| Friday, March 29, 2019 |
| Wreath laying ceremony at Mississippi State honors Vietnam veterans | |
 | They were barely out of their teens when they shipped out to serve their country. Friday Vietnam War Veterans are honored with a national day of remembrance. But Thursday, veterans and staff at Mississippi State's Center for America's Veterans held their own service. The wreath ceremony honors everyone who served in the Vietnam War. The Veteran's Center is named for MSU alum and former Mississippi Congressman G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery, who was known on Capitol Hill as "Mr. Veteran." |
| Census representative explains how numbers count in MSU-Meridian talk | |
 | Representatives from the federal government visited Mississippi State University-Meridian Thursday to inform the public about the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census. Guest speaker Kyra D. Roby, partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, talked about how the census has an impact on the lives of U.S. citizens. "The goal of the 2020 Census is to count everyone once and in the right place," Roby said during her address. She detailed how the census is important to communities by informing the government how it should allocate $675 billion in federal funds. Tina Ladner is the adjunct instructor for MSU Meridian's crime justice and inequality class, which put the event together. "I had students in my class that came from all walks of life and we just got interested in how that data was collected and what might keep people from wanting to answer these questions," Ladner said. "We also looked at the point that this is how we get money and federal dollars." |
| Starkville considers private partnership for Cornerstone operation | |
 | As the bill for a new 1-percent sales tax in Starkville heads to Gov. Phil Bryant, the city is looking to Vicksburg as an example of how it might handle the operation of a new sports complex the tax is meant to fund at Cornerstone Park. Mississippi's Senate approved House Bill 1565 this week on a 51-1 vote. With Bryant's signature expected imminently, aldermen met on Tuesday to discuss the future of the city's parks system. During the discussion, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker pointed to Vicksburg's Sports Force Park, which the city has considered as a model for what to do with Cornerstone Park -- particularly in partnering with a private agency for the park's operation. The city is looking to build a tournament-ready recreation facility at Cornerstone Park on Highway 25. HB 1565 would allow the city to add 1 percent to its existing 2 percent restaurant and hotel/motel tax for the maintenance of its park system and construction of the new park. |
| Borrowed money will pay for dozens of Mississippi projects | |
 | The Mississippi Legislature is planning to borrow $207 million under Senate Bill 3065 to pay for various projects, part of more than $360 million in borrowing. In other bills, the state plans to borrow $45 million for Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, $12.5 million for a home for medically fragile children in Jackson, $8 million for water and sewage projects, $3.5 million for a road in Meridian and $86 million for economic development programs run by the Mississippi Development Authority. Here's a look at projects in Senate Bill 3065. |
| Who gets the money? The new $6 billion Mississippi budget, by the numbers | |
 | Lawmakers on Thursday were approving the final pieces of the state's $6.35 billion state budget, up from the current year's $6.12 billion one. Here's a look at how lawmakers are funding major state agencies or operations. Much of the agencies' increases are to cover the state's rising cost for the Public Employee Retirement System. |
| Mississippi teachers just got a pay raise. Why are they mad? | |
| Saying the state could ill-afford more, Mississippi legislative leaders passed a $1,500 across-the-board pay raise for the state's teachers and assistants Thursday. "It's not where we want to be, but it's what we can do," House Education Chairman Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said while outlining the proposal. "My hope is that we can come back in future years and increase this pay and eventually catch up." The proposal ratified in the House and Senate on Thursday inches the starting pay for the state's teachers with a bachelor's degree toward $36,000 but trails the $4,000 increase that teacher groups lobbied for. Mississippi teachers on average earn $44,659, according to the Mississippi Department of Education, while the average teacher in the Southeast makes just shy of $51,000. "We are angry. Our educators are angry. Every Mississippian should be angry," Joyce Helmick with the Mississippi Association of Educators, the state's largest teacher union, said in a statement after the Senate's vote. |
| Lauderdale County gets $3.5 million state bond to develop industrial park | |
| Millions in state bond money for economic development is headed to Lauderdale County. Gov. Phil Bryant on Thursday signed a bill to issue $3.5 million in bonds to develop the I-20/59 Industrial Park. The bill, authored by Rep. Greg Snowden (R-Meridian) provides funds for the site through a state bond. The money will help the county with costs associated with the project, which is located off Sweet Gum Bottom Road. Bill Hannah, president of the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, has pushed for developing the site, which the county cleared of trees and the City of Meridian chose to reroute traffic for site preparation. In term of potential industries, Hannah said he plans to start marketing the site soon, using target lists from the state, Mississippi Power and Norfolk Southern. Possible industries could include advanced manufacturing, steel, distribution, or others, Hannah said. A strong possibility is six to eight medium-sized facilities, he said. |
| Lawmakers shocked they voted for $2 million more in private school vouchers | |
| Advocates for a controversial school choice program secured a surprise win Thursday, with many lawmakers crying foul that $2 million more for private school tuition vouchers had been secreted into a larger, unrelated bill they passed. The additional money for education scholarship accounts, often referred to as vouchers, was tucked away into a list of $27.3 million worth of special construction projects approved by both chambers Thursday. Many lawmakers expressed surprise and anger when they later discovered they had helped approve the spending. But House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, said Senate leaders wanted the funding and that, "Everybody knew it was in there, if they read the bill." "The Senate made it known to us it was a priority of theirs, and they used discretionary money they had (in the big projects bill)," Gunn said. |
| Coast sees rising visits as it rebrands region as a 'secret' to discover | |
 | Hey, look down here. We're the Mississippi coast. Coastal Mississippi's visitor and convention bureau officials have revamped their promotion efforts to recognize a shortcoming they say has become far too clear: Too few potential visitors know about the Magnolia State's 62 miles of white sand shoreline. Coastal competitors don't seem to share the same obscurity, says Coastal Mississippi: The Secret Coast, the tourism promotion agency for the three coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. But sometimes a challenge can be made an asset, at least that's the thinking of the Mississippi Coast region's visitor marketing officials looking to boost the region's visitation and annual visitor revenues of nearly $2.5 billion. To that end, they decided to tell the world their region is indeed a "secret," but one deserving of discovery. They put "Secret Coast" in their agency's name with a March 11 rebranding, switching to Coastal Mississippi: The Secret Coast from the previous Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast. |
| UM Alumni Association President to deliver 2019 commencement speech | |
 | Ole Miss Alumni Association President Augustus Collins has been selected as the 2019 commencement speaker and will give the university's 166th commencement address on May 11 in the Grove. Collins is an alumnus of the university and has had an extensive career in the military where he served in the Mississippi National Guard as major general. Now retired, Collins is the CEO of a MINACT Inc., a job development and career training corporation. Provost Noel Wilkin said he is inspired by what Collins has been able to accomplish in his lifetime and is indebted to his military service to the country. Kirk Purdom, the executive director of the alumni association, said Collins has been a major part of the alumni association's vision for years and hopes his commencement speech will shed a positive light on the association. The 2019 commencement will take place on May 11. |
| LSU launches $1.5B campaign to unite its campuses; largest higher ed fundraiser in state history | |
 | LSU announced Thursday the launch of a $1.5 billion campaign to unite its campuses across Louisiana, calling it the largest higher education fundraising campaign in the state's history. Sara Whittaker, LSU Foundation senior director of communications and marketing, said they are currently at 38 percent of their goal for the Fierce for the Future campaign. Whittaker said they anticipate 60 percent of campaign donations will support academics, with 40 percent going to athletics. "We understand that there have been criticisms in the past about too much support going to athletics and not enough to academics," she said. "Our standpoint is that both of those areas are worthy of investment, but this campaign is making a statement that this is the moment when our academics will shine just as brightly as our dominance in sports." In addition to supporting the flagship campus in Baton Rouge, the Fierce for the Future campaign will unite support for other LSU campuses around the state for the first time. |
| Trustees approve U. of Arkansas plan to foster brewing know-how | |
 | A new certificate program in brewing science at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville received approval Thursday from trustees. "It's obvious to me this is a growth industry nationally and here in Arkansas," said Wesley Stites, chairman of UA's chemistry and biochemistry department. Data from the Brewers Association industry group state that 35 craft breweries in Arkansas provided an economic impact of about $406 million, numbers cited in the proposal presented to trustees -- along with potential for growth, as the per capita economic numbers rank the state 46th nationally, according to the industry data. The University of Arkansas System board of trustees approved the program at a meeting Wednesday and Thursday in Hot Springs. A spokesman for UA said the program still requires approval from the state Department of Higher Education. |
| UGA prepares STEM students for rapidly changing future | |
 | The number of University of Georgia undergraduate students in STEM disciplines has risen about 20 percent in the past five years. In fall 2018 along, 11,832 (40 percent of the student body) declared a major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Combine this surge with the recent launch of UGA's Innovation District and construction beginning on the I-STEM Research Building, one can see the STEM momentum growing on campus. The increase in STEM-related majors matches national trends. According to the Education Commission of the States, STEM jobs in the U.S. are expected to grow 13 percent from 2017 to 2027. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates that 93 percent of all STEM occupations provide wages above the national average and more than twice the national average of non-STEM jobs. Such trends indicate that the world is looking to STEM professionals to address its grand challenges. "We have more complex problems in our world," said Timothy Burg, director of UGA's Office for STEM Education, "and we're expecting effective, ethical, sustainable, equitable solutions." |
| 2 former students indicted in series of UGA dorm burglaries | |
| A Clarke County grand jury this week indicted two former University of Georgia students for allegedly burglarizing a dozen dorm rooms last year at UGA's East Campus Village on River Road. All of the burglaries occurred on a single day -- Feb. 13, 2018, according to the indictment filed Tuesday in Clarke County Superior Court. Lucy Beard Arntsen, 19, and 20-year-old Ethan Alexander Johnson were each charged with 12 counts of first-degree burglary and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony, according to the indictment. According to UGA police reports, the pair allegedly entered unlocked dorm rooms at East Campus Village while residents were sleeping in the early morning hours. Victims reported that thieves stole items with a total value of more than $1,200, according to police reports. "I am told these two students are not currently enrolled at UGA," spokesman Bob Taylor said Thursday. "They both have not been enrolled since spring 2018." |
| UT-Knoxville's Sex Week begins Sunday, to include sex workers, drag queen as speakers | |
 | Sex Week at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville starts Sunday with events running through Friday, including a drag show, an art show and multiple panels on sex, sexuality and gender with sex workers and a drag queen among the speakers. The events, which have drawn criticism from Tennessee legislators and gained national attention, will continue this year as planned. Last year, Christian evangelist Franklin Graham criticized Sex Week on his Facebook page. A report from the state comptroller was released last month, prompting UT's new leadership to change the way student organizations will be funded starting next year. The report was requested by Tennessee legislative leaders last April to determine whether state funds were being used for Sex Week. Based on one of the policy recommendations in the comptroller's report, the board of trustees voted to get rid of the Student Programming Allocation Committee. SPAC was made up of students and faculty and approved funding requests for student organizations. Now, approval will be given by the chief student affairs officer. Details of how that will work have not yet been announced. |
| U. of Kentucky students start hunger strike to help their low-income peers | |
 | A group of University of Kentucky students began a hunger strike Wednesday night to demand better services for their peers suffering from food and housing insecurity. Representatives of the SSTOP (Sustainable Solutions to Overcome Poverty) Hunger group at UK said at least seven students will not eat anything (but will drink water) until President Eli Capilouto's administration creates a Basic Needs Center with staff and funding to help low-income students. About 50 more will be limiting their meals to one a day. "We're committed to striking until UK meets the demand," said Beau Revlett, SSTOP's director. "This is a way to get the public to understand these issues." SSTOP is pushing for one central resource to help students who may not be able to afford food or rent because it's difficult to navigate UK's labyrinthine administration for resources. |
| Open house on Saturday to showcase Texas A&M veterinary school | |
 | The Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences' 26th annual open house on Saturday offers a sneak peek into the entire veterinary complex. The free, student-led event is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are both indoor and outdoor activities open to the community. The indoor events and exhibits include goat ultrasounds, tours of the Large and Small Animal Hospital, teddy bear "surgeries," tours of the exotics room and a Reveille tour. Outdoor events include Bryan K-9 officer demonstrations, a puppy kissing booth, KidZone and food trucks. There will also be dressage, barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and horsemanship demonstrations. The educational event also offers lectures beginning at noon and ending with a veterinary students Q&A at 3 p.m. Lecturers include Dr. Karen Cornell speaking on "Getting into Veterinary School" and Dr. Brandon Dominguez speaking on "Life as a Large Animal Veterinarian." |
| Governor hits job, infrastructure themes in talk at U. of Missouri | |
 | Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday told an audience at the University of Missouri that workforce development and infrastructure are necessary for the state to progress. "There's two things for Missouri to move forward," Parson said. "The two things are we have to come to grips with are workforce and number two, infrastructure." Parson spoke in the Reynolds Alumni Center to attendees of an MU Extension Council workshop. Parson said the time is past when a high school diploma was the ticket to find a good job. "You have to have almost some sort of post-secondary education," Parson said. Around 70 percent of Missourians don't have a college degree, he said. There are 10,000 positions open in Missouri for people with skills in science, technology, engineering and math fields, Parson said. A child entering kindergarten this year will find few of the jobs that will be available when the child completes college even exist now, he said. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State baseball opens series with win over LSU | |
| It was almost exactly how you would draw it up. While the No. 2 Mississippi State baseball program fell behind early on Thursday (March 28) night, it scored six-straight runs, got 10 strikeouts from redshirt-junior starting pitcher Ethan Small and a solid effort from three bullpen arms helped the series-opening win, 6-5, over No. 17 LSU at Dudy Noble Field. With the tandem of Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson calling the game from the Left Field Lofts on ESPNU, Small (3-0) posted his fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season for MSU (24-3, 5-2 SEC). With 10 strikeouts, the left hander held the LSU (17-9, 4-3 SEC) to just two runs on three hits. Offensively, it was the longball that did most of the talking on Thursday night. Sophomore Justin Foscue posted his first-career multi-home run game with a three-run shot to left field in the third to open the scoring for MSU, before hitting the second of back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning. Foscue followed a solo home run by senior Elijah MacNamee in the fifth, for what proved to be the game-winning run. |
| No. 2 Bulldogs hold off No. 17 Tigers | |
 | After giving up two runs on a homer in the first inning, No. 2 Mississippi State remained resilient through tough spots and walked away with a 6-5 win over No. 17 LSU on Thursday night. Game 2 in the weekend SEC series is set for tonight at 6. Starting pitcher Ethan Small remained poised for the Bulldogs (24-3, 5-2 SEC) after giving up the lead early. He settled in and struck out the next four batters he faced. Small went on to pitch five total innings, giving up just two runs, three hits and four walks. He struck out 10 batters in 89 total pitches. MSU struggled at the plate the first two innings but grabbed the lead on a three-run homer from third baseman Justin Foscue. Foscue finished the game with two hits, both home runs, and four RBIs. MSU got another run in the fourth, then Elijah MacNamee and Foscue hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth. Foscue said this was the first time he has hit two home runs in a game,. He has nine home runs for the season. |
| LSU baseball's late rally ends short; Tigers drop series opener vs. Mississippi State | |
| Josh Smith tossed his bat to the side, and the crowd at Dudy Noble Field cheered. LSU had cut No. 4 Mississippi State's lead to one run in the eighth inning. A runner stood on second base during Smith's at-bat. But Smith struck out looking, ending a late rally. "Pretty big at-bat," Smith said, "and I let us down right there." Unable to stifle a team with the highest batting average in the Southeastern Conference, the No. 12-ranked Tigers lost 6-5 in their series opener Thursday night. Coming into this series, Mississippi State had scored 53 runs over its past three games. LSU was stuck in an offensive rut, inconsistent for more than a week and shut out just two days earlier by McNeese State. The Tigers (17-9, 4-3 SEC) took an early lead, but the offense disappeared for most of the game as Mississippi State (24-3, 5-2) hit three home runs off junior pitcher Zack Hess. |
| LSU opens Mississippi State series with 6-5 loss despite late run | |
 | LSU's three-run eighth inning wasn't enough, as the Tigers lost 6-5 to Mississippi State on Thursday (March 28) to lose their third-straight SEC game and fourth-straight overall. Trailing 6-2 in the top of the eighth, singles from Daniel Cabrera and Giovanni DiGiacomo put runners in scoring position before Cade Beloso brought Cabrera in. Then, freshman CJ Willis drove an RBI double to left center, and Chris Reid singled to make it a one-run game. Josh Smith then struck out looking to end the rally. LSU had one runner on in the top of the ninth, but Cabrera struck out looking and Duplantis was caught stealing to end the game. LSU puts freshman Cole Henry on the mound 6 p.m. Friday in Game 2. |
| Mississippi State coach expects another grueling game vs. Arizona State | |
| Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer remembers the team's last meeting with Arizona State as grueling. He expects much the same when the top-seeded Bulldogs face the No. 5 Sun Devils on Friday night in the Sweet 16. The teams played last season at the Cancun Challenge, with Mississippi State downing Arizona State 65-57. The Bulldogs trailed by two going into the final quarter but prevailed in the end. Teaira McCowan led MSU with 15 points and 14 rebounds. "Know them well. I've played them several times throughout my career," Schaefer said. "We played them a year ago in the islands, had a knock-down, drag-out with them. It was a tremendous basketball game. We were fortunate to win that one." |
| Bulldogs take the floor far from home | |
| Top-seeded Mississippi State won its first two NCAA Tournament games by an average of 40.5 points inside the friendly confines of Humphrey Coliseum. Tonight, the fourth-ranked Bulldogs will be tested 2,459 miles away from home as they take on No. 22 Arizona State in the Sweet 16. Tipoff from the Moda Center is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN2. "I'm not sure there's any further place we could have had to go travel to from Starkville to play in the NCAA Tournament," said MSU coach Vic Schaefer. "We're excited to be here and look forward to the challenge." Despite the distance, Schaefer expects to have a strong turnout from his fan base. He was happy with the support his Bulldogs received when it played at Oregon and at Washington back in December. "Our program has become a real identity for Mississippi State," Schaefer said. "I'm very proud of that. Our kids really relish that. They embrace it. They understand the responsibility that comes with it. So I expect us to have a great crowd here. We've had a lot of fans everywhere we've been." |
| Teaira McCowan has Mississippi State poised for more NCAA Tournament prosperity | |
| The trajectory of Mississippi State women's basketball changed on March 26, 2016. The Bulldogs, then in their fourth season under head coach Vic Schaefer, were already on a meteoric rise. They reached the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history in that year. Nobody expected them to get any further. They faced the unbeatable Connecticut Huskies on that fateful day in late March. Mississippi State lost the game by 60 points, and UConn went on to win its fourth-straight national title a week later. It was a result that nagged at Schaefer throughout the offseason, but there was something that happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, during that blowout loss that shaped Bulldog basketball for years to come. Of all the players Schaefer put on the floor -- Victoria Vivians, Dominique Dillingham and Morgan William, to name a few -- there was only one who Schaefer said didn't look "scared." She was a freshman. Her name is Teaira McCowan. |
| WNBA Coaches, GMs Tab Mississippi State's Teaira McCowan for Top Pick in Mock Draft | |
| The Associated Press polled a panel of WNBA coaches and general managers for a mock draft of the three rounds this spring. Panelists were limited to college seniors and eligible foreign players, and they could not offer a pick for their own team. While last season there was a clear-cut No. 1 in A'ja Wilson, there is no consensus top pick this year. This could be one of the most unpredictable drafts in recent years. That said, the top three picks remained the same from the first two mock drafts with Teaira McCowan, Asia Durr and Kalani Brown going 1-2-3. This will be the final update before the draft on April 10. First Round: 1. Las Vegas: Teaira McCowan, Mississippi State. The Aces franchise has the No. 1 pick for the third year in a row and can add a dominant post player to complement Wilson. |
| Andra Espinoza-Hunter could be Sweet 16 X-factor for Mississippi State in NCAA Tournament | |
| Andra Espinoza-Hunter only needed a few seconds for multiple lethal actions to occur. The first was a flick of the wrist that sent a basketball flying through the air at Humphrey Coliseum. It was a stroke of pure genius -- quite literally. The second was a quick glance at the Clemson defender who left her open behind the 3-point line and allowed her to send the ball flying through the net. Espinoza-Hunter stared at her opponent with a sardonic smirk as she skipped away to get back on defense during MSU's second-round victory in the NCAA Tournament. The sophomore guard, who grew up just outside of The Big Apple, said the look came naturally to her. "It might be a New York thing," Espinoza-Hunter said Thursday in Mississippi State's locker room at the Moda Center, where the No. 1-seeded Bulldogs (32-2) will play No. 5 seed Arizona State (22-10) in the Sweet 16 on Friday night at 8 p.m. CT. |
| Mississippi State stars show their moves in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams | |
| Streaking down the field for his final route of the day, Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald reached out his arms. Seconds later, Fitzgerald let out an excited yell as he snatched a deep ball from one NFL scout. Nearly 40 yards downfield, he paired the shout with a touchdown celebration-style spike. "It was great that I could come out here and showcase I can do other things," Fitzgerald said. "I'm completely fine and willing to go out and play another position and do whatever I've got to do to make the team." Fitzgerald and 18 other former Bulldogs performed a variety of drills in front of representatives from all 32 NFL teams on Wednesday as part of MSU's Pro Day at the Palmeiro Center. "The big thing, from a program standpoint, is that it shows a young man can make a decision to come to Mississippi State and achieve all of his goals," head coach Joe Morehead said. "And if one of those is getting to the NFL, it can happen here." |
| Mississippi State's Chris Rayford knows speed: 4.49 in 40 | |
| Mississippi State senior cornerback Chris Rayford had his chance. Bearing down on Alabama return man Xavian Marks in the second quarter of the Crimson Tide's 31-24 win in 2017, the ball popped free. Tied at 14 apiece, an MSU recovery would have given the Bulldogs possession near the Alabama 20-yard line. Instead, Marks recovered the muffed punt. "Maybe if I would have downed it or whatever, it would have been a game changer, gave us an opportunity to win," Rayford said. At Wednesday morning's Pro Day in Starkville, the Byhalia native made the most of his latest opportunity. With defensive standouts Gerri Green, Johnathan Abram, Montez Sweat and Jeffery Simmons garnering most of the hype heading into the event, it was Rayford who stole the show. |
| Nate Oats introduced as Alabama men's basketball coach | |
 | There won't be any T-shirt slogans printed from Nate Oats' first day at Alabama. The new men's basketball coach arrived in Tuscaloosa with a three-part plan to build a culture, but it's not meant for bumper stickers or social media hashtags. "We established a culture playbook a couple years ago," Oats, the former Buffalo coach, said at his introductory press conference Thursday. "We talk about max effort, that's everything. Every workout, every weight room session, every practice, our guys are going to give max effort. We're going to demand it out of them. "Continuous growth is one. We're going to get better every day. We want to be better today than yesterday. We're going to get guys that want to get in the gym that want to work on their own. If the NCAA only allows us so many hours with the guys, if that's all the hours they put in, we're never going to get where we need to get. We're going to get a culture that they're in to get better every day. That goes for academics-wise. We're going to get better." |
| Nolan Richardson Court gets U. of Arkansas trustees' blessing | |
| Nolan Richardson will again leave his mark at Walton Arena. The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted Thursday during their regular meeting to name the Razorbacks' home court in Fayetteville after the coach who led the university to its only NCAA men's basketball title. "That's wonderful. I certainly am honored," Richardson, 77, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by phone Thursday. Trustees also approved without dissent Thursday a resolution for Arkansas Chancellor Joe Steinmetz and Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek to study a way to honor former coach Eddie Sutton in a manner to be determined later. The resolution to honor Richardson, recommended by Steinmetz and Yurachek, adds another chapter to the gradual reconciliation between the university and Richardson, whose tenure turned fraught amid a dispute and lawsuit over racial discrimination in the early 2000s. |
| NCAA lobbies to keep congressional efforts on paying players at bay | |
 | The NCAA is engaged in a full-court press on Capitol Hill to squelch new congressional efforts to allow student-athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness. NCAA officials have been meeting with key lawmakers in recent weeks, making it clear the organization wants the legislation introduced earlier this month by Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican, to go nowhere. The pressure is likely to work, just as it does year after year when Congress tries to change how college athletics operate. The NCAA, which provides governance and conducts championships for more than 1,100 college and university athletic programs, also has a powerful force helping argue on its behalf -- its member schools. Rep. Donna Shalala, a Florida Democrat, was president of the University of Miami and chancellor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, two major players in college athletics. She said when the NCAA wants to exert its influence, it does so through member institutions. "If you look at where the great universities are in this country, in what states, it's the presidents that pick up the phone and call their senators," said Shalala, who opposes Walker's bill. "The politics of athletics in this country is not red or blue -- it's conferences." |
| Sen. Chris Murphy calls college athlete compensation a 'civil rights issue' | |
 | Basketball fans across the country are stressing over their March Madness brackets for the NCAA tournament, but Connecticut Democrat Sen. Christopher S. Murphy is instead stressing the staggering inequity in college sports that he calls "a civil rights issue." Murphy released a report Thursday morning, titled Madness, Inc.: How is everyone getting rich off college sports --- except the players, which is the first in a series he plans to put out on the state of the multi billion-dollar collegiate athletics industry. He plans to dig into how advertisers, executives, coaches, and college administrators reap the benefits from college sports, while the athletes who are competing receive no monetary compensation. Murphy is an avid basketball fan. His official Senate twitter account is topped with a photo of the UConn Huskies women's team in celebration. |
| How Dozens of Pro Athletes Came to Study Activism on a College Campus | |
 | At first, David Wall Rice wasn't wild about working with the National Football League. It's a hierarchy topped by white billionaire owners who are "trading and making money off of the backs of black men," said Rice, an associate professor of psychology and an associate provost at Morehouse College. So when his higher-ups asked Rice if he'd be willing to develop curriculum for a workshop co-sponsored by the league, he hesitated. But then he thought about what he could teach, and to whom. The workshop would be designed for professional athletes who want to become effective activists. Rice was promised control over the curriculum. And a hero of his, Harry Edwards, a civil-rights activist who is a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, was already involved. So Rice said yes. That's how 30 current and former professional athletes came to be sitting in a classroom at Morehouse this week, studying social justice. |
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