| Tuesday, April 16, 2024 |
| Community Profile: Medieval music and Kurdish melodies alive at MSU | |
 | Growing up in Diyarbakır, Turkey, Cemre Omer Ayna never planned to move to America. But on Saturday, he sat playing his hurdy-gurdy and hand drum on Main Street, practicing before the International Fiesta at the Drill Field at Mississippi State University. He said he was excited to share his Kurdish culture with others at the fiesta. "I can fill people's heads about my culture," Ayna said. "A lot of people are learning about Kurds, and maybe they're meeting a Kurdish person for the first time." Ayna enjoys sharing his culture with people in Starkville, even though he originally thought he would stay in Europe for his education. He attended part of high school and college in Istanbul. Ayna got his undergraduate degree at Koc University studying electrical engineering. While he was there, he also spent two years learning to play a traditional Kurdish hand drum in his free time. Then, he applied to a master's degree program at a university in Sweden. Ayna was accepted to the program, but "chance" got in the way of his plans. While he wasn't able to go to Sweden, one of Ayna's professors told him about an opportunity to continue his education in America -- a graduate position at Mississippi State University where he could get his PhD in electrical engineering. |
| Cal-Maine Foods well positioned to meet demand for specialty egg production | |
 | Having a major public company like Cal-Maine Foods headquartered in Mississippi has a huge impact. Cal-Maine is the top egg producer in the country and the largest franchisee of Egg-Land's Best, the number one branded egg in the country. Being number one in any category is always special, but being the number one producer of eggs plays an important role in feeding the state, the country and the world with a very clean and low-cost protein, said Max Bowman, CFO of Cal-Maine Foods. "Eggs have a lot of momentum currently as a clean and highly nutritious protein," Bowman said. "Furthermore, they are the lowest cost animal protein. Under the new proposed FDA definition eggs will be allowed to use 'Healthy food' on labels. The UN calls eggs the 'Super Food.' Eggs are recommended as part of a heart-healthy diet by the American Heart Association and recommended for young children and expecting mothers by the Academy of Pediatricians. Finally, most new labeling requirements put emphasis on sugar, sodium and saturated fat. Eggs are either zero or low in all three." The annual Mississippi payroll for Cal-Maine Foods is more than $21 million and nationally the workforce includes about 4,300 workers. |
| Crawfish prices are finally dropping, but farmers and fishers say they're still struggling | |
 | It's a cloudy day in mid-March, and Adler Stelly is harvesting crawfish on the flooded 3,000 acres he and his brother own in Abbeville, Louisiana. He flooded his fields regularly during last year's drought in hopes of keeping his crawfish alive. On this day, he harvests a good amount of decent-sized crawfish. He bags about 20% of what he normally catches -- a bit more than what he's averaged per catch lately, but it won't be enough to save the harsh season he's endured. "There's no way I'm making back the money that we have out there, but there are crawfish starting to come in areas," Stelly said. "We do need the consumers to come in and start eating a few." Crawfish farmers and wild fishers are navigating one of the worst seasons for seafood crops ever after a summer drought led to low crawfish numbers. Farmers are hoping for a bail-out from the federal government but, for some, that help hasn't come quickly enough. Stelly has been crawfish farming his entire life, and he said this is the worst season he's ever seen. Inflation has already hit his farm hard, with the price of labor and bait increasing. His only silver lining is that he plans to pass the farm along to his daughter, and he's glad this happened before she takes over. Consumers are also feeling the squeeze from the drought through high prices at fish markets, with live crawfish costing around $7 a pound. Prices are slowly going down as the season nears its end, but rates across the region are still higher than the usual average. |
| 'We will have a crisis': MDOT official warns construction projects will halt without more money | |
 | Officials with the Mississippi Department of Transportation are looking for a recurring stream of funding from the legislature to bring roads and bridges statewide up to par. Commissioner Willie Simmons of the state's central district joined The Gallo Show on Monday to explain that the ability to execute routine maintenance projects will be in limbo if a stream of cash is not made available soon. In 2023, MDOT was allocated a historic amount nearing $2 billion by the legislature. However, that was a one-time allocation, not a series of figures that will continue to roll into the department each year. Simmons says it will take roughly $400 million on a yearly basis to adequately sustain existing infrastructure while making headway on other necessary projects in Mississippi. "We are coming into a situation where we will have a crisis on our hands," Simmons said. "For the most part, it's one-time money, and we can't build a good infrastructure system, especially capacity projects, on one-time money. So we're thankful to the legislature for what they have done, but we need them to give us recurring dollars." In all, the commissioner estimates that MDOT will need a grand total of $9 billion over the course of the next several years, though he was not specific about the exact timeframe and if that number could fluctuate due to the toll inflation has taken on the economy and the ability to complete projects in a maximally cost-efficient manner. If the money is not made available, he is certain that some vital road and bridge improvements will halt altogether. |
| Turkey stamps, poaching among active wildlife bills in Legislature | |
 | The 2024 Legislative session has been active for wildlife bills with more than 30 introduced in the House and Senate. With only weeks remaining in the session, a handful of those are still active. The bills that remain active could affect a large number of hunters and if you're a poacher, or a landowner or lease-holder that has a problem with poachers, you'll likely find House Bill 1208 interesting. Also, according to House Bill 1298 and Senate Bill 2652, turkey hunters could be paying more to hunt in 2025. Here's what is alive and notable bills that have died as of Monday. House Bill 526: Approved by Governor. Allows hunters to wear fluorescent pink as an alternative to traditional fluorescent orange for safety during any gun season for deer. House Bill 1206: Amended version returned to House for concurrence. Expands hunting opportunities for opossums, raccoons and bobcats with a hunting season from Oct. 1-March 15 and allows year-round hunting with dogs of bobcats and raccoons. House Bill 1298: Amended version returned to House for concurrence. Establishes a turkey stamp that is mandatory for turkey hunting. Cost will be $10 for residents and $100 for non-residents. Funds from stamp purchases go toward protection and propagation of wild turkeys. Senate Bill 2652: Conference invited. Establishes a turkey stamp much as HB 1298, but is free for resident hunters and $200 for non-resident hunters. |
| Where do key education bills stand as session nears end | |
| With only a few weeks left in this year's legislative session, most of the bolder attempts at education reform have died or are on life support. Here's a look at where things stand. Funding Mississippi's K-12 education system has been a back and forth battle this session, with the Senate and House offering competing visions for the formula that decides how money is distributed to students. Each chamber has stood firm in their positions. Senate Bill 2332 would have tweaked the current Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) to provide more funding and a slight adjustment to how inflation is calculated, but would have left the 1997 funding formula otherwise in tact. House Bill 1453 sought to create a new formula, called The INSPIRE Act (INSPIRE). After HB 1453 died in Senate, the House amended SB 2332 to include the INSPIRE language and sent it back to the Senate for consideration. The Senate then killed SB 2332. While the Senate's MAEP revisions died with SB 2332, the funding that would have been generated from those revisions was inserted into HB 1823. Meanwhile, the House put INSPIRE into SB 2993, as a third attempt at gaining Senate backing. No matter what happens, State Senator Dennis DeBar (R) has indicated that the education system will, at the very least, receive level funding while the two legislative bodies work out their differences before the start of the 2025 legislative session. However, until sine die is called, this, too, remains uncertain. |
| Meet the six people negotiating a final Medicaid expansion bill at the Capitol | |
| The House and Senate can now begin negotiating ways to enact a law to expand Medicaid coverage to poor Mississippians after legislative leaders named the six people to hammer out a final plan. House Speaker Jason White, R-West, recently appointed Republican Reps. Missy McGee of Hattiesburg, Sam Creekmore IV of New Albany and Joey Hood of Ackerman to be the House negotiators. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann last week named Republican Sens. Kevin Blackwell of Southaven, Nicole Boyd of Oxford and Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula to represent the Senate in the deliberations. The six conferees are all white Republicans, despite Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, recently calling on Hosemann to appoint a Democrat as a conferee. Two of the six conferees are women, but no Black lawmaker will have a seat at the negotiating table. The six members, called conferees, will attempt to forge an agreement over the different versions of the expansion plan that have passed the House and Senate. If the House and Senate conferees agree on a compromise, the final bill will go back before the two chambers for consideration. If lawmakers sign off on the plan, it will then go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves who has privately threatened to veto any type of expansion bill. |
| House GOP's old bull prepares for his toughest rodeo yet | |
 | In a House GOP that's consistently dominated by Donald Trump's MAGA mentality, Tom Cole stands out as a throwback to the days of cross-aisle dealmaking on Capitol Hill. He's supported billions of dollars in earmarks that other conservatives loathe. His media-friendly persona epitomizes an era of GOP politics that Trump acolytes associate with "the swamp." And he's one of the few Republicans who Democrats say they enjoy working with. Now, the Oklahoma Republican's old-school tendencies will be tested by his self-described "dream come true," the chairship of the House Appropriations Committee that he claimed last week. Cole, 74, is about to hold vast sway over the federal purse from a perch that was once among Congress' most coveted -- before hardliners legislating in Trump's mold turned government spending into a battleground for culture-war fights and shutdown threats. For the moment, Cole is striking a delicate balance between working alongside Democrats and hearing out conservatives who want fiscal warfare. His move to lead federal spending talks this year will test that talent for getting along with everyone, however. "There's got to be broader agreement inside the Republican conference to do this thing. And that's difficult," Cole said. "And there's got to be a recognition that there's a Democratic Senate and Democratic president. It's going to be a give and take, a bipartisan compromise." |
| White House issues worker protections for pregnancy termination | |
 | The Biden administration Monday issued regulations enforcing worker protections for women who have had abortions, miscarriages or fertility issues that require time off work, despite heavy Republican opposition to the move. The regulation from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission implements congressional legislation that requires certain employers to offer reasonable accommodations to pregnant and postpartum employees. The rule clarifies that the commission includes abortion in its definition of "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions" covered by the law. The bill, known as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, was passed in 2022 as part of the fiscal 2023 appropriations law. The regulations are the final rules to carry out the law's provisions. House Democrats encouraged the administration to include abortion, miscarriage and fertility issues as a "related medical condition," but received pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill. The Democrats argued that a 1978 law preventing discrimination on the basis of pregnancy includes abortion and pregnancy termination as a medical condition related to pregnancy, so that should apply to the new law. But Republicans argued that including abortion and pregnancy termination in the pregnant workers accommodations regulation contradicts congressional intent of providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant and postpartum workers. |
| It's getting harder to predict the economy's effect on presidential elections | |
| While working on presidential aspirant Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, strategist James Carville famously coined the phrase, "It's the economy, stupid." That sentiment is the reason political strategists agonize over every economic data release in the run-up to the election and why campaigns spend millions trying to shape people's perceptions of the economy. But some experts argue that the connection between how the economy is doing and how people choose to vote is less clear than it used to be. There are basically two ways to try to predict the outcome of an election before a vote is cast. "One is using the polls. ... That's the most popular one that's in the media all the time," said Michael Lewis-Beck, who teaches political science at the University of Iowa. "The other one is models, which are statistical models, basically regression equations, which heavily emphasize the economy. And those are sometimes called political economy models because they may add in some political variables as well." Over his career, Lewis-Beck has written hundreds of books and articles on election forecasting and, with colleagues, developed a forecasting model that's been right 15 of the last 18 presidential elections. The model uses a mix of data, including how fast the economy is growing and how popular the incumbent president is, to help predict how the election will go. There are plenty of other ways to build models, most of which include some kind of polling data. But just like it's been getting harder for polls to accurately capture public opinion, many experts say forecasting has been getting harder as well, although for different reasons. |
| The reality of being a criminal defendant on trial finally dawned on Trump. He didn't take it well. | |
| Donald Trump is learning a hard lesson: Criminal defendants don't get to set their own schedules. Three times on Monday the former president asked Justice Juan Merchan to cut him loose from his hush money trial to attend to other matters -- some personal, some political and some legal. Three times the judge responded with, essentially, "eh, we'll see." Could he attend his son Barron's high school graduation on May 17? I'll get back to you, Merchan said. May he skip the trial on April 25 to attend Supreme Court arguments about whether he's immune from special counsel Jack Smith's charges for trying to subvert the 2020 election? Not likely, said Merchan. Can he be exempted from any proceedings that may arise on Wednesdays -- when Merchan's court is typically dark -- so he can campaign? Not if the jury is in, the judge told him. It's a jarring new reality for Trump, who has been accustomed to setting the agenda for most of his adult life -- and, in the years since his presidency, has bounced between his sunny Florida resort and political rallies brimming with adoring fans. But this spring, he'll have to spend most weekdays in a drab 15th floor county courtroom in a city with very little MAGA. After the first day of the trial on Monday, Trump seemed less focused on the substance of what had transpired -- which included several key evidentiary rulings and the qualification of nine potential jurors -- than on Merchan's decision not to accommodate his scheduling requests. |
| Supreme Court weighs charges in Jan. 6 cases. Will it help Trump? | |
 | The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday about whether an obstruction law wielded against one-fourth of the defendants charged in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, should be invalidated. The outcome could help Donald Trump, who is facing charges related to trying to overturn the 2020 election. A former police officer, Joseph Fischer, who was charged in the riot, contends Congress approved the law in 2002 after the Enron scandal to target document shredding, which he didn't do at the Capitol. But government lawyers contend the law is a "catchall" that includes blocking official meetings such as Congress counting Electoral College votes. The high court's decision could echo widely because more than one-fourth of Jan. 6 defendants faced the charge -- including former President Trump. Several prisoners have been released pending their appeals because the justices could overrule how the law has been applied so far. But Justice Department special council Jack Smith has argued even if the law is invalidated for rioters, it could still be applied to Trump because of other actions he took leading up to Jan. 6. The high court has no deadline to resolve the dispute, but a decision is expected by the end of June. |
| Ole Miss celebrates third annual Mississippi Day | |
 | Hordes of visitors flocked to the University of Mississippi on Saturday, April 13, to peruse the booths that lined the Circle, Galtney-Lott Plaza and the Union Plaza in honor of the third annual Mississippi Day. The festivities lasted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Since its conception in 2022, Mississippi Day has been a free and open-to-the-public celebration of many different aspects of UM. From her spot at the welcome tent providing drinks and maps for guests. "Mississippi Day is an occasion for people to see the different entities throughout the university, and it's a chance to speak with people and hopefully convince them to come here," Amy Schumacher-Rutherford, an instructor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, said. Emerson Morris, a freshman majoring in public policy leadership, echoed this sentiment. "Mississippi Day is a really great event for the Oxford community because it gives all of these smaller organizations a chance to show what they're doing and the impact that they're making on the student body," Morris said. "Being able to show the community what we're doing and give them the resources to learn how to do this thing is I think what Mississippi Day is all about." The event was also beneficial for students such as freshman general studies major Georgia Peterson, who is undecided about her major and attended the event with her grandparents. "My grandparents are here for my sorority's parent weekend, and they've never been here, so I'm really glad they're having it when they are able to be here," Peterson said. |
| Mississippi fighting national doctor shortage | |
| With an aging and growing population, it's estimated that nationally 30,000 physicians joining the workforce each year will not be enough to meet the increasing demand for care. However, the outlook is not bleak for Mississippi regarding a shortage of physicians. Two medical schools graduating physicians and the state's small population -- the 35th most populous state -- bode well for statewide coverage. "Needing 30,000 nationally seems like a daunting number but when taken into perspective Mississippi is actually addressing this need much better than one would think. A need of 30,000 means each state would need 600 per year, that being if all states were equal in population, which we know they are not," said John Mitchell, M.D., president of the Mississippi State Medical Association. The number of physician graduates varies from year to year. The University of Mississippi Medical School's entering class is 165 per year, and the William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine has an entering class of 200 per year. Mitchell points out that MSMA has been and continues to be a strong supporter of the Mississippi Rural Physician Scholarship Program aimed at attracting primary care physicians back to rural and underserved areas across our state. |
| Hinds becomes first Mississippi community college to install EV chargers | |
| For the first time, a community college in Mississippi is offering a charging station for electric vehicles. Hinds Community College recently had six chargers installed on its Raymond campus through the Adopt a Charger's Charge Up! Mississippi Initiative. The program in and around the metro Jackson area is supported through a $160,000 grant from Entergy's Environmental Initiatives Fund. "Partnering with sustainable initiatives like Charge Up! Mississippi helps further Entergy's commitment to strengthen our communities for the future," Kelli Dowell, director of environmental policy at Entergy Mississippi said. "We're proud to support projects through our Environmental Initiatives Fund that will reduce environmental risk, across our service area." On the Hinds Community College campus, EV charging stations are available for public usage at the Eagle Ridge Conference Center & Resort and the Student Union Building. Tesla donated their Universal Wall Connector for each charging station, which has the compatibility to add up to 25 miles of range per hour. Adopt a Charger will continue in its mission to install 24 EV charging stations in and around metro Jackson with the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Mississippi Children's Museum tabbed to be the next sites for charging stations. |
| Tiger Giving Day raises $730,000 in grassroots project | |
| On April 10, Auburn University hosted the ninth annual Tiger Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraising event showcasing grassroots-led projects from across campus. The event serves as a platform for lesser-known initiatives and provides them with the necessary funding. With a total of 45 projects featured this year, the spectrum of projects spanned various fields and addressed critical needs both locally and globally. Through the Tiger Giving website, each project offered descriptions and videos recorded by students and faculty members providing potential donors insights into the purpose of each program and the significance of their cause. Projects ranged from Auburn engineers aiming to construct water storage tanks in Bolivia to bring fresh clean water where it is not normally accessible to the Campus Kitchen's creation of mobile food pantries for those who do not have a sufficient food supply. The Baby Steps program focused on raising scholarship funds to support students who are either pregnant or parents in order for them to have the financial means to pursue an education at Auburn University. "Our goal is to see that each of the 45 projects are fully funded," said Lisa Lofland, the assistant director of digital marketing at Auburn Advancement. "The idea is that anyone can give any amount. Any donation makes a difference." |
| U. of Tennessee extends enrollment deadline after FAFSA delays | |
 | The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is extending the deadline for students to confirm their fall 2024 enrollment amid national delays with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process. First-year students and their families now have until May 15 to confirm enrollment at UT. This allows students to find out how much financial aid they'll get before making a decision on where they want to attend college for the 2024-25 academic year. Students who have already completed the FAFSA should receive their financial aid information by the end of April. "We are fully committed to providing unwavering support to our students by extending the confirmation deadline, enabling them to make informed decisions regarding their college choices. Our team remains committed to welcoming and assisting the newest members of our Volunteer family. We will continue our efforts to meet our students' needs wherever they are," Vice Provost for the Division of Enrollment Management Kari Alldredge said in a press release. Thanks to UT extending the enrollment confirmation deadline, students and their families have a couple of extra weeks to find out how much financial aid they'll get and to make a final decision about college. UT will continue to provide updates on enrollment and the FAFSA as the situation develops. |
| U. of Tennessee's new Baker School cuts ribbon, announces majors | |
| On Friday, listeners squeezed into an undersized University of Tennessee auditorium for The Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs Ribbon Cutting Ceremony after the rain interrupted the event's start. The event was held to celebrate the conversion of the Baker Center into the Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, which was approved last year, and to welcome the new majors and degrees. Once inside, Dean Marianne Wanamaker of the Baker School gave a brief introduction honoring the legacy of the late Tennessee senator, Howard Henry Baker Jr. "The Baker School, as I said, is built on the legacy of a great Tennessean and a great American," Wanamaker said. "The values that he has shown -- confidence in America's institutions, the acknowledgment that the other fellow might be right and his unrivaled ability to find common ground -- are the values under which the Baker School thinks." Following Wanamaker's speech, Baker School student Jackson Scott stepped up to the podium. Scott, a graduate teaching assistant and graduate student in the Master of Public Policy and Administration Program, detailed how the school's faculty had already helped him overcome some of the struggles associated with graduate school. |
| Proposed changes to U. of Florida's PK Yonge's admissions process met with pushback from community | |
 | Members of the PK Yonge community plan to speak out against proposed changes to the high school during a School Advisory Council (SAC) meeting Tuesday evening. Penny Schwinn, University of Florida vice president of PK-12 and pre-bachelor programs, outlined her goals and recommendations to make PK Yonge's high school a top 10 school in the state during a Board of Trustees meeting March 8, which included a proposed selective admissions process. The school currently admits students in kindergarten through 12th grade through a lottery system, with a mission to "design, test, and disseminate innovations in education through serving a diverse K-12 community." Its student population is representative of Florida's racial and income demographics -- something PK Yonge prides itself on as a research and innovation school. However, this could change if Schwinn's proposal for a selective admission system at the high school is adopted. UF President Ben Sasse said during the March 8 meeting that any proposed changes would not affect students already in grades 9 through 12 at PK Yonge. UF spokesperson Steve Orlando told The Sun in an email last week that the changes are only preliminary discussions and that the university had nothing to announce. A petition form created Saturday by those opposed to a selective admissions process had already gathered over 400 signatures as of Monday afternoon. |
| A&M College of Ag & Life Sciences puts focus on recruiting with spring tour | |
 | When Jeff Savell became dean of Texas A&M University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in June 2022, he soon noticed an area that had been overlooked for some time: recruitment. Over the past month, Savell, his team and even some current students, have trekked around Texas to meet with high school seniors already admitted to A&M and other prospective students. The Texas tour began March 24 in McAllen and included stops in San Antonio, Katy, College Station, Fort Worth and Dallas before it wrapped up in Amarillo on this past Sunday. "I know, like in anything, good talent is going to make everyone better, just like sports recruiting," Savell said. "At that point, I said, 'We need to find the best and brightest students wherever we can and let them know there's a place for them here in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.'" A&M's College of Ag & Life Sciences has over 8,000 current undergraduate and graduate students and 90 programs in 15 departments. Savell said the college was losing top-end students --- and not just to in-state schools, either. Universities with strong agricultural backgrounds like Auburn, LSU and Oklahoma State were tapping into Texas for students. "Other states are going to come in here and try to get our talent," Savell said. "I want our talented students to stay here in the state, but I especially want them to stay at Texas A&M University." |
| AI in agriculture? New U. of Missouri center researches the future of farming | |
 | The University of Missouri launched a new center to explore the use of emerging technology in agriculture. In February, the university announced the Digital Agriculture Research and Extension Center -- a partnership between MU Extension, MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service. The center's goal is to help farmers become more efficient and sustainable by harnessing technologies like artificial intelligence. AI can help farmers make better decisions about how to spend their time and resources, according to Kent Shannon, co-director of the center. The center is exploring ways to train AI for agricultural uses, such as identifying weeds, diseases and nutrient deficiencies in a crop. "You give (AI) a question, and then it gives you an answer," Shannon said. "We want the same thing from an agricultural standpoint." Shannon said AI is being trained to provide real-time information about crop conditions, driving down costs through more efficient use of materials like fertilizer. Chris Chinn, director of Missouri's Department of Agriculture, said she's excited by the potential for technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. However, she said not every family farm may rush to adopt new techniques. |
| Annual Provosts' Survey Shows Need for AI Policies, Worries Over Campus Speech | |
 | In the latest annual survey by Inside Higher Ed, participating provosts said the vast majority of their institutions have not yet published policies governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI), even as its power and disruptive potential increase. And most institutions haven't reviewed curriculum to ensure it will prepare students for AI's rise in the workplace. The email survey, conducted in February and March in conjunction with Hanover Research, asked about the multiple challenges that face higher education following a tumultuous year. At a time when diversity, equity and inclusion programs are under attack, around 70 percent of the respondents rated race relations on their own campuses as good or excellent -- yet only about 30 percent said the same for higher education as a whole. And, as Israel's war in Gaza continues and a presidential election looms, nearly four in 10 provosts said world events have stressed their institutions' speech policies to the point they may need revisions. These are just some results of the wide-ranging 2024 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers, which also polled provosts about typical academic and university management issues that have become atypically fraught in a time of tight budgets, enrollment declines and political heat. Should degree programs be cut? How viable is tenure? Has employee turnover increased? The 331 provosts who returned full or partial surveys -- respondents were about evenly split between public and private nonprofit institutions -- gave their views on those questions along with a range of challenges higher education faces. |
| Citing safety, USC bans pro-Palestinian valedictorian from speaking at graduation | |
 | Saying "tradition must give way to safety," the University of Southern California on Monday made the unprecedented move of barring an undergraduate valedictorian who has come under fire for her pro-Palestinian views from giving a speech at its May graduation ceremony. The move, according to USC officials, is the first time the university has banned a valedictorian from the traditional chance to speak onstage at the annual commencement ceremony, which typically draws more than 65,000 people to the Los Angeles campus. In a campuswide letter, USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman cited unnamed threats that have poured in shortly after the university publicized the valedictorian's name and biography this month. Guzman said attacks against the student for her pro-Palestinian views have reached an "alarming tenor" and "escalated to the point of creating substantial risks relating to security and disruption at commencement." The student, whom the letter does not name, is biomedical engineering major Asna Tabassum. USC officials chose Tabassum from nearly 100 student applicants who had GPAs of 3.98 or higher. But after USC President Carol Folt announced her selection, a swarm of on- and off-campus groups attacked Tabassum. They targeted her minor, resistance to genocide, as well as her pro-Palestinian views and "likes" expressed through her Instagram account. |
| Dozens of Campuses Shed or Alter DEI Efforts as Political Pressure Mounts | |
 | Since January 2023, at least 116 college campuses have altered or eliminated offices, jobs, hiring practices, and programs that explicitly recruit and retain students and staff from marginalized communities in response to state legislation and political pressure, according to a Chronicle analysis. The Chronicle combed through local media reports, spoke with faculty and students, and surveyed college administrators to better understand how pending and enacted anti-DEI legislation is changing campus services. DEI offices have taken the greatest hit, with dozens of colleges renaming or closing departments. Colleges have cut funding for other DEI programs, and reassigned DEI employees to other parts of the institution. Efforts to eliminate identity-conscious recruitment and retainment of minority administrators, faculty, and students began in early 2023 after the Manhattan and Goldwater Institutes, two conservative think tanks, published model legislation in a push to reverse "the illiberal takeover of higher education through Diversity, Equity, Inclusion offices that, ironically, stifle intellectual diversity, prevent equal opportunity, and exclude anyone who dissents from a rigid orthodoxy." DEI advocates argue vague laws have led colleges to overcorrect. Students of color and LGBTQ students say they've lost essential mental-health resources, mentorship, and a range of other activities that they say help them connect with one another. |
| 'You Are in the Crosshairs': Higher Ed Braces for Another Antisemitism Hearing | |
| On Wednesday morning, the president of Columbia University will confront a congressional grilling about how she responded to antisemitic incidents on her campus. That may sound familiar, since three presidents of prestigious universities did the same, with notably unfortunate results, back on Dec. 5. Now the majority Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee are hoping for a repeat of what they -- and many conservatives -- considered a blockbuster success. Columbia president Minouche Shafik, who will be joined by two university trustees, will be aiming to keep her job -- unlike two of the three presidents who sat before the committee in December. But judging from the aftermath of that hearing, there's considerably more at stake than a presidency of one institution. Wednesday's session may well spawn another wave of negative headlines about left-wing, out-of-control colleges and universities, helping to reinforce growing public skepticism about the value of higher education. It could also inspire increased congressional scrutiny of colleges' internal affairs -- probes that may ultimately reach far beyond their responses the war in Gaza. |
| Biden's latest plan for student loan cancellation moves forward as a proposed regulation | |
 | President Joe Biden's latest plan for student loan cancellation is moving forward as a proposed regulation, offering him a fresh chance to deliver on a campaign promise and energize young voters ahead of the November election. The Education Department on Tuesday filed paperwork for a new regulation that would deliver the cancellation that Biden announced last week. It still has to go through a 30-day public comment period and another review before it can be finalized. It's a more targeted proposal than the one the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last year. The new plan uses a different legal basis and seeks to cancel or reduce loans for more than 25 million Americans. Conservative opponents, who see it as an unfair burden for taxpayers who didn't attend college, have threatened to challenge it in court. The Democratic president highlighted the the plan during a trip to Wisconsin last week, saying it would provide "life-changing" relief. He laid out five categories of people who would be eligible for help. The new paperwork filed by the Education Department includes four of those categories, while a separate proposal will be filed later addressing how people facing various kinds of hardship can get relief. |
| Biden's new student debt relief proposal aims to avoid Supreme Court fate | |
 | President Biden's latest student loan forgiveness program is giving flashbacks to his 2022 universal relief plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court, but experts aren't convinced this is going to be a redo of the past failure. The Biden administration's ability to learn from its past mistakes and the scope of borrowers the new plan affects could be crucial to beating legal challenges to it. However, fears that student debt relief will be dangled in front of voters only to be taken away before Election Day linger due to the timing of the plan. "I think that's the key difference is this sort of focus on the plan that could have forgiven entire debts in 2022 and this latest wave, where some individuals might get their full debt waived in some of the more targeted programs, but the widespread forgiveness program wouldn't be wiping out entire balances," said Katharine Meyer, a fellow for the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute. "I think when they first embarked on negotiated rulemaking, the sense was that it wouldn't really go into effect until July 2025," Meyer said, but she suspects the administration is going to "draw on this 'good cause' exemption in the administrative rulemaking provisions that allow some regulations to go into effect early." When Biden's previous, universal forgiveness plan kicked off in October 2022, it only was an application that borrowers had to fill out, and the distribution of the relief was going to take longer. |
| Higher Education Will Take Center Stage in 2024 Presidential Election | |
| As the U.S. veers into another major election year, some higher education scholars predict that issues related to the ivory tower will inevitably take center stage. Timely issues such as student debt and the current onslaught against various progressive social and cultural ideals -- matters of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), race/ethnicity, and identity, among others -- will be topics of discussion for President Joe Biden, who is likely to have another faceoff with the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald J. Trump. Democrats are likely to make the student loan debt relief issue a major campaign talking point. The strategy, say scholars, will be to galvanize young voters and those struggling to pay back mounting debt. They'll argue that the Biden administration tried but was unsuccessful, thanks to Republican opposition and a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, to provide relief and forgiveness to millions of borrowers. Biden might look to take credit for whatever forgiveness efforts he has been able to push through and explain that the major shortcomings he's faced on that front are a result of a failure by the Republicans to act, says Dr. Andra Gillespie, an associate professor of political science at Emory University. Ever since the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration's debt forgiveness plan in 2023 -- a plan that would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for borrowers -- Biden and officials at the U.S. Department of Education have sought alternative avenues to bring about debt relief. |
| Research for Sale: How Chinese Money Flows to American Universities | |
 | Chinese companies are feeling a cold shoulder in the U.S. -- except at universities, where they are welcomed as customers. American universities sign contracts around the world to sell their research and training expertise, and some of their most lucrative agreements have been with companies based in China. The decadeslong trade thrives despite a deepening U.S.-China rivalry and rising sensitivities about Beijing's influence on American campuses. Nearly 200 U.S. colleges and universities held contracts with Chinese businesses, valued at $2.32 billion, between 2012 and 2024, according to a review by The Wall Street Journal of disclosures made to the Education Department. The Journal tallied roughly 2,900 contracts. The extensive trade in American expertise presents a quandary for universities and policymakers in Washington: Where's the line between fostering academic research and empowering a U.S. rival? In some cases, an American university whose identity is tied to a bedrock local industry -- think cars and the University of Michigan, or the University of Florida and citrus -- does research on behalf of a Chinese challenger in that same sector. All three of China's major government-owned oil companies have funded contracts for $100,000 or more at the University of Texas at Austin, which the school describes only as "research activity." |
| Progressives should be 'inspired' by House education funding formula | |
| The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: The Mississippi House of Representatives proposed a new education funding formula this year called The INSPIRE Act (INSPIRE). The Senate has killed the legislation twice already, citing a desire to study the proposal out of session. House leaders, however, continue finding new legislative vehicles to revive the proposal as session's end draws nigh. On its face, INSPIRE yields higher levels of education spending than the current funding formula, the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP). If enacted, it would increase spending by an estimated 250 million dollars this year alone (some cost estimates put this figure even higher). In subsequent years, an inflation factor would further raise the amount dedicated to education. Not only would the state's total education spending increase under INSPIRE, but spending would be more generous for specific categories of students that proponents contend are more expensive to educate. The proposal creates new 'weights' or bonuses to the base student cost not presently found in MAEP. MAEP currently provides a single weight of 5 percent for low income students based on receipt of free and reduced lunches. Under INSPIRE, a low income student would receive a 30 percent "bonus" on top of the base student cost. Additionally, INSPIRE provides a 10 percent weight for districts with "concentrated poverty." But INSPIRE does not stop at low income students. It creates a series of additional new weights. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State Unveils 38th Annual Super Bulldog Weekend Schedule | |
| A loaded lineup of events and fan experiences are set to highlight an exciting weekend in the Best Small Town in the South. The 38th annual Super Bulldog weekend, a Mississippi State spring homecoming tradition, is set for April 19-21. "Super Bulldog Weekend is such a special weekend for our community, alumni, letterwinners, university and athletics department. It's a tremendous opportunity for Starkville to come together and experience the great momentum surrounding Mississippi State. Our team has worked incredibly hard to create an outstanding schedule that is sure to provide everyone with an unforgettable experience," Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said. Free parking for the Maroon and White Spring Football Game is available south of Davis Wade Stadium in the following lots: Dorman Hall, Fresh Food Company and Newell-Grissom. Bulldog fans will get a first look at "SHOWTIME at STATE" under new head football coach Jeff Lebby on April 20 at Davis Wade Stadium. The annual Maroon and White Spring Football Game will kick off Saturday's festivities at 1 p.m. The game will also be streamed on SEC Network+ via the ESPN App for those unable to attend. The Bulldogs will open the 2024 football season on Aug. 31 for "First Saturday in StarkVegas" at Davis Wade Stadium as part of a seven-game home schedule. Season tickets start as low as $250. For more information, visit HailState.com/Tickets or call 1-888-Go-Dawgs. |
| Pair of Match Play Victories Sends Mississippi State Back to the SEC Championship | |
| For the second year in a row, the Mississippi State women's golf team is headed back to the finals of the SEC Championship. The Bulldogs put together two match play victories against Kentucky and LSU to advance. The opening match of the day against Kentucky saw the Bulldogs take the win 3-1-1. All three golfers that earned individual points for the Bulldogs never trailed in their matchups. Mississippi State then advanced to the semifinal round of match play against LSU. The Bulldogs will be back in action Tuesday when they take on the Texas A&M Aggies in the finals of the SEC Championship. Tee time is set for 9 a.m. CT, and will broadcast live on the SEC Network. |
| Texas A&M women's golf team wins pair on Monday, sets up SEC title rematch | |
| The Texas A&M women's golf team has set itself up for a chance at a repeat Southeastern Conference crown as the Aggies defeated Arkansas (3-1-1) and Georgia (3-2) to advance to the finals at the Pelican Golf Club on Monday. "We got the last tee time," head coach Gerrod Chadwell said. "Every time we have gotten to match play, we want to get another tee time. Our experience has impacted everything to this point. Getting to the championship is so hard and winning any match is incredibly difficult. We are prepared for a fight and our girls know what to expect come tomorrow." The pair of victories sets up a rematch of last year's SEC title against Mississippi State at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Texas A&M took last year's title, 3-2, behind a playoff victory from Zoe Slaughter after she won the third playoff hole. |
| Dawgs Welcome Alcorn State For Midweek Tilt | |
| The Mississippi State Diamond Dawgs are back at Dudy Noble Field for a Tuesday midweek contest with Alcorn State. The matchup will be aired on SECN+. The game will also be carried on the Bulldog Sports Network powered by LEARFIELD, along with a live audio stream via HailState.com/OnDemand. The first 250 fans can receive a State-To-The-Show Poster of Justin Foscue. Alcorn State enters the matchup with a 2-26 overall record and 1-13 SWAC record on the year. Alcorn State is ranked last in the SWAC West with their 1-13 record. Garrett Palladino leads the Braves offense with a .394 batting average. Palladino has 39 hits, 12 RBIs, five doubles and three triples to collect a .515 slugging percentage. Kewan Braziel leads the Braves pitching staff with 32 strikeouts in 10 appearances. Braziel has pitched 48.2 innings on the year to collect a 7.77 ERA. Mississippi State leads the all-time series 17-0. Alcorn State and Mississippi State last met in 2020 where the Diamond Dawgs took the win 8-4. |
| Mississippi State football: What to watch for in Jeff Lebby's first spring game | |
| Davis Wade Stadium won't be hosting a slam dunk challenge or hot dog eating contest on Saturday – at least that's the expectation. However, the home of Mississippi State football will be the site of an important day for coach Jeff Lebby. As his first offseason with the Bulldogs progresses and the regular season approaches, Lebby will get a look at where his team stands with the annual Maroon & White spring game. As he approaches the regular season with the Bulldogs, Lebby will get his first look at how his team has developed in the spring game. In a matchup of offense against defense -- in which a scoring structure will be put into place for each side to earn points -- the Bulldogs will provide their first glimpse into what Lebby and his staff have implemented since he was hired in November. Lebby came to MSU after serving as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator. His ability to build one of the nation's top offenses made him a lucrative option, and Saturday (1 p.m., SEC Network+) will be his first chance to show off what he's bringing to Starkville. It will also give a look into how MSU's defense looks under new coordinator Coleman Hutzler. |
| Mississippi State women's basketball hires assistant Anita Howard | |
 | Mississippi State women's basketball coach Sam Purcell has hired Anita Howard as an assistant. Howard comes to MSU after spending the last five seasons as the coach at Georgia Southern. Her time with the Eagles ended after a mutual parting of ways, Georgia Southern announced. During Howard's tenure, the Eagles failed to make the NCAA Tournament. The 2022-23 campaign was the lone season in which Georgia Southern won more than 18 games under Howard. "With over a decade of head coaching experience, Anita Howard is a phenomenal addition to our staff," Purcell said Monday in a school release. "She embodies all of the qualities of a proven winner; her knowledge of the game, energy and passion for our vision here are undeniable. She is a world-class person, mother, wife and a mentor that will prove to be a great resource to our student-athletes and staff. She has grown through the coaching ranks, excelling at each stop, and there is no doubt that her experience and tireless work ethic will make her successful once more here within our program." Howard is a native of Montgomery, Alabama. She played three seasons at Fort Valley State before transferring to Armstrong State for the 2002-03 season. Her coaching career started at Savannah High School (Georgia) before assistant stints at Winston-Salem State and St. Augustine's before Salem College hired her as the head coach in 2012. |
| Mississippi State's Jessika Carter selected by New York Liberty in 2024 WNBA Draft | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball forward Jessika Carter was selected with the 23rd pick by the New York Liberty in the 2024 WNBA Draft on Monday. She is the ninth player in program history to be drafted and the first since Teaira McCowan and Anriel Howard in 2019. Carter's six-year career at Mississippi State came to an end in March when the Bulldogs were eliminated in the WBIT quarterfinals. She joined MSU in 2018 as a product of Waverly Hall, Georgia. Playing behind Howard and McCowan, Carter appeared in 36 games as a freshman without any starts. However, she jumped into a starting role the following season under coach Vic Schaefer. As a sophomore, Carter averaged 13 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Her scoring average jumped to 14.3 points the following season after Schaefer departed for Texas and the late Nikki McCray-Penson took over. Carter didn't play during the 2021-22 campaign due to personal reasons and opened up via social media about her mental health battles. Her absence from the court came as Doug Novak served as the program's interim head coach following McCray-Penson's sudden departure before the season. She returned to action the following season after coach Sam Purcell was hired. |
| Deion Sanders talks Jackson State football, meeting with pastors, drug dealers in new book | |
| In his new book, "Elevate and Dominate-21 Ways to Win On and Off the Field," Deion Sanders revealed that toward the end of his third and final season as coach of Jackson State football, he had contact with other schools as well as Colorado. Sanders told Don Yaeger, author of the book released April 12, he had not made a decision whether to remain in Jackson or accept another offer, but while having lunch one day with linebackers coach Andre Hart, he heard a whisper. "Colorado." Sanders said in the book that he called Rick George, the Colorado athletic director. Yaeger wrote that George took the call thinking it was going to be another round of Sanders saying, "I'm not coming." "But I just told him one thing," Sanders said. "I'm coming." Sanders said that when he took the job at JSU, he met with the local pastors one day, then gang leaders, drug dealers and hood heroes the next day. "I knew that I needed those pastors to help us pray through storms and trials and tribulations," Sanders said. "And they were excellent sounding boards for our kids. When you go to the street, that probably seems like a different universe. It's actually the same darn thing, just a different ministry. Their role is just as important. One kid looks up to the pastor. Another kid looks up to the hood hero, the one who runs the neighborhood and regulates things." |
| Future of college football spring games? Ole Miss' blueprint is fun and mostly football-free | |
| Joey Chestnut scarfed down hot dogs. Monte Kiffin got pushed in a golf cart race. Sororities competed in a tug-of-war championship. On a beautiful, 80-degree day inside Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, this looked like the future of spring games: Show very little actual football, focus on the fun and try to escape without any injuries. There would be no opportunity to over-analyze how well the Ole Miss backup quarterback looked, as many fanbases will surely do following other spring games. Instead, fans saw a slam dunk contest featuring football players, a disgusting amount of hot dogs consumed in six minutes, and a little seven-on-seven flag football. Chestnut, who showed up after Rebels coach Lane Kiffin slid in his direct messages with an invite, ate 20 hot dogs in 90 seconds and then broke down his performance in easily the most memorable of any post-spring game press conference in the country. Evidently, a bun got stuck in his throat, which momentarily slowed him down. "Really, the value of spring games, in my opinion, is overrated because you don't show many plays on offense or defense," Kiffin said. "Most people don't unless they are trying to win the fans over or TV over with the game. You really don't get a whole lot out of it." Ole Miss didn't release an official attendance, but the feeling was that it easily exceeded anything experienced during recent spring games. No, it wasn't close to Ohio State's 80,012 or Alabama's 72,358, but it was a lively crowd that embraced the absurdity of it all. It didn't hurt that Ole Miss allowed students 21-years-and-older to bring in alcohol and sit behind one of the end zones to try to recreate the environment of right field at a baseball game in Swayze Field. |
| College Athlete Employment Push Puts Pro-Union Democrats in Bind | |
| The issue of whether college athletes should be considered employees is dividing congressional Democrats, who are struggling to find a path forward as Republicans and the NCAA present a united front against the classification. Even in the Democratic-controlled Senate, lawmakers are trying to balance their support for unions with concerns over the fallout of designating college athletes as employees under various federal labor and employment laws. And that divide is prompting some members of Congress to look for a compromise. "What I'm considering is the possibility that athletes could choose representatives to bargain for them without becoming employees," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview. "It could be a union representative. They could unionize but without being employees." The conundrum that Democratic lawmakers face is part of the larger national debate over how to classify workers. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), for instance, said in a recent hearing that he's working on legislation to allow companies that rely on independent contractors -- such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. -- to provide benefits without the risk of that being used as a factor spurring courts to classify the workers as employees. What makes college athletes' worker status thorny for normally pro-labor Democrats is that their constituents are themselves split on the issue. "I'm hearing from coaches and athletic departments; they think it's a terrible idea," Blumenthal said. "A college president regarded it as an anathema." Students have also told him that they oppose being considered employees, he said. |
| Avoiding employee model planning akin to 'athletic director malpractice' | |
| The college sports industry emerges from March Madness with a high-stakes reality check: The resumption of the consequential National Labor Relations Board trial involving USC, the Pac-12 Conference and the NCAA. The hearing in Los Angeles, which takes place Tuesday through Thursday, will weigh whether USC football and men's and women's basketball players have been misclassified as student-athletes rather than employees. It occurs against the backdrop of the ongoing Dartmouth proceedings, which are immersed in a lengthy review process -- one that could ultimately make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court -- after its men's basketball players last month voted to unionize. After years of conjecture, an employee model for at least some athletes -- which would usher in the era of athlete collective bargaining – is coming into focus. Given the state of play, industry experts say schools that continue to sweep the issue under the rug of their Ivory Towers do so at their own peril. At this point, the vast majority of power conference schools have at least engaged in internal discussions about how they will operate their athletic programs under an employment model, Mit Winter, a college sports attorney at Kennyhertz Perry, told On3. They know there's a good chance we're approaching a world in which athletes will collectively bargain for compensation and health and safety benefits. So proactively preparing for a new paradigm is not only wise, it's imperative. "It would be akin to athletic director/president malpractice to not at least be doing this," Winter said. |
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