| Friday, June 28, 2024 |
| Dairy demand, prices help offset high input costs in Mississippi | |
 | Despite encouraging milk prices, officials with the Mississippi State University (MSU) Extension Service said margins still project to be tight for Mississippi dairy farmers in 2024. The latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasted this year's average all-milk price at $21.60 per hundredweight nationally. Josh Maples, an agricultural economist with the MSU Extension Service, said this is an improvement from last year, but still below 2022 levels, when prices hovered around $25 per hundredweight. "Demand for dairy products in the U.S. and globally is strong in 2024," Maples said. "Dairy prices have been stronger in 2024 and are expected to get higher. Cheddar cheese, dry whey and butter prices are all expected to be stronger in 2024 than a year ago. Both imports and exports are expected to be higher than in 2023." Maples said inputs remain a key challenge for dairy producers, even in a positive market. High costs are just one factor in driving the decline of milk production across the Southeast. According to the Dairy Alliance, an advocacy organization for the dairy industry in eight Southeast states, there are 48 dairy farms in Mississippi with an average herd size of 150 milking cows, totaling 6,000 dairy cows in the state. In 2022, the state had 55 dairy farms with an average herd size of 145, for a total of about 8,000. |
| DeSoto County Supervisors view progress of Agri-Education Center | |
 | Members of the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors toured the site of the Agri-Education Center to review the progress being made on the construction. The Board rode on a partially completed concrete walking trail which is being installed, then headed over to see the covered arena, and also got a glimpse inside of the 38,000 square foot community building that will be the future offices of Mississippi State University's DeSoto County Extension Office and DeSoto County Soil and Water Conservation District. Board President Lee Caldwell said the project is coming along very nicely and is shaping up to be all they envisioned. "We are very excited about it," Caldlwell said. "This is a project that we have been working on for over 12 years. We put a lot of thought into this. We had a citizen's group, a very diversified group, that came in and helped us to plan it. It is absolutely coming along just as we had hoped." The 200 acre $19 million project is located at 1170 Star Landing Road and broke ground last August at the site of the former landfill. The Agri-Education Center will serve as a one-stop shop for agricultural services and will be home to an indoor and outdoor arena, stables, classrooms, conference and convention space, learning labs for 4-H youth programs, as well as walking and equestrian trails. |
| Animal shelters overwhelmed; heat making problem worse | |
 | A litter of seven puppies sits trapped in a bucket under the hot sun, unable to escape the heat. If a Clay County Animal Control officer hadn't found them, things could have ended much worse for them. Instead, these puppies are some of the "lucky ones," as they arrived June 20 at the West Point Clay County Animal Shelter. Executive Director Neely Bryan said this litter's story is just one of many she sees happening "all day, every day, everywhere," as animal overpopulation is a "nationwide crisis." That problem is also being exacerbated by the summer heat. Sarah Hankins, shelter manager for the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, said she has seen a few animals come in with "higher than normal temperatures," but not any animals with heat stroke yet. Every summer, she said, those cases eventually come in. Pets need shade, fresh drinking water, and to be brought inside during heat advisories, Hankins said. Dog houses are not adequate during heat advisories, as they can "become saunas." Once dogs are in the shelter, Hankins said, high heat procedures ensure they have constant access to water. The humane society's kennel area is also sprayed down regularly, and dogs are kept inside during the times when heat is highest. Walks are shortened during those times, to prevent dogs from overheating. On Thursday, Hankins said, OCHS had about 300 animals in its care, with about 200 in the shelter itself. She said the humane society's intake numbers have been "way higher" than normal lately, including litters, strays, surrenders and more. |
| Hyde-Smith responds to USACE Yazoo Backwater plan: 'Best proposal yet' | |
 | U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) this week is getting behind the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Vicksburg District, which opened the public comment section Friday on a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS) concerning the long embattled Yazoo Backwater Study Area. Hyde-Smith welcomed the release of draft environmental impact statement (EIS) to address the recurring backwater flooding in the south Mississippi Delta. The Yazoo Backwater Area Water Management Project, prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, consists of both structural and non-structural measures to provide flood risk reduction for area residents, commercial properties, churches, schools, roads and other infrastructure, while preventing environmental losses. "The draft EIS published in the Federal Register represents an important step in the exhaustive environmental review process. The recommended plan represents a balanced approach to flood protection as well as environmental protection, so everyone should be on board with this," said Hyde-Smith, who has championed the completion of the project following devastating flooding in 2019. |
| Lumumba: Water takeover is 'first step of trying to make the city no longer Black' | |
| A recording of Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba played in federal court this week shows the mayor was worried efforts to take over Jackson's water system were designed to make the city "less Black." "We absolutely believe that there's a coordinated effort to take this water treatment facility and that effort... it's bigger than the little politics that we get into. If that happens, that is going to be the first step of trying to make the city no longer Black," he said. The recording was made by former Deputy Director of Water Operations Mary Carter and was played for the jury during her wrongful termination suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District. Lumumba said he wasn't "talking some large conspiracy. It's what happened in Detroit, right? Detroit [isn't] as Black as... it used to be. It's a change in the politics. And the reason that happened is they know that is the way you finance and support everything you do." "So, you know, while... they're making their efforts, we have to make sure that we don't aid them in their efforts." The exact date of the recording was unknown, but Carter references a project set to begin "next week" on August 1. According to attorneys, Carter made the recording after the mayor reached out to her to discuss a loss in pressure at the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant. |
| Biden's debate performance spurs Democratic panic about his ability to lead party against Trump | |
 | Above all, Joe Biden's allies wanted him to demonstrate strength and energy on the debate stage to help put to rest questions about the 81-year-old Democrat's physical and mental acuity. But on the biggest stage in U.S. politics on Thursday night, Biden did not meet their modest expectations. And by the end of the 90-minute showdown, the Democratic president's allies -- party strategists and rank-and-file voters alike -- descended into all-out panic following a debate performance punctuated by repeated stumbles, uncomfortable pauses, and a quiet speaking style that was often difficult to understand. Publicly and privately, Democrats questioned whether the party could or should replace him as the party's presidential nominee against the 78-year-old Republican former President Donald Trump this fall. "I'm not the only one whose heart is breaking right now. There's a lot of people who watched this tonight and felt terribly for Joe Biden," former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said on MSNBC. "I don't know if things can be done to fix this." |
| Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Even Bothering With Biden's Debate Performance | |
 | Over the past 18 months, Elon Musk's X has become a hive of disinformation, particularly around breaking news events, such as the Gaza conflict and the Baltimore bridge collapse. But after Thursday's presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, the expected torrent of disinformation and conspiracies flooding the platform never materialized. Instead of sharing conspiracies about the debate, Trump just posted multiple undoctored clips of Biden's responses to his platform Truth Social. "WOW--WHAT IS HE SAYING?!" one post read, featuring a clip of Biden making a nonsensical comment about Medicare. Another montage video of Biden's worst debate moments shared by Trump on Truth Social has subsequently been shared widely on other platforms including X, Facebook, and Telegram, racking up millions of views. In what was seen as a critical opportunity to reassure his supporters of his fitness to serve a second term as president, Biden's debate appearance was widely criticized by lawmakers, political pundits, and viewers from across the political spectrum for lacking energy and coherence. Biden's campaign team tried to explain away the president's performance by claiming he had a cold, and even Vice President Kamala Harris said that Biden had a "slow start." And though Trump pushed conspiracies and disinformation during the debate about issues like immigration, abortion, and January 6 -- most of which went unchallenged -- Biden's ability became the most discussed detail of the evening. |
| Supreme Court strikes obstruction charge used for hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters | |
 | Federal prosecutors improperly charged a Jan. 6 defendant with obstruction, a divided Supreme Court ruled on Friday, likely upending many cases against rioters who disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election. After the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors charged more than 350 participants in the pro-Trump mob with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding. The charge carries a 20-year maximum penalty and is part of a law enacted after the exposure of massive fraud and shredding of documents during the collapse of the energy giant Enron. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the government's broad reading of the statute would give prosecutors too much discretion to seek a 20-year maximum sentence "for acts Congress saw fit to punish only with far shorter terms of imprisonment." To use the statute, he wrote, the government must establish that a defendant "impaired the availability or integrity" of records, documents or other objects used in an official proceeding. In dissent, Justice Amy Coney Barrett --- joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- said the court's reading of the obstruction statute is too limited and requires the majority to do "textual backflips to find some way -- any way -- to narrow the reach" of the law. |
| Supreme Court Expands Cities' Power to Remove Homeless Camps | |
 | The Supreme Court loosened the restraints on city officials confronting homeless encampments, overturning a lower court that found it unconstitutional to penalize people for sleeping in public when they have nowhere else to stay. The case came from Grants Pass, Ore., a former mining town along the Rogue River whose strict ordinance outlawed sleeping in public with so little as a blanket, even though the city provides no shelters for its homeless. The town and other local governments throughout the West had been chafing under a 2018 appeals court decision that found that some anti-camping ordinances effectively criminalize the status of being homeless when they punish people who lack shelter for sleeping in parks or other public spaces. When Grants Pass appealed to the Supreme Court, its plea was supported by large urban centers with more generous approaches to homelessness, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, which argued that they need greater flexibility to clear encampments. Advocates for the homeless, backed by liberal leaning states including Maryland, Massachusetts and New York, argued that the lower court precedent only restricted the most extreme anti-homeless laws, and that local governments were exaggerating the impact on their communities. The Biden administration, however, argued that the precedent should be reined in. |
| 'Tough luck': The Supreme Court just took a new bite out of Biden's agencies' powers | |
 | The Supreme Court's newest rebuke of the Securities and Exchange Commission is threatening to unleash chaos throughout the federal government, creating uncertainty about the limits on agencies' power to punish law-breakers. The 6-3 ruling held that the Constitution's 7th Amendment guarantee to a trial by jury applies when the SEC seeks civil penalties for securities fraud. But legal experts said it raises questions about a wide range of agencies' ability to impose fines for violations of a host of laws and rules, including those protecting consumers, workers and the environment. Agencies that suddenly face new potential challenges to their decades-old enforcement powers include the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Labor Department and the National Labor Relations Board, lawyers and former agency officials told POLITICO. The decision "could threaten EPA's enforcement program as we know it," said Kevin Minoli, a former acting general counsel at the agency. He said it raises questions about whether "everyone facing a government penalty has the right to request a jury trial" -- and how many defendants will choose to invoke that right. Thursday's decision split along ideological lines. |
| EPA chief seeks to reassure employees as specter of Trump looms | |
| When President Biden took office in January 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency was a shell of its former self. Climate scientists had been sidelined, employee morale had plummeted, and hundreds of workers had left the agency under President Donald Trump, who once vowed to eliminate the EPA "in almost every form." On Thursday morning -- hours before the first presidential debate of the 2024 election -- EPA Administrator Michael Regan reminded his staff of this era and reassured them about the future. In a speech to roughly 600 EPA employees, Regan recounted how the Trump administration hobbled the agency and how the Biden administration has rebuilt it. The Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while on the job, made the speech tricky for Regan. He took care not to violate the act; he did not mention Trump by name or explicitly endorse Biden. Instead, he rebuked efforts by "the previous administration" to force out, sideline or mute federal scientists. During Trump's first year in office, for instance, his political appointees barred three EPA scientists from speaking about climate change at a conference in Rhode Island. The address came amid mounting fears within the EPA that climate science and other research would be suppressed in a second Trump term. To address these concerns, the union representing nearly half of the agency's workers recently approved a new contract that includes first-of-their-kind protections from political meddling. |
| W names founding director for Women's College | |
| The newly established Women's College at Mississippi University for Women has its founding director as it prepares for its first academic year. Kim Whitehead, who previously headed the Ina E. Gordy Honors College, said she is eager to welcome the first cohort of students to the Women's College this fall, which was approved by the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning in April. Throughout her time at The W, she said, she has taught women's studies courses. "As The W celebrates its 140th anniversary, it is very fitting that we underscore our commitment to academic and leadership development for women through this new initiative," Whitehead wrote in an email to The Dispatch. "The Women's College invites students to explore women's excellence and leadership in the past and present and develop their own knowledge and skills to become transformational leaders in their professions and communities." The new college will function similarly to the university's honors college. Students who take a certain number of hours within the Women's College curriculum will be recognized as graduates of the college and honored at commencement. The similarities between the two schools will make for an easy transition for Whitehead, MUW President Nora Miller said. |
| Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, The W, and Columbus, a successful combination for more than 30 years | |
 | For more than 35 years some of the best and brightest high school juniors and seniors have called Columbus home for those last 2 years of school. Since 1987, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science has been based on the Mississippi University for Women campus. The current administrations of both schools would like to keep that relationship going. That was part of the message at today's Town and Tower Meeting at MUW. The program was focused on the history, mission, and successes of MSMS. Speakers included Ginger Tedder, the Executive Director and also an alum of the school, along with original faculty member and author of a history of the school, Emma Richardson, and the current Director of Academic Affairs Dr. Thomas Easterling. The trio touted the unique opportunities MSMS students have, and the school's strong bond with Columbus and The W. "MSMS is a child of Columbus, in a sense. We were born here. We've been raised here. And the relationship that MSMS has, not just with The W, but with the larger community has been so important to our existence. Our public face, in many ways, involves our relationship with Columbus. You've got 'Tales From the Crypt'. You've got the '8 of May' program. We've had a science carnival for grade school students for decades. We make sure that our math outreach programs touch the lives of elementary students. So, in many ways, MSMS and Columbus have to be uttered in the same sentence." |
| JSU partners with Ole Miss for accelerated law program | |
| Jackson State University announced the new pre-law partnership program with the University of Mississippi. The 3+3 accelerated law program will allow JSU students to graduate with their law degree in six years instead of the typical seven. The signing was held at the JSU Student Center with University of Mississippi Chancellor Dr. Glenn Boyce and Dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law Frederick Slabach in attendance. They both expressed that they are more than ready to get started. "The impact on the students of Jackson State is going to be an opportunity to, number one, accelerate their path to law school," said Slabach. The program is one of the four initiatives that JSU's First Lady Latoya Redd Thompson is committed to fulfilling. Applications for the program will open soon and be ready to accept its first round of JSU students in the fall of 2025. |
| The 'Many Lives of Andrew Young' exhibit opens at UM Library | |
| The J.D. Williams Library at the University of Mississippi opened its new exhibit Tuesday based around civil rights icon, U.S. congressman and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young. The exhibit is named and based on a book written by Ernie Suggs titled "The Many Lives of Andrew Young" and explores every aspect of Young's storied life. The exhibit will be open from the 25th until July 31st and is located on the first floor of the J.D. Williams Library. The opening ceremony held on Tuesday welcomed the 92-year-old Young and the designer of the book Donald Bermudez for an open discussion moderated by Ethel Scurlock, Dean of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. The discussion topics included Young's childhood, the Civil Rights Movement, his background as a preacher and his family, specifically his two wives. Young regaled the audience with stories reminiscent of something you'd read in a history book including a story about a meeting in New York City with himself, Harry Belafonte and Martin Luther King Jr., the last meeting before King left for Memphis. With 2024 being an election year, Young ended the discussion with words of encouragement about the future of the United States. "I don't know how you're going to vote, but I'm certain when all the votes are counted, we're going to have a wonderful, unified country that we maybe can't see right now," Young said. "As Dr. King used to say, 'God is still on the throne, so go in peace and sin no more.'" |
| USM Marine Aquaculture Center's oyster farming boosts reef restoration efforts | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi's Marine Education Center is seeing growth after working for years to help with seafood production -- specifically oysters -- for both commercial and restoration efforts. The demand for seafood is rising, and over the years, the supply has declined, leading institutions such as USM to help in ways many wouldn't imagine. "So, what we do here is the whole lifecycle of an oyster, we have the brood stout or the parents," explains Dr. Reg Blaylock, the director of the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center in Ocean Springs. "Then, we spawned them and we collect the gametes, fertilize the egg, then stock those eggs into these tanks and feed them algae." Inside the tanks are gallons of water and oyster larvae, which is the beginning stage of growing oysters and getting them to attach to a surface. After this, dense clusters are formed, known to be oyster reefs or beds. "Wild fisheries are not going to be able to meet the demand," Dr. Blaylock said. "We're getting about the same amount of product of wild fisheries as we were in 1985, so aquaculture has become a huge component of the seafood supply." For years, the supply has been an issue. Factors such as Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the Bonnet Carré Spillway openings are all to blame. At the Thad Cochran Marine Aquaculture Center, they've been working with the industry to not only train oysters but also students who will soon enter the work field themselves. |
| Jones College introduces new STEM room | |
 | Jones College students now have a virtual world when it comes to learning. Grant money is helping the Jones College "STEM" initiatives be more of a hands-on experience for all its students. STEM stands for "science, technology, engineering and mathematics." One new piece of technology is the immersive interactive room, which is a part of the college's newly installed STEM room. Dr. Benji Sessums said the room uses laser projectors to create the interactive experience and is operated by a remote. "That immersive interactive room is the only one in the state of Mississippi right now, and we can use it to create any type of environment you want," said Sessums. The room is mainly used for enhancing the learning experience for all subjects with game activities and quizzes. "It gives you simulations for patients and you can treat them how you want," Jones paramedic student Kayla Howell said. "It tells you whether you're right or wrong, whether it's detrimental to the patient." Another piece of technology: augmented reality headsets, which allow students to examine and treat patients. Lastly, there's the two, virtual Anatomage Tables that teach chemistry, physics and anatomy. |
| After Alzheimer's Diagnosis at 49, Retired Jones College Teacher Advocates For Testing and Treatment | |
| Around Christmastime in December 2022, Missie Meeks and her family noticed she had been forgetful and not acting like herself for months. She was having trouble thinking and reasoning, and doing math was especially challenging. "Luckily for me, I had enough people who cared about me to raise a red flag and say, 'Something's up with Missie, and this is not her normal behavior pattern or thinking,'" she told the Mississippi Free Press on June 21. She first visited Hattiesburg, Miss., neurologist Dr. Wendell Helveston in February 2023; he conducted various tests on her over the next few months until he landed on an early onset Alzheimer's disease diagnosis in July 2023. Meeks turned 50 a few days later. "When I got Alzheimer's, I was a mess because I was nowhere near the old Missie that I was," she said. Meeks was an English instructor at Jones College in Ellisville, Miss., at the time and had planned to teach for years longer before retiring, but her Alzheimer's diagnosis forced her to retire early in 2023. She realized she had a serious problem when she forgot how to crank her car to drive home from the grocery store one day. Her car was a push-to-start, so Meeks needed to push down on the brake while pressing the start button, but she could not remember what to do for about 30 minutes. "That was when I realized that the concern from my friends and my family was genuine and that it was more to it than just nerves," she said. |
| Louisiana colleges to have more financial independence after two bills become law | |
| Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry allowed two bills to become law that will give Louisiana's colleges and universities more control over tuition, fees and maintenance projects. House Bill 862 by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, was allowed to pass into law without the governor's signature. It gives higher education institutions the long-sought power to change tuition costs without legislative approval by allowing them to set differential tuition for any graduate, professional or high-cost undergraduate programs. The new law also gives university system boards complete control over mandatory fees. Differential tuition is an amount charged on top of base tuition for more expensive academic programs, such as lab-heavy curricula in science or engineering. The Board of Regents, the state oversight board for all higher education, would identify which programs are considered high-cost. The state's four higher education governing boards would be permitted to decrease tuition and fees for any program but only increase tuition for graduate programs and high-cost undergraduate programs. Landry also signed House Bill 940 by Rep. Chris Turner, R-Ruston, which would provide money for campus maintenance work without going through the annual state construction budget. Turner said higher education leaders have asked instead for a set amount of money annually, which they could then decide how to spend themselves. The law would allow universities to address their backlogs more quickly and with fewer hurdles. |
| Publication ranks UGA's Morehead Honors College as nation's best | |
 | The University of Georgia's Jere W. Morehead Honors College was ranked recently as the No. 1 honors program in the nation by College Transitions, the publisher of Colleges Worth Your Money. "This ranking is a testament to the talent and hard work over many years of our faculty, students and staff," Meg Amstutz, dean of the Morehouse Honors College, said in a statement released with the announcement published by UGA Today. "We attract many of the nation's best students to UGA through the Honors College and they bring terrific leadership and energy to the campus," Amstutz said. The 2023-24 first year honors class had an average GPA of 4.2 and an average SAT score of 1506. In the last academic year, Honors student Mariah Cady was one of only 32 students nationwide named as a Rhodes Scholar. UGA has been a top 3 producer of Rhodes Scholars among public institutions for the last 30 years, according to UGA Today. |
| U. of Tennessee will open a dining hall in one of the new apartment towers on the Strip | |
 | Students living on Cumberland Avenue will soon have an off-campus dining hall, and the partnership will deepen the connection between the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the Strip. UT Knoxville will enter into a five-year lease with Core Spaces, the co-developer with Schenk Realty of four huge new student apartment buildings on the Strip. The university will lease a new, 387-seat dining hall that Aramark Educational Services, the university's food vendor, will operate inside Hub Knoxville at 1925 Cumberland Ave. Core Spaces will build out the 14,662-square-foot space for $586,480. UT will pay over $2.85 million during the entire lease period, or $35,433.17 monthly, with a 3% annual increase. UT will have the option to extend the lease for another five years. The first phase of Hub Knoxville includes two buildings, with the dining facility planned for the first building. The first building will have a rooftop deck with a pool, a hot tub, a coffee shop, a basketball court and grilling spots, which will be open to every Hub Knoxville resident regardless of the building. |
| 'A Slap in The Face': How UT-Austin Axed a DEI Division | |
 | The meetings were scheduled in 15-minute intervals. Dozens of University of Texas at Austin employees were summoned by batch the morning of Tuesday, April 2, into mandatory Zoom sessions with a representative of the university's human-resources office. That's never a good sign. Most worked in the Division of Campus and Community Engagement and were aware of being in the cross hairs of Senate Bill 17, which on January 1 banned all diversity trainings and programs that promoted differential treatment on the basis of race, gender, or sexuality at public colleges across Texas. Their work days, leading up to that day, had already been a blur of sudden and disorienting changes. A program for Black women, and another for LGBT students, were revised to serve all women. The name etched on the door of the Multicultural Engagement Center was scratched off with no official announcement that it was closing. A scholarship program for undocumented students was jettisoned and plans for affinity-group graduation ceremonies canceled. Titles and job responsibilities had been overhauled. With all the recent changes, most of those nervously entering Zoom rooms that morning felt fairly confident their jobs were safe. In session after session that morning, an HR representative, reading from a script, addressed employees whose mics were muted and chat functions turned off. They were told they were being laid off, their last day would be July 5, and to expect an email formalizing the news. Public records obtained by The Chronicle show that 49 people were laid off that day. |
| Texas A&M begins transition, closure of Qatar campus | |
 | Several months after the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted to close its campus in Qatar, University President Mark A. Welsh III released an update with further information regarding the planned transition away from the Middle East campus by 2028. In the transition update released June 20, Welsh said that over the next few years, the Qatar campus will continue to serve current students who enrolled before the announced closure. During this time, some of the students, faculty and programs of the Qatar campus will slowly be transferred to Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) -- a new undergraduate engineering program launched by the Qatar Foundation in late March. "The freshman class [HBKU] welcomed this fall will include applicants to Texas A&M University at Qatar who could not be admitted to our university due to the planned closure," Welsh said in the update. "They will co-locate their undergraduate programs at the engineering building where we currently operate inside [the Qatar Foundation's] Education City campus. ... As Texas A&M at Qatar winds down its operations, HBKU will grow its program." Although the transition plan accounts for the graduation of all of the current students over the next four years, Welsh said it is difficult to predict what the closure process will look like post-2026. |
| Survey: How Are Profs, Staff Using AI? | |
 | Since ChatGPT launched, students have had higher usage rates compared to those working in higher ed. June research from Tyton Partners found three in five students say they are regular users of AI compared to 36 percent of instructors. However, research points to a growing acceptance of the technology among higher education practitioners both inside and outside the classroom. Tyton's study and newly released data from EAB highlight where generative AI is being applied to benefit students' academic and overall success. In general, practitioners have yet to widely adopt the technology, but many are using it to create student-facing content and communication, sometimes without institutional policy or guidance. Among those using AI, faculty members are most likely to apply it for course design and content-related purposes, with 91 percent of faculty using generative AI at least monthly. They are doing so for course content purposes, according to Tyton's report. Four in five use ChatGPT for course content and 63 percent use it for assessment. Also popular tools are Bard/Gemini and BingChat, both used for content and assessment. Instructors at public two-year institutions are more likely to use generative AI tools for course content. |
| A Year After the Supreme Court's Admissions Decision, Subtle and 'Seismic' Changes | |
| One year ago this week, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively outlawed the consideration of a college applicant's racial status. Then came a wave of public statements from institutions describing their enduring and soon-to-be-redoubled commitments to supporting student diversity. But after that, things turned quiet. It's been 12 months of tight-lipped cautiousness throughout the admissions realm, which remains under threat of further lawsuits, from Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the organization responsible for bringing down race-conscious programs, as well as other watchdog groups. As the first enrollment cycle after the landmark decision winds down, college officials so far aren't saying much, if anything, about the racial diversity of their freshman classes this fall. That's because, in many cases, they just ... don't know yet. "We have not pulled back the curtain on the data," Monica C. Inzer, vice president for enrollment management at Hamilton College, in N.Y., told The Chronicle in late June. "We cannot see race and ethnicity in individual records or aggregate data for the class." Colleges say they've been flying blind when it comes to the racial and ethnic diversity of their incoming students. |
| Law School Accreditor Rewriting Diversity and Inclusion Standard | |
| The independent accrediting arm of the American Bar Association is in the process of rewriting its diversity and equity standard. The move comes in response to last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling race-conscious college admissions policies unconstitutional. When the standards committee of the ABA's Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, which is the sole accrediting body for all U.S. law schools, issued the proposed revisions in a memo back in February, it struck out the words "diversity and inclusion" related to admissions and hiring and replaced them with "access," among other changes to the standard, which was adopted years before the federal affirmative action ban. However, that doesn't mean the accreditor has abandoned its commitment to recruiting students and faculty reflective of the diverse population lawyers serve, it says. Earlier this month, Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti wrote a letter endorsed by 20 other attorneys general from Republican-led states, including Florida, Texas and Virginia, to the accreditor. It argued that the proposed revisions are out of compliance with the Supreme Court's decision and made a point to "re-emphasize" the existing standard's "problematic requirement that law schools engage in race-based admissions and hiring." |
| Biden's latest student debt woes are just the beginning | |
| President Joe Biden's election-year plan to ratchet up relief for millions of student loan borrowers hit a major legal roadblock this week, leaving progressive groups scrambling to get the White House to take new, immediate action to stem the fallout. The unexpected setbacks in court blocked key parts of a new program offering borrowers more generous repayment terms. They also landed almost a year after the Supreme Court knocked down Biden's first, more sweeping, attempt at debt forgiveness and sting more coming from two Obama-appointed federal judges. The rulings are the latest win for Republican state attorneys general who are fighting every step of the administration's efforts to discharge debt and provide subsidies to borrowers. And the sudden halt to parts of the program may also presage a summer of confusion for borrowers. Within hours of the decisions, the Education Department was forced to begin reversing its plans to significantly lower monthly payments for millions of people that had been set to begin next week. The rulings will also deprive the White House of one of the tools Biden uses to make regular announcements about canceling batches of debt. Biden's student debt relief is a centerpiece of his effort to energize important parts of his base where he's seen a softening of support, particularly among young and Black voters. Now progressive groups are urging the Biden administration to stave off the political damage of the rulings by freezing student loan payments across-the-board the way he did through the height of the pandemic. |
SPORTS
| Men's Hoops In Arizona Tip-Off Field; Reveals Season Opener | |
| The Mississippi State men's basketball program will be joined by Butler, Northwestern and UNLV at the Arizona Tip-Off announced Thursday by tournament organizers. The two-day tournament is slated for Thursday, November 28th and Friday, November 29th at the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. Matchups, game times and television network details will be revealed at a later date. State has won both of its non-conference tournaments titles under Chris Jans. The Bulldogs defeated Marquette and Utah to capture the 2022 Fort Myers Tipoff followed by victories over Washington State and Northwestern to claim the 2023 Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament. Overall, the Maroon and White has posted an 8-3 non-conference mark versus schools from the ACC, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12 and the Pac-12 conferences in two seasons with Jans at the helm. State has posted a 2-3 mark against the Arizona Tip-Off field and has won both of its meetings with Northwestern. Josh Hubbard erupted for a non-conference season's best 29 points to spark a 66-57 victory over the Wildcats last season. Mississippi State is now accepting season ticket deposits for the 2024-25 season at www.HailState.com/tickets. |
| Jurrangelo Cijntje is a switch-pitching unicorn -- and the most intriguing player in the MLB Draft | |
 | One day in 2019, Jorge Aguas picked up his phone and listened to the damnedest scouting report he'd ever heard. The voice on the other end of the line was Zackery Braafhart, a college baseball player at Florida National University. Braafhart had a cousin back home in Curacao who wanted to play high school baseball in Florida. He hoped that Aguas, the head coach at Champagnat Catholic -- a private school in Hialeah, Fla. -- would consider taking a look. Braafhart explained that his cousin was a shortstop. He wasn't very tall and was fairly skinny, but he'd played in the Little League World Series three years earlier and was a good student. "And," Braafhart added, "he can also throw with both hands." Aguas paused. "Hmmmm," the coach said, trying to stifle a smile. "Two hands. Innnnteresting." The cousin's name was Jurrangelo Cijntje, and nearly five years later, he remains the most captivating baseball player that Aguas has ever seen. He is a 5-foot-11 pitcher who can touch 99 mph with his right arm and then flip his custom Wilson glove to his other hand and throw a baseball 95 mph with his left. He spent the last two seasons at Mississippi State, where he unleashed his switch-pitching prowess on SEC opponents. But he is much more than a novelty or party trick: He is also a possible first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, a pitcher who might have major-league potential with both arms. |
| '(It's) what you want them to do in a game:' English coach showcases methods for local soccer players and coaches | |
| "A good workman never blames his tools!" Billy Paton left the youth players to figure out the drill for themselves on Wednesday night, observing as they played a game with a ball more akin to a dollar store beach ball than a soccer ball. Minutes earlier they had wrapped up playing with a size 2 soccer ball that was smaller than most of the players' feet. They did so without much instruction apart from forming teams and playing within a smaller field. Paton traveled from his native England to assist in the trial demonstration for Boardtown FC founder Chris Doss and coach John Miller. In fitting with the ongoing international tournaments, the two sides donned England and Scotland bibs. Reliving that match -- an 1872 clash known as the first international soccer match -- was a fitting way to represent Paton's continuing involvement in the ever-evolving cultural exchange within the global game. The emphasis on quick thinking, adaptability, and independence is the kind of lesson planning that fits perfectly with Doss' philosophy. He and Miller watched and learned from Paton on Wednesday night as children ranging from ages 14-18 played the game their way, overcoming obstacles with teammates they had played with, against, or met for the first time that evening. |
| NCAA Legal Fees Jumped to $62M in FY23; Mark Emmert Made $3.3M in Exit | |
| The NCAA spent $61.5 million in legal fees in the year that ended in August 2023, according to the organization's most recent 990 tax filing, as it continued to defend its business model in the face of multiple antitrust lawsuits. The $61.5 million is the organization's second-highest annual total in at least the last 12 years, and likely its second highest total ever. The NCAA reported $53 million in fiscal 2022, $52.5 million in 2021 and $67.7 million in 2020. Going back a decade---before the bulk of the antitrust lawsuits took hold---it was typical for the organization to spend less than $10 million. The NCAA's five highest-paid independent contractors were all law firms, according to the filing. They include Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe ($16.7 million) and Bryan Cave LLP ($5.7 million). The document also provides insight into former president Mark Emmert's compensation in his final years on the job. Emmert, who agreed to step down effective June 30, 2023, was paid $3.3 million in the in the 2022 calendar year, including $2.8 million in base pay, comparable to his pay the prior year. The document also says that Emmert received another $4.3 million in severance when he left in June 2023. That number will be reflected in next year's tax return. The organization reported record $1.26 billion in revenue, fueled largely by its annual TV contracts with CBS and Turner for the men's basketball tournament. |
| LSU baseball didn't make it to Omaha, but fans couldn't pass up Jell-O Shot Challenge tradition | |
 | LSU baseball didn't make it to Omaha this year, but Tigers fans still were able to make their presence known by participating in a viral tradition and raise thousands of dollars for a good cause. Despite losing to the North Carolina in NCAA Regional, LSU supporters and Baton Rouge residents still participated in the viral Jell-O Shot challenge and were able to donate nearly $10,000 to the Baton Rouge Food Bank. The Jell-O Shot Challenge is held annually at Rocco's Pizza and Cantina in Omaha, when eight teams compete in the College Baseball World Series. Customers can buy the school's colored-motif shot for $5 and $1 will go as a donation to that school's food bank of choice. Last year, LSU fans set a record with 68,888 Jell-O shots sold. The same dollar amount went to the LSU Student Food Pantry. LSU's donations took third place for the total amount behind the two teams in the final, Tennessee and Texas A&M. To "hang with the good folks of Baton Rouge," members of the Rocco's crew visited the city in May. They sold Jell-O shots in between catching LSU's game against Ole Miss at Alex Box Stadium and meeting Mike the Tiger. |
| Memorial Stadium project fundraising, prep for revenue sharing both progressing, Mizzou AD Veatch says | |
 | There's a new task force huddling up in the Missouri athletic department. Charged with developing a "modern Mizzou model," the "3M task force" has assembled to tackle what changes might be necessary as revenue sharing arrives in the college sports universe. That cloudy topic, along with plans for the renovation of Memorial Stadium's north concourse, were among the main themes of a Thursday University of Missouri System Board of Curators meeting that included a presentation from Mizzou athletic director Laird Veatch on his first eight weeks on the job. The House settlement -- the result of a legal process that will permit schools to share revenue directly with athletes -- seemed to be a key point of interest for MU administration. "While I've really tried to emphasize to our staff and coaches that we need to stay focused on the current programs, the current year, the competitive season, the academic support of our student-athletes," Veatch told the board. "It will unquestionably require a lot of attention and detail in the months ahead." But he spent most of his six-minute remarks talking about the stadium project and ongoing fundraising efforts. |
| NFL Ordered to Pay $4.7 Billion in Sunday Ticket Case | |
| A federal jury in California dealt a sweeping blow to the media rights model of America's richest sport on Thursday, siding with plaintiffs in a class-action antitrust lawsuit against the NFL over its out-of-market broadcasts and awarding $4.7 billion of damages to consumers of the league's "Sunday Ticket" telecast package. The league said it was disappointed with the verdict and plans to appeal. After a trial that included testimony from the likes of commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, the jury awarded damages of about $4.6 billion to residential subscribers and just under $100 million to commercial users, sums that will be tripled to more than $14 billion under antitrust law if the judgment is upheld. The number represents nearly two-thirds of what the NFL pulls in annually, and is a significant antitrust award in any market, with potentially major implications for sports and entertainment going forward. For a league that earns more than $20 billion annually, the verdict poses an enormous threat given its potential to upend the NFL's business model, in which media deals are the lion's share of its income. Its impact across the sports and media landscapes might not be limited to pro football. While other leagues such as Major League Baseball or the National Basketball Association have different models that distribute a large portion of games through regional sports networks, the case is certain to be closely watched by leagues, networks and streaming services alike as they all navigate a rapidly shifting landscape. |
| Fore more years? Biden and Trump take swings at each other's golf skills in their debate | |
| They debated the economy, immigration and foreign policy, but it was an argument over golf handicaps that brought out some of the feistiest comments in Thursday's debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Answering a question about his fitness, Trump, who would be 82 at the end of a second term, bragged that he was in "very good shape" and had recently won two championships at one of his golf courses. "To do that, you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way," Trump said. Biden, he said, "can't hit a ball 50 yards." Biden then touted his his own golf abilities. "I got my handicap, when I was vice president, down to six," Biden said. He again challenged Trump to a golf match, but only if Trump carried his bag of clubs himself. "Think you can do it?" asked Biden, whose handicap is listed on the United State Golf Association's website as 6.7, with the last update in July 2018. Trump's handicap last updated in June 2021 is listed as 2.5. Biden would be 86 at the end of his second term. Trump called Biden's handicap claim "the biggest lie of all," adding: "I've seen your swing. I know your swing." |
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