research." Auburn and Under Armour have been partners since 2006, and the two restructured their agreement in 2015 for a contract that runs through 2025 and is worth at least $63 million between rights fees and product allowance payments. Not included in that $63 million total is $10 million in stock, which Sportico reported in 2020 dwindled to only $1.8 million in value. Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger reported earlier this month that Auburn's apparel deal ranks top 10 nationally, along with the likes of Texas, Kansas, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame, among others. The last of those five, Dellenger reported, saw its exclusive negotiating window with Under Armour expire. The company and school's 10-year apparel contract is set to end after next season. |
| Welcome to the portal -- where college athletes can risk it all for a shot at glory | |
| The cost of tuition and fees for full-time students at Stanford University is just north of $56,000 a year, and the prestigious college accepts fewer than 4% of applicants. So when Myles Hinton, a native of Johns Creek, Ga., was accepted on a full scholarship in 2019, the moment wasn't lost on him. And yet, Stanford wasn't good enough, in his estimation. Not when it came to football. "I'm not going to lie to you, because, like, I love my coaches, I love the team, love my teammates -- there wasn't any qualms with the athletic facility," he said. What bothered him was that he felt the student body didn't show up for the football team and that this lack of energy drained the Stanford Cardinal of its home-field advantages. It made Hinton feel like he wasn't getting "a real college football experience," especially coming from Georgia, where college football doesn't take a back seat to anything. And perhaps most importantly, he couldn't see a path to going pro. So last December, Hinton made the decision to leave. He was going to risk it all by entering the college transfer portal in the hope of landing at another school that might better propel him into the big time. Since the inception of the transfer portal in 2018, the number of student athletes seeking to move colleges with the intent of finding a better path to the pros has exploded. |
| Labor cop tackles USC, NCAA in athletes' rights case | |
| The University of Southern California, a major sports conference and the governing body of big-time collegiate athletics are violating federal labor law by restricting athletes' social media activity, the National Labor Relations Board alleged on Thursday. An NLRB official in Los Angeles issued a complaint against USC, the Pac-12 Conference and the National Collegiate Athletics Association in a case that could clear the way to unionization -- at least at private universities that are subject to National Labor Relations Act. The board wants an administrative law judge to order the NCAA, USC and Pac-12 to "cease and desist from misclassifying" players as student-athletes and instead label them as employees. The NLRB's complaint alleges the three entities maintained illegal "handbook rules" that violate federal statute, and misclassify both scholarship and walk-on athletes in football and basketball as non-employees, thereby denying them their right to unionize. The labor board specifically targeted USC social media and interview policies that require athletes to "be positive," use private posts, and "don't do anything to embarrass yourself, the team, your family or the University." An NLRB victory would further upend a college sports landscape that is already undergoing significant changes, though the ramifications for public universities are somewhat uncertain. Public schools would remain subject to the laws of their respective states, as opposed to federal law, though if the NLRB judge upholds the joint employer designation then schools affiliated with the NCAA or conferences like the Pac-12 could also face similar action. |
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