| Wednesday, May 8, 2024 |
| Education: MSU spring graduation ceremonies set for May 8-10 | |
 | Mississippi State spring graduates will celebrate completion of their university degrees with commencement ceremonies May 8-10 in Starkville and Meridian. During the MSU-Meridian commencement on May 9, MSU President Mark E. Keenum will award local resident and entrepreneur Martin "Marty" Davidson, chairman of Meridian-based Southern Pipe & Supply Company, with the campus's first honorary Doctor of Public Service. Keenum will serve as the commencement featured speaker on both campuses May 9 and 10 and will award bachelor's, master's, educational specialist and doctoral degrees. All ceremonies can be watched remotely via the MSU TV Center's livestream at mstv.msstate.edu, on the MSTV app and on the university's main Facebook page. Starkville graduates can invite up to eight guests, and Meridian graduates can have up to four. Tickets are required for entry, and these will be emailed to graduates with instructions for downloading. Also, guests should plan for security screenings upon entry. Complete logistical information for visitors planning to attend the ceremonies at Humphrey Coliseum can be found at registrar.msstate.edu/students/graduation. |
| Would you ride a driverless shuttle? Mississippi State is about to find out | |
 | Would you hop on or off a shuttle if you knew there was no driver? Mississippi State students and others on campus might have the opportunity to find out. The university is starting a pilot program to see if the autonomous shuttles complement its other transportation modes, which include buses, bicycles and scooters. "We are excited to announce this special project which is going through several layers of approval, including the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," MSU Executive Director of Transportation Jeremiah Dumas said in a news release. The electric-autonomous passenger shuttle system pilot program will be deployed by Beep Inc., which specializes in autonomous transportation solutions. University officials say the system will be the first in the state as well as the Southeastern Conference. The two shuttles seat up to 11 passengers, which will include a university attendant to provide assistance as needed. The attendant also can operate the shuttle if needed. Gianluca Corrias, a freshman from Madison, Georgia, said the shuttles look cool, but he is excited about the idea of getting around on and off campus. He said they would be useful in supplementing the public bus system. "I would have to get used to it for sure because there's no driver, but I would hop on it, just to try it out," he said. |
| Education: MSU's Veterans Business Outreach Center named VBOC of the Year | |
| Mississippi State's Veterans Business Outreach Center was named the Veterans Business Outreach Center of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration as part of the 2024 National Small Business Week, which runs through May 4. One of only 28 VBOCs in the country, MSU's center was awarded the honor by SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, a member of the U.S. Cabinet. Celebrated for more than 60 years, NSBW recognizes the economic contributions of small business owners, advocates and lending partners. "We are thrilled with this recognition for the Veterans Business Outreach Center," said Scott Grawe, dean of the MSU College of Business. "The team does excellent work with their clients, and we're proud to see them honored for what they do. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are an important part of the MSU business community, and we have resources in place to help them succeed." Established in 2015, MSU's VBOC serves the U.S. military community in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The center provides active duty-transitioning service members, veterans, reservists, National Guard members and military spouses with programs and services to start, grow and expand their small business. |
| Historic MSU dining hall is set for renovations | |
 | When students return to MSU in the fall, they'll have some different dining options. Perry Cafeteria will be undergoing extensive renovations that will take the entire 2024-2025 school year. With Perry cafeteria out of commission, the university will be bringing in a new option to "feed the dog inside." There will be four to six food trucks located throughout the campus. MSU students said their experiences with the cafeteria are always amazing. "The Perry has always been my favorite spot to go on campus," Josiah Noruk said. "I mean it has a nice style on the inside. It really makes you feel warm and welcome and the people there are always nice to you. The food is usually pretty good as well. I've always enjoyed it," said Josiah Noruk, an MSU student. "I love Perry," Cobey Brantley said. "A lot of times, I usually go for lunch instead of breakfast because I'm just not a morning person per se. I don't eat breakfast but, I love their choices for lunch and just the whole experience that comes with it. The workers there are really nice. It is a lot quieter than most areas too. So, like you can really multi-task in there and study with your friends and everything else. It's just a great experience overall." |
| Education: MSU students create design proposals for cultural campus master plan, museum | |
| Thirteen teams of Mississippi State students in the College of Architecture, Art and Design's innovative Collaborative Studio recently created a master plan for a hypothetical cultural campus. Students in the class include Rodney Morgan, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Architect, Anna Rives Gully, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Architect, Lizzie Gerzon, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Architect, Kyla Barton, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Architect, Paulina Fernandez, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Manager and Austin Trujillo, an architecture major from Starkville, who served as a Project Architect. The plan included a freestanding museum, which would hold the university's collections currently housed at the Cobb Institute Museum, Dunn-Seiler Museum and Department of Art galleries. Located adjacent to The Mill Conference Center, the cultural campus also would include the new Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. Studio professors included Associate Professor of Architecture and Studio Coordinator Alexis Gregory; Building Construction Science Instructor Briar Jones; Architecture Studio Assistant Ryan Ashford; and Graduate Assistant Jacob Lindley. The studio is funded by the PCI Foundation. |
| MSU students research legacy of Starkville's first black physician | |
| Dr. Douglas Conner could hear knocking at his door all hours of the night. It was always someone looking for help and he provided that care. He also became involved in the community at a time when African Americans were discriminated against at almost every turn in society. Conner first started practicing medicine in Starkville in 1951. He's credited for leading an economic boycott of the business district and organizing marches to force the hiring of black people. Mississippi State students Anya Moyer and Portia Agyapong led the charge for the research project and Tuesday's event. They said being able to spread awareness of Douglas Conner's legacy was a draw for them. "The more and more that we dove into Dr. Conner and everything about him, the more fascinated I became. When we were told we were going to be presenting, I was like yeah, I want to be a part of that because this is an extremely important piece of not just Starkville's history, but also America's history," said Moyer. |
| Aluminum Dynamics mill on track to open by summer 2025 | |
| Construction for Aluminum Dynamics' $2.5 billion aluminum flat-rolled mill is well on track to meet its summer 2025 opening, ADI Operations Manager Gregg Whigham told the Rotary Club of Columbus Tuesday. The 2.3 million square-foot mill, which falls under Steel Dynamics' umbrella, on Charleigh D. Ford Drive is the first aluminum rolling mill of this size built in the U.S. since World War II, he said. "We've been blessed with just a great group of contractors that have been great to work with," Whigham told club members during their weekly meeting at Lion Hills Center. "... So between their competencies that they bring (and) the great weather that we've had for construction over the last several months, we're right on plan." Plans for the mill started in early 2022 with discussions between Steel Dynamics and the Golden Triangle Development LINK, though Whigham said SDI has been looking to expand for longer. "Over the last 31 years, Steel Dynamics has had just tremendous growth," Whigham said. "We've gotten to the point now, we're looking to diversify and become a metals company. That's how Aluminum Dynamics here in Columbus got started." The Columbus location, Whigham said, allows the company to be closer to its customers, particularly in the automotive industry. |
| State revenue is sluggish, but interest from federal COVID-19 money is buoying budget | |
 | Mississippi is collecting enough money to fund the current year's budget passed by the Legislature in 2023 -- largely due to interest earnings on federal COVID-19 money -- but tax collections remain sluggish. April's revenue, just released by the staff of the Legislative Budget Committee, was $6.87 million or 0.65% over the estimate. But actual tax collections were $1.3 million below the estimate. The reason total revenue for April was above the estimate is the interest earnings the state is garnering on its surplus money. For the month of April, interest earnings were $8.2 million above the estimate, thanks to the unprecedented amount of surplus money largely from federal COVID-19 spending and because of high interest rates. Through April, the first 10 months of the fiscal year, interest earnings are $93.4 million above the estimate. Interest earnings are more than half of the total collections above the estimate of $185.8 million for the year. For the fiscal year to date, revenue is .39% or $24.7 million above the previous year. Without interest earnings, the state would be collecting less revenue that it did the previous year. The sluggish collections report for April was released just as the Legislature was finalizing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. |
| PERS bill awaits Mississippi governor's signature | |
 | Mississippi towns and cities are taking a sigh of relief after lawmakers made a deal in the final days of the Legislative Session to address the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). The bill now awaits Governor Tate Reeves' signature. The proposal strips power away from the PERS Board and mandates that any employer contribution increase come as a recommendation to the Legislature. Previously, the Board could vote amongst themselves to increase rates. The bill also halts the immediate 5% employer contribution increase. The PERS Board will implement an increase of half a percentage point over the next five years, if the bill is signed into law. Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker, who is the president of the Mississippi Municipal League, said this is just the first step in an issue that won't be going away any time soon. "I think both sides saw the need as they heard from cities and school districts on how much this was going to cost them. If this five-point employer contribution was allowed to go forward, and then a potential additional contribution of five more points as the executive director had sort of indicated might happen, I think this is the first point of engagement on what will be a series of hard decisions, hard conversations as we go forward," Barker said. |
| Three schools, I-55 Kroger to be included in next year's expansion of Capitol Complex Improvement District | |
| Another large swath of the capital city could soon become part of the Capitol Complex Improvement District. This year, lawmakers approved H.B. 1487, which would expand the CCID's boundaries north to Westbrook Road. The new boundary lines would go into effect on July 1, 2025, a year after the boundaries established under previous legislation are set to go into effect. The bill was authored by Rep. Shanda Yates, who serves the area impacted. District 25 Sen. Walter Michel authored a similar bill in the Senate. "It will pick up Spann Elementary, Jackson Academy, McLeod... one grocery store... It's going to include Kroger, which is good," he said. "It gets a lot of apartments in there and Parham Bridges Park... A lot of good, 39211 real estate." The final bill takes in a much smaller area than the original version of 1467. That bill would have extended the CCID's northern boundaries to River Road North, Colonial Circle, Adkins Boulevard, and Beasley Road beginning January 1, 2026. The following year, the CCID would have been expanded to County Line Road. Michel said the district needed to be expanded slower, in part, to give Capitol Police an opportunity to staff up. "Capitol Police is up to 187 officers. This time last year, they were at 125," he said. "We have to slowly hire those guys." Michel says people in his district support the expansion because it means more police protection. |
| Activist says US congressman knocked cellphone from her hand as she asked about Israel-Hamas war | |
 | A U.S. congressman from Mississippi knocked the cellphone out of the hand of an antiwar activist who was walking behind him Tuesday and asking about the killing of Palestinians, video shot by the activist shows. First-term Republican Rep. Mike Ezell was walking in a hallway before a House committee meeting in Washington when two activists from the antiwar group CodePink asked him about the Israel-Hamas war. One asked Ezell whether Israel should accept a peace proposal. "You want this genocide to continue?" the unidentified woman asks in the video. CodePink identified the second woman as Sumer Mobarak, who is Palestinian American. The video shows her asking Ezell: "You want the killing of my people, my Palestinian people?" "Shut up. Knock it off," Ezell says as the video shows him extending a hand and knocking down the cellphone that was being used for recording. "These China-backed protesters want to harass and intimidate Members of Congress into ending our support for Israel and our opposition to Hamas terrorists," Ezell said in a statement. "I will not be harassed or intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party, Hamas, or their supporters, and I will continue standing with our Israeli allies against terrorism." CodePink says on its website that "China is not our enemy." |
| Greene's 'vacate' push on hold amid ongoing talks with speaker | |
 | Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene put her campaign to oust Speaker Mike Johnson on an indefinite pause Tuesday, saying she was no longer committed to forcing a vote on vacating the speaker's office this week. After meeting with Johnson for the second time in as many days, Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said they would wait to hear how the embattled speaker responds to four "suggestions" they made on policy changes they want to see enacted. "Right now, the ball is in Mike Johnson's court," Greene said on the Capitol steps alongside Massie, shortly after a roughly 90-minute meeting in the speaker's office. "He understands that he's got to be our Republican speaker of the House." The two GOP detractors were seeking several concessions from Johnson as the price for abandoning their plan to trigger a floor vote on a motion to vacate the speaker's office. With top Democrats pledging to vote to table the motion to vacate, Johnson had little reason to fear losing power, at least for now. But if a vote on ousting Johnson showed a large number of backers, it could undermine his position going into leadership elections after the November ballots are cast and paint him as a "lame duck" speaker for the remainder of this session. Johnson made clear he was not trying to reach a deal with Greene and Massie as a condition for avoiding a vote on his ouster. |
| Holocaust remembrance: Biden condemns antisemitism sparked by college protests and Gaza war | |
| President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried a "ferocious surge" in antisemitism on college campuses and around the globe in the months since Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war in Gaza, using a ceremony to remember victims of the Holocaust to also denounce new waves of violence and hateful rhetoric toward Jews. Biden said that on Oct. 7, Hamas "brought to life" that hatred with the killing of more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and warned that, already, people are beginning to forget who was responsible. The president used his address to renew his declarations of unwavering support for Israel in its war against Hamas even as his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown increasingly strained over Israel's push to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which would surely worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis for Palestinians. A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns about Israel's decision on Rafah. On Monday, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish spouse of a nationally elected American leader, met with Jewish college students at the White House about the administration's efforts to combat antisemitism. He heard students describe their own experiences with hatred, including threats of violence and hate speech, his office said. |
| On Campus and in Gaza, Chaos Threatens Biden's Campaign | |
 | The time had come to take a stand, and so President Biden gripped both sides of his lectern and made an urgent vow to the marbled atrium filled with Holocaust survivors and their descendants. "People are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror," he said, speaking seven months to the day since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. "It was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas that took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget." Biden's speech to the annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol came at a fraught moment for his foreign policy and political hopes alike. This week, Israeli troops moved into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, seemingly crossing what Biden had previously called a red line. Cease-fire talks in Cairo were on a knife's edge, with Hamas claiming to have accepted truce terms Israel called intolerable. Anti-Israel demonstrations continued to convulse dozens of campuses, leading to police crackdowns and canceled commencement ceremonies. The war and the protests have sharply divided Democrats between pro-Palestinian progressives and the pro-Israel establishment, and the president's slow and equivocal response has inflamed both sides. Images of hate and disorder have undermined Biden's claim to be a unifying, values-driven leader who could restore order to a chaotic nation and world. Many Democrats privately worry that the college conflagrations have exacerbated the unpopular incumbent's existing political weaknesses and pose a grave danger to his re-election hopes. |
| Southern Baptist Convention sees membership drop below 13M | |
 | The Southern Baptist Convention's annual census reported 241,000 fewer members and 292 fewer churches in 2023, another yearly drop for the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Lifeway Research, a division of the SBC's publishing arm, said in its annual church profile on Tuesday there were 46,906 Southern Baptist churches and 12.9 million members in 2023, down from 13.2 million in 2022. The consecutive losses in key measurements for years have contributed to differing arguments within Southern Baptist circles for the best remedy, most recently leading to six candidates for convention president announcing their bid ahead of the SBC annual meeting in June in Indianapolis. The SBC is far from alone in encountering these types of downward trends within American Christianity, but the anxiety is compounded with unique financial challenges surrounding abuse reform, for example. "We struggle with major issues like eradicating racism and stopping sexual abuse," said Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee in an opinion column on Tuesday that accompanied the latest data. "We are a fractious, willful, sinful bunch, and we sometimes act like it." In the newest annual church profile, the highest-ranking states for total membership and total churches are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. |
| Wife of Ole Miss physics professor creates endowment in late husband's honor | |
 | The wife of a longtime University of Mississippi physics professor has created an endowment fund to help others follow in her late husband's footsteps. Wendy Garrison is honoring her late husband, Richard Raspet, by establishing a scholarship that enables students to earn a transformative higher education at the University of Mississippi. Each year, the university will award a scholarship to one student from among 18 counties in the Mississippi Delta. Raspet, a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy with the UM National Center for Physical Acoustics, died of natural causes on Nov. 3, 2023, while pursuing one of his passions: bicycling the back roads of Lafayette County. "Rich would have wanted to encourage public high school students, especially those who come from economically challenged areas of the Mississippi Delta, to go to college," Garrison said. "Rich was proud of the education he received at Starkville High School, and he believed in the importance of public education." |
| White House Condemns Taunting of a Black Student at Ole Miss | |
 | The White House on Tuesday condemned the actions of counterprotesters at the University of Mississippi, after videos captured last week showed a crowd of white male students taunting and jeering at a female Black student at a pro-Palestinian protest. Video clips published by the Mississippi Free Press and The Daily Mississippian showed some of the men, who had gathered to counter a pro-Palestinian protest on the school's campus in Oxford, Miss., directing derogatory, racist and profane remarks at the Black student. One man appeared to hoot and make monkey gestures at her. "The behavior captured in that video is undignified, and it's just racist, period," said Karine Jean-Pierre, the first Black woman to serve as White House press secretary, during a press briefing on Tuesday. At least one student now faces a conduct investigation at the university, Glenn F. Boyce, the school chancellor, said on Friday. He did not identify the student, citing privacy laws, and did not rule out the possibility of more investigations. While other videos showing the counterprotesters loudly singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" were celebrated online, the videos of the taunts have been widely condemned. |
| UM NAACP holds town hall meeting after calling for expulsion of three students | |
 | After calling for the expulsion of three students who confronted pro-Palestine protesters at the Quad on Thursday, the University of Mississippi Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held a town hall at the Student Union Ballroom on Monday evening, which drew a crowd of over 100 students, representatives of the Mississippi state chapter of the NAACP and figures such as James Meredith. "This is a safe space where we can talk about what transpired last week, engage in thoughtful dialogue and hopefully create something that's progressive and more positive," Curry said. "What started off as a peaceful demonstration eventually turned ugly, unfortunately. Some people saw the opportunity to purposefully discriminate against marginalized minorities and people who were protesting." While the overall message was one of unity, attendees also offered criticisms of each other. Many demands were made at the end of the meeting. |
| UM data science degree program aims to address industry demand | |
| Recognizing the increasing need for data-savvy professionals, the University of Mississippi School of Engineering is launching a new Bachelor of Science degree program in data science. "Job demand is very high in data science, so it's a high priority for our department," said Yixin Chen, chair of the Department of Computer and Information Science. "About four years ago, we created a data science emphasis and a data science minor, which were both very successful. "We saw the potential for growth and increased industry need, so we began developing a bachelor's degree program in response two years ago." The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning recently approved the program, which will welcome its inaugural class in fall 2024. The department's next step is to pursue accreditation through ABET, which is the accrediting body for all Ole Miss engineering programs, Chen said. "Once the first students have graduated, we can begin the accreditation process," he said. "We have a well-defined curriculum, and we are all excited about the first group of incoming students." |
| Southern Miss: Pro-Palestine protest held on Hattiesburg campus | |
 | A pro-Palestine protest was held at Southern Miss' Hattiesburg campus on Tuesday afternoon. Approximately 50 demonstrators gathered outside Bennett Auditorium with guidance from a student group called USM for Palestine. The protests were peaceful and there were no counter protesters. Protesters stood in silence while holding signs supporting Palestine such as, "Ceasefire now" and "All eyes on Rafah." It began at noon and dispersed at 1 p.m with numerous campus law enforcement officers on site. William Myers is a Southern Miss student, the media liaison for USM for Palestine and is a Jew that was wearing a kippah during the protest. "I think that it is, to be honest, a bit of antisemitic propaganda that has promoted the idea that freedom for Palestinians and freedom for Jews are conflicting," he told the Hattiesburg American. "And in fact, the state of Israel does not keep Jews safe. They don't speak for Jews. Rather, the United States puts Jewish people on the frontlines of their imperialist war machine so that they can have a presence in the region. And so as a Jewish person, not only does the actions of the Israeli government conflict with my values, and therefore, I feel an obligation to stand up against them. But also, I don't think that they are in the best interest of the Jewish community or the diaspora or the people within Israel and Palestine." |
| Pro-Palestinian protest at U. of Southern Mississippi ends without confrontation | |
| A pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Southern Mississippi ended after an hour, with the roughly 50 students and faculty who silently held signs facing no counter-protesters or arrests -- a sharp contrast to the demonstration five days earlier at the University of Mississippi. According to a social media post, the ad hoc group, called USM for Palestine, were calling on the university to divest if it is invested in Israeli companies, echoing demands made by students across the country in the wake of the Israel-Hamas War. A university spokesperson said information about USM's investments would not be available by press time. "All members of the University community conducted themselves peacefully and respectfully," Nicole Ruhnke wrote in an email. The silent protest was an attempt to follow university policy and avoid replicating the confrontational atmosphere of Ole Miss' protest, said Willem Myers, a 22-year-old social work major who was acting as USM for Palestine's spokesperson. |
| USM faculty collaborate on Mississippi's first Topgolf facility | |
| University of Southern Mississippi (USM) professors Dr. Wei Wang and Dr. Chris Croft recently provided economic impact assistance to Topgolf on a project in central Mississippi. Wang (Hospitality and Tourism Management) and Croft (Sport Management) assisted with the Topgolf Tourism Project for Ridgeland. Topgolf initially requested assistance from USM's Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship. Trent Lott Center Director Brian Henson brought the professors on board to coordinate the project researching the potential impact of facility venue visitors within the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). According to officials, data analysis of the Ridgeland location, Topgolf historical data, population patterns, and facility venue design calculations were implemented to project Topgolf visitors' impact (both in-state and out-of-state). The research proposal assisted the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) to approve Topgolf's Tourism Tax Rebate Application. The first Topgolf site in Mississippi will be located off of Interstate 55, northeast of the Renaissance at Colony Park. |
| National Nurses Week: USM Accelerated BSN program preparing students for the field | |
 | The American Nurses Association recognizes the entire month of May as National Nurses Month, but this week is Nurse's Week. The University of Southern Mississippi has an Accelerated Nursing program at the Gulf Park Campus to get students into the profession faster. "It's one thing to learn from the books and to hear a professor talk about it, but the best experience you get is the hands-on experience you get in the clinical settings and in the lab. If you want to make a mistake, you want to make it in the lab, that's why this is here," Brandon Cobb says. Cobb is an accelerated nursing student. He says everything taught in the program is based on what will happen in real-life situations. "That's kind of the goal of the program," Cobb starts. "To make good nurses, address the nursing shortage, and get us out there to be able to provide that patient care." "In the state of Mississippi, we have about three thousand vacancies in nursing practice, in the clinical setting. That is helping to fill a need, getting these nurses prepared within a year and putting them out in the workforce," USM Accelerated Nursing Coordinator Michelle Toepfer says. |
| Education: Starkville Academy alumna named Outstanding Graduate Kinesiology Student at Mississippi College | |
| Maggie Proffitt, of Columbus, was named the Outstanding Graduate Student for Mississippi College's Department of Kinesiology. Proffitt is a 2013 graduate of Starkville Academy. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. Proffitt graduated from Mississippi College Friday with a master's degree in sports administration. She was selected from her cohort by professors for the outstanding student award, one she told The Dispatch she is thankful to have received. "I am grateful and appreciative to have received this award," Proffitt said. "I was lucky to have been taught by some great professors, and I thoroughly enjoyed my overall experience at Mississippi College." |
| The many faces of Tiger Transit | |
| Although the transit employees work tirelessly on the same routes and see familiar faces aboard their buses, many students don't know much about their drivers. Without the quiet community of drivers, many students and Auburn staff would not get to campus or important destinations like grocery stores and medical clinics. Known as Tiger Transit, drivers hired through First Transit drive 35-foot hybrid electric and diesel buses from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday to connect students, faculty and staff to campus. With 22 routes, Tiger Transit has over 130 stops across Auburn. Besides stops at apartments and campus locations, Tiger Transit picks up and drops off students at notable places like city hall, the post office, Gogue Performing Arts Center and Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art. For Lisa Young, 50, working for Tiger Transit allows her to relate to her time in college. Young is a newer driver for Tiger Transit, starting this past December. Since moving from Atlanta, Young explained her favorite aspect of the route is the ease of traffic compared to Atlanta. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Young drove for transit companies since her kids were little. On her route, Young finds the students she transports and the organization of Tiger Transit's system enjoyable. Because her route transports students to and from places like the School of Veterinary Medicine, Greene Hall and the Large Animal Teaching Hospital, Young described her typical day as consistent and busy. |
| Inflation forces U. of Tennessee to propose first tuition increase since 2020 | |
 | University of Tennessee at Knoxville tuition has been stagnant since its last increase in 2020, but inflation could force a change when the UT System Board of Trustees meets this summer. The University of Tennessee at Knoxville Advisory Board has proposed an increase in tuition and some fees to offset rising costs. "I'm really grateful that we've been able to keep it flat. The entire time that I've been here, we've never raised it. The truth is, all of our costs have gone up, and we too experience inflation," UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman said. "These are minimal and we've tried to be fair about it. Two percent to students who live in Tennessee, 4% for out-of-state students, and it's just a reality that we are facing right now." The Advisory Board approved the proposed budget May 3 to be presented to the UT System Board of Trustees during its June meeting for final approval. In total, in-state undergraduate tuition and fees would increase to $13,812 and out-of-state undergraduate tuition and fees would increase to $33,256. Graduate student tuition would not increase, but the fees would go up by less than 1%, along with the College of Law fees. College of Veterinary and Medicine tuition and fees would go up 2.2% for in-state students and 1.2% for out-of-state students. |
| Texas A&M Regents name Pettigrew Vice Chancellor for Strategic Health Initiatives | |
 | Roderic Pettigrew was approved by the Texas A&M Board of Regents as the System's new Vice Chancellor for Strategic Health Initiatives on Tuesday. Pettigrew begins his new role June 1 and will focus on growing the System's health science research portfolio and recruit top scholars. Pettigrew was the founding dean of A&M's School of Engineering Medicine, where he helped launch a four-year school at the Texas Medical Center in Houston that allows students to earn a medical degree and a master's in engineering. The program's second class of "physciaineers" will graduate on May 18. "With the [Chancellor's Research Initiative] CRI and [Governor's University Research Initiative] GURI, we increased our National Academy membership from 11 to 58," A&M Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement. "We expect Rod Pettigrew will supercharge that effort." |
| U. of Missouri doctoral student wins 2024 Pulitzer Prize alongside reporting team | |
 | Lisa Krantz, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, was part of a team of journalists that received a 2024 Pulitzer Prize on Sunday. Krantz and her colleagues were awarded a Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for a series of stories in The Washington Post on mass shootings and AR-15 semi-automatic rifles. The Pulitzer Prizes described the body of work as a "sobering examination ... which forced readers to reckon with the horrors wrought by the weapon often used for mass shootings in America." Krantz contributed to the project as a freelance photojournalist. Her award-winning photos documented survivors of the 2017 mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas -- a congregation she originally built relationships with in the aftermath of the shooting as a photographer at the San Antonio Express-News. Telling the stories of those who have experienced trauma inspired Krantz's current research. "I wanted to think about how we cover traumatic events in a different way and do research that could inform best practices for journalists and how to minimize harm when covering traumatic events," Krantz said. |
| Death at Ohio State graduation being investigated as 'apparent suicide' | |
| The death of a woman who fell from Ohio Stadium during Ohio State University's spring commencement on Sunday is being investigated as an "apparent suicide" by the Franklin County Coroner's Office, preliminary reports reviewed by The Dispatch show. Larissa Brady, 53, of Woodstock, Georgia, north of Marietta, was pronounced dead at 12:25 p.m. Sunday at the scene outside Ohio Stadium by Columbus firefighters, the coroner's office reported Tuesday. Brady was identified by her fingerprints, the coroner's office said. Brady's daughter was receiving a bachelor's degree during the ceremony, according to the university's program. Brady spoke to her daughter as she entered the stadium for commencement, the coroner's office report stated. Brady then went into the stadium with her husband and 12-year-old son to sit and watch the ceremony, according to an investigative report from the coroner's office. Once seated, Brady then told her family she wanted to move higher into the stadium and her family told investigators they lost sight of her. After making her way to the last row of benches, witnesses saw Brady climb over the stadium's concrete wall, according to the coroner's office. |
| 'It wasn't about the tents': UVa officials say outside agitators, aggressive behavior prompted state police crackdown on protesters | |
| University of Virginia officials held a virtual "town hall" Tuesday, their first public appearance since Saturday's chaotic crackdown on an anti-war protest on Grounds, during which 27 were arrested and several others were pepper-sprayed by state troopers. The virtual meeting was meant to "provide an update and answer questions about Saturday's protest near the UVA Chapel that led police to declare an unlawful assembly and arrest demonstrators who didn't leave." Many left with their questions still unanswered. That was because the university curated all of the questions it would answer beforehand. Participants were allowed to register to submit questions, but were not told how the university would determine which queries to pose. None of the questions submitted by The Daily Progress were asked or answered Tuesday. University officials were asked who made the ultimate call to bring in Virginia State Police and break up the small encampment of people protesting Israel's ongoing war in Gaza on a patch of grass near the University Chapel. On the call, university President Jim Ryan called it a collective decision made by him and others who were not on the scene but rather watching it unfold from a "command post" at an undisclosed location. |
| State Support for Colleges Continues to Rise as Federal Aid and Tuition Revenue Fall, Report Shows | |
 | State support for public colleges continued to rise last year, surpassing pre-Great Recession levels for only the second year since 2008, according to the latest annual State Higher Education Finance report compiled by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. But this nominal good news obscures a more complicated story in the report's data. For every full-time student, states paid $11,040 on average nationwide in fiscal year 2023, a 3.7-percent increase above inflation from the previous year. That figure is 6.7-percent higher per full-time student, adjusted for inflation, than in fiscal year 2008. But as Kelsey Kunkle, the report's author, notes, the growth in state support came in part due to dwindling federal stimulus dollars and a downturn in enrollment. The former will continue to decrease, and the latter could have worrying long-term ramifications. Of the $130 billion in total federal and state support for higher education in fiscal 2023, only about $1.7 billion was federal stimulus money, down from about $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2022. While support for public colleges still would have risen without federal dollars, pandemic-era stimulus funds will eventually cease to buoy institutions' bottom lines. The report also notes that the increase in per-student support derives, in part, from the fact that there are fewer students attending public colleges. |
| Why labor unions are backing pro-Palestine protesters after mass campus arrests | |
 | Several major labor unions have criticized the mass arrests of students and faculty at pro-Palestinian campus protests across the country, following their own calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. The unions' support for pro-Palestinian protesters, as well as their calls for cease-fire, draws on a long history of antiwar activism in the labor movement, and it reflects a shift in its approach to Israel, experts said. "There's a history of progressive unions taking stances going back to the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and especially the war in Iraq and war in Afghanistan," said Will Brucher, an assistant teaching professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. However, he added, "Many mainstream AFL-CIO unions have been reluctant to weigh in on the conflicts between Israel and Palestine and other global political matters, while other unions openly supported U.S. foreign policy." This has shifted as union members have become more politically active and leadership has become more progressive, Brucher told The Hill. Some of the country's biggest unions -- the United Auto Workers (UAW), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association -- have issued statements calling for a cease-fire since the outbreak of war last October. |
| Gaza Protests Are Coming for Commencement. Here's How Colleges Are Preparing. | |
| Concerns about protests at commencement have led several colleges to modify their programs -- canceling speakers, changing locations, or preparing language to address disruptions. "There's no way you can approach this commencement season thinking that it will go smoothly," said Philip T. Hauserman, senior vice president for crisis communications at the Castle Group, a public-relations firm that works with colleges. "I don't think it's approaching it from how you can prevent, but rather how you can manage." Emory University announced on Monday that it would move its main graduation ceremony to an indoor complex 22 miles from campus due to "concerns about safety and security." Such shifts may decrease the likelihood that large-scale, in-the-moment protests break out, said Sean Rossall, chief executive of the RW Jones Agency, a higher-ed consulting firm. "Decentralizing a critical mass is one of the things I think folks are really focused on," he said. Many campuses have issued guidance for attendees in anticipation of commencement demonstrations. Several ceremonies have seen small protests already. At Indiana University at Bloomington, several graduates walked out of the event, chanting "Free Palestine," as President Pamela Whitten spoke. |
| Cardona Tangles With House Republicans | |
 | In what may have been Miguel Cardona's final appearance before the House Education and Workforce Committee -- pending election results in November -- Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the committee, made sure to let the education secretary immediately know what she thought of his time at the agency. "You have presided over the greatest decline of educational attainment and institutional legitimacy in the history of our nation," Foxx said. "Moreover, your refusal to work with this Committee during this utter collapse has been inexcusable ... On all the broad strokes, you have a failing grade." Foxx's opening remarks Tuesday set the tone for a contentious and lengthy hearing. The secretary faced a barrage of critical questions about his department's handling of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, its response to a wave of protests and encampments roiling college campuses, its recently finalized rule overhauling Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to expand protections to LGBTQ+ students, and debt-relief policies that have forgiven $160 billion in student loans for 4.6 million Americans. Through it all, Cardona defended his department's policies and stuck to his talking points, frustrating Republicans. While Republicans saved their sharpest attacks for Title IX, debt relief and campus protests, lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about the launch of the new FAFSA, which has been beset with delays and technical glitches. If not for the protests and encampments, FAFSA likely would've been the focus of the hearing. |
| House Republicans are about to put K-12 schools under an antisemitism microscope | |
 | Republican lawmakers incensed over antisemitism on college campuses are now directing their wrath at elementary and high school administrators. School officials from California, New York and Maryland are set to testify before a House Education and the Workforce subcommittee on Wednesday to address what conservatives describe as a streak of hateful rhetoric in K-12 schools that's intensified during the Israel-Gaza conflict. The magnitude of the campus protests, the myriad ways school leaders have responded to them and House Republicans' ability to tap into concerns about antisemitism have plunged higher education into a political crisis. The GOP is now attempting to draw a parallel with officials in left-leaning enclaves whose schools have seen student protest walkouts and allegations of harassment, but not the televised drama that has gripped a swath of elite private and public universities. "Antisemitic incidents have exploded in K-12 schools following Hamas' horrific October 7 attack," said Florida Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, a member of the House education committee who will lead Wednesday's hearing. "This pervasive and extreme antisemitism in K-12 schools is not only alarming -- it is absolutely unacceptable." |
| Few college students list Middle East conflict as most important issue to them: Survey | |
| Few college students list the conflict in the Middle East as one of the top three issues most important to them, in a new survey released Tuesday. The Generation Lab survey, conducted from May 3-6, asked college students to select up to three issues that are most important to them, from a list of nine. The conflict in the Middle East ranked last, with only 13 percent of college students ranking the issue in their top three. Two other issues followed closely behind, garnering little support among college students: national security/terrorism (15 percent) and immigration policies (21 percent). The other six issues were each included in the top three of more than 30 percent of the students surveyed: health-care reform (40 percent), education funding and access (38 percent), economic fairness and opportunity (37 percent), racial justice and civil rights (36 percent), climate change (35 percent) and gun control/safety (32 percent). The survey, first reported by Axios, comes as campus protests of the war in Gaza have dominated public attention in recent weeks, raising concern among some Democrats about the potential consequences on Biden's youth vote ahead of the November election. This survey, however, raises doubt about whether the conflict will be sufficiently important to young voters that they change their behavior on election day. |
| Exclusive: Campus protests on Gaza split Democrats, unite Republicans amid fears of violence | |
 | Protests at American colleges over the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza are dividing Democrats and unifying Republicans as fears of campus violence loom. An exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds complicated attitudes toward the protesters, their motives and their tactics. On this there is agreement: Two-thirds of voters (67%) express concern that the demonstrations and the police response will end up leading to violent confrontations. Both the policy and political challenges are particularly steep for President Joe Biden. Last week, he walked a careful line, condemning violence on college campuses while defending the free-speech rights of protestors. He has tried to balance support for Israel with calls for more humane treatment of Palestinians in Gaza who have seen families killed and communities destroyed in assaults that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. Famine is a rising threat. Biden voters are split: 30% support the protests, 39% agree with their demands but oppose their tactics, and 20% oppose them. Trump voters are united: 78% oppose the protesters. Just 5% support them and 9% support their demands but oppose their tactics. Swing voters illustrate the political conundrum. Among those voters who now support a candidate but say they might change their minds before Election Day, 24% support the protests, 24% support them but oppose their tactics, and 41% oppose them. |
| Missed opportunity, yes, but Medicaid expansion prospects changed this session | |
| Columnist Sid Salter writes: While not an absolute, it's been my experience that political change comes slowly in Mississippi -- as slowly as molasses on a cold biscuit. That's my take on the disappointing failure of Mississippi lawmakers to reach a consensus on a plan to expand Medicaid coverage to our state's working poor. The working poor are those fellow Mississippians with jobs who don't make enough money to afford health insurance. All of us who pay federal taxes in Mississippi are already paying for expanded Medicaid in 40 other states and providing healthcare opportunities for the citizens of those states. But not here, not for our own people. But one thing is certain, the Mississippi Legislature in 2024 saw and heard an effective demonstration of the depth and breadth of public support for an expanded Medicaid program that provides a path to health care for working Mississippians. And it would be disingenuous to suggest that likewise state lawmakers saw and heard that there is also broad-based taxpayer support for some form of work requirement in that expanded program. The disappointment of the 2024 regular session is that the Legislature came so close to getting it right before negotiations got stuck in the political mire. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs Open SEC Tournament As No. 6 Seed | |
| Behind NCAA Pitcher of the Week Aspen Wesley, No. 17/17 Mississippi State will open the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night at Jane B. Moore Stadium. State (33-17, 12-12 SEC) earned the No. 6 seed, its highest finish since the shift to the current 24-game schedule, and will play No. 11-seed South Carolina at approximately 7 p.m. CT. The game will start 35 minutes after the conclusion of the prior game. Wesley has tossed four complete games in four straight outings over the past 11 days while striking out 28 and walking just two. For her efforts she was recognized as the final SEC Pitcher of the Week and NCAA Pitcher of the Week of the regular season, claiming her second of both honors this year. The Bulldogs' 12-12 finish in conference play is their highest win total since 2012 and their first .500 record since 2007. MSU was never swept in the regular season and won three series on the road. The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday, May 12 at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2. |
| Mississippi State enters postseason play after best SEC finish in 17 years | |
| After finishing .500 or better in Southeastern Conference play for the first time since 2007, Mississippi State is ready for the postseason. And the Bulldogs have a lot to play for this week at Auburn's Jane B. Moore Field. The only SEC team to miss the NCAA Tournament in 2023, MSU is all but assured of a return to the tournament this year, but the Bulldogs (33-17, 12-12 SEC) are hoping for more than that. Despite hitting a rough patch in late April, MSU rebounded to win two out of three against Georgia to close the regular season and still has a shot to host a regional for the first time in program history. The No. 6 seed Bulldogs arrived in Auburn on Monday, giving them plenty of time to prepare for their first SEC Tournament game Wednesday night against 11th-seed South Carolina. A win over the Gamecocks may not move the needle much, but it would send MSU to the quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Texas A&M, and if the Bulldogs can knock off the Aggies, it may just be enough to sneak in and earn a top-16 national seed. "We're just really excited," fifth-year senior pitcher Aspen Wesley said. "As long as we have fun, keep doing what we're doing and try not to get ahead of ourselves, we're going to do just fine." The road starts with South Carolina (33-21, 8-16), a team the Bulldogs already took a series from in Columbia back in early April. The Gamecocks have the SEC's worst team batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage and have hit just 32 home runs, the fewest in the conference. South Carolina's pitching, though, is among the SEC's best. |
| Inside Logan Kohler's rise with Mississippi State baseball from Bobby Witt Jr. to power surge | |
| Logan Kohler was rounding first base as the ball cleared the fence in right-center field, and he didn't try concealing his emotions. He's a third baseman who came to Mississippi State to provide defensive stability at the hot corner while adding a left-handed power threat to the lineup. So when it's April 28, your team is playing in a rubber match at Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field and you launch your first home run of the season, emotions tend to surface quickly. They did for Kohler, who raised both arms and looked to the sky as the ball traveled 412 feet off his bat. A smile covered his face as he ran toward home where his teammates awaited. "It's been a rough year, obviously," Kohler said. "Just keep chugging along, keep working and good things will happen." That trip around the bases carried the accumulation of a frustrating debut season donning the maroon and white. That jubilation was expected to be a common feeling. Instead, Kohler has dealt with injury -- a far-too-familiar obstacle for him -- and struggled at the plate. Through it all, coach Chris Lemonis has praised the work Kohler has put in behind the scenes -- a trait Tom Kohler credits to the elite talent his son grew up around. For someone who shared a middle infield with Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr., he's seen what it takes to succeed. That work is paying off as No. 15 Mississippi State (32-16, 14-10 SEC) opens a series at No. 3 Arkansas (40-9, 17-7) on Friday (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+). |
| What we learned from Mississippi State baseball's series win over Alabama | |
| After an uneven start to the season, Mississippi State has stabilized and established itself firmly within the top half of the Southeastern Conference. Which is why even a series win over a ranked Alabama team left a sour taste in the Bulldogs' collective mouths because of how it ended. Still, MSU (32-16, 14-10 SEC) is rapidly gaining ground in the RPI rankings, shooting all the way up to No. 18, and with a trip to a top-5 Arkansas team coming up this weekend, the Bulldogs have another opportunity to improve their metrics and inch closer to hosting an NCAA regional. Purdue transfer Khal Stephen and sophomore Jurrangelo Cijntje, under the tutelage of new pitching coach Justin Parker, have helped turn MSU's pitching staff from the worst in the SEC by ERA last year to the fourth-best this season. Neither pitcher had his best stuff against the Crimson Tide, but both battled through some rough patches and pitched deep enough to earn the win. Stephen went five innings Friday night, the first time he was unable to pitch at least six frames since his first start of conference play against LSU. Cijntje pushed through a contact lens issue to complete seven innings the next day, saving most of the top arms in the Bulldogs' bullpen. And with Tyler Davis and Tyson Hardin both making enormous strides forward from last season, that bullpen has turned into a strength as well. |
| Auburn athletics director John Cohen inks two-year contract extension, now set to run through 2029 | |
 | Auburn athletics director John Cohen has inked a two-year contract extension which extends his contract through October 2029, according to an addendum to his initial employment contract, which AL.com received a copy of via public records request Tuesday. The addendum to Cohen's contract was signed by he and Auburn University president Chris Roberts on May 2. Cohen initially entered into agreement with Auburn on Nov. 1, 2022 -- a contract that was set to run through October of 2027. Prior to coming to Auburn, Cohen spent six years as the athletic director at Mississippi State, where he also served seven seasons as the Bulldogs' head baseball coach. Since arriving to The Plains, Cohen has been tasked with hiring a pair of head coaches in Auburn football's Hugh Freeze and the recent addition of Auburn women's tennis coach Jordan Szabo. In addition to those hires, Cohen has also helped spearhead a number of facility improvements to Auburn football's Jordan-Hare Stadium and Auburn baseball's Plainsman Park. Cohen also recently led the effort in landing a partnership with Nike as the official apparel and equipment provider of Auburn athletics. |
| Three pressing questions as House vs. NCAA settlement talks ramp up | |
| Amateurism in college sports has been dead for years, but the future seems to be closer than ever before. The NCAA and conferences are deep in settlement talks with attorneys representing the plaintiffs in House vs. NCAA. If the NCAA chooses to take the case to trial next January, it could owe $4.2 billion to thousands of athletes in retroactive NIL pay and broadcast revenue, a bill that could financially cripple the organization If a settlement is reached beforehand, the NCAA and power conferences could still owe athletes more than $1 billion and, more significantly, would almost certainly usher in a future model that includes revenue sharing. The start of the NIL Era in the summer of 2021 jumpstarted this transformative time in college sports. Mixed with pressure from state laws and the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Alston v. NCAA, revenue sharing did not appear far off. Now conferences are in negotiations over a lawsuit that will reshape college sports. As settlement talks center stage in college sports, plenty of questions remain about the future. In honor of the one-year anniversary of the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter, we're examining three questions that will be pressing as House vs. NCAA approaches. |
| How much do college athletes deserve in new world of revenue sharing? Breaking down the numbers in a difficult equation | |
| Ramogi Huma, director of the National College Players Association, has an ideal figure in mind for what college athletes deserve from their schools in any revenue-sharing concept. "Fifty percent," he said. "Look at pro models. Players get about 50%. Anything less than what's fair will continue to be problematic. The numbers matter." As college executives continue negotiations to settle the latest antitrust cases and implement a new athlete compensation model, those inside and outside the college sports industry are left with a bevy of unanswered questions, most notably about money. Under the agreement, will universities share enough with their most valuable athletes and will they negotiate directly with them in the future? A potential cap to the new athlete revenue-sharing concept -- $17-22 million annually per school -- is a fluid figure for good reason: The deal, ever-evolving, is expected to feature a "look-in provision," administrators say, that reflects new revenues and paves the way for significant cap increases. The cap is 22% of an average of power conference school revenue streams, mostly television money and ticket sales. Climbing revenues from SEC and Big Ten television contracts could push the cap as high as $25 million over the course of any 10-year settlement agreement, some believe. The figures ruffle those in the world of athlete advocacy and unionization who believe schools and conferences should be directly bargaining with current players, specifically those in revenue-generating sports of football and men's basketball. |
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