| Monday, October 21, 2019 |
| International aid investments pay domestic dividends | |
 | MSU President and BIFAD Chairman Mark E. Keenum writes in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: Working to find solutions to the many problems posed by hunger and poverty have defined much of my professional life. As a former USDA Under Secretary and now as president of one of our nation's leading land-grant universities, I have seen first hand the powerful difference American investment can make in addressing these significant global challenges. During World Food Prize Week in Des Moines, Iowa, the presidentially appointed advisory board to USAID -- the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) -- released the results of a study that show the strong benefits to the United States of international aid investments. The report, "How the United States Benefits from Agricultural and Food Security Investments in Developing Countries," illustrates in great detail how American aid helps the people of the developing world, as well as American farmers, ranchers, consumers and taxpayers. This aid also plays a central role in enhancing both U.S. national security and global security and stability. |
| Reduced acreage, shaky start challenge soybean producers | |
| Producers are tracing the mixed results they see from the 2019 Mississippi soybean harvest back to early struggles getting the crop started. Trent Irby, Mississippi State University Extension Service soybean specialist, said there were extreme environmental challenges for all crops this year. Wet weather and flooding delayed planting in many areas, forced replanting of many soybean acres and put the crop behind schedule. "There's a large window in which you can successfully plant soybeans and they'll have sufficient time to develop and mature," Irby said. "However, it's well documented that, as the planting date delays beyond late April, which is the prime planting time, yield potential declines." Mississippi soybean fields are estimated to yield 51 bushels an acre in 2019. This yield is below the record-setting pace set over the last two years. The state hit an average high of 54.5 bushels per acre in 2018. |
| Rural broadband workshops target community leaders | |
| Broadband internet access provides development opportunities for rural areas. The Mississippi State University Extension Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development, the National Telecommunications Information Administration, and several other partners are hosting two rural broadband workshops targeted toward civic, business and community leaders in rural areas. The first workshop will be held at the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond on Oct. 21. The second will be held at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona on Oct. 22. Both workshops begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude by 2 p.m. Participants will learn about digital applications, broadband solutions and federal and state grant and loan programs. |
| Starkville sees uptick in structures considered for condemning | |
 | Mikel Franklin spent much of his childhood in the house on North Long Street that will likely be demolished soon. Franklin's mother died in 2000, and two of his brothers each lived in the house until about five years ago. Pieces of the roof have fallen off, windows are broken and the yard is overgrown. A vacant residence tends to fall apart and become uninhabitable, to the point that the city takes over and declares it "a menace to public health, safety and welfare." In many cases, the abandoned house belonged to a deceased parent whose grown children are now responsible for it, and sometimes they do not agree on what to do with it. Such is the case for Franklin and his five siblings, though Franklin has been paying the building's taxes on his own for about seven years. Two of his siblings do not think the building should be demolished, he said, but he and the three others are thinking about having it done anyway. The Starkville Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday to call for public hearings regarding four dilapidated buildings, including the house on Long Street. |
| All SOCSD elementary students to read book together | |
 | Elementary students in the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District and their families will read the same book over the next few weeks. Students at Sudduth Elementary School, Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School, Overstreet Elementary School and West Elementary School will all read "The World According to Humphrey," by Betty G. Birney. The book follows the adventures of class pet hamster Humphrey, and is 15 chapters long. The book is provided by the Reading to Succeed Literacy Grant from Read to Them, a national family literacy organization. Grant Project Manager Susan Barlow said the book was chosen for being simple enough for the lower grades to read or have read to them, while still being interesting enough for upper elementary students. "Every night, they read one chapter with their parents, and when they come in the next day there's activities and trivia and things like that that go along with the chapter they read the night before," Barlow said. |
| Emmett Till Memorial Has a New Sign. This Time, It's Bulletproof. | |
 | Emmett Till's family stood on the shore of the Tallahatchie River just outside of Glendora, Miss., on Saturday. It was there, that, it is believed, the body of 14-year-old Emmett was pulled from the water after he had been kidnapped, tortured and lynched nearly 65 years ago. For decades, the spot was unmarked, but in 2008, signs detailing Emmett's harrowing journey were installed around the region, and for the first time there was a memorial to the African-American teenager whose death galvanized the civil rights movement. But the sign at the Tallahatchie River location was stolen and thrown into the river. A replacement was soon marred with bullet holes. Then came a third, which was hit with more bullets. Now, there's a fourth sign, this one made of steel. It weighs more than 500 pounds. It's over an inch thick, and, the manufacturer says, it's bulletproof. |
| Analysis: Republicans show unity, but only some Democrats do | |
 | Mississippi Republican candidates are at least making noises about supporting each other for statewide offices this year. Most Democrats, however, are not campaigning as a unified ticket. The tone starts at the top, with Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Jim Hood, running his own campaign and pointedly not stumping for the party's other nominees. On Oct. 10, Hood debated the Republican gubernatorial nominee, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, before an audience in Hattiesburg. One of the moderators, Byron Brown of Jackson's WJTV-TV, noted the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Jennifer Riley Collins, has publicly criticized Hood for not supporting her campaign. Brown asked if Hood would endorse Collins. "When I ran for district attorney in 1995, my dad gave me some good advice," Hood said. "He said, 'Son, you run your race and you stay out of everybody else's.' And I have done that, and that's been good, sage advice for me, and I'm going to continue to do that." This go-it-alone approach is nothing new. |
| Retirees hear from senator, advocates | |
| The Association of Retired Faculty at Mississippi State University hosted a public meeting to hear from representatives from the Mississippi Retired Public Employees' Association and state Sen. Hob Bryan about the status of Mississippi's Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). Bryan, a Democrat from Amory, claimed it is important for the public to understand the majority of individuals serving in the state Legislature do not support the current retirement system. "The people running your legislature fundamentally do not believe in the retirement system," Bryan said. "They fundamentally do not believe in a defined benefit plan. They believe in 401(k)." Bryan said the retirement system board, made up in part by the state treasurer and attorney general, is focused on reshaping the basis of Mississippi's PERS based on personal convictions rather than considering what the people want. "With every decision that's made, and there's all sorts of things, they're not trying to make decisions that help sustain the retirement system," he said. "They are trying to undermine it because that is their core belief." |
| Tate Reeves: Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Pushing Workforce Development, Improved Access to Healthcare | |
 | Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, 45, has been a rising star in the Republican Party in Mississippi since he became the first Republican elected as State Treasurer in 2004 when Reeves was only 28 years old. "In that first race, no one thought I had a chance," says Reeves. "When I called potential donors, I heard a lot of, 'I like your ideas, but no Republican has ever won State Treasurer before.' That only made me work harder." Reeves also has a keen appreciation for the importance of ag in the Delta. "It has always been our largest industry and will always be our largest industry and we must have a governor in Mississippi who understands that," Reeves said. "From my time of serving the last eight years with the leaders of the Delta, to ensure they have what they need from an infrastructure standpoint, we have built many long-lasting relationships that have been helpful to us in our political endeavors." |
| Trump campaign to hold rallies in Mississippi, Kentucky | |
 | President Trump's campaign announced Friday it will hold a rallies in Mississippi and Kentucky next month. The "Keep America Great" rallies take place before crucial gubernatorial races in both states. While both Mississippi and Kentucky are solidly Republican, having backed President Trump by about 19 and 30 points, respectively, in 2016, the races to win the governor's mansion are likely closer than the GOP would prefer. The campaign touted Trump's economic accomplishments in its announcements of the Nov. 1 rally in Tupelo, Miss., and the Nov. 4 rally in Lexington, Ky. "President Trump has delivered for Mississippi, creating 20,800 jobs in the state since he was elected President," campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner said in a statement. "President Trump continues to deliver for all Americans, and he looks forward to celebrating his achievements with the great men and women of Mississippi." However, the rallies are likely to focus on the two gubernatorial races, which the GOP anxious to keep both states in its column. |
| President Donald Trump officially coming to Tupelo for campaign rally | |
| President Donald Trump's campaign website officially announced the president will host a rally at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the BancorpSouth Arena to campaign for Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves ahead of the state's election for governor. Todd Hunt, the executive director of the BancorpSouth Arena, confirmed to the Daily Journal by phone that the campaign has signed a contract to host the event. The arena sent a notice out that the arena will not handle box office requests, and they will be handled through the campaign. Reeves, the Republican nominee for governor, tweeted that he was proud to welcome Trump back to the state. "He knows how important it is to defeat Jim Hood, who supported Hillary Clinton and still works to undermine Trump like the rest of his Democrat party," Reeves tweeted. Attorney General Jim Hood's campaign told the Daily Journal in a statement that the reason Trump is coming to the state is because Reeves has "failed miserably to inspire or excite his own supporters." |
| Donald Trump Jr.: provocateur, master preacher for father | |
| The shout of "2024!" from the crowd was unmistakable. It stopped Donald Trump Jr. cold. President Donald Trump's eldest son had been in the midst of a humor-laced screed in which he decried Joe Biden as too old and Elizabeth Warren as too liberal and insisted his father's 2016 campaign was too disorganized to possibly collude with the Russians. As many in the crowd of several hundred laughed, Trump Jr. held a dramatic pause before exclaiming his response: "Let's worry about 2020 first!" he yelled. The son has become the prime warmup act for the father at political rallies, often appearing more than an hour before the president speaks, another bombastic provocateur who revels in the tribal loyalty of the supporters who pack Trump rallies. It is a call to arms to a fawning crowd and Donald Jr. has become a master preacher. |
| President Trump Drops Plan To Host G-7 At His Miami Resort | |
 | President Trump announced that he's dropping his plan to host next year's G-7 meeting of the leaders of the world's biggest economies at his Miami-area golf club. In a series of late-night tweets on Saturday, Trump blamed the reversal on what he described as "Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility," following bipartisan claims that he's exploiting his presidency for personal profit. Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had announced on Thursday that Trump National Doral would be the site of the 2020 summit. The selection revived accusations about Trump's ability to use his office for financial gain and claims that he has violated the Constitution by collecting payments from foreign governments going to businesses he owns. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mulvaney said Trump "was honestly surprised at the level of pushback" against his selection of Doral. "At the end of the day, he still considers himself to be in the hospitality business." |
| Congress has long sought to bar foreign campaign contributions | |
 | In the decades before President Donald Trump asked Ukraine to launch an investigation into his main political rival in the upcoming presidential election, Congress tried again and again to keep foreign nationals out of American elections and government decisions. The lawmakers' adversaries over the years sound as if they come straight out of Hollywood scripts: the Nazi party in the 1930s, the Philippine sugar industry in the 1960s, a Greek industrialist in the 1970s, an international businessman turned Chinese government agent in the 1990s. Congress passed laws to ban what they saw as threats to the integrity of elections, foreign policy and national security. Foreign nationals found loopholes or new ways to contribute to campaigns. Now, the person testing the legal limits of the current ban isn't a foreign national, but the president of the United States and his political team. And House Democrats, although they have put Trump's actions at the heart of their impeachment inquiry, don't have plans to more explicitly outlaw politicians from requesting election-related information from foreign nationals. |
| The revenge of the State Department | |
 | They've been derided as a "deep state," slurred as "Obama holdovers," threatened with draconian budget cuts and told President Donald Trump doesn't even need them. Now, America's diplomats are taking their revenge. In recent days, current and former foreign service officers have defied Trump administration orders and trudged to Capitol Hill to testify before House committees conducting an impeachment investigation against the president. Colleagues inside the State Department and their allies in the broader foreign policy community are quietly hailing them as heroes, with special praise for those testifying despite still being on the government payroll. Serving diplomats say the impeachment inquiry has become a constant source of questions from their foreign counterparts and overseas media and that it's a challenging issue to explain, especially given the State Department's role. |
| Speaker Nancy Pelosi leads a surprise delegation to Jordan for 'vital discussions' on Syria crisis | |
 | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a surprise congressional visit to Jordan over the weekend, highlighting her sharp disagreement with President Trump over policy in a Middle East roiled by Trump's abrupt removal of U.S. troops from northern Syria and Turkey's subsequent attacks on Kurdish enclaves. "With the deepening crisis in Syria after Turkey's incursion, our delegation has engaged in vital discussions about the impact to regional stability, increased flow of refugees, and the dangerous opening that has been provided to ISIS, Iran and Russia," Pelosi said after meeting with King Abdullah II and senior Jordanian officials Saturday night. Neither country released details of the talks before the delegation departed for the United States on Sunday morning. The trip came as a hastily brokered five-day cease-fire in Syria was struggling to take hold entering its third day. Congressional visits, especially to conflict zones, are often kept secret for security reasons. The trips by congressional delegations, known in Washington as codels, have been known to create political waves. |
| Ambassador Defends New Requirement That China's Diplomats Report Meetings In U.S. | |
| The U.S. ambassador to China is pushing back against Beijing's criticism of a new State Department requirement that Chinese diplomats must report certain meetings they have in the U.S. The State Department announced Wednesday that it is requiring all Chinese diplomats in the U.S. to notify them of meetings they plan to have with local and state officials as well as educational and research institutions. However, there is no penalty associated yet with failing to report such meetings. Speaking in Beijing, U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad, a former Iowa governor, told NPR that the reporting requirements were "modest" compared to how China demands all foreign diplomats ask for Chinese government permission prior to traveling or meeting with local officials and universities in an official capacity. |
| Area honors college students automatically admitted to MUW | |
 | A few deserving students from Itawamba Community College will be automatically admitted into Mississippi University for Women. This comes after a new partnership between MUW and ICC for students in ICC's honors college. Leaders from both schools met Friday on MUW's campus to sign the Memorandum of Understanding. Under the agreement, automatic admission to the Gordy Honors College will be granted to ICC students receiving the Presidential Scholarship at The W, which requires a GPA of 3.8 or above, and to students in good standing in the ICC Honors College with a GPA of 3.4 or above. "We are very serious about any incoming students, immediately plugging them into the academic community, developing relationships with faculty, and this just gives us an enhanced approach to that so that we can get students into the honors experience even more quickly and have them enmeshed into The W community," said Gordy Honors College director Kim Whitehead. |
| Ole Miss foundation to pay $500,000 of new leader's salary | |
| Campus groups continue to express unhappiness Friday with how trustees chose Glenn Boyce as the new chancellor of the University of Mississippi, seeking to thread a needle by not attacking Boyce himself. Anger over the selection process persisted even as the university's private foundation voted Friday to pay Boyce a $500,000-a-year salary supplement, ending questions about whether its directors would balk at the request from Higher Education Commissioner Al Rankins and trustees. The salary decision came less than 24 hours after the school's Faculty Senate voted "no confidence" in College Board trustees and in the board's selection process, but not in Boyce himself. "The board of trustees greatly appreciates the continued support of the University of Mississippi Foundation," Rankins said in a statement Friday. |
| UM Faculty Senate Votes 'No Confidence' In IHL; Media Leak 'Suspicious' | |
| The Faculty Senate of the University of Mississippi passed a resolution late Thursday night declaring "no confidence" in the Institutions of Higher Learning board's search process to find a replacement chancellor for the university, and no confidence in IHL itself "by reason of its conduct in connection with that search process." The Faculty Senate meeting quickly became an executive session, closed to the public. One participant sent the text of the passed resolution to the Jackson Free Press, making it clear that its language was amended. Faculty Senate Chair Meagen Rosenthal told the Jackson Free Press that the first order of business was to table the second resolution. Any discussion of joining with other faculty senates toward abolishing the IHL will take place at an upcoming session on Nov. 12. Considering the significantly milder tone of the first resolution and the tabling of the second, the Jackson Free Press asked Rosenthal how the Faculty Senate intended to work with the IHL Board in light of Bylaw 301.0510 D. She paused a moment before responding. "The IHL Board governs our institutions," she said. "We have to do our best to work with them and to see if we can't move forward in the best interests not only of the University of Mississippi but the other member institutions in the state." |
| Southern Foodways Alliance stays true to mission | |
| In 1998, when John T. Edge was a graduate student at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, he got a crazy idea. Inspired by the Oxford Conference for the Book, the Conference on Elvis Presley and other public events the Center had staged, Edge asked the Center's leadership if he could host a conference on Southern food culture. "I got my yes," Edge said. "Then, I just had to figure it out." The first Southern Foodways Symposium, a three-day conference held that May, drew 75 participants. "It was a sell-out," Edge said. "That symposium became almost a tent revival for true believers in Southern food culture. This was novel at this point. This symposium was on food culture, not about recipe collections or showcasing chefs. It was about narrative -- what can we learn about food culture? What questions can we ask? What about race, gender? That was the idea from the beginning." A year later, in July 1999, 50 people from all walks of life, including writers, chefs, soul food cooks, farmers and scholars, gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, to found the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture housed in the Barnard Observatory on the Ole Miss campus. |
| Man appears in blackface at Canebrake Country Club event | |
 | A man who appeared to be African American on video at party actually was a white man in blackface, sparking outrage on social media. The party was held Oct. 11 at Canebrake Country Club during its red carpet event following the annual Canebrake Country Club Member Guest Golf Tournament. Officials with the country club did not immediately return calls seeking comment. However, a statement from the country club was issued to the University of Southern Mississippi's Student Printz newspaper: "The Club recently held a private event where attendees were encouraged to dress as celebrity couples or someone famous. A guest of one of our members attended as Tiger Woods. Our understanding is that there was no bad intent and does not reflect who we are as a Club. We apologize for any offense caused by this video, which has been taken off our Facebook page." Sable Mayberry, a student at the University of Southern Mississippi, shared a screen shot of the man on her Facebook profile. |
| Water line break, construction fumes shut down Walter Payton Center at JSU | |
 | The Walter Payton Recreation and Wellness Center on the campus of Jackson State University is closed this weekend due to a water line damaged during construction at the center. The gym, which is normally open Saturday and Sunday, was originally expected to reopen Monday, but a later statement from the Walter Payton Center says construction fumes could keep the center closed longer. An initial statement Saturday said the damaged water line is under repair. Members were urged to check email for any additional followup information. However, an updated statement Saturday said the center will be closed temporarily, until further notice, due to fumes resulting from construction. "Once that has cleared, the facility will resume normal operations," the statement said. The water line was damaged during a $1.149 million renovation project at the nearly 100,000 square-foot center. Jackson State University said the move is designed to make better use of an area it calls "underutilized." |
| Communiversity grand opening held Friday | |
| A dedication ceremony was held Friday for one of the most highly-anticipated training and workforce development projects in Mississippi: The $42 million Communiversity. The facility has been in operation since the beginning of East Mississippi Community College's school year, with the majority of EMCC's career and technical programs now being located at the facility. The facility also has space for incoming industry to land while they set up more permanent facilities locally. It was funded with a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, bonds from the state of Mississippi and funds from the three Golden Triangle counties. Speakers at the event included Mississippi Republican Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Tate Reeves, Appalachian Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Tim Thomas, Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders and Communiversity Advisory Board Chairman Ben Machen. |
| Tuscaloosa Symphony, U. of Alabama team up for world premiere of new opera | |
 | For Monday's world premiere of Joseph Landers' new opera "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," the University of Alabama Opera Theatre is collaborating with the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by TSO music director Adam Flatt. For Monday's world premiere of Joseph Landers' new opera "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," put aside what you know about the seminal Depression-era book, advises Paul Houghtaling. Though the sagas of impoverished tenant farmers do involve trials and tragedies, the overriding message is of hope, said Houghtaling, who directs the production. His University of Alabama Opera Theatre is collaborating with the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by TSO music director Adam Flatt. Monday's performance, at the Moody Concert Hall on the UA campus, will be filmed for Alabama Public Television. "It's through struggle, of course, and deeply tragic, and yet full of hope, and survival, and dignity," he said. |
| Auburn University paid design firm at least $30,000 for new logo | |
| Auburn University is spending a minimum of $30,000 to a design firm for its new logo and visual identity system, according to an open records request provided Friday afternoon to The Plainsman. Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv, a design firm based in New York, is providing the University consultation through 2019 for $30,000. According to the contract, payments are scheduled to be made in $5,000 increments from July 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2019. It's possible, however, that this $30,000 price tag may not be indicative of the entire cost to change the logo and font, according to the contract signed in 2019. The new logo has already been utilized in signage and architecture inside the Brown-Kopel Student Achievement Center, which is part of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, and Horton-Hardgrave Hall, the University's newest facility that opened at the start of the fall semester. It's still unclear whether the revised logo will continue to be implemented. |
| Auburn grad students suspended after administering hazardous drugs to animals | |
 | A national animal rights activist group is pushing Auburn University permanently revoke animal privileges from two graduate students who allegedly administered hazardous drugs to multiple animals in the Auburn area during research. Stop Animal Exploitation Now or SAEN sent a letter of concern to Interim Auburn President Jay Gogue calling for the university to publicly disclose "the species and number of animals used in this project" and to launch an independent investigation into all elements of the graduate students' research. The letter of concern comes after SAEN came across a federal report of unapproved hazardous drugs being used on animals led to the suspension of four Auburn research staff. The animals were alive when the drugs were administered, according to the report. The suspension suggested by the IACUC, the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, was for no less than six months, but the SAEN says that's not enough. |
| UK opened its new $200 million student center last year. Why it's now expanding again | |
 | The University of Kentucky is planning a $25 million project to expand the dining and student support space in its newly-opened Gatton Student Center. The Board of Trustees approved the plan Friday, UK said in a news release. The university said growing enrollment and "high participation levels in UK meal plans" made the expansion necessary. The student center reopened last year after a $200 million renovation. "We constructed the renovated Student Center with the capacity for expansion to meet the needs of students and our campus community as we grow," Eric Monday, UK's executive vice president for finance and administration, said in the release. "The Student Center has become the living room of our campus even more quickly than we anticipated. It's the heartbeat of our campus and has become the central gathering and dining space for much of the community." |
| Rolling office will help U. of South Carolina bring legal services to state's remote areas | |
 | University of South Carolina Law School Dean Robert Wilcox had a big donation coming, so he asked for a big idea. The one he got is 43 feet long -- and is on its way. The big idea belonged to the school's pro bono program director, Pamela Robinson: Why not have a bus that takes legal help out to the parts of the state where they have little or no resources. So the USC School of Law will receive a fully outfitted bus designed as a mobile office. Wilcox said that to his knowledge no other law school has launched such a project, largely because of the cost of more than $500,000. Some legal aid organizations have used a bus or van to bring people to an office where services can be provided, but this likely is the nation's first full-service mobile law operation. |
| Texas A&M, national results of college sex assault survey released | |
 | This week, the Association of American Universities released its 2019 sexual assault and misconduct survey results, which will be used to guide administrators on future prevention methods and resources. The 54-question nationwide 2019 Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct was conducted at 32 AAU universities. While 181,752 students took the survey, the overall response rate was 21.9%. A&M was lower with a 5.9% rate --- a drop from the 9% rate of respondents on the 2015 survey. A&M's results showed that there was a major increase in people's awareness of sexual violence and harassment issues such as available resources, school policies and available training. "We are grateful to the students who took the time to complete the survey," A&M President Michael K. Young said to website Texas A&M Today. "These results give us additional information that helps inform all our work underway to prevent incidents, provide resources where needed most and respond appropriately when incidents occur." |
| U. of Missouri pulls back ultimatum over Crossing sermon | |
 | The University of Missouri administration pulled back a Friday statement from the university Department of Theater that was an ultimatum to the True/False Film Fest to end its relationship with a sponsor, The Crossing church, after it became embroiled in a controversy over a sermon by its pastor, Keith Simon. Last Sunday, Simon spoke on gender issues, angering the LGBTQ+ community by referring to transgender people as "broken." Simon compared intersex individuals to eunuchs and used Nazi propaganda imagery to warn that changing cultural norms of greater acceptance had parallels with German cultural acceptance of the racist dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. "The University of Missouri has been consistent in its support of the First Amendment," News Bureau Director Christian Basi wrote in the statement. "The MU Department of Theatre was in error when its members issued a statement suggesting that they would not allow university facilities to be used by an outside group based on a viewpoint. This is inconsistent with our value of free speech." |
| President to appoint Sarah Huckabee Sanders as member of Fulbright board | |
| President Donald Trump plans to appoint a former press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, to serve on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the White House announced last week. The 12-member body oversees the Fulbright Program, which the U.S. State Department has branded "the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world." Reached by text message, the Little Rock resident said she looks forward to serving. "Education is vital to America's future. I spent two years working at the [U.S.] Department of Education in the [George W.] Bush administration and I'm grateful to President Trump for the opportunity to be named to a leadership role in this great scholarship program established by a U.S. Senator from Arkansas," she wrote. The Fulbright Program operates in more than 160 countries around the world, awarding roughly 8,000 grants each year. |
| HBCU students sound off on 2020 candidates' student loan debt relief plans | |
| Students at historically black colleges and universities such as Charles C. Patton, the sixth "Mr. South Carolina State University", say they'll only cast ballots for a 2020 presidential candidate willing to "come here and speak to us." Like many young voters, the 22-year-old physics major who acts as an ambassador for his HBCU campus, has not yet decided which presidential candidate he's supporting. "We've had Beto O'Rourke come to our campus, we've had Cory Booker, we've had Kamala Harris, we've had Mayor Pete [Buttigieg]," Patton said, listing off the names of candidates who have held campaign events at his school. The influx of 2020 candidates flocking to South Carolina to court black voters -- a demographic making up more than 60% of the Democratic electorate in the primary election -- gives students a front row seat to speak with the presidential hopefuls about the issues that matter most to them. |
| What's Behind The Research Funding Gap For Black Scientists? | |
| Black applicants to a prestigious research grant program at the National Institutes of Health are awarded funding at a significantly lower rate than their white peers. The NIH has been intensively investigating this funding gap since a 2011 report revealed the extent of the problem, looking for underlying mechanisms to use as opportunities for corrective intervention. NIH's latest finding, described in a study released this month in the open-access journal Science Advances, reveals that part of the gap can be attributed to differences in the types of topics scientists propose to study, and how those topics are valued by grant reviewers. The study of grant applications submitted between 2011 and 2015 suggests African American scientists may be more likely to pursue research in topic areas such as community-oriented research on disease prevention, for example, versus more microscopic-level research on cellular mechanisms or the basics of genetics. Those population-based topics aren't being funded as readily. |
| World's top economists just made the case for why we still need English majors | |
| A great migration is happening on U.S. college campuses. Ever since the fall of 2008, a lot of students have walked out of English and humanities lectures and into STEM classes, especially computer science and engineering. English majors are down more than a quarter (25.5 percent) since the Great Recession, according to data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. It's the biggest drop for any major tracked by the center in its annual data and is quite startling, given that college enrollment has jumped in the past decade. As humanities majors slump to the lowest level in decades, calls are coming from surprising places for a revival. Some prominent economists are making the case for why it still makes a lot of sense to major (or at least take classes) in humanities alongside more technical fields. Nobel Prize winner Robert Shiller's new book "Narrative Economics" opens with him reminiscing about an enlightening history class he took as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. |
| How Tech Companies Are Selling Colleges on Mass Data Collection | |
| Big Data will save you. Versions of that sales pitch echoed through the cavernous exhibit hall this week at one of the largest trade shows for tech companies selling to colleges. Though each of the more than 275 companies exhibiting in Chicago at the annual meeting of Educause claimed a unique spin, the typical refrain mixed inspiration and fear, and went something like this: "Our tech system will help your students finish their degrees and save them (and you) money," and "Oh by the way, if you don't use something like our product, you won't retain enough current and/or recruit enough new students to stay in business." If colleges actually bought all the tools sold here, just about every move made by students and professors in physical and virtual campuses would be tracked and analyzed in the name of efficiency. And the vision expands beyond that, as the vision is to create data profiles of students before they even arrive on campus and to continue data tracking long after they've graduated. |
| Marketing firm breaks down personas of adult learners to help colleges recruit better | |
 | Adult learners can't be lumped into a one-size-fits-all category, according to Leanne Davis, assistant director of applied research at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. That's why Lipman Hearne, a Chicago-based marketing firm with a focus on higher education and enrollment, surveyed adult learners and created four "personas" to better understand them. Kirsten Fedderke, senior vice president and account director at the firm, said while much of what they found in the survey matches common assumptions about adult learners, some data point to nuances of the population that are often ignored. For example, while respondents said their top reason for enrolling in college was to have a good job, the next three reasons were more emotional, like "be confident and prepared for life" and "be well-rounded and professionally responsible." |
| Jim Hood would need to win 55 percent of votes to keep the House from deciding race, statistical analysis claims | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: In 2015 Jim Hood garnered 55.4 percent of the vote and won 66 of the 122 House districts in defeating current Southern District U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst to capture his fourth term as the attorney general of Mississippi. Winning a majority of the popular vote and the most votes in a majority of the House districts ensured that the Democrat Hood's election would not be decided by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. According to Jonathan Rodden, a political science instructor and the director of the Stanford Spatial Social Science Lab, Hood needs to win the popular vote by a similar margin on Nov. 5 in his race for governor against Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves to again guarantee the election is not thrown into the House. |
| High turnout scenario favors Tate Reeves | |
 | Andy Taggart writes for Y'all Politics: Mississippi has major elections every year, with no off years in between. And in all of these elections, votes matter more than any other factor. Now, the premise that "votes matter" might seem to some too elementary to merit further thought. If so, thanks for giving me a few sentences worth of attention. But if you're still reading, consider the fact that when we see articles about the state of a political campaign, the topics are things like polling projections, fundraising results, personal popularity and attacks, policy disputes, and professional or political experience. Meanwhile, we rarely see much written about what actual voters do in actual elections. A little walk down history lane shows that Lt. Governor Tate Reeves's path to victory is much clearer than is Attorney General Jim Hood's in this year's race for the Governor's Mansion. The very strong likelihood is that Tate Reeves will be our state's next governor if overall voter turnout is moderate or high. |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs cap fall with victory at UAB | |
| The final 14 innings of the fall for the Mississippi State baseball program were capped with a 13-6 victory over UAB on Sunday at Young Memorial Field. The Diamond Dogs scored three runs in the seventh inning to take the lead, before switching lineups in the eighth inning and tacking on 10 more runs over the final seven frames. In the 14-inning game, Mississippi State played two separate lineups seven innings each. Over the first seven innings, the two teams were scoreless through six, before MSU pushed three runs across in the seventh for the 3-0 advantage at the mid-point. The second seven innings had State owning a 10-6 edge, including an eight-run 10th inning. On the mound, State threw 14 pitchers and only graduate student Spencer Price threw more than one inning. Eleven of the 14 pitchers completed scoreless innings, with Price allowing just one run in 1 1/3 innings of work. The first seven Bulldogs to take the mound all fired off scoreless innings, allowing just five total hits. |
| Despite loss, Joe Moorhead proud of Bulldogs' fight | |
| Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead has shown a lot of emotion this week and displayed both fire and passion following the Bulldogs' 36-13 loss to No. 2 LSU on Saturday. While Moorhead was disappointed in the outcome, he lauded the effort in which his team played with than the previous week in a loss at Tennessee. "We were going to freaking fight," Moorhead said. "No matter what the circumstance was, we were going to continue to punch, scratch, claw and get up off the mat no matter what the clock or score said. We were going to keep plugging away and our kids did that. That was a different football team than what I saw against Tennessee." MSU took that fight to the Tigers early, holding the nation's highest scoring offense out of the end zone on the first three drives. The Bulldogs ended up holding LSU to 148 yards and 16.5 points below its average. |
| Why Joe Moorhead thinks Mississippi State got better in LSU loss | |
| Minutes after he sang Mississippi State's alma mater near the north end zone of Davis Wade Stadium, Joe Moorhead entered the post-game press conference room and started sounding off. For over two minutes, Moorhead presented points that would make you think he viewed Mississippi State's 36-13 loss to No. 3 LSU as a moral victory. But he made sure to let everyone in the room -- MSU athletic director John Cohen included -- know that it was "not a moral victory at all." On paper, maybe it was. Did Mississippi State cover the point spread of 18.5? No, not even with a last-minute touchdown. But the Bulldogs were only out-gained by the vaunted LSU offense by 73 yards, 413-340. LSU quarterback Joe Burrow looked like the Heisman Trophy candidate he is, but whose defense hasn't he torched this season? His final line of 25-of-32 for 327 yards and four touchdowns was on par with what he's done all year. Moorhead wasn't worried about what Burrow did. Or what any of the Tigers did, for that matter. Mississippi State lost the game, but Moorhead sure sounded happy with the way it happened. |
| Dawgs downed: Mississippi State fades down the stretch in loss to No. 2 LSU | |
| As the massive clock at the base of the Davis Wade Stadium scoreboard ticked down under 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the droves of maroon and white that enveloped the seats around kickoff at 2:30 p.m. had dissipated. What was once a hope-filled, upset-minded crowd had shifted to a scattered batch of beleaguered fans who stood upon crushed pom-poms and broken dreams as No. 2 LSU (7-0, 3-0 SEC) put the finishing touches on its 36-13 win over Mississippi State (3-4, 1-3 SEC) Saturday. "Was it clean, was it precise, was it what we needed to be against this team? Absolutely not," coach Joe Moorhead said postgame. "But I know this, when I'm in that locker room and I look at that team and I saw how we fought, we're going to build off this one. We're going to take the good things and correct the bad things and be a football team that continues to fight for the rest of the year." While LSU's vaunted offense marched into Starkville with expectations of a romp, the MSU defense held steadfast in the early going against the Tigers. |
| Joe Burrow, LSU's explosive offense shake off sluggish start, coast to win over Mississippi State | |
 | LSU's explosive and productive offense, which has put up points and yards at a dizzying rate through the first six games of the season, wasn't itself in the first 1½ quarters of Saturday's game with Mississippi State. It took the second-ranked Tigers nearly 25 minutes to score their first touchdown in an eventual 36-13 beating of the Bulldogs in Davis Wade Stadium with the score coming on Joe Burrow's 60-yard TD strike to Racey McMath. The first touchdown for LSU, which had 40 offensive touchdowns in a 6-0 start, came after it was stymied three times from the State 3, 5 and 7 on its first three possessions. LSU, which scored touchdowns on 29 of 34 red-zone possessions going into Saturday's game, suddenly came up dry and had to settle for three Cade York chip-shot field goals. To be sure, it was unsettling for coach Ed Orgeron. While it was disappointing and frustrating, Orgeron said everyone remained calm on the sideline after York gave LSU a 9-0 lead. |
| Road swing could define Mississippi State's college football season | |
| The cowbells were ringing and the folks holding them were hollering at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday. Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead called it "the best environment in all of college football" after nearly 60,000 people watched the Bulldogs hang with No. 3 LSU for a quarter and a half before the Tigers pulled away in their 36-13 win. "I really want to thank the fans that came out today," Moorhead said after the game. "I know it didn't end the way we wanted it to end, but it started with the Dawg Walk and all the way through pre-game and until it got a little bit out of hand. I thought our fans did a great job. It was a tremendous home-field advantage." Then he noted a fact that is quite disheartening for the Dawgs. "In 28 more days we'll be back and have another chance at it." Mississippi State does not play at home again until Nov. 16 against Alabama. The Bulldogs go on the road to face Texas A&M (4-3, 2-2 SEC) and Arkansas (2-5, 0-4 SEC) in the next two weeks before their second open date of the season on Nov. 9. |
| Bowl outlook murky for Bulldogs, Rebels | |
| The road to bowl eligibility is getting more difficult for both Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Each team remains stuck on three wins after experiencing home losses over the weekend. The Bulldogs fell 36-13 to No. 2 LSU while the Rebels were edged 24-17 by Texas A&M. The Aggies are the next opponent for MSU, in College Station on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the SEC Network. Ole Miss is off this week. Texas A&M (4-3, 2-2 SEC) totaled just 337 yards against Ole Miss but turned the Rebels over twice -- one of which was a 62-yard scoop-and-score fumble recovery by Buddy Johnson. Mississippi State (3-4, 1-3), meanwhile, is trying to snap a three-game skid. The Bulldogs have not had a win since Sept. 21 against Kentucky. "This bunch is still motivated and we still believe in our season," said MSU center Darryl Williams. "We've just got to continue to do the little things right and get better each and every day. I promise you that we'll get bowl eligible this year as long as we continue to do those small things." |
| Mississippi State's Reggie Perry up for Karl Malone Award | |
| Mississippi State's Reggie Perry is one of 20 players named to the preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top power forward. Perry started 18 of 34 games for the Bulldogs as a freshman last season putting up 9.7 points and pulling down 7.2 rebounds and was the MVP for Team USA at the FIBA World Cup in Greece over the summer. The 6-foot-10, 250-pounder from Thomasville, Georgia has also been picked as a Preseason All-American and a Preseason All-SEC selection this year. The Karl Malone Award will narrow its watch list to 10 in February and pick five finalists in March. The winner will be announced at the College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles on April 10. |
| Rich Rodriguez melts down again in press box as Ole Miss falls to Texas A&M | |
| Texas A&M rallied past Ole Miss on Saturday night for a 24-17 win. But, for the second time this season, Ole Miss offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez stole the show with his display of emotion in the press box. The Ole Miss OC had reason to be frustrated. The Rebels had drives stall most of the night and was just 4 of 16 on third-down conversions. Last month, CBS cameras caught the coach throwing a mini-temper tantrum after Ole Miss had to burn a timeout trailing 14-10 in the second quarter against Alabama. Meanwhile, Buddy Johnson returned a fumble for a 62-yard go-ahead touchdown, and Isaiah Spiller added a clinching 22-yard touchdown run late as Texas A&M rallied. Trailing 14-10 midway in the third quarter, Jhamon Ausbon and Justin Madubuike sacked Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, jarring the ball free. Johnson scooped up the loose ball and raced untouched past the Ole Miss sideline to build a 17-14 lead. |
| Youngsters play key role in getting Aggies past Rebels 24-17 | |
| As time ticked off the clock at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium with the Texas A&M football team nursing a 10-point lead, freshman linebacker Andre White Jr. barreled into the backfield and pulled down Ole Miss quarterback Matt Carroll down for an 11-yard loss. On the scoresheet, the play will seem miniscule. But it was the performances of a few fresh faces like White's that helped the Aggies seal a 24-17 victory in the Southeastern Conference matchup Saturday. The A&M coaching staff has put an emphasis on a trio of midseason games, beginning with Saturday's trip to Ole Miss, wide receiver Jhamon Ausbon said. The win over Ole Miss paired with wins in upcoming games against Mississippi State and Texas-San Antonio will ensure a bowl trip for the Aggies this season. While the Aggies are still trying to find their identity on offense, it is always important to nab a key SEC win with the youth of the team making an impact, Ausbon said. |
| Alabama-Tennessee: Student newspaper speaks out on viral 'low down, dirty, snitches' front page | |
| It really just depends on where your allegiance lies when it comes to The Third Saturday in October. Regardless of what side you stand on in the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry -- and, yes, it appears to still be a rivalry, despite 12 straight wins by the Crimson Tide -- you have an opinion of a recent edition of "The Crimson White," the University of Alabama student newspaper. It won the Internet this week. Four words sum it up: "Low down. Dirty. Snitches." The paper tipped its collective cap to a decade-old viral video of one man's deep-seeded hatred for all things orange in Knoxville to the approval of Alabama fans everywhere. And, of course, to the equal dismay of Volunteer fans. That's the power of social media. It wasn't a case of throwing a bunch of words on a page. There was a method behind what became a social media madness this week. "For me, Tennessee Hate Week is Christmas before I can have Christmas," CW editor-in-chief Savannah Bullard told AL.com on Saturday morning. "I love Tennessee Hate Week. I hate Tennessee. I love that video, specifically. I think it is hilarious." |
| Tua Tagovailoa ankle injury: Alabama approaches LSU game in familiar territory | |
| Five years ago, almost to the day, Alabama left tackle Cam Robinson sprained his ankle in a win at Tennessee. It was the worst kind of sprain, the high-ankle variety, to the worst kind of player, a mountain of a man whose lower extremities supported his 310-pound frame. The recovery time for such an injury is about a month, and it could linger into the six-to-eight week range. The Crimson Tide was scheduled to play LSU two weeks later in a top-25 showdown in Louisiana, Robinson's home state. "Cam being a Louisiana guy, he wanted to play in that game," recalls Alabama team surgeon Norman Waldrop. "We wanted to try to get him back as soon as we could. Not test it out but try to actually get him back. He played 13 days later." From an Alabama perspective, Robinson was the guinea pig for a new kind of surgical treatment for ankle sprains that expedite recovery. It's called the Knotless Syndesmosis TightRope (from hereon referred to as the tightrope), and on Sunday morning, another Alabama football player underwent such an operation: quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. On Saturday night, he suffered a high-ankle sprain against the same opponent as Robinson, Tennessee, and is hustling to return in time for -- you guessed it -- a game with LSU. |
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