| Friday, September 17, 2021 |
| Why Mississippi is emerging as the next destination for innovators | |
 | When one thinks of burgeoning hubs for technology, certain cities grab the headlines. Fintech and crypto companies are swarming to Miami. Pittsburgh, with its proximity to top engineering schools, has seen significant investment from heavyweights Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. And, of course, there's Austin, a city so overrun with techies that some of them are reportedly moving back to Silicon Valley. But there's an under-the-radar location that is bursting with startups and companies looking to expand their operations: Mississippi. With a supportive government, the requisite tax incentives and a unique level of cooperation between the four major universities -- Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Jackson State, and Southern Mississippi -- the Magnolia State is open for business. "In my opinion, no state is better suited to connect the right federal, state, local, and private-sector resources," says Julie Jordan, the vice president of research and economic development at Mississippi State and chairwoman of the Mississippi Research Consortium. "When there is a challenge that needs to be addressed, anybody you talk to will either know the right person or know how to find the right person." For a startup such as the Starkville-based Glo -- a company that primarily makes small plastic toys that light up when dropped in liquid and are used to aid in children's sensory development -- it's the people of Mississippi that make all the difference. |
| MSU and Mississippi Aquarium Launch MSU-SEAS Program | |
| Mississippi State University's Northern Gulf Institute is partnering with the Mississippi Aquarium in Gulfport to turn the state's Gulf Coast into an outdoor laboratory for local middle and high school students as part of the Science and Education at Sea program. MSU-SEAS recently launched its first cohort, which included 27 public and homeschooled students. The group of sixth through 12th grade students boarded the Glenn L. Swetman oyster schooner in Biloxi with NGI faculty and staff and sailed to the National Park Service Barrier Islands and Horn Island. There, they gathered water quality samples and seafloor sediment and learned to identify different marine species as well as invasive aquatic plants. The course also covered positive behavioral practices that promote sustainable choices in safeguarding the Gulf of Mexico's marine ecosystem, a release from MSU says. MSU faculty and team members also serving as MSU-SEAS teachers include associate NGI director and professor of meteorology and climatology Jamie Dyer and Gray Turnage, an NGI invasive aquatic species researcher and assistant extension professor. Instructors from the Mississippi Aquarium include education program analyst Lauren Fuller and lead education specialist Lizzie Whigham. |
| Starkville Utilities is encouraging residents to call them first if they see or experience electric or water problems | |
 | They can't fix them if they don't know about them. That's true for public works departments everywhere. Starkville Utilities is encouraging residents to call them first if they see or experience electric or water problems. On Wednesday, crews worked into the night to get a line fixed on South Montgomery Street. They were alerted by a resident, and they had the repair done by midnight. Starkville Utilities General Manager says their main number is the best way to get through, and it works day or night. "We ask for them to call in; let us know. We put it into a tracking system that generates work orders, and it is prioritized. So, each one of those requests we try to deal with within about a week to ten days, depending on the nature and severity of the issue," said Terry Kemp, G.M. Starkville Utilities. Kemp says emergencies go to the top of the list if they are affecting safety, or if people are out of service. |
| Mississippi now has country's highest rate for COVID deaths | |
 | Mississippi has surpassed New Jersey as the state with the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., with roughly 1 of every 320 Mississippians having succumbed to the coronavirus. The state's top health official said Thursday that the numbers of new virus cases are still "far more than we'd like to see," and warned that more deaths will follow. "We're recording well over 2,500 (cases) a day, in recent days, far more than we'd like to see," said State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs. "A lot of that's going to translate into the tragedy." Since the start of the pandemic, at least 9,165 people in Mississippi have died of the virus. The state has a population of roughly 3 million and has had one of the worst vaccination rates in the country. Of specific concern during the delta variant surge in Mississippi have been pregnant mothers, Dobbs said. Over the course of the pandemic, 15 pregnant women in Mississippi have died of coronavirus, according to the Department of Health. Eight of those deaths occurred between July 25 and Sept. 16. As for health conditions, "some were overweight, but so are the majority of Mississippians, so I don't think that that's much of a surprise," Dobbs said. Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity in 2020, at 39.7%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| MSDH: 15 pregnant women have died from COVID-19 in Mississippi | |
 | Fifteen pregnant Mississippians have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic; eight of those women have died since late July. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs shared information about the risk COVID-19 poses to pregnant women during a press conference hosted by the Mississippi State Department of Health on Thursday. Dobbs said the Mississippi women killed by the virus were between the ages of 23 and 40. All of them were overweight, Dobbs said, although he added that most Mississippians are. None of the women were fully vaccinated, Dobbs said; one of the women had received her first shot. Dobbs stressed the unique risk the virus poses to pregnant women. "It's really important to consider the risk that pregnant women might have when it comes to COVID-19," Dobbs said. "We know it can be deadly for moms." MSDH has also seen a far higher rate of late pregnancy loss after 20 weeks among expectant mothers -- 72 have occurred among patients in Mississippi during the pandemic, twice the rate normally seen in the state. "So to protect the moms and also to protect our babies, we need to prevent COVID infection," Dobbs said. |
| Since Aug. 1, Mississippi health department has reported 1,622 coronavirus deaths | |
 | While COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the decline in Mississippi, the state is now leading the nation in coronavirus-related deaths per capita. Mississippi has 306 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000, coming in slightly above New Jersey with 305 per 100,000. Since the virus came into the state in March 2020, over 9,100 residents have died from coronavirus-related causes. The Mississippi State Department of Health reported nearly 900 of those deaths in the month of August, when the delta variant ripped through the state and further inundated hospitals and intensive care units. "We predicted that we'd be number one," State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said during a Thursday press conference. "We still have far too many people in Mississippi who are not immune. The place where we are is not inevitable. The place where we'll go is not inevitable." As of Wednesday, 995 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Mississippi, 350 were in the intensive care unit and 251 on ventilators. The number of hospitalizations has dropped significantly since three weeks ago, when the Mississippi health department recorded 1,607 people in hospitals across the state. However, ICU bed availability in Mississippi is still effectively zero, said Jim Craig, senior deputy and director of health protection, during the Thursday press conference. |
| Mississippi leads the nation in COVID- 19 deaths per capita and use of monoclonal antibody treatments | |
| While Mississippi is no longer last in its vaccination rate against COVID-19, the state is now leading the nation in COVID-19 deaths per capita. Mississippi surpassed New Jersey in COVID deaths per 100,000 residents this week, after the state held the title for 15 months. Mississippi taking the top spot was the direct result of a disastrous month that saw the state record more than 20% of its total infections and pushed its healthcare system to the brink of collapse. The state's caseload and hospitalization rates are still quite high, but have decreased significantly from the peaks seen in August. Over the past two weeks, new infections have decreased by 32% and hospitalizations have decreased by 23%. These trends have health experts in the state cautiously optimistic about the future of the pandemic in Mississippi. "It certainly does look like our trends are coming down, but we're still at very high levels of cases and we anticipate that we're going to continue with those five numbers, at least for a while," State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers said. Mississippi is also leading the nation in the use of monoclonal antibody treatments. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Thursday that the majority of monoclonal antibody treatments have been utilized in the southeast and that Mississippi leads those states in treatments given per capita. |
| The U.S. virus surge appears to be declining in some states, but deaths are still increasing. | |
 | New coronavirus cases and Covid hospitalizations across the United States have started to show signs of decline, although they remain far higher than they were earlier in the summer, and the number of new deaths is still increasing. As the Delta variant has ripped through unvaccinated communities, reports of new deaths have reached an average of more than 1,900 a day, up nearly 30 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Approximately one in every 500 Americans has died from the disease. Across the country, one in four U.S. hospitals reported that more than 95 percent of intensive care beds were occupied as of the week ending Sept. 9, up from one in five in August. Experts say that hospitals could struggle to maintain standards of care for the sickest patients when all or nearly all I.C.U. beds are occupied. Conditions are beginning to improve in some hard-hit regions. Southern states like Florida, Mississippi and Georgia are seeing some declines in new cases and hospitalizations. But new outbreaks are spreading in the Mountain West and Upper Midwest. West Virginia, where a smaller percentage of residents are vaccinated than in any other state, now leads the country in new cases per capita. |
| Biden pushes back on Reeves and Mississippi, which had mandatory vaccines before COVID | |
 | President Joe Biden touched on Mississippi's ironically high child vaccination rate before COVID-19 during his remarks on Thursday about pushback from Republican governors regarding proposed vaccine mandates. Red states are currently facing some of the worst COVID cases and hospitalizations coupled with the nation's lowest vaccination rates. Biden last week proposed mandated shots or "lifesaving requirements," as part of a robust pandemic action plan and has faced resistance from GOP governors. The Democratic president then highlighted a paradox across the Magnolia state --- before the pandemic, Mississippi had one of the strictest back-to-school vaccine requirements, that "lack loopholes found in nearly every other state," according to a Washington Post analysis. "And some of the same governors that are attacking me are in states with the strictest vaccine mandates for children attending school in the entire country," said Biden during a White House press conference on Thursday. "For example, in Mississippi, children are required to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, hepatitis B, polio, tetanus and more. These are state requirements. But in the midst of the pandemic, that has already taken over 660,000 lives, I've proposed a requirement for COVID vaccines and the governor of that state calls it 'a tyrannical-type move?'" Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has threatened legal action against Biden and his potential mandates, calling them a "tyranical-type move" and unconstitutional. |
| Gov. Reeves and President Biden throwing punches over COVID-19 vaccine mandate | |
 | Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and President Joe Biden are throwing punches over Biden's new COVID-19 vaccine mandate for some employers, with Reeves calling Biden's policy 'a tyrannical move' for a second time. Biden said Thursday during a White House speech there's been much resistance among Republicans to a requirement that employees with private companies of 100 or more show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing, in particular from Mississippi. Biden went on to call out Reeves. "These are state requirements, but in the midst of a pandemic that has already taken over 660,000 lives, I propose a requirement for COVID vaccines and the governor of that state calls it a 'tyrannical-type move?' " Biden said. In the Magnolia State, kindergarteners are some of the most-vaccinated children in the nation. Part of Mississippi's high kindergarten vaccination rate is due to it being one of the only states not allowing for religious exemption. Biden's remarks come less than a week after Reeves called the president's new COVID-19 vaccine requirements unconstitutional and pledged to challenge Biden's legal authority to implement those requirements. Reeves responded to Biden's speech Thursday evening: "It is a tyrannical move, Mr. President." |
| Crowded field running for Mississippi Senate seat | |
| Nine people have qualified to run for a Mississippi Senate seat vacated in June when Sen. Sampson Jackson retired after 29 years. Gov. Tate Reeves scheduled a special election for Tuesday, Nov. 2, WTOK-TV reported. A runoff election, if necessary, will be held Nov. 23. The candidates for the District 32 seat, in alphabetical order, are: W.J. Coleman, Stan Copeland, James Creer, Justin Curtis Creer, Minh Duong, Rod Hickman, Kim Houston, Keith Jackson and Bradley Joseph Sudduth. The district covers Kemper, Lauderdale, Noxubee and Winston counties. There are two other special elections being held in the state on Nov. 2. The Senate District 38 seat, which is comprised of Pike, Adams, Amite, Walthall and Wilkinson counties, was left vacant when Tammy Witherspoon resigned after her election as mayor of Magnolia, Mississippi. And, one candidate has filed to run for House District 29, covering Sunflower and Bolivar counties, after Abe Hudson, Jr., resigned Aug. 30. |
| 10 Afghan evacuees headed to Mississippi for resettlement after fleeing their country | |
| Ten Afghan evacuees who fled during the United States' chaotic withdrawal from the country are headed to Mississippi, according to the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services. It is not clear where Mississippi's evacuees will be housed or what other accommodations are being made for them. State Refugee Coordinator Anna Claire Steele said she was just given notice of the state being approved to house 10 evacuees in a letter from the federal government Wednesday. "Just because it's been approved, they may or may not come," Steele said. More than 37,000 Afghans are expected to be resettled across the country in the coming days and weeks. The Associated Press first reported how many evacuees each state would receive. Of the states taking in Afghan evacuees, Mississippi and Alabama are accepting the fewest with 10 each. California will house 5,255 evacuees, the most of any state. Hawaii, Wyoming, South Dakota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia are not expected to take in any Afghans in the first wave of arrivals. All Afghan evacuees over the age of 12 will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before entering the country. |
| Tensions spike over new research-security proposals targeting China | |
| In an era of escalating partisanship in Washington, the effort to boost American research institutions and beat China to key discoveries has proven a rare point of cooperation. But as the Biden administration and some lawmakers look to tighten rules governing collaborations between U.S. and Chinese researchers, cracks in that united front are starting to appear -- and a fight over the future of the international R&D ecosystem may be on the horizon. "This is a new cold war, basically," Texas GOP Rep. Brian Babin said at last week's markup of the House Science Committee's slice of the budget reconciliation bill. "We're losing proprietary information, we're losing valuable learning and research, to these people. They're inside of our research facilities, they're inside of our colleges and universities." Babin was speaking in support of a GOP-led amendment to prohibit federal funds from being used to conduct research in China, or to support any research entity determined to be owned or controlled "directly or indirectly" by the Chinese government. The amendment, along with several other Republican efforts to restrict U.S.-Chinese collaborations, failed due to opposition from Democrats. Rep. Deborah Ross called it "overbroad," warning it would ban any American scientist who takes federal funds from traveling to China for research. "I think the U.S. government has greatly benefited from international collaborations, and we've been really good at recruiting the best minds to want to come and stay in the United States," said Deborah Altenburg, the head of research policy and government affairs at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities. "We have to look at our risk management," said Altenburg. "Is the risk of the loss, the stealing of technology and IP, greater than the loss of potential opportunity?" |
| Milley: Calls to China were 'perfectly' within scope of job | |
| The top U.S. military officer said Friday that calls he made to his Chinese counterpart in the final stormy months of Donald Trump's presidency were "perfectly within the duties and responsibilities" of his job. In his first public comments on the conversations, Gen. Mark Milley said such calls are "routine" and were done "to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case in order to ensure strategic stability." The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke to The Associated Press and another reporter traveling with him to Europe. Milley has been at the center of a firestorm amid reports he made two calls to Gen. Li Zuocheng of the People's Liberation Army to assure him that the United States was not going to suddenly go to war with or attack China. Milley on Friday offered only a brief defense of his calls, saying he plans a deeper discussion about the matter for Congress when he testifies at a hearing later in September. "I think it's best that I reserve my comments on the record until I do that in front of the lawmakers who have the lawful responsibility to oversee the U.S. military," Milley said. "I'll go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into in a couple of weeks." |
| Clarence Thomas warns against 'destroying our institutions,' defends the Supreme Court | |
 | Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday warned against "destroying our institutions because they don't give us what we want, when we want it," arguing that the high court must remain independent from political polarization.In an address to more than 800 students at the University of Notre Dame, Thomas said that the country has "gotten to the point where we're really good at finding something that separates us," according to The Washington Post. Thomas, the longest-serving justice and a member of the court's conservative wing, also pushed back on criticism that Supreme Court justices are aiming to promote their own political agendas in their decisions. "I think the media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference. So if they think you are antiabortion or something personally, they think that's the way you always will come out," Thomas, who is Catholic, explained. "They think you're for this or for that. They think you become like a politician," he continued. "That's a problem. You're going to jeopardize any faith in the legal institutions." When asked at Thursday's event if his Catholic faith has been at conflict with some of the legal questions that have come before the court, he responded, "that's not the role of a judge." "You do your job and you go cry alone," he added, according to The Associated Press. |
| Justice Clarence Thomas laments a 'race-obsessed world' in lecture at Notre Dame | |
 | In a talk at the University of Notre Dame on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas showed his frustration with an increasingly divided America and lamented what he called a "race-obsessed world." The second Black justice on the Supreme Court made a rare public appearance at the university, following a year of social unrest, racial tension and politicization of classroom teachings. During the talk, he compared experiences in his youth to current events. "Every time I walked into a room, I had to look for something in common, and that's the way we grew up," Thomas said to a full auditorium at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. "Now look at us. We just seem like we keep dividing, subdividing into subcategories, sub-sub-categories of differences and emphasizing those differences." Thomas, the longest-sitting member of the Supreme Court, spoke at the invitation of Notre Dame's new Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. Thomas spoke of his upbringing -- raised by his grandparents in a Catholic home in the deep South, where "there was a deep and abiding love for our country". Thomas, who has consistently opposed affirmative action policies, called the segregation and race-based laws he was born into "repulsive" and "at odds with the principles of our country." But he also called the activism he experienced in the late 1960s "cynical" and "jaundiced." "Today, there's a notable pessimism about the state of our country, and cynicism about our founding," Thomas said. "There are some that would even cancel our founders. We are all aware of those who assert ... that American is a racist and irredeemable nation, but there are many more of us, I think, that feel that America is not so broken as it is adrift at sea." |
| Does 'Conservatism' Actually Mean Anything Anymore? | |
 | You'd be hard pressed to think of too many people more warmly ensconced in the "Washington establishment" than George Will. Over the span of 48 years at the Washington Post, he has authored some 6,000 or so columns during 10 presidencies, won a Pulitzer Prize, and written 16 books -- his latest, American Happiness and Discontents, is out this week. For at least a generation, he has been the most prominent intellectual conservative voice in mainstream media, so well-known that he was once the topic of a joke on "Seinfeld." And yet, in 2021, George Will is in some ways a man on the outside looking in. Yes, he still has one of the most prominent columns in one of the world's most powerful newspapers. Yes, he is still part of the Washington scene. But politics have changed, and the intellectual conservatism he embodies is without an obvious political home. The Trump years, Will told POLITICO in an interview this week, "made me realize that conservatism was a label that could be hijacked." Conservatism, to Will, is a whole ethos with a proud intellectual tradition in American life. What it means to conserve, he says, is the American founding. "That's conservatism," said Will. "And along comes Mr. Trump, who says, 'No, conservatism is beating up on the Mexicans,' or whatever he says." None of which is to say that George Will has gone moderate. He hasn't. He thinks government does far too much, spends far too much and that politics occupies far too much of the national mental bandwidth. |
| More States Show Prevalence of Obesity, CDC Finds | |
 | In nearly a third of U.S. states, adults with obesity make up at least 35% of the population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, a significant jump from two years ago. New CDC data released Wednesday showed 35% or more of residents in 16 states were adults with obesity in 2020, an increase from a dozen the year prior and nine in 2018. The states on the list had been Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Delaware, Iowa, Ohio and Texas were added to the list for 2020. Overall, more than 20% of adults in all states and U.S. territories were people with obesity, the CDC said, with the highest prevalence being in the Midwest and South. "It is troubling in lots of ways," Brian Elbel, founding director of New York University Langone Health's Comprehensive Program on Obesity, said about the CDC data. "It clearly shows that we're not making the type of...progress that we need to in a obesity and nutrition way in the United States." Obesity is tied to health issues such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, the CDC says. It defines an adult with obesity as someone whose body-mass index is 30 or more, which is different from being considered overweight. People with obesity are also at more of a risk for severe illness from Covid-19. |
| Peaks and Valleys: Robert Khayat's book '60' documents emotional year | |
| Nearly every one experiences ups and downs in their life, but maybe only a handful have experienced the amounts of highs and lows in one year the say way Robert Khayat did. The former University of Mississippi chancellor's latest book, "60" recounts the life-altering events Khayat experienced in 1960. From starting the year out with the Rebel football team, defeating LSU in the Sugar Bowl to ending the year fighting for his life in a hospital, Khayat experienced nearly every emotion possible in a span of 365 days. Khayat's latest memoir comes nearly 8 years to the day after his first book titled "The Education of a Lifetime," which explored his years as chancellor at Ole Miss. For the past three years, Khayat has been working on "60," writing 300,000 words, which author Neil White helped form into this latest literary work. The things Khayat witnessed throughout that year is teased with the book's subtitle of "A Year of Sports, Race and Politics." While Khayat touches a lot on sports of that year, race and politics constantly found their way in throughout. One example of that in the book is when Khayat tells the story of when he was the catcher for the Ole Miss baseball team, which was not able to play for a national title due to newly-elected Mississippi governor Ross Barnett's decision to not allow them to on the potential chance the Rebels would play a team with a player of color on the roster. "I really hope that it doesn't get focused only one part of the story," Khayat said. "Because, it's intended to blend the making of a life. This is what happened to me, and probably a lot of other people too but I was a little different." |
| Jackson State University recognized as a Top 20 HBCU | |
 | Jackson State University (JSU) is ranked as a top 20 Historically Black College and University (HBCU), according to U.S. News and World Report. "These rankings serve as a frame of reference to what we offer not only as an HBCU but as an institution of higher learning. At Jackson State University, we provide students with an all-encompassing quality education that spans beyond academics," said Thomas K. Hudson, president of JSU. "Our students receive real-world experiences in a holistic and nurturing environment that ensure their successful matriculation at JSU and in life. Being named a top 20 HBCU is a reflection of this." According to university leaders, Jackson State has an enrollment of approximately 7,000 students. |
| Community college enrollment down statewide, up at NEMCC | |
| Northeast Mississippi Community College was one of three colleges to see a modest increase in enrollment amid a statewide decline in people signing up for community college, according to an annual report released by the Mississippi Community College Board. Overall, community college enrollment in Mississippi declined by 5%, a loss of 3,429 students from fall 2020 to fall 2021. Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC), however, increased its enrollment by 41 students, up from 3,243 in 2020 to 3,284 in 2021. That's an increase of about 1.3%. "After the effect COVID-19 had on all higher education enrollment last year, we are glad to experience an increase of enrollment for 2021," NEMCC President Dr. Ricky G. Ford said. "We are glad so many students are recognizing the great opportunities available at Northeast Mississippi Community College. Also, that during this pandemic they can feel safe and reach any and all goals they have set for themselves." NEMCC credits its Technology Initiative, which put an iPad in the hands of every student, with helping the college weather the pandemic. That initiative helped NEMCC to seamlessly move classes online in March 2020, transitioning 100% of its classes online in less than a week. |
| Trustees seeking input on next president in public listening sessions | |
| The Auburn University Board of Trustees is looking to get input from staff, students and community members on what Auburn should look for in its next president. Thursday morning, the University announced the dates of eight listening sessions open to the public where stakeholders can share their thoughts about Auburn's next president. Sessions begin on Tuesday, Sept. 21, and wrap up on Sept. 30. Each one-hour listening session will be held over Zoom with a focus on a particular stakeholder group. Participants are welcome to attend the session that best fits their schedule, according to the announcement. Jon Waggoner, secretary to the Board of Trustees, said that the input gleaned from the listening sessions will be used to shape the job description used in the application process for the next president. "Shared governance is absolutely important to us, and we want to make sure everyone gets to participate," Waggoner said. |
| Auburn University releases statement on recent reports of sexual misconduct, plans to hold town hall Wednesday | |
 | Auburn University released a statement Thursday saying it was dedicated to student safety following public outcry at reports of three students who were allegedly sexually assaulted in the past week. "The creation and maintenance of a safe environment for our students will always be the highest priority for Auburn," the statement from the university said. "The three cases reported this week -- one in a residence hall, one on a campus sidewalk and one in a fraternity house -- have only intensified our commitment. Auburn prohibits sexual harassment and power-based personal violence." The school said the Department of Student Affairs will host a town hall event on Sept. 22, 4 p.m. in the Student Activities Center Auditorium to discuss preventing and reporting sexual assault. Representatives from student affairs, Campus Safety and Security, the Auburn Police Division, SGA, Health Promotion and Wellness and Title IX will be at the event and all are welcome to attend, the university said. The university said it takes action to prevent sexual harassment and violence through a variety of awareness and bystander intervention programming along with safety programs and resources for students, including 24-hour patrols by officers with the Auburn Police Division, employed security officers for after hours, about 200 blue light emergency phones around campus, 24-hour-on-campus transportation and an extensive security camera system, and added that when a sexual assault survivor officially reports a crime, the university is able to take even more steps to address the situation. |
| LSU sees more compliance with student vaccine policy; Tiger Stadium vows easier checks | |
 | LSU says some of the 78 students it intended to throw off campus at the end of the week for failing to comply with university coronavirus protocols are taking steps to stay in school, and the athletic department says it's reconfiguring a plan to enforce Tiger Stadium's COVID-19 restrictions due to "kinks" during the first home game on Sept. 11. LSU spokesman Ernie Ballard said Thursday that students unenrolled because of their failure to follow new campus COVID-19 rules will be allowed to submit proof of vaccination, a recent negative test or a positive test from the last three months until Friday at 4:00 p.m. if they want to re-enroll. "The goal from the start has been to get students in compliance and not for us to unenroll students," Ballard said. "But they have to be in compliance to stay in the LSU community." For admittance to Tiger Stadium this weekend, Cody Worsham with LSU athletic communications said the process for verifying fans' vaccination status will "go much smoother" than it did for the first home game. Ballard had said this week there were "kinks" in the system. Worsham said fans can speed up lines to get into the stadium by having their vaccination cards out, pulled up on LA Wallet or shown in a picture on their phones before they get to the front of the line. |
| U. of Arkansas trustees go maskless at Fayetteville campus meeting | |
| A mostly in-person meeting of the University of Arkansas board of trustees took place with board members not wearing masks, despite an August board resolution for campuses to implement an indoor face covering policy. Dr. Stephen Broughton, a Pine Bluff psychiatrist and chairman for the 10-person board, said after Thursday's meeting that trustees would wear masks at other campus sites. As far as not wearing masks during the meeting, "I don't know that there's a rationale," Broughton said. He said board members are vaccinated against covid-19. "I don't think there's any other reason other than the fact that we've been around each other and know we've all been vaccinated," Broughton said. The meeting took place with eight board members seated at long tables in Boyer Hall at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House. University of Arkansas System President Donald Bobbitt, also seated at the tables with the trustees, wore a face covering during the meeting. The UA-Fayetteville campus policy that took effect Aug. 11 states that masks are required indoors in all university facilities when at least six feet of physical distancing cannot be maintained. |
| Students face long lines at dining locations amid staff shortage for Campus Dining | |
 | In a normal semester, University of Missouri Campus Dining Services employs about 700 students. This semester, there are only 378. Campus Dining Services is operating on about half of its normal staff while still serving 8,556 students on campus who have purchased dining plans. This problem is nothing new to Columbia, as businesses in the area and across the country struggle to employ enough staff to stay open, the Missourian has reported. Without enough student employees, both Columbia businesses and Campus Dining Services have had to scale back hours. Campus Dining Services is focusing on keeping full-service dining establishments open to serve the greatest number of students, MU spokesperson Christian Basi said. These locations include buffet-style locations such as Plaza 900, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. While full-service dining locations continue to open daily, some cafe-style restaurants have been unable to fill the full-time positions needed to open. The J Cafe has had to stop service as a result, with no plan for opening in sight. Potential Energy Cafe, located inside Lafferre Hall, has remained closed during the first few weeks of the fall semester, but Basi said Campus Dining Services is hopeful the cafe will open in late September. MU students are feeling the effects. MU student Kiersten Dolan has particularly struggled with reconciling a busy schedule full of Greek life and classes with reduced dining hours and long lines. When classes get out, students flood dining locations. "It's just so hard to eat when I'm hungry when everyone's eating at the same time," she said. |
| Board of Regents President still says no mask mandate | |
| The Iowa state Board of Regents does not intend to let the universities it governs change policies around masking. In the regents meeting Thursday, Regents President Mike Richards told reporters the governing body does not intend to put a mask mandate into place at this time. "But we will keep following and adjust our thoughts based on the situation and the current time," Richards said. Richards said he does not foresee allowing individual campuses to decide to require masks. Since the start of the school year, the 143 University of Iowa students have self-reported cases of COVID-19. The number of self-reported employee cases is lower than the number of student cases. Currently, the university is not mandating masks or vaccines for students or staff but is highly encouraging their use. Richards said if there are data or facts on the ground, the regents will assess the situation. As previously reported by The Daily Iowan, a judge suspended the law, enabling Iowa City Community School District to impose a mask mandate in schools Monday. This ruling will not apply to regents' universities. |
| A 30% female author experiment in political science syllabi | |
 | Prior research has shown a gender gap on syllabi in some fields, wherein the authors of assigned readings don't represent the gender diversity of the field. Other research has demonstrated the positive impact of role models on student success. A new study in PLOS One combines these two areas of research, focusing on graduate-level course syllabi and role models for graduate students. While the discipline at the heart of the study, political science, is changing -- due in part to efforts such as Women Also Know Stuff -- it has a particular reputation for gender bias. Even so, the authors of the new study say that their at times surprising findings translate to other fields. What did the researchers find? When they adjusted the share of female authors on a syllabus from 10 percent to 30 percent, female graduate students' self-efficacy, meaning their perceived likelihood of succeeding in the hypothetical course, was not affected. Male students, meanwhile, showed lower self-efficacy, reporting that they were less likely to succeed in the course when more women appeared on the syllabus. Students' attitudes toward diversity in academe also correlated with their reactions to the syllabi more than their own gender did. That is, the gender-diverse, 30 percent-female-author syllabi reduced self-efficacy among students who said they were not supportive of diversity. |
| Colleges mandating vaccines deal with religious exemptions | |
| As more and more colleges require COVID-19 vaccines for students and employees, they find themselves navigating similar thorny -- and potentially litigious -- territory when it comes to evaluating requests for religious exemptions that many states require institutions to consider. Federal employment law also requires employers to accommodate sincerely held religious beliefs. What exactly constitutes a sincerely held belief and how vigorously universities should assess this remains contested ground. Experts say religious exemptions are easily abused by people who in fact have nonreligious reasons for resisting vaccination. At the same time, it's an area that's exceptionally difficult for colleges or the courts to police. "Policing religious exemptions easily gets caught into the business of policing conscience and governing the way people practice religion, and that's a really dangerous area for universities to step into," said Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a law professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law who studies vaccine law and policy. "On the other hand, not policing them -- especially in contexts like this, where we know that many people who aren't getting vaccinated are doing so because of nonreligious reasons -- means you're going to have widespread abuse." Major religious denominations are essentially unanimous in their support for COVID-19 vaccination. But as Reiss wrote in a 2014 Hastings Law Journal article about K-12 school vaccination requirements and religious exemptions, the courts have found that while states do not have to offer religious exemptions to vaccine requirements, if they do offer them, they cannot discriminate between beliefs endorsed by organized religions and personally held beliefs. |
| Will the SAT and ACT ever be removed from the U.S. News rankings? | |
| It's a day many college enrollment managers love to hate: The annual publication of U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges rankings. The hierarchy seldom shifts significantly, and its flaws are well-documented. But the rankings are still influential in students' search processes and institutions' strategic plans. This year, higher education groups, including the National Association for College Admission Counseling, had hoped U.S. News would make one change, though -- ridding the SAT and ACT from its methodology. It did not. Standardized test scores remain 5% of the rankings formula. This percentage has declined over time. But next year's rankings may be different. This year's release still reflects a test-taking period that occurred largely before the dawn of the health crisis, from 2019 to early 2020. The pandemic forced testing sites to close and meant many students couldn't sit for the exams. Only 1.5 million students in the high school class of 2021 took the SAT at least once, a major drop from the 2.2 million who took it in the 2020 class, according to the College Board, which runs the test. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State represents Memphis' biggest test of season | |
| The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the only Power Five team on Memphis' schedule this season, and Tigers coach Ryan Silverfield refuses to shy away from the importance of this game. "I can't sit here and say: 'It's just like every other game.' There's a heightened sense of it," Silverfield said. "Let's be real about it." Memphis has had mixed success in recent years against major conference teams with wins over Kansas, UCLA and Ole Miss. Beating a team from the Southeastern Conference, well, just means more. Silverfield said it's definitely "a different perception from those on the outside looking in" than a win over Nicholls State. That also means the stress level goes up too for Saturday's game. "I get stressed out over Spring Practice No. 2," Silverfield said. These teams are renewing a series dormant since 2011 and that the Bulldogs have dominated since 1993. Memphis has improved over the past decade alone with a string of bowl games, winning seasons and NFL-bound offensive threats. Mississippi State is looking for its best start since 2018 -- two years before coach Mike Leach arrived on campus. His Bulldogs face a defense that gave up a whopping 680 yards of offense last week -- 582 through the air. Will Rogers leads the nation completing 36 passes a game. |
| Facing nation's top offense, Mississippi State defense has chance to prove itself | |
| Emmanuel Forbes makes opposing players feel every tackle. Tyrus Wheat seems to always be near the ball. Jaden Crumedy or Cameron Young stuff the middle while some combination of De'Monte Russell, Jack Harris, Aaron Odom and Randy Charlton meets the quarterback around the edge. Jalen Green can stay back and close a deep threat, but the moment the ball finds an opposing receiver, he's there to jump on a fumble or relieve a missed tackle. Martin Emerson, well, teams just don't look his way. Mississippi State's defense has playmakers at every level, and except for a few rough stretches against Louisiana Tech, it's a unit that has shined. Saturday against Memphis -- the nation's top offense in terms of yardage -- State will have a chance to gauge just how good that defense is before the schedule turns to SEC play. "They win the line of scrimmage," MSU defensive coordinator Zach Arnett said of Memphis. "You can tell that's a program that understands the more physical you are, the more aggressive you are, typically the better results it leads to. They've got great speed on the outside. They can throw the ball. Their quarterback is playing phenomenal. You look at their o-line and running backs -- they are running people off the ball, dividing the defense and hitting huge seams." |
| Football Runs In Mitchell's Family | |
| Football certainly runs in the family for Mississippi State freshman linebacker Nic Mitchell. Mitchell is the third in the line of brothers currently playing college football. His has one older brother, Justin, playing as a senior defensive lineman at Harvard and another, Kris, a redshirt freshman wide receiver at Florida International. There's also a fourth brother, Jonathan, that is currently a 10th grade cornerback at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Florida. It was there that Mandarin head coach Bobby Ramsay first caught a glimpse of Nic Mitchell during his freshman year. Knowing his family's genetics and Mitchell's frame at the time, Ramsay believed there was plenty to work with over the next four years. "If he puts everything together, he's got a chance to be a stud," Ramsay said of his initial impression of Mitchell. "Certainly my first year here, he's a guy that we looked at that could do something special for us." Mitchell caught the eye of colleges as well. He received 14 scholarship offers and was committed to Temple for nearly two months before switching allegiances to MSU early into his senior season. "I knew what kind of program this was and how it is going to mold me," Mitchell said. "It's going to take me beyond my potential so that's really why I chose to come here." The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder has added around 15 pounds since he enrolled in June and is still getting adjusted to how things operate at the college level. |
| 'This game will be kind of personal': Former Starkville running back Rodrigues Clark excited to face Mississippi State | |
 | Chris Jones knows plenty about motivation. The Starkville High School football coach still keeps the rejection letters from the schools that interviewed him, then turned him down. "I've been down that road before," Jones said. "I know what it feels like to not be wanted." A few years ago, Jones saw the same fate befall one of his star Yellow Jackets. Starkville running back Rodrigues Clark grew up in the shadow of Mississippi State's campus, hoping to play for the Bulldogs. Clark battled back from injuries, accrued huge rushing numbers and made his name known. "He was the best football player, and he was the hardest-working kid," Jones said. But in the eyes of Clark's hometown program, it wasn't enough. MSU never offered Clark a scholarship, leaving the running back with a Davis Wade Stadium-sized chip on his shoulder. He found a home at Memphis, but the Bulldogs' rejection still stung. Three years later, Clark has a chance to make amends when his Tigers host Mississippi State on Saturday in a game Clark has been waiting for ever since. "I just want to win, to be honest," Clark said. "I just want to come out with the dub ... and just show them what they could have had." |
| Memphis athletics expects more than 40,000 fans in attendance for Mississippi State football game | |
| Memphis football is expecting more than 40,000 fans in attendance for Saturday's nonconference game with Mississippi State (3 p.m., ESPN2), based on ticket sales as of Friday morning. Tigers athletics director Laird Veatch mentioned the figure this week during a radio interview on the "George Plaster Show" in Nashville. He added that Mississippi State (2-0) could have fewer fans present than he anticipated. "We haven't quite seen the response from Mississippi State fans, at least not directly through their office that we thought we might. But we're going to have a really good crowd for the Tigers," Veatch said. Deputy athletics director Jeff Crane told The Commercial Appeal that more Memphis student tickets have been purchased for Mississippi State than two weeks ago when the Tigers (2-0) hosted Nicholls in their season opener. Memphis also typically sees a significant number of fans who purchase tickets on the day of the game. Memphis home games against regional SEC opponents have typically drawn greater crowds than most Tigers home games. In 2019, the Tigers' season opener against Ole Miss had 44,107 fans in announced attendance at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. |
| Back At Home Sweet Home For Volleyball This Weekend | |
| After two challenging and successful weekends on the road, the Mississippi State volleyball team is back inside the friendly confines of the Newell-Grissom Building for the Hail State Invitational this weekend. Last weekend, the Bulldogs (7-2) knocked off a pair of Power 5 opponents in Indiana (Big Ten) and Oklahoma (Big 12) at the Georgia Tech Classic in Atlanta. The Maroon and White is joined by Tennessee as the only two programs to defeat two Power 5 opponents in the same weekend during the 2021 season. State turns its attention to Syracuse Friday at 6 p.m. CT, South Alabama Saturday at 6 p.m. CT and Jackson State Sunday at 2 p.m. CT to conclude its non-conference slate. "Friday, we face a very physical Syracuse team," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "They play good volleyball. I think that they are going to present a very similar look to teams that we have played and will play in the SEC. I think they are a good team for us to open our home tournament with. We have had a good week of practice and preparation. I think the team taking their recovery and preparation process very seriously. The team wants to go into conference play with 10 wins. I think we will have the opportunity to do so if we are focused, dialed in and play the type of volleyball we are capable of. It's certainly going to take a great level of effort and execution. Our fans are going to have to be there to help us every step of the way. I'm excited about this weekend. I think it is a great setup. We have one match a day so I feel we will be fresh, energetic and ready to go. I think it is a great opportunity for us to be at home in front of our fans before a tough conference slate." |
| State Opens SEC Slate At No. 6 LSU | |
| After an 11-day hiatus due to COVID protocols, Mississippi State's soccer team will open the SEC portion of its schedule at No. 6 LSU on Friday night. The match will be televised on SEC Network and kick off at 7 p.m. CT. It will mark Maddy Anderson's first match since she was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 7 after allowing just one goal in 220 minutes with a career high in saves in a pair of ties. Anderson also ranks third in the SEC in save percentage (.879). LSU (7-0-0), winners of 10 straight, enters the match riding the longest winning streak in the history of its program and the nation's longest active streak. The Tigers have also climbed to their highest ranking on record and rank ninth nationally in goals scored. "They're unbeaten," head coach James Armstrong said. "They have experience and a lot of depth. They're the most-athletic team that we've faced. They're going to be a challenge. We're going to have to be at our best and go there with a Bulldog mentality to compete and earn the right to play." The Bulldogs will be off on Sunday, but return to play at Georgia on Thursday, Sept. 23. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. CT with the game airing on SEC Network+. |
| Women's Tennis Opens at Debbie Southern Fall Classic | |
| For the fifth time in the past six years, Mississippi State will open its fall slate at the Debbie Southern Fall Classic, hosted by Furman University. Play gets underway Friday at 7:30 a.m. and will continue through Sunday. Players from 13 different programs from around the country are participating in the tournament at the Mickel Tennis Center. "It is a nice facility," said MSU head coach Daryl Greenan. "They have 13 outdoor courts and four indoor courts. So we can have some indoor backups. The [number of teams] attending this tournament is almost bursting at the seams." Just as impressive as the quantity of opponents is the quality of them. Several of the nation's top women's tennis programs are sending players to the event. In addition to MSU and host Furman, North Carolina, Florida State, Vanderbilt, Texas, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Duke, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Clemson will all be represented. Texas (1), North Carolina (2), Florida State (7), Duke (8), Georgia Tech (10), Ohio State (12) and Tennessee (18) all finished in the top 25 of the ITA team rankings in the spring. "We are getting high-level [opponents]," Greenan said. |
| ESPN's Booger McFarland ready to replace Florida State coach Mike Norvell with Deion Sanders | |
| ESPN football analyst Booger McFarland says Deion Sanders coaching Florida State is "inevitable" at some point after the Seminoles' 0-2 start under Mike Norvell. Sanders has led Jackson State to a 2-0 record heading into Saturday's game against Louisiana-Monroe. "Doesn't it almost feel like Florida State and Deion Sanders are on a collision course?" McFarland said on "The ESPN College Football Podcast" with Kevin Negandhi on Wednesday. "Exactly!" Negandhi said. "Doesn't it almost feel like we're wasting time," McFarland said. "Deion is doing his thing, proving that he can run a program. He's proving that he can lead. And he may be the most famous Florida State alum ever. Doesn't it feel like they're on a collision course? "I honestly wouldn't be surprised if in the next year or two they make that move." Sanders played defensive back at Florida State from 1985-88. He then played in the NFL from 1989-2005. "I was very skeptical about whether or not Deion wanted to coach," McFarland said. "But he's shown that he wants to do all the work. Yes, he's still flashy. He's still Coach Prime. And I think that as he gets more experience, he will continue to know when he can be Coach Prime, and when he has to be the coach of X, Y, Z -- whatever that school is, because there's a difference." |
| Yurachek: Bud Walton Arena renovation plans moving forward | |
| Proposals are moving forward for a possible renovation of Walton Arena, said University of Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek during a university board of trustees meeting Thursday. "We would like to bring that back to the board in November with the hopes of getting permission to proceed with hiring an architect," Yurachek said Thursday. The university is doing a financial feasibility study that includes surveying season ticket holders and donors to the Razorback Foundation about premium seating, Yurachek said. "I can tell you so far it's been favorable as far as the interest in club seats," Yurachek said. The facility opened in 1993 and is home to the Razorbacks' men's and women's basketball teams. Yurachek did not state an estimated cost for renovating the 19,368-seat arena. |
| South Carolina starts informing fans that masks will be required for the Gamecocks' next 2 home games | |
 | The University of South Carolina has started informing fans that masks will be required for the Gamecocks' next two home games. Williams-Brice Stadium is inside the city limits of Columbia, which passed a 30-day mask mandate on Sept. 8. The rules require face coverings inside business, restaurants and schools. Masks also are mandatory outdoors when people cannot easily social distance 6 feet apart. That includes sitting in stands at football games where more than 75,000 fans are expected to watch the game. Violating the mask ordinance carries a $100 fine. USC sent a message to students and parents Sept. 15 informing them about the city's new ordinance. The university required masks indoors since classes started in August, but the new city rule extends those mandates in crowded outdoor spaces on campus. The city rule means masks will be required at the Sept. 25 game versus the University of Kentucky and the Oct. 2 game against Troy University. The ordinance is slated to end Oct. 8. Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins, whose department is charge of enforcing the mask rules, said he does not expect fire marshals to hand out $100 tickets for violators at an event with thousands of fans. "That's going going to be pretty tough," he said when asked about dealing with a USC football game. "I don't know how we can enforce it with such a large crowd. We will look at coordinating with USC to see what we can do." |
| Robert Gates Ran the Pentagon. Can He Help Save the N.C.A.A.? | |
| The Washington State home of Robert M. Gates -- closer to Canada than to Seattle, adorned with a mounted elk head and occupied by one of America's semiretired spymasters -- would seem an improbable place to try to reshape college sports in less than six months. But perhaps this was inevitable for Gates, the 77-year-old former defense secretary and director of central intelligence. He is, after all, still bristling over the strictures of college athletics 19 years after he became Texas A&M's president, the post he left in 2006 for the Pentagon's top job. "You know, God figured out how to give the rules to all mankind in 10 declarative sentences," Gates said this week. "You'd think that the N.C.A.A. could figure out how to do intercollegiate sports in something short of several hundred pages." Gates, the consummate insider with a rebel's bent and bluntness, is now getting a chance to figure it out. Named this summer as chairman of a committee assigned to rewrite the N.C.A.A.'s constitution, Gates could help save or condemn an association with roughly 1,100 member colleges, about a half-million athletes and longstanding sway over how young people play sports and how universities pull in billions of dollars. "We all in the membership are looking and wondering about the direction and how the issues that have been identified are going to be effectively resolved," said Greg Sankey, the Southeastern Conference commissioner, who expressed misgivings about what he called "the lack of clear definition of the problem or the task" for the committee. "Those issues can be overcome, but it causes you to take a step back and just wonder about the clarity of the purpose," said Sankey, who attributed those difficulties to the N.C.A.A., not to Gates. |
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