| Monday, December 15, 2025 |
| MSU Deer Lab marks 50 years of wildlife research | |
 | The Mississippi State University (MSU) Deer Lab is celebrating 50 years of partnership between the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center and MSU Extension Service. The lab had delivered nationally recognized research on deer biology, habitat management and land stewardship to hunters, landowners and wildlife professionals across the state. Deer hunting generates more than $1 billion in economic activity for Mississippi each year. The research program at MSU's Deer Ecology and Management Lab began in the 1970s when Harry Jacobson launched what would become one of the Southeast's premier deer research programs. One of his early graduate students included Steve Demarais, who returned to MSU in 1997 and spent the next three decades shaping the program. Demarais mentored hundreds of students throughout his career, including Bronson Strickland, who joined the faculty in 2006 and, along with Demarais, built the lab's identity through applied research tied directly to real-world management. |
| MSU Deer Lab celebrates 50 years | |
 | For 50 years, the Mississippi State University Deer Lab -- a partnership between the university's Forest and Wildlife Research Center and MSU Extension Service -- has delivered nationally recognized research on deer biology, habitat management and land stewardship to hunters, landowners and wildlife professionals across the Magnolia State. Deer hunting generates more than $1 billion in economic activity for Mississippi each year, underscoring the importance of white-tailed deer and their associated research to the state. The research program at MSU's Deer Ecology and Management Lab began in the 1970s when Harry Jacobson launched what would become one of the Southeast's premier deer research programs. Today, Eric Michel and Jacob Dykes, both assistant professors in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture and MSU alumni who trained under Steve Demarais and Bronson Strickland, are carrying the program forward by expanding applied research, strengthening outreach and training the next generation of wildlife professionals. |
| MSU professor's artwork selected for new Greenville federal courthouse | |
 | When visitors step into the new federal courthouse in Greenville next year, one of the first things they will see is a vast, hand-crafted landscape of river, sky, and Delta earth -- an artwork designed and built by Mississippi State University professor Critz Campbell. Campbell's piece, "Cloud Field Ferry," was commissioned through the U.S. General Services Administration's Art in Architecture program, which has supported major public artworks in federal buildings since the 1930s. For Campbell, the selection still feels extraordinary. "It is difficult to describe how honored I am to have a work included in the GSA's Art in Architecture collection," he said. "As an artist, having the opportunity to design and install a piece that will hang publicly and be cared for over many decades to come is a dream come true." The Mississippi Delta, Campbell said, shaped nearly every decision in the 26-foot-tall work. "The Delta landscape is inescapable and magical," he said. "I had the challenge of designing an artwork that celebrates that magic without pointing to a specific place or moment." |
| Mississippi rice growers battle seed shortages, split stems and pests in record acreage year | |
 | More acres meant more problems for Mississippi rice growers who, despite reaching the highest statewide acreage since 2020, faced the effects of seed shortages, seasonal rainfall and split stems. Farmers produced nearly 160,000 acres of rice statewide, up significantly from 2024. Growers accomplished this despite sacrificing nearly 10,000 acres due to seed availability and delays. "Early on in the season, prior to planting, we had some pretty significant seed loss," said Mississippi State University Extension rice specialist Will Eubank. "Ultimately, we saw a reduced allotment of seed overall, in Mississippi as well as Arkansas." Seed production delays were at the heart of the issue, with some areas of the state not receiving seed until April 15, leaving farmers to plant past the optimal plant date. Additionally seed quality issues hindered farmers, with some reporting only 60% to 70% germination. "We did have a little bit of an impact in that loss, a little bit of rice acres, just due to delayed seed delivery, as well as the reduced seed germ," Eubank said. "Rice acres were still up above the last four years, so it was still a pretty good rice year." |
| How are dark matter and antimatter different? | |
| Mississippi State University's Dipangkar Dutta writes for The Conversation's Curious Kids series: Imagine an epic video game with your favorite hero as a character. Another character is a mirror-image twin who shows up occasionally, exploding everything they touch. And, to add an extra level of difficulty, the game includes a mysterious hive of minions hiding at every corner, changing the rules of the game, but never showing themselves. If you think of these characters as types of matter, this video game is basically how our universe works. The hero is regular matter, which is everything we can see around us. Antimatter is the mirror-image explosive twin that scientists understand well but can barely find. And dark matter is the invisible minions. It is everywhere, but we cannot see it, and scientists have no idea what it is. Despite having similar-sounding names, dark matter and antimatter are completely different. Interestingly, physicists like me know exactly what antimatter is, but there is almost none of it around. On the other hand, we have no idea what dark matter is, but there is a lot of it everywhere. |
| Starkville intersection to close Wednesday until Feb. 1 | |
| Residents looking to take the intersection of Highway 182 and Jackson Street in Starkville will have to detour around utility work starting next week. The intersection will be closed for replacement work of water, sewer, drainage and communication utilities starting Wednesday until early February, a city press release said. "The project has been underway for quite some time now, and we're reaching ... the busiest intersection of this project," Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch. "... It is also the most complicated, in that, everything we've got is pretty much going in that roadway. So it was not a situation where we could keep one lane open, going either north (and) south or east (and) west. And so in order for us to get it done quickly and move on, ... we are going to have to close that down." The work is part of the ongoing Highway 182 Revitalization project, which is nearing the halfway point both in progress and funding spent, said Associate City Engineer Chris Williams. The goal is for the intersection to be reopened by Feb. 1 to mitigate the inconvenience to local drivers, Williams said. After infrastructure work is complete, he said additional gravel and overlay will need to be done at the intersection, but the city's plan is to open the street to drivers again sooner rather than later. |
| Downtown shop a friend to Mississippi arts | |
 | As Anthony Thaxton, a Clinton-based author and illustrator, touched up a new painting amid shelves and customers at Crooked Letter: A Mississippi Marketplace, he noted that interactions made possible at the downtown Meridian shop offer a contrast to online shopping. "You're buying a book that I put together and you're able to have a conversation," Thaxton said, next to an image-rich book on writer Eudora Welty that he produced with Robert St. John and others. "It's an experience." Steps away during a recent meet-the-artists day at Crooked Letter, Pauline Laubacher, based near Madison, was creating a multi-media art piece and also chatting with visitors. "I feel very much at home here and hope to do a (Meridian) show one day," she said. A big window nearby offered a bold message for pedestrians and motorists outside: "MISSISSIPPI MADE." The mission of this shop at the corner of Front Street and 22nd Avenue, just across from the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, is clear: Offer an appealing platform and sales point for more than 100 artists, craft and food vendors, and other creatives who are well grounded in the state. Roughly a quarter of the total represented are from the Meridian area. |
| Dispatch to outsource printing after final 2025 press run | |
| After more than 100 years of printing in-house, The Dispatch will begin outsourcing its printing operations in 2026. The final edition of 2025 -- the Wednesday, Dec. 31 paper -- will be the last printed in-house. Subsequent editions will be printed in Tupelo and trucked to Columbus nightly. "Many people don't realize this, but we've long been a manufacturer in the heart of downtown," said Publisher Peter Imes. "While that part of our business is changing, we're optimistic about the future and confident this move will better position us to continue delivering strong journalism for the Golden Triangle." Imes said readers can expect to receive their papers as normal after the transition. Instead of having multiple sections, the new product will be a single section printed together, he said. "Another advantage to outsourcing to Tupelo is that it gives us the ability to have color on every page of the paper, whereas on our current press, we're limited on what pages we can print color," Imes said. The decision directly affects six employees within the pressroom and mailroom departments. Imes said The Dispatch is working with each employee to find new employment. |
| Community colleges requesting $28 million for staff pay raises | |
| Kell Smith, Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College Board, gave the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee an update on the state system last week, requesting $28 million for a 6 percent salary increase. Smith told Senators that many of educational staff employed in the community college system are earning salaries at or just above what teachers in the K-12 system receive in Mississippi. Some are leaving their community college employment to work in the K-12 system to make more money. The state's system is comprised of 15 community colleges. On average, community college students are about 22 years old, and the student body is made up of 62 percent females. The total community college student population is comprised of 95 percent Mississippians and 62 percent are attending classes full-time. "Our colleges are truly local institutions serving local communities," Smith said. The average ACT score for a community college student is 19 and just over half of the students in the system are seeking academic pathways. Smith said most of the students intend to transfer to a university. |
| Mississippi oilman seeks congressional seat held by Democrat Bennie Thompson | |
| Kevin Wilson, a longtime oilman and member of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, announced he's running for Congress and seeking the seat held by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. In a press release, Wilson said he's officially qualified to run in Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District as a Republican. He is the state's largest independent oil and natural gas producer. He is serving his second term as a supervisor, having spent the last two years as president of the county board. Wilson must win the Republican primary in March before potentially meeting Thompson in the November general election. Ron Eller, a cardiothoracic physician assistant in Jackson who was the GOP nominee in 2024 before losing to Thompson, is also planning a run. Bennie Foster, the chief operating officer at New Vineyard Church in Jackson, has declared a run on the Democratic side. Thompson is Mississippi's longest-serving member of Congress, holding his seat since 1993. Mississippi's 2nd Congressional District is made up of 28 counties concentrated along the Mississippi River and in the Delta region and holds portions of Madison and Hinds counties, including most of the city of Jackson. |
| Trump to cap unprecedented year that skirted Congress, tested court system | |
 | President Donald Trump soon will cap an all-gas-no-brakes 2025, with assessments mixed about a first year back in the White House that has overhauled the presidency. Trump 2.0 reentered office on Jan. 20 with one of the most aggressive domestic and foreign policy agendas in American history. That included an unprecedented willingness to exploit or turn a blind eye to centuries-old laws and traditions that led past chief executives to reject certain courses of actions. After many of them had spent years contributing to the conservative Project 2025 governing blueprint, administration officials spent the year repeatedly finding legal loophole after loophole. What has become apparent this year is few guardrails on the Office of the President have been etched into law over the centuries. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, referred last week to Trump's first 11 months back in office as "chaos on steroids." But Texas Republican John Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees, said the president had been busy "putting points on the board" for conservatives. |
| MAGA leaders warn Trump the base is checking out. Will he listen? | |
 | As Donald Trump ate his crab cake lunch inside the White House last month, conservative pollster Mark Mitchell tried to explain that there was a disconnect between what the administration seemed to be focused on, and what Trump's passionate base of supporters want to see. "Sir, you got shot at the Butler rally," Mitchell said, invoking the "really strong optics" of Trump raising his fist in defiance after the attempted assassination in July 2024. "You said, 'Fight, fight, fight.' But nobody ever clarified what that means," Mitchell continued. "And right now, you're fight-fight-fighting Marjorie Taylor Greene, and not actually fight-fight-fighting for Americans." The head pollster at Rasmussen Reports warned Trump that many of his supporters believe he hasn't "drained the swamp" in Washington, and suggested the president refocus with a plan to embrace "pragmatic economic populism." "To the extent to which we were talking about the economic populism message, he wasn't as interested as I would have hoped," Mitchell said, adding that it was a "long-ranging conversation." Mitchell's critique echoes a growing chorus of faithful MAGA supporters who have begun raising concerns over what they see as Trump's second-term shortcomings. In recent weeks, pockets of the president's base -- well-known for its unwavering dedication to Trump and his MAGA agenda -- have accused the president of focusing too much on foreign affairs, failing to address the cost of living issues he pledged to fix. |
| Trump Isn't Certain His Economic Policies Will Translate to Midterm Wins | |
 | President Trump conveyed uncertainty about whether Republicans would maintain control of the House in next year's midterm elections because some of his economic policies have yet to take full effect. During an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Friday in the Oval Office, the president touted his efforts to secure multibillion-dollar investments in the U.S., arguing that the money will help transform the American economy. But he acknowledged that he couldn't predict if that would translate into political gains for Republicans next fall. Asked whether Republicans would lose the House in November, Trump said, "I can't tell you. I don't know when all of this money is going to kick in." He noted predictions that it could happen in the second quarter. While the U.S economy has expanded steadily since Trump took office, the benefits haven't been evenly felt. Job growth has been sluggish, unemployment has ticked up, and rising prices for many everyday goods and services have left many Americans unconvinced that headline growth reflects their day-to-day financial reality. Economic concerns helped propel Trump to victory in the 2024 election, but voters have grown more negative on the president's handling of the economy since he returned to the White House. Trump said he would reduce prices while insisting he had already brought them down. "I think by the time we have to talk about the election, which is in another few months, I think our prices are in good shape," Trump said, blaming inflation on Democrats. |
| 'I Didn't Vote for This': A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country | |
 | The road to the tiny hamlet of Marion in northwest Montana is lined with the thick trees of the Flathead National Forest, with modern homesteads of trailers and modest homes dotting clearings here and there. Outside a timber frame café called the Hilltop Hitching Post, one of the only gathering spots for Marion's population of less than 1,200, hunter Terry Zink pulled up in a dusty, well-used F-150 pickup and got out wearing a camo jacket against the early September chill, and a ball cap atop wire-rimmed glasses. Zink, 57, is a third-generation houndsman who hunts big game, including mountain lions and bears. He also owns an archery target business. He's a rural Montanan whose way of life and livelihood depend on public lands. He led me into the Hilltop, where half the people inside knew his name, to a corner where we sat drinking diner coffee. "You won't meet anyone more conservative than me, and I didn't vote for this," Zink said. "This" is the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) deep cuts earlier this year to federal public lands agencies' funding, and to the staff at those agencies who administer that funding and steward public lands and wildlife. He is vocal not just about protecting public lands, but also about protecting the staff at those agencies. "We have to listen to our wildlife biologists. We have to be strong advocates for those people," Zink said. |
| 'Slop' is Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year | |
 | Creepy, zany and demonstrably fake content is often called "slop." The word's proliferation online, in part thanks to the widespread availability of generative artificial intelligence, landed it Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year. "It's such an illustrative word," said Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster's president, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday's announcement. "It's part of a transformative technology, AI, and it's something that people have found fascinating, annoying and a little bit ridiculous." "Slop" was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but it evolved more generally to mean something of little value. The definition has since expanded to mean "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence." In other words, "you know, absurd videos, weird advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks real, junky AI-written digital books," Barlow said. AI video generators like Sora have wowed with their ability to quickly create realistic clips based merely on text prompts. But a flood of these images on social media, including clips depicting celebrities and deceased public figures, has raised worries about misinformation, deepfakes and copyright. |
| Federal appeals court will allow IHL board members to be sued as individuals in sex discrimination case | |
| A sex discrimination lawsuit against the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees will proceed with the board and each member named as defendants, a federal appeals court has ruled. Debra Mays-Jackson, former vice president and chief of staff at Jackson State University, alleges that despite being qualified to lead the historically Black university, she was passed over in 2023 in favor of a man with less experience. IHL trustees had claimed qualified immunity, a legal protection from liability for government officials, in an effort to dismiss the case. In its ruling Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a U.S. district court's previous decision that Mays-Jackson had adequately pleaded an equal protection violation. The federal appeals court ruling affirms that the lawsuit can continue, and not whether any discrimination occurred. John Sewell, a spokesman for the IHL board, said trustees do not comment on pending litigation. Lisa Ross, Mays-Jackson's attorney, told Mississippi Today she had no further comment. For now, Mays-Jackson's case will return to the federal district court, where it will proceed discovery, summary judgement or trial. The 5th Circuit judges will not weigh in on the final ruling or decision of the case. |
| UMMC researchers probe early origins of pancreatic cancer with $1.8M federal grant | |
| Scientists at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Cancer Center and Research Institute are working to understand how a protein present since the earliest stages of human development may help trigger one of the deadliest forms of pancreatic cancer. Their study, now in the second year of a five-year, $1.8 million National Cancer Institute grant, focuses on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, or PDAC. The cancer accounts for more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases and is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Because the disease is typically difficult to detect early and often resists treatment, PDAC survival rates remain low. Dr. Keli Xu, associate professor of cell and molecular biology and a CCRI member, leads the research team. He said understanding how PDAC begins is key to developing better tools for diagnosis and treatment. "Our goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms that drive PDAC from its earliest stages so we can intervene before the disease becomes aggressive and difficult to treat," Xu said. |
| Health insurance costs weigh on budget for Alabama Commission on Higher Education | |
| Members of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education (ACHE) expressed concerns Friday about rising health care costs and the impact it could have on public college and universities' budgets. ACHE officials said shortfalls in the Public Education Employees' Health Insurance Plan (PEEHIP), which provides health insurance for employees of the Alabama Community College System and three state universities, have forced the allocation of additional dollars to a fund that pays for mandatory retirement and health insurance benefits at the expense of other funding priorities. "If PEEHIP wasn't an issue this year, we would have probably would not put as many funds into the Mandatory Funds, we probably put have more funds into the some of these other fund groups," said Jim Hood, deputy director of financial and information systems for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, in an interview after the meeting. Board members Friday requested a $148 million increase to its budget from the Governor's Office for the coming fiscal year that will be spread across four of its spending priorities: personnel and salaries, weighted credit hours, mandatory funds and inflationary costs. |
| Inside LSU's executive contracts, 'seismic' restructuring under new President Wade Rousse | |
 | In the past month, the LSU Board of Supervisors has hired two top leaders, given them incentive-laden contracts and restructured how the various campuses they oversee fit together. The moves, board members say, come from a fundamental conviction: LSU needs to level up. They believe the system needs a more unified approach to improve its national prestige and drive major expansions of revenue from both public and private sources. "These are decisions that don't come lightly," LSU Board of Supervisors chair Scott Ballard said. "Everyone knows that I have fought to get the rankings of Louisiana, LSU, to where we should be, and we're not there. We're working towards that." The Board of Supervisors ratified employment contracts with President Wade Rousse and Executive Vice President James Dalton on Thursday, offering the leaders possibly hundreds of thousands in incentives on top of their base salary and ushering in an era of major organizational change at LSU. |
| 'A Preservation-First Approach': Capstone Property Group announces updated plan for the former UGA President's House | |
| Capstone Property Group announced new plans for the redevelopment of the former UGA President's House at 570 Prince Ave, according to a press release. The updated proposal argues that the historic property's preservation is its first priority, while considering the needs of adjacent neighborhoods and ensuring public access. The new plan includes a total of 72 rooms, two to four of which will be special guest suites located within the historic primary home and rear yard cottage. The remaining 68 to 70 rooms will be located "in a new, approximately 38,500-square-foot hotel building discreetly positioned behind the 1856 historic President's House." The previous plan's proposals of creating a new event venue and excavating for an underground parking lot have been eliminated. Hosting and special events will take place in the historic home itself and in a small adjacent courtyard, among other new adjustments. "We have reduced the size of the new structure by half and will not be doing underground parking, which will eliminate the need for any extensive excavation," Capstone President Jeff Payne said. |
| U. of Oklahoma Faculty Senate raises concerns with policy suspending faculty members who receive student complaints | |
| Emails reveal the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate is working to challenge the formalization of a policy by university leadership to suspend any faculty member who receives a student complaint. According to an email obtained by the Daily, the OU Faculty Senate learned during its monthly meeting Monday that it is now university policy to give paid suspension to any faculty member against whom a student has filed a complaint. In a Thursday email to Gaylord College faculty, John Schmeltzer -- a journalism professor and faculty senator -- briefed the college on conversations held at the Faculty Senate meeting, in which new policies regarding academic appeals were particularly highlighted. "During the course of the debate, it was disclosed that it is now policy of the university to suspend any faculty member with pay against whom a student has lodged a complaint. The faculty member is suspended under the Title IX program," Schmeltzer wrote. "This was new information to everyone in attendance." Schmeltzer wrote that senators vocally objected to the lack of challenge by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to the new policy. |
| Texas universities deploy AI tools to review and rewrite how some courses discuss race and gender | |
| A senior Texas A&M University System official testing a new artificial intelligence tool this fall asked it to find how many courses discuss feminism at one of its regional universities. Each time she asked in a slightly different way, she got a different number. "Either the tool is learning from my previous queries," Texas A&M system's chief strategy officer Korry Castillo told colleagues in an email, "or we need to fine tune our requests to get the best results." It was Sept. 25, and Castillo was trying to deliver on a promise Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Board of Regents had already made: to audit courses across all of the system's 12 universities after conservative outrage over a gender-identity lesson at the flagship campus intensified earlier that month, leading to the professor's firing and the university president's resignation. Texas A&M officials said the controversy stemmed from the course's content not aligning with its description in the university's course catalog and framed the audit as a way to ensure students knew what they were signing up for. As other public universities came under similar scrutiny and began preparing to comply with a new state law that gives governor-appointed regents more authority over curricula, they, too, announced audits. |
| U. of Missouri System offers new voluntary retirement option for employees | |
 | A new voluntary retirement option will offer long-term UM System employees greater flexibility and control over their retirement savings. Beginning in February, eligible employees will have the choice to opt in to a defined contribution plan. Under this plan, the University of Missouri will transfer the lump-sum value of pension benefits into an individual tax deferred retirement account, similar to a 401(k). Going forward, participating employees will have the choice of how much of their paycheck they wish to contribute to the account, with a mandatory contribution of 2%. The university will match the amount up to 8%, according to the UM System website. Employees will then have the freedom to choose how to invest the funds in their account. Their eventual retirement income will vary depending on how those investments perform, as opposed to traditional retirement plans where a set monthly payment is guaranteed. The new defined contribution plans will go into effect on Sept. 1, 2026. |
| Purdue University Approves New AI Requirement For All Undergrads | |
| Purdue University will begin requiring that all of its undergraduate students demonstrate basic competency in artificial intelligence starting with freshmen who enter the university in 2026. The new "AI working competency" graduation requirement was approved by the university's Board of Trustees at its meeting on December 12. It's part of a broader AI@Purdue strategy that spans five areas: Learning with AI, Learning about AI, Research AI, Using AI and Partnering in AI. "The reach and pace of AI's impact to society, including many dimensions of higher education, means that we at Purdue must lean in and lean forward and do so across different functions at the university," said Purdue President Mung Chiang in a news release. "AI@Purdue strategic actions are part of the Purdue Computes strategic initiative, and will continue to be refreshed to advance the missions and impact of our university." The requirement will be embedded into every undergraduate program at Purdue, but it won't be done in a "one-size-fits-all" manner. Instead, the Board is delegating authority to the provost, who will work with the deans of all the academic colleges to develop discipline-specific criteria and proficiency standards for the new campus-wide requirement. |
| Families Mourn Slain Victims as Police Renew Search for Brown University Gunman | |
 | Apprehension and frustration gripped the campus of Brown University on Monday after officials released a suspect in the weekend shooting that killed two students and injured nine others. Officials renewed their urgent search for the unknown killer, and Mayor Brett Smiley of Providence, R.I., said officials had no way of knowing if the gunman was still in the city. Family members and friends were mourning the two students who were killed in the attack on an economics study group: Ella Cook, a sophomore from Mountain Brook, Ala., and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old from Virginia whose family immigrated from Uzbekistan. Ms. Cook was known for her accomplished piano playing. Mr. Umurzokov was a scholarship student described by his sisters as "gentle" and "extroverted." The turn in the investigation late Sunday, when officials said they had released a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, came hours after the authorities detained the suspect and lifted a lockdown on the Brown campus. The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. Saturday during a final exam review for an economics class. Joseph Oduro, 21, a teaching assistant, said he had been wrapping up the session when a man with a face mask and a rifle burst into the classroom. The man shouted something that Mr. Oduro could not make out and opened fire. |
| Is DEI Dead -- or Just Changing? | |
 | Under repeated threats to their funding, higher ed institutions began to rebrand or shut down cultural centers, Black student resource centers and LGBTQ+ and women's programs. Many campus diversity officers lost their jobs or were shuffled off to other offices, barred from doing much of the work they were hired for. Some institutions scrapped celebrated traditions such as affinity graduations and campus residential communities geared toward students of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds. Some student groups, like Esperanza, lost university funding because of their identity-based missions. In one recent example, the University of Alabama ended two student publications, one focused on women and the other on Black students, citing federal policy concerns. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga shuttered its Women's and Gender Equity Center, an LGBTQ center, its Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Office of Student & Family Engagement, replacing them with a Center for Student Leadership, Engagement and Community. The changes have affected faculty and staff as well as students; earlier this fall, the University of Illinois System banned consideration of race, sex or country of origin not only in financial aid decisions but in hiring, tenure and promotion as well. "It's very sad to see a lot of universities fall to their knees," Luna said. Higher ed institutions "are supposed to be the places where the exchange of ideas happen, where leaders are developed and where you're just taught about how the world objectively is ... It's a very dangerous sign for the future." |
| Colleges and States Want Federal Money for Work-Force Training. But the Path Won't Be Easy. | |
 | Colleges are excited about Workforce Pell Grants, but getting the money will be no easy feat. That was made clear this week as Education Department officials, industry advocates, and experts discussed plans to carry out the major policy change, which will allow low-income students to pay for work-force-training programs with Pell Grants. With a projected rollout date set for July and a plethora of requirements to navigate, institutions face a tight timeline to build the necessary infrastructure. Education Department officials reached consensus Friday on proposed regulations for Workforce Pell, which was included in the budget-reconciliation law passed by Congress this summer. The change opens up the nation's largest financial-aid program to students enrolled in short-term, career-focused programs, a majority of which are offered at community and technical colleges. While advocates for these training programs see Workforce Pell Grants as a vital tool to help low-income students gain career skills that don't require a years-long degree, many colleges lack the data-tracking and staffing capacity necessary to meet these requirements quickly. Some policy experts are concerned that institutions' rush to qualify could undercut program quality. |
| Grad Programs Brace for Loan Caps | |
| Most of the colleges with the largest graduate programs in the country don't have clear plans for how they'll deal with new loan caps, set to kick in next July. And if they do, they aren't taking publicly about it. For years, students could borrow essentially unlimited funds to pay for graduate education, thanks to a program known as Grad PLUS that capped loans at the cost of attendance. Republicans in Congress and other critics have argued that colleges took advantage of this program and raised their prices, fueling the student debt crisis. Loans for grad students make up nearly half of the federal loan portfolio. Along the way, colleges have begun to rely on graduate education to fund their university operations, higher ed experts say. But now that two-decade-old system is ending. Congress eliminated Grad PLUS over the summer and will cap how much students can borrow for graduate education. Lawmakers also limited Parent PLUS loans, which were also previously uncapped and offered families a way to make up the gap and pay for college. Both changes came out of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Even before the loan caps, graduate education was facing a reckoning, particularly after the Trump administration clamped down on federal research funding. Colleges paused graduate admissions for doctoral programs, and sometimes rescinded offers. Meanwhile, colleges are starting to rethink their approaches to humanities doctoral programs, among other shifts in this space. |
| 40% of Stanford undergrads receive disability accommodations, but it's become a college-wide phenomenon as Gen Z try to succeed in the current climate | |
| The pandemic has shaken up college life for good: Since then, social media and AI have revolutionized classroom expectations, and the bar for landing a job after graduation has become impossibly high. Many are now questioning whether getting a degree was even worth it. The ripple effect of those strains is already showing in campus accessibility offices, where diagnoses of ADHD, anxiety, and depression are rising -- and so are requests for extended time on coursework. At Harvard, 21% of undergraduates received disability accommodations last year, an increase of more than 15% over the past decade, according to data published by the National Center for Education Statistics analyzed by the Harvard Crimson. Top schools like Brown, Cornell, and Yale reported similar numbers, roughly in line with national trends. But the increase is more pronounced at other institutions: 34% of students at UMass Amherst and 38% at Stanford are registered as disabled, according to The Atlantic. Experts note that many students have medical conditions that merit accommodations, and the increase is in part linked to broader access to mental-health care and reduced stigma around seeking support. The rise has nonetheless drawn national attention, with some critics arguing that students are abusing the system to secure lighter workloads or an edge in hypercompetitive classrooms. |
| Donald Trump wants to abolish federal independent boards. Could that occur in Mississippi? | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: The state government of Mississippi is packed with agencies and commissions that are governed by independent boards and not by the governor. President Donald Trump argues such independent boards on the federal level violate the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court recently heard arguments from the Trump administration on the issue, and a ruling next year in favor of the president would be far reaching and upend decades of judicial precedence. Not long ago, a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court abolishing the independent or regulatory boards would have been far fetched, but no longer thanks to the current Supreme Court's willingness to acquiesce to Trump's whims. Is the same possible in Mississippi? Could Gov. Tate Reeves or some future governor challenge the constitutionality of the independent agencies in this state? Perhaps. After all, anybody can file a lawsuit. And it often appears that whatever Trump does, Reeves and many Mississippi politicians want to emulate. But there are some distinct differences between the powers of the governor under the Mississippi Constitution and the powers of the president under the United States Constitution. |
SPORTS
| Women's Basketball: Nwaedozi And Prater Power Bulldogs To Sunday Victory Over Southern Miss | |
| Favour Nwaedozi and Chandler Prater led Mississippi State to their 10th victory of the season when the Bulldogs took down the Southern Miss Lady Eagles, 87-64. The duo both finished the game with double-doubles. The Bulldogs continued a trend of jumping out of the gate early against their opponents, as they outscored Southern Miss in the first quarter by 11 points. They've now outscored their opponents by 10 or more in the first quarter in three consecutive games. After taking a 12-point lead into the half, State began the quarter with a 6-0 run and at one point was outscoring Southern Miss 20-3 in the quarter. The Bulldogs would secure a 26-point lead heading into the final 10 minutes of the contest. Mississippi State has now won six consecutive games entering their next contest against Alabama State on Wednesday, December 17. That contest is set to tipoff at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. |
| Men's Basketball: Five Things To Know: State vs. Long Island | |
| Mississippi State men's basketball returns home after a three-game road swing that was capped by the largest comeback in the Coach Jans era as the Bulldogs take on Long Island from the Northeast Conference on Tuesday evening at Humphrey Coliseum. State (5-5, 0-0 SEC) overcame a 17-point first half deficit and turned the tables for an 82-74 triumph over Utah on Saturday. The Bulldogs ripped off a season's best 50 points and connected on a 61.3 percent shooting clip during the second half. The Sharks (6-4, 0-0 NEC) have won three of their last four including back-to-back triumphs over Lehigh (87-82 on 12/06) and La Salle (70-60 on 12/13). Malachi Davis (15.8 PPG, 3.4 APG, 1.7 SPG) has ripped off double figures in nine consecutive games fueled by 30-point outing at Lehigh. Last time out, Greg Gordon (15.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.2 SPG) dialed up 25 points versus La Salle. State and Long Island will meet on the hardwood for the second time. The Bulldogs secured a 61-52 victory in 1992-93 at the Hawkeye Classic in Iowa City, Iowa. Marcus Grant led the way for State with 13 points |
| Mississippi State uses 20-2 run to pull away from Runnin' Utes in Salt Lake Showcase | |
| Utah's Don McHenry seemingly couldn't miss Saturday night. Over a two-minute span midway through the first half, the fifth-year senior made three consecutive free throws, back-to-back 3-pointers, and picked off a Mississippi State player and took it coast-to-coast for a transition layup to cap off a personal 11-0 run to give the Utes a 12-point lead. His 15-point first half helped propel the Runnin' Utes to a game-high 17-point lead on a much-improved team effort on both ends of the floor against an SEC opponent. McHenry added to his total with another pair of back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half en route to a 29-point performance on the night, but the effort wasn't good enough for the Utes in the end. The Bulldogs used a 20-2 run over a four-minute period to erase an otherwise strong Utah effort, and pulled away late to claim an 82-74 win at the Delta Center as part of the Salt Lake Showcase. Mississippi State guard Ja'Borri McGhee was equally impressive for his side, finishing with five made 3-pointers to lead the Bulldogs with 29 points, as well. Fellow guard Jayden Epps supplied an additional 20 points and four rebounds in the win. |
| Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione talks evolving role of ADs, maintaining success | |
| Longtime Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione isn't sure that he likes the word retirement. As he nears the end of his 28-year tenure this spring and moves to the athletic director emeritus role, Castiglione cited other words: "Refocus, repurpose, redirect, recalibrate." "There'll be something, but it won't be sitting back and doing nothing. I can tell you that," Castiglione said on the stage at SBJ's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum presented by Learfield in Las Vegas. "Anything that we've done, anything that we've been able to accomplish, it's not because of me," he said. "It's because of the great people that we've had, the collective efforts of everybody, the great intellect and skill and creativity and innovation that they bring to whatever role it is that they have." Castiglione outlined the path that he's used for success at Oklahoma and his other stops as "setting a culture, being disciplined around it, and then hiring and retaining people who are absolutely willing to live it, not be just part of it, but live it." |
| Diego Pavia apologizes for reaction to Heisman loss: 'It was a mistake' | |
| Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, apologized Sunday for "being disrespectful" in a social media post he made after Indiana's Fernando Mendoza won the award for college football's best player. "F-All THE VOTERS," Pavia wrote Saturday night on his Instagram story with a thumbs-down emoji, "BUT.....FAMILY FOR LIFE." The caption accompanied a photo of Pavia with his offensive linemen at the ceremony in New York. Pavia faced criticism for his reaction, and on Sunday he posted a statement saying he didn't handle his emotions well after losing. Pavia struck the Heisman pose several times this season while throwing for 3,192 yards with 27 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He also rushed for 826 yards and added nine more scores on the ground while leading Vanderbilt to a 10-2 record. Mendoza became Indiana's first Heisman winner, leading the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the College Football Playoff bracket. He threw for 2,980 yards and an FBS-leading 33 touchdowns while running for six more. Mendoza totaled 2,362 points and 643 first-place votes, and Pavia was second with 1,435 points and 189 first-place votes. |
| The Boot Camp That Turned Indiana's Quarterback Into a Heisman Trophy Winner | |
| For a college quarterback, an invite from the Manning Passing Academy is usually too good to refuse. Being a counselor at the camp amounts to enrolling in football graduate school and learning directly from the first family of football -- Archie, Peyton and Eli. But when the academy extended an invitation to Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza last summer, Mendoza did something as shocking as a young violinist turning down Juilliard. He politely declined. "The Manning Passing Academy is like the Holy Grail for college quarterbacks," Mendoza said. But Mendoza had his reasons. And as it turned out, turning down the Mannings was the smartest possible decision. Instead of decamping to Thibodaux, La., for football's most exclusive family reunion, Mendoza -- a transfer from the University of California -- spent his summer in Bloomington, obsessively learning the playbook of his new coach, Curt Cignetti. Now, Mendoza is the quarterback of the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff and the national leader in touchdown passes. Saturday night, he walked away with the first Heisman Trophy in Indiana history. "Coach Cignetti sold me," Mendoza said, "on being the best Fernando Mendoza that I could become." |
| Big 12 nearing private capital deal that could raise up to $500 million | |
| The Big 12 is nearing an agreement with RedBird and Weatherford Capital for a cash infusion of millions. Big 12 presidents and chancellors recently authorized commissioner Brett Yormark to take another step toward finalizing a credit deal that, if all schools choose to participate, would deliver $500 million to Big 12 members and create a strategic business partnership with the firms. Multiple people with knowledge of the agreement spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity. The Big 12 is not giving up any stake or equity to the firms. A final decision on the move is expected in the coming weeks after the completion of long-form agreements. In a statement to Yahoo Sports, the Big 12 confirmed that the league is in negotiations with the two firms to "create a multifaceted strategic business partnership" focused on growing commercial operations of the league, while also "providing an opt-in capital solution for our member institutions to take advantage of up to $500 million of capital." |
| As a Scandal Boils, the U. of Michigan Vows to Fix Its Culture. Again. | |
| Domenico Grasso's 250-word message was a straightforward account of the facts. The head football coach had been fired for having an alleged affair with a staff member, the investigation was ongoing, and the University of Michigan will move forward. But one line the interim president wrote hinted at a longer-standing issue: "Our community has worked diligently in recent years to strengthen a safe and respectful environment for all," the letter said. "We must remain steadfast with those efforts." Sherrone Moore's downfall caps a series of scandals in recent years involving high-profile officials at the Ann Arbor flagship. Each time one comes to light, the university has tried to reckon with how it happened. Then it happens again. On Friday, The Detroit News reported Michigan's board had asked a law firm to investigate both how Moore's firing was handled and the culture of the athletics department. The purview will include some of the university's other recent scandals, according to the newspaper. Among the people who may feel most distressed by this saga are the football players. They're a group of predominantly Black students who were, until two days ago, coached by one of a small number of Black coaches working for one of the nation's most high-profile college-football programs, Charles H. F. Davis III, an assistant professor of education at Michigan, pointed out. |
| Senators fear sports gambling is getting out of control, raise regulation | |
 | A string of scandals involving illegal gambling and alleged game rigging in pro sports is getting the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some arguing Congress should have a greater role in shoring up the integrity of games and regulating sports betting. The Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), was the first body of federal lawmakers to express outrage over a scandal involving current NBA coaches and players that broke in October. It called on the league to explain how it plans to stop such illegal activity moving forward. It followed up its query with a separate letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred after a pair of pitchers on the Cleveland Guardians were indicted for allegedly throwing balls and strikes at certain times to benefit bettors. "Sports betting definitely creates a credibility crisis for the leagues when you can place all kinds of bets, not just on the outcome of the game," Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told The Hill. "There's a reason they call it a vice. We've let it get out of control." Several lawmakers, in conversations with The Hill, also expressed concern that athletes and coaches in major pro leagues are facing an increasing number of death threats and mistreatment by bettors who are on the wrong end of certain in-game outcomes. |
| President Donald Trump calls NIL 'disaster,' reiterates willingness to get involved | |
| Speaking from the Oval Office on Friday while honoring the "Miracle on Ice" 1980 U.S. men's hockey team, President Donald Trump called NIL a "disaster" in college sports. He also further signaled his willingness to get involved. Trump has been vocal about settling the landscape in college athletics. He signed an executive order earlier this year called "Save College Sports" to prohibit third-party, pay-for-play payments and directs the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify that athletes are amateurs and not employees. But as dollars continue to fly through NIL and revenue-sharing, Trump called for a "strong salary cap" and said colleges are putting themselves in tough financial shape as a result. He stressed the need for action and reiterated he'd step in, if necessary. "You're going to have these colleges wipe themselves out, and something ought to be done," Trump said. "And I'm willing to put the federal government behind it. But if it's not done fast, you're going to wipe out colleges. They're going to get wiped out, including ones that do well in football. They can't pay $12 million, $14 million, $10 million, $6 million for players." |
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