| Monday, April 22, 2024 |
| Super Bulldog Weekend brings economic boost to Starkville | |
 | The MSU baseball game kicks off Super Bulldog Weekend, the biggest weekend in the spring for Starkville. MSU baseball and other events draw huge crowds every year to the town, and if you haven't booked your room yet, well. "Last year for Super Bulldog weekend, our hotels were sold out and they are again this year," Hunt said. Paige Hunt is the Director of Tourism at the Greater Starkville Development Partnership. She said the increase in tourism means money in the pockets of Starkville business owners and workers and a big, budget boost for the city. "We know that the visitors that are coming and spending the weekend are spending a lot of money and are spending those dollars and they are leaving those tax dollars behind to benefit the city of Starkville. It's a green economy, right? So the visitors are coming in spending the money and then leaving and not using the services that those taxes help pay for," Hunt said. Campus BookMart store clerk Pam Minyard said her store is ready for the rush. "Already, we've been a little bit busy this morning so we are getting ready. We're cleaning up and getting everything restocked so that we are ready for everybody to come find something. We've got something that they are going to want," Minyard said. |
| Tennessee musician Briston Maroney to headline Old Main Music Festival | |
 | Concertgoers will enjoy singer-songwriter Briston Maroney's '90s folk- and indie rock-infused sound as the Tennessee-based musician headlines this year's Old Main Music Festival on April 26 at 9 p.m. at Mississippi State's amphitheater. Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium will serve as the venue in case of rain. Noted for the "distinct energy of his sound, anchored in strikingly poetic lyricism" by Boston University's WTBU Radio, Maroney has about 2.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and his song "Freakin' Out On the Interstate" has more than 215 million streams on the platform. Maroney first gained national attention almost a decade ago when he performed on an episode of "American Idol" and advanced as a semi-finalist on the competitive-singing TV show. After independently releasing two EPs in 2015 and 2017 and following those up with major-label EPs in 2018 and 2019, his first full-length album "Sunflower" debuted in 2021 on Atlantic Records. The follow-up record "Ultrapure" was released last year. Along with non-stop music that begins on the local stage, food trucks and an art market with about 25 vendors open at 2 p.m. The 2024 IFC Cookoff also takes place at 2 p.m. Tickets to the cookoff, which supports Bully's Pantry, are $3 and will be sold on site while supplies last. |
| Mississippi State team honored with national architectural education award | |
 | Three Mississippi State University professors are part of a team receiving a recent Architectural Education Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architects. The Professional Horizons team -- including MSU professors Hans Herrmann, Abbey Franovich and Ashley Studdard-Hughes, along with the Design Leadership Foundation's Thomas Kligerman -- was honored with the 2024 AIA/ACSA Practice and Leadership award. "This year, MSU's award application was the only winning submission among all 175 recognized National Architecture Accreditation Board programs across North America and beyond," said Herrmann. Recognizing "best practice" examples of highly effective teaching, scholarship and outreach in the areas of professional practice and leadership, the award celebrates the team's multi-year efforts for its Professional Horizons work, the shared name encompassing both a New York City-based work-study summer program and a workshop initiative that promotes professional development and job search skills. "In short, it is a recognition of our efforts in conjunction with the Design Leadership Foundation to bring awareness and access to potential career tracks," Herrmann explained. |
| Artists with disabilities showcase, sell their art | |
| A blank, maroon canvas sits at the front of the room. It, and the expectant crowd gathered before it, are waiting for Kendrell Daniels. Painting demonstrations aren't new to the Kemper native and junior art major at Mississippi State University. This is his third year painting live for this very event, and in honor of Super Bulldog Weekend, he's chosen baseball as the theme for Saturday's piece. "I still get a little nervous," he admits. Without saying a word, Daniels calmly approaches the canvas, and the crowd hushes in near reverent respect. Then the artist reaches down with his left foot to grab his brush between his toes, dips it into white paint and masterfully applies the first strokes to what will become his latest work. Daniels was one of five artists featured in the third annual Express Yourself! art show and auction in the T.K. Martin Center at MSU. Those artists range from ages 9 to 48, and they all have some type of disability -- physical, mental or intellectual. Dozens of pieces the artists created, from paintings to greeting cards to ceramics, were displayed around the room for silent auction, with patrons filtering through to view and place bids. They could also bid on Daniels' live painting. The event brings between $5,000 and $8,000 each year, said Kasee Stratton-Gadke, executive director for the Mississippi Institute on Disabilities, which houses the T.K. Martin Center. Half the proceeds go to the artists, she said, and half support the Express Yourself! program, which offers art classes to people with disabilities. |
| MSU hosts first ever veteran's horsemanship program cookout | |
| Mississippi State University wants veterans to be more aware of the resources around them. Lori Irvin is an Extension Service Associate at Mississippi State. She said this was a great way to build more connections and showcase the horsemanship program. "We are having a veteran's lunch to celebrate our veteran's horsemanship program," said Irvin. "The many participants that have been through it since we started and just to bring more awareness to the program and the benefits to the people that might want to participate." The veteran's horsemanship program offers horseback riding and bonding with horses. Audrey Sheridan is a Research and Extension Associate at Mississippi State. She said the program is all about helping those who served and fought for our country. Gilbert Spencer and Louie Bennett participated in the veteran's horsemanship program. They said it helped them to become more outgoing. "The horses understand us more than we understand ourselves sometimes," said Bennett. "It gives us something to look forward to and come in and train with. It gets us back to basically being ourselves, I did not know what all a horse felt, but being around this program has helped me tremendously." |
| Volunteers clean Starkville roadways for Earth Day | |
 | Earth Day is April 22, and in Starkville, volunteers are already celebrating. Members of the Starkville Town and Country Garden Club and students and staff from Starkville Academy picked up 49 bags worth of trash that was along six roadways on Friday, a news release said. Six teams worked to clean up Louisville Street North and South, Highway 389, Highway 12 West, Reed Road, and Industrial Park Road. |
| Day care can keep purple awning, must repaint outside walls | |
| When Ewaldson Francois and his wife Martisa repainted Empowerment Station Academy on Whitfield Street in June 2022, their goal was to bring fun, bright colors to the day care both inside and out. "We were trying to make it lively for the kids," Francois told The Dispatch Friday. "More color." The pair painted the building's exterior walls yellow and green, adding purple for the awning and bright blue doors, modeling it after another child care center Francois owns in Monroe County. While Francois initially heard no complaints about either location, he said, about a year later, they received a letter saying the colors were against Starkville's Unified Development Code. That letter sparked a months-long process of applying for a special exception to the code, which among other things governs facade colors for commercial structures. Francois came before the board of aldermen first on Jan. 16, then again Tuesday night, asking to keep some combination of his bright colors. Instead, the board approved an exception for the purple awning and blue doors, but ordered the exterior walls changed to a neutral color. |
| Port expanding rail on east bank to draw future clients | |
| More than $2 million in Mississippi Department of Transportation funding is heading to the Lowndes County Port and the Golden Triangle Regional Airport for long-term projects. The port was awarded $1.5 million and GTRA about $625,000 from MDOT's Strategic Multi-Modal Investments Program grant funds. MDOT puts about $30 million into a pot to be divided between rail, port and airport facilities across the state. The port and GTRA are the only entities in the Golden Triangle that received awards. Lowndes County Port Director Will Sanders told The Dispatch the money would go toward the first phase of a master plan to improve the port's east bank and make it more marketable for future clients. The airport is building a new terminal, located on the second floor of the current structure. It will include a larger waiting area for passengers, as well as a jet bridge to connect directly to the aircraft. As it stands, passengers have to walk outside of the terminal to board an airplane. The approximately $625,000 will be used as matching funds for approximately $11.3 million in Federal Aviation Administration funding GTRA has already received, Executive Director Matt Dowell told The Dispatch. The total project cost is around $12 million. Construction is underway, Dowell said. |
| Mississippi Power strengthening Coast power grid in yearly battle with Mother Nature | |
 | Mississippi Power is preparing for this year's hurricane season just over a month away and for hurricane seasons for years to come. Starting next week, wooden poles in the most storm prone areas of Biloxi and Gulfport will be replaced with steel or concrete poles designed to better withstand wind and surge from tropical storms. The work installing steel poles will begin on Switzer Road in Gulfport and crews from Mississippi Power and companies contracted to do the work will continue east toward Biloxi. Concrete poles will be installed starting on Maples Drive in Gulfport. More than 250 power poles will be upgraded in these two projects that are expected to be complete by the end of the year. When complete, more than 8,000 power poles are targeted to be converted to steel and concrete across the Coast. "Delivering reliable power is how we bring value to our customers. It's what they expect from us," said Melvin Roland, vice president of power delivery and division operations. The project is protection for more than hurricanes. When a tornado tore through downtown Moss Point in 2023, Shepard said, 75 poles had to be repaired or replaced over two days. "Our grid investments have helped our customers avoid more than 5 million outage minutes since the beginning of 2023," Roland said, which helps the company achieve reliability for more than 191,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. |
| Jackson library to be razed for green space near history museums | |
 | A public library that fell into disrepair will be torn down to make way for a new green space near two history museums that have become one of the top tourist attractions in Mississippi's capital city. The board of the state Department of Archives and History on Friday approved a demolition permit for the Eudora Welty Library, which is named after the acclaimed author but did not house important documents from her. The library is near the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, which opened under the same roof in 2017. The museums are a short distance from the Capitol building. Part of the Welty library flooded after a storm damaged the roof in 2013. The building faced expensive problems with its air conditioning system in 2022 and 2023, and city officials decided not to spend money on repairs. The Department of Archives and History acquired the structure early this year. "We have the opportunity to replace an abandoned building with a beautiful public park that will be an asset to our capital city," Archives and History board president Spence Flatgard said in a news release from the department. The department said demolition could begin by June 1. |
| Jackson Prep hosting Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday for event | |
 | The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives will make his way to the Magnolia State to speak with community members and students at Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood on April 25. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, will be speaking about his recent rise to the top seat within the US House and how he intends to lead the party moving forward. The event is hosted by the National Apostolic Christian Leadership Conference, a national religious organization with the Apostolic Church seeking to provide public forums for the public to hear from elected officials throughout the country. Ron Matis, NACLC executive director and political liaison for the church, said this would be the second of such events organized by NACLC, with the first having taken place in October 2023 with Robert Kennedy Jr. at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in downtown Jackson. "The (event) is really going to give a chance for (Johnson) to share his story," Matis said. "Where he comes from, and what propelled him to want to serve in public office. I think there'll be an opportunity from a policy perspective to branch off into talking about some of the issues Congress is facing, but that's not really the main focus. The main focus is letting people get a sense of him as a human being and a leader." The event will feature a speech from Johnson, as well as a Q&A between Johnson and a handful of students, Matis said. "It's important to get students to participate," Matis said. |
| House passes $95.3B aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan | |
 | Six months after President Joe Biden first asked for it, the House passed a tweaked version of his emergency aid package for key U.S. allies with strong bipartisan support, sending it back to the Senate for a final vote. The $95.3 billion supplemental spending measure passed under an unusual procedure in which lawmakers voted on four separate bills that were then put together into one vehicle, replacing the text of a similar Senate-passed bill that came over from that chamber two months ago. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said a final vote could occur as soon as Tuesday, which would deliver it to Biden's desk for his signature. The largest piece, $60.8 billion for Ukraine, passed on a 311-112 vote after lawmakers from both sides of the aisle turned aside GOP amendments intended to gut that bill, including one from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to strike every dollar from the package. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the House's decisions Saturday echoed those that confronted America and Europe ahead of World War II. "Our adversaries are watching us here today, and history will judge us on our actions here today," McCaul said. "So as we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself: Am I Chamberlain or am I Churchill?" |
| How Mike Johnson Got to 'Yes' on Aid to Ukraine | |
 | For weeks after the Senate passed a sprawling aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, Speaker Mike Johnson agonized over whether and how the House would take up funding legislation that would almost certainly infuriate the right wing of his party and could cost him his job. He huddled with top national security officials, including William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, in the Oval Office to discuss classified intelligence. He met repeatedly with broad factions of Republicans in both swing and deep red districts, and considered their voters' attitudes toward funding Ukraine. He thought about his son, who is set to attend the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall. And finally, when his plan to work with Democrats to clear the way for aiding Ukraine met with an outpouring of venom from ultraconservatives already threatening to depose him, Mr. Johnson, an evangelical Christian, knelt and prayed for guidance. "I want to be on the right side of history," Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, recalled the speaker telling him. Mr. Johnson's decision to risk his speakership to push the $95 billion foreign aid bill through the House on Saturday was the culmination of a remarkable personal and political arc for the Louisiana Republican. It was also an improbable outcome for a man plucked from relative obscurity last fall by the hard right -- which had just deposed a speaker they deemed a traitor to their agenda -- to be the speaker of a deeply dysfunctional House. |
| U.S.-China Internet War Intensifies as House Passes TikTok Ban | |
 | The U.S. isn't the first country to attempt a ban on TikTok, the Chinese-owned app used by millions of Americans daily. WSJ breaks down TikTok bans and how they work in practice. Photo illustration: Annie Zhao In the yearslong technology fight between the U.S. and China, the Americans are poised to land a major punch. The House on Saturday easily passed a bill that would force a sale or ban of TikTok, which is owned by China–based ByteDance, bringing closer to reality a law that could remove the popular app and deepen the internet divide between the two countries. The measure, which passed 360-58 and was tied to a sweeping aid package for Israel and Ukraine, would give ByteDance up to a year to sell the app -- compared with the six-month period proposed in a prior bill. If ByteDance can't find a buyer within that time, TikTok -- which has 170 million users in the U.S. -- would be banned. The Senate could vote on the bill in coming days. President Biden has previously said that he would sign such a bill into law. Amid the drama in Washington, Erich Andersen, general counsel for TikTok and ByteDance, told staff Sunday that he's planning to leave the company, according to an internal note reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The timeline is uncertain, according to people familiar with the matter. Andersen will help find his successor. Passage of the legislation, which targets China's most internationally successful app, comes as China steps up its longstanding campaign against U.S. and other foreign messaging and social-media services. |
| Trump Secret Service protection could be removed under Bennie Thompson proposed legislation | |
| Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson from Mississippi, the Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, introduced legislation that would remove Secret Service protection from anyone convicted of a felony and sentence to prison. According to a news release, the Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable Former Protectees Act or the Disgraced Former Protectees Act (H.R. 8081) would reform the U.S. Secret Service's protective mission by automatically terminating Secret Service protection for those who have been sentenced to prison following conviction for a federal or state felony -- clarifying that prison authorities would be responsible for the protection of all inmates regardless of previous Secret Service protection. "Unfortunately, current law doesn't anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee -- even a former President. It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment -- and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them," the news release said. |
| Prosecutors say Trump's hush money was 'election interference.' Will jurors -- and voters -- believe it? | |
 | When prosecutors deliver opening statements Monday in the trial of former President Donald Trump, one of their critical goals will be to convince jurors that the charges are as serious as they are salacious. It may be a challenge in a case prominently featuring a porn star, a Playboy playmate, the National Enquirer and allegations of about $300,000 in hush money paid in 2016 to keep a lid on allegations of extramarital affairs by Trump. But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his surrogates have insisted that, beneath the sordid details on the surface, the felony charges are really about election interference. Trump, meanwhile, has claimed that the case itself is election interference of a different kind. It's not yet clear how jurors -- or Americans voters -- will see it. No matter what, the trial is indisputably historic. No sitting president or former president has ever faced criminal charges before. Nor has any serious presidential candidate faced prosecution in the middle of a campaign. But the prosecution also bears the burden of being seen as the least weighty of the four criminal cases Trump faces. Bragg was once decidedly unenthusiastic about charging Trump at all. And when Bragg finally did so, he signaled no particular eagerness to have his case go to trial before the other criminal cases. |
| Supreme Court will weigh banning homeless people from sleeping outside | |
| The Supreme Court will consider Monday whether banning homeless people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The case is considered the most significant to come before the high court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels in the United States. In California and other Western states, courts have ruled that it's unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter space is lacking. A cross-section of Democratic and Republican officials contend that makes it difficult for them to manage encampments, which can have dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. But hundreds of advocacy groups argue that allowing cities to punish people who need a place to sleep will criminalize homelessness and ultimately make the crisis worse. The Justice Department has also weighed in. It argues people shouldn't be punished just for sleeping outside, but only if there's a determination they truly have nowhere else to go. The case comes after homelessness in the United States grew a dramatic 12%, to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, according to federal data. |
| Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor dies at 89 | |
 | David Pryor, a Democrat who spent nearly 25 years on Capitol Hill and two terms in the governor's mansion, died Saturday in Little Rock. The former U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator was 89 years old. He leaves behind his wife, Barbara, and three sons -- David Jr., Scott, and Mark, the former state attorney general and two-term U.S. senator. In a written statement, former President Bill Clinton described Pryor as "one of Arkansas' greatest servant leaders and one of the finest people I have ever known." "David made politics personal -- from his famed retail campaigning to his ability to calmly and confidently explain tough votes to his constituents. He was honest, compassionate, and full of common sense. He really loved the people he represented, and they loved him back," Clinton said. Adored by Arkansas Democrats and unbeaten by the state's Republicans, Pryor never lost a November election. "David Pryor had a personal, a human touch, that endears him to all Arkansans," said former Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The senator was "a servant of Arkansas" whose "influence is historic and longstanding," Hutchinson added. Some Republican colleagues also came to love and respect him. "David Pryor was a person that both sides trusted completely," said former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., whose three terms coincided with Pryor's. |
| After UAW victory in Tennessee, what's next for unions in the South | |
 | When the news was announced Friday night that the United Auto Workers had successfully organized Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, the supporters gathered at I.B.E.W. Local 175 jumped, cheered and hugged. The results were hardly in doubt from the moment the first tally was posted. The union lead by more than 70% and kept that lead throughout the night. In the end, 73% of the eligible VW workers voted to join the union, according to the National Labor Review Board, which oversaw the three-day election. Of the 4,326 workers eligible to vote, 3,613 cast ballots. The historic victory is the first step in the UAW's campaign to grow its membership in the South, a region that has been historically anti-union. "They said Southern workers aren't ready for it. But you all said, watch this. You all moved the mountain," UAW President Shawn Fain said to cheering VW workers after the victory. In February, the union's board unanimously voted to spend $40 million on its organizing efforts -- mostly targeted for campaigns in the South. It will get another chance in a mid-May vote to organize workers at the Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The conservative politicians that hold power today across the South continue to fiercely oppose unions. Days before the voting began in Chattanooga, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee and five other Southern governors issued a joint statement urging workers at VW to reject the union. |
| Earth Day: How a senator's idea more than 50 years ago got people fighting for their planet | |
| Millions of people around the world will pause on Monday, at least for a moment, to mark Earth Day. It's an annual event founded by people who hoped to stir activism to clean up and preserve a planet that is now home to some 8 billion humans and assorted trillions of other organisms. Earth Day has its roots in growing concern over pollution in the 1960s, when author Rachel Carson's 1962 book, "Silent Spring," about the pesticide DDT and its damaging effects on the food chain, hit bestseller lists and raised awareness about nature's delicate balance. But it was a senator from Wisconsin, Democrat Gaylord Nelson, who had the idea that would become Earth Day. Nelson had long been concerned about the environment when a massive offshore oil spill sent millions of gallons onto the Southern California coast in 1969. Nelson, after touring the spill site, had the idea of doing a national "teach-in" on the environment, similar to teach-ins being held on some college campuses at the time to oppose the war in Vietnam. This year's Earth Day is focusing on the threat that plastics pose to our environment, with a call to end all single-use plastic and find replacements for their use so they can quickly be phased down. |
| MUW hosts first ever Family Fun Day | |
| Mississippi Public Broadcasting is having fun on the road and the network made a stop in Columbus on April 20. Mississippi University for Women hosted "MPB Fun Day." The event featured activities for all ages, including educational displays, hands-on experiences, and games. Students from MSMS hosted a percussion petting zoo that gave participants hands-on experience with instruments like drums and xylophones. Organizers say they want to make learning fun for kids. "Everyone feels welcome," Jace Ferraez said. "We want a diverse environment of all cultures and neighborhoods and that fits really in on the Preservation Society theme." "Then of course we are all about preserving historic places and buildings but we want to do so through education and advocacy so those topics must be fun to kids so they can have these interactive, hands-on learning tools and that their parents can have them for their kids to learn about education, arts, history, and, culture." |
| UM mechanical engineering professor earns NSF CAREER Award | |
| A University of Mississippi engineering professor has won the National Science Foundation's most prestigious award for early career researchers for his upcoming work in 4D printing. The National Science Foundation awarded Yiwei Han, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, with an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program grant. The award allots more than $576,000 toward Han's research into 4D printing technology and marks Han as a potential national leader and role model in his field. Han's research is focused on additive manufacturing -- the process of creating an object by building it one layer at a time. Four-dimensional printing builds on the concept of 3D printing with an additional component: the product can change after printing if given the right stimulus. A 4D-printed product is designed to change shape, properties or functionality when it is exposed to certain temperature, humidity, UV light or other triggers. The technology has potential uses in the medical field, aerospace and automotive engineering and in construction and architecture, among other applications, Han said. "With original 3D printing, what you print will stay the same forever," he said. "With 4D printing, if you give it heat or light or something else, it can change." |
| Ole Miss grad student uses her book to teach children about food insecurity | |
| Elizabeth Swindell, a graduate student in Public Health at Ole Miss, is taking a unique approach to addressing food insecurity among elementary-aged children through her recently published children's book, "Two Sandwiches: Make One, Give One." Swindell, an alumna of Ole Miss with a degree in nutrition, is the reigning Miss Queen of the South. She recently visited schools across Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Alabama to share her book and school program. Locally, she has visited Lafayette Lower Elementary three times and will be visiting Pontotoc Elementary next month. The program includes reading "Two Sandwiches" to students and engaging them in making two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches -- one for themselves and one for a friend. "With Mississippi being the No. 1 most food insecure state, I focus on spreading the message of food waste and food insecurity awareness as well as the importance of access to a healthy diet," Swindell said. |
| Jackson State hosts 2024 Thee I Love Bash | |
 | Jackson State students got the chance to compete for prizes and more during a basketball skills competition in the Thee I Love Bash on Saturday, April 20. Cateatra Mallard, director of the JSU Center for Student Engagement and Leadership, said the event is a great way to highlight students and their efforts. "This is a big finale, and our students have had a really interesting year. Thee I Love commemorates the semester and the school year and their academics right before they go into finals," Mallard explained. Organizers said the PepsiCo Foundation awarded $20,000 to one student to go towards their education and professional growth. The event even had Hip-hop artist Lil Durk as a special guest. |
| Here are the changes to the university senate that will be presented to U. of Kentucky board | |
 | The University of Kentucky university senate will lose its policy-making power and a new advisory board will be created under the proposed shared governance model announced Friday. It's the next step in what has been an ongoing process and debate between faculty and administration. President Eli Capilouto will present the new governance structure to the board of trustees April 25 and 26. His proposed structure moves the university senate from a policy-making body to an advisory faculty senate. The Student Government Association and the staff senate would remain as advisory bodies at UK. Items that the university senate currently approves, like new courses, curriculum or academic programs, would instead be approved by departments or colleges, then the provost, before going to the board for approval. Giving more decision-making power about curriculum and courses to the colleges and departments has been a focus for Capilouto throughout this process. "Our current structure -- and the guiding principles of our institution in the form of the (governing regulations) -- don't do that, now," Capilouto said in an email to faculty on Friday evening. "We need rules and structures for shared governance that help, not hinder, our progress. As difficult as change can be, it's time to act." |
| Governor, UGA president gather for groundbreaking at medical school | |
 | Many of the men and women directly responsible for creating a University of Georgia School of Medicine gathered Friday afternoon on the campus in Athens for a ceremonial ground-breaking of a new facility.After speeches giving recognition to those who used their influence and worked to gain state financial support, a select number were positioned to hold shovels at long pile of dirt. Numerous photographs were made as those who lined up on both sides of Gov. Brian Kemp tossed a shovel of dirt to celebrate the day. The landscape where they stood will soon change as a 92,000-square-foot building will be erected on the campus located off Prince Avenue in what is called Normaltown. The building for medical education and research was hailed as a needed response to the physician shortage faced by Georgia. UGA President Jere Morehead, University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue, Gov. Kemp and Michelle Nuss, the Founding Dean for the school, all praised what this facility will provide for healthcare in Georgia. "Today is an exciting and transformational moment at the University of Georgia," Morehead said, adding that UGA is in a unique position to address the healthcare needs of the state through education, research and community outreach. Morehead, along with Perdue, Nuss and Kemp, also praised the partnership UGA has had with the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. |
| At the Honey Bee Lab in Baton Rouge, scientists are cross pollinating for the greater good | |
 | Down a stretch on Ben Hur Road in Baton Rouge between LSU's campus and the Mississippi River, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Services Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Unit is busy. For 95 years, a swarm of scientists have conducted field and laboratory research to solve problems affecting the commercial beekeeping industry and produce healthier honey bee colonies. "At the end of the day, we've built our entire agroecosystem around these insect pollinators," said Elizabeth Walsh, a research entomologist at the lab, "and we have to do all we can to safeguard our food security -- and also do right by our stakeholders." The tiny, buzzing companions are essential to our existence, sustaining the world's agriculture and biodiversity, along with other pollinators like butterflies, bats and hummingbirds. Experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that a third of the world's food production depends on bees. Plus, nearly 90% of the world's wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination. |
| A desegregated U. of South Carolina began with 3 students. Their legacy is now forever cemented on campus | |
 | On a hot day in September 1963, Henrie Monteith Treadwell, Robert Anderson and James Solomon Jr. descended the steps of USC's Osborne Administration Building and walked toward Hamilton College, where they would first register for classes. They did so not with fear, Treadwell said, but while holding their breath. After nearly a century of barring students of color, the University of South Carolina was finally desegregated. "People must understand that my walking across that threshold was not the end of the story," Treadwell said in September at the groundbreaking for a monument to honor the three students. "My walking across that threshold was the beginning of a story." A 12-foot bronze sculpture commemorating the iconic photo of that very moment now stands proudly on USC's historic Horseshoe near the McKissick Museum, a permanent celebration of a turning point in the university's history. The statue was unveiled during a ceremony on Friday morning. "It's a special moment for us," said USC Board Chairman Thad Westbrook. The monument is at the "heart" of campus, said Dorn Smith, USC board member and former board chair. The board hand-picked its location so that every man, woman and child who comes to visit will walk past it and enjoy it. |
| Layoffs and upheaval at Texas universities spur fear as lawmakers continue DEI crackdown | |
| In his first public comments since the University of Texas at Austin laid off around 50 employees that used to work in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, President Jay Hartzell tried to explain the fragility of the moment. Like universities across the state, UT-Austin has scrambled to comply with Senate Bill 17, the new state law banning DEI offices, programs and training at public universities. After closing a multicultural center and ending a scholarship for undocumented students, Hartzell believed the flagship university was in compliance when the ban went into effect in January. But Hartzell now felt the initial changes would not be enough to placate Republican legislators, who have put higher education under a microscope, he said on a Zoom call with faculty on Monday. "The legislative climate toward higher education has been moving. And it's moved even since the bill was passed in June," Hartzell said. "We have to make choices to worry about the long-run future of the university." Many faculty had turned their cameras off. Instead of faces, Hartzell stared back at red-and-black virtual backgrounds in the Zoom grid that read"No DEI=Not Our Texas," a form of silent protest from the faculty. At a time when Republicans have become increasingly critical of the culture at higher education institutions, Hartzell and other university leaders must balance the concerns of the students and faculty who breathe life into their campuses, and Republican leaders that provide critical funding that keep the lights on. State legislators have already identified enforcement of the DEI ban as a legislative priority for the upcoming session. |
| Schulz departing as Washington State University president | |
| Washington State University President Kirk Schulz announced Friday that he will retire at the end of next year, bringing his nearly decade-long stint as the university's top leader to an end. Schulz, who was appointed to the role in 2016, disclosed his plans at the tail-end of a Board of Regents meeting on the university's Spokane campus Friday morning. The announcement comes as the university continues to grapple with the implications of the implosion of the Pac-12 Conference. Schulz has been at the forefront of the fight to ensure that the conference's only remaining members, Oregon State and WSU, continue to have a seat at the table of college athletics, whatever that future may look like. Schulz's retirement was met with an extended silence from the board. Chair Lisa Keohokalole Schauer said during the meeting that his retirement has been discussed with the Regents since June 2023, which has allowed them to prepare and take the proper steps to identify the university's next president. The search will be conducted by the national firm Isaacson, Miller, the same firm conducting the ongoing search for a new provost. |
| Is Financial Aid the New Affirmative Action? | |
 | The sticker price of a college degree is higher than ever, with several private institutions nearing a total cost of $100,000 a year. But at some of those same institutions, the country's wealthiest and most selective, the past year has also been one of pronounced growth in financial aid programs -- thanks in part to the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action last June. Last month, Dartmouth College nearly doubled its annual family-income threshold for students to qualify for free tuition, room and board, from $65,000 to $125,000. In February, Vanderbilt University expanded its free-tuition program to include all families making less than $150,000, and will give extra support on room and board fees to many more. The University of Virginia and the University of North Carolina broadened their free tuition programs to cover in-state students from families making less than $100,000 and $80,000, respectively. Following the Supreme Court's decision, many observers predicted that colleges would adopt race-neutral alternatives to boost diversity, including a heightened focus on increasing socioeconomic diversity. When Duke University announced a free tuition program for families from the Carolinas making less than $150,000 just one week before the ruling, Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions, was coy but not dismissive of the connection. Doug Christiansen, Vanderbilt's dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid, told Inside Higher Ed that his university had been pursuing all kinds of diversity -- socioeconomic and geographic, as well as racial -- for many years, but last summer's ruling made affordability key to maintaining that diversity. |
| UC Berkeley's campus is in turmoil. It's unlike anything in recent memory. | |
| University of California, Berkeley's leaders are under tremendous pressure from Democrats at home as turmoil stemming from the war in Gaza shows no sign of easing. Liberal members of the state's legislative Jewish caucus have publicly castigated UC Berkeley for its handling of hostility toward Jewish students and professors amid the war. They're pushing state laws targeting antisemitism in response to the events -- including a violent protest of an Israeli speaker in late February that forced Jewish students to be evacuated. "There is nothing more indicative of the failure of our college campuses to protect students and protect free speech," Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who was UC Berkeley's student body president in 2002, said of the incident. While UC Berkeley hasn't been called before Congress, it is one of six universities nationwide facing an antisemitism probe from the Republican-led House education committee. It's also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's civil rights arm. The bicoastal criticism has magnified the challenges roiling UC Berkeley -- the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s -- six months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The tense confrontations, doxing of student activists and interfaculty disputes -- including a viral incident with a student activist during a graduation celebration in the backyard of Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky's home -- are emblematic of tensions that continue to tear apart American campuses. It's unlike anything the California university has seen in recent memory. |
| Another Wave of Unrest Grips Campuses | |
| Campus unrest stemming from the Israel-Hamas war ratcheted up over the weekend, following last week's Congressional testimony on antisemitism by Columbia University's leaders and the arrest of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters on the university's New York campus. But the tensions spread far beyond Morningside Heights, gripping campuses around the country. Discord continued to roil Columbia in the wake of President Minouche Shafik's decision to authorize police to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment on the South Lawn Thursday. More than 100 students were arrested. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators on other campuses around the country rallied in support of their peers at Columbia, New York's Daily News reported. The University of North Carolina chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine set up their own tent encampment on the Chapel Hill campus "to stand in solidarity with Columbia students who were unjustly detained for peaceful protesting," group members posted Friday on X. At Yale University, hundreds of students demonstrated to demand divestment from weapons manufacturers providing aid to Israel, the Hartford Courant reported. They built an encampment similar to Columbia's outside a dinner honoring President Peter Salovey, who is stepping down at the end of the academic year. The University of Pennsylvania effectively banned the pro-Palestinian student group Penn Against the Occupation on Friday by revoking its status as a registered student organization, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. |
| Speaker White reveals his good government conservatism | |
| Columnist Bill Crawford writes: Thank you, Jason White, for the boost to my withering hope that good government conservatives may one day lift Mississippi off the bottom. If you have not read the Speaker's April 8th interview with Mississippi Today writers Taylor Vance and Geoff Pender you should. In it, as conservative Republican White lays out his rationale for supporting Medicaid expansion, he reveals his good government conservatism. Here are some examples: "My Republicans think that is the smart, common sense, business-minded thing to do," White said, explaining that federal dollars would fully fund the first four years of expansion. "I'll admit this. Most of my Republicans don't get there because of compassion. They get there when they look at dollars and cents." Efficient, frugal government run like a business is a core tenet of good government conservatism. "We see an unhealthy population that's uncovered (by insurance)," White continued, pointing to input from business owners, hospitals, and doctors. "I'm convinced, and health care professionals have convinced me, that this population, this is the way to cover these individuals. Nothing else really makes sense." Effective government is another core tenet of good government conservatism. |
| Medicaid expansion arguments crumble under mild scrutiny | |
| The Magnolia Tribune's Russ Latino writes: In a March Mason-Dixon/Magnolia Tribune poll, a full 90-percent of Republican primary voters voiced opposition to Medicaid expansion for people who refuse to work. A full court press is underway, however, to get a Republican supermajority in the Mississippi Senate to cave on requiring a work requirement and commit to full Medicaid expansion before the close of session. Proponents have made a series of arguments to support their end goal. Those arguments fail under even mild scrutiny. |
| Agency that doles out tax credit funds to private schools can't say how the state money is being spent | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: House leaders, who say they want to bolster public education spending, have also proposed more than tripling the size of a program that sends millions in state funds to private schools even though information is not available on how the money is spent. The state Department of Revenue is responsible for certifying the private schools that are eligible to receive funds through the Children's Promise Act. But, according to responses provided by the Department of Revenue, no information is available on how the funds are spent. "DOR does not know how the funds were used," the agency said in response to questions from legislators. When asked the number of children served through the House-supported Children's Promise Act, DOR said, "This information is provided to DOR at the time of application ... but is not updated annually. DOR does not maintain this information other than with the original request." In the original application, "DOR reviews the information provided and issues a letter ruling advising whether they qualify or not. The original request is covered under confidentiality statutes." The House's desire to greatly expand the size of the Children's Promise Act comes against the backdrop of many public school advocates being concerned about the House leadership's effort to rewrite the long-standing Mississippi Adequate Education Program that provides the state's share of funds for the basics to operate local schools. |
SPORTS
| Baseball: Mississippi State comes back late to sweep doubleheader, series from Auburn | |
| Perhaps no pitcher exemplifies the turnaround Mississippi State's staff has made this spring quite like Tyson Hardin. Sure, the likes of Jurrangelo Cijntje and Tyler Davis have made drastic improvements with new pitching coach Justin Parker on board. But Hardin's 2023, his first year as a Bulldog after spending two seasons at Daytona (Fla.) State College, was particularly difficult. In 19 ⅔ innings, Hardin pitched to a team-worst 12.81 ERA, and in Southeastern Conference play, it was an even more gruesome 21.38 in just eight innings of work. This year? After a pair of rough outings early against Austin Peay and Georgia Southern, Hardin has not allowed a run in his last 10 appearances, covering 15 ⅔ innings. And he played a key role in both games of Sunday's seven-inning doubleheader against last-place Auburn, getting the final out for a save in the opener and pitching two scoreless innings in the nightcap, allowing the Bulldogs to come back and sweep both the twin bill and the three-game series. "Last year was hard," Hardin said. "But I trusted myself, I trusted this coaching staff with Parker coming in and just got to work and got after it. I made some changes and it's paid off." |
| What Mississippi State baseball proved in sweep of Auburn | |
| Mississippi State baseball had been treading water to this point. To make the postseason, SEC teams need to win home series and avoid getting swept on the road. The Bulldogs did enough Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader against Auburn. Parlayed with an 8-1 win Friday, they had clinched a series win and did enough to label it a successful weekend. However, for a coach who led the program to its first national title in 2021, doing just enough isn't the plan. With the Bulldogs trailing 3-1 late in Sunday's finale, he delivered a message in the dugout. "We're trying to get every game," Chris Lemonis said. "We're still fighting to gain some back. It's not OK. That's been the challenge. Once we won the first game, it's not OK. It's independent of everything." His team responded, scoring two in the seventh inning on Logan Kohler's double before securing a 4-3 win with a Connor Hujsak's single in the eighth. For the first time since 2021, the Bulldogs (26-14, 10-8 SEC) swept a conference opponent. It's likely no coincidence Sunday showed flashes of a team capable of reaching lofty goals for the first time since that 2021 national `title winning group. "Getting the sweep was what we wanted all day," Hujsak said. "We didn't want to get out of here just winning the series. (Lemonis) preaching that all day was big." |
| State Puts On A Show In Maroon And White Game | |
| It was exciting. It was action-packed. Mississippi State's annual Maroon and White Game served as the perfect introduction to what new head coach Jeff Lebby means when he talks about it being showtime at State. Using a unique scoring system, MSU's offense claimed a 67-53 victory over the defense on Saturday afternoon at Davis Wade Stadium. Both sides of the football provided highlights, standouts and reasons for Bulldogs everywhere to be excited about what's to come once the Lebby era officially kicks off this fall. Quarterbacks Blake Shapen and Chris Parson each had tremendous days. Shapen completed 18 of his 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns, while Parson was 7-of-13 through the air for 124 yards and a pair of scores. Both had completions of 60 yards or more. In fact, explosiveness was the theme of the day with four different State receivers catching passes for 40-plus yards. "It was good to see," Lebby said of his offense. "That's going to be a big part of who we are, creating explosive plays. I think that's obvious. But we've got to continue to get a lot better and we've got to get better in a lot of different areas. But was proud of our guys to be able to make some competitive plays and then there were a couple of others I thought we could've made that we've got to make." |
| Mississippi State football shows off Jeff Lebby offense in spring game | |
| Mississippi State football opened the Jeff Lebby era at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday with its annual spring game. It didn't take long to see why the Bulldogs hired the former Oklahoma offensive coordinator in November. The offense cruised to a 67-53 victory against the defense with a custom scoring system put into place for both sides to post points. While the defense held the early advantage, quarterback Blake Shapen quickly flipped momentum in his first action while donning an MSU jersey. Despite only playing in the first half, the Baylor transfer completed 18 of his 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns. When Mississippi State landed former UTEP receiver Kelly Akharaiyi, it was evident what Lebby was looking to add to his offense. After ranking fourth in the country last season with 21.52 yards per catch, the Bulldogs got big-play potential in Akharaiyi. That was on display during the first-team offense's third drive. After the offense fell behind 22-6, Shapen connected with Akharaiyi for a 40-yard touchdown in the first quarter to ignite the offense. Akharaiyi's play was complemented by another transfer opposite of him. Former Louisville receiver Kevin Coleman made the first big play of the contest -- on the first-team offense's second drive -- before Akharaiyi's touchdown catch. |
| Shapen, pass-catchers showcase big-play potential in Mississippi State's spring game | |
| Mississippi State's marketing team brought out all the slogans as soon as head coach Jeff Lebby was hired in late November. Showtime. Swag is State. Score From Far. Saturday's spring game presented the first opportunity for the Bulldogs' new-look offense to showcase that swagger in front of the public, and they delivered. Baylor transfer Blake Shapen looked right at home behind center, completing 18 of 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns despite not even playing in the second half. "Good to see. That's going to be a huge part of who we are, creating explosive plays," Lebby said. "We have to continue to get better in a lot of different areas, but I was proud of our guys for being able to make some competitive plays. There were a couple others I thought we could have made that we have to make." The offense defeated the defense 67-53 in a game that featured a special scoring system, but it took a few series for Shapen and sophomore quarterback Chris Parson to get going. Safety Chris Keys broke up a pass from Parson on third down early in the game, and linebacker Nic Mitchell combined with defensive lineman Trevion Williams to bring down Jeffery Pittman for a loss on the next drive. |
| Mississippi State football: Blake Shapen shows why he's Jeff Lebby's QB | |
| Blake Shapen completed a 43-yard pass to Kevin Coleman. Later in the first half, he threw a 40-yard pass to Kelly Akharaiyi. He also launched a 60-yard pass, again to Coleman. A spring game can only show so much, but for Mississippi State football on Saturday, the scrimmage at Davis Wade Stadium revealed the Bulldogs have a quarterback fit for new coach Jeff Lebby's offense. In one half, Shapen completed 18 of his 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns. For a coach who has continuously said he wants a fun and explosive offense taking the field, he appears to have found the right fit through the transfer portal. "Proud of Blake's demanor, his toughness, his edge, how he's worked." Lebby said. "Love the fact that he took care of the football today. He's got a ton of work to do. I think he's got a chance to be, not a good player, but a great player." |
| London native Traore looking to give Bulldogs much-needed tight end production | |
| Seydou Traore grew up playing 11-man football. Just not the kind that's most popular in the United States. A former standout soccer goalkeeper in his home city of London, Traore nonetheless became interested in American football, to the point where he moved to the U.S. for his senior year of high school in the hopes of earning a Division I football scholarship despite having never played the sport before. That one year at Clearwater Academy International in Florida was enough for Traore to garner interest from the likes of Florida State, Iowa State and Memphis, but he chose to sign with Arkansas State, his lone Football Bowl Subdivision offer. After appearing in 11 games as a true freshman in 2021 and coming on strong late in the year, Traore broke out in 2022, leading the Red Wolves with 655 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He was among the most productive tight ends in all of college football, piling up the fifth-most receiving yards at the position and leading all Sun Belt Conference tight ends in both receptions and yards. Traore entered the transfer portal after that sophomore season and landed at Colorado under Deion Sanders, but with the Buffaloes' roster in a constant state of churn, he transferred again after the spring, committing to Mississippi State in July of 2023. "It's been ups and downs, obviously," Traore said. "I knew I couldn't play last year, and I knew I was good enough to be on the field. It's all in timing. I know there's a bigger plan, so I just had to stay patient." |
| Meet the man responsible for bringing disorder to college athletics ... and who could shape its future | |
| On Thursday, within a matter of a few hours, the current unruly state of college athletics was on full display. The NCAA's transfer portal buzzed to life with dozens of new additions who've been lured away by financial inducements from booster-led collectives. The state of Virginia passed legislation that defies NCAA rules by permitting its schools to directly compensate athletes starting July 1. And finally, a national association filed a third complaint with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to make athletes employees. Meanwhile, within an auditorium on the campus of Howard University, the man who at least partially controls any future college athletics model -- the guy perhaps responsible for both bringing disorder to the landscape as well as determining a more stable future -- took the stage for a 90-minute panel discussion. Dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, Jeffrey Kessler peered through spectacles at the audience before him. Kessler, 69, is the lead attorney in what is shaping up to be the most revolutionary case in NCAA history -- an antitrust lawsuit that seeks billions of dollars in retroactive monetary damages to former athletes for name, image and likeness (NIL) pay. The case has the potential to, for one, cost the power conferences and NCAA enough money that many fear bankruptcy and, secondly, topple all NCAA compensation rules related to NIL. There is something else, too: A settlement of the case could produce a future athlete compensation model that will shape the industry for years to come, possibly bringing structure and solutions to the landscape likely in the form of athlete revenue sharing. |
| Why new Virginia NIL law is harbinger of things to come for NCAA | |
| If you're looking for significant progress on college sports reform these days, look to state legislatures rather than the NCAA. As NCAA President Charlie Baker's forward-thinking Project D-I proposal remains stuck in neutral because of a litany of ongoing lawsuits making their way through the courts, several states are passing permissive legislation that is moving the industry closer to a day when schools can directly pay players. "The NCAA has lost the fight on athlete compensation," said Mit Winter, a college sports attorney with Kennyhertz Perry. On Thursday, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed House Bill 1505, a piece of legislation that could well be a harbinger of what's to come nationwide. The bill will allow in-state schools to directly compensate athletes for promoting their schools and games, effective July 1. Additionally, Virginia is now the first state to make it illegal for the NCAA to punish schools for paying athletes for their NIL rights. It provides notable recruiting advantages for in-state schools, at least until other states pass similar legislation or the NCAA formally brings NIL in-house. Many stakeholders have long been preparing for a world in which schools can directly pay athletes. "Not only does this position us more competitively among other states during this critical time," Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock said. "But it also allows for more school involvement as we continue to enhance our recruiting and retention efforts to bring the most talented student-athletes to Virginia Tech." |
| Sign of the times: NCAA approves coach-to-player helmet communication for 2024 football season | |
| College football is ready to put the signs away. Following a sign-stealing scandal that rocked the sport and hung over Michigan's championship run in 2023, the NCAA's football oversight committee approved Friday the use of coach-to-player helmet communications in games for the 2024 season. The football rules committee last month made a recommendation to allow -- but not require -- teams at the highest tier of Division I to use radio technology similar to what NFL teams use. Only one player for each team will be permitted to be in communication with coaches while on the field. A green dot on the back of the helmet will be used to identify that player. The communication from the coach to the player will be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first. The rules committee had been moving toward coach-to-player communication in recent years, but it was slow to be implement because of concerns that not every school could afford to do it in an equitable way. During last year's bowl season, teams were permitted to experiment with helmet communication if both sides agreed to it. But no team was forced to use it and that will be the case going forward. Teams can still chose to signal in plays. The NCAA’s football oversight committee also approved the the use of computer tablets to view in-game video in coaching booths, on the sideline and in locker rooms. |
| Some Colleges Have Turned to Football to Raise Their Profile. Has It Worked? | |
 | Dave Scott, associate vice president for intercollegiate athletics at the University of West Florida, can remember a 2014 conversation with Judith Bense, president of the university then. It hadn't been long since the university announced it would be adding a football program, and she had just returned from an economic conference where attendees had heard the news. "You'd have thought our university had grown by 4,000 students," Bense said of the crowd's reaction, according to Scott. He added, "It created a buzz and interest." For the University of West Florida, adding football was part of a larger effort to grow from the two-year commuter campus it had been in the 1980s to a residential four-year university where students stick around on the weekends because there are games to attend. Football, Scott said, has helped the university establish name recognition around the state as coaches visit high schools looking for recruits. Other universities have chased that success story. But new research, published Wednesday in the journal Research in Higher Education, shows that tangible benefits from adding football are hard to find. Colleges that added football in the last two decades did not see the long-term benefits they may have sought, such as sustained higher enrollment, more tuition revenue, and growth in their male and Black student populations, the study found. The paper's authors noted at least one short-term benefit -- growth in enrollment -- but it was limited beyond the first year. |
| How the NFL views the NIL era: 'This whole draft landscape has changed' | |
| The bright lights and quarterback debates will be there as always when the NFL Draft starts Thursday night. But something's different this year, which will become more evident as the rounds turn and we get into Day 3 on Saturday. Only 58 underclassmen have declared for this week's draft -- down from 130 players in 2021 and the smallest number of underclassmen since 2011. For those in NFL circles, the introduction of NIL money is a clear factor. "It's crazy to fathom that some of these guys made more money in college than they will in the NFL," Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. Players started signing marketing deals after the Supreme Court's 2021 ruling that collegiate athletes are entitled to payment for their "name, image and likeness." The pandemic-shortened season in 2020 has also played a part in players staying in school, as they were granted an extra year of eligibility. And then the NCAA allowed players to transfer without sitting out a year. NIL payments are not public figures, but most players who will be selected in the top three rounds this week have money in the bank now. USC quarterback Caleb Williams, the projected top pick to the Chicago Bears, has been estimated to have earned around $10 million while in school. He may be an outlier, but NFL coaches are noticing a difference in their interactions with draft prospects in the NIL era. "You look for the guys that have that look in their eye," Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. "You can really feel it, and you can also see the guys that are entitled, that have NIL money, which is an issue because they come in privileged. They have money in the bank." |
| How Nike Won the Battle for Caitlin Clark | |
| It was NBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis and executives from the world's leading shoe companies descended on hotel lobbies in the city to make their pitch to the biggest stars in basketball. But the prize they were all after wasn't anyone shooting out the lights in the NBA. In fact, the player they all wanted hadn't even turned pro yet. She was a 6-foot senior at the University of Iowa who was in the midst of rewriting the record books. Everyone was asking the same question: Which shoe company would land Caitlin Clark? Two months later, it turns out the answer is Nike. The biggest name in women's basketball is set to sign an eight-year deal worth up to $28 million with the biggest name in sportswear, according to people familiar with the situation. If that outcome seems inevitable, the reality is that Clark striking a deal with Nike was far from a slam dunk. In fact, the race to tie her to a shoe contract ranked as the most competitive in the history of women's basketball, playing out against the backdrop of Clark lifting her sport to new heights and unprecedented TV ratings as she became a household name across America. |
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