| Monday, March 22, 2021 |
| MSU's 15th annual Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival goes virtual | |
 | Mississippi State's long-running Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival will be presented in a virtual format March 26 and 27. Free to all, the 15th annual event will be divided into two shows, one on each day. Both shows will be streamed live at 7 p.m. CDT on Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo, as well on MSTV for CSpire Fiber and MaxxSouth Broadband customers. Streaming links will be added to festival.library.msstate.edu/schedule prior to each show. MSU Libraries Associate Dean Stephen Cunetto said this year's artists also have been invited to perform at a future festival when deemed safe. "We hope to be back to an in-person event in 2022. We want to thank our Artistic Director Jeff Barnhart and MSU Television Center Director David Garraway for their work in making this festival a reality. They have spent many hours developing this virtual event, and we could not have done this without their dedication," Cunetto said. In addition to MSU Libraries, this year's sponsors include MaxxSouth Broadband, City of Starkville, Mississippi Arts Commission, and National Endowment for the Arts. |
| Can you dig it? Itta Bena plants idea of community garden | |
 | A town in the Mississippi Delta will develop a community garden where children can plant, grow and sell their own produce. The project in Itta Bena will be done through a group called AIM for CHangE -- Advancing, Inspiring, Motivating for Community Health through Extension. It will work in partnership with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. The Greenwood Commonwealth reported that leaders of the group have been in Itta Bena with a beautification project headed by Alderwoman Jo Ann Purnell. She introduced Debra Hibbler and Marven Cantave, presenters for the program, to the Board of Alderman during a meeting last week. Hibbler said the project is intended to teach young people about farming and hard work while improving the health of the town's 1,500 residents. Proposed garden sites include three areas around City Hall. Hibbler said the MSU Extension Service will provide supplies, including soil beds and fencing. A weekend market will be established so food from the garden can be sold. |
| Weinermobile coming to the Golden Triangle | |
 | The Hotdoggers are coming to Starkville. The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile will be on Main Street downtown Tuesday from 2-3:30 p.m. This 27-foot-long hot dog on wheels will be parked in front of Cadence Bank. Paige Watson, the special events and projects coordinator for the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, said anyone can come see the Weinermobile and take a tour of the vehicle. "We want to invite the public to come out and take some pictures," Watson said. "We're just glad that Oscar Mayer decided to come and visit Starkville." Watson said she reached out to Oscar Mayer about sending the Weinermobile to Starkville. The Partnership will be selling hot dogs at the event for $3 to benefit the Starkville Main Street Association, and people can pay with cash or Venmo, Watson said. Mississippi State University student Abbigaile MacKenzie Hunsucker said she and her roommates will be visiting the Weinermobile in honor of her birthday. She said she even convinced her professor to end class early so students could attend the event. "I think this is going to be something fun to do," Hunsucker said. |
| TVA: Mississippi solar project to provide power to Facebook | |
| A company will develop a solar farm in Mississippi to provide power for two Facebook data centers in the southeastern United States. Florida-based Origis Energy will own and operate a 150-megawatt solar and 50-megawatt battery storage facility in Lowndes County, Mississippi, according to a Tennessee Valley Authority news release. Origis is scheduled complete the facility in late 2023, and it will undergo environmental reviews. TVA and Origis have a long-term power purchasing agreement through TVA's renewable energy program called Green Invest. "This is our second utility-scale solar facility in Mississippi with TVA, and it demonstrates the success of Green Invest in connecting local communities, private business and public power through renewable energy," Johan Vanhee, chief commercial officer and chief procurement officer for Origis Energy, said in the March 4 news release. The news release said the solar project in Lowndes County will create more than 250 construction jobs, and three to five full-time operations and maintenance staff. |
| Pearl River Resort begins phase 2 of reopening plan | |
 | Pearl River Resort is moving to its next phase to reopen its facilities to more gamblers. Part of the Phase 2 plan is increasing capacity on the casino gaming floors to 75%. That will be the same capacity allowed in restaurants, stores, meeting spaces, and other resort venues. All slot machines and table games will go back into service at the Neshoba County casinos. Chairs will not be added to promote social distancing. Spa services will be available at the Silver Star. Bok Homa Casino in south Mississippi is also part of the resort reopening plans. All other current Covid policies will continue, which includes a mask mandate, social distancing, temperature screening, and sanitization protocols. |
| Lawmakers say Mississippi economy is cranking, coffers flush as they begin setting budget | |
 | Mississippi legislative leaders said tax collections are more than $500 million above the estimate used to set the current year's budget and the state economy appears to be chugging along as lawmakers get down to setting a $6 billion budget for the coming year. "We're in great financial shape," House Speaker Philip Gunn said after a Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting on Friday. Lawmakers adopted "the big number," the total amount of money they can spend as they haggle out a state budget over the next couple of weeks. That big number is $5.93 billion -- about $173 million, or 3%, more than lawmakers had estimated in November that they'd have to spend for fiscal 2022 that begins July 1. "I want to be clear, this doesn't mean (every agency) gets an across-the-board increase," said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. "... But lots of the cuts we made last year were about 2.5%, so this should restore those ... But we will be looking at each budget individually to make those decisions." As for the $500 million cash on hand from the current FY21 budget, Gunn and Hosemann said that number may be artificially high because of $230 million in income taxes that normally would have been collected in the previous year were collected in the current budget year after filing deadlines were pushed back because of COVID-19. |
| Analysis: Mississippi lawmakers mull Medicaid revisions | |
| One of Mississippi legislators' most important jobs is to keep Medicaid alive beyond June 30, the end of the current state budget year. Medicaid is a health insurance program for the needy, aged, blind and disabled. It is paid by federal and state money. Because Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, it receives the most generous portions of federal funding. The federal government currently pays 84.5% of Medicaid expenses in Mississippi. The next-largest federal share goes to West Virginia, at nearly 81%. Medicaid is a big deal to the Mississippi economy. In a state of about 3 million residents, the program covers more than 752,000 people. That is 25% of the population. Medicaid payments help keep hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes and other health facilities in business. Medicaid comes up for review and reauthorization every few years, giving legislators a chance to discuss whether they want to expand or restrict the scope of services or to set potential cost-cutting measures. The legislative session is set to end in early April, so time to reach an agreement is running short. |
| 'This could be our chance': Southern Black farmers react to American Rescue Plan stimulus | |
 | Five miles south of Tchula, Mississippi, on fertile soil in a county home to the nation's highest share of African-American farmers, Calvin Head strides through the field. His mission: Make sure trenches drain his 11-acre vegetable farm of storm water. Head leads the Mileston Cooperative Association, a decades-old network of 11 farms growing vegetables, corn and soybeans on about 4,000 acres not far from the Mississippi River. Mileston's own singular mission: Survival. "We are fighting hard to save and maintain our land," Head said. With a mood afoot in the country to address racial injustice, Mileston's and other minority farmers are now counting on that fight to get a big lift from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Tucked into the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is a directive to forgive repayment on about $3.7 billion in USDA loans made to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers throughout the nation. While the overall rescue plan was billed as the greatest anti-poverty measure in a generation, the farm aid has spurred hope, but also drawn barbs and questions. Conservative politicians assail its minority focus. Minority farmers favor aid but some wonder if the government can deliver on time -- before the planting season gets fully underway. |
| Republican AGs take blowtorch to President Biden's agenda | |
 | Republican attorneys general are suing the Biden administration over the Keystone XL pipeline, and over its immigration and climate policies. One is challenging the White House's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Others have raised the specter of a constitutional challenge to the voting rights bill H.R. 1. And that's just this month. With their party out of power in the White House and Congress, the nation's 26 Republican attorneys general have emerged as the weapons division of the GOP, reprising a role played by Democratic AGs during the Trump era. Just as Democratic AGs served as the vanguard of the blue-state resistance, Republican AGs are leading the charge to stymie President Joe Biden's policy-making agenda. The challenges Republicans are now mounting against Biden represent "the other side of the coin from the Democrats bringing literally hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration, which in turn built on a trend" of Republicans suing Obama, said Rob McKenna, the former Republican attorney general of Washington and former president of the National Association of Attorneys General. McKenna, like other attorneys general and former attorneys general of both parties, noted that attorneys general continue to work across the aisle on significant issues such as consumer protection, big tech and the opioid epidemic. Jim Hood, the former Democratic attorney general of Mississippi and a former president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said on those types of issues, "we have traditionally reached across party lines, still do to this day, and will in the future." |
| 'Science is back:' Joe Biden, Kamala Harris thank CDC scientists during Atlanta visit | |
| President Joe Biden visited the Atlanta headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday to thank public health workers racing to contain the coronavirus pandemic and declare that "science is back." The visit also coincided with a milestone of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccinations since Biden took office. He promised to hit that mark within his first 100 days in office, and he cleared the hurdle in 58 days. As the president showered CDC workers with gratitude and praise, Biden also warned that the COVID-19 outbreak could be a harbinger of what's to come in an increasingly globalized society. "I hope this is the beginning of the end of not paying attention to what's going to come again and again and again. We can build all the walls we want, we've got the most powerful armies in the world," he said. "But we cannot stop these viruses, other than being aware where they are and to move quickly on them when we find them." |
| State health officials: South Africa COVID-19 variant identified in a Mississippi resident | |
 | The South Africa COVID-19 variant has been identified in one Mississippi resident in Harrison County, State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said Friday during a local media briefing. "If we found one, there's probably multiple," Dobbs said. "We all need to be careful and cautious everywhere." It's the second COVID-19 variant that's come to Mississippi. The U.K. COVID-19 variant was first identified in the state Feb. 15. At that time, it had already been recognized in 40 states, according to as state health department news release. As of Friday afternoon, State Epidemiologist Paul Byers said the health department has identified 10 people in Mississippi who have been infected with the U.K. variant. The South Africa COVID-19 variant is less widespread in the United States, with 25 states reporting cases. Overall, there have been 142 cases of the South Africa variant in the United States, Byers said. Increasing COVID-19 variants in Mississippi cause concern because they could spread more easily, Dobbs and Byers explained. It's triggered the health department to ramp up variant testing. |
| MSDH: 'Very concerning' South African COVID-19 variant strain identified in Mississippi | |
 | A new South African variant strain of COVID-19, also known as B.1.351, has been identified in Mississippi, the Mississippi State Department of Health announced during a press briefing on Friday. The B.1.351 case occurred in Harrison County, and there is currently no evidence that the infected individual recently traveled outside of the state but MSDH's investigation is ongoing. There are likely more cases of the variant present in the state and "we all need to be careful," according to State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. "If we found one, there's probably multiple," Dobbs said. "It could be anywhere. It's kind of like a lot of these things we encounter -- when you find it in surveillance in small numbers, it's probably an indicator that it exists in larger amounts elsewhere." He said the South African strain has "characteristics that are very concerning." "We know that this is a form of the virus that may be more contagious, but also it does seem to have some resistance to some of the vaccines that have been developed --- especially the Johnson & Johnson," Dobbs said. |
| AstraZeneca U.S. trial data a confidence booster for COVID-19 shot | |
| AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine performed better than expected in a major late-stage trial potentially paving the way for its emergency authorization in the United States and bolstering confidence in the shot after numerous setbacks in Europe. The drugmaker said on Monday that trials in Chile, Peru and the United States found the vaccine, developed in conjunction with Oxford University, was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and, crucially, posed no increased risk of blood clots. It intends to request U.S. emergency authorization in coming weeks. Hailed as a milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic when it first emerged as a vaccine contender last year, the AstraZeneca shot has since been dogged by confusion over its efficacy, dosing regimen and possible side-effects as well as supply setbacks in Europe, where the company has been at the centre of a growing conflict between Brussels and London over so-called 'vaccine nationalism'. The latest data should help address some of those concerns, analysts said. |
| The refinancing boom could be slowing down ... for now | |
| Financing a home sale has been getting a little more expensive lately. Last week, Freddie Mac said the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was at nearly 3.1%, the highest level since June. That could also have an effect on the wave of refinancing we've seen throughout the pandemic. Mortgage rates fell to record lows in 2020, which caused refinancing to explode. But that's starting to change, said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist with the Mortgage Bankers Association. "By our data, refinance volume is down about 26 percentage points over the last month or so," he said. Why? One possible explanation, Fratantoni said, is that so many people had already locked in those ultra-low mortgage rates. So now that rates are rising, "there's just not the same incentive to jump in, because they've already got that record-low rate." However, because the economy was in such trouble last year, a lot of people who wanted to refinance their mortgages may not have been able to do so. Some may have lost their jobs, or had trouble qualifying for a refi, said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. "Now that the economy's ramping up, we expect credit underwriting to loosen somewhat," Vitner said. |
| Ole Miss holds community wide service event | |
 | Ole Miss students and Oxford residents came together in one of the largest community service events that the school has been a part of for years. The Ole Miss Big Event is a day of service to the community while building relationships between students and community members. "It's really a whole lot of mix match projects going on today," said Big Event co-director Cade Slaughter. This year the Big Event was a two-day event instead of one. Participants volunteered at schools, churches, non-profit organizations, community centers, and city/county supervised sites. Some of those service projects included a car wash, creating dog toys for local shelters and cleaning up the Boys and Girls club. Jasmine Thompson, the Boys and Girls club program director said she was grateful for the service. "You could be doing anything else on your free time," Thompson said. "But they chose to help with the Boys and Girls club and make a difference." |
| USM students introduce opera to children around Hattiesburg | |
 | The Southern Opera and Musical Theatre Company at the University of Southern Mississippi is showing the world of opera through various plays for elementary schools in Hattiesburg. The outreach program allows children in kindergarten through fifth grade to experience the genre of music and also teaches them life lessons and the message of anti-bullying SOMTC production manager Harlan Mapp explains why the department is putting on this project. "This one, in particular, focuses on getting kind of a lesser-known art into public schools for students who may have never even heard of an opera," Mapp said. The plays are done by graduate students at the university in the department. Usually, they're in the classroom, but due they are now virtual due to COVID-19. The department also incorporates an opera play using American Sign Language for the hearing impaired, which also teaches a lesson. The plays are made possible through the sponsorship of the William Herin Foundation. |
| JSU mask incentive program to reward students for wearing face masks | |
 | Jackson State University announced students will have the chance to win gift cards, ranging from $25 to $100 during the university's JSU Safe "Thank You for Masking Up" initiative. The incentive program started on March 16 and was created by Dr. Brandi Newkirk-Turner, associate provost. "JSU students have done an incredible job of masking up and social distancing on campus. The mask incentive program was designed to continue to promote and reward the proper use of masks on campus," Newkirk-Turner said. Randomly selected students will receive a raffle ticket requesting their contact information. They will deposit the ticket in the raffle bin, which will be located at the security station on the first floor of Administration Tower. Every Friday from through May 7 at 3:00 p.m. the drawing will be held by JSU President Thomas K. Hudson. In his absence, Dr. Alisa Mosley, provost and senior vice president of Academic Affairs, or Newkirk-Turner will draw the winning name. |
| From a shot seen around the world to turning lemons into lemonade: Stories to inspire | |
| Jackson State University puts the spotlight on its amazing students in their #PeopleofJSU campaign. It allows students to share how they came to be a part of the JSU family. So, Let's start with a snack -- or should I say "Snacks". You probably remember him. "Snacks" was the Jackson State Team Manager who hit the world-famous three-pointer? Well, there's more to his story. Thomas Lee, aka 'Snacks', is a senior recreation administration major from Jackson: "My aunt was the one who brought me around the Jackson State athletic programs. We always attended all of the functions. She brought me around, and I just fell in love with the basketball program. I had a passion for being around basketball and the athletes, and they took me under their wing and treated me like the little brother of the program. I developed relationships with the players, working my way up from middle school through high school, and then getting a chance to be a manager here. I had been joking with the (head) coach throughout the week and for the last two years about senior night. I was going to warm up with the team and everything. I didn't know, for sure, if he was serious. Then, one day, he said he was going to let me do it." |
| New Meridian Community College program gets boost from Mississippi Power | |
| Meridian Community College's new Utility Lineman Program got a financial boost thanks to Mississippi Power Co. The utility company donated $20,000 to MCC to assist the College in start-up costs associated with the program's first year of operation. The Utility Lineman Program began in January, and it prepares individuals to build, repair and maintain electrical power and distribution systems. Students' training includes electrical systems, operations, safety, electrical distribution and equipment, basic electrical theory and overhead electrical construction operations. Students will also practice in climbing, framing, building single and three-phase overhead lines, pole top and bucket rescue techniques, operating bucket trucks and maintaining and repairing overhead systems. "Our commitment goes beyond this check," said Michael Harvey, northern division manager for Mississippi Power Co. "We're excited, and we want to be actively engaged," he said. He said, "It's a symbiotic relationship." Students are gaining skills, and the company is getting the opportunity to hire students who have been trained. Plus, Harvey said, "We're supporting our community partners." |
| AU ups event attendance to 150 as cases decline | |
| Students can expect to see larger events take place on campus again as Auburn University announced it will raise the attendance limit for in-person events to 150 people. The cap will be raised Monday, March 22, according to an email sent to faculty and staff on Friday afternoon. The increase comes after the University previously upped the event attendance limit to 100 people from an earlier cap of 50 at the start of the month. "All events must have prior approval and comply with University protocols," the University said in the email. "Exceptions require approval from the executive vice president or provost." The University has continued to adjust its COVID-19 guidelines such as event attendance limits throughout the spring semester based on health trends on campus and in the community, the email said. "We don't control off-campus, but we definitely control on-campus, and the health and safety of our people is our number one priority and it has been," said Dr. Fred Kam of the Auburn University Medical Clinic in a weekly update video released on Tuesday. |
| Tennessee colleges share their plans for returning to campus this fall semester | |
 | As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more widely available in Tennessee, colleges and universities are planning to return to a normal semester this fall. Most are planning for in-person classes after spending more than a year with virtual options. Some schools also are planning to allow more fans at sporting events and return to full-capacity housing. The University of Memphis will also return for face-to-face classes in the fall, with classes at normal seating capacity, according to a university email sent to staff and students. Campus facilities will reopen and operate as normal. The University of Tennessee plans to have in-person classes at all campuses next school year. UT Knoxville will have in-person classes, with classrooms and campus housing back to normal capacity. Dining halls will be reopened, and campus events will happen in person. UT Knoxville also plans to increase capacity at sporting events. "As case counts continue to drop and vaccines become more readily available, we are nearing a turning point in this pandemic," Chancellor Donde Plowman said. |
| U. of South Carolina professor brings advanced chemistry into lives of impoverished high school students | |
 | The research done in Chuanbing Tang's University of South Carolina chemistry lab is rooted around sustainability -- from development of germ-killing materials to clean-energy storage methods. But the prize-winning scientist is also preparing for the future by investing in a readily available but vulnerable commodity: Midlands high school students living in poverty. A decade ago, Tang founded what is still the state's only Project SEED (Summer Experiences for the Economically Disadvantaged) program. It's an initiative of the American Chemical Society that exposes high school juniors and seniors to career paths in chemistry alongside college mentors through paid 10-week summer internships. In Richland County, which has a 16 percent poverty rate, over 40 students have moved through Tang's laboratory in the past decade. All have gone on to college -- some as the first members of their family to do so. "I'm so proud, and sometimes so touched, how students transform themselves," Tang said. "I think of it more broadly. One student from this family can influence their own siblings and then they can spread word on their street, so I think this probably has a ripple effect." |
| U. of Florida reports detail more research animal mistreatment | |
 | The use of a wrong procedure to cause traumatic brain injuries in mice and the accidental burning of a rat's face were among the reports of mistreatment of research animals filed by the University of Florida. Stop Animal Exploitation Now, or SAEN, monitors the reports, which are required for federal research funding, and contends that UF's record is troubling. "There are several things that are unique and very disturbing connected to the University of Florida," said SAEN's Michael Budkie. "We do not see animals being set on fire. Having it happen twice in approximately a year is extremely disturbing." The Sun requested to speak with staffers at UF who could explain how animals are acquired and managed for experimentation, who oversees the use of animals including their care and other aspects. UF administrators refused. Instead spokeswoman Hessy Fernandez sent a statement that read in part, "The University of Florida is committed to the ethical use of animals in its pursuit of medical advances that benefit both humans and animals." Fernandez would not respond further to a follow-up email and did not return two voice messages left by The Sun. |
| UF Summer B and Fall 2021 semesters will have more in-person classes | |
| UF will return to a nearly normal Summer B and Fall 2021 course offering, but mandatory COVID-19 testing and masking are still up in the air. More than 70% of course credits will be in person in the Fall, which is similar to pre-pandemic offerings, UF Provost and Senior Vice President Joe Glover said at the March 18 UF Board of Trustees meeting. The university based its plan on recommendations from UF Health epidemiologists, Glover wrote in a campus-wide email March 19. Dr. Michael Lauzardo, the head of UF Health's Screen, Test & Protect program, also said at the meeting that if masking and vaccine efforts lessen cases in the coming months, his program will recommend full capacity classrooms, no physical distancing and fewer masks for Fall. In the email, Glover also stated there is zero evidence of transmission in classrooms and on-campus labs as 43% of undergraduate students take in-person classes in the Spring. UF has yet to confirm whether the health guidelines that defined this past year's campus experiences will continue in the Fall. |
| Texas A&M professor part of research team that found 5 distinct dog types from 11,000 years ago | |
 | Texas A&M University professor Anna Linderholm was part of an international team of researchers that studied the lineage of dogs and found at least five types of dogs dating back as far as 11,000 years ago. Linderholm is the director of the BiG (bioarchaeology and genomics) Laboratory and an archaeologist at A&M. Her team's work was published in the Oct. 30 issue of Science magazine. Linderholm was on the genomics team and extracted DNA from skeletal material to examine how dogs evolved. Her team studied dog DNA dating back 11,000 years, which immediately followed the last Ice Age. After sequencing DNA of 27 dogs found in Europe, Linderholm's team discovered five different types of dogs with finite genetic ancestries dating from before animals had been domesticated. "The dog samples have been gathered from museums, and other collections from across the world and by several members of this team," Linderholm said in a release. "Since we don't know when and where dogs were domesticated, we have collected most of the known dogs from the old world, going back as far in time as possible and using dog DNA that has been best preserved." |
| Provost: U. of Missouri to look into faculty workloads | |
 | How much time University of Missouri faculty members spend teaching, researching and performing service is about to get more attention from university administration, the MU Faculty Council heard Thursday. Provost Latha Ramchand and Chris Riley-Tillman, associate provost for faculty affairs and institutional effectiveness, presented the information. "At a very basic level, workload becomes an equity issue," Ramchand said. "This issue of equity has really been highlighted during the pandemic." This is the first stage of the process, Riley-Tillman said. "There hasn't been a tremendous amount of oversight of this" in the past, he said. If a professor has a 40% teaching load and isn't teaching any courses, the university needs to find out what is going on, he said. For a faculty member with a high-percentage research load but not getting anything published, they can be offered the option of taking on more teaching, he said. The effort needs to account for considerations like service commitments and student advising that take up time, Ramchand said. A problem is more work goes to non-tenure track faculty and assistant professors who are afraid of complaining, Riley-Tillman said. |
| U. of Missouri faculty support broader non-tenure-track representation on Faculty Council | |
 | Pending approval from the University of Missouri System Board of Curators, more non-tenure-track faculty members will be allowed to be elected to the MU Faculty Council. A full-faculty vote on the question passed with an "overwhelmingly positive" amount of support, chair John Middleton said Thursday at the council meeting. Middleton also announced that MU Provost Latha Ramchand and University of Missouri President Mun Choi approved the proposed change. The amended proposal is under review by the General Counsel on behalf of the curators. If the counsel doesn't raise any objections, the proposal will be on the consent agenda at the board's April 22 meeting. The council approved the proposal at the Jan. 21 meeting. The original motion was raised during the council's Dec. 10 meeting and would amend MU's faculty bylaws to allow more non-tenure-track faculty to vote on the council's membership and be elected themselves. Schools and academic unit sizes would be measured differently under the new census system, which would count full-time faculty equally regardless of tenure-track status. |
| U. of Memphis plans for $200 million in projects in updated campus plan | |
| The pandemic could leave a physical impact on the University of Memphis, where board members recently approved several updates to the campus master plan. U of M, required to present updates to the plan at least every 10 years, last presented an update six years ago in 2015. The new plan will focus on academic buildings and research, also doubling campus housing by including a new building catered to student-athletes. The university is calculating a total cost of $196.5 million for the top five capital projects, expecting a 10% match on most of the projects. "Needless to say, COVID-19 has caused us to rethink the way we approach campus master planning, broadly," explained Raaj Kurapati, the university's chief financial officer, looking both short- and long-term. In the new master plan, that will look like fewer large classrooms but more "active learning" classrooms, like labs, with a focus on repurposing existing spaces for studying. Upgrading and building new classrooms is the top priority, Kurapati said. |
| Survey shows college presidents emerging from COVID-19 more confident their institutions can change and thrive | |
 | You don't have to look far to find troubling signs for colleges and universities. In the last week, Mills College became the latest small private college to say it will close, COVID-19 continued to threaten completion of the spring semester in person at institutions such as Duke and Syracuse Universities, and several other four-year and two-year colleges announced significant layoffs or discontinued programs. All of which makes the results of Inside Higher Ed's 2021 Survey of College and University Presidents, published today, more than a little surprising, in that they find the country's campus leaders more upbeat as they emerge from a year dominated by COVID-19 than they were before the pandemic hit. Nearly eight in 10 college and university presidents say they are confident their institution will be financially stable over the next 10 years, and more than a quarter strongly agree. Presidents of public doctoral universities and of private four-year institutions agree in even greater numbers, but even three-quarters of two-year-college presidents agree. By comparison, just 57 percent of college presidents agreed with that statement in a survey conducted in early 2020, before the pandemic hit. Campus leaders also take a very positive view of the impact the Biden administration is likely to have on their institutions, confidence that seems well placed so far as the federal government sends tens of billions of dollars in recovery aid their way. |
| College Students Forgoing Spring Break Have Feelings About Classmates Who Didn't | |
 | Hawaii, Florida, Seattle and the South of France are among the dream destinations for New York City undergraduates who have been forced to postpone the traditional college ritual of spring break for the second year in a row, because of the pandemic. "I'd be getting a house with 10 people, with a pool, and we'd be going crazy in Miami, right below downtown Miami," said Sile Ogundeyin, 22, a senior economics major at Columbia University, who was sitting on the steps of the library with his friends. "I was supposed to be in London for study abroad this semester, so I probably would've gone some place close to there for spring break -- maybe in southern Europe," said New York University sophomore Aliyah Verdiner, 20, a business major from Brooklyn. "That would've been a lot of fun, but I guess not this year." Some students, however, have managed to be adventurous. Rumors on campus abound about students who exploited loopholes and got vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to party and travel for spring break. "She's going skiing in Vermont with a bunch of friends," said Aliza Abusch-Magder, referring to her roommate, whom she declined to name. "She's very excited to be going to parties and -- how do I say this? -- making up for lost time in quarantine." |
| Why Did a University Suspend Its Mandatory Diversity Course? | |
 | Boise State University officials say their suspension of diversity classes this week was motivated only by reports of an unspecified incident, but the action comes amid a pointed attack by Republican state lawmakers on the university's efforts to educate students about racism. The university on Tuesday abruptly suspended 52 sections of a diversity and ethics course, citing concerns that "a student or students" were made to feel "humiliated and degraded" in class "for their beliefs and values." No official report has been filed, and officials said they have only heard about the incidents second- and third-hand, but the university is investigating. The suspension of UF 200: Foundations of Ethics and Diversity, which Boise State leaders acknowledged was an extreme step, affects 36 faculty members and 1,300 students. Students will still receive credit for the course and will complete their work, but the university is still figuring out how. Republican legislators in Idaho have in recent years been ratcheting up the pressure on colleges, saying they are indoctrinating students with a leftist agenda. The lawmakers take issue with the institutions' efforts to be more inclusive. The course suspensions at Boise State came the same week that the Idaho State Senate passed a higher-education budget that cut $409,000 from Boise State's appropriation -- the amount the university said it spent on social-justice programs. |
| How will colleges spend their stimulus cash? | |
| With the ink now dry on Congress's $1.9 trillion stimulus package, some colleges and universities have begun making plans for the money they're slated to get. Many of those plans include covering budget shortfalls from last year or expected ones this year. The nation's nonprofit institutions are set to get about $36 billion from the package. The text of the legislation stipulates that colleges and universities must spend at least half the money they receive on emergency aid to students. However, some institutions are considering allocating more than that to students. "As we work through this, providing enough aid for our students will be our top priority," said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University. "I think we will still have so much need we will continue to spend the institutional portion on aid as well." Other colleges have made similar plans for their allocations. "For the dollars allocated to the university out of the American Rescue Plan, OU plans to put much of it toward reimbursing COVID-related expenses from the past year," said a spokesperson from the University of Oklahoma via email. Institutions can't say for sure how much they'll be getting from the package, but the Education Department will likely take into account general head count as well as the number of students eligible for Pell Grants at each institution. |
| Mississippi has option to be innovative with federal stimulus funds | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: Gov. Tate Reeves and other Republicans have argued that states do not need the $195 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to offset revenue losses caused by the coronavirus-induced economic slowdown. Mississippi is slated to receive $1.8 billion from the pot of money -- a sizable amount considering the annual general fund state budget is about $6 billion. Reeves is right in the sense that many states, including Mississippi, have not yet suffered as dramatic revenue losses from the COVID-19 economic slowdown that they experienced during the recession caused by the financial meltdown in 2008-10. Mississippi's tax collections have continued to grow during the pandemic. Through February, which is the seventh month of the fiscal year, the state has collected $338.5 million, or 9.5% more than during the same time last year. Sales tax collections, the state's largest single source of revenue, is up $73.3 million, or 5.5%. Use tax collections -- primarily the 7% tax on internet purchases and the fastest growing source of state revenue -- is up $63 million, or 30.3%. |
SPORTS
| No. 3 Mississippi State baseball clinches series win over No. 15 LSU | |
| Nobody is slowing down Mississippi State right now. The No. 3-ranked Bulldogs won their ninth straight game Saturday in beating No. 15 LSU 3-0 at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge. Sophomore pitcher Will Bednar (1-0, 0.00 ERA) picked up his first win of the season in his first SEC start. Bednar struck out seven batters in five scoreless innings. Mississippi State (16-3) relievers Preston Johnson and Landon Sims each pitched two scoreless innings, with Sims picking up his second save of the season. The Bulldogs batting order scored runs in the fifth, eighth and ninth innings. LSU (15-6) starting pitcher Landon Marceaux did not allow an earned run in his seven-inning start, but the run the Bulldogs scored off him on a sacrifice fly in the fifth proved to be the difference. |
| Eric Cerantola struggles, Jackson Fristoe shines in relief as No. 3 Mississippi State drops Sunday game to No. 19 LSU | |
| Seeking its first sweep of LSU (16-5, 1-2 SEC) in Baton Rouge since 1981, No. 3 Mississippi State (16-4, 2-1) dropped the final contest of its three-game set Sunday 8-3. After spending the bulk of the weekend manufacturing runs with small ball and sac flies, the Bulldogs were largely tamed by a Tiger pitching staff that allowed just six hits and only eight baserunners on the afternoon. But for as stagnant as the MSU offense was Sunday, it was another poor performance from hard-throwing Canadian starter Eric Cerantola that set MSU back early. "He wasn't throwing strikes. He hit a guy. Threw a ball to the backstop," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said. "So it wasn't in the zone." In weeks past, Lemonis noted there's a fine line between getting Cerantola his work versus winning ball games. Sunday, MSU's skipper didn't wait around. |
| D.J. Stewart Jr., Iverson Molinar lead Mississippi State by Saint Louis in NIT | |
| D.J. Stewart Jr. scored 20 points, Iverson Molinar added 19 and Mississippi State defeat Saint Louis 74-68 on Saturday to wrap up the first round of the NIT. The Bulldogs (16-14) advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday against Richmond (14-8). Derek Fountain added 10 points for the Bulldogs, who were 14 of 17 from the foul line in the second half, with Stewart going 3 of 4 in the final 39 seconds to clinch the win. Javonte Perkins scored 21 points for the Billikens (14-7), who were playing in their 19th NIT but first since 2004. Hasahn French added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Goodwin scored 14 and Terrence Hargrove Jr. 10. Molinar hit four free throws in less than a minute and Fountain shook free for a dunk to put the Bulldogs on top 66-59 with 4:49 to play but a rash of turnovers allowed Saint Louis to cut the deficit 71-68 with under a minute to play. But after the last turnover, Cameron Matthews made a acrobatic steal to get the ball back, allowing Stewart to wrap it up. |
| Mississippi State men's basketball beats St. Louis in NIT, will play Richmond in second round | |
| Mississippi State is moving on. The No. 4 seed Bulldogs knocked off No. 1 seed St. Louis 74-68 in the first round of the NIT on Saturday. Mississippi State (16-14) will face No. 2 seed Richmond (14-8) on Thursday at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The Bulldogs didn't lead from wire to wire, but they came close. Mississippi State held a lead for over 30 minutes, largely because sophomore guard Iverson Molinar was a consistent scorer throughout the afternoon. Molinar scored 19 without hitting any of his 3-point attempts. He was 0 of 3 from beyond the arc but hit 7 of 8 of his free throws and 6 of 14 shots from the field. Molinar's backcourt partner, redshirt sophomore guard D.J. Stewart Jr., got out to an even hotter start than Molinar. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half to set the tone for Mississippi State. His final three points came at the free throw line to ice it for MSU. |
| Mississippi State upsets Saint Louis in opening round of NIT | |
| Mississippi State coach Ben Howland hoped his team's NIT invite could be a way to springboard his youthful roster with positive momentum heading into next season. So far, so good. The No. 4-seeded Bulldogs knocked off No. 1 seed Saint Louis 74-68 on Saturday in the first round of the NIT in Frisco, Texas. "That's a really good team," MSU coach Ben Howland said. "We beat an outstanding team today. They've been through all the wars. We did an outstanding job defensively on them, and D.J. (Stewart) really came alive in that second half." With the win in the single-elimination tournament, the Bulldogs will face Richmond in the quarterfinals on Thursday. MSU (16-14) is also guaranteed to finish the year with a record above .500. "We shot it well today," Howland said. "Overall, it's a great team win, and I'm really excited to get this win and allow us to continue our season." |
| Status for 'full Grove experience' during 2021 football season still uncertain | |
| The University of Mississippi announced last month they would return to a full in-person experience for the 2021 Fall Semester, but that may not include all of the amenities. One of the biggest questions following the university's announcement is, 'Will the Grove reopen for the football season?' During the 2020 Ole Miss football season, the Grove was closed to fans and tailgating was not allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Attending a football game at Ole Miss involves one of the largest outdoor group gatherings in a concentrated area -- the Grove -- making it one of the first things that was canceled last fall during the pandemic. Despite a decision being made to return to a normal semester beginning in August, Ole Miss has not made any decisions regarding if the in-person experience will include Saturdays in the Fall. Any kind of firm decision or announcement may not come until much closer to September. "I don't have, at this point, enough visibility into the uptake of vaccinations and herd immunity to get a feel for how that might impact the Grove experience," said Ole Miss Provost and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Noel Wilkin. |
| Politics and LSU football: The story behind governors, coaches and school leaders caught in between | |
 | Famed Democratic political consultant James Carville, an LSU alumnus and passionate football fan, argues the problem is not that football is too powerful. It’s that LSU needs to throw the same resources at everything else. “There are any number of big-time football programs that produce a lot of revenue,” Carville said. “The answer is not to give up on football. The answer is to get the whole thing right. You can do both. You can have a good physics department and a good basketball team at the same time, it’s actually possible.” Throughout Louisiana’s history, governors have meddled in LSU football. When Huey P. Long was governor, from 1928 to 1932, he built up nearly every part of LSU’s campus, but especially the football team and the band. He recruited players to LSU, bestowed state government jobs upon them and co-wrote the song “Touchdown for LSU,” which the Tiger Band still plays before football games. “Long politicized it and emphasized it, made the football team his own personal possession,” said Bob Mann, a political communication professor at LSU who is writing a book about the relationship between Long and LSU. “He saw it as a benefit to him politically in Louisiana, and nationally.” |
| March Madness brings money to South Mississippi sportsbooks | |
 | December has Christmas, October has Halloween, but sports fans wait all year for the month of March. It brings out the camaraderie in sports fans who wait all year for March Madness. The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams that compete in seven rounds for the national championship. The penultimate round is known as the Final Four, when only four teams are left. After being canceled last year due to the pandemic, Round One of March Madness kicked off Friday, bringing with it a frenzy of sports betting to casinos on the Gulf Coast as fans put their money on their favorites. "It's a big deal," said Palace Sportsbook manager Dennis Strong. "Last year, we really missed it. This year, as you can see, the crowd got a little cabin fever and I think they are coming out." Fans both casual and hardcore will fill casino sportsbooks and bars for the next few weeks. "It is a significant increase in volume for this kind of event," said Strong. "March Madness is actually bigger than the Super Bowl." After 24 months, fans have been eagerly anticipating the return of the college basketball tournament. |
| Under Fire, The NCAA Apologizes And Unveils New Weight Room For Women's Tournament | |
| Under fire for differences in amenities for its men's and women's basketball tournaments, the NCAA revealed an upgraded weight room Saturday for players participating in the women's college basketball tournament in San Antonio. What had been a single small rack of dumbbells has now been replaced with a larger space with more equipment, including a variety of bars, racks and stands. The facilities were upgraded overnight after the organization was widely criticized by players, coaches and fans alike. "I want to be really clear,'' NCAA President Mark Emmert said in an interview on Friday with reporters. "This is not something that should have happened and, should we ever conduct a tournament like this again, will ever happen again.'' The controversy broke Thursday after a coach from Stanford University posted a photo to social media comparing the men's and women's weight setups. The controversy picked up steam as more disparities were revealed: uninspiring box meals compared with a buffet with steak fillets and lobster mac 'n' cheese; swag bags appearing to be a third the size of the men's. Perhaps most eye-opening, University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma told reporters Friday that the school's men's team was being tested daily with highly accurate PCR coronavirus tests, while his women's team was receiving antigen tests, which are less accurate. |
| NCAA Withheld Use of Powerful 'March Madness' Brand From Women's Basketball | |
 | The National Collegiate Athletic Association has built its trademarked "March Madness" phrase into one of the most powerful brands in sports. It's plastered on the courts, arenas and broadcasts for the lucrative NCAA men's basketball tournament -- and absent from the women's tournament. The reason for that absence is that the NCAA has withheld use of the "March Madness" brand from women's college basketball. It has used the memorable phrase to turn the men's tournament into a billion-dollar juggernaut, and at the same time declined to use it for the women's tournament that has grown in popularity in recent years. The result is that the NCAA has held back a valuable asset from the women's tournament even as it now says it is committed to putting it on an equal footing with the men's tournament. A giant "March Madness" logo is splashed across the center of men's tournament courts in Indianapolis, while the women's courts either have no obvious tournament logo or simply say "NCAA Women's Basketball." In a Monday statement, the NCAA said it would work with staff, membership and media partners “to determine the best way forward for women’s basketball, including the use of March Madness logos in the future.” |
| Texas' Vic Schaefer knows how to win in March, Longhorns 'ready' | |
| Vic Schaefer built a powerhouse basketball program at Mississippi State that twice came achingly close to winning a national championship. Then he moved home to Texas to try to build another. His first season at Texas has Schaefer's Longhorns riding into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6-seed in the Hemisfair Regional, where they will play No. 11 Bradley in the first round Monday in San Marcos, Texas. "I love this team," Schaefer said. "Once we hit March, we have to find a way to get hot ... The key to these tournaments, you've got to get hot." Schaefer's Mississippi State teams used to sizzle this time of year. In 2017, they ended UConn's 111-game win streak and made it to the national title game before losing to South Carolina, the top-seed in the Hemisfair Regional this season. They returned to the title game a year later, losing to Notre Dame on 3-pointer on a last-second 3-pointer. Things were humming in Starkville, but the call from Texas lured Schaefer to the city where he was born and the state that launched his coaching career. |
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