| Monday, March 11, 2024 |
| 2024 Research Award nomination window open through May 10 | |
 | Nominations for MSU's 2024 Research Awards, sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development and the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine, are open through May 10. These awards exemplify MSU's impact and commitment to excellence in research and innovation across a diverse array of disciplines. Nominations are welcomed from the entire campus community, including faculty, researchers, and staff. We urge you to nominate individuals whose contributions are not only advancing scholarship within their field but also pushing the boundaries of innovation and leaving a tangible impact on society. Award winners will receive a commemorative plaque and monetary prize. Additionally, Ralph E. Powe, Mid-Career and Emerging Research scholar awardees will receive a $10,000 research grant. Finalists in each category will be chosen by a committee comprised of full professors representing MSU's diverse research disciplines. The selected awardees will be announced at the annual Research Awards Celebration in October. |
| Award-winning film on Mississippi politico Steve Holland to premiere at MSU | |
 | A Mississippi State communication faculty member with two recent projects on the state's history lauded with awards is premiering his documentary "Steve Holland: Jesus Was a Democrat" this month on McComas Hall's mainstage. Rex Allan Jones, assistant professor of broadcast and digital journalism, is screening his award-winning short film and welcoming the production's featured subject -- former state legislator Holland -- at 3 p.m. March 20. The free, public presentation will include in-depth and colorful conversations with Holland, as well as Marty Wiseman, retired MSU political science professor and former director of the university's Stennis Institute of Government. Jones graduated from MSU in 1992 with an MBA, and earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering. He also holds an MFA in science and natural history filmmaking from Montana State University. Jones recently won a Mississippi Historical Society Award of Merit for the film, which honors the life of Holland as an MSU alumnus, longtime North Mississippi representative serving the 16th district and 50-year mortuary maven. Jones' additional MHS Award of Merit was for another film featuring Holland, "Libation & Legislation," which outlines the conflict the state of Mississippi encountered after acquiring the Sun n' Sand motel in 2019, with intentions to demolish it and build a parking lot. |
| What to expect in Mississippi's primaries | |
 | Former President Donald Trump has his hopes set that Republican voters in Mississippi and three other states will push him over the top Tuesday night in his quest to clinch his party's presidential nomination for the third election in a row. Further down the ballot are a handful of primaries for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House. Republican incumbent Roger Wicker is seeking a fourth full term in the Senate and is the favorite to win his primary against two opponents. Republican primaries are also on the ballot in the 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts, while a Democratic primary is on the ballot in the 1st Congressional District. Trump won hundreds of delegates on Super Tuesday, pushing him within reach of becoming the presumptive nominee, but he'll need the bulk of the 161 delegates at stake in Mississippi, Georgia, Hawaii and Washington to close the deal. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the race this week and is no longer competing for Mississippi's 40 delegates, but her name will still appear on the ballot. President Joe Biden is the only option on the ballot in Mississippi's Democratic primary, and has faced minimal opposition this year as the sitting president. As of Tuesday, there will be 125 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 160 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 238 until the November general election. |
| Employers in PERS could be held responsible for unfunded liability if they exit the system | |
 | Lawmakers in the Mississippi Senate passed a bill that would hold employers responsible for any unfunded actuarial liability should they chose to withdraw from the state's retirement system. The Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) is the state's retirement plan for individuals who have worked jobs that span across city, county, state, and school districts in Mississippi. The bill, SB 2904, authored by State Senator David Blount (D), says any entity whose plan is terminated through legislation, privatization, sale, dissolution, or any other method shall pay to its portion of the unfunded actuarial accrued liability in a lump sum to the PERS Board before termination. Senator Blount said this is a very uncommon occurrence, but one lawmakers felt needed to be addressed since conversations are ongoing as to the financial future of PERS. He reiterated that this would not change any benefits to current or future employees participating in PERS. PERS is a pre-paid system. However, the liability in question relates to what is paid to an employee upon their retirement. This legislation is intended to protect the state from "carrying the bag" in the event an employer leaves the plan and is no longer paying their portion into the system. "If you are an employer and you're in PERS and you are sold or privatized and your employees are no longer in the PERS system, when you terminate that relationship with PERS, or the day before, you have your share of unfunded liability in the entire system and you need to pay that share before you disengage with PERS," said Senator Blount. |
| Parchman closure legislation dies in Senate committee | |
| A bill proposing to address problems at one of the nation's most notorious prisons by transferring them to another, more secure, prison died in a Mississippi legislative committee last week. The bill, SB 2353, was double referred to the Senate Corrections Committee as well as the Senate Appropriations Committee. It passed out of Corrections but died in Appropriations. The legislation proposed moving nearly all of the current inmates held at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to a privately-run facility in Tutwiler. Only the inmates on death row and the medically frail were slated to remain. A small part of the facilities at Parchman would have also been used for training. The bill's author, State Senator Juan Barnett (D), chairman of the Senate Corrections Committee, was pushing for a 20-year lease at the Tutwiler facility, putting its maintenance on the owner, CoreCivic, and allowing the state to continue to collect property tax. Additionally, the state could have sold or leased some of the unused facilities at Parchman, leading to economic development opportunities in the Delta. The 7.9 mile, ten-minute ride to transfer the inmates to Tutwiler was proposed to not only address the longstanding safety issues at Parchman, but also ensure every current corrections officer employed at both facilities kept their jobs. Senator Barnett (D) added that the current corrections officers at Tutwiler would have even received state benefits. "It only would have improved the jobs, because all of those employees at Tutwiler would have become state employees and get the (state) benefits and no pay change," Barnett told Magnolia Tribune on Friday. |
| Mississippi Supreme Court to rule on Manning execution by fall | |
 | The Mississippi Supreme Court will make a decision by this fall on whether to set an execution date for Willie Jerome Manning. The state's highest court issued notice this week that it will not hear oral arguments and will decide the case solely on the briefs already filed. By rule, the court has 270 days to make a ruling after the last filing. Since the state's response was filed in early January, that would make a ruling due no later than early October. Manning, 55, was convicted of the capital murders of two Mississippi State University students and was sentenced to death almost 30 years ago. He has remained on Death Row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman ever since. In late September 2023, Manning's defense team filed a new post-conviction relief motion, citing former witnesses recanting their testimony among the reasons he deserved a new trial. Just over a month later, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed a motion asking the high court to set an execution date, claiming Manning had "exhausted all state and federal remedies." The Supreme Court paused Fitch's request Nov. 30, 2023, saying it wanted to resolve Manning's latest appeal attempt before setting an execution date. With Tuesday's notice, the court will only consider the briefs already filed. Manning's 92-page PCR motion is augmented by 49 exhibits. The state's reply motion is 34 pages long and has five attachments. Manning was convicted of two counts of capital murder in Oktibbeha County in November 1994 for the deaths of Mississippi State University students Tiffany Miller, 22, and Jon Steckler, 19, who were kidnapped in December 1992 and found dead the next day. |
| Baby Boom in Congress Spurs Call for Remote Voting for New Moms | |
 | House Republicans ended members' ability to vote remotely when they took power last year. Now a conservative GOP lawmaker who recently had a baby wants to bring back proxy voting in a limited fashion as a way to ease the burden on mothers balancing their responsibility to voters and their family. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.), whose first child, Henry, was born in August, has proposed legislation that would allow lawmakers who give birth to vote remotely for six weeks. The move has gained support from members across the political spectrum but has gotten a cool reception from GOP leadership, after the party for years criticized Democrats' decision to allow unlimited proxy voting during the Covid-19 pandemic. "If you really want representation in this body of what the country is, you have working moms," said Luna, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus. Others say it is important that lawmakers meet and cast votes in person, without exception. Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), who missed more than a month of votes last year recovering from a punctured lung and other injuries after falling off a ladder, said he didn't ask for permission to vote remotely during his recovery and doesn't support Luna's proposal. "I think the Constitution is pretty clear. It requires a presence of members in voting, and I view that as a physical presence," he said. The number of women in Congress has steadily grown since Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, became the first female member of Congress when she was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives in 1917. Today, roughly one in every four lawmakers is a woman, with more than 150 female members in the House and Senate. |
| Female representation remains low in US statehouses, particularly Democrats in the South | |
| Democrat Kayla Young and Republican Patricia Rucker frequently clash on abortion rights and just about everything else in West Virginia's Legislature, but they agree on one thing: Too few of their colleagues are women, and it's hurting the state. "There are exceptions to every single rule, but I think in general, men do kind of see this as their field," said Rucker, part of the GOP's Senate supermajority that passed one of the nation's strictest abortion bans while Young -- the lone Democratic woman elected to the House -- opposed it. Nearly 130 years since the first three women were elected to state legislative offices in the U.S., women remain massively underrepresented in state legislatures. In 10 states, women make up less than 25% of their state legislatures, according to Rutgers' Center for American Women in Politics. West Virginia is at the very bottom of that list, having just 16 women in its 134-member Legislature, or just under 12%. That's compared with Nevada, where women occupy just over 60% of state legislative seats. Similar low numbers can be found in the nearby southern states of Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana. For the last three decades, voters have demonstrated a willingness to cast ballots for women. But they didn't have the opportunity to do so because women weren't running, said Jennifer Lawless, chair of the politics department at the University of Virginia. |
| In Battleground States, Trump Is Ahead in Polls but Playing Catch-Up on the Ground | |
| At the start of their general-election showdown, former President Donald Trump holds a polling advantage over President Biden in a series of battleground states. But on the ground, Trump is playing catch-up. Seeking to create momentum after Biden's lively State of the Union address, the president's campaign said Friday it was launching a $30 million, six-week advertising campaign and would increase hiring of staff in battleground states. The campaign said it had 100 staff on the ground and would add at least 350 new staff members and open 100 offices in March. And national Democrats have so far pumped millions more dollars into building infrastructure in key states than Republicans have. Both Biden and Trump appeared Saturday in Georgia, the closest state in their 2020 contest, and Biden is also scheduled to travel to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan in the week ahead. Trump is expected in the coming week to visit Arizona, a state Biden narrowly won. Allies of the president said his performance during the prime-time speech, in which he jousted with congressional Republicans, calmed some concerns within the party about his abilities as he seeks re-election at age 81 as the nation's oldest president. "Democrats are reinvigorated. My phone has been blowing up since last night and hasn't stopped," said Cristóbal Alex, a former White House aide and senior adviser to Biden's 2020 campaign. Biden aides viewed Thursday's address to Congress, which attracted about 32.2 million viewers, as the kickoff to the general election after Trump dispatched his final major GOP challenger, Nikki Haley, and is on the cusp of formally locking down the Republican nomination for a third straight cycle. Republicans, for their part, mocked Biden's performance, with Trump saying on social media that the president appeared "angry" and unhinged. |
| America's election chiefs are worried AI is coming for them | |
 | A false call from a secretary of state telling poll workers they aren't needed on Election Day. A fake video of a state election director shredding ballots before they're counted. An email sent to a county election official trying to phish logins to its voter database. Election officials worry that the rise of generative AI makes this kind of attack on the democratic process even easier ahead of the November election -- and they're looking for ways to combat it. Election workers are uniquely vulnerable targets: They're obscure enough that nobody knows who they really are, so unlike a fake of a more prominent figure -- like Joe Biden or Donald Trump -- people may not be on the lookout for something that seems off. At the same time, they're important enough to fake and just public enough that it'd be easy to do. Combine that with the fact that election officials are still broadly trusted by most Americans --- but don't have a way to effectively reach their voters -- a well-executed fake of them could be highly dangerous but hard to counter. Secretaries of state gathered at the National Association of Secretaries of State winter meeting last month told POLITICO they have already begun working AI scenarios into their trainings with local officials, and that the potential dangers of AI-fueled misinformation will be featured in communication plans with voters. Election officials have already spent the last few years struggling to figure out how to combat an increasingly toxic election environment in which misinformation has fueled public distrust of the electoral system and physical threats. Now they're worried AI will make that challenge even more unmanageable. |
| I2M showcase to return to ERDCWERX | |
| In a sequel to last year's successful event, the Innovation 2 Market (I2M) patent showcase returns to ERDCWERX---featuring U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) patents available for licensing and commercialization. This free, hybrid event invites businesses and investors to explore how ERDC innovations can support growth and diversification. Scheduled for Tuesday, April 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at ERDCWERX in Vicksburg, I2M provides a unique opportunity for direct engagement between businesses and ERDC inventors. Attendees can expect valuable insights into ERDC's streamlined licensing options and agreement types, and hear from industry experts experienced in the commercialization of ERDC technologies. Additionally, the event will feature a licensing signing ceremony, a guided tour of ERDC, and timely updates on current business opportunities. "ERDC is excited to invite industry and economic development organizations to the second Innovation 2 Market patent showcase, highlighting innovative technologies in construction, electronics and sensors, environment and energy, materials, and protective structures and systems," said Jenny Jabour, technology transfer officer of ERDC's Office of Research and Technology Transfer (ORTT). "We believe I2M will further enhance opportunities for businesses -- small and large -- to engage in seamless tech transfer between the federal government and the commercial marketplace." In-person attendees will have the chance to connect with key stakeholders, including ERDC's ORTT, Contracting Office, and Office of Small Business Programs, along with their key technology commercialization partners, TechLink and ERDCWERX. |
| MUW alumni push back on bill that would make 'The W' part of Mississippi State | |
 | If Senate Bill 2715 becomes law, the Mississippi University for Women will become part of Mississippi State University. The bill, which awaits Senate approval, is being met with pushback from MUW alumni. Wednesday evening, one day after the amended bill made it out of committee, MUW Alumni Association President Heather Fasciocco Stone sent an email to alumni requesting help in stopping the bill. The email asked alumni to call state senators and explain why they oppose SB 2715. Mary Thomas Watts was one alum who answered the call to action. Watts, who graduated MUW in 1969, said the passing of SB 2715 would undermine Mississippi higher education. "It's Women's History Month, and the Mississippi Legislature comes up with a bill that jeopardizes the future of America's first public college for women," Watts said. "An apology to the W, and to every woman in the state, should start with the sound defeat of SB 2715." Watts and other alumni are concerned that in the future the MUW campus will move to Starkville, leaving the historic buildings of the Columbus campus abandoned. Margaret Ann Gibson Niven, MUW class of 1975, said it was her mother's dream to go to MUW. Graduating with a degree in library science, Niven fulfilled the dream her mother was never able to complete. "I would not have fit in in a large university, and my mother knew that," Niven said. "She just said, 'This is the place you need to go." And, she was so right." Niven is concerned today's students won't get the same small-school experience if MUW becomes part of Mississippi State University. |
| W Singers advance in statewide competition | |
| Two Mississippi University for Women students advanced to the semifinal and final round at the Mississippi chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) annual conference and Student Auditions finals Feb. 23-34. The conference took place at University of Mississippi in Oxford where more than 70 students from around the state competed in the Student Auditions, representing high schools, colleges, universities and independent music studios. "I'm very happy for our W singers," said Susan Hurley, associate professor of voice at The W. "They did excellent work and sang fine performances. This is the sixth semester in a row that our W vocal students have advanced in statewide or regional competition, which is a testament to the quality of music training they're receiving here at The W." Jerry Brown, a music education major, won second place in Older Student Adults and Tiffani Jernigan, a music performance major, advanced to the semifinals in Advanced Classical Trebles. William Reber, of the music faculty, accompanied the singers at the piano during each round of the competition. Both singers study voice with Hurley. |
| Diverse destinations dominate students' spring break plans | |
 | According to interviews with 165 UM students, Florida is the top vacation destination this year. Of the students surveyed, 60 are planning to travel to Florida this spring break. Destin, Fla., seems to be the most popular choice, with more than a dozen students planning to spend spring break there. Among the many traveling to Destin is freshman political science major Sofia Sloss, who is excited to take a trip with the new friends she has made in college. She is, "ready to embrace the warm weather and pretend it is summer for a few days." Others are headed elsewhere on Florida's Gulf Coast. "I'm going to Pensacola, Fla.," Shaelen Hudson, a junior biochemistry and business major from Marion, Ill., said. "I and six of my friends are going down for a few days." Nan Pittman, a freshman majoring in allied health on the pre-medical track, revealed her plans to head south with some of her friends. "I'm going to spring break with some of my sorority sisters and some of my friends from high school," Pittman said. "We're going to Miramar (Beach, Fla.), and we're so excited!" Other warm-weather travel destinations include Orange Beach, Ala., and several beaches in South Carolina, where 14 students are traveling in hopes of obtaining some rest and relaxation. Many students have opted to participate in missionary work. Sophomore allied health studies major Addison Armstrong and international studies major Emory Coscia are going on a mission trip to Cuba with Ole Miss Cru, a Christian campus ministry group. A group of freshmen have their sights set on Central America, as they are participating in mission trips to Belize and Guatemala. Carissa Strum, a junior majoring in pharmaceutical sciences, is also bound for Panama on a mission trip. |
| $5 million grant helps Ole Miss fight addiction stigma in Mississippi | |
 | A $5 million grant is helping the University of Mississippi (UM) tackle addiction stigma in Mississippi's health care system. The grant secured by UM's William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing is specifically enabling the university's School of Pharmacy to do just that. The Magee Institute landed the funding from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The overall project is housed in the institute's Jackie and Faser Triplett Center for alcohol or other drug (AOD) Research. The grant is funding work related to substance use disorder, to reduce drug use across Mississippi, particularly among young people. Meagen Rosenthal, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacy Administration and interim director of the Magee Institute, is the project's principal investigator. She feels the funding provides an opportunity to shift the conversation around substance use disorders across Mississippi. "It's a chance to prevent as many young people as we can from getting into these problems to begin with and ensuring that everyone around young people can have these conversations with students," Rosenthal said. |
| Hattiesburg to see additional $7.5 million from latest federal appropriations | |
 | The City of Hattiesburg learned Friday night that an additional $7.5 million had been allocated for two road projects in the latest federal spending bills. According to a Facebook post, Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said that a Congressional bill, HR 4366, was passed by the United States Senate Friday night. That bill included "final funding levels for a large part of the final FY 24 federal budget," Barker wrote. Barker said two "major" items were included affecting Hattiesburg. The first was a $3 million allocation to cover "some of the last remaining costs of the Hall Avenue West Overpass," Barker wrote. The second was a $4.5 million earmark for pre-engineering work on road/interchange improvements around the Eagle One Mega Site, which straddles some 2,200-plus acres in Forrest and Lamar counties just south of Hattiesburg. Barker expressed his gratitude to the city's Congressional delegation. including Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith and Rep. Mike Ezell. |
| The business behind HBCU marching bands | |
| The big HBCU marching bands we see today -- from Norfolk State in Virginia, Florida A&M and Jackson State in Mississippi all the way to Prairie View A&M University in Texas -- stem from a style dating back to the '40s. Their performances are known for musical excellence, flair, crowd engagement and use of modern songs. "For every first-time viewer of [a historically Black college or university] band that I've gotten to speak with, I'd say 99 out of 100 of them were in absolute awe," said Timmey Zachery, director of bands at Prairie View. "They had no idea that what we were able to do could be done." That sense of awe is marketable. "Being synchronized with 360 people and have them turn on a dime in 10 seconds and go a different direction together, that says something about those individuals. It says something about that institution." Prairie View freshman Luz Guzman knew she wanted to join the band after seeing it perform at the 2019 National Battle of the Bands in Houston. "There was a band playing, and PV just was like, 'OK, this is enough. Y'all keep on playing it for, like, the past five minutes,' and they just played on top of them. Honestly, I got chills," she said. |
| Amy Grant to headline at Mississippi College scholarship banquet | |
| Queen of Christian pop music Amy Grant is set to headline at Mississippi College's (MC) Spring Scholarship Banquet. The decorated songwriter, television personality and philanthropist has garnered six Grammy Awards, 19 Grammy nominations and 26 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Music City Walk of Fame. In 2022, Grant received Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. But for those like Elizabeth Moore, Grant's impact began decades earlier. The fourth-generation MC graduate grew up listening to the multiple Grammy Award-winner's music in the church where her father, Charles Wallace, served as minister of music for decades. Today, Moore enjoys singing Grant's melodies while running errands in Flowood with her daughter, Emerson, 7, and son, William, 3. "I feel like I've always known Amy Grant's music from growing up in the church and hearing her stuff on the radio," Moore said in an MC press release. "'Baby Baby' was popular when I was a kid, and now my 7-year-old knows every single word of it and my 3-year-old tries to sing it, too." The MC Foundation's annual scholarship banquet is the largest fundraising event at MC. It has generated over $4 million for the MC general scholarship fund since 2008. Many well-known Americans in public life have come to speak at the fundraiser. They include former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and many others. |
| Northeast Mississippi Community College mourning loss of police chief | |
| A local community college is mourning the loss of the school's chief of police. On Saturday, officials with Northeast Mississippi Community College announced that William Anthony Anderson had passed away. Anderson, 61, was at the NEMCC women's basketball game before suffering a medical emergency. "Chief Anthony Anderson's untimely departure reminds us that even the strongest among us are not immune to life's fragility," NEMCC President Dr. Ricky G. Ford said. "His dedication to safety, service, and the community will be deeply missed but forever cherished in the hearts of those he protected and inspired." Before getting into criminal justice, Anderson was a standout basketball player for the Tigers, where he led the team to a state championship his freshman year. The NEMCC Hall of Famer was named the Babe McCarthy Junior College Player of the Year after his sophomore season. The Blue Springs native then worked for the Union County Sheriff's Office for over a decade and was chief of police for the city of Verona for three years. |
| Schools are hiring more teachers than ever. So why aren't there enough of them? | |
 | Since the pandemic began, lots of schools have been on a hiring spree. Campuses need more classroom teachers, reading specialists, special educators and counselors as Baby Boomers retire and schools continue to help students make up for lost time. The unprecedented infusion of COVID-19 relief money enabled the creation of many of these open positions. Yet the supply of applicants hasn't caught up with demand, according to a new report from ADP Research Institute, a labor market think tank. The report says there has long been a staffing imbalance but it has become more pronounced since the pandemic. "The demand for teachers has only grown, but the supply has been very stable," said Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist. "As everybody is talking about the future of work, we've got to talk about the education of that future workforce -- and it starts with teachers." The solution is clear: more competitive wages, as President Joe Biden noted in his State of the Union address last week, making the case for teacher pay raises. Despite an effort to change wages at the federal and local levels, few districts and states have meaningfully increased educator pay. Instead, teacher salaries have grown more slowly than pay for workers in other sectors. The research institute tracked employment trends using wage and employment data over five years for public and private K-12 teachers across the U.S. The number of educator job openings has surged since 2021, according to researchers. However, the number of employed educators has remained relatively flat. |
| What architects learned from 30 years of building affordable homes in Alabama's Black Belt | |
 | Housing isn't just a city problem. While nearly a quarter of the country's unhoused population lives in LA and NYC, rural communities also don't have enough affordable housing. Last year, the percentage of rural residents experiencing homelessness jumped 10%. Enter Auburn University's Rural Studio. The architecture studio has embedded itself in Alabama's Black Belt for 30 years as a three-way benefit: residents get a free house, students attending the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture learn through hands-on building and the school experiments with new ways of designing sustainable rural living to address the shortage. The studio is now sharing the lessons it's learned and its home designs with partners in a half dozen other states, including Louisiana. The Rural Studio's students don't just learn from the award-winning architects instructing them, but also from the people they're helping in Hale County where the project is based --- like Reggie Walker. Hale County has a population of about 14,000 people and sits in the Black Belt -- an area of Alabama known for its rich soil and high poverty. In 1981, Walker left and joined the military before moving back to his childhood home. "Logic told me it's better to be poor at home than poor in the big city," Walker said. But by the time of Walker's homecoming, the house had not been lived in for years and needed to be torn down. Only the home's fireplace still stands. |
| Can This University Change Its Teaching Culture? UGA Making Push to Adopt Active Learning | |
 | Tim Samples could tell that his students were stuck. Earlier this semester, Samples, an associate professor in the legal-studies program at the University of Georgia, was teaching students about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in an upper-level course. The questions they were asking revealed to Samples that the class wasn't quite getting it. So he had his students work together in small groups to organize information into a pro/con grid. Creating such lists, Samples has found, is a good way to identify and clear up misconceptions during class time -- and students like walking out of class with a study guide, too. Samples says he's long used active-learning techniques in his teaching, even before he knew that's what he was doing. But working with the university's teaching center has helped him grow more sophisticated in his approach. This summer, he went through the university's Active Learning Summer Institute, an intensive program in which professors get stipends and support to redesign a course. That process pushes them to think through not just what they're doing in the classroom, but why. The University of Georgia is trying to establish itself as a place where teaching the way Samples does -- deploying active-learning techniques in a thoughtful way -- is the norm. Active learning, an approach that aims to get students to construct rather than consume knowledge, is supported by evidence that it improves student learning over all and can also reduce performance gaps for underrepresented students. It's a teaching-focused answer to the big question of how to support this generation of students, many of whom bring with them work and family responsibilities and mental-health challenges, and whose educations were disrupted by the pandemic. |
| Trump blasts Biden over Laken Riley's death after Biden says he regrets using term 'illegal' | |
| President Joe Biden said Saturday that he regretted using the term "illegal" during his State of the Union address to describe the suspected killer of Laken Riley, as his all-but-certain 2024 GOP rival, Donald Trump, blasted the Democrat's immigration policies and blamed them for her death at a rally attended by the Georgia nursing student's family and friends. Biden expressed remorse after facing frustration from some in his party for the use of the term to describe people who arrived or are living in the U.S. illegally. "I shouldn't have used illegal, it's undocumented," he said in an interview with MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart taped in Atlanta, where the president was meeting with small business owners and holding a campaign rally. Trump, campaigning in Rome, Georgia, at the same time, blasted Biden for the comments. "Joe Biden went on television and apologized for calling Laken's murderer an illegal," he said to loud jeers and boos. "Biden should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer." The back-and-forth underscored how Riley's murder has become a flashpoint in the 2024 campaign and a rallying cry for Republicans who have seized on frustrations over the Biden administration's handling of the U.S-Mexico border amid a record surge of migrants entering the country. An immigrant from Venezuela who entered the U.S. illegally has been arrested and charged with her murder. |
| Brown Bag Project: Initiative at U. of Florida will make contraceptives more accessible | |
 | The University of Florida's Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA) student group is launching a free contraceptive program this month. The initiative, called the Brown Bag Project, aims to provide students with discreet access to free contraceptives -- such as the morning after pill -- distributed in brown paper bags. The Brown Bag Project was inspired by similar initiatives of Generation Action groups across the country, such as PPGA groups in Vermont and at Princeton University said Paulina Trujillo, legislative and political director at PPGA at UF. Trujillo reached out to the group in Vermont to get an idea of how PPGA could implement the program on UF's campus. "Our mission with this project is to bridge the gaps in access to reproductive resources on campus by providing students with discreet access to contraceptives," Trujillo said in the email announcement of the initiative. Students will have the opportunity to order the free Plan B and other contraceptives, such as condoms and dental dams, through a confidential Google form. Depending on the student's comfortability, a member from the group will meet with them to distribute the bag or drop the bag off at a specific location and time. The initiative is being partially funded by money from Youth Action Fund, a local nonprofit that works to provide youth activists with resources to enact change in their community, said Outreach Director Ashley Sanguino. The purpose of this project, she said, is to increase Plan B access on the UF campus. |
| U. of Texas at Austin Will Return to Standardized Test Requirement | |
 | The University of Texas at Austin said Monday that it would again require standardized tests for admissions, becoming the latest selective university to reinstate requirements for SAT or ACT scores that were abandoned during the pandemic. A few years ago, about 2,000 colleges across the country began to move away from requiring test scores, at least temporarily, amid concerns they helped fuel inequality. But a growing number of those schools have reversed those policies, including Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, M.I.T., Georgetown and Purdue, with several announcing the changes in recent months. U.T. Austin, which admits a cross-section of high-achieving Texas students under a plan designed to increase opportunity in the state, cited a slightly different reason than the other schools in returning to test requirements. Without requiring test scores, officials said, they were hampered in placing the admitted students in programs they would be most suited for and in determining which ones needed extra help. After making test scores optional the past few years, the university will now require applicants to submit either SAT or ACT scores beginning Aug. 1, with applications for fall 2025 admissions. In an interview, Jay Hartzell, the U.T. president, said that the decision followed an analysis of students who did not submit scores. "We looked at our students and found that, in many ways, they weren't faring as well," Dr. Hartzell said. |
| Virginia Bans Legacy Admissions in Public Universities and Colleges | |
| Virginia will end legacy admissions at public universities after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill on Friday banning the practice that gives applicants with family ties to alumni a boost. Under House Bill 48, public universities in the state will be barred from giving preferential treatment to applicants based on their connections to not only alumni but to donors as well. That means universities can also no longer give an advantage to applicants whose relatives make donations to the school. Critics of such preferences have said for years that the century-old practice perpetuates privilege. The ban will notably affect the University of Virginia and William & Mary, which are among the country's more selective public universities. Virginia Tech, another prestigious public university, already announced last year that it would no longer take an applicant's legacy status into account in the admissions process. The law, which passed unanimously in the Virginia House of Delegates and the State Senate this year, will take effect July 1, after admissions decisions have been made for this fall. Mr. Youngkin, a Republican, said in a statement in January that he believed "admission to Virginia's universities and colleges should be based on merit." But critics of such measures argue that there are adverse effects to banning legacy considerations and that minority students could actually benefit from having familial connections in higher education. There are also concerns about the impact on alumni donor relations if legacy admissions are no longer allowed. |
| Lumina Awards Millions for Admissions Innovations | |
 | Given the ambiguous future of standardized testing, troubles with FAFSA and the impact of the Supreme Court's ban on race-based admissions -- all unfolding in the shadow of the enrollment cliff -- college admissions are at an inflection point. That's why the Lumina Foundation decided to offer higher education institutions funding to rework their admissions processes. Launched last fall, the Great Admissions Redesign awards grants to governmental offices and higher ed systems looking to make admissions simpler and more accessible. Lumina targeted the effort at systems, agencies and groups -- rather than individual institutions -- because officials wanted to support initiatives that would be far-reaching and "pre-scaled," according to Melanie Heath, strategy director for participation at Lumina. At first, Heath worried that the "abbreviated" application window Lumina offered might yield few candidates, but 71 entities applied, she said; seven were chosen to receive grants. "That kind of blew me away because it felt really exciting to see so many states and systems and institutions are really thinking differently about how we can do admissions and the entire onboarding process into college," she said. The winning projects vary significantly: The Washington Student Achievement Council, for instance, intends to develop a system to inform SNAP-eligible high schoolers in the state about the robust financial aid available to them. In Texas and Illinois, higher education leaders plan to create tools to implement direct admissions -- the increasingly popular program in which students are guaranteed admission to an institution based on grades or other metrics. |
| The new kids on campus? Toddlers, courtesy of Head Start | |
 | San Antonio College has a whole building designed for pupils who are much younger than the typical college student. Nestled between modern academic buildings, the Head Start center provides free, federally funded child care programs designed to promote school readiness for infants, toddlers and preschoolers from low-income families. Inside one of the classrooms, Samuel, a curly-haired 2-and-a-half-year-old, is attempting to walk down a plastic slide. "Keep your bottom on the slide, Samuel," his teacher calls over to him. He listens and glides down, giggling with glee. Barnes is among the nearly 4 million U.S. college students raising children while getting a degree. More than a third of those students attend community colleges. Single mothers, like Barnes, account for almost half of student parents, and the vast majority of them have incomes at or near the poverty line, which means they'd qualify for Head Start. But it's hard to take advantage of that program if you don't know about it, and if there isn't a center with a convenient location. Research shows access to the kind of child care Head Start provides can remove serious barriers to getting a degree. And yet, out of about 3,000 community college campuses in the U.S., only about 100 have Head Start centers on-site. That's despite plenty of opportunity: There are more than 16,000 Head Start centers in the country, and it's not uncommon for them to relocate to address shifts in need. A new five-year initiative between the Association of Community College Trustees and the National Head Start Association hopes to grow campus collaborations. |
| At US universities, record numbers of Indian students seek brighter prospects -- and overseas jobs | |
| Pranay Karkale is spending years of savings and $60,000 in student loans to pursue a master's degree in the United States, yet he considers himself lucky. At home in India, it's common to hear about families selling off their land to send children to universities overseas. Karkale was willing to do whatever it took once he got into Johns Hopkins University. A degree from a prestigious U.S. college, he believed, would open doors to a better job and higher pay than he would find in India. "I don't feel like I would have gotten the same level of education that I get here," said Karkale, 23. Historic numbers of students from India are studying at foreign universities as a fast-growing, aspirational generation of young people looks for opportunities they can't find at home. India estimates 1.5 million students are studying at universities elsewhere -- an eightfold increase since 2012 -- with no country attracting more than the U.S. It represents a loss for India, with many students seeing universities as stepping stones for careers overseas, but a boon for American schools. As record-setting enrollment by students from China has ebbed, U.S. universities have turned to India as a new source of full-price tuition payments. India's economy is growing, but joblessness remains persistent even for college graduates. Jobs are being created in fields such as construction and agriculture, but they don't meet the demands of a newly educated workforce, said Rosa Abraham, an economist at the Azim Premji University. |
| How creating the new FAFSA unraveled | |
 | Congress tasked the incoming Biden administration with carrying out one of the most consequential updates to the federal financial aid system. The project was ambitious. The budget was lean. But delivering the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid -- a simpler, shorter version of the decades-old form -- could have been a major win for the administration. Instead, it has been a major headache. The financial aid form debuted in December 2023, more than a year later than promised. It contains technical errors that make it impossible for some families to complete the application. Submissions are piling up at the Education Department, where officials are behind in processing applications, preventing colleges from issuing financial aid awards. A federal watchdog has launched two investigations and lawmakers are furious. Congressional Republicans accuse the Biden administration of being so preoccupied with canceling student loans that it bungled the implementation of the new FAFSA, a key step for students to gain access to grants, scholarships and loans. The administration, meanwhile, blames lawmakers for setting unrealistic deadlines and denying requests for more resources. Higher education experts say that both arguments are valid and that there is enough blame to go around. "Both administrations, Congress and the contractors all played a role in the mess," said Bryce McKibben, who helped write the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020 while working for Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). "We drafted a transformative yet imperfect law but should have given it more time and funding to be implemented." |
| Here Are 3 Ways That Republicans See Campus DEI Efforts as Harmful | |
| Republicans made the case in a congressional hearing on Thursday that campus diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts promote discrimination, echoing lawmakers at the state level who are working to restrict such practices. Republican politicians and other critics increasingly argue that DEI can be racist and sexist because its model sorts identity groups based on physical characteristics and historical privilege, creating a system that pits the "oppressors" against the "oppressed." Thursday's hearing, held by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, continued that line of attack -- with discussion dominated by conservative voices opposed to DEI. On one side, lawmakers and witnesses argued that diversity efforts are not only exclusionary but also helped trigger a rise in campus antisemitism related to the Israel-Hamas war. But supporters of DEI said at the hearing that colleges have a responsibility to create welcoming environments as more students from underrepresented backgrounds enroll and that diversity offices and programs are crucial aspects of that work. The hearing occurred as lawmakers have introduced over 80 bills to restrict campus DEI activities in the past 15 months, often with the goal of dismantling diversity-related centers, training, and hiring practices. Of the four witnesses testifying, including two researchers, one medical professional, and an education-reform advocate, only one supported diversity efforts. |
| House Republicans demonize MAEP school funding formula while relying on its numbers | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: The ongoing fight over the method state lawmakers will use to determine the amount of money needed to operate Mississippi's public schools has major ramifications. Yes, the issue is complicated, and the way it's playing out in the Legislature is confusing to say the least. It is confusing, at least in part, because House leaders are using the existing school funding formula, which they are trying to "scrap" because they say it is inefficient, to decide how much money to put into their new proposal. House leaders say their goal is to rewrite the long-standing Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which provides the state's share for the basics to operate local schools. But in doing so, they are using the MAEP to ascertain how much money to place in their plan, which they're calling "Investing in the Needs of Students to Prioritize, Impact and Reform Education," or the INSPIRE Act. Wait, so why are the folks who want to rewrite the MAEP because they say it is inefficient, outdated and unfair using the MAEP to determine how much money to place in their new funding plan? |
| Conscientious objection | |
| The Greenwood Commonwealth's Tim Kalich writes: The turnout for Tuesday's party primary elections in Mississippi is expected to be terrible. The presidential nominees have already been decided, and the incumbent members of Congress are either unopposed for their party's nominations or facing minor opposition. There's just not much about which to get energized. I'm trying to decide whether to cast a protest vote in favor of Nikki Haley, who, after taking a beating from Donald Trump on Super Tuesday, became the final GOP challenger to concede the race to him, or just not vote at all. While driving home the other night, I heard a public radio commentator who is also a college instructor say he tells his students that to not vote is like saying the democratic process does not work. I wouldn't go that far, but I would say it's not working very well these days, given the sorry choices voters will have in the presidential race eight months from now. According to the polls, the majority of voters said over and over again that they didn't really want a rematch of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, but a rematch is what we are going to get. |
| Holloway Memoir Illustrates Importance of Entrepreneurs | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: The memoir of hall of fame entrepreneur J.L. Holloway illustrates the important role local entrepreneurs have played in job creation across Mississippi. Nothing to Lose: A Story of Poverty, Resilience, and Gratitude tracks Holloway's job creation successes and failures from the dirt poor Gransby Community in rural Jefferson Davis County to major companies on the Gulf Coast and in the Jackson metro area. From Mississippi Equipment Rental and Supply in Richland, which he sold, to the conglomerate he formed from HAM Industries, Friede Goldman, and Halter Marine in Jackson County, which took bankruptcy, to Tenax Aerospace in Madison County, which he sold, Holloway created many jobs that continue today under new owners. So too did Owen Cooper of Yazoo City, D.R. Sanderson of Laurel, Warren A. Hood, Sr. of Jackson, W.A. Taylor, Sr. of Louisville, Sammie Davidson of Meridian, and many more business creators across Mississippi. As economic development efforts focus so much on attracting out of state businesses for job creation, are we still generating homegrown entrepreneurs to create jobs? Yes, but the resources committed to entrepreneurship are a smidgen of those committed to recruiting out-of-state businesses. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: Bulldogs take care of business in weekend sweep of Evansville | |
| There might not be a hotter hitter in all of college baseball than Dakota Jordan. Mississippi State's sophomore standout was at it again to get things started on Sunday, hitting a two-run laser into the Left Field Lounge for his 8th homer of the season. Jordan's hot streak earned him the ultimate sign of respect from Evansville's pitching staff, three intentional walks in his next three plate appearances. Jordan was just the appetizer for the Bulldogs, who scored double-digit runs for the sixth time this season in a run-rule victory over the Aces, 13-3, extending their winning streak to a robust nine games. "The ball is starting to get in the air," head coach Chris Lemonis said. "We're starting to drive the ball. You're starting to see some extra-base hits. DJ helps that out a bit. He's been so hot this week. He takes the pressure off everybody else." Mississippi State (12-4) continued its offensive tear on Sunday as four players had multi-hit games, four players had multiple RBIs and three scored multiple runs. On the bump, Jurrangelo Cijntje worked through some jams and allowed a season-high three runs after giving up a three-run homer to Ty Rumsey in the fourth. Cijntje himself settled down after the homer, tossing six innings and striking out 10 to earn the win. With the pitching much improved in 2024, there is a growing confidence that sets up nicely for a Spring Break trip to Biloxi. "I think they're feeling it," Lemonis said. "I told them, this is probably the only time that some of them get to be a pro player. You don't have to go to class. ... They're living the life right now and they're excited to head down to the beach." |
| Mississippi State baseball sweeps Evansville, wins 9th straight game | |
| Replicating the 2021 season won't be easy for Mississippi State baseball considering it's when the Bulldogs secured their first national title. However, MSU reached a feat Sunday that hasn't been accomplished since that memorable campaign. After defeating Evansville 13-3 in eight innings, Mississippi State (12-4) has won nine straight games for the first time in three years. The winning streak for coach Chris Lemonis' squad started Feb. 25 when MSU won the rubber match against Georgia Southern. Since then, Mississippi State has beaten Jackson State, Mount St. Mary's, Southern Miss and Evansville (7-8). The Bulldogs won Friday's series opener against the Purple Aces 5-2 before an 8-3 win Saturday. The most noteworthy improvement for MSU between the past two seasons and this year has been the production on the mound. Against Evansville, Mississippi State's pitchers combined to allow only eight runs while striking out 29 batters and walking 10. Nate Dohm set the tone Friday, allowing two runs in 6⅓ innings. Khal Stephen followed it up with six scoreless innings on Saturday before Jurrangelo Cijntje earned a quality start with three runs allowed in six innings Sunday. "We all feed off each other," Stephen said. Mississippi State now has a team ERA of 3.57. Last season, it was 7.01. |
| Softball: Mississippi State starts conference play with series win at Ole Miss | |
| It was a series win that left Mississippi State's players with a bitter taste in their collective mouths given how Sunday's finale unfolded, but a series win for the No. 24 Bulldogs nonetheless on the road against their biggest rivals. MSU got excellent pitching performances from co-aces Josey Marron and Aspen Wesley on Friday and Saturday, respectively -- with the fifth-year Wesley tossing her first collegiate no-hitter -- before Ole Miss took Sunday's back-and-forth game 10-9 on an extra-innings walk-off home run in the opening weekend of Southeastern Conference play. "This is the toughest conference in college softball," head coach Samantha Ricketts said. "Every weekend feels like a Super Regional, and you have to bring it every single day. It doesn't matter how the first two games went; you have to be locked in for day three as well. It's just something for us to continue to learn." MSU returns to Nusz Park for a midweek game Wednesday against Louisiana-Monroe, then hosts No. 17 Texas A&M for a three-game set next weekend. "They're gritty, they're fighters, they're confident," Ricketts said. "They come in with a different sense of poise and approach to the games, and it's really refreshing to see. The freshmen too, the freshmen are not afraid. It was fun to get a little bit of the nerves out of the way and see them fight." |
| Why battling uphill is an overarching theme for Mississippi State on NCAA Tournament bubble | |
| On the scoreboard, Mississippi State basketball's loss against South Carolina looked different compared to the Bulldogs' previous two defeats against Auburn and Texas A&M. The Tigers and Aggies built leads of at least 19 points against the Bulldogs while the Gamecocks never led by more than nine in a game they won 93-89 in overtime. However, with South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 SEC) leading for nearly 39 minutes in the contest, there was a familiar feeling hovering over MSU coach Chris Jans. "The difference in the margin throughout the game wasn't as big, but that theme of playing from behind and just fighting uphill all night long was the same," Jans said. In a way, it's indicative of how Mississippi State's season has felt since Dec. 3. Playing at home, MSU suffered a 60-59 defeat against Southern -- a SWAC school that added a Quadrant 4 loss to Mississippi State's résumé. Following the upset, Jans admitted it was a game that would linger throughout the season. He was right as the Bulldogs (19-12, 8-10) sit on the March Madness bubble heading into the SEC tournament. Had MSU defeated South Carolina, it likely wouldn't have mattered. Instead, riding a four-game losing streak, Mississippi State -- as the No. 9 seed − likely needs a win against No. 8-seeded LSU on Thursday (12 p.m., SEC Network) to stay on the right side of the bubble. |
| No. 22 State Secures Top 20 Road Win | |
| Although senior Nemanja Malesevic and freshman Radomir Tomic are at opposite ends of the experience spectrum in their collegiate careers, both came up clutch for No. 22 Mississippi State on Sunday. The Bulldogs were trailing 19th-ranked LSU 3-2 and needed Malesevic and Tomic to each pull through in their third sets of singles. Fortunately for MSU, both Balkans did just that as the Bulldogs rallied for a 4-3 victory on the road. "I'm extremely proud of 'Rade' (Tomic) on Court 6 for us," said head coach Matt Roberts. "He came through against a very solid spot for LSU today. Then coming down to 'Memo' (Malesevic) on Court 1, it was a great moment for him. It's never an easy match in the conference, especially on the road." Tomic knotted the match following a polarizing battle with Julien Penzlin. Tomic took the first set 6-1 but dropped the second by the same score. The rookie from Bosnia and Herzegovina rallied, however, and took the third set 6-2 leaving the match up to the top of the respective lineups to decide the overall winner. Malesevic dropped his opening set to Stefan Latinovic 5-7 but bounced back to win the second and third sets by 6-4 scores to give the Bulldogs (10-4, 2-1 SEC) their third ranked win of the season and second in conference play. It was the 20th time Malesevic has clinched a match for Mississippi State in his career and his team-leading fourth this season. The Bulldogs return home next weekend hosting Vanderbilt on Friday at 3 p.m. and Kentucky on Sunday at 1 p.m. |
| Eagles DT Fletcher Cox, six-time Pro Bowler, retiring from NFL | |
| Six-time Pro Bowl Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox announced Sunday that he is retiring from the NFL. He follows in the footsteps of longtime Eagles center Jason Kelce, who announced his retirement earlier this week. "I fulfilled a lifelong dream by making it to the NFL. But what I didn't know at the time was how much of an honor and privilege it would be to represent the city of Philadelphia and the Eagles organization for the next 12 seasons," Cox wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Sunday. In his statement, he thanked Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, general manager Howie Roseman, current coach Nick Sirianni and former coach Doug Pederson and team president Don Smolenski, several teammates, including Brandon Graham, Kelce and Lane Johnson, and the team's fans. Cox, 33, remained one of the Eagles' top performers in 2023, recording 5 sacks, 17 quarterback hits and 36 quarterback pressures in 15 games. Cox is one of the most accomplished defensive players in Eagles history. The 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft out of Mississippi State, Cox has played his entire career in Philadelphia. He helped guide the Eagles to their only Super Bowl championship during the 2017 campaign and followed that up with his best season as a pro, racking up 10.5 sacks and 34 quarterback hits in 2018 en route to first-team All-Pro honors. |
| Chiefs and DT Chris Jones agree to framework of 5-year deal that includes $95M in guarantees | |
| The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and star Chris Jones have agreed to the framework of a five-year contract that includes $95 million guaranteed and keeps the All-Pro defensive tackle off the upcoming free-agent market, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press late Saturday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract details were still being finalized. But the money that is guaranteed is expected to come over the first three years with another two years that are not guaranteed. Jones, who turns 30 in July, becomes one of the highest-paid defensive players in NFL history, falling just behind the $34 million average annual salary that is being earned by San Francisco pass rusher Nick Bosa. The deal eclipses the $31.6 million average of Rams defensive end Aaron Donald, who had long represented the financial benchmark for a defensive player. Jones' agents, Michael and Jason Katz, tweeted their congratulations in a post on X to "the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history." Jones tweeted moments later: "KC....5 more years of greatness! 3x". The fearsome defensive tackle has been a game-wrecker almost since the moment Kansas City drafted him in the second round out of Mississippi State in 2016. |
| Ole Miss' Coach Yo makes case for Mississippi State, other SEC teams in NCAA Tournament | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball is sitting on the NCAA Tournament, but Yolett McPhee-McCuin -- the coach of rival Ole Miss -- doesn't think the Bulldogs should have to stress. "SEC should get: (South Carolina), LSU, Ole Miss, (Tennessee), Bama, Auburn, A&M, Vandy and Miss State in," she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Talk to me Charlie Creme." The latter part of her post was in reference to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme who has nine SEC teams projected to make it to March Madness. Mississippi State is his last team in the field of 68. It's a familiar position for the Bulldogs (21-11) who were among the last four teams to make the NCAA Tournament last season − coach Sam Purcell's first at the helm. MSU had to take part in a play-in game. The Bulldogs beat fellow No. 11-seed Illinois before beating No. 6-seeded Creighton to make the second round. Mississippi State was the first team ever to go from a play-in to the second round. |
| South Carolina-LSU melee marred stellar women's basketball weekend. 'We have to fix it' | |
| Dawn Staley had just won her eighth SEC tournament championship. Her South Carolina Gamecocks had capped off a second consecutive undefeated campaign in the lead-up to the NCAA Tournament. They had outmatched a conference rival Sunday in Greenville, S.C., outlasting LSU 79-72. This should have been a moment for her entire team to enjoy together. Instead, she was surrounded by just six players still allowed to be on the Bon Secours Wellness Arena court for the game's closing minutes. Most of the players who had led South Carolina through this remarkable season were in the locker room while the remaining handful took turns cutting down the nets. It was difficult for the Gamecocks to fully bask in this special moment after the mayhem that ensued with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks led by 7 points when LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson tugged at the jersey of South Carolina's MiLaysia Fulwiley, slowing down her progress as she dribbled up the floor. Johnson then bumped into South Carolina's Ashlyn Watkins. Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso sprinted over, shoving Johnson to the ground. Amid the chaos, a fan, identified on ESPN's telecast as Johnson's brother, left the stands and leaped over the scorer's table and onto the court before police escorted him off the floor. The chaos took around 20 minutes to sort out. Then play resumed and the Gamecocks held on. So, with the few players left on-court behind her rejoicing, Staley acknowledged the situation head-on. "I just want to apologize to the basketball community," she said on ESPN's telecast. "I just don't want the people who are tuning in to women's basketball to see that and think that is our game, because it isn't," Staley said. "Our game is a really beautiful thing. To be quite honest, this is a part of it now. So we have to fix it, and we have to move on." |
| Brother of LSU player charged with assault after jumping on to SEC championship court | |
 | The brother of an LSU player who jumped from the crowd onto the court during a melee between opposing players in the SEC women's basketball championship game has been charged with assault. Trayron Milton, 24, of Georgia, was arrested after police say he jumped over the barrier wall and scorer's table by pushing down on an SEC employee's head and stepping on her shoulders to get past in the nationally televised March 10 game that left both teams' benches ejected. Milton is charged with third-degree assault and battery and disorderly conduct in the incident that Greenville Police in a March 11 news release say injured the employee. Milton is the brother of LSU player Flau'jae Johnson, who was at the center of a scrum between both teams that left each team's bench ejected from the game. The melee broke out with just over 2 minutes left in an SEC championship game highlighted by intensely physical play. With the Gamecocks up 73-66, LSU's Johnson intentionally fouled Gamecocks freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley, who had stolen the ball. As the Gamecocks celebrated, Johnson pushed a player aside. Then, the bedlam began. |
| What's next for LSU arena, upgrades to Raising Cane's River Center, PMAC, Memorial Stadium | |
 | Last June, LSU hosted six developers and design teams from around the country. Officials took them on facilities tours and discussed a new arena, seeking feedback as the school determines the future of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU has long considered renovations to the aging PMAC, but early last year officials began to pursue a new stadium capable of hosting concerts and other events that have bypassed Baton Rouge. Some involved wondered if the city could support the project until some of the developers who visited expressed interest in a partnership. "At that point, we were firmly planted in a place where we knew we were no longer going to renovate the PMAC," said Keli Zinn, LSU's executive deputy athletic director and chief operating officer. While the location and other details have not been finalized, Zinn said, the on-campus arena would cost an estimated $350-400 million in private funds and potentially hold a maximum of 13,000 seats. The arena would open in five years -- possibly sooner -- and the developer would cover the cost in exchange for building ownership and revenue from non-LSU sports events. LSU has narrowed the initial list of developers to two semifinalists. Whether or not the plan moves forward hinges on approval of an ordinance the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council is scheduled to consider Wednesday. Facilities owned by the city-parish, mainly the Raising Cane's River Center arena, would be prevented for 30 years from hosting both live performances with more than 3,500 attendees and professional sports with more than 8,500 fans unless it receives permission. |
| NAACP calls on Black student-athletes to boycott Florida public colleges over anti-DEI policy | |
 | The head of the NAACP is calling on Black student-athletes to reconsider their decisions to attend public colleges and universities in Florida, challenging a new state policy that bars those institutions from using government funds on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In a letter sent Monday to current and future student-athletes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NAACP leader Derrick Johnson implored college-bound Black athletes to "choose wisely." "Diversity, equity, and inclusion are paramount to ensuring equitable and effective educational outcomes," Johnson said in a statement accompanying the letter, which was first reported by NBC News. "The value Black and other college athletes bring to large universities is unmatched." "If these institutions are unable to completely invest in those athletes, it's time they take their talents elsewhere," said Johnson, the civil rights organization's president and chief executive. Johnson's letter was sent 10 days after the University of Florida eliminated all diversity, equity and inclusion positions in accordance with a state rule -- a move that drew condemnation from NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, an alum of the school, who said on X that minority athletes there should "be aware and vocal about this decision." |
| MLB sees slowly improving diversity in its youth pipeline, despite record-low Black major leaguers | |
| For much of Lee Allen Jr.'s childhood, baseball seemed quite far from him. Major League Baseball's Royals played in his hometown Kansas City, Missouri, but Allen -- who is Black and lived in the inner city -- didn't come across many baseball opportunities until late in his high school years. In January 2020, a 17-year-old Allen was invited to one of MLB's development programs, the DREAM Series, where for the first time he was put in front of scouts and coaches to display his skills in a competitive environment. Four years later, Allen stood on the field at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Florida, wearing a purple, white and gold baseball uniform representing the historically Black college Prairie View A&M University, his eyes set on a pro career. More than 200 HBCU standouts were there for MLB's Andre Dawson Classic, a collegiate tournament for players hoping to one day crack the major leagues -- and perhaps help usher in a new generation of African American stars. "Being able to be out here and showcase my talents in front of these scouts and other guys who's looking at us at the next level," said Allen, now a junior infielder for the Panthers, "it feels great for me because I know that those are goals that I can reach, and they're there." That's MLB's aim as it faces historically low numbers of Black players in the majors. A study done by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida found African American players represented just 6.2% of players on MLB opening day rosters in 2023, down from 7.2% in 2022. Both figures were the lowest since the study began in 1991, when 18% of MLB players were Black. |
| Another critical week arrives for NCAA on Capitol Hill | |
| College sports leaders and NIL collectives descended on Capitol Hill in early June for conversations on the future of the NCAA and its membership. President Charlie Baker lobbied Congress for assistance and called out states for enacting NIL laws that pushed back on the NCAA. Alabama head coach Nick Saban met with Majority Leader Steve Scalise. It was a flurry of meetings packed in a few days. A handful of discussion drafts emerged. But in the months since, the NCAA has not found any relief from lawmakers. Tuesday could have a similar feel in Washington, D.C. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz organized a roundtable focused on the need for Congress to "find consensus and pass bipartisan legislation" surrounding name, image and likeness. Saban and the Cavinder Twins are expected in attendance, along with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne, The Collective Association president Russell White and NIL attorney Darren Heitner. On the other side of the building, the House Education and the Workforce Committee scheduled a legislative hearing, titled "Safeguarding student-athletes from NLRB misclassification." Plenty has changed around college sports in the eight months since the NCAA's last full-court press in D.C. |
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