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Section: Opinion
Opinion
Liberal Arts for the Current Times
A lifetime of events has occurred in the span of less than a year: COVID-19 declared a global pandemic in March, George Floyd killed in May, and crises of economy, education, and mental health ensuing by August. By the time that the 2020-21 academic year began, it was evident that it would be important to hold time and space on the calendar for reflection, perhaps even for creative and constructive ideas.
October 22, 2020
Opinion
Searching for Joy in Struggle
In January 2014, I found myself sitting among a small group of fellow graduate students at the University of Michigan School of Education. We students seemed nervous, because at the end of the table sat Bob Moses — founder of the Algebra Project, educational justice advocate, and one of the key organizers of the Mississippi Freedom Summer voter registration campaign 50 years prior.
October 22, 2020
Opinion
Am I Too Diverse for Academia?
When I turned 7 years old, my friends found it rather strange that my family cooked a pig underground for my backyard birthday party. In high school, my friends were shocked to learn that only one of my parents had a high school diploma. And, in college, I had to explain to friends that it was an endearing greeting when my relatives closely sniffed their cheeks.
October 22, 2020
HBCUs
Trump, Notre Dame President Should Follow Delaware State’s Tony Allen
Tony Allen, president of Delaware State, an HBCU, knows what it takes to beat COVID. A mandatory testing policy. Twice a week for all 2,000 student, residents and employees. Results back in less than two days. Nearly 90 percent of all classes taught virtually. There’s mandatory masking, And total student buy in.
October 15, 2020
HBCUs
Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself: A Message on Behalf of Greatly Underinvested, Often Forgotten Historically Black Colleges and Universities
To say that 2020 has been one of the most abnormally jagged and oddly long years serves as an understatement. From a pandemic that has emancipated the souls of over 211,000 Americans to young people taking to the street to erasure of the country’s oldest institutions, 2020 has shaped into one of the most unpredictable and emotionally exhausting years in decades.
October 13, 2020
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing: The Key to Keeping Students, Staff, Campus, and Community Safe
One of the great strengths of a college campus is the free flow of people and ideas. Students, faculty, and staff from diverse backgrounds and locations add to the unique tapestry of each individual institution. Human interaction, whether in a classroom, a lab, or even just the cafeteria adds immeasurably to the collective community experience.
October 9, 2020
Students
HBCUs and White Churches: a Collaboration Long Overdue
Churches have a long history of advocating for civil rights. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the Baptist, Methodist and other religious denominations united to support civil rights for African Americans. Many churches, for example, provided shelter to protesters during civil rights marches. They organized food assistance programs, assisted homeless with housing needs […]
October 5, 2020
Social Justice
Equity Requires Action
COVID-19 has affected us all in different ways. During the spring semester, most colleges and universities had to pivot to move courses online. At that time most, if not all, students left campus. As the American Medical Association pointed out, the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) populations because they “suffer disproportionally, due to the inequities in society perpetuated by systematic practices.”
October 2, 2020
Opinion
America’s School Districts at the Decision-Making Crossroad
Following the first Coronavirus cases in the United States, most school districts across the United States paused in-person instruction in March 2020. Thereafter, these districts scrambled to provide quality virtual instruction that would continue the continuity of face-to-face instruction for the remaining two months of the 2019-2021 academic year. After students and teachers departed for their annual support vacation, most school administrators spent the summer planning for a virtual, hybrid, and face-to-face instruction for the 2020-2021 academic year.
October 1, 2020
Faculty & Staff
Say Their Names, But Not the N-Word
The current reckoning about anti-Blackness in the United States is exposing the limits of solidarity. Millions of white and non-white people have marched and expressed support for Black Lives by saying the names of men and women brutally killed or shot in police custody. This powerful act of solidarity humanizes these victims while bearing witness to systemic racism. At the same time, faculty in some of our nation’s colleges and universities continue to defend the right to utter the N-word as part of their educational practice. This counterintuitive notion is not just tone-deaf to the national reckoning but harms the institutional culture, devalues the presence of Black faculty, staff and students, and compromises the moral credibility of the professoriate.
September 30, 2020
Opinion
Trump’s Handling of Census Proves He’s the Anti-Diversity President; Plus, Univ. of California’s White Affirmative Action
The presidential debate is coming up on Tuesday, but there’s no question about this: Donald Trump heads the most hostile administration when it comes to diversity.
September 28, 2020
Latinx
Why I Won’t Give Up on My Fraternity
When I joined my fraternity, I knew I made a commitment for a lifetime and not only during the years that I was in college. I was invested in joining the organization for the connections and opportunities it gave me as an undergraduate along with the opportunity to give back to my chapter through mentorship and to give back to the broader Latinx community through the work the fraternity does regionally and nationally. However, during the August-October months, when the fraternity leadership is encouraging undergraduates and alumni to remain active and pay membership dues, I am surprised with how many social media posts I see in brotherhood forums of members questioning the leadership, critiquing the fraternity at large, and resisting becoming part of the solution.
September 25, 2020
African-American
Why Countering Racism Requires Regular, Dedicated Anti-Racist Work
As a qualitative sociologist I am drawn to stories that demonstrate social facts. Here is a story that I would like to share that underscores why I believe that we must be committed to anti-racist work and do so even in the midst of a year defined by disruption.
September 24, 2020
African-American
HBCUs Have A Champion in President Trump
When President Trump says he saved Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) he is 100% correct because he did. He could have cut their funding in his budget, signaled to Republicans they were not a priority, vetoed all bills increasing funding, and refused to publicly tout value, but he didn’t. During this year’s observance of HBCU Week, the record shows that there has been no greater champion for HBCUs in the White House than Donald J. Trump.
September 24, 2020
African-American
Black Students Must Experience Black Life Outside of the U.S.
When I reflect on the Black Lives Matter movement and the many viral images that have galvanized protesters into action, my mind keeps going back to a disquieting video that did not result in belligerent shouting or bloodshed.
September 23, 2020
Opinion
Understanding the Historical Context of the Black Lives Matter Movement
When the National Association for Black Culture Centers brought Dr. James Stewart to Vanderbilt University in 1999 as a keynote speaker, the focus was on understanding the dangers of focusing on multiculturalism as a framework for achieving equity in higher education. He expressed concern that this approach would deflect attention from the long history of […]
September 22, 2020
Students
Can We Judge Colleges by Their Success at Encouraging Grit?
One of my former students recently filled me with hope for the next generation. Clifton Jett Jr. is the director and writer of a play that he was about to bring to the stage, “Black Tar Boulevard,” when the pandemic hit. Although many productions have shut down, Clifton decided instead to pivot and turn the play into an independent film. He says, “We have worked too hard and waited too long to just throw it all away.” He and his team are moving ahead, in a safe and responsible manner.
September 22, 2020
COVID-19
Voter Suppression During COVID-19
Since the United States’ founding, our elections have been fraught with fraud, abuses of power, and the suppression of particular voices. After the enactment of the 15th amendment, which granted the right to vote to former slaves and people of color, numerous measures were put forth to suppress the votes of communities of color. In recent decades, such efforts have come in the form of strict voter ID laws, cuts to early voting days, and purges of voter rolls, to name a few.
September 21, 2020
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