Wednesday, September 9, 2020   
 
Mississippi State University plans projects to increase sense of community
The goal of future projects at Mississippi State University is to give students a sense of community. MSU's Executive Director of Campus Services, Saunders Ramsey, gave an update on Tuesday to the Kiwanis Club of Starkville. Ramsey says there are plans to assist and engage students while they are on campus, including outdoor space. He talked about several upcoming projects, including a new drive linking Bailey Howell Drive to Blackjack Road. MSU has recently invested money in student housing, a Partnership School, classroom space in Animal and Dairy Sciences, and a parking garage.
 
Cotton crop in Mississippi looks promising
According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, this year's cotton crop in Mississippi looks promising, but acreage is down 520-thousand acres due to a rainy planting season and unfavorable market conditions. On August 31st, the USDA estimated 65% of the state's crop to be in good or excellent condition. The rest is considered fair, with just 8% in poor condition. State growers planted 680,000 acres of cotton in 2019, 26% more than this year's acreage. MSU Cotton Specialist, Dr. Brian Pieralisi said much of the state's cotton is loaded with bolls. "This year, we were able to get most of our acres in on time, and then we entered a weather pattern of a lot of rain before it got dry again," Pieralisi said. "This pattern allowed a really good root system to develop in a lot of places and allowed growers to address most weed issues." "Mississippi has experienced favorable growing conditions this year. Fruit retention has been really high and this is evident when you walk through the fields and you can feel the bolls actually slapping your shins. This is a good sign and I hope for a dry fall so we can get our crops out," said Pieralisi.
 
Gov. Tate Reeves: Virus outbreak during election year 'unfortunate'
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said it's "unfortunate" that the coronavirus pandemic broke out during an election year, adding that the upcoming election has made conversations about the virus overly political. "It's certainly unfortunate that if we're going to have a pandemic, the likes of which we haven't seen in over 100 years, that it would happen to occur -- maybe it wasn't happenstance -- but that it would happen to occur during an election year, which has made a large number of people look at every single decision from a political viewpoint," Reeves said at a Tuesday press briefing. Reeves said initiating those conversations "certainly hasn't always been helpful." The governor did not elaborate on what he meant when he said "maybe it wasn't happenstance" that the pandemic occurred during an election year. Reeves said he hopes that a vaccine will be available soon. In the meantime, he urged people in Mississippi to stay vigilant about wearing masks and social distancing.
 
State leaders warn young party-goers large gatherings put others health in danger
Jackson Police and the city are condemning a massive block party thrown Monday night where hundreds of young adults filled Dixon Rd. Officers broke up the party and linked it to the Jackson State community, state leaders are reacting with anger and plead for the public to be more responsible. 62 counties across Mississippi have been declining in Covid-19 case numbers and in the past three days combined the state's total has been below 900. But recent large gatherings have state leaders worried we could see another spike coming. "It really makes me angry how selfish it is," Dr. Thomas Dobbs with MSDH said. "Right now we're just making progress." "If someone's having a party don't go, and if you're putting up a party know that you're breaking the law," Dr. Dobbs explained. "We spoke to other college presidents and they're committed if people go to parties or host parties it is a violation of the honor code of the university and there will be repercussions."
 
As average COVID-19 cases reach 10-week low, health officials prepare for spike from college students
While Tuesday's COVID-19 numbers show a decline in the number of new cases and no reported deaths, something Mississippi hasn't had in nearly three months, it also gives the state's hospital system a bit of a break before flu season arrives and a potential spike in cases from college students. The seven-day average of daily new cases reached a ten-week low, and the state's health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said most counties are seeing improvements. "When we look at the most recent two-week data with a seven day lag, we saw that 62 counties were shrinking in the number of cases they were having. 20 had increased. We did see some specific outliers, especially Lafayette County and Oktibbeha County," Dobbs said, indicating those came from outbreaks connected to the major universities located there. "The numbers are headed in the right direction, but there is not a reason for us to say all is good, we accomplished our goal," Gov. Tate Reeves said. "No we've got to keep being diligent, so that we can keep doing the things that we want to do."
 
Hyde-Smith campaign touts healthcare vote -- that her predecessor made
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith's "One Hundred Accomplishments in 100 Days" on social media -- a hallmark strategy of her 2020 Senate campaign and virtually her only public campaigning so far this cycle -- will apparently become Ninety-Nine Accomplishments in 100 Days. In an Aug. 26 tweet, Hyde-Smith touted her vote to extend the Children's Health Insurance Program through fiscal year 2027 -- a vote that her predecessor actually made in early 2018. The Hyde-Smith campaign deleted the tweet after a Mississippi Today reporter asked for clarification. "It made its way into an accomplishment document, which was a mistake," said Justin Brasell, a spokesperson for the Hyde-Smith campaign. "That's why it was removed." This election cycle, during the COVID-19 pandemic, campaigning has been limited. The "One Hundred Accomplishments in 100 Days" Twitter feed has been one of the few visual signs of the Hyde-Smith campaign. During the daily Twitter posts, she highlights what she believes are accomplishments of the U.S. Congress during her tenure.
 
USM COVID-19 tests: Over 50 positive cases reported since early August
More than 50 University of Southern Mississippi students, employees or their dependents have tested positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 5. USM updated its new coronavirus positive test results processed by the Moffitt Health Center from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4: New positive tests results: 18. Negative test results: 142. Pending tests: 16. Number of tests conducted at Moffitt Health Center: 203. Moffitt Health Center has conducted 492 COVID-19 tests of students, faculty, staff and immediate family members since Aug. 5. USM posts weekly COVID-19 test result updates every Monday afternoon. About 2,900 of the 14,000 enrolled at the university live on campus. A total of six individuals are under quarantine or isolation on campus due to possible contact with COVID-19 positive individuals.
 
Mississippi College School of Nursing Adds Three Professors
Estelle Watts has worn several hats in Mississippi's nursing profession. The Mississippian brings decades of experience as a nurse with the Pearl public schools, at a hospital, doctor's office and in a home health setting. In August, Dr. Watts began a new chapter as one of three new professors at Mississippi College's School of Nursing. Another faculty newcomer is Mary Pipper Widdig. The former NICU nurse is passionate about education. Mary earned her doctorate at the University of Southern Mississippi where she also received her undergraduate degree. Her expertise is in several clinical specialty areas. Dr. Lynn Buckalew is serving as the new director for the RN-BSN program. An experienced nurse educator, her passion is for successful student outcomes. She joins the Christian university with an accomplished history of working in the hospital and healthcare industries. She is a former Hinds Community College nursing instructor.
 
East Mississippi Community College hires school nurse to coordinate COVID-19 response
East Mississippi Community College has hired Meridian resident Amy Ivy to serve as the college's school nurse and to oversee infection control procedures to minimize the potential spread of the COVID-19 virus. Ivy was hired with federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act) funds. Her first day on the job was Aug. 25. Ivy will work out of an office on EMCC's residential campus in Scooba. She is a Kemper County native who resided in the community of Preston until her 9th grade year in high school when she moved to Meridian. Among other things, Ivy will coordinate efforts to quarantine students who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms and ensure they are tested for the coronavirus. She will be working with Dr. Cameron Huxford, a Starkville-based pulmonologist who, in conjunction with OCH Regional Medical Center, is providing onsite COVID-19 testing to students. Huxford and OCH have tested students on the Scooba and Golden Triangle campuses at no charge and plans are in the works for future tests. EMCC is paying the cost to have the tests processed at independent labs with CARES Act funds.
 
Auburn University says nearly 600 new COVID-19 cases less than expected, new spike expected in coming days
Auburn University said its nearly 600 students and employees on and around the school's main campus who self-reported positive COVID-19 cases last week was lower than expected, and it expects a spike in cases to come in the following weeks. Auburn University said 577 students and 11 employees on its main campus self-reported positive COVID-19 tests from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6. An additional 10 students at the Auburn University airport self-reported positive cases. "It's lower than what I was anticipating," Dr. Fred Kam, director of the Auburn University Medical Center, said in a social media video posted by Auburn University. "So, in this case, I'm very happy to be wrong." Kam expects to see a new spike in COVID-19 cases in the days following Labor Day weekend and urges the campus community to be cautious to prevent further spread of the virus. "I think it will hit us toward the end of this week and then next week and the week after, so two weeks," Kam said. "This next week is really crucial to how the first two or three weeks of October is going to look. So, whatever you can do, you need to do it."
 
U. of Kentucky looks into student Derby Day parties after police calls. Did COVID-19 spread?
The University of Kentucky is looking into student gatherings after Lexington police responded to dozens of party complaints on Kentucky Derby Day. Police officers responded to 30 noise disturbance calls related to loud parties Saturday, according to Lexington police spokeswoman Brenna Angel. There were calls on Maxwell Street, Linden Walk, Stone Avenue, Forest Park, Woodland Avenue and Montmullin Street, Angel said. There were also calls farther away from campus, she said. If revelers didn't wear masks or didn't follow social distancing guidelines, such gatherings may increase the spread of COVID-19 among a student population that's already had 1,000 cases since Aug. 3, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. UK received no citations from Lexington police over the weekend, according to UK spokesman Jay Blanton. But the university's Student Conduct Office was "following up" on reports concerning on- and off-campus gatherings, Blanton said. Before Labor Day, UK President Eli Capilouto asked students to stay in Lexington over the weekend because some patients have caught the respiratory virus from trips to hot spots.
 
U. of South Carolina stabilizes enrollment, boosts freshman diversity despite COVID 19 pandemic
While many colleges brace for enrollment losses amid the COVID 19 pandemic, the University of South Carolina is actually seeing a slight uptick in enrollment, the school said Tuesday. Compared to this point last year, USC has increased enrollment by about 100 students, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said in an email. Stable enrollment is a pleasant surprise for USC officials, who in May planned to see a 10% enrollment decrease because of the coronavirus pandemic. That enrollment stabilization has come with an increasingly diverse freshman class. The incoming freshman class has 103 more Black freshmen than in 2019, according to data USC provided during a virtual press conference. The diversity boost applies to more than just Black students. Freshman enrollment of underrepresented minorities is up 9% from last year, according to the news release.
 
U. of Tennessee tops 2,000 in COVID-19 isolation, 'everything is on the table'
As the number of people in isolation at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville surpasses 2,000, Chancellor Donde Plowman warned students about additional restrictions on the horizon. "We are evaluating a range of options, and let me be clear, everything is on the table at this point," Plowman said in a live video message to the university and the community. "Our case counts are going up way too fast, and we will need more drastic measures to stop the upward trajectory." She noted that other universities have enacted curfews, restricted visitors, and ordered lockdowns for fraternity and sorority houses. Active COVID-19 cases at UT have grown by 376% in the last two weeks, growing from 126 to 600 cases. In addition to active cases, the number of people in isolation has increased over the last two weeks by 311%, from 489 people on Aug. 24 to 2,012 on Monday.
 
U. of Florida sees jump in COVID-19 cases after first week of class
With just a week's worth of classes in the books, the University of Florida has reported an uptick in COVID-19 cases among students. Over the Labor Day weekend, UF saw 64 new positive test results among students and zero new cases among faculty and staff, according to officials. The total number of infected students is now 338. Sunday, UF noted the increase on its Facebook page -- without mentioning how many -- and said the flare-up is in line with what the university "anticipated and planned for." Extra resources, the statement continued, to address the increased cases are in place such as contact and surveillance testing. The growing numbers will likely continue in the days following the holiday weekend, the statement suggested. UF officials said they have not adjusted any safety protocol in reaction to the new cases, but said they are "constantly revising and adapting" plans." "We are listening, watching data and adjusting where needed, like increased testing in certain spaces and enhancing communications." said UF spokesman Steve Orlando.
 
UF Fall fraternity recruitment moved completely online
UF Fall fraternity rush week will be held completely virtually due to COVID-19. The announcement came Tuesday evening from the UF Interfraternity Council, which oversees most UF fraternities, six days before recruitment begins on Monday. This Fall, potential new members will meet with fraternities of their choice on Zoom during one-hour time slots throughout the week, according to the announcement. Students can also watch virtual tours of the fraternity houses before choosing. UF Panhellenic Council, which oversees 18 UF sororities, hosted a completely virtual rush week Aug. 20-27. On the last day of recruitment, Bid Day, the council allowed sororities to have in-person events to celebrate new members. In a normal recruitment week, about 1,000 men flood Fraternity Row and move freely between houses, said UFIFC President Stephen Greep on July 2.
 
Texas A&M identifies third COVID-19 cluster in Corps of Cadets' Squadron-17
Texas A&M University has reported a third COVID-19 cluster, this one among members of the Corps of Cadets' Squadron-17 who live on-campus in Leonard Hall. The cluster was reported by A&M through the Clery Act on Sept. 2 and all members of Squadron-17 are being required to quarantine for a minimum of 14 days. It was unclear Tuesday how many students have tested positive in the cluster or how many are quarantining. No cadets from Squadron-17 remained in their dorm after the cluster was identified and all were temporarily moved out, according to an A&M spokesperson. Students living on campus who test positive for COVID-19 have the option to go home or to an off-campus location, or be moved into self-isolation on campus, which is a temporary designated room set aside for students who have tested positive for the virus. This is the third reported cluster at A&M. The university reported clusters and initiated chapter-wide quarantines for sororities Delta Delta Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma on Aug. 20.
 
U. of Missouri tightens mask rules as students criticize response
The University of Missouri tightened its rules for wearing masks on campus amid a storm of criticism from students in quarantine over missed meals, questionable accommodations and worries that people who have been exposed can't get tested. MU had 658 active cases as of Tuesday, 271 more than on the last report from Friday. There are another 669 students in quarantine for exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and their complaints about the quality, quantity and timeliness of meal deliveries. The social media posts, while embarrassing, have brought results, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. "We are aware of them, and we are working to correct the immediate issues," Basi said. "We are also working to make sure the delay described does not happen again." The new requirements for face coverings at the university now include rules that anyone on campus -- indoors or out, alone or in groups - must be wearing a mask.
 
Despite COVID cases, college students partied Labor Day weekend away
Any doubts that students would find a way to party, even during a pandemic, have been quickly dispelled as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed at colleges around the country. Some colleges promptly canceled in-person instruction, and social media videos and images of partying students helped feed a narrative of irresponsible behavior putting everyone in the university community at risk. But the images can be misleading. Some students who wear masks out in public may relax in private with roommates or close friends they know are taking COVID-19 precautions seriously, no differently than they might at home with extended family members. And mental health professionals say expecting students to stop socializing is unrealistic and harmful to their developmental needs at that age. Over Labor Day weekend, starting with the "Thirsty Thursday" kickoff, USA TODAY dispatched college journalists in seven university towns across the country to witness firsthand the campus social scene.
 
What college presidents say about leading in the COVID-19 era
The presidents, chancellors, board members and other administrators who lead colleges and universities have been scrambling for months amid the coronavirus pandemic. They scrambled to send students home and move classes online in the spring. Many scrambled for plans to resume in-person undergraduate instruction come fall. Now a significant number are once again scrambling to contain outbreaks, send students home or move classes online as COVID-19 counts on campus spike just days or weeks after the start of classes. It's too early to grade leaders on the results of all that scrambling. It won't be possible to say for sure if anyone pulled off a successful in-person fall until the semester is over and case counts are tallied. What can be definitively said is that leaders have been overwhelmingly focused on the short term. Inside Higher Ed recently interviewed dozens of college and university presidents at different institutions across the country to determine what leadership skills they are building in preparation for the coming years. Their responses formed the foundation of a new special report being released today, "College Leadership in an Era of Unpredictability."
 
College Quarantine Breakdowns Leave Some at Risk
Across the United States, colleges that have reopened for in-person instruction are struggling to contain the rapid-fire spread of coronavirus among tens of thousands of students by imposing tough social-distancing rules and piloting an array of new technologies, like virus tracking apps. But perhaps their most complex problem has been what to do with students who test positive for the virus or come into contact with someone who has. To this end, many campuses are subjecting students to one of the oldest infection control measures known to civilization: quarantine. Many public and private colleges have set aside special dormitories, or are renting off-campus apartments or hotel rooms to provide isolation beds for infected students and separate quarantine units for the possibly sick. At the University of Alabama, which is contending with one of the nation's largest campus outbreaks, several students in the Highlands, a campus apartment complex with quarantine and isolation units, said that the school had not stationed nurses on site and that they had observed classmates flouting quarantine.
 
Scholars on strike for racial justice
Thousands of professors and students suspended business as usual -- as usual as can be during a pandemic -- to promote racial justice Tuesday, the first day of Scholar Strike. The two-day action, which continues today, was conceived of just two weeks ago, following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wis., and a related wildcat strike by professional basketball players. Yet by Tuesday morning, the strike had dozens of contributed lectures and discussions uploaded onto its own YouTube channel, along with live panels and constant social media activity under the hashtag #ScholarStrike. Few institutions have openly endorsed the Scholar Strike, but colleges and universities haven't gone out of their way to discourage faculty or student participation, either. Prior to the event, co-organizer Kevin Gannon, a historian at Grand View University, said he was paying attention to institutional responses to the strike, given that so many campus and system presidents issued statements of support for the social justice uprising this summer.
 
Anti-Semitism on the rise as new semester starts
For Jewish students at the University of Delaware, the fall semester was preceded by heightened anxiety and worries about returning to campus. Not because of the coronavirus pandemic, but because two weeks ago an arsonist set fire to the university's Chabad Center, which many students considered a "home away from home" and a safe space to celebrate their Jewish identity and culture. Talia Feldman, a senior and student leader in the university's Hillel and Chabad organizations, said she was "shocked and confused" to learn on the morning of Aug. 26 that the center had been destroyed by fire overnight. Feldman said she thought about the hundreds of hours she had spent hanging out, attending meetings and having meals or Shabbat dinner every Friday evening in the small blue house in Newark. The fire and verbal and online harassment targeting Jewish students over the past month are part of a larger trend of rising anti-Semitic incidents at higher ed institutions, Jewish college community leaders say. Mark Rotenberg, Hillel International's vice president of university initiatives and legal affairs and a law professor at American University, said the rise in anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish students, including many incidents of online harassment, have come from both "far right and far left ideological orientations," such as white supremacists and those who accuse pro-Israel students of being "Zionist racists."
 
U.S. Turns Up Heat on Colleges' Foreign Ties
A letter notified Stanford University that it had joined an unpopular club: It was one of at least a dozen colleges under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education over foreign gifts and contracts. Sent in mid-August to President Marc Tessier-Lavigne of Stanford, the notice appears to have been prompted by the arrest of a visiting Chinese researcher on charges of hiding her ties to the Chinese military on her visa application. But the nine-page document refers to Stanford's numerous ties to China, from a joint research center at Peking University to its hosting of a Confucius Institute, a Chinese-funded language and cultural center. At the heart of the letter is a sweeping records request. The investigatory notice sent last month to Stanford, and a similar one to Fordham University, represent a ratcheting up of scrutiny of American colleges' ties abroad, specifically to China. But the letters are far from the only sign of how higher education has been caught up in the Trump administration's increasingly aggressive posture toward China.
 
Julia Reed cast a long, consequential, and complicated shadow over the New South
Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: It's difficult to think of Julia Reed without hearing her raspy, smoky voice -- sort of an odd cross between Lauren Bacall and the sound a farrier's rasp makes on the hooves of a draft horse. When she laughed, it was earthy, twangy, and honest. A skillful writer, editor, author, entertainer, media personality, and maven of style, fashion, food, and all things Southern, Julia was a force of nature. Brash, irreverent, piercingly direct, and devilishly funny, it was almost impossible not to enjoy her company. Julia Evans Reed died Aug. 28, exactly two weeks shy of her 60th birthday in Rhode Island. She quietly, privately battled cancer for three years. A native of Greenville, Mississippi, Julia was the daughter of Clarke and Judy Reed. Clarke Reed is the grey eminence of the Mississippi Republican Party. ... Julia grew up watching her father enjoy a surreal political and business life that brought national political figures to their home. That carried her to Washington, New York, and other locales far from the Mississippi Delta's sleepy hum. Julia was as comfortable in those far-flung environs as she was in the deep South.


SPORTS
 
A new way to play: Mississippi State softball assistants aim to gain exposure for women's sports with new Athletes Unlimited league
When Katiyana Mauga played softball for the University of Arizona, she always struggled hitting change-ups. So when Mauga crushed a change-up for her first home run in the new Athletes Unlimited professional league Aug. 31, it felt even sweeter. It was an emotional swing, too, for Mauga, who hadn't played competitive softball in more than a year after serving as Mississippi State softball's volunteer assistant coach for the 2020 season. "I felt like I was back in it," Mauga said, "and it felt really good." She and current Mississippi State graduate assistant Nicole Pendley are both playing in the unconventional league, which launched Aug. 29. Athletes Unlimited awards fantasy sports-style points, shuffles its rosters via "playground-style" drafts every week and takes owners and coaches out of the equation entirely. Two weeks in, the league has generated plenty of publicity and seems poised to create a huge national platform for the sport. Athletes Unlimited games air on ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 or CBS Sports Network each weekend, giving pro softball a new audience and potentially boosting other women's sports that are typically underrepresented.
 
With Jay Hopson out, where does Southern Miss football go now?
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Football coach and philosopher Bum Phillips said it best: "There's two kinds of coaches, them that's fired and them that's gonna be fired." Still, the timing of the Jay Hopson-Southern Miss breakup, announced on Labor Day, was shocking. Technically, Hopson's departure one game into the 2020 season will go down as a resignation. Per all sources, Hopson met with athletic director Jeremy McClain following last Thursday night's 32-21 defeat to South Alabama and the two agreed that the best next step for all involved was for Hopson to step down. And so it is that Texan Scotty Walden, all of 30 years old, becomes the youngest Division I head coach in America. Walden, chosen as interim coach over more experienced coaches on the staff, has two weeks to prepare the Golden Eagles for their next game, an important Sept. 19 league contest with rival Louisiana Tech on national TV. ... Immediately following the news of Hopson's departure, news outlets began listing possible long-term replacements. You almost had to laugh.
 
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby: Anthem policy is 'ongoing' discussion
College football teams traditionally have remained in the locker rooms during the playing of the national anthem, primarily because marching bands are on the field. But Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Monday that having players on the field this season is an "ongoing topic. This year will be a little different, because on an institution by institution basis, we'll be making decisions based on how the anthem is performed. There's a fair amount of institutional latitude." The NFL and the NBA has been broiled in controversy as players have knelt during "The Star-Spangled Banner," to protest social-justice abuses. College football largely has avoided such controversy. In a game at Texas-El Paso last Saturday, Stephen F. Austin players took a knee with a raised fist after the Lumberjacks scored a touchdown. Stephen F. Austin was penalized for delay of game. Big 12 teams will implement an anti-racism, anti-hate campaign this season, Bowlsby said. The program will include a patch with social-justice messages on most uniforms and a black Big 12/unity sticker on the back of helmets.
 
Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence says he uses his voice, but he's not an activist
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence emerged as one of college football's leading voices for social justice reforms this offseason, but he said Tuesday that he doesn't envision himself as an activist. Lawrence has been the biggest name -- if not always the biggest contributor, he noted -- among college athletes finding a voice on issues off the field. He helped organize a student-led protest against police brutality in June, pushed for student-athletes' voices to be heard as school presidents decided in August whether a season should be played, and he contributed in the recent #OurVoiceMatters movement that offered concrete steps toward addressing racism. It's a role Lawrence said that he has taken on in support of his teammates, but he wants to avoid the political connotations that often come with taking a stand. "I'm not a civil rights activist or an activist in general," Lawrence said Tuesday. "I just think we all carry a responsibility based on who you are and what your platform is. For the love of my teammates and friends, family, everyone I know, I think it's part of my responsibility to try to help any way I can. ..."
 
Michael Schill, chair of Pac-12 CEOs, talks conference strategy
The bar is high for Michael Schill, the new chair of the Pac-12 CEO Group. On July 1, he replaced Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano, whose two-year run in charge of the conference's governing board produced significant changes on two key fronts: 1. Better collaboration between conference executives and campus officials -- in particular, enhanced involvement of athletic directors on policy matters and decision making. 2. Increased transparency with regard to the complicated financial structure of the conference. Thus far, Schill appears intent on continuing the approach established by his predecessor. On the day of the presidents' vote to postpone fall sports, Aug. 11, Schill appeared on a videoconference to answer questions from the media while the Pac-12 released a 12-page report on Covid-19 safety issues from its medical advisory board. What else can we expect from Schill during his two-year tenure as CEO chair?



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