| Wednesday, September 13, 2023 |
| MSU grant project brings agricultural literacy to Mississippi classrooms | |
 | Helping K-12 students understand the importance of agriculture and career possibilities is the focus of a $485,000 grant received by Mississippi State University from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA. The four-year project -- titled "Agricultural Science Professional Development," or ACRE 2.0 -- aims to instruct K-12 teachers how to integrate poultry and food science into existing curriculum, introduce students to career pathways in these fields, and forge a university-driven support and mentorship system. The grant provides participating teachers financial assistance to attend training sessions and materials to facilitate ACRE 2.0-based lessons throughout the school year. Principal investigator and project director Stephanie Lemley, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership in MSU's College of Education, and other project leaders are training a total of three cohorts of K-12 teachers, each participating in the program for a full academic year. The first cohort includes 28 teachers from 14 school districts across the state. Lemley explained that agricultural literacy encompasses the kinds of literacy skills -- reading, writing, speaking and listening -- used in classrooms and in everyday life. She and Carley Morrison, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' School of Human Sciences, aim to help teachers introduce agricultural literacy content to students through their own subject content. |
| Education: Shackouls Honors College presents 'Electra' for Classical Week | |
 | The Shackouls Honors College at Mississippi State University is once again preparing for Classical Week, Sept. 18-22, including rehearsing this year's play production of "Electra," a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Directed by Donna Clevinger, Senior Faculty Fellow at the honors college and Professor of Communication/Theatre, the play will be presented on the evenings of Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. "One of the key elements of this tragedy is the music," Clevinger said. "The honors college is pleased to have Dr. Bonnie Oppenheimer as our featured musician. She and I have been working since the early summer on music selections used in the play." Oppenheimer has been the principal oboist of the Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra since 1988. She has played with the MUW Wind Ensemble, played saxophone with the MUW Jazz Band, and played oboe, clarinet, tenor saxophone, and English horn in the pit orchestra for more than 20 musicals. She has taught both music and mathematics at Mississippi State University, Delta State University and MUW. The "Electra" performances will take place outdoors at Zacharias Village Courtyard on the campus of Mississippi State University at 6 p.m. Admission is free. Bring dinner and a chair/ blanket to sit on the grass. Rain location is Lee Hall, Bettersworth Auditorium. |
| Florist space to be replaced with sushi and noodle spot | |
 | The University Florist is moving from 100 Lee Blvd. to the A.B. McKay Food Research and Enology Lab located at 205 Technology Blvd. The retail portion of the florist, which includes McCartys pottery and other MSU merchandise, will share space with the MAFES Sales Store at 925 Stone Blvd. The florist will move to delivery only beginning Sept. 5, and on Sept. 20 will open with grab-and-go bouquets in a pop-in shop at the MAFES Sales Store. Scott Willard, dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), said that most of the University Florist's business is delivery and that the move will not impact productivity. Aramark, MSU's dining service, will be repurposing the former florist space on Lee Boulevard. James Jankowski, resident district manager at Aramark, said that the space will be occupied by a new sushi and noodle restaurant, as well as a full-menu Subway with a refreshed design. Construction is scheduled to begin in January 2024. This is the first step in a bigger plan to introduce innovative, open dining spaces on campus that will enhance the overall student dining experience," Jankowski said. CALS Manager of Communications Karen Brasher said the University Florist has trained student floral retailers for 90 years. "We are excited to transition the retail portion of the florist to the MAFES Sales Store, home of MSU cheese," Brasher said. |
| Community Cleans Up | |
 | Photo: Mississippi State University-Meridian staff and students were hard at work Friday morning cleaning litter, leaves and other debris from Freedom Park on 23rd Avenue. The cleanup effort was organized by MSU-Meridian Student Services Coordinator Skye Hamilton in partnership with local realtor and Meridianite Tim Allred. Allred said he saw the cleanup as a good community service project and encourages others to join in organizing cleanups of their own. |
| New York-based owners try to make go of State Theatre | |
| New York-based owners Greg and Mark Hayden are attempting to succeed where several other businesses have failed over the last 20 years: to regularly operate a restaurant, bar and live music venue at the State Theatre downtown. The Haydens bought the venue in 2015, leasing it to third-parties that have all come and gone. Now, they've put $150,000 into renovating the space to run it themselves under its original name. "The owners decided they would just see what they can do instead," said co-manager Betty Brown. The newest version of the State Theatre opened Sept. 6 as a bar and event venue. While the bar is the only thing buzzing at the moment, Davis Sandahl, the other co-manager, told The Dispatch she and her team are looking to book musicians for live events later this month. A restaurant also is in future plans to fill the downstairs space. "We just wanted to give it a new and different vibe," Davis said. "Every time I go down to the Cotton District, I just get anxious because there's just so much going on. We want something a little more relaxed where everybody can come and relax. We're going to do a bunch of different genres of music too." |
| Digital Innovation event to celebrate north Mississippi tech progress, plan for future | |
| North Mississippi will celebrate years of technological progress -- and make plans to continue that momentum -- at a two-day event in early October. Digital Innovation is set for Oct. 3-4 at the Cadence Bank Arena and Conference Center in Tupelo. The event is organized by MEGAPOP and will feature speakers, vendors, continuing education and networking opportunities, and a splicing challenge. The purpose of the event, according to MEGAPOP President Morgan Baldwin, is to acknowledge years of innovation and to build for future successes in the ever-changing digital sector. "North Mississippi is now one of the most-wired rural regions in the country, and that's because of all the work that many, many people have put in," he said. "We want to celebrate that, and we want to provide tools for people to succeed in the digital age. We also want to give them a glimpse of what's to come ... what's coming in technology." The region has long led Mississippi in digital innovation, Baldwin said. He pointed to its widespread broadband internet access as an example. The area has more than 16,000 miles of fiber, providing service to nearly 219,000 homes and a vast number of businesses. He said those efforts have been led by C Spire and local electric cooperatives, with MEGAPOP, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003, helping pave the way and advocating for increased broadband access throughout the area. |
| Lack of rain threatens to drop Mississippi River level to near-record at Vicksburg | |
| A lack of rainfall in the upper Mississippi and Ohio River basins is threatening to drop the level of the Mississippi River at Vicksburg to its record-setting 2022 level of -0.2 feet. According to the National Weather Service, the Mississippi River was at 3.5 feet Tuesday and is predicted to drop to near the 2022 mark by late September or early October. The threat of low water has forced the cruise boats that visit the Vicksburg area to consider landing south of the city at the public boat ramp at LeTourneau and busing their passengers into town. And the problem isn't going away anytime soon --- unless heavy rains fall in the upper river basins and alter a seasonal occurrence. "September and October are typically our driest part of the year so the chances of us getting widespread beneficial rain right now are pretty low," said Anna Wolverton, meteorologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division. "Looking at the seven-day to two-week forecast the chances for any beneficial rain are pretty low. Some light rain is in the forecast but it won't be beneficial." And unless some heavier rains fall across the Midwest and the Ohio River Basin, she said, it's unlikely there will be any rise in the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. River stages will begin to improve when the seasons begin changing in December, when the weather starts getting wetter. |
| A 'catastrophic' loss: Severe heat puts a heavy strain on rural farmers in the Gulf South | |
 | Jason Franklin gets no days off during the farming season -- even when temperatures soar into the triple digits. His family's 2,500-acre farm sits in Crowville, Louisiana, a small, rural community of just under 4,000 people. The dozens of 100-degree days that have plagued the region this summer have been too much for the crops to handle. Jason's brother, Steven Franklin, said the heat has taken a devastating toll on their fields, with a "catastrophic" loss he estimates to be around 70% of their total yield. Hundreds of acres of soybean plants stand dead and dry -- the earth between the rows scorched and cracked. Echoing other farmers in the region, the Franklins said they've never seen anything like this, and it may drive them out of farming. But the heat hasn't been bad for just their business. It's affecting their health as well. For people who work in rural communities like Crowville, medical treatment can often be a long way away. And with so much work to be done, they may not think it's worth the trip. "They don't want to make the long drive or they don't have a ride," said Kris Watson, a family nurse practitioner at the Delhi Community Health Center in Delhi, Louisiana -- Crowville's nearest medical facility. "And then some of these people shouldn't be driving in the state they're in. I think that is a big hindrance." Watson is the Franklins' cousin-in-law -- it is a small community, after all -- and he said he's seen more farmers and people who have to work outside this year than ever before. Rural health advocates said the high heat has a "disproportionate impact" on rural communities across the country for multiple reasons. |
| How Crops Survived Drought, Deluge and the Hottest Summer on Record | |
 | Scorching temperatures and drought conditions followed by deluges of rain have made for an unusually volatile growing season for U.S. farmers. July was the hottest month on record, surpassing the global monthly average temperature record set in July 2019. The July heat followed the hottest June on record. This summer's blasts of heat in many key crop-growing regions in the Midwest have accompanied drought in places like Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Minnesota, threatening crops and parching pastures used for grazing. A more turbulent growing season for U.S. farmers could result in higher crop prices, livestock deaths and ultimately higher food prices for consumers. A smaller U.S. crop would compound global crop supply shortages stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one of the world's top grain-producing countries. Some agriculture officials expect that summers with more severe weather events, from heat waves to droughts, could be even more common in the coming years as a result of a changing climate. "We know that there is more volatility in the environment coming," said Bob Reiter, head of research and development at crop-seed giant Bayer . |
| Mississippi introduces new lease to increase oyster production | |
| A new leasing program in Mississippi is looking to put the production and maintenance of oyster reefs into the hands of the businesses and individuals. Mike Arguelles, Co-Owner of French Hermit Oyster Co., said a major storm like a hurricane can cause damage to their product. Arguelles harvests oysters from 32 cages five miles off the Gulf Coast. But raising oysters in cages above the sea floor alone, is not enough to keep up with the demands of the seafood industry. Arguelles said his oysters are distributed to seven different states. He is now looking to build his own oyster reefs to grow and harvest from the ocean floor. "The bottom has to be suitable, hard so that the oysters that are there don't sink. There are certain areas that could be a candidate for a reef," Arguelles said. The opportunity comes from a new leasing program from the state. Executive Director of Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Joe Spraggins said the lease is aimed to help boost oyster production. Spraggins said the lease will now allow businesses and individuals to create oyster reefs in areas that were previously off limits. The number of oysters sold by Mississippi farmers in 2021 was 213,772 and in 2020 the count was 512,651 according to Mississippi State University. "I was glad to see that the state was expanding their on-bottom lease efforts and I think it's a way to increase the oyster production," Arguelles said. |
| Buc-ee's breaks ground in Mississippi and will bring hundreds of jobs to massive store | |
 | The threat of thunderstorms and traffic snarls on I-10 didn't take the shine off Tuesday's groundbreaking for the first Buc-ee's travel center in Mississippi. While other dignitaries wore yellow hard hats as they grabbed a shovel to turn some dirt, Buc-ee's founder Beaver Aplin kept on his cowboy hat. He opened his first Buc-ee's travel center on I-10 in Texas 41 years ago in 1982, he told the crowd that took home some Beaver nuggets, key chains and other Buc-ee's swag from the event. Now there are almost 50 Buc-ee's centers, which are known for their long rows of gas pumps, trademark brisket sandwiches, aisles of gifts and souvenirs and ultra-clean restrooms. This site on Mississippi Coast will be the only one between Baytown, Texas 350 miles west, and Baldwin, Alabama to the east when it opens in the spring of 2025, about 16 months from now. The $50 million Buc-eee's will hire hundreds of people, and Alpin said Buc-ee's is proud to offer employees a "living wage." Bucees said in a prior press release it will bring at least 200 full-time jobs to South Mississippi, with starting pay beginning well above minimum wage, along with full benefits, a 6% matching 401k and three weeks of paid vacation. State Rep. Richard Bennett said the tax increment bond the state legislature approved to help build the infrastructure for Buc-ee’s was the first time such a tax diversion was approved in a county. “I want to thank Buc-ee’s for coming here. It is going to be transformational for Harrison County,” said Bennett. |
| Tate Reeves embraces 'Tater Tot' nickname with new campaign merch | |
 | Tuesday morning, Governor Tate Reeves' campaign announced they are releasing limited edition "Tater Tot" merch. It's a move to embrace a belittling, but often harmless nickname the governor's opponents have used for years. According to a press release, the merch is meant "for kids to celebrate the progress in Mississippi schools." "The Associated Press says: 'Kids' reading scores have soared in Mississippi 'miracle.' Governor Tate Reeves secured the largest teacher pay raise in state history in his first term in office," the press release read. "Now, Mississippians can celebrate by becoming an official Tater Tot!" The front of the shirt features a cartoon tater tot with glasses, holding an American flag and a banner that reads "I'm a Tater Tot!" The back features the same image and text that reads "Tate gave my teacher the biggest pay raise." By donating $15 or more to the Reeves campaign at this link gets you a "Tater Tot" shirt. This follows Democratic opponent Brandon Presley's launch of "Later, Tater!" merchandise earlier this year, including buttons, shirts and stickers. |
| National Democrats promote five legislative races in Mississippi | |
| The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national Democratic Party-affiliated organization that supports statehouse races, announced Wednesday that it is aiming to boost candidates competing in five Mississippi legislative races this fall. "Democrats in Republican-controlled states like Mississippi are on the front lines of standing up to the GOP's radical agenda," interim DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. "These Democratic candidates are running to fight back against Republican extremism and ensure that all Mississippians are represented in their state legislature." The five Democratic candidates the organization is supporting, all challenging Republican incumbents, are: Pam McKelvy Hamner (Senate District 2 in DeSoto County); Andre DeBerry (Senate District 10 in Union, Lafayette, Marshall and Tate counties); Donna Niewiaroski (House District 12 in Lafayette County); David Olds (House District 24 in DeSoto County); and Annita Bonner (House District 86 in Wayne, Perry and Greene counties). The five candidates are running in legislative districts that are currently represented by Republicans but are located in suburban areas or have districts with a higher percentage of Black voters and college-educated voters. Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor told Mississippi Today that it is encouraging to see that the DLCC is investing in Mississippi and believes it could be a step forward to flipping seats occupied by conservative lawmakers. "Mississippi should not be a state that national politics have given up on," Taylor said. |
| Top tech leaders are to meet with U.S. senators on the future of AI regulation | |
 | More than 20 tech industry leaders with meet Wednesday behind closed doors with U.S. senators as part of a closer look into how Congress can regulate artificial intelligence. Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are among those attending. The leaders of several AI companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, will also join the discussion. The gathering is part of a series being led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and a bipartisan group of senators in a larger effort to craft groundbreaking AI law. Ahead of the first of his so-called "AI Insight forums," Schumer argued lawmakers must balance AI innovation in medicine, education and national security against the technology's risks. This would be one of the biggest gatherings of top U.S. tech leaders in recent memory, and it follows a series of all-senators AI meetings earlier this year that provided a baseline of information, including a classified briefing. The forums will be broader in subject matter, with more forward-looking discussions on possible legislative paths forward. Senators will hear from the leaders of entertainment, labor and civil rights groups, including the head of the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. Historically, lawmakers have struggled to regulate emerging technologies, from the internet to social media. |
| Senator's Blockade of Military Promotions Begins to Cut Deep | |
 | For more than six months, Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, has held up military nominations in protest of a Pentagon policy created to ensure that service members have access to abortions and other reproductive medical care. Hundreds of promotions have now been delayed in a battle that has it all. It is a showdown between a white former football coach and the country's first Black defense secretary, two Alabama men, both with deep roots at Auburn University. It is a preview of just how much of an albatross the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade might be on Republicans in elections next year. And it is a political game of chicken in which the country's national security is at stake. The holds are cutting deep at a time when the military is struggling to meet recruiting goals that would keep the number of active-duty service members at 1.4 million, the strength that planners say is necessary to protect Americans at home and American national security interests abroad. The Pentagon had hoped to offset lackluster recruiting by retaining more people. Mr. Tuberville's holds make that almost impossible. The U.S. military is an all-volunteer force. The officers most affected by the holds are top performers who could easily find more lucrative jobs in the private sector. The military manages to keep many of these people by promoting them to more senior and challenging positions. Moreover, the holds on senior jobs mean the junior jobs that accompany them will remain unfilled too, leaving thousands of military families in limbo, unsure when they will have to move or where they will live in the foreseeable future. "These are middle-class, working-class families who are saying, 'We can't enroll our child in school because we don't know when we're going to move,'" said Kathy Roth-Douquet, the chief executive of Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by military spouses. |
| Biden built the strongest safety net in U.S. history. Now it's collapsing around him. | |
 | President Joe Biden's war on poverty is unraveling fast. Just two years after orchestrating the largest expansion of the U.S. safety net in a half-century, Biden's $2 trillion bet that big-government policies could vastly improve life for the poorest Americans is coming to a close. The historic injection of pandemic-era aid was, by many measures, a clear success. And it may never happen again. New data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau found that the poverty rate spiked to 12.4 percent in 2022, from 7.8 percent in the prior year, as an array of enhanced federal benefits meant to help families afford food, housing and other basic needs expired one after another. The poverty rate for children alone also hit 12.4 percent, more than doubling from 5.2 percent in 2021. The numbers represent a sharp reversal from a year earlier and an erasure of the gains made during the pandemic, when the passage of Biden's American Rescue Plan drove the share of people in poverty to the lowest level on record, outpacing a broader economic recovery that was still in its shaky initial stages. That milestone punctuated an early Biden presidency that, at one point, evoked comparisons to Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson in the size of its societal ambitions. But White House aspirations of permanently enlarging the social safety net were instead overtaken by fears of rising inflation and political blowback. It has since mostly abandoned those goals, embracing a scaled-down "Bidenomics" agenda centered on easing costs and slashing government debt. |
| What's ahead now that Republicans are opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden | |
 | House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he is launching an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, yielding to mounting pressure from former President Donald Trump and his allies in what's shaping up as an election-year clash between Congress and the White House. In a statement Tuesday, McCarthy said the House investigations into the Biden family this year have uncovered a "culture of corruption" that demands deeper review. "These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption," McCarthy said. McCarthy said he will direct the chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Ways and Means committees to lead the impeachment inquiry. The panels have been working together for months on various probes related to the Biden family and have yet to directly connect the president to any of it. The White House called the effort "extreme politics at its worst." "House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing," Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson said in a statement. "His own Republican members have said so." Since gaining the House majority in January, House Republicans have aggressively investigated Biden and his son, claiming without evidence that they engaged in an influence-peddling scheme. The allegations echo those that former President Donald Trump has made for years against Biden and his family. |
| Save, splurge, (don't) stress: How Gen Z is putting their spin on personal finances | |
 | Young adults are big spenders and big savers. And even with economic uncertainty and stress, the Gen Z generation is not paralyzed by money decisions. A vast majority (89%) of Gen Z -- or people born between 1997 and 2012 -- said they have saved money on something in 2023, more than any other generation, according to a Harris Poll conducted in May. Yet they're also not shy about splurging on items. Seventy-five percent of Gen Z said they spent a lot on something in 2023, also more than other age groups. Many graduated high school or college during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when Americans who were separated from family or co-workers had time and space to think more deeply about what they valued most. At the same time, soaring inflation over the past 2 1/2 years has forced Americans of all ages to scrimp and save. Gen Z adults, who range in age from 18 to 26, have been deeply affected by both phenomena. They're more likely to buy less of something if it doesn't matter to them and to splurge on the things they say matter most, like luxury pet food and ski equipment. Overall, while a majority of people in Gen Z feel good about managing their bills each month (73%) that doesn't automatically translate into feelings of long-term security, according to a more recent Harris Poll conducted exclusively for USA TODAY in late August. That survey revealed two-thirds (67%) of Gen Z doubt they will feel financially secure anytime soon. And 60% fear they are one financial emergency away from being completely underwater. |
| How the state is investing in career readiness | |
| How are your taxpayer dollars being used to educate our young people? There's more than one answer. Some are getting criticized, while others are praised. Auditor Shad White is critical of the fact that the state sends public universities the same amount of money to educate an engineer as a sociology major, pointing out the average pay right out of school for each: "It's time to stop investing in college degrees that aren't worth anything and put our money into degrees that can supercharge Mississippi's economy. We're working on an important report about how the state spends money on colleges/universities right now. It'll come out soon,... --- Shad White (@shadwhite) September 12, 2023" But that's not the only way your taxpayer dollars are at work to prepare students for their next chapter in life. Lifelong Pearl resident and former teacher Becky Tullos Jones is one of two career coaches in the Pearl Public School District. "The one thing that I always tried to do is encourage my kids to get your degree, you know, come back to Pearl and be a productive citizen," she explained. "So, I feel like I'm like in the middle of our mission statement here." And the coaches connect with the industry in the area to make sure they know where the needs exist. Accelerate Mississippi explains that two years of funding have made the expansion of career coaches around the state possible. The Auditor says he plans to release a report on that return on investment at the public universities sometime soon. |
| State tries different approach to attract physicians, dentists to rural areas | |
 | Getting physicians and dentists to set up practice in rural areas of Mississippi can be a tough sell. That's why the state is trying a different approach. Growing its own. The Mississippi Rural Physicians and Rural Dentists Scholarship Program provides academic enrichment, mentoring, and financial support to medical and dental students who then agree to help meet the state's healthcare needs by agreeing to practice in underserved areas. The program's director was in Columbus. She said the need has always been great in these areas, but since COVID that need has increased, because many experienced physicians closed their practices. "I mean there are so many places in our state where there's such a need for people to have healthcare and have good healthcare. People in rural areas of our state need really good healthcare, and so we're sending those students out into those places to practice medicine and dentistry. And that's the purpose of this program. That's what we're doing every day," said Wahnee Sherman, Executive Director of the Mississippi Rural Physicians and Rural Dentists Scholarship Program. |
| UM earns Great Colleges to Work For honor | |
| The University of Mississippi is once again one of the nation's Great Colleges to Work For, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. This is the 14th year that the university has been granted the distinction. Ole Miss joins 42 other Honor Roll schools recognized this year as standouts in their size categories. The results were released Monday in a special insert of The Chronicle. Of the 194 institutions participating in 2023, 72 were recognized as a Great College to Work For. "Over the past 14 years, it has been rewarding to watch UM continue to gain momentum with the GCTWF recognition, with this year hitting the peak of honor recognition in all 10 categories," said Andrea Jekabsons, chief human resources officer. "Specifically, the HR team contributes to the success in the areas of compensation and benefits, professional development and faculty-staff well-being." Jekabsons said she strives "to lead by example" by encouraging campus supervisors and managers to provide the tools, resources, coaching and time off for employees to experience balance and an enriched work-home environment. Employee feedback is the primary factor in deciding whether an institution receives recognition. |
| USM School of Criminal Justice moving to new building | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security will soon have a new home on the Hattiesburg campus. Located in the tight quarters of Arthell Kelley Hall since the mid-1970s, the school is slated for a move into the Human Performance and Recreation Building, which formerly housed the School of Kinesiology and Nutrition. University officials said renovation and construction are already underway on the $16.6 million project that has an anticipated completion date of June 2025. "The faculty and staff of the School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security are so excited that renovations have begun," said School Director Dr. Brenda Rowe. "Moving into our new building will provide much needed additional faculty and staff office space, dedicated conference rooms, additional classroom space, and increased lab space for our Forensic Science labs." Plans also call for construction of a 5,000-square-foot annex to the current building for use as an academic courtroom. More than 500 students are currently enrolled in the Criminal Justice, Forensic Science and Security programs. |
| Vicksburg's Dr. Jason McKenna elected President of Mississippi Chapter of AUVSI | |
| Dr. Jason McKenna, The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Director of Research, Development, Testing, Evaluation and Training (RDT&E) at the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise, has been named president of the Mississippi Chapter of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). He is hoping to facilitate good communication, advocacy and discover new ways to work together across the state. "There's a big push nationally and internationally for growing the industry base and capability in fully autonomous maritime uncrewed systems. This is front and center to what we are doing on the Coast at USM. I think our chapter can help AUVSI and our partners get there more quickly by building upon the strong airborne and ground uncrewed expertise centered at Mississippi State and the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (EDRC)," McKenna said. "This chapter can leverage the entire expertise and talent within the state to get the word out. We have significant partnerships within the government in the state. We can offer collaboration and a strong voice nationally with the chapter's new officers coming from USM, MSU's Raspet Flight Center, ERDC's Environmental Lab and USACE HQ PM for Aerial and Robotic Systems," he said. The Mississippi chapter consists of many companies and educational institutions across the state, including members with the federal government at Camp Shelby, Mississippi State University (MSU), the federal government at the US Army Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg, the Navy and NOAA at Stennis Space Center, USM and industry across the entire state. |
| Southern Miss to offer uncrewed maritime systems certification program | |
| The University of Southern Mississippi is offering a unique program that provides students with a better understanding of the blue economy via the study of uncrewed maritime systems. The Uncrewed Maritime Systems Tier 1 Certification Program will be held from Oct. 16 through Nov. 17 -- every weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- at the Marine Research Center in Gulfport. This five-week program consists of three courses and one lab for a total of 10 credit hours. Carl Szczechowski, instructor and coordinator of the uncrewed maritime systems certificate programs within the School of Ocean Science and Engineering, says all are welcome to be a part of this program -- from high school graduates to those with doctoral degrees. "We cover a great number of topics during the five weeks, from basic electronics to oceanography, acoustics, communications, navigation and sensors," Szczechowski said. "We have had a great student mix from 19 years old to folks in their late 50s. Students come from a variety of study and work backgrounds and include technicians, scientists, engineers and computer scientists. We learn from each other." |
| JSU professor cashes in as 'Wheel of Fortune' contestant | |
| A Jackson State University professor is a good bit richer after his spin on "Wheel of Fortune." "One of my fears is that I don't want to embarrass Jackson State. I don't want to embarrass my family. I don't want to embarrass my friends -- especially myself," contestant Mark Henderson said. Henderson, an assistant professor of speech and theater at JSU, did not embarrass anyone. He won more than $13,000 and a trip to Italy. After watching the show for years, Henderson said he got the call after applying last year. They told him he needed to be in Hollywood three weeks before the taping. Without hesitation, he packed his bags and headed west. "It was great. I mean, it was surreal to see all of this stuff you see on television, so it was exciting," Henderson said. When he returned home, Henderson's friends wanted to know if he won big money. "I said, 'Well, if I tell you, then you won't be excited when you see it. So, when you see it, either you're going to be excited, or you're going to have some sympathy for me.' Either way, I was there," Henderson said. |
| Unlocking Pathways Summit lands in South Mississippi | |
| Finding good-paying jobs for young people through workforce development -- it's all part of an educational plan spearheaded by the Biden Administration aimed at unlocking career success. The concept has been presented through a series of nationwide summits. The ultra-modern iMPAC facility at Mississippi Coast Community College's Harrison County Campus served as the ideal location for the latest gathering. "We are dedicated to top-notch technology training," said Dr. Mary Graham, MGCCC president. The college has more than 60 career & technical programs, which fit right in with themes of technology and careers. "When you talk about IT and technology, it cuts across every single industry sector. When we think about how we need to strengthen opportunities for young people and fulfill their potential for career pathways, tech will be part of that," said Amy Loyd, U.S. Department of Education CTE Assistant Secretary. They say the jobs current students will have down the road haven't even been created yet, that's why guiding them down the IT path is so critical. "We want to make sure every student has a strong foundation in tech skills, in career-connected learning that allows them to set a vision for their life," Loyd added. |
| $15M in renovation projects underway at Jones College | |
 | A major renovation of the 55-year-old M. P. Bush Fine Arts Building at Jones College is nearly finished. Work on the first-floor auditorium and lobby that began last December should be completed later this fall. It's one part of a renovation plan which also includes the transformation of the college's old humanities building into a new STEM center and the expansion of a medical simulation lab in the J. B. Young Center. All three projects cost more than $15 million. "Our renovations are all part of our strategic plan, which is all about adapting for the future of higher education, which is changing rapidly," said Jesse Smith, president of Jones College. Both the STEM center and the simulation lab projects are in the design phase. Smith said they should be finished in about two years. |
| 4-H teams with Netflix's 'Spy Kids: Armageddon' to launch new learning platform Clover | |
| The National 4-H Council is growing in a new direction -- online -- by launching its e-learning platform Clover with a collaboration with Netflix and its new movie "Spy Kids: Armageddon," the organization announced Wednesday. Jill Bramble, who took over as president and CEO of the National 4-H Council in July, said she wants the new platform to be the digital equivalent of the in-person experience that 4-H has provided to young people for more than 120 years. "It allows us to keep kids where they are -- whether they are in Manhattan, New York or Manhattan, Kansas -- and still offer highly relevant and engaging content for young people to prepare for careers of the future," Bramble told The Associated Press in an interview. "The skills that they will need to be successful look very different than they were for us." Clover features more than 220 online educational activities for students, ages 5 to 18, developed by 4-H's partners in the Cooperative Extension System and its network of land grant universities. The topics covered range from farming to space exploration, from financial literacy to stress management -- all designed to inform and empower young people. "The pandemic was an inflection point showing what kids need today," she said. "We feel that Clover can support a way to catch up, but it can't do it alone. It's so valuable to have an in-person program that goes along with it -- the mentoring aspect that comes with 4-H. It helps bring that sense of belonging that helps a young person catch up to where they need to be." |
| Scathing new report says American schools are 'failing the COVID generation' | |
| A scathing new report suggests American schools are "failing the COVID generation," and older students are still struggling to regain their academic footing after years of disruptions. "Three years after the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 is continuing to derail learning, but in more insidious and hidden ways," says the report, published Wednesday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), a nonpartisan research organization based at Arizona State University. "Things are far from normal even though students are back in school." The research paints a dire picture of declining academic performance, chronic absenteeism and persistent mental health challenges among American students. The average ACT score, for example, is at a 30-year low, said Morgan Polikoff, a University of Southern California professor and one of the authors of the report. He and other researchers cited data from the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showing math performance for the average 13-year-old is just as depressed: it's as low as it was in 1990. Nearly three-quarters of schools reported increases in chronic absenteeism in post-pandemic years, according to data released last summer by the National Center for Education Statistics and mentioned in the report. The researchers also pulled from a Gallup poll, that said a fifth of students in 2023 graded their schools poorly on mental health support. Though high school graduation rates continue to climb, college professors say students are showing up unprepared, Polikoff said on a call with reporters Tuesday. |
| New university artificial intelligence initiative continues film festival | |
| Auburn University's Artificial Intelligence Initiative will host the second of five film showings on Tuesday, Sept. 12, in the Foy Union Ballroom. Next week's film is "I, Robot," a 2004 detective tale about the moral implications of sentient machines. The recently created University-wide initiative called AI@AU focuses on connecting faculty with artificial intelligence-related research and education. They held the first showing of the festival on Aug. 29. Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion Adam Jortner led last week's discussion on the topic of "AI and Truth" after showing the 1968 sci-fi classic "2001: A Space Odyssey." The film series comes as national conversation about AI has reached a fever pitch. Applications such as ChatGPT allow users to interact with AI models that synthesize information based on databases of previously collected information. Attendees included a wide variety of members of the Auburn family. Faculty from the College of Education and the College of Science and Math, as well as students and staff from across campus, showed up to contribute. Jortner emphasized how important it is for students to learn about AI. "We don't teach about AI so our students can passively accept it," Jortner said. "We teach AI so our students are going to be leaders in not just building it, but also creating the societies that [have] artificial intelligence and that [use] it wisely." |
| ‘U.S. News’ Rankings Not the ‘Behemoth’ Perceived | |
 | There is a stark gap between the premium many college leaders place on the U.S. News & World Report "Best Colleges" rankings and the interests of the prospective students they aim to attract, according to a new report by Art & Science Group, a higher education consulting firm. While 58 percent of high school seniors who graduated this spring said they actively considered rankings in some way during their search, only 5 percent "thought they knew" the U.S. News ranking of their first-choice school well enough to identify it, the report shows. Even fewer students, about 3 percent, could actually do so correctly. The report, which was released Tuesday and is based on a survey of just over 800 recent high school graduates, suggests that "U.S. News is not the behemoth that one might think it is," said David Strauss, a principal at Art & Science Group. Results from the recent Art & Science survey indicate that the rankings still play a "notable but decidedly supporting role" in students' decisions about college selection, however, and suggest that perhaps college leaders should rethink their level of investment in attempting to move up the ladder of "Best Colleges." "We do see a lot of folks in leadership positions, trustees, senior administrators and occasionally faculty ... who are inclined to make rankings a significant driver of institutional decision-making," said Strauss. "But these data would suggest that if that's being done to satisfy the prospective student market, it may be misplaced goals." |
| Historically Black Colleges Land $124 Million Donation to Boost Enrollment, Graduation Rates | |
| A philanthropic group whose funders include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and MacKenzie Scott is giving $124 million to historically Black colleges and universities, aiming to shore up -- and ultimately expand -- the financially strapped schools. The money, from Blue Meridian Partners, will go to the HBCU Transformation Project, which launched last year and currently provides grants to 40 public and private schools for projects focused on improving enrollment, retention and graduation rates. Much of the funding targets essentials such as technology upgrades, data collection and academic support programs, which Blue Meridian says can help set the institutions up for long-term sustainability. The project is a collaboration run by the United Negro College Fund, Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Partnership for Education Advancement. In addition to making grants directly to schools, it lets institutions team up to pay lower rates for tools such as student-support chatbots and fundraising software, and to exchange tips on what is working well. "I have an asset that's performing well, but is underinvested," said Jim Shelton, president and chief investment and impact officer at Blue Meridian, noting that HBCUs already educate a significant share of Black doctors, teachers and lawyers. "If I put in more resources, what could happen?" The HBCU Transformation Project aims to bring on more school partners with the new round of funding. |
| Why Biden's Education secretary has beef with Harvard | |
| The elite colleges that found an ally in Miguel Cardona while defending their admissions practices are now among the Education secretary's biggest targets. The Supreme Court's decision to gut race-conscious college admissions policies ignited new urgency among civil rights groups concerned about Black and brown students being left out of higher education. But it also gave Cardona -- and President Joe Biden -- an opening to air long-held criticisms of how Harvard, Yale and other selective institutions favor applicants who come from wealthy alumni families through legacy admissions. "They said we can't look at race, but the person's last name is fine or if somebody writes a check," Cardona said of the Supreme Court in an interview. "We shouldn't be highlighting or valuing legacy if we can't take into account other factors that we think would add value." Like Biden, Cardona doesn't have an allegiance to these elite institutions. A first-generation college student who attended state schools in Connecticut, he was already critical of the selective schools even while they used affirmative action to create some opportunities for students of color. Without that tool, however, Cardona has become more adamant that colleges need to ditch their legacy preferences and fixation on selectivity that have built up their prestige and generated a key source of revenue. Striking down legacy admissions, civil rights advocates say, could bring real change in a critical process that has remained largely untouched by the federal government and stagnant at the nation's colleges for years. |
| Education Department works to rally support for Biden's SAVE student loan repayment plan repayment planBiden's SAVE student loan plan boosted by Education Department | |
| The Department of Education is putting a marketing campaign for its new income-driven student loan repayment plan into overdrive, amid mounting criticism from the right -- and some on the left. Department officials announced Tuesday they're partnering with more than 100 organizations across the country to get the word out about the administration's "Saving on A Valuable Education," or SAVE, plan. It's the "most affordable repayment plan ever," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on a call with reporters. More than 4 million borrowers have already enrolled in the plan. Another million have applied. "But we need all hands on deck to reach the millions of additional borrowers who stand to gain," he said. The campaign will reach about 18 million Americans, he said. The plan caps accruing interest for borrowers who stay on top of their payments and broadly decreases monthly payments. Americans making less than $15 an hour won't have to make any payments at all, according to the department. The campaign folds into the administration's response to the Supreme Court's rebuke of President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan earlier this summer. That plan would have absolved up to $20,000 in debt for millions of borrowers, but the court ruled in June, along ideological lines, that the administration overstepped its authority by proposing widespread forgiveness. The effort is also part of the department's response to the resumption of student loan repayments, which resume in October for the first time since a pandemic-related pause in March 2020. |
| Doug Shanks was a fearless change agent in baseball and in Mississippi GOP politics | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: At the age of 29, then-Republican Jackson City Commissioner Doug Shanks had no less than the political writers at The New York Times hanging on his every utterance during the Republican National Convention battle between then-President Gerald Ford and insurgent California GOP Gov. Ronald Reagan. White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen led an impromptu press conference at Jackson's Ramada Inn on July 30, 1976, that featured Shanks and Meridian businessman and GOP gubernatorial contender Gil Carmichael, then the co-chairmen of the President Ford Committee for the State of Mississippi, answering questions about President Ford's meeting with Mississippi's Republican delegates to the 1976 Republican presidential convention. For a time, Doug Shanks -- a native of Soso, Mississippi -- stood at the red-hot center of American politics. The 1976 Republican convention gave Mississippi a moment in the sun as Ford and Reagan sparred for the soul of the state's GOP and the GOP presidential nomination. ... Shanks, even at 29, was a master of bringing disparate people together. His political papers, scrapbooks and other memorabilia are housed in the Mississippi Political Collection at the Mississippi State University Libraries, including his papers on the 1976 GOP presidential campaign. |
SPORTS
| How Mississippi State football, Chi Omega brought Jett Johnson and his mom to Starkville | |
 | From the brick stairs to the white pillars and double doors, there is plenty about the Chi Omega house that makes it fit into the Greek life scene on Mississippi State's campus. The sentiment is evident in August when, in the midst of the sweltering heat, the exterior of the house is flooded with balloons and disco balls, the pageantry and excitement of rush week on full display. But when football season arrives, a special piece of décor goes up that separates Chi O from the rest. In the serving area of the house, a poster of the football team is impossible to miss. At the center of the photo is linebacker Jett Johnson -- better known in the house as, "Mama Fran's boy" -- leading the Bulldogs onto the field. The women in the house know why it's showcased. When your house mom is the actual mom to the SEC's reigning leading tackler, of course you know. "They know No. 44," Frances Johnson told the Clarion Ledger. Like most parents, Frances was emotional when Jett signed as part of MSU's 2018 recruiting class. However, Jett jokes there was more to the tears than a proud mom moment. "She was a big Chi O at Ole Miss," Jett said. What Frances, whose father Lloyd Tate played football at Ole Miss, didn't know was that Jett's commitment was only a step in her adoption of the maroon and white. |
| Mississippi State baseball, softball announce fall schedules | |
| Spring may still feel far away, but Mississippi State baseball and softball fans will be able to see their teams in action this fall for scrimmages and exhibition games. The baseball Bulldogs are hosting 13 intrasquad scrimmages, which began Friday and run through Oct. 20. The annual Fall World Series will take place Oct. 5, 6 and 8. In addition, MSU will travel to Louisiana Tech for an exhibition game on Oct. 14 and host Alabama-Birmingham on Oct. 21. Last year, the Bulldogs finished 27-26 overall but just 9-21 in Southeastern Conference play. MSU has failed to reach the SEC Tournament the last two seasons after winning the national title in 2021. The softball team will play eight exhibition games, all at Nusz Park. Just one of them is against a fellow Division I team -- the Bulldogs take on Middle Tennessee, which nearly upset Alabama in the NCAA Regionals this past spring, on Oct. 14. Other opponents include Wallace State Community College and Jones College (Sept. 15), Bevill State Community College (Sept. 22), Chipola College and Copiah-Lincoln Community College (Oct. 6) and Pearl River Community College (Oct. 14). |
| Women's Tennis Releases Fall Schedule | |
| Mississippi State's women's tennis is gearing up for its first fall season under head coach Chris Hooshyar with seven tournaments to begin the year. "I am excited to get on the road with the girls and to see if we can implement what we have been doing in practice," Hooshyar said. "It is going to be a good opportunity for the girls to see Taylor [Russo] and I in that environment and for us to see what the girls are all about. We have been talking a lot about purpose on the practice court and I can't wait see that transition." The Bulldogs are set to open the fall on Sept. 14 as they head to Greenville, South Carolina to participate in the Debbie Southern Classic before traveling to Hilton Head, South Carolina for the W15 Hilton Head on Sept. 24-Oct. 1. From there the team will participate in the ITA Southern Regionals on Oct. 5-9 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in hopes of qualifying for the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, California on Nov. 1-5. The team will then venture to Florence, South Carolina for the W25 Florence from Oct. 8-15. State will then head home to host its own home tournament, the John Cade Invitational on Oct. 27-29. Teams participating the event will be announced at a later date. The Bulldogs are back on the road for the W15 Norman is set for Oct. 30-Nov. 5 in Norman, Oklahoma. |
| Good duck season may be ahead in Mississippi despite lower population estimate | |
 | The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently released its duck survey population numbers and while the numbers may look concerning for some species, particularly mallards, Mississippi hunters could still see a good season. "The populations are still doing well," said Houston Havens. Waterfowl Program coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. "We're still in liberal frameworks. " At the top of the list are mallards, which are arguably the most sought-after duck in Mississippi. According to the survey, their numbers are down 18% from 2022 and down 23% from the long-term average. However, there are still more than 6.1 million mallards, according to the survey. "Mallards are certainly an important species" Havens said. "They're the species that drives adaptive management. They're the species we use to set our frameworks each season." The overall population of ducks in the survey is down 9% when compared to the long-term average, which Havens attributes at least in part to weather. "It could be a variety of things," Havens said. "We've had drought conditions in key areas the last few years. We need some wet years in those key areas." While the report indicates that more work needs to be done in waterfowl conservation, the overall numbers are healthy. The survey estimates the North American duck population is more than 32 million. According to Havens, it's just a matter of them reaching Mississippi in numbers. "If we get the weather we need for sustained migrations, Mississippi would still have a good season," Havens said. |
| NCAA troubled by UNC criticism of handling of Walker waiver, says committee members received threats | |
| The NCAA Board of Directors said Tuesday it is "troubled" by North Carolina's public criticism of the decision to deny an eligibility waiver to Tar Heels transfer receiver Tez Walker, adding that some committee members have received threats of violence. The statement comes less than a week after North Carolina said the NCAA had denied appeal efforts for immediate eligibility for Walker, an announcement that included pointed criticism from both Tar Heels coach Mack Brown and athletic director Bubba Cunningham. In his statement, Brown said he had "lost all faith" in the NCAA's ability to govern college football, then ended by saying: "Shame on you, NCAA. SHAME ON YOU!" "Those comments directly contradict what we and our fellow Division I members and coaches called for vociferously -- including UNC's own football coach," said the statement from Georgia President Jere Morehead, the DI board chairman, and Evansville president Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, the vice chairman. "We are a membership organization, and rather than pursue a public relations campaign that can contribute to a charged environment for our peers who volunteer on committees, we encourage members to use established and agreed upon procedures to voice concerns and propose and adopt rule or policy changes if they are dissatisfied." The NCAA said the national office in Indianapolis is coordinating with law enforcement to deal with possibly criminal threats against committee members. NCAA regulatory committees are comprised of administrators from the association's more than 1,100 member schools. |
| Sen. Tommy Tuberville assesses timetable for NIL bill, state of college football | |
| Tommy Tuberville was at football practice or out recruiting for nearly 40 years of his life. Winning games determined his career and livelihood. He earned the "Riverboat Gambler" moniker for his play-calling tactics, not budging on making the riskiest decision. Now the senior U.S. Senator from Alabama, college football found a way back into his world. With the NCAA pleading with Congress for name, image and likeness legislation, the Republican set out to craft his own bill more than a year ago. He worked closely with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) on the bill. Both well-connected in college sports, they discussed NIL issues with coaches and administrators to introduce the "Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports Act of 2023," nicknamed the "Pass Act," in July. Last fall, they also sought feedback from more than two dozen NIL collectives. he presidential election slows down the congressional process. In a wide-ranging interview with On3, Tuberville discussed the next steps for the Pass Act, the impact conference realignment could play, and what he hopes the NIL legislation achieves. "We're trying to set parameters where all 50 states have to go by the same basic rule," he told On3. |
| Joe Castiglione: Realignment 'most tumultuous time' college sports ever seen | |
| For Joe Castiglione, upheaval in college athletics is not a fad. Now in his 26th year as Oklahoma's athletic director, he started his job in April 1998. He took a gamble on a young defensive coordinator named Bob Stoops in 1999. For a minute, Texas and Oklahoma were on course to join the Pac-12 in 2011 until commissioner Larry Scott decided not to make the move. But this latest round of conference realignment -- one that started two summers ago when the SEC added the Sooners and Longhorns -- has left Castiglione, a highly respected college sports leader, humbled. The Big 12 welcomed Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. The Pac-12, a 108-year-old conference, is down to two schools after the ACC presidents welcomed Stanford, Cal and SMU. "It's the churn and disruption in our entire space of intercollegiate athletics that has been going on for quite some time," he recently told On3. "The idea that realignment presented itself in the last few years shouldn't be a shock to people who were truly paying attention. That being said, the way some of it has evolved has been stunning. There's just a real difficulty now trying to navigate this period of time. I don't think anybody would dispute that this is the most tumultuous time that college athletics has ever experienced that we're not done with." |
| SMU's Rick Hart convinced Mustangs won't be 'dead weight' in ACC | |
| Rick Hart rose long before dawn Sept. 1 at his Dallas home. Sleep had been elusive, and for good reason. The ACC's presidents and chancellors were convening at 6 a.m., Central time to determine whether to invite Southern Methodist, Stanford and California Berkeley into the league. SMU's quest for a power-conference home dated to the Southwest Conference's 1996 demise, and Hart, the Mustangs' veteran athletic director, viewed the ACC as an ideal fit. What to do? Take a run? Prepare for the next day's home football game? Before he could decide, Hart received a text from an ACC colleague saying that N.C. State chancellor Randy Woodson, the swing vote, had flipped from no to yes. Well-versed in realignment's bizarre twists -- his father was Florida State's AD during the ACC's contentious 2003 expansion -- Hart needed official confirmation before exhaling. SMU president Gerald Turner's celebratory call checked that box soon thereafter, just as Hart was exiting the shower. "I've told people, I don't think I can articulate what the last 18 months have been like," Hart said during a 45-minute interview. "I couldn't do it justice." As a small, athletically ambitious private institution, SMU sees ACC schools such as Wake Forest, Duke, Miami, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Boston College as kindred spirits. No other power conference has such a diverse public/private mix. "It was always the league that got our community and our leadership group most excited," Hart said. The ACC is also a league Hart knows well. |
| More about culture than competition, HBCU classics are like a family reunion in the Black community | |
| As a crowd made its way into the nearby football stadium, a father watched his two sons toss a ball back and forth. Hot dogs sizzled on a smoky charcoal grill nearby. The music from a DJ's live set a few yards over was so loud it reverberated off the ground as lyrics from "Before I Let Go," the hit by the soul band Frankie Beverly and Maze, prompted tailgaters to break out in dance. This particular intersection of sports and culture was outside Hard Rock Stadium, where the historically Black universities Florida A&M and Jackson State were playing in the annual Orange Blossom Classic. The outcome of the game meant bragging rights for the next year, of course, and the tailgating here had many of the same trappings you might find at a game in the Southeastern Conference or Big Ten. The reasons for attending this multi-day event are about much more than that. HBCU Classics are a beloved staple in the Black community. More than just competitions, they are a gathering point for fellowship as well as a means to spotlight and celebrate the rich history tied to HBCUs. "It's a combination of all these different things that you associate with the African-American, Black community, particularly in the South, oftentimes, now really all around the country about celebrating that space where you bring people together," said J. Kenyatta Cavil, a professor at Texas Southern who focuses on the culture of HBCU sports. The games are also a celebration of achievement, where people can learn of the successful doctors, lawyers and political figures who went to HBCUs. |
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