| Thursday, August 8, 2024 |
| State auditor, Mississippi State official clash over what DEI looks like on college campuses | |
 | State Auditor Shad White, self-proclaimed as someone who "ruffles feathers," decided to use his speech at the Neshoba County Fair last week to not only attack diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Mississippi schools but to also go after expected gubernatorial opponent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in the process. Within minutes of taking the stage, White referred to DEI as "indoctrination" funded from the pockets of taxpayers and blamed a fellow Republican in Hosemann for allowing it to continue happening. White vouched that Hosemann should have already used his position as Senate leader to nix publicly funded DEI programs in Mississippi. Meanwhile, Mississippi State University Vice President of Strategic Communications Sid Salter paints a different picture of what DEI looks like in Starkville and other college towns. He asserted that university staffers are not working to indoctrinate students -- as White avidly suggests -- but instead, are working to instill values that will help carry them through life. "From the standpoint of Mississippi State University, nothing that the auditor talked about in terms of 'woke indoctrination' or trying to influence students in any direction politically or morally is happening or has happened at Mississippi State University," Salter said during an appearance on The Gallo Show. "I think we're doing what we need to do in Mississippi. We're taking young people who are hungry for good jobs, hungry for good lives, and who are in transition. When you talk about what we do to impact access, opportunity, and student access, that's what we're doing. Not DEI (as White considers it)," Salter said. |
| Mary Means Business: Lunch, dinner, late night cocktails at new Starkville restaurant | |
 | Eric Hallberg's newest restaurant is open for business. Hallberg, who owns The Breakfast Club in Research Park, opened Big E's Dinner Club on Starr Avenue last month. The dinner joint takes the place of the now shuttered bar Next Round, which closed in late June. Big E's Dinner Club is open Tuesdays through Saturday 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 to 10 p.m. for dinner. "We are ready to enliven and serve the Starkville community with quality craft cocktails and quality food," Matt Davis, one of the restaurant's managers said. "We are located off Academy Road, the idea being that there is nothing like our establishment on this side of town, so we are excited for everyone to come try our products." ... Mississippi State Dining services will have a couple new options this fall for staff and students. Friday, the university will celebrate the two new additions, an upgraded Subway and new Bento Sushi Location, at 100 Lee Blvd. MSU Dining will celebrate the ribbon cutting 11 a.m. Subway will officially open on Saturday, and Bento Sushi will open Sunday. |
| Move-in reminder: Agents say renter's insurance can protect you | |
 | Moving trucks will soon start rolling into college towns with students and parents eager to start a new school year. Renters insurance can help families protect what they've packed, while also easing the financial burden if something goes wrong. "The importance of it is to protect your belongings. Most companies are going to offer you at least a minimum of $10,000 of personal property coverage, but it also carries liability insurance. Most apartment complexes that require renters' insurance are going to ask you to at least carry $100,000 in liability protection," said Alfa Insurance Agent Heath Fisackerly. MSU Student Affairs Vice President Regina Hyatt said new students learning how to be smart with their money can save them on the back end. "Use your meal plan and use it well. All of our first-year students have to have a meal plan, and they get a lot more bang for their buck when they use it at the Fresh Food Company which is our all-you-can-eat cafeteria, versus trying to grab fast food," said Hyatt. Just like a meal plan, your insurance policy is only for you. It is important to make sure your roommates have their own policy as well. "If you have a single renter's policy that you think is covering the entire complex and you have two to four roommates. If those roommates are not listed on that policy as additional insurers, that policy is only protecting you," said Fisackerly. |
| Lang spent two weeks studying abroad in Italy | |
| Montana Lang, a civil engineering major from Philadelphia, was one of 45 Mississippi State students who attended the 2024 interdisciplinary Global Game Changers study abroad trip to Italy in June. Lang, entering her second term of her master's program, will graduate in May. She departed for Italy on June 8 and spent over two weeks there, returning home on June 24. Participants ventured through Milan, the Amalfi Coast, Florence and ended the trip in Rome. Students from six of the university's nine colleges traveled abroad with customized itineraries specific to their field of study, meeting daily to enjoy broader cultural activities as a group. "The class I took over there was a business class, but my master's program is technical marketing of civil engineering, so I take a few MBA classes mixed in with civil engineering classes," she said. "When I was over there a lot of the business talked about how engineering was one of the most crucial parts of their jobs, so I got to see both aspects during the trip." Lang also creates promotional videos for the Richard A. Rula School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at MSU. Faculty advisors from MSU's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Architecture, Art and Design, Bagley College of Engineering and College of Business include Gallery Director Lori Neuenfeldt, Assistant Teaching Professor Aswathy Rai, Lecturer Rachel Woodward, Associate Professor Harish Chander, Assistant Professor Erik Markin and former MSU Associate Professor Charles Freeman, who coordinated and hosted the study abroad trip. |
| Gulf of Mexico is rising at unprecedented speed. Who's most vulnerable in South Mississippi? | |
 | All along the Mississippi Coast, where the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico can quickly stir up storms, scientists who track the tides are warning of a stark new problem: The sea in the South is rising faster than most other places in the world. It's hard to see. But inch by inch, scientists say water is creeping over white sand beaches and up muddy rivers, bringing more floods, worse storm surges and a flush of saltwater that could upend life for thousands in the region's low-lying wetlands by the end of this century. "It's happening so much faster," said Ali Rellinger, a Mississippi State instructor who leads the Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects in Biloxi. Tide gauge data shows Mississippi Coast waters rose 8 inches in the last 30 years. Scientists predict the water will rise 18 inches in the next three decades. Researchers expect seas could rise another 3.84 feet by the end of this century. And the fallout could come sooner: more than 28,000 people across the Mississippi Coast live in homes that would flood with less than two feet of sea level rise, which is forecast to arrive between 2060 and 2070. Cities across the Coast are racing against time. Instructors in South Mississippi are already helping high school teachers create lessons about sea level rise, Rellinger said, and those lessons will soon be taught in lower grades. The measures reflect a growing shift toward resilience -- the idea that coastal cities must prepare for a watery future or risk drowning in its wake. |
| Kari Babski-Reeves Joins UT System as Associate Vice President for Research | |
| The University of Tennessee System has named Kari Babski-Reeves as associate vice president for research. She will begin the position on Oct. 1. In this role, Babski-Reeves will provide strategic leadership to advance the UT System's research agenda, facilitating efforts across the University's campuses and institutes to develop and enhance research capacity and productivity. Babski-Reeves will work closely with research leaders at UT System campuses and institutes to enhance research capacity and productivity. She also will partner to develop and strengthen collaborations with external stakeholders, including businesses, government agencies and other academic institutions. Additionally, she will work with colleagues to promote new initiatives, leverage resources and identify ways to increase research efficiency and effectiveness. With 18 years at Mississippi State University, Babski-Reeves currently serves as associate dean at the Bagley College of Engineering where she leads research, graduate and distance programs. Under her leadership, the college significantly increased research expenditures and introduced initiatives to enhance grant writing, collaborative research, distance education and strategic partnerships. She also leads the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, which has significant growth in enrollment, publications and new program offerings. |
| National Catfish Month wouldn't exist without Mississippi farm-raised catfish | |
| August is National Catfish Month. The whole country goes crazy for catfish, with filets, whole, po'boys, and more hitting menus. While the nation celebrates National Catfish Month in August for a brief 31 days, the catfish industry in Mississippi is a non-stop business. Farm-raising catfish as an industry took off in the mid-1960s. Crops are often cycled out to get the most out of the land, and at the time, catfish farming was a new concept. Before farm-raised catfish, if you wanted a fish fry, it was up to you to go catch it, or you'd have to buy it from someone else who caught it. Supply could never really keep up with demand that way, so people started to prefer the consistency and quality of farm-raised catfish. Catfish expert Mike McCall wrote about it in his book, Catfish Days. "Mississippi leads the nation in farm-raised catfish, and we are celebrating National Catfish Month this month. We have the best catfish farmers in the world, many of whom come from multi-generational family farms that have raised catfish for years," said Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson. "The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce is proud to recognize the significant contributions of the catfish industry to the state and our local communities," Gipson added. "When you eat U.S. Farm-Raised catfish, you are likely enjoying catfish raised here in the Magnolia State. I encourage everyone to look for the U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish label in the grocery stores and on restaurant menus and support our hard-working and dedicated catfish farmers." |
| Beef 'O' Brady's is coming to Mississippi, starting with this city | |
 | A Beef 'O' Brady's restaurant is expected to open early next year on Mississippi 45 in Columbus. The company has plans to bring one to cities such as Hattiesburg, Meridian and Magee, too, if the right person comes along that wants to invest in the franchise. Beef 'O' Brady's CEO Chris Elliott said the restaurant chain is designed to be a sports bar that is family-friendly, where sports fans could watch the games and enjoy a meal and the kids would feel welcome. That concept has paid off for the chain as it enters its 40th year. "The guy who founded it had small children when he did," Beef 'O' Brady's CEO Chris Elliott said. "He wanted a bar at the restaurant for his adult friends, but he put video games and TVs in there for the kids and it just sort of morphed from its early days into something that was built for families and it has grown up that way." The restaurant chain has a Mississippi connection in that it buys its chicken from Sanderson Farms, which is headquartered in Laurel. "Wings are still our No. 1 selling item," Elliott said. The restaurant chain is not new to Mississippi. The brand previously had locations throughout the state, including ones in D'Iberville, Meridian and Madison. Elliott said the restaurants likely were victims of the nationwide economic downturn that began in 2008. |
| A tour of iconic The Mayflower restaurant. See the progress | |
| Fans of The Mayflower restaurant in Downtown Jackson won't have to wait much longer before getting back in for daily lunch specials and great seafood. Hunter Evans, 34, who was recently nominated for a 2024 James Beard Award and is the owner of the nationally renowned restaurant Elvie's, bought the historic restaurant in April. After some cleanup and reorganization, he and business partner Cody McCain expect The Mayflower to finally be ready to open in the next couple of weeks. Evans gave the Clarion Ledger a tour of the progress this week and workers from Caraway Construction were working fast and furious to install the original but reworked booths as well as completing touchups on a number of places. Caraway has worked with many restaurants in the area over the years, including the new build out of Amerigo's in Flowood as well as work with Saltine in Fondren and Char in Jackson. "We are getting plates in and the final touches are going in," Evans said as Mayflower staff and construction workers came and went back and forth attending to last-minute details. "Hopefully next week we will start testing and going over recipes to get the staff accustomed to the food, the wines and the cocktails. The big stuff, the construction stuff, is mainly done." |
| $195M Highway 15 project heralded as a boon for economic development | |
 | Work on the long-awaited widening of State Highway 15 in Tippah County is expected to get underway soon, a major project that has been years in the making. While the current project won't complete the four-laning of the highway, it is a major component that will eventually lead to that. Dubbed the "Ripley Bypass," the nearly $195 million project will involve realigning some of Highway 15 and four-laning the route. The initial work will comprise grading, drainage and bridge construction. "It will begin on the Union County side, the far end of 15, and then a parallel section will go through the Rainey Estate. Once we get past the Rainey Estate, it'll veer off and become an actual bypass and then leave the existing Highway 15 four lanes all the way to 1 mile north of Highway 4 (in Ripley)," said Matt Dunn the District 1 Engineer for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, during a Wednesday morning ceremony at the site of the work. Rep. Jody Steverson, who represents Tippah and Alcorn counties in District 4 in the state legislature, said updating the infrastructure plays a vital role in economic development, tourism and a community's quality of life. Sharing the stage with him at the groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday was the state's top leadership, including Gov. Tate Reeves, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, Secretary of State Michael Watson and House Speaker Jason White. Former Speaker Phillip Gunn also flanked Steverson, who credited and thanked them all for their help in pushing through the project. |
| Can Mississippi afford a grocery sales tax cut? | |
| A possible cut to the sales tax on groceries is gaining traction among lawmakers this off session, but the math and politics get a bit tricky as Mississippi's cities and towns heavily rely on the revenue. Add in another likely attempt to fully eliminate the state income tax, and the path for more taxpayer relief is clouded at best. By 2026, Mississippians will be paying a flat 4 percent rate on their income tax. That is due to the historic tax cut passed in 2022 which allows working Mississippians to keep nearly $500 million of their money. Over the last two years there have been promises by state leaders -- namely Governor Tate Reeves (R) and Speaker Jason White (R) -- to continue to explore tax relief, with the goal being to fully eliminate the income tax. Yet, while those efforts stalled during the 2024 session, there is hope the policy debate could reemerge come January. As for the sales tax on groceries, Mississippi currently imposes a 7 percent tax on the dollar, including groceries. According to the AARP, Mississippi is one of 13 states that tax grocery purchases, with the Magnolia State's rate being the highest nationally. State Senator Josh Harkins (R) said the hurdles to cutting the sales tax on groceries include keeping the municipalities, and other entities that benefit from sales tax diversions, whole. Unlike the cut to the income tax, cutting sales tax is not a dollar for dollar cut. "The grocery tax, however, if you cut a dollar of grocery tax, you also have to make all the participants of all the diversions whole, or else they get cut," Harkins explained. |
| Auditor releases book on welfare scandal | |
 | As the window to bring charges against people connected to the Mississippi Welfare Scandal nears a close, State Auditor Shad White is hoping his new book, "Mississippi Swindle," will provide a roadmap for people wanting to know everything from the initial investigation by his office to the court cases currently underway. "I hope that this summarizes the story of the welfare scandal all in one spot," White said. "So, for anybody who wants to understand what happened here, they're able to pick this book up and read it." White released the book Tuesday after taking about two years writing it. In it, he details the story of the $100 million scandal beginning with his role as the Mississippi State Auditor, his office's investigations, reports and his efforts to work with prosecutors to bring justice to people proven to have misused TANF funds via the Mississippi Department of Human Services. It also discusses the scandal's key players. In an interview Tuesday during a book signing event at Lemuria Books off Interstate 55 North in Jackson, White told the Clarion Ledger there is nothing in the book that prosecutors do not already have, and that it will simply serve as a way for readers to learn about the scandal. "We're at that interesting moment now where, because the facts have been dug up and because they're out there, we're at the end of this thing," White said. "It's not the beginning, it's not the middle. This is the end. We're in the final period where prosecutors have a shot to make a decision about what they want to do." |
| Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation names new executive director | |
| The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Foundation (MMNSF) announced Wednesday that Susan Eskridge Frazier has been tabbed as its executive director. Frazier enters the role with nearly three decades of nonprofit experience, including work with or for nonprofits in higher education, the arts, healthcare, and social services. "Susan comes to us with an impressive track record in nonprofit leadership," LoRose Moore, president of the MMNSF Board of Directors, said. "Susan's vision and dedication align perfectly with our goals, and we are excited to have her at the helm." Fraizer has previously served on the boards of the Junior League of Jackson, the United States Pony Club Deep South Region, the Millsaps Alumni Association, and Stewpot Community Services, the latter including a term as board chair. The Tupelo native is also an active member of Galloway United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson. "We are delighted to welcome Susan Frazier as the new Executive Director of the Foundation," Mississippi Museum of Natural Science Director Angel Rohnke said. "Susan's extensive experience and passion for our mission make her the perfect fit to lead the Foundation into an exciting future. We look forward to achieving great things together." |
| Bishop Sharma Lewis shares vision for Mississippi United Methodists | |
| Mississippi United Methodist Bishop Sharma Lewis says she is now head of a "new denomination" as the group moves forward from the schism that split the church, along with families, friends and congregations. As part of a yearslong conflict within the church, a combined 330 of the 860 fully connected members in Mississippi were allowed to disaffiliate in 2023. That was the latest in the nationwide split of the church, which has been described by some as the largest denominational schism in the last 50 years. Nationally, 7,500-plus churches left the denomination between 2019-2023. Before 2023 in Mississippi, a total of 55 churches disaffiliated from the conference with seven leaving in 2019, 11 in 2020, 23 in 2021 and 14 in 2022. Many of those churches joined a more conservative breakaway denomination called the Global Methodist Church. "It is time for a new vision, because we are in a new denomination," Lewis said. "The three main areas that when I pray, God keeps bringing me back to is evangelism, discipleship and stewardship with generosity. Maybe not in that order, but it is time for a new vision." The issues for the United Methodist Church, in general, center around, but are not limited to, a difference in opinion about whether someone who identifies as LGBTQ should be ordained in churches. |
| Rep. Guest addresses supporters on Trump assassination attempt | |
 | U.S. Representative Michael Guest (R-Miss.) spoke to supporters in Madison on Wednesday, August 7. Guest shared his experiencing visiting Butler, Pennsylvania, where an assassination attempt was carried out against former President Donald Trump. The congressman visited the site of the Trump rally alongside his fellow House Homeland Security Committee members. They were given a tour of the location, including where the gunman assumed his position on a rooftop just a few hundred feet away from Trump. "I will tell you, colossal failure. It was a failure in planning, a failure, an execution failure and communication between the different agencies. There was a failure in resource allocation, and there was a failure in leadership. I was surprised when I was there on the scene that the site from where the shooter was located was not in the security perimeter. It is a strategic location, an elevated location, direct line of sight to where the president would have been standing at the time that he was shot," said Guest. |
| 'We're stuck' on the farm bill, says Stabenow | |
| Republicans are unwilling to compromise on SNAP and climate funding in the new farm bill, and as a result, "we're stuck," said Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow. "The only way you get that done is if it's bipartisan." Progress on the farm bill has been stalled for months. House and Senate Republicans want large increases in crop subsidy spending, cuts in SNAP funding, and to be able to use climate funding for soil and water projects that do not capture carbon or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Stabenow has suggested smaller increases in crop supports while opposing SNAP cuts and loosening the guardrails on climate mitigation funding. "This year, we're stuck because of an increased sense of partisanship and a desire by Republicans to really, really play politics with food," said Stabenow during a Zoom call to rural Americans by the Harris-Walz campaign on Tuesday night. "So we're working really hard on that. But on the other side, just like so much else, it just seems to be politics, and [former president] Donald Trump weighing in to try to stop anything from happening." Stabenow said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz "was involved in the very successful [farm bills] we did in 2008 and 2014 and 2018," when he was a congressman and member of the House Agriculture Committee. |
| Harris' VP pick Walz backed farmers during time in Congress | |
 | Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz helped shape farm policy during his 12 years in Congress and pushed for policies that advocated for farmers and ranchers, particularly those who are veterans of the armed services. The former House member, and now Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate pick for the 2024 Democratic ticket, has been hailed by Democrats as a boon to reach Midwestern voters. The Harris campaign, in announcing the pick, touted the agricultural aspect of Walz's background: "He became a member of Congress in a Republican district by representing the needs of farmers and rural America." The Census Bureau includes Minnesota in the Midwest region, which includes a region called the "Corn Belt," with over 127 million acres of agricultural land that primarily grows corn and soybeans, among other commodities. Walz grew up on his family farm in Nebraska before enlisting in the Nebraska National Guard at age 17. As a veteran with roots in agriculture, he rose to be the top-ranked Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and fourth-ranked Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. He sponsored legislation during his last term in the 115th Congress to expand veterans' access to farm programs, and some provisions were incorporated into the 2018 farm bill. “I came to Congress to write farm bills. I came to get policy right,” Walz said during the House Agriculture Committee farm bill markup on April 18, 2018. |
| Carville: Vance doesn't want to get 'within 50 miles' of Walz | |
 | Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday he doesn't think Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), former President Trump's running mate, wants to get "within 50 miles" of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Harris's running mate, for a vice presidential debate. In a CNN interview ahead of Harris's first campaign event with Walz on Tuesday night, Carville said he was excited about the messaging opportunity for Democrats over the next three months and pushed back against the idea that Republicans had the "edge" in the race. "Let's get the convention behind us," Carville said on "The Lead" with Jake Tapper. "I don't think Trump wants to debate. JD Vance [doesn't] want to get within 50 miles of Governor Walz, I can tell you that." "There's a lot of football left to play here, and I'm excited," Carville continued. "And I'm tired of banging my helmet against the locker. Let's go out there and play some ball. We're ready. We're excited, Jake, we really are." Tapper asked what message Carville wants to see from the Democratic ticket in the coming months to push back against "the edge" Trump might have in the race "because it's a change election and he has been leading in the polls." "Well, first of all, not call Trump a change candidate. He's a backwards candidate. We're not talking about four years from now. He wants to talk about four years ago. And I think that's a pretty simple dynamic on our part," Carville told Tapper when asked for his advice to Harris and Walz. |
| Tim Walz's and JD Vance's Personal Finances Couldn't Be More Different | |
 | The two candidates for vice president have little in common politically or financially. Tim Walz doesn't own a home or many investments outside of pensions and a college-savings plan, according to past financial disclosures and tax returns. Getting elected vice president as Kamala Harris's Democratic running mate -- a job that pays $235,000 -- would mean a more than 50% pay bump. JD Vance, his Republican rival for the No. 2 job, by contrast is a multimillionaire who owns several homes and invests in a range of assets including gold and crypto, according to his most recent financial disclosures. The financial lives of the two candidates are both versions of the American dream and demonstrate different approaches to money and risk, said Megan Gorman, a tax lawyer and wealth manager who analyzed the personal finances of American presidents -- though not vice presidents -- for a new book. Though many candidates for national office have had rags-to-riches stories like Vance, few since Harry Truman have come into the spotlight with less wealth than Walz, she said. "Walz represents the stable, middle-class version, which isn't as sexy," she said. "Though the path Vance took to wealth is not one that's really repeatable for most Americans." |
| 'If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that': Harris fires back at Gaza protesters at rally | |
 | Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, fired back at pro-Palestinian protesters of Israel's war in Gaza as they interrupted her speech during a Wednesday night campaign rally in Detroit. "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking," Harris said with a long stare, drawing loud cheers from supporters in the crowd before chants of, "Not going back!" The exchange was a reminder of the lingering divisions among Democrats over the war in the Middle East that pose challenges for Harris in her race against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. As Harris spoke, a group of protesters interrupted the vice president about halfway through her remarks: "Kamala, Kamala, you can't hide! We won't vote for genocide," they shouted. Harris initially responded: "I'm here because I believe in democracy. I believe everyone's voice matters. But I'm speaking now. I am speaking now." But the interruptions continued as Harris tried to discuss the ramifications of a second Trump presidency. More than 15,000 people attended the Harris rally held at a Detroit airport hangar with Air Force Two in the background -- the type of campaign setting Trump has made a staple during his three runs for president. Although Harris, like Biden, has remained steadfast in her backing of Israel, she helped take the lead in the administration's criticism of Israel for the number of Palestinian casualties in Gaza. |
| Majority of US adults say democracy is on the ballot but they differ on the threat: AP-NORC poll | |
 | Roughly 3 in 4 American adults believe the upcoming presidential election is vital to the future of U.S. democracy, although which candidate they think poses the greater threat depends on their political leanings, according to a poll. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that most Democrats, Republicans and independents see the election as "very important" or "extremely important" to democracy, while Democrats have a higher level of intensity about the issue. More than half of Democrats say the November election is "extremely important" to the future of U.S. democracy, compared to about 4 in 10 independents and Republicans. Democrat Pamela Hanson, 67, of Amery, Wisconsin, said she has grave concerns for the future of democracy in the country if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump gets elected. "His statements tend towards him being a king or a dictator, a person in charge by himself," Hanson said. "I mean, the man is unhinged in my opinion." But Republican Ernie Wagner from Liberty, New York, said it's President Joe Biden's administration -- of which Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, is a part -- that has abused the power of the executive branch. "Biden has tried to erase the student loans, and he's been told by the courts that it's unconstitutional to do that," said Wagner, 85. "He's weaponized the FBI to get at his political opponents." |
| Does a candidate's religious background impact the presidential race? | |
 | With Vice President Kamala Harris choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, the now finalized tickets for this November's presidential election are comprised of candidates who span the Christian spectrum. With Walz's ascendancy to VP candidate, there's been hype around the moniker "Minnesota Lutheran Dad" to describe Walz's religious and cultural values. The religious profile of the other candidates on the Democrat and Republican tickets are totally different and just as interesting. Harris is Baptist and considers Third Baptist Church of San Francisco her home church and the church's pastor, the Rev. Amos Brown, a close friend and mentor. The church and Brown are affiliated with the Nashville-based National Baptist Convention, USA, which is the nation's largest Black Baptist denomination. Harris addressed the National Baptist Convention, USA, at its 2022 annual session. Walz is Lutheran and has referred to Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul as "my parish," a congregation affiliated with the more progressive mainline Lutheran denomination called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, according to Religion News Service. Former President Donald Trump is a non-denominational evangelical Christian, an identifier he started using in 2020 that deviated from his previous self-described Presbyterian affiliation. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance is Catholic, a tradition he converted to in 2019 and that has since been a defining feature of his public image. A candidate's specific religious background helps explain their views, but it has little effect on determining voters' support. Instead, enthusiasm within a faith group for one candidate versus another is based on broader ideological alignment. |
| In his last act as president, Nixon finally showed his human side | |
 | With less than three hours left in his presidency, Richard M. Nixon took the stage of the White House East Room to deliver his farewell speech 50 years ago Friday and tearfully showed a vulnerable side that few had seen him show in public before. "I think it was the first time that people really saw Richard Nixon, the man," said Stephen Bull, who served as Nixon's staff assistant at the time. The night before, on Aug. 8, 1974, Nixon had gone on TV and announced to the nation that he would be resigning as president in the wake of the Watergate scandal, effective noon the next day. He couldn't sleep, and when he looked at his watch, it said 4 a.m. So he walked into the kitchen to get a glass of milk and was startled to see a White House steward making coffee, Nixon recalled in his book, "In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal." The president asked him what he was doing there so early. "It isn't early, Mr. President. It's almost six o'clock," the steward replied. "My watch had stopped. After three years the battery had run down," Nixon wrote -- an apt metaphor for his presidency. As he worked on the farewell address he would deliver to his Cabinet and staff that Friday morning, there was a knock on the door. It was his chief of staff, Alexander Haig, presenting him with a one-sentence letter, addressed to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The letter read: "I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States." |
| Behind the Movement to Turn Back the Clock on Gender Roles | |
| Husbands who head the household and go to work to provide for their family. Wives whose primary roles are homemaker and mother. A conservative vision of America has gained momentum among those who fear American culture has swung too far from their long-held ideal of what a family should look like, and, in some quarters, reject deviations from that view. Resurfaced comments from Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance about the political influence of "childless cat ladies," and his more recent worries about Americans' reluctance to have children, reflect a deeper movement coursing through politics, social media, churches and households. "I think there's been a recent resurgence of the defense of the natural family," said William Wolfe, a former Trump administration appointee and founder of the Center for Baptist Leadership, a nonprofit that aims to keep the Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination, "theologically conservative." While some on the right, especially religious conservatives, have long endorsed restrictive views of family and gender roles, they have been energized by divisive national battles over social issues that seem to strike at the core of that vision: transgender rights, gay rights and reproductive rights. The push comes in the midst of women's recent workforce gains, and a falling birthrate driven by rising childlessness. The trend represents a backlash in some corners of the country following decades of major social changes, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and a surge of women in the labor force. |
| MUW offers full-tuition scholarships to MSMS students | |
 | Students attending The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science are now eligible to receive a full-tuition academic scholarship to Mississippi University for Women. The perpetual academic scholarship is the first of its kind to be offered to students at MSMS. Mississippi University for Women General Counsel Karen Clay, who is an alumna of MUW and MSMS, announced the full-tuition scholarship during MSMS' fall convocation held Monday morning. "We are proud of our long-standing history of partnering with MSMS and are pleased to award these scholarships to this senior class and those to come. These students can continue to thrive and lead on this campus that is their home," said University President Nora Miller. Located on MUW's campus, MSMS provides an accelerated, immersive curriculum for the state's gifted and talented 11th and 12th grade students. MSMS has access to its own academic buildings, residence halls and performing arts center. In addition, MSMS students utilize the university's cafeteria, recreation center, health center and library. The new scholarship award, titled Power of Six Scholarship, is immediately available to MSMS seniors who complete their application to MUW and covers tuition costs. The Power of Six Scholarship is dedicated to the six inaugural faculty members of MSMS who received undergraduate or graduate degrees from MUW: Linda Bridges, Kathy Cadden, Mary Davidson, Nancy MacNeill, Judy Morris and Helen Perry. |
| Ann Abadie, Champion of Southern Studies, Is Dead at 84 | |
 | Ann Abadie, a scholar of the South who helped found one of the country's leading Southern studies institutes, died on July 30 in Tupelo, Miss. She was 84. Her daughter Leslie Abadie said she died in a hospice after having a stroke. Ms. Abadie spent her entire half-century career at the University of Mississippi, a place both embedded in Southern history and one of its key observatories. She played a major role in creating that latter-day role, writing successful proposals in 1976 to the National Endowment for the Humanities for grants that helped establish the university's multidisciplinary, degree-granting Center for the Study of Southern Culture. She served as the associate director of that institution until her retirement in 2011; along the way, she edited more than 50 books about the South. Modest and self-effacing, she stayed in the background. But she is credited by associates as a linchpin, through her work at the center, in transforming the university from a global anti-civil-rights symbol into a modern multiracial campus. Her ecumenical Southern outlook was evident in perhaps the most famous of the center's publications, the landmark Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), an exuberant, semi-irreverent but serious attempt to define the essence of Southern-ness across racial, ethnic and disciplinary lines. |
| UMMC awarded $1 million to fight sky-high syphilis rates | |
| The state's largest public hospital will accept $1 million from the federal government this month to reduce Mississippi's syphilis rates -- among the highest in the nation. Mississippi ranks sixth in the nation for its rate of syphilis and fourth in the nation for its rate of congenital syphilis, which occurs when a mother passes the infection to her infant in utero. Rates in Mississippi have risen rapidly in the most recent years for which data is available. "It's a nationwide problem but it's especially problematic here," Dr. Thomas Dobbs, dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said in a press release. "And our numbers might be higher since the detection and reporting of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) were significantly less during the pandemic years." UMMC, the state's only academic medical center, will use the grant to launch a year-long initiative to increase syphilis awareness, testing and treatment, according to the press release, with a focus on preventing the disease during pregnancy. The teaching hospital will partner with clinics and community-based organizations to enhance diagnosis and treatment of the disease. It will also partner with the State Health Department to ensure completion of treatment for patients and partner tracing. |
| JSU hosts 2024 Fall Faculty & Staff Convocation | |
| Jackson State University (JSU) hosted its 2024 Fall Faculty and Staff Convocation on Wednesday in order to inspire and energize teachers and staff for the new academic year. JSU President Dr. Marcus Thompson addressed faculty and staff and emphasized the university's strive for continued excellence. "This institution has proven that is an it is an academic force of cultural and intellectual enlightenment that uplifts the community for which it serves. None of this would be possible without the ideas, without innovation and creativity you bring to this campus every single day," stated Thompson. This year, there are a lot of fresh faces on the administration team, who are ushering in new, innovative ideas and policies. Though they are new to the job, they're not new to the university. "I'm excited about being back at Jackson State. It's an opportunity for me to see growth and changes that have occurred from 30 years ago when I was here," said Denise Jones Gregory, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs at JSU. |
| Jackson State and U. of Mississippi Partner for Accelerated Law Degree Program | |
| Jackson State University students will be able to earn law degrees after just six years in higher education under a historic partnership between the historically Black university in Jackson, Miss., and the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. Latoya Thompson, the wife of Jackson State University President Marcus Thompson, is the driving force behind the Pathway to Law School program. The new program represents a step forward for one of her initiatives as first lady of the institution. Thompson, who earned her law degree from the University of Mississippi, still actively practices law. "I have four things that I'm working on and one of them is to bolster our pre-law program and to support our pre-law students in a stronger way," she said. "We have a pre-law program dedicated to them. We are not looking to replace that at all but to supplement it and make it as strong as we can from the perspective of visibility." University of Mississippi officials said that the joint degree will allow students to explore options in law "such as concentrations in business law, air and space law, sports and entertainment law, and criminal law." JSU officials added the program can also significantly reduce the financial burden of continuing education. |
| More than 1,000 degrees awarded at U. of Alabama commencement | |
 | The University of Alabama awarded 1,195 degrees during summer commencement exercises Saturday at Coleman Coliseum. According to UA, UA's summer graduating class included students from 19 countries, 46 states and Washington, D.C. and 50 of Alabama's 67 counties. The class had a grade point average of 3.156 on a 4.0 scale. and 198 students graduated with honors. The graduating class also included 11 active-duty military members, while 19 identified as veterans. The summer graduating class also highlighted Sunday Okafor, a first-generation doctoral student from Nigeria dedicated to making roads safer for everyone. The ceremony honored graduates from the Capstone College of Nursing, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Communication and Information Sciences, College of Community Health Sciences, College of Education, College of Engineering, College of Human Environmental Sciences, Culverhouse College of Business and School of Social Work. Classes for the fall semester at UA begin Aug. 21. Fall commencement is scheduled for Dec. 14, with ceremonies scheduled at 8:30 a.m. and noon at Coleman Coliseum. |
| Survey: 'Everything' Stresses Students Out. How Can Colleges Help? | |
 | To be a college student in 2024 is to be surrounded by stressful events, ranging from personal matters -- juggling work, family responsibilities and financial obligations---to unprecedented global phenomena, political turmoil and a constant stream of digital information. "We're living in an age of anxiety," says Melissa Saunders, assistant director of clinical services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). "There are major life stressors going on all across the world -- climate change, terrible wars, toxic political discourse -- that students have no control over and are completely bombarded with all the time. That is an awful lot to handle at age 18, 19, 20." Laura Erickson-Schroth, chief medical officer for The Jed Foundation, works as a clinician with 18- to 25-year-olds, and when clients discuss their stressors, many times they talk about societal issues such as climate change, movements for racial justice, reproductive rights, protests on campus and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. "Young people are dealing with a completely different world than we were when we were younger ... Young people are thinking about world events in a way that wasn't true always in previous generations," Erickson-Schroth explains. |
| Universities face constraints in efforts to build more graduate student housing, Moody's says | |
| Building affordable housing for graduate students is becoming increasingly important for universities --- but inflation, interest rates and other challenges are likely to constrain projects in the short term, according to a July report from Moody's. Institutions have looked to fill the need through partnerships with private developers, analysts with the ratings agency said. At the same time, they point out that such projects are riskier than typical college housing given the narrower market, higher price sensitivity among graduate students and the flexibility they have to live off-campus. With the supply constrained for now and student housing vacancy historically low, Moody's estimates rents will grow 4.4% annually over the next three years. Moody's analysts outlined the problem as "persistent housing affordability constraints" for graduate students. Part of the issue is that existing on-campus graduate housing is aging. The financial lives of graduate students pose another difficulty. "Because of limited incomes, graduate students are constrained in their housing options and are often required to locate to more affordable areas farther from campus," the Moody's analysts said. The importance of graduate students to universities is prompting another look at housing addressing their needs. "Universities are eager to respond to the dearth of graduate-focused housing given the increasingly critical roles these students play within an institution's academic infrastructure," analysts said. |
| Rethinking Campus Spaces Amid Enrollment Declines | |
| As colleges across the nation grapple with declining enrollment, many are simultaneously dealing with aging infrastructure and costly maintenance issues that are often deferred for years. Some institutions, particularly those battered by enrollment losses, find themselves with more physical space than they need to teach and house a shrinking number of students on campus. And student needs today differ from those of years past, with a more diverse group of learners seeking more connected and collaborative spaces in an increasingly digital environment. Now, reeling from enrollment losses, some institutions are shedding hundreds of thousands of square feet, knocking down structures to emphasize green spaces and modernize campus facilities for today's students. Doug Kozma, a campus planning strategist at the design firm SmithGroup, has helped institutions re-evaluate their physical spaces. As a starting point, he encourages colleges to consider how they are and aren't using spaces, conducting analysis on space utilization and assessing the conditions of facilities as they consider demolition, renovation or other possible solutions. "When you put all that together, it offers a snapshot to take things away, to renovate space, to tactically and strategically make the campus better and more nimble for what they're trying to deliver," Kozma said. |
| FAFSA Will Open by December 1 After 'Phased Rollout' | |
 | The U.S. Department of Education announced on Wednesday that it will make a fully functional Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, available by December 1, following a two-month "phased rollout," during which the agency will make the form available to a limited number of colleges and students. That testing phase, the department said, will enable it to identify and resolve any technical issues before the application is open to all users. The announcement follows months of speculation about when the form would go live for the next round of federal-aid applicants -- and whether the system would be free of major problems at that point. Typically, the FAFSA becomes available on October 1. But after the calamitous rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, many financial-aid officers and college-access advocates have said that the application must be fully functional, even if its arrival is delayed by a couple months. "We are wrestling with the trade-off between timeliness and functionality," five associations wrote in a July 23 letter to the department, "and have concluded that the consequences of releasing a product that does not come with full end-to-end functionality for students, families, state agencies, and aid administrators would be too great." |
| APLU Statement on Delayed 2025-26 FAFSA Release | |
| Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President Mark Becker today released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Education's announcement the 2025-26 FAFSA will not be fully available to students until on or before December 1. "The chaotic FAFSA rollout has had a profound -- and potentially generational -- impact on students who rely on federal student aid to access and complete college. APLU appreciates the clarity the U.S. Department of Education provided on next steps and implores the Department to continue engaging public universities in its process to ensure transparency and coordination. "Now that it has announced its schedule for the 2025-2026 school year, it's imperative the Department meet the delivery date with a flawless rollout and fully functional FAFSA. On or before December 1 must be on or before December 1." |
| Public colleges seek common ground with Republicans after DEI bans | |
| Government officials overseeing public colleges in conservative states say they're looking for new common ground with Republican lawmakers who have banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Officials from Iowa, Idaho and Utah said Tuesday during a higher education panel in Washington that they have worked to build bridges with lawmakers and understand their concerns in recent years. "Building that trust takes time, building that trust takes effort," said Geoffrey Landward, Utah's commissioner of higher education. Utah's legislative Republican supermajority passed a law this year that bans DEI offices and instruction based on "personal identity characteristics" at state campuses. That law took effect on July 1 and forced the University of Utah, Southern Utah University, Utah State University and Weber State University to close their DEI offices and cultural centers. Alabama, Iowa, Florida, Texas and North Dakota have enacted similar policies over the past two years. Two bills are working through the Missouri Legislature, and Alabama recently passed a DEI ban that will take effect Oct. 1. Officials from all 50 states were in Washington this week for the annual conference of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, a network of government agencies overseeing public colleges. |
SPORTS
| Jeff Lebby said this unit has 'dominated' in Mississippi State football preseason practice | |
| Lots of eyes, for good reason, are on Mississippi State football's offense entering the 2024 season. The Bulldogs landed their starting quarterback in Blake Shapen from the transfer portal. They also hired coach Jeff Lebby, an offensive guru whom former Alabama coach Nick Saban tried to bring to his staff. Yet Lebby, speaking after Wednesday's preseason practice, said the defense has been the impressive group lately. "The last two days, defense really dominated the practices," he said. "Today was a little more even-matched, but defensively, a lot of really good things. Creating turnovers, having unbelievable energy and toughness and physicality." The Bulldogs' practices have been closed to reporters this week, except for a 20-minute viewing period during warm-ups at Monday's practice. That snippet didn't allow for any conclusions. Lebby said redshirt freshman cornerback Kelley Jones provided one of the defensive highlights. "Today he got beat on a couple things that were bang-bang plays," Lebby said. "But what I loved about it is that he just ended the day with a 60-yard pick-six. He's just playing the next play. He's a guy that's getting out of his own way, he's preparing the right way and he's taking care of his body." |
| 'I could shock a lot of people': Jones believes he can be Bulldogs' next star corner | |
| Kelley Jones is usually content to wear whatever uniform number he is given. But although he has played in just three games with Mississippi State, his teammates saw enough potential in him to suggest he switch from 29, which he wore last year as a true freshman, to No. 1. "My teammates, they just came to me, they felt like I was the one," Jones said. "I never asked for it. They just came and said they feel like I should get it. I could shock a lot of people and possibly be a first-round (NFL Draft pick)." Jones won't be eligible for the NFL Draft until 2026, but he does possess tools that could help him become the Bulldogs' next shutdown cornerback. For the last five years, MSU has had an outstanding cover corner on its roster, from Martin Emerson to Emmanuel Forbes to Decamerion Richardson, all of whom are now playing at the next level. Brice Pollock, who played 11 games and started three as a freshman last fall, is the Bulldogs' most proven returning corner, and MSU also added some experience in the transfer portal with DeAgo Brumfield and Montre Miller. At 6-foot-4, though, Jones is the Bulldogs' tallest defensive back and could find himself matched up against some of the biggest, fastest and most physical wide receivers in the Southeastern Conference. |
| Position Preview: Looking at Mississippi State's cornerbacks for the 2024 season | |
| The countdown to this year's college football season has begun in earnest with less than four weeks until Mississippi State opens the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Kentucky at Davis Wade Stadium. The Bulldogs, under first-year head coach Jeff Lebby, opened fall camp last Thursday. As camp progresses, The Dispatch will be taking a look at each position group on MSU's roster, noting who could be the potential starters, backups and impact players to look out for on the gridiron. For the last several years, the Bulldogs have been blessed with a shutdown cornerback who has gone on to play at the next level, from Martin Emerson to Emmanuel Forbes to most recently Decamerion Richardson. MSU does not have a proven star corner this year, but youngsters Brice Pollock and Kelley Jones have both flashed potential in their brief playing time so far. Here is all you need to know about the Bulldogs' cornerbacks heading into the 2024 campaign. |
| 'Our guys are getting it': How Jeff Lebby evaluated Mississippi State football offense | |
| Mississippi State football is replacing all of its offensive starters from last season. Is it a cause for concern? Perhaps to a degree, though the Bulldogs had the worst scoring offense in the SEC under coach Zach Arnett. Instead, it's more likely to be a breath of fresh air under first-year coach Jeff Lebby. He and an almost entirely new assistant coaching staff are in the process of installing Lebby's offense, which possesses more similarities of a spread, up-tempo scheme that Mike Leach constituted. "We're being incredibly aggressive with the install," Lebby said after Wednesday's practice, the sixth of the preseason. "We want to apply as much pressure as we can, mentally and physically so we can see what guys we can go count on. Our guys are getting it. They've taken to it. They've done a good job with it." Part of what's helped, Lebby said, is that the Bulldogs had most of their players on the team in the spring. They hit the transfer portal hard and found what projects to be multiple plug-and-play starters at wide receiver and offensive line. Blake Shapen was also added from Baylor and will be the starting quarterback. "It was huge," Lebby said. "Our guys got really good knowledge of what the expectation is, how we want to go play and how we want to do things. There is still a ton of growth to be made at every single position. They've got great intent. There's great energy in the building." |
| Lane Kiffin sued for copyright infringement over Ole Miss coach's social media posts | |
| A lawsuit was filed against Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin on Tuesday over Kiffin's social media activity, according to court documents obtained by the Clarion Ledger. The plaintiff, Dr. Keith Bell, is a Texas-based swimming psychologist and the author of a book published in 1981 entitled "Winning Isn't Normal" ‒ for which he owns the copyright. The lawsuit seeks damages from Kiffin on one count of copyright infringement resulting from a pair of posts on X. The filing did not include a specific financial demand. The lawsuit states that Kiffin "retweeted" a passage from "Winning Isn't Normal" in 2016, and Bell responded by sending him cease-and-desist letters "informing him that his unauthorized copying of the WIN (Winning Isn't Normal) Passage constituted copyright infringement." Kiffin then took down the post, according to the filing. On March 20, 2022, Kiffin's X account posted a photo of a seven-paragraph passage under the heading "WINNING ISN'T NORMAL." Bell's lawsuit claims the post is nearly an exact copy of a passage from Winning Isn't Normal. According to the filing, Bell sent another cease-and-desist letter to Kiffin, and claimed that the coach failed to comply with the demand. The lawsuit says "Kiffin's leaving up his infringing post is irrefutable evidence of willful infringement." A search of Kiffin's social media account indicated the post had been deleted. |
| NCAA President Charlie Baker would be 'shocked' if women's tournament revenue units isn't passed | |
| NCAA President Charlie Baker and a member of the Division I Board of Directors said Wednesday they foresee no issues with getting final approval for the proposed creation of a revenue distribution for schools and conferences based on teams' performance in the women's basketball tournament. The board voted Tuesday to advance the proposal, which now must go before the NCAA Board of Governors and the full Division I membership. The Board of Governors is scheduled to meet Thursday, and the membership vote would occur at January's NCAA convention. "I'll be shocked if this thing has any issues at all" gaining approval, Baker said during a video-conference. "I think that everyone sees this as a great opportunity to capitalize on" a new, eight-year, $920 million TV deal with ESPN that includes rights to the women's basketball tournament "and prioritize (the proposed new distribution) as much as possible," said Central Arkansas President Houston Davis, who chairs the Board of Directors committee that developed the proposal and is a member of the Board of Governors. Baker said the concept "was pretty high up on my list" of priorities when he became the NCAA's president in March 2023 and "reflects the growth of the game and especially makes it possible now for schools that participate in the tournament, and do well, to benefit from that financially and be able to reinvest in their programs. |
| Former college baseball player sues, says NCAA, conferences fixed wages with scholarship limits | |
| A former college baseball player is suing the NCAA and power conferences, accusing the leagues of wage fixing through scholarship limits. The federal antitrust cases was filed in Colorado this week by former TCU baseball player Riley Cornelio and seeks class-action status for college baseball and hockey players. "Defendant and its members operate as a cartel, and the capping of scholarship money at artificially low levels in these sports results in wage fixing amongst horizontal competitors in a market for services," the complaint says. "The anticompetitive effects are as clear as with any other wage fix, and it is an unlawful restraint under Section 1 of the Sherman Act." The NCAA, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference have an agreement in place to settle three antitrust lawsuits that challenged compensation rules for $2.78 billion in damages to former and current college athletes. The settlement, which still needs to be approved by a judge, also includes a plan to allow schools to implement a revenue-sharing system with athletes and increase the number of scholarship schools would be permitted -- though not required -- to hand out in most Division I sports. Scholarship limits would be replaced by roster caps. "Even if the rule is finally repealed, there will still be a need to make whole the athletes who suffered," the lawsuit says. |
| How College Baseball Scholarship Expansion Hurts Mid-Major Programs' Chances At College World Series Success | |
| In late July, college baseball coaches learned that the much-despised 11.7 scholarship limit is going away. Beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, Division I schools will have roster limits of 34 players, all of whom can be given full scholarships. The demise of the 11.7 scholarship limit is almost universally popular. For generations, college baseball has been a sport in which 25 or more players saw playing time, and almost none of them were on full scholarships. This change will ensure that fewer players have to go into student debt -- or rely on their parents -- to play college baseball. That's great news, as pretty much everyone agrees. "I think it's an important issue," Charlotte head coach Robert Woodard said. "I look at all of this through the lens of: 20 years ago, I was a freshman on a $1,500 scholarship. People have been complaining about 11.7 since I was in middle school. "Now that it's expanded . . . It could have gone the other way . . . Now isn't the time to complain about the challenges in front of us." While scholarship expansion is great news, it might be too much of a good thing for many. Woodard may not want to complain, but there are a lot of coaches feeling stressed. The jump from a limit of 11.7 to 34 available scholarships may be way much too much of a good thing. It's as if the largest college athletics departments designed a new rule to ensure that no one else will be able to compete with them. They are pulling up the drawbridge and leaving everyone else outside the moat. |
| Transfer portal window, roster limits, collectives a concern for personnel staffers | |
| More changes could be coming to the transfer portal in college football. Back in June, the NCAA Division I Council introduced a proposal to change the transfer portal windows in football from 45 to 30 days. The proposal comes after 148 scholarship quarterbacks entered the portal by the end of January 2024. How the new portal windows would be formatted remains to be seen, but a vote is expected on moving from 45 to 30 days this October. At the Personnel and Recruiting Symposium in Nashville, multiple Big Ten and SEC staffers believe moving from 45 to 30 days is a must. "Shut down the spring portal," one high-level SEC personnel director told On3. Currently a 10-day spring portal, sources have continued to tell On3 since May that the portal turns into a roster retention nightmare in the spring. While December is typically a frenzy of top talent who know they want to leave programs, whether for NIL or playing time, the spring is rarely filled with elite talent. Instead, the spring has turned into a time to unload scholarships or for players to renege on deals signed in the winter and get a last-minute pay bump. Some staffers pointed to On3 that programs have altered schedules, so spring games are slated after the portal closes. Multiple staffers told On3 that a 30-day window in December would be "perfect." They were unfazed about having to deal with the portal during bowl season or the College Football Playoff. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
