| Thursday, April 18, 2024 |
| MSU, Starkville gearing up for Super Bulldog Weekend | |
 | The 38th annual Super Bulldog Weekend kicks off Friday, bringing fans, alumni and other visitors to town to enjoy a weekend full of Mississippi State University sports. The three day event draws thousands to Starkville every spring for multiple athletic events, including the annual Maroon and White spring football game and a three-game SEC baseball series against Auburn. "Super Bulldog Weekend is such a special weekend for our community, alumni, letterwinners, university and athletics department," MSU Director of Athletics Zac Selmon said in an MSU press release. "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." Mayor Lynn Spruill said the homecoming aspect of Super Bulldog Weekend makes it a prime time to show Starkville to visitors. "It is our desire to be that hospitable location for people who are alumni, for people who are prospective students or for residents in general to go out and enjoy the college atmosphere," she said. "That's part of what makes us the best small town in the South." Expecting an influx of at least 20,000 to 30,000 people, Spruill said the weekend is a big boost for the community and for local businesses. |
| CAAD buildings scheduled to undergo $50 million in renovations | |
 | Mississippi State University's College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) is undergoing a $50 million set of renovations with developments focused around Howell Hall. These changes aim to enhance CAAD's infrastructure, foster a more cohesive environment and improve the overall experience for students and faculty. The changes include a complete renovation of Howell Hall, which currently houses the Department of Building Construction Science. Angi Bourgeois, who serves as dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Design, said that these changes are bringing the college together more than ever. "This is a program-altering opportunity for the three units being given new and upgraded space," Bourgeois said of the architecture, construction and interior design programs. "This will be the first time that the very, very interconnected departments within our college will be physically within proximity." While the dates remain unclear, Howell Hall's construction is expected to start by the end of this year and be completed in 2026. The renovations will begin after the completion of the Bost Drive expansion. When completed, this expansion will connect Barr Avenue to Bailey Howell Drive and replace the portion of College View Drive between Giles Hall, Howell Hall and McArthur Hall. |
| 'It always feels alive': Starkville wins Best Small Town in the South | |
| Starkville has been named the 2024 Best Small Town in the South by USA Today. The award was given after a four-week voting process that required a nomination from a panel of travel writers and editors from USA Today. Starkville went up against 20 towns with a population of less than 25,000. Paige Hunt, the director of tourism at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, said she was delighted that Starkville was given this accolade. "We are thrilled that USA Today and its readers are getting to know what we have always known---that Starkville is the best town in the South," Hunt said. "We are thrilled with this recognition and we look forward to welcoming visitors so they can experience our vibrant, thriving destination for themselves." Mississippi State University's own Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library was recognized in the listing, as USA Today called it a "treasure trove of artifacts and correspondence." Anne Marshall, the executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, said she was elated to have the library recognized as an asset to the community. "We're also really excited that the library got to be a part of the criteria that USA Today was looking at," Marshall said. "...We just get a lot of community support for this place, and I think it's just a real point of pride." |
| Reeves encourages community involvement at WAM luncheon | |
 | First Lady of Mississippi Elee Reeves encouraged residents to get involved in their communities and praised women from Meridian and Lauderdale County for their efforts to support their home during her keynote speech Tuesday at the Women's Alliance of Meridian's Lunch and Learn at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience. Reeves, an accomplished financial advisor with Coker & Palmer, is also a frequent volunteer with a number of civic and community organizations. She has served on the boards of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra Foundation, Jackson Symphony League and Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi, among others. She is also a mother of three. Rebecca Dulaney, who introduced Reeves, said the First Lady currently serves as a scout leader for her daughter's Girl Scout troop as well as chair of the board for the Mississippi Museum of Art. Reeves, she said, lends both her personal and professional expertise to a variety of organizations to help make a difference in her community. Being active in the community and volunteering her time, Reeves said, is something she finds both enjoyable and rewarding. She said she wanted to encourage WAM members and others in the community to give it a try as well. Engagement in children's education by teachers, parents and the community is a vital part of helping students succeed, she said. |
| If Legislature fails to pass education budget, rivals Hood, Reeves agreed in past schools would still be funded | |
| Based on an opinion by former Attorney General Jim Hood and the embrace of that opinion by Gov. Tate Reeves, there could still be an option for the state to fund local school districts should the Legislature end the 2024 session without passing a budget for K-12 education. Comments by Speaker Jason White, R-West, have caused some to fear that the House will leave K-12 education unfunded if the Senate does not agree to rewrite the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, which provides the bulk of state funding for local school districts. In several interviews, White has said that the House has funded MAEP "for the last time." White supports a House-passed plan to replace MAEP. Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar has passed a record amount of funding for education through the Senate this session, including an annual $1,000 teacher pay raise, and has agreed to study the education funding formula after the session with the possibility of replacing or making changes to MAEP next year. White is insistent those changes be made this year, leaving some to worry that the session could end with no budget to provide state funds to local school districts. There has been speculation about what would happen if there is no education budget. |
| Mississippi legislators won't smooth the path this year to restore voting rights after some felonies | |
 | Kenneth Almons says he began a 23-year sentence in a Mississippi prison just two weeks after graduating from high school, and one of his felony convictions -- for armed robbery -- stripped away voting rights that he still has not regained decades later. Now 51, Almons told lawmakers Wednesday that he has worked hard and remained law-abiding since his release, and he wants to be able to vote. "It would mean I am no longer considered a nobody," Almons said. "Because when you don't have a voice, you're nobody." Mississippi is among the 26 states that remove voting rights from people for criminal convictions, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Mississippi's original list of disenfranchising crimes springs from the Jim Crow era, and attorneys who have sued to challenge the list say authors of the state constitution removed voting rights for crimes they thought Black people were more likely to commit. Under the Mississippi Constitution, people lose the right to vote for 10 felonies, including bribery, theft and arson. The state's previous attorney general, a Democrat, issued a ruling in 2009 that expanded the list to 22 crimes, including timber larceny and carjacking. Senate Constitution Committee Chairwoman Angela Hill, a Republican from Picayune, killed the bill when she didn't bring it up for consideration before a March 21 deadline. In response to questions Wednesday, Hill told The Associated Press she blocked it because "we already have some processes in place" to restore voting rights person by person. |
| Bill would limit how long those convicted could seek relief, even if wrongfully convicted | |
| Legislation being debated in a conference committee would restrict how "Goon Squad" victims and others can get relief if they have been wrongfully convicted. House Bill 1253 would impose a one-year limitation on newly discovered evidence. The bill passed the House. The Senate passed an amended version. The House invited conference. Conferees are Kevin Horan, Lance Varner and Celeste in the House and Joey Fillingane, Daniel Sparks and Derrick Simmons in the Senate. "It would impact the constitutional right to access the courts in Mississippi by any inmate -- innocent persons and Goon Squad victims included," Krissy Nobile, director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, said of HB 1253. "It is terrible legislation that is detached from how the legal system actually works." Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office, which has been pushing for the passage, defends the bill. "HB 1253 streamlines the pathway to justice and closure for victims of crime and families of homicide victims, restoring some balance to the post-conviction appellate process," said Fitch's chief of staff, Michelle Williams. "It would be a wonderful way to mark Crime Victims' Rights Week next week with passage of this important legislation." The bill is being touted as a way to streamline appeals of those who have been convicted, but defense lawyers worry that this change may erode constitutional rights. |
| House bill gives up to a year to sell TikTok; eyes Russian assets | |
 | Speaker Mike Johnson late on Wednesday unveiled a modified version of the previously House-passed legislation targeting TikTok that would give Chinese owner ByteDance up to a year to divest the app, an increase from the six months given in the earlier version. The bill, the fourth part of a package of measures released Wednesday that would also provide $95.3 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific partners, would allow TikTok owner ByteDance 270 days from the date of enactment to divest the app. The measure would also give the president the flexibility to offer a one-time extension of 90 days, bringing the total time available for ByteDance to nearly a year. The previous version, which the House passed March 13 in a 352-65 vote, gave the Chinese company 180 days to divest the app or see it banned from the U.S. market. The additional time for divestiture before the app would face a ban in the United States may garner broader support in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., didn't commit to a timeline for a floor vote on the earlier House bill. Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she was concerned the measure wouldn't survive legal scrutiny because of the six month timeline and because it targets one company. But Cantwell said she was concerned about the national security implications of allowing the Chinese-owned entity to continue collecting data on 170 million American users of the TikTok app. |
| GOP rep: Greene 'theater' has to 'come to an end' | |
 | Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) political "theater" must "come to an end," likely referring to his colleague's looming threat to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Ga.). "Her theater and this constant effort to hold the Congress hostage has to come to an end," Molinaro said in an interview on CNN's "The Source" on Wednesday. "I'm going to have no part in it." "And a good number of my colleagues -- conservative and moderate -- believe that enough is enough," he added. "It is time to move on and to move past this kind of nonsense." Greene filed a motion to vacate Johnson from his leadership role late last month. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) -- a libertarian with an independent streak -- is the only other Republican to publicly support the effort, saying Tuesday that he would co-sponsor Greene's resolution. Molinaro, a first-term lawmaker, called for bipartisan action to helping the nation's overseas allies. "We have a bipartisan government, and the only way good policy is going to be made better, the only way we're going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies -- Israel and Ukraine -- the only way we push back against evil like Putin, is to do it in a bipartisan way," Molinaro said. "And I want to be judged by my ability and willingness to work across the aisle with anyone who's honest and earnest about solving the problems that face America and the people I serve," he added. |
| Biden is off on details of his uncle's WWII death as he calls Trump unfit to lead the military | |
| President Joe Biden on Wednesday misstated key details about his uncle's death in World War II as he honored the man's wartime service and said Donald Trump was unworthy of serving as commander in chief. While in Pittsburgh, Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., aiming to draw a contrast with reports that Trump, while president, had called fallen service members "suckers" and "losers." Finnegan, the brother of Biden's mother, "got shot down in New Guinea," Biden said. The president said Finnegan's body was never recovered and "there used to be a lot of cannibals" in the area. Biden, who also relayed a version of the story earlier in the day after stopping by the memorial in Scranton, was off on the particulars. The U.S. government's record of missing service members does not attribute Finnegan's death to hostile action or indicate cannibals were any factor. "We have a tradition in my family my grandfather started," said Biden, a toddler at the time of his uncle's death in 1944. "When you visit a gravesite of a family member -- it's going to sound strange to you -- but you say three Hail Marys. And that's what I was doing at the site." Some former Trump officials have claimed the then-president disparaged fallen service members as "suckers" and "losers" when, they said, he did not want to travel in 2018 to a cemetery for American war dead in France. Trump denied the allegation, saying, "What animal would say such a thing?" |
| In Win for Workers, Supreme Court Opens Door to More Discrimination Claims | |
 | The Supreme Court made it easier Wednesday for workers to bring claims challenging job transfers as discriminatory, ruling that allegations of illegal treatment can be valid even if an employee's pay or rank don't change. The court revived a lawsuit by a female police sergeant in St. Louis, who said she was unlawfully transferred from the intelligence division to a less prestigious patrol position because she is a woman. A federal appeals court in St. Louis dismissed the suit, concluding that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires a plaintiff to show she suffered significant harm from a discriminatory act. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said that while an employee must show more than trifling harm from an employer's discriminatory action, the appeals court had raised the bar too high. "'Discriminate against' means treat worse, here based on sex. But neither that phrase nor any other says anything about how much worse," Kagan wrote. "There is nothing in the provision to distinguish, as the courts below did, between transfers causing significant disadvantages and transfers causing not-so-significant ones." Kagan's decision was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The decision is the latest in a string of high-court rulings that have bolstered worker protections under Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. |
| Only 9 percent of young Americans say US 'headed in the right direction': Survey | |
| Only 9 percent of young Americans believe the U.S. is headed in the right direction, according to a new poll. The survey, released Thursday from Harvard Kennedy School's Insitute of Politics, found that less than 10 percent of voters 18-29 said the country is generally headed in the right direction. Roughly 58 percent of respondents said the country is headed in the wrong direction. But, more than half of the young Americans indicated in the poll that they would vote for President Biden in November's election Additionally, 53 percent of the survey takers said they will definitely be voting in the presidential election overall. Biden has been under pressure to improve his polling among young voters after an NPR/NewsHour/Marist Poll this month found former President Trump up 2 points over him among millennial and Generation Z Americans. The president has pushed for student debt relief in order to court young Americans, who were a critical voting bloc for him in the 2020 race. In the new poll, the economy was what 27 percent of young Americans said was the national issue that concerned them the most. |
| New research program at Ole Miss to determine effects of medical cannabis use | |
| Lawmakers have established the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Research Program by way of SB 2888. The program, which was signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves (R), will be managed out of the National Center for Cannabis Research and Education at the University of Mississippi. The intent of the program is to provide information to lawmakers and the Mississippi State Department of Health regarding the use of cannabis. State Senator Kevin Blackwell (R), Chairman of the Senate Medicaid Committee and author of the bill, said the legislation is very unique and will hopefully help to define dosing recommendations for medical illnesses. "Currently, there are very limited studies on the effects of cannabis due to the fact that it is a schedule one drug," Blackwell told Magnolia Tribune. "So, the research that the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Research Program would conduct will be bringing in a cohort of patients to study what their ailment is and what they are currently taking in medical cannabis as well as the outcome." Blackwell believes this will help the state establish better dosing guidelines. Funding for the program is still pending, as the Legislature makes its way through the appropriations process. Senator Blackwell said he hopes the funding will be resolved prior to the end of session. |
| MyOleMiss: What is the U. of Mississippi's collective identity? | |
 | Before they begin their time at the University of Mississippi, every student has an idea of the university's collective identity. Ole Miss has been called a party school, a rich school, a football school, a racist school and much more. When students' time in Oxford comes to a close, they often look back and realize it was nothing like what they thought it would be. So what is Ole Miss, really? While some students and alumni have found their preconceptions about Ole Miss to be untrue, others have had experiences that affirm the beliefs they arrived with, such as freshman integrated marketing communications major and New Jersey native Reagan Phalines. "Coming into Ole Miss, I knew it was preppy and there were a lot of people with a lot of money. Now that I'm here, that stereotype is definitely true," Phalines said. Even students from closer to Oxford have heard such stereotypes. A native of Fulton, Miss., senior integrated marketing communications major Brady Wood is a member of the Pride of the South Marching Band and the former president of the Baptist Student Union. Wood was also crowned homecoming king by his peers in the fall 2023 personality elections. "I often heard when I announced I was coming here that Ole Miss students had some sort of superiority complex and that everyone is stuck-up in Oxford in comparison to the surrounding area," Wood said. Unlike Phalines, Wood believes that UM has defied this stereotype. |
| After being jailed on Nashville felony charge, Morgan Wallen ready to make amends in Oxford | |
 | Morgan Wallen promised he would be back in Oxford. Now he is scheduled to deliver this Saturday. Country music fans throughout Mississippi were furious in April of 2023 after the country superstar bailed on a concert in Oxford with nearly 60,000 fans already packed into Vaught Hemingway Stadium at Ole Miss. Two weeks later, Wallen apologized on X, formerly known as Twitter. "To everyone in Oxford, I just wanted to reiterate how sorry I am for the way that went down," Wallen said in the post. "I thought I was going to be good to go, and I just wasn't. So, we are working on a reschedule date. We are close to having a reschedule date. We just don't have the exact one yet. As soon as I do, I will let you know." Wallen is extended his tour into 2024 with 10 additional stadium shows, including a stop at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford on Saturday night. Last year's incident was not Wallen's only recent struggle. The 11-time Billboard Music Award-winning country music performer was arrested in early April at Chief's, the six-story Nashville honky-tonk recently opened by his business partner and longtime confidant Eric Church. Wallen was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct. In a police report, the 30-year-old singer was accused of throwing a chair from the establishment's rooftop down to the street below while the bar just before 11 p.m. Metro Nashville police officers were standing in front of the bar and saw the chair hit the ground just feet from where they were standing, the report said. Officers who viewed security footage saw Wallen "lunging and throwing an object over the roof," the report said. Witnesses said Wallen laughed afterward. |
| William Carey plans Gulf Coast campus expansion | |
 | William Carey University has made a home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for almost 50 years. And now, the next steps toward expansion at WCU Tradition are on the drawing board. "Our Tradition campus now accounts for more than 20% of William Carey's enrollment. We think these proposed additions will provide the spark needed to bring more attention to the Gulf Coast campus. Our prayer is that God will lead us to the necessary funds to make these dreams a reality," said President Ben Burnett. Cassandra Conner, vice president of WCU Tradition, said the university always strives to provide welcoming and supportive environments for students. "The two new proposed buildings, the cafeteria/nursing center and student dormitory, will help reshape the Tradition campus to better serve its students. Both buildings have been designed to provide spaces for our students to meet, collaborate, study and learn," Conner said. |
| Speaker of the House Jason White to deliver keynote address at ICC commencement | |
| Mississippi Rep. Jason White will be the speaker for Itawamba Community College's 10 a.m. commencement ceremony May 10, at the Davis Event Center on the Fulton Campus. White was elected as Mississippi's 62nd speaker of the house in January 2024. In August 2011, the Kosciusko native began his service in the Mississippi House of Representatives, District 48, which consists of portions of Attala, Carroll, Holmes and Leake counties. Following re-election in 2016, he was named rules chairman and elected Republican floor leader by the Republican Caucus. In 2020, his Mississippi House colleagues elected him Speaker Pro Tempore, and his fellow Republicans elected him Republican Caucus chairman. White, who is also the city attorney for Kosciusko, represents a number of governmental entities and utility boards and providers. He previously served as a municipal court judge and a youth court judge, as well as serving on the Board of Aldermen for the Town of West. He is involved in a number of civic duties, including holding the positions of president of the Attala County Bar Association and president of the West Historical and Preservation Society. White earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from Mississippi College. He graduated from law school in 1998 and has practiced law in his hometown of Kosciusko his entire career. |
| A Georgia beach aims to disrupt Black students' spring bash after big crowds brought chaos in 2023 | |
| Thousands of Black college students expected this weekend for an annual spring bash at Georgia's largest public beach will be greeted by dozens of extra police officers and barricades closing off neighborhood streets. While the beach will remain open, officials are blocking access to nearby parking. Tybee Island east of Savannah has grappled with the April beach party known as Orange Crush since students at Savannah State University, a historically Black school, started it more than 30 years ago. Residents regularly groused about loud music, trash littering the sand and revelers urinating in yards. Those complaints boiled over into fear and outrage a year ago when record crowds estimated at more than 100,000 people overwhelmed the 3-mile (4.8 kilometer) island. That left a small police force scrambling to handle a flood of emergency calls reporting gunfire, drug overdoses, traffic jams and fist fights. Mayor Brian West, elected last fall by Tybee Island's 3,100 residents, said roadblocks and added police aren't just for limiting crowds. He hopes the crackdown will drive Orange Crush away for good. "This has to stop. We can't have this crowd anymore," West said. "My goal is to end it." Orange Crush's supporters and detractors alike say it's not college students causing the worst problems. |
| Car break-ins, other thefts are high at Columbia student apartments | |
 | Dozens of crimes have been reported each year at private, off-campus student apartments surrounding the University of South Carolina in and around downtown Columbia, police reports show. Trends in the reports show that Columbia college students, many of whom are forced to live off campus due to a persistent lack of sufficient on-campus housing at USC, are susceptible to thefts and, sometimes, more violent crimes. The State and The Daily Gamecock newspapers recently published a joint analysis of the student housing environment for USC students, finding that upperclassmen at the university's flagship campus struggle to find reliable and affordable housing as more and more students are added to the student body. As part of the reporting process for that story, the two publications requested incident reports from four private student apartment complexes between January 2021 and November 2023 to determine what issues the Columbia Police Department was responding to at off-campus student housing. The reports showed the majority of incidents were tied to theft or car break-ins, but they also noted several violent incidents, including among students as well as a handful in which a student was attacked by a stranger. USC does not endorse or promote any student apartment, said Derenzo Thomas, the assistant director for community engagement in the Leadership and Service Center. Instead, he tells students and parents to do research on apartments and use the Community Crime Map to help make a decision about where is best to live. |
| Why Texas A&M's Lone Black Professor of Nursing Called It Quits | |
 | Last June, Arica Brandford received an unexpected message: a pair of public-records requests for her syllabi and emails dating back to January 1, 2022. She didn't recognize the requester -- a man named Thomas Jones -- and didn't know why he was asking for emails containing these words: Asian, Caucasian, White, lynchings, racist, or racism. Jones, as she would eventually learn, is the leader of the American Accountability Foundation, an advocacy group that, in its own words, "deploys aggressive research and investigations to advance conservative messaging." To Brandford, the only tenure-track Black faculty member at Texas A&M University's School of Nursing, the request felt targeted, both because of her identity and the subject of her research -- implicit bias and racism in nursing. But she wanted to fulfill the request and move on. So that's what she did. Nearly five months later, Brandford's emails would appear in an article by the Washington Examiner, which took aim at how Texas A&M's nursing school "required commitment to diversity and inclusion" in its hiring processes. Laura Morgan of Do No Harm, an advocacy group that lobbies against identity politics in health care, told the Examiner that Brandford was an example of a "pro-DEI foot soldier" and that, based on her previous advocacy work, Texas A&M should never have hired her. |
| College is hard enough -- try doing it while raising kids | |
 | When Keischa Taylor sees fellow students who are also parents around her campus, she pulls them aside and gives them a hug. "I tell them, 'Don't stop. You've got this. You didn't come this far to stop. You're not going to give up on yourself.'" Taylor is exceedingly well qualified to offer this advice. She began her college education in her early 20s, balancing it with raising two sons and working retail jobs in northern New Jersey. And she just finished her bachelor's degree last semester -- at 53. It's a rare success story. There are more than 5 million student parents attending U.S. colleges and universities. Yet they are disproportionately less likely to reach the finish line. Fewer than 4 in 10 graduate with a degree within six years, compared with more than 6 in 10 other students. Many have long had to rely on themselves and each other, as Taylor did, to make it through. Now, however, student parents are beginning to get more attention. A rule that took effect in California in July, for example, gives priority course registration at public colleges and universities to student parents, who often need more scheduling flexibility than their classmates. New York State in September expanded the capacity of child care centers at community colleges by 200 spots. Its campus child care facilities previously handled a total of 4,500 children, though most of those slots -- as at many institutions with child care on campus, nationwide -- went to faculty and staff. For Taylor, child care was a huge issue. She first attended Hudson County Community College in Jersey City, N.J., and later moved on to Rutgers University. While she was in community college, she put her sons in a Salvation Army day care center. |
| On National 'Day of Action for Higher Ed,' Some Rally, Others Strike | |
 | Howie Swerdloff has been a Rutgers University at New Brunswick lecturer for 14 years. A week ago, he said, while driving from a faculty meeting on the fall curriculum to teach a class, a text message appeared on his car's console telling him to read his email. He pulled off to the side of the road, read it and was shocked. Swerdloff learned he likely won't be around to teach that fall curriculum. And he wasn't alone: he said at least a score of other lecturers in the Rutgers Writing Program, which teaches writing to undergraduate students across the New Brunswick campus, are not being reappointed to teach. More than 100 classes are being cut and the maximum class sizes for the remaining instructors are increasing from 22 to 24, he said. A Rutgers spokesperson would not confirm or deny this Wednesday. But Swerdloff, secretary of Rutgers' adjunct union, isn't taking the cuts lying down. Nor were other faculty members during Wednesday's national Day of Action for Higher Education, which featured teach-ins, petitions, rallies and at least one new strike. According to Irene Mulvey -- president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), which had numerous local chapters take part in the day -- events took place on more than 100 campuses. Local AAUP chapters and other higher education unions organized the events, which weren't just about opposing program cuts or layoffs. The day was an attempt to spark a movement of students, faculty members and unions to push back against what the AAUP and other groups consider coordinated attacks from politicians and others on quality, "democratic" higher education. |
| Did USC set 'very bad precedent' by cancelling valedictorian speech over safety threats? | |
 | Five months ago, USC cited safety as a rationale for banning economics professor John Strauss, who is Jewish, from campus after student activists said they felt threatened when he approached them at a protest and said "Hamas are murderers. ... I hope they all are killed." "Our north star is protecting the safety of our community," a USC spokesperson said at the time. Now the university is again citing safety concerns for canceling a Muslim valedictorian's speech at its May commencement ceremony. More than six months after the Hamas attack on Israel that started a war, campus administrators nationwide are struggling to uphold principles of free expression amid mounting pressure from donors, legislators and activists who claim an ever-expanding amount of speech -- or potential speech -- subjects students not only to physical danger but also to psychological harm. Free speech advocates note that the decision regarding Asna Tabassum, a USC senior who is graduating with a major in biomedical engineering, was not caused by anything she said or planned to say. Instead, the university said, online discussion had taken on an "alarming tenor" as activists objected to her minor -- resistance to genocide -- and a link to a pro-Palestinian website Tabassum had shared on her Instagram profile. "This sets a very bad precedent," said Alex Morey, director of campus rights advocacy with the nonprofit civil rights group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "Moving forward, are they going to cancel every speech that could have anything to do with Israel-Palestine because they're worried about 'safety concerns'?" |
| At Heated Congressional Hearing, Lawmakers Scrutinize Columbia U.'s Response to Campus Antisemitism | |
| Congressional leaders berated Columbia University's president during a three-and-a-half-hour hearing over how her administration has responded to allegations of rampant antisemitism on campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, Columbia's president, was often interrupted when attempting to explain the difficulty of balancing student safety and free speech. The hearing, hosted by the U.S. House's Committee on Education and the Workforce, followed a similar hearing in December that ultimately led to the resignation of two Ivy League presidents --- Elizabeth Magill, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Claudine Gay, of Harvard University. Shafik did not attend the December hearing, citing a traveling conflict. Shafik appeared with David M. Schizer, former dean of Columbia Law School and co-chair of the university's antisemitism task force, as well as Claire Shipman and David Greenwald, co-chairs of the university's Board of Trustees. Throughout the hearing, Shafik and her team continued to emphasize the need to balance student safety with free speech, an issue that colleges across the country have been struggling with. Throughout the hearing, dozens of students in the hallway shouted "let the students in!" and "I am missing classes, let us in!" After the hearing, some of the Jewish students said they were disappointed in Shafik's responses and that they'd hoped she was going to be more supportive of them. |
| State incentives going strong | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: Flora entrepreneur Chip Estes sent me an email with an eye-popping attachment. It was the "Incentive Report" from the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA). ... There are tons of studies out there that show these types of company-specific subsidies hurt growth. I asked one legislative leader about this and his response was "I haven't seen those studies." This is a man that influences billions in state spending. All you have to do is Google "are company-specific subsidies good public policy" and you can spend the rest of the day reading these studies. I listened to another state leader tell a crowd, waving his hand across the room, that such subsidies are a waste. "You're just taking money from one employer and giving it to another." Yet come the big day of the special session, this leader was standing tall in the photo op with a big supportive smile on his face. There's just nothing a politician likes better than a big industrial ribbon cutting. The media (what's left of it) eats it up. The public loves the excitement of new jobs. Everybody's happy. Except for one thing: It doesn't work. Exhibit One: Our state population has stagnated over the last two decades. Exhibit Two: Our labor participation rate is one of the worst in the nation. Exhibit Three: Our job growth is one of the lowest in the nation. Yet we're leaders in the subsidy game. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs Cap Season At SEC Championships | |
| Mississippi State picked up a pair of wins during the opening round of the SEC Championships on Wednesday. But it would not be enough to extend the Bulldogs' season. MSU fell 4-1 to No. 67 Kentucky at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex capping the first season under head coach Chris Hooshyar. The Bulldog doubles duo of Dharani Niroshan and Maria Rizzolo teamed up for just the second time this season and downed the UK tandem of Maialen Morante and Julia Zhu. However, the Wildcats would win the doubles point by claiming the other two courts. State's lone win in singles came from freshman Jayna Clemens. Clemens topped Morante in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to secure her second straight singles win against a conference opponent. The Lewisville, Texas native clinched the Bulldogs' win over Missouri to close out the regular season this past Sunday. When Kentucky (9-14) clinched Wednesday's match, Niroshan and Alexandra Mikhailuk were beginning final sets after both Bulldogs rallied back for 6-3 victories in their second set. Mississippi State closes the 2023-24 campaign with a 10-14 record. |
| In college football's NIL and transfer portal era, does the 85-scholarship limit matter? | |
| At almost any college football program, Cam Goode would have been among the 85 players receiving a full-ride scholarship. Goode played at Michigan, which had one of the deepest rosters of any team since the 85-man scholarship limit took effect in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1994. Before the 2023 season, Goode was asked to give up his scholarship to make room for another player. Instead of transferring to a school that could offer him a scholarship, Goode chose to stay at Michigan and pay for his tuition through name, image and likeness deals. Though he didn't have "the craziest NIL opportunities," he said, Goode was part of a team that went 15-0 and won the national championship. "I'm just thankful I had that experience," Goode said. "It opened the doors for everybody." Goode is far from alone: At many programs, players are receiving NIL as a way of going above the NCAA scholarship limit of 85 per team. It's a way to have a deeper roster and keep veteran players around. But not everyone is doing it. Some programs that typically bring in top-ranked classes, such as Georgia, and the ones doing well in the transfer portal, like Ole Miss, seem to prefer to focus on the top 50 or so players, rather than send NIL money to the 86th, 87th and 88th players on their rosters. "We are focusing on our two-deep roster, with a few position groups stretching to three-deep for depth," said Walker Jones, head of the Grove Collective at Ole Miss, which signed some of the top players out of the transfer portal in the winter cycle. "Dollars are just too hard to come by right now to spend that far down the roster." |
| New NIL rules inch ball forward as all eyes remain focused on House antitrust case | |
| The headlines from the NCAA Division I Council meetings may suggest that the governing body is moving the ball forward in a meaningful way on industry reform: The Council approved proposals that allow schools to provide "assistance and services" to their athletes as they pursue NIL deals. That includes schools identifying NIL opportunities for athletes and being permitted to "facilitate deals" with third parties if athletes disclose deals valued at $600 or more to their schools. But given the unprecedented level of industry disruption and widespread anticipation regarding a new financial model on the horizon, what emerged from this week's meetings represents baby steps. It calls to mind the old John Wooden quote but with a twist: "Never mistake activity for (progress)." What was in fact notable was that the Council did not consider NCAA President Charlie Baker's Project D-I reform proposal, which was unveiled in December amid much fanfare. Elements of Project D-I have been assigned to various committees within the NCAA's multilayered structure. They have not yet come back to the Council, a source familiar with the meetings told On3. Industry sources say the NCAA's leading stakeholders are pumping the brakes on expediting Baker's proposal through the laborious NCAA legislation process because of ongoing legal issues, most notably the landmark House antitrust case. The NCAA and power conferences could be on the hook for some $4.2 billion owed to thousands of athletes for retroactive NIL pay and shares of broadcast revenue. Plaintiffs' lawyers are using Baker's proposal to try to bolster their arguments in the case. |
| Virginia law allows schools to pay athletes for NIL | |
| Schools in Virginia will be able to directly pay athletes via name, image and likeness deals thanks to a state law signed Thursday morning, marking another significant step in the professionalization of college sports. The new law, which is scheduled to take effect July 1, is the first in any state to make it illegal for the NCAA to punish a school for compensating athletes for their NIL rights. Current NCAA rules prohibit schools from signing NIL deals with their own players. The law could either give Virginia schools a significant recruiting advantage or provide a catalyst for similar changes elsewhere. "If this law gets us closer to a federal or a national solution for college athletics then it will be more than worthwhile," University of Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said. "Until then, we have an obligation to ensure we maintain an elite athletics program at UVA." Administrators from the University of Virginia took a leading role in crafting the legislation with help from colleagues at Virginia Tech, according to its author, commonwealth delegate Terry Austin. Both Williams and Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock declined to share details about how they are planning to use the new opportunities presented by the law. The law explicitly states that athletes should not be considered employees of their school. |
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