| Tuesday, December 9, 2025 |
| MSU hosting fall graduation ceremonies this week | |
 | Mississippi State is celebrating fall commencement this week with ceremonies in Starkville and Meridian. The Starkville campus will host two ceremonies on Friday -- 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. -- in Humphrey Coliseum, while MSU-Meridian graduates will receive their degrees Thursday at 11 a.m. in the MSU Riley Center. MSU President Mark E. Keenum is the university's featured commencement speaker for the events. Those who wish to watch commencement ceremonies remotely can do so via the MSU TV Center's livestream and the Mississippi State TV app. MSU's Facebook page will also stream Starkville's ceremonies. A 4 p.m. doctoral hooding ceremony in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium in Starkville Thursday is by invitation only. Attendance on Friday in Starkville will be limited to eight guests per graduate. Meridian campus fall graduates are assigned six tickets for guest seating in the theater. |
| Senate Universities and Colleges Committee set to hold two days of hearings | |
| The state Senate Universities and Colleges Committee is set to meet this week for two days of hearing as lawmakers seek to ensure Mississippi's institutions of higher learning are operating at peak efficiency. On Wednesday, the committee will receive updates from State Treasurer David McRae (R) on the state's college savings program, along with updated information from LeAnne Robinson, the director of the Legislative Budget Office. State Senator Nicole Boyd (R), chair of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee, expects to hear good things from McRae concerning the college savings program. Committee members are also scheduled to hear from Jay Allen with the Education Achievement Council. Senator Boyd said this council has been a collaboration between the Legislature, community college leaders, the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), the K-12 education sphere and the workforce community to ensure education is functionally benefitting the state's workforce. The Commissioner of Mississippi's Institutions of Higher Learning, Dr. Alfred Rankins will also provide an update about the status of the agency during Wednesday's meeting. Senator Boyd expects graduation rates at the state's public institutions to be discussed. |
| Local Mississippi State students inducted into National Communication Association honor society local chapter | |
 | Mississippi State's Theta Alpha chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the honor society of the National Communication Association, inducted 34 new members in a special fall ceremony honoring exceptional students in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre. Inductees include Madeline Blackburn and Julia Weeden. Both are seniors and communication majors from New Albany. "The National Communication Association is the premier authority for communication in the U.S., and Lambda Pi Eta is its honor society," said Assistant Professor Gil Carter, who also is chapter advisor. "As we strive for national excellence in all areas for our students and faculty, reviving this chapter was a priority," said Professor and Head of the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre Terry Likes, explaining that the organization is active after a period of dormancy. |
| Tannehill inducted into National Communication Association honor society | |
| Molly Cat Tannehill, of Oxford, is among Mississippi State students recently inducted into the Theta Alpha chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the honor society of the National Communication Association. Tannehill, a senior communication and political science double major, was one of 34 inductees recognized in the fall ceremony. Lambda Pi Eta is named for Aristotle's legendary three proofs of rhetoric-logos, pathos and ethos. It requires students to meet rigorous criteria for membership. Students must be in the top 35% of their class at MSU; maintain at least a 3.25 GPA in Department of Communication, Media and Theatre courses and a 3.0 overall GPA; complete at least 12 hours of department courses; have earned at least 60 credit hours overall; and be in good standing with the university. |
| Eclectic European: Amata Italian Restaurant to open mid-January | |
 | Renovations are nearly complete at the future site of Amata Italian Restaurant on Main Street in Columbus, expected to open by mid-January. Cousins Ronnie Gashi and Florian Imeri will operate the eatery, located at 509 Main St., alongside their other three Mississippi locations including Amore in Oxford and Brandon, Roma in Clinton and Casa D'Italia in Tupelo. Gashi said the name Amata translates to "beloved" in Italian. "It's a fine dining restaurant," Gashi said. "It's going to be authentic Italian food and a really, really unique experience. ... It's taking a little bit more time, but when it's ready, I think people are going to love it." "Our food is authentic," Imeri said. "We make it how ... you could eat it in Italy. Our sauces are made the same way. ... We make everything from scratch." The group decided to expand into Columbus after Kelly Frady, owner of the Main Street building, stopped by the group's Oxford location earlier this year and asked them, plainly, if they would be interested in opening a restaurant in Columbus. After visiting the city, they agreed. |
| Tupelo civic group fosters conversations across political lines | |
| Two years ago, a political disagreement ending in harsh words nearly cost Buddy Stubbs a friendship of more than 40 years. "We disagree a lot on politics, but about once a month he'll come by and we'll sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk about issues," Stubbs told Rotary Club of Starkville members Monday morning at Hilton Garden Inn. "He's far over here. I'm far over here. ... A couple of years ago, we sat down, and I don't remember the topic now, but I do remember what he said. He looked at me and he said, 'Buddy, you're just stupid.'" That moment pushed the longtime Republican-leaning Tupelo resident to seek better ways to talk across political divides. It eventually led him to Braver Angels, a national cross-partisan group dedicated to fostering healthier conversations about divisive issues. Stubbs called his former fraternity brother Richard Babb, a left-leaning attorney in Tupelo, to see if he would help start a local chapter. Since then, the chapter has met on the first Thursday of every month at First Presbyterian Church in Tupelo, drawing between 20 and 25 community members across the political spectrum. Each meeting begins with members voting on what topics they want to discuss. But the goal, Stubbs stressed, is not persuasion. "A lot of times when we get up and talk on ... one of these topics, you're trying to persuade the other people in there to believe the way you do," he said. "That's not what Braver Angels is about. ... We're not here to change your mind. We're here to change the way we talk to each other." |
| Trump is giving farmers $12B in aid. They've been hit hard by his trade war with China | |
 | President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion farm aid package Monday -- a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war. He unveiled the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers from farm states, and farmers who thanked him for the help. Rollins put the immediate value of the program at $11 billion -- money that the White House said will offer one-time payments to row-crop farmers. Another $1 billion will be put aside for specialty crops as the administration works to better understand the circumstances for those farmers, Rollins said. The aid will move by the end of February, she said. Farmers have backed Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer worries. |
| Long-awaited farm relief package announced | |
| Some details were delivered Monday about the Trump administration's long-awaited financial relief plan for farmers. They've been seeing their markets shrink as a direct result of changes to trade policy -- at a time when input costs are rising. Central to the plan is billions of dollars in one-time payments to growers of soybeans, corn, wheat and other crops. The aid comes as struggling farmers are making their business plans for the 2026 planting season. Fifth-generation farmer Jed Bower said the Trump administration's aid package only provides a short-term solution. "That's a Band-Aid," he said. "That won't help us long-term. But because we can't get these input prices to come back in line that will help us get through planting season with some cash flow issues." Longer-term relief could come through more stable trade relationships. Michael Deliberto, a professor of agricultural policy at Louisiana State University, said soybean markets rallied in the fall when China agreed to buy U.S. soybeans again. But there's another country to consider that could affect the fortunes of U.S. farmers: Brazil. It continues to increase corn and soybean production. |
| Mississippi congressional delegation pushes back on new E.U. forestry regulations | |
| In a rare show of bipartisan cooperation, Mississippi's congressional delegation has sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer with concerns that new regulations implemented by the European Union will harm the state's forestry industry. The delegation wrote that the E.U. regulations "introduce substantial uncertainty" for the forestry industry and risk "further depressing already strained log and wood-product markets, harming rural communities that depend on healthy, functioning timber economies." While the delegation's letter primarily focused on the state's $15-billion a year forestry industry, the regulations apply to other agricultural products, such as cattle and soybeans. Casey Anderson, executive director of the Mississippi Forestry Association, says that as a consequence of the new regulations, some producers are being asked to sign contracts by traders saying that they will not convert the land. Landowners are pushing back at their ability to decide how best to use the land they own. "The E.U. is trying to dictate how we do things in the U.S.," said Anderson. |
| Nissan Americas chairman charts 2026 comeback after rocky year | |
 | After a rocky year, Nissan Americas is banking on Tennessee to anchor its recovery in 2026, Chairman Christian Meunier said, calling the state vital to the automaker's push to reclaim market share. The company's goal is to make "Tennessee proud of us," Meunier told The Tennessean. When Meunier took over as chairman in January, the company was in the midst of a disastrous 2024-25 fiscal year that ended with an operating loss of 215.9 billion yen, or $1.39 billion. Now, he's laser-focused on business fundamentals. "We need to start selling cars, make money, take care of the customer, forget the rest," Meunier said. "The rest is not important. Cut the bureaucracy, cut the things that don't add value." This year, Nissan's U.S. market share inched up from 4% to 5%, a gain Meunier attributed to his emphasis on tailoring production to dealer demand rather than relying on bulk output. As tariffs have hindered foreign exports, the company leaned on its plants in Tennessee and Mississippi that produce the Rogue, Pathfinder and Frontier. "So, one of the first things that we decided when the tariffs came into play, was that we were going to focus our attention to the product that we can make in the U.S.," Meunier said. |
| An Unusually Divided Fed Is Expected to Deliver a Rate Cut | |
 | When Federal Reserve officials gather Tuesday for their final two-day rate-setting meeting of the year, as much as half the room might not want a cut. But the final call will rest with Chair Jerome Powell, who appears poised to secure one despite the unusual opposition. The focus this week will be whether Powell can stitch together enough consensus to minimize dissents. That would likely happen by cutting interest rates a quarter point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75% and then signaling a higher bar for further easing, through changes to the postmeeting statement. This cut-and-cap approach would echo how Powell concluded a sequence of three rate cuts in 2019 that also divided the committee. Powell led his colleagues to cut in September and October after judging that the labor market looked shakier and the tariff-driven inflation surge that many feared hadn't materialized. That assessment would also underpin a decision to cut this week. Yet resistance to cuts has built among a group of policymakers who already saw a weak case for cutting at the past two meetings. These officials are uneasy because inflation has stopped declining toward the Fed's 2% target. They worry interest rates might not be high enough to push it lower. |
| Trump thrashes European leaders in wide-ranging interview: 'I think they're weak' | |
 | President Donald Trump denounced Europe as a "decaying" group of nations led by "weak" people in an interview with POLITICO, belittling the traditional U.S. allies for failing to control migration and end the Russia-Ukraine war, and signaling that he would endorse European political candidates aligned with his own vision for the continent. The broadside attack against European political leadership represents the president's most virulent denunciation to date of these Western democracies, threatening a decisive rupture with countries like France and Germany that already have deeply strained relations with the Trump administration. "I think they're weak," Trump said of Europe's political leaders. "But I also think that they want to be so politically correct." "I think they don't know what to do," he added. "Europe doesn't know what to do." Trump matched that blunt, even abrasive, candor on European affairs with a sequence of stark pronouncements on matters closer to home: He said he would make support for immediately slashing interest rates a litmus test in his choice of a new Federal Reserve chair. He said he could extend anti-drug military operations to Mexico and Colombia. And Trump urged conservative Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, both in their 70s, to stay on the bench. |
| Three Years After Dobbs, 'the Reality Is People Are Getting Abortions' | |
 | In recent weeks, the North Dakota Supreme Court reinstated a near-total ban on abortions. Texas enacted a law that lets private citizens sue out-of-state doctors who mail abortion medications into the state. And California approved legislation to protect those very same doctors, allowing abortion pills to be sent into Texas and other states without the name of the patient or prescriber on the prescription label. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade, granting state governments far more control over regulating abortions than they had had for nearly 50 years. In the three years since, the divide between states that allow abortions and those that severely limit or ban them has only continued to deepen. In some cases, states are battling each other as they try to enforce their restrictions or protect access across state lines. "The U.S. is becoming a tale of two countries in terms of abortion access and abortion policy," said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, a professor and a public health scientist at the University of California, San Francisco. But, she added, "All of this legislation will never take away from the fact that women will continue to need abortion care, and continue to get abortion care." |
| Religious leaders say they're observing a hidden trend among younger Americans | |
 | It was a Wednesday night, so Aidan Brant was where he almost always is on Wednesday nights: at Mass. Mondays and Thursdays the University of Maryland sophomore comes for two different Bible studies at the Catholic Student Center. Monday nights he's there for sacraments class, and he attends a weekend Mass as well. Brant's dedication to his new faith might put even the most devout Catholic to shame. But he is not alone among his fellow college students. The Rev. Conrad Murphy, the center's chaplain, says the number of students who have converted to Catholicism in the past year is higher than it's been at any time in at least the past 15 years. And weekly Mass attendance this fall has been more than 500, center data shows, which is about double where it has been over the past five years. "There's nothing more rewarding than chasing God," Brant said recently as more than 100 fellow Catholic students chatted loudly at a post-Mass dinner of pasta and salad. Brant's search reflects a hidden trend religious and spiritual leaders say they are observing among younger Americans: Even as fewer and fewer young people consider themselves religious, a small percentage of young adults are practicing their faiths with unusual avidity. This cohort of people in their early 20s are rejecting both religion-by-habit (just doing whatever your parents did) as well as the secularism, skepticism and agnosticism that grew among their parents' generations, religious experts say. |
| Christmas celebrations return to Bethlehem after 2 years of war in Gaza | |
| For the past two Christmases, John Juka's family restaurant looked about the same as any business in Bethlehem: shuttered and eerily empty. But on Saturday evening, it bustled with families and was lit by strings of red lights, a hopeful change in the Palestinian city that's been reeling since war broke out in Gaza. Christmas celebrations are slowly returning to the traditional birthplace of Jesus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While a shaky ceasefire holds in Gaza, Palestinians hope the festivities are a step toward a more peaceful future in a region shaken by tragedy. "It's not like it was before the war," 30-year-old Juka said. "But it's like life is coming back again." Tourism and religious pilgrims have long been a prime economic engine for Bethlehem. Around 80% of the Muslim-majority city's residents live off it, according to the local government. Those earnings ripple out to communities across the West Bank, a territory long marked by economic precarity. That economic lifeline vanished when war broke out in Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. Bethlehem's authorities canceled major Christmas celebrations during Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza. On Saturday, crowds lined with heavily armed police cheered following a prayer calling for peace, and fathers hoisted children onto their shoulders as a towering Christmas tree lit up Manger Square, near the site where Christians believe Jesus was born. |
| Education: Documentary studies concentration launches at The W | |
| Ken Burns. Amy Berg. Werner Herzog. Students at Mississippi University for Women have the opportunity to study these and many other documentarians, and follow in their footsteps, with the new documentary studies concentration and minor, both of which launched this fall. Emma Brown, senior communication major at The W, is the first student in the documentary studies concentration. "There's a real demand for more meaningful stories," said Barry Smith, chair of the Department of Communication. "We're looking at a way to teach students how to effectively tell those stories in addition to the normal writing and production skills that we already give students going in the various communication industries." As far as the course load, there is very little difference. "They'll take the normal writing and production classes that the comm students take, and then an extra research class, extra film classes and then a capstone project class that will result in a documentary film," Smith said. The film classes include studying documentaries throughout the years and how the medium has evolved. |
| Gen Z Holiday Spending Has Dropped, But Will Ole Miss Students Cut Back? | |
 | With the holidays right around the corner, many Gen Z shoppers say they are planning to spend less this year. Researchers expect their holiday spending to drop by more than 20% compared to last year. A recent survey of U.S. holiday shoppers ages 18 to 29 found that not only are young adults planning to spend less overall, they are also planning to buy fewer gifts. Rising prices, higher rent and the general cost of living are all playing a role in how far their dollars stretch. University of Mississippi marketing specialist and adjunct professor Caitlin Moak says she sees students feeling the squeeze, but that does not necessarily mean Gen Z is becoming more financially cautious. "I think to a certain extent, the cost of living does play into a student's budget. But I think that, at least, I see Gen Z people more willing to go into debt and hit zeros in their bank account if it means getting that person a perfect gift or experience," Moak said. For some students, holiday tradition still outweighs the pressure to scale back. Ole Miss senior allied health studies major Reese Juneau says that even with prices rising, she expects her holiday spending to look about the same as in previous years. |
| White nationalist's reinstatement to U. of Florida law school now on pause | |
 | A federal appeals court has paused a self-described white nationalist law student's return to the University of Florida, a week after a lower-court judge ordered the law school to reinstate Preston Damsky by Dec. 1. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay Dec. 3 -- a temporary hold on the judge's ruling -- until a three-judge appellate panel weighs in. That same day, UF's police department reissued a trespass warning to Damsky, who was first issued this warning in April and then expelled in August. This order comes a day after UF filed an emergency motion to stay the lower court's order, with UF arguing the university community has "fears of the extralegal violence that Damsky has advocated," referring to his views to make the United States a "White nation-state." The case is being closely watched by First Amendment experts because it deals with how far a public university can go in disciplining students for controversial speech. |
| Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education terminates 16 OU degree programs, suspends 3 others | |
| The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved the termination of 16 and the suspension of three University of Oklahoma degree programs Friday as part of the board's comprehensive review of programs across all Oklahoma public institutions. The state regents examined a total of 357 low-producing programs across the state. Of that number 41 will be terminated, 21 will be suspended and 193 will be kept with "action plans" to increase enrollment and productivity, according to a Friday press release. The remaining 102 low-producing programs are being kept, classified as "low-cost" or "shared-cost," 80% of which are related to STEM, according to the release. Sean Burrage, chancellor for the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education, wrote this review shows a positive response from public colleges and universities. "By phasing out programs that no longer meet student or workforce needs and shielding programs in STEM and other crucial fields, we are ensuring that public higher education remains future-focused and responsive," Burrage wrote. |
| The Curriculum Flowchart That Has Texas Professors Up in Arms | |
| A controversy is swirling at a Texas university. The trigger? A flowchart. On Dec. 1, the new chancellor of the Texas Tech University system sent professors a diagram laying out a chain of approval for course material. It accompanied a memo with rules for teaching about race and gender, including a ban on "advocacy/promotion of race or sex-based prejudice." The chart asks professors to first ask if course material "is relevant and necessary for classroom instruction." It then details a review process that starts with a department chair and can go all the way up to the board of regents, the system's governing board. The chart is part of a wider national campaign by conservatives to reverse years of what they see as left-leaning faculty indoctrination across higher education. They say professors have long promoted progressive viewpoints in classes and often produce students with degrees of little value in the labor market. President Trump campaigned on promises to remake higher ed, and has moved aggressively since taking office. The faculty have "commandeered" campuses for decades "and that has led to campus takeovers, to degrees that don't have value," said Brandon Creighton, the Texas chancellor who sent the flowchart memo. Texans are "frustrated with the final product, and so our CEOs have weighed in, leaders in the Texas legislature have weighed in." |
| New Model Legislation Aims to Curb 'Unserious' Research in Non-STEM Fields | |
 | Three right-leaning organizations this month released model state legislation intended to reduce "taxpayer funding for intellectually unserious 'research' projects of activist academics" at public institutions. One of them, the Goldwater Institute, has been successful in getting numerous state legislatures to enact laws based on its models outlawing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The proposal, released with Defending Education and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, emphasizes what it sees as a need to monitor faculty members in non-STEM fields and the importance of teaching about Western civilization. Matt Beienburg, Goldwater's director of education policy, said in an interview that higher education pushes faculty members to spend too much time on "pseudo-intellectual research" that is "not serious scholarship." But critics say the model legislation would be a step in the wrong direction. |
| Education Dept. Labels Hundreds of Colleges as 'Lower Earnings' | |
 | First-time undergraduates applying for federal student aid will now receive a warning if they indicate interest in an institution where graduates don't earn more than an adult with a high school diploma. The new earnings indicator on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is aimed at ensuring students have more information about their postsecondary options, Education Department officials said in a news release Monday. Consumer protection advocates generally praised the department's move, while institutional groups criticized it. About 23 percent of the nearly 5,900 institutions in the department's database will be labeled as "lower earnings." Those colleges enroll fewer than 3 percent of undergraduates and receive about $2 billion in federal student aid annually. That's a fraction of the more than $100 billion in federal aid that's doled out each year. The department pulled from publicly available data to generate the label, and program-level data is available online on the College Scorecard. |
SPORTS
| Bowl bid and Arnett return mark eventful weekend for MSU football | |
| Mississippi State football is going bowling for the 27th time in program history, and the first time under second-year head coach Jeff Lebby. Despite a 5-7 record, the Bulldogs have been selected for the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Jan. 2 in Charlotte, N.C. MSU will face ACC opponent Wake Forest. The game will be an evening kickoff, 8 p.m. local and 7 p.m. central time, at Bank of America Stadium. "We're fired up to be playing in the Duke's Mayo Bowl," head coach Jeff Lebby said. "This is a great opportunity for our program. We're looking forward to the weeks of work and preparation ahead as we get ready for a talented Wake Forest team and compete to close out the season. Charlotte is an outstanding city, and it's a great place for our fans to join us and support our guys." The Bulldogs were uniquely positioned to accept a bowl bid given that their roster is still mostly intact, only a handful of reserves have entered the transfer portal, and though a staff shakeup is taking place, one replacement is already in place. |
| ACC's Jim Phillips defends league backing members in CFP bid chase amid Notre Dame AD's criticism | |
| Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips said the league has a "responsibility" to advocate for its football-playing members for College Football Playoff bids, coming after criticism from Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua tied to the league's public support of Miami for a bid. Monday's statement came after Bevacqua told "The Dan Patrick Show" earlier in the day that the ACC's Miami advocacy had "certainly done permanent damage" to the relationship between the league and the school -- which is a football independent but an ACC member in its other league sports. The Fighting Irish were passed over for an at-large bid, with the Hurricanes getting into the 12-team field largely by virtue of a head-to-head win against the Irish to open the season. As a result, Notre Dame opted not to play in any bowl game -- it has access to the ACC's bowl tie-ins each year if it fails to make the CFP -- and end its season. Phillips had been emphatic in arguing that the Hurricanes deserved a playoff bid along with the winner of the Duke-Virginia league title game, making his case in an interview with The Associated Press and other outlets. |
| Utah governor taunts Notre Dame after bowl game refusal: 'Absolutely the right move' | |
 | Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) poked fun at Notre Dame University for opting out of a bowl game Sunday. The Pop-Tarts Bowl, set for Dec. 27, reportedly invited the 10-2 Fighting Irish to face 11-2 BYU. Notre Dame, though, passed on the opportunity after it was not selected to compete in the College Football Playoff (CFP). "This is absolutely the right move," Cox wrote on the social platform X. "Getting embarrassed in a bowl game against BYU would be really hard on the program. "Much smarter to avoid playing tough teams so you can keep your brand intact." The Fighting Irish, last year's national championship runner-up, have not won it all since the Reagan administration. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea, whose team also finished 10-2 and ahead of Notre Dame in multiple metrics, said the Commodores never discussed opting out of their ReliaQuest Bowl match-up against Iowa. "We had our opportunities and we didn't do enough," Lea told reporters. "We are not victims in this process. Our ownership is in coming up short." |
| Sens Marsha Blackburn, Maria Cantwell hustling to protect college athletes' finances in murky NIL world | |
 | Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., plan to go to bat for college athletes to help secure their futures by investing their name, image and likeness (NIL) earnings. Blackburn and Cantwell introduced the Helping Undergraduate Students Thrive with Long-Term Earnings (HUSTLE) Act, according to a release obtained by Fox News Digital. The senators said college athletes would get the opportunity to put money into "tax-advantaged investment accounts for student athletes, require trustees to provide financial education, and establish regulations to prevent abuse." "College athletes are now earning billions of dollars from their name, image, and likeness -- and rightly so. We must empower these students to safeguard their financial future and protect themselves against rogue agents," Blackburn said in a statement. "The HUSTLE Act would allow college athletes to invest their earnings in a tax-advantaged account that grows over time, strengthen financial education, and create safeguards to prevent exploitation by dishonest agents." SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was among those who endorsed the HUSTLE Act. |
| Congress' SCORE Act Punt Shows Why Judges Call the Shots on NCAA | |
| Last week, House leadership canceled a vote for the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act (SCORE Act) as Congress once again showed why the NCAA, conferences and universities shouldn't gamble on politicians solving their legal problems. The college sports organizations should instead focus on crafting and enforcing their own rules in ways that judges will deem lawful -- a task that shouldn't be difficult and one that the rest of America already does. The SCORE Act has attracted media attention because its co-sponsors include members of both parties and, unlike most college sports bills introduced in recent years, some observers gave it a real chance of passing. The reality is that congressional bills to reform college sports seem doomed from the start. They almost always follow the same script: a member of Congress leaks a prospective bill to select journalists, the bill gets written up, the member garners favorable media, the bill is introduced, sometimes hearings are held -- and then the bill stalls indefinitely and is forgotten. |
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