Noose Sent to Black Principal at Brooklyn School - New York Times

Noose Sent to Black Principal at Brooklyn School - New York Times The principal of Canarsie High School received a noose along with a racially charged letter yesterday, the police said. The package was delivered to the school over the weekend and opened yesterday morning.

The principal, Tyona Washington, who is black, is in her first year at the school, which is in Brooklyn.

The hate crimes unit of the Police Department is investigating, but the police said yesterday that there were no suspects.

The letter, found around 10:30, was signed with the name of a white administrator at the school, the police said, adding that they believed that the signature was not genuine.

Black, female leaders battle Baltimore urban woes | U.S. | Reuters

Black, female leaders battle Baltimore urban woes | U.S. | Reuters BALTIMORE (Reuters) - Baltimore has more than its share of urban woes, which city leaders are tackling with a unique approach -- the experience and perspective they share as the first all-black, all-female team to hold the most powerful jobs in town.

Baltimore's top elected posts -- mayor, city council president, chief prosecutor and comptroller -- as of this year all are held by black women.

'People come up and say, 'I'm so excited that women are finally running things in the city,'' said Patricia Jessamy, the Baltimore City State's Attorney, in an interview with Reuters. 'They say, 'We've tried all these other things. This is something new.''

Prioritizing Education Over the Penal System

Prioritizing Education Over the Penal System There are more than two million people incarcerated in America, including 837,000 African-American men, according to data compiled by the Washington-based Children’s Defense Fund.

Marian Wright Edelman, president of the organization, says a 6-year-old Black boy today has a one in three chance of going to prison in his lifetime, while a Latino 6-year-old boy has a one in six chance. A growing number of young Black and Latino women are finding their way behind bars also.

Speaking at a townhall meeting hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in September, Edelman said America has set forth priorities that have been disastrous for the country’s children. “The only universal child policy America will guarantee all of our children is a jail or detention cell after they get into trouble,” she said. “We’re spending three times more per prisoner than per public school pupil in all of our states. That’s the dumbest set of investment priorities I can think of, and we’re standing for it.”

Emerging Scholars

We've called them 'Scholars of Note,' 'Rising Stars' and 'The Academy's New Cast.' Every January, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education presents 10 of higher education's most promising academics. We need your help in identifying next year's selection of Scholars. To nominate an up-and-coming scholar under 40, send a brief description of what makes them exceptional.

Diverse Top 100 Producers of Minority Degrees 2007 - Undergraduate / Baccalaureate Degrees

Diverse Top 100 Producers of Minority Degrees 2007 - Undergraduate / Baccalaureate Degrees ...In this year’s Top 100 undergraduate analysis, we explore trends in gender differences among racial/ethnic groups, as well as several other trends in bachelor’s degree conferrals.

Our trend analysis provides a broad context for processing the detailed Top 100 lists featured in this issue. Many people have a love-hate relationship with rankings. We love them when they place a favorable light on our own institution or our alma mater. But we question, ignore or reject them when they don’t. Despite, or perhaps because of, these emotional reactions, we feel compelled to read them. Diverse’s Top 100 listings are less controversial than many other rankings because they are very simple. We do not purport to be measuring institutional quality or value. We simply recognize those institutions that have conferred the largest number of degrees to minority students. Moreover, we do so across a wide range of disciplinary categories, allowing us to highlight the role of diverse institutions from across the U.S. higher education landscape.

NAACP Wants Apology From Overstock Chief

NAACP Wants Apology From Overstock Chief The founder of Overstock.com rejected the NAACP’s demand for an apology last week after an Internet video surfaced of him saying that Utah minorities who don’t graduate from high school might as well be burned or thrown away.

Patrick Byrne’s comments were posted on YouTube. The video clip was from a debate two weeks ago in Provo, where he was speaking in favor of vouchers, public aid for families sending kids to private schools.

A statewide voucher program that would grant $500 to $3,000 per child based on family income is on the Utah ballot Nov. 6.

On the YouTube video clip, Byrne says: “Right now, 40 percent of Utah minorities are not graduating from high school. You may as well burn those kids. That’s the end of their life. That’s the end of their ability to achieve in this society if they do not get a high school education. You might as, just throw the kids away.”

1 in 10 schools are 'dropout factories' - USATODAY.com

1 in 10 schools are 'dropout factories' - USATODAY.com ...There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That's 12% of all such schools, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, Balfanz says. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row — 2004, 2005 and 2006 — to make sure local events like plant closures weren't to blame for the low retention rates.

The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones — the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services.

Swastikas Drawn Near Hospital and In 2 Dorms - washingtonpost.com

Swastikas Drawn Near Hospital and In 2 Dorms - washingtonpost.com George Washington University police are trying to determine who is responsible for drawing swastikas on two dormitory doors and at an outdoor site near its hospital during the past week, a university spokeswoman said yesterday.

Four swastikas were drawn on the dorm door dry-erase board of a Jewish freshman over several days; the most recent, and largest, was discovered Sunday morning, said spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard. Another swastika was discovered yesterday on the dry-erase board of a student in a different dorm.

GWU President Steven Knapp denounced the incidents, saying the placement of the swastikas "raises the possibility that this is an expression of hatred toward Jewish students."

University police investigating the incidents yesterday also discovered a few swastikas near George Washington University Hospital. Officials said the swastikas near the hospital were different from those found on campus, but they are continuing to investigate. The swastikas near the hospital were accompanied by political graffiti.

Student suspensions, expulsions soar -- baltimoresun.com

Student suspensions, expulsions soar -- baltimoresun.com School suspensions and expulsions have risen significantly in Maryland, with African-Americans, boys and special education students more likely to be disciplined, a University of Maryland researcher said Wednesday. Peter Leone criticized the rising suspension rates, saying students who are suspended many times are more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system.

'When kids are suspended from school, what do you think they are doing?' Leone said. Students are more likely to get into trouble when they are left at home alone than when they are in school, Leone said at a forum sponsored by the Open Society Institute, a nonprofit that has funded projects in Baltimore to address urban problems.

The number of suspensions in Maryland from 1995 to 2003 rose much more rapidly than the number of students, according to figures distributed Wednesday.

In the 2005-2006 school year, 8.7 percent of students in the state were suspended at some point.

"The odds that an African-American student will be suspended is two and a half times the odds of a white student being suspended," Leone said.

Minorities less likely to trick-or-treat - Race & Ethnicity - MSNBC.com

Minorities less likely to trick-or-treat - Race & Ethnicity - MSNBC.com WASHINGTON - Two-thirds of parents say their children will trick-or-treat this Halloween, but fewer minorities will let their kids go door to door, with some citing safety worries, a poll shows.

The survey found that 73 percent of whites versus 56 percent of minorities said their children will trick-or-treat.

That disparity in the survey is similar to the difference in how people view the safety of their neighborhoods, according to the poll by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Lower-income people and minorities are more likely to worry that it might not be safe to send their children out on Halloween night.

Investing in Asian American Women Through Education

Investing in Asian American Women Through Education For promoting education among Asian American women and other accomplishments, Wendy Cai recently became the youngest recipient of the United Nations Population Fund Award for the Health and Dignity of Women.

Cai is one of three American women this year to receive this award from the UNFPA, an international development agency which promotes equal rights for women around the world. Each recipient is honored for making key strides to improve the lives of other women either through their leadership roles in business initiatives, philanthropic endeavors or political action.

Complexity of Immigrants' National Ties Explored

The majority of Hispanic immigrants maintain ties to their native countries by sending money, calling or traveling to their homelands, but most see their future in the United States despite these long-distance links, a new study has found.

Just 9 percent of Latino immigrants are "highly attached" to their birth countries -- defined by researchers as doing all three "transnational activities": dispatching funds, phoning weekly or going home in the past two years. Most sustain moderate bonds by doing one or two. But those attachments fade with time, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report based on a nationwide survey of Latinos.

NPR : New 'Letters from Mississippi' Addresses Omissions

NPR New 'Letters from Mississippi' Addresses Omissions: The book Letters from Mississippi documented the experiences of volunteers who moved to the South during the summer of 1964 to register black voters and work in what were called freedom schools. Published in 1965, it was out of print a year later, dismissed by many of the volunteers who were embarrassed that it only included the experiences of white kids. A new edition has just been published — with an introduction by Julian Bond — that addresses the earlier omissions.

Study: Student Loan Default Rates Highest Among Minorities

Study: Student Loan Default Rates Highest Among Minorities A new analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data shows high student loan default rates for Black and Hispanic students, students who leave college with a heavy debt burden and college graduates who take low-paying jobs.

The NCES data, which disaggregates default loans by student characteristics, paint a picture that’s much different than U.S. Department of Education statistics. The department recently announced that the percentage of students who failed to repay government student loans within the first two years of repayment was 4.5 percent. But NCES data, which is a 10-year follow up on the debt status of students who graduated in 1993, puts the overall default rate at 9.7 percent.

NCES also found that students with $15,000 in loans were nearly three times as likely to default on their loan than a student with $5,000 in loans. Graduates with the lowest salaries in the cohort were four times likely to default than those with the highest salaries.

Study: Dual Enrollment Programs May Increase Access and Success for Low-Income Students

Study: Dual Enrollment Programs May Increase Access and Success for Low-Income Students Dual enrollment programs that permit high school students to enroll in college courses for college credit may increase postsecondary access and success for minorities, males and low-income students, according to a recent report by Community College Research Center.

The CCRC’s report concluded that dual enrollment programs were useful for encouraging postsecondary success for all students, including those on a career and technical education track, by increasing academic rigor, providing more academic electives and helping students acclimate to college life.

The report, “Postsecondary Achievement of Participants in Dual Enrollment: An Analysis of Student Outcomes in Two States,” examines the effects of dual enrollment participation for students in Florida and New York City. “Both states had comprehensive databases that tracked students from high school through college,” says Melinda Karp, lead researcher for the report.

Scholars: Institutional Racism a Mental Health Issue For Black Youth and Families

Scholars: Institutional Racism a Mental Health Issue For Black Youth and Families Some behavioral problems in Black youths can be attributed to their effort to protect themselves from racism, and is a “manifestation of depression,” one researcher told a panel at the seventh annual Diversity Challenge Conference at Boston College.

Dr. Anderson J. Franklin, the Honorable David S. Nelson Professional Chair in Education at Boston College, also noted that dysfunctional housing, such as group homes and foster care, and poor schooling are factors that put children at risk of developing mental disorders. Therefore, Franklin said, the anti-social acts cannot be treated with a simple diagnostic because the issue is deeply rooted in society and institutions.

The way to combat mental issues for youths and their families, Franklin said, is to “treat the illness of institutional racism … a disease that has legal consequences as well as mental consequences.”

Giant leap looming for womankind - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com

Giant leap looming for womankind - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A giant leap is about to be made for womankind.

When space shuttle Discovery blasts off Tuesday, a woman will be sitting in the commander’s seat. And up at the international space station, a female skipper will be waiting to greet her. It will be the first time in the 50-year history of spaceflight that two women are in charge of two spacecraft at the same time.

Symbols of Hatred in the Shadows - washingtonpost.com

Symbols of Hatred in the Shadows - washingtonpost.com: Kara Walker, the celebrated African American conceptual artist, addresses issues related to race and racism in the ugliest of terms. In a world where the presence of a hangman's noose swaying from the limb of a Louisiana tree can incite violence, lopsided prosecutorial zeal and tear-choked demands for justice, Walker creates images so disturbing that they can shock a viewer dumb.

Walker, whose work is the subject of a retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art, doesn't approach racism with the detachment of a historian. But she is not the type to indulge in tearful catharsis or the egocentric bloviation that tends to flow out of the ubiquitous town hall meeting: Pass the mike and let me tell you how my suffering is worse than yours.

A Historical Omission

Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez and colleagues were puzzled to learn of a major World War II documentary to air without the voices of Latino veterans. And then the campaign began.

For nearly a decade, Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez and a small army of students and volunteer colleagues around the country have been aggressively chasing and documenting a rapidly vanishing chapter of American history — the American Latino and Latina experience during World War II.

Along the way, they recorded nearly 600 interviews of about two hours each. They found thousands of pictures of Latinos in uniform, assigned to segregated units by language and, more often than not, treated with much the same disdain as their Black and Asian brothers and sisters. They found families who had as many as five sons in the war at one time and even an American of Mexican descent who had been repatriated to Mexico during the Depression only to be called to duty during the war. He gladly reported to serve.

Hispanic graduation rate at the University of Maryland lagging

For the University of Maryland, adapting to a growing Hispanic population is already a challenge.

The six-year graduation rate among Hispanic students is lagging behind those of white and Asian students by about 15 percent, university President Dan Mote said in his State of the Campus address this year.

But now, with the number of Hispanic students graduating from Maryland high schools expected to triple by 2014, according to statistics commissioned by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Board of Regents, the effort to close the achievement gap has taken on new urgency.

'We use this data to make the case that there needs to be a lot of thought,' said Brian Prescott, a research associate with Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which provided the regents with data on the growth of the Hispanic population. 'Those [minority] students are likely to have different needs and expectations from college than the students that are enrolled.'

Mote mentioned minority graduation rates as one of his few disappointments in his State of the Campus address this year. Black students also face sluggish graduation rates, Mote said, despite the university's public relations campaign that touted the university's success in graduating more black students than many other public institutions.

Latina women and higher education - making it happen

: It wasn’t too long ago that the primary lifetime expectations for women included getting married and having children. These traditions were — and in many regards continue to be — more entrenched in the Latino community, but things are changing. Latinas who earn a degree are no longer the exception. In fact, more Latinas earn doctoral degrees today than their male counterparts.

And yet, Latinas still encounter obstacles like low expectations, financial constraints and a lack of knowledge about what it takes to apply and graduate from college.

Contractor Sued Over Alleged Harassment of Hispanic Workers

: A construction contractor was sued based on allegations that a supervisor referred to workers as 'stupid Mexicans' and said 'Latinos are the slaves of the twenty-first century,' according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Documents filed at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said that a supervisor for the Petaluma-based general contractor Midstate Construction Corporation routinely used crude language to refer to workers, and posed questions to Hispanics concerning drug and alcohol abuse that other workers did not face. These actions constitute harassment due to national origin, EEOC attorneys said.

HBCU Football Graduation Rates Student Athletes

HBCU Football Graduation Rates Student Athletes: Diverse continues its analysis of student-athlete graduation rates, this time focusing on Division I and II football programs at historically Black colleges and universities. We looked at 19 Division I teams and 18 Division II teams, but were unable to do a complete trend analysis from 2002 to 2006 because of insufficient data from one-fourth of the institutions. From 2002 to 2006, nearly 46 percent of all HBCUs increased their Black male graduation rates on average by 12 percent. The 24 percent of schools that saw a decline in graduation rates decreased on average by 9 percent.

Cultural and Linguistic Ambidexterity

Cultural and Linguistic Ambidexterity: ...It might sound like a no-brainer that being bilingual or multilingual helps students planning engineering and just about any other career. But it is certainly true and is becoming more important as the economies of nations become more intertwined. What’s more, being able to go beyond mere language ability and understand cultural distinctions are extra advantages.

In Jena and Beyond, Nooses Return as a Symbol of Hate - washingtonpost.com

In Jena and Beyond, Nooses Return as a Symbol of Hate - washingtonpost.com: ...Nooses have been looped over a tree at the University of Maryland, knotted to the end of stage-rigging ropes at a suburban Memphis theater, slung on the doorknob of a black professor's office at Columbia University in New York, hung in a locker room at a Long Island police station, stuffed in the duffel bag of a black Coast Guard cadet aboard a historic ship, and draped around the necks of black dolls in the Pittsburgh suburbs. The hangman's rope has become so prolific, some say, it could replace the Nazi swastika and the Ku Klux Klan's fiery cross as the nation's reigning symbol of hate.

'I think the noose is replacing the burning cross in the minds of many white people as the primary symbol of the Klan,' said Mark Potok, editor of Intelligence Report, a magazine published by the Southern Poverty Law Center that examines hate groups.

Facing Down The Status Quo - washingtonpost.com

Facing Down The Status Quo - washingtonpost.com: ...The National Museum of African American History and Culture is slowly lifting the curtain on how it will approach the multitude of stories about African Americans. The museum is years away from opening on the Mall. Today its first exhibition opens at its Smithsonian sister the National Portrait Gallery, whose rich materials it scoured to present images from the past 151 years.

Best & Brightest: An Immigrant’s Story From a Community College to Cornell

Best & Brightest: An Immigrant’s Story From a Community College to Cornell: It was a bit unsettling, all the moving around Julio Torres did as a child, from the Dominican Republic, to Puerto Rico, to live with a grandmother; to the United States, to live with an aunt. When he wasn’t moving, he was working: at an auto shop, then selling esquimalitos (homemade ice cream), then he worked jobs at a woodshop — all before the age 17.

All of that moving affected his friendships, but seemed to feed his curiosity and drive.

“I was the boy that would break the toys to see what was inside,” Julio Torres remembers. So when a family friend who was taking an architectural college course came to his home in the Dominican Republic with an illustration of a house, young Julio was amazed by his first introduction to architecture.

“I think that’s where it started,” says Julio, a Cornell University transfer student who graduated from Morrisville State College (MSC) with an associate degree in Architectural Studies & Design in May.

Study: Companies Don’t Spend Enough Time Recruiting at HBCUs

Study: Companies Don’t Spend Enough Time Recruiting at HBCUs: The strategies Fortune 400 companies and government agencies use when looking to recruit new employees from historically Black colleges and universities differ from those they use for predominantly White institutions.

Fortune 400 companies and government agencies used on campus bulletin boards, alumni recommendations, networking and career development officers more frequently at PWIs than at HBCUs, according to a recent study conducted by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and researchers from Alabama A&M University.

Researchers surveyed 280 recruiters from Fortune 400 companies and career development directors at 105 HBCUs and 287 PWIs.

The study indicated that a disproportionate number of graduates from PWIs were hired over those from HBCUs. In 2006, corporations and agencies included in the study hired 31 college graduates and only four were HBCU graduates.

First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard - New York Times

First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard - New York Times: CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 12 — Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard University’s first female president, was inaugurated Friday and offered a spirited defense of American higher education against demands that it quantify what it is teaching and focus primarily on training a global work force.

“The essence of a university is that it is uniquely accountable to the past and to the future — not simply or even primarily to the present,” said Dr. Faust, 60, a Civil War historian and the former head of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at the university.

“A university is not about results in the next quarter,” Dr. Faust said. “It is not even about who a student has become by graduation. It is about learning that molds a lifetime, learning that transmits the heritage of millennia; learning that shapes the future.”

Racial Slur Written on Bench of Harlem Team at Staten Island Game - New York Times

Racial Slur Written on Bench of Harlem Team at Staten Island Game - New York Times: The police and city education officials said yesterday that they were investigating the appearance of a racial slur on a bench that was to be used by a Harlem high school football team at a game on Saturday at Staten Island Technical High School.

Besides trying to determine who was responsible for the slur, school investigators were looking into the response of Staten Island Tech faculty members, said Margie Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. The coach of the Harlem team, sponsored by Wadleigh High School, accused two Staten Island Tech faculty members of trying to trivialize the incident.

The coach, Duke Fergerson, said he noticed the slur written in black ink on the top of a metal bench assigned to his team, the Harlem Hellfighters, about an hour before it was to begin its game at noon against the McKee/Staten Island Tech Seagulls. Mr. Fergerson said the slur contained a common racial epithet and the initials “M.S.I.T.,” which he believed to refer to the Staten Island team.

Perspectives: Using White Privilege To Rank Black Colleges

...I had crunched the numbers, comparing top-tier versus bottom-tier schools for national universities, national liberal arts schools, Southern master’s and Southern baccalaureate colleges and universities. I used the South since that is where we find most HBCUs. I went armed to ask Mr. Kelly why his methodology promotes discrimination against groups which make up a significant portion of America.

When recognized, I asked:

The top half of the top-tier national schools have one-third the total of low income students, one-fifth the total of Black students, and one-tenth the total of non-traditional students of bottom tier schools. Since Black, poor and non-traditional students generally have lower SAT scores, are retained and graduate at lower levels than White, affluent and traditional students, aren’t you rewarding those, with few exceptions, that enroll a minimum number of students from these groups while penalizing those of us who serve these students?

Runways Fade to White

In the days of blithe racial assumptions, flesh crayons were the color of white people. “Invisible” makeup and nude pantyhose were colored in the hues of Caucasian skin. The decision by manufacturers to ignore whole segments of humanity went unchallenged for decades before the civil rights movement came along and nonwhite consumers started demanding their place on the color wheel.

Improving Outcomes of Latino Students Focus of Forum

Improving Outcomes of Latino Students Focus of Forum: Latino college students who have the support of their families, start college planning by the eighth grade, take three or more years of mathematics, and start at a four-year institution are more likely to finish college, according to a new report that suggests these attributes form a strategy for closing the college-completion gap between Latino and Whites.

The Educational Policy Institute’s study, “Latino Students and the Educational Pipeline,” was among the strategies educators, researchers, and policymakers discussed Wednesday at the institute’s national capital summit on Latino students and educational opportunity.

The problem: less than a quarter of Latino college students graduate with a four-year degree within 10 years of leaving high school – less than half the rate of White students.

“We have come a long way, but the mission to champion Hispanic success in higher education remains constant. The challenges go beyond success in higher education, we have to deal with public perception,” Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of College and Universities (HACU) told attendees.

Study Notes College-access Barriers Faced By Asian American Students

Study Notes College-access Barriers Faced By Asian American Students: Despite the pervasive “model-minority” myth of overachieving Asian Americans easily getting into U.S. colleges and universities, a study at the University of California, Los Angeles has found that more Asian American students are facing problems in accessing higher education opportunities than ever before.

“That myth prevents us from recognizing the issues for large portions of Asian American student populations — that do not fit that myth and in some cases are struggling more than other groups in the country,” says Dr. Michael Chang, the study’s co-author and an associate professor of education at UCLA. The study, “Beyond Myths: The Growth and Diversity of Asian American College Freshmen, 1971-2005,” analyzed the past 35 years and more than 361,000 Asian American, first-time, full-time college students.

Conducted as part of UCLA’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program and administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, it is the largest compilation and analysis of data on Asian American college students ever undertaken.

Partying, Seriously - washingtonpost.com

Partying, Seriously - washingtonpost.com: ... The Hispanic Heritage awards held at Washington's Renaissance Marriott. The purpose? To honor Big Names among Hispanics for work in education, sports, science, the arts and for the alluring-sounding 'vision.' Dawson is Vision (and a vision herself in slinky gray silk), recognized for founding Voto Latino, an organization dedicated to increasing voter registration among young Hispanics.

Cops: Columbia Turns Over Security Tapes - washingtonpost.com

Cops: Columbia Turns Over Security Tapes - washingtonpost.com: NEW YORK -- The graduate school where a noose was found on the door of a black professor agreed Thursday to turn over security videotape after withholding it while police sought a subpoena to acquire the evidence.

Police claim that Teachers College _ Columbia University's graduate school of education _ had agreed to give up the tape without a court order Wednesday. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said police officials were 'disappointed and surprised' by the delay in a case that rocked the Ivy League campus.

Teachers College spokeswoman Diane Dobry said the school wanted to work in "the spirit of cooperation" with police, but privacy laws required it to demand a court order. Since a subpoena was obtained, "We are giving them everything," she said.

Investigators plan to review several hours of tape from up to seven digital security cameras in and around the building where the noose was discovered early Tuesday morning on the doorknob of the office of Madonna Constantine, Browne said.

Rutgers To Recruit Future Students — Starting in Eighth Grade

Rutgers To Recruit Future Students — Starting in Eighth Grade: Officials at Rutgers University in New Jersey hope that a new pilot program will help lure more minority and low-income students to the state institution.

During his recent annual address before the university, Rutgers’ President Richard L. McCormick announced the launch of the Rutgers Future Scholars Program. According to university officials, school districts in Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, and Piscataway — where Rutgers’ campuses are located — will select a group of eighth graders each year who will receive invitations to campus events, as well as college-planning advice and test preparation. The students will also receive a guarantee of free tuition if they are admitted to Rutgers.

“It really is part of a comprehensive program to work on diversity issues at the university,” says Courtney McAnuff, vice president for enrollment management at Rutgers. “We’re just concerned that there’s not enough opportunity for some of those youngsters who come from urban areas. And the university has made a commitment to the students that they will have no student loans if they go here.”

New Report: College Readiness of Latino Students Improving

New Report: College Readiness of Latino Students Improving: Latino high school graduates are more prepared for college and workforce training than they were in 2002, according to a recent report released by The ACT, a national achievement testing firm.

The report, “State of College Readiness for Latino Students,” examined college readiness among Latino students in 11th and 12th grades. According to the report, Latino high school graduates of the class of 2006 increased their average ACT composite, English, mathematics, reading and science scores. Researchers found the improvements particularly astounding, since nearly 20,000 more Latino graduates took the ACT in 2006 than in 2002.

Improvements in math and science among Latinos in the class 2006 were a direct result of more challenging course work, experts say.

“Between 2002 and 2006, there were slight increases in the percentages of Latino high school students taking higher-level courses. Students enrolled in higher-level mathematics courses, such as trigonometry or calculus, and higher-level science courses, such as chemistry or anatomy, appeared to increase average ACT mathematics and science scores of Latino high school graduates,” says Scott Golmer, spokesman for The ACT.

'Jena 6' case in La. spurs copycats - USATODAY.com

'Jena 6' case in La. spurs copycats - USATODAY.com: On the campus of the University of Maryland, where a third of the students are minorities, a noose is found hanging from a tree in front of a building that houses black organizations.

At the Model Secondary School for the Deaf on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., seven students, six white and one black, assault a black student and scrawl KKK and swastikas all over him.

The incidents are among at least a dozen racial incidents across the country found in news reports since the case of the 'Jena Six.' The six black teens were charged with beating a white student after a series of racial incidents that included white students hanging nooses from a schoolyard tree.

In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening - New York Times

In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening - New York Times: ...The spread of iPods into classrooms comes at a time when many school districts across the country have outlawed the portable players from their buildings — along with cellphones and DVD players — because they pose a distraction, or worse, to students. In some cases, students have been caught cheating on tests by loading answers, mathematical formulas and notes onto their iPods.

Pedro Noguera, a sociology professor at New York University who studies urban schools, said that more districts were using new technologies like iPods to connect with students. For instance, he said, teachers have designed video games around history lessons and assigned students to re-enact novels and plays on YouTube.

“You know the No. 1 complaint about school is that it’s boring because the traditional way it’s taught relies on passive learning,” Mr. Noguera said. “It’s not interactive enough.”

Group Wants Hate-crime Inquiry into Mexican Flag Incident at the University of New Mexico

Group Wants Hate-crime Inquiry into Mexican Flag Incident at the University of New Mexico: The New Mexico League of United Latin American Citizens has asked state and federal officials to investigate a University of New Mexico student who is accused of tearing down a Mexican flag.

Peter Lynch, 30, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge of criminal damage to property after tearing up a Mexican flag on campus last month. He has admitted tearing down the flag but said he was acting out of patriotism because the Mexican flag wasn’t accompanied by an American flag.

“This was a hate crime that can no way be hidden under the color of patriotic,” said John Moya, president of the Albuquerque LULAC Council.

Lynch said those who say he acted out of hate are “trying to make themselves out to be the victims, when in fact the American flag was the victim.”

The incident stemmed from miscommunication. The Mexican flag, put up for Mexican Independence Day, was never supposed to be left flying by itself. When the Army ROTC went to retire the U.S. and state flags on the evening of Sept. 14, they left the Mexican flag because they thought its owners would take it down. That didn’t happen."

Racial Disparities in Health Care Headlines UVA Symposium

Racial Disparities in Health Care Headlines UVA Symposium: A nine-member panel discussion on HIV/AIDS by community activists and health care providers last week ended the three-day Symposium on Race and Society hosted by the University of Virginia Health System designed to call attention to the issue of health disparities in the United States.

A crowd of about 150 community members, and UVA faculty and students filled Jordan Hall Conference Center Auditorium to hear the professionals field questions such as what barriers prevent people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS from taking their medication. What inhibited people with a diagnosis from disclosing their disease to others? And how to fight the secrecy that surrounds the disease and helps it spread throughout the community?

Graduation Rate Minority Student Football Athletes

Graduation Rate Minority Student Football Athletes: What college athletic teams enroll high numbers of minority athletes and graduate them in six years? Over the next few weeks, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education will present graduation rate data, highlighting the successes or failures of major Division I sports teams, starting with football.

Methodology: Most of the data that will be presented comes from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the National Center for Education Statistics on enrollment and six-year graduation rates at major institutions, broken down by sport and race, as self-reported by students. The 2002 numbers reflect how many students who enrolled in 1996 graduated by 2002. The data only reflect those who have received athletic financial aid. IPEDS did not have graduation data for all Division I teams. For example, most Ivy League institutions did not report student-athlete graduation data because they do not offer athletics aid.

The most recent data, graduation rates from 2006, can be found with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which receives information directly from schools and makes it available faster than the NCES. This week, the NCAA released new data on Graduation Success Rates (GSR) for schools by race, ethnicity, sport and gender but not raw enrollment numbers.

John Mellencamp Official Website

John Mellencamp Official Website

John Mellencamp releases song about Jena. The song's story is not strictly about the town of Jena or the specific incidents that occurred there, but of racism in America. Mellencamp's song opens, "An all-white jury hides the executioner's face; See how we are, me and you?" As he sings, images of Jena, the high school and the tree are followed by video from the 1960s, including civil rights marchers, police beatings, and President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King speaking. Still images include one of a protest sign reading, "God demands segregation," a stylized drawing of people in Ku Klux Klan robes and an older image of a black man in shackles, begging.

Use the link to hear the song.

Albert Einstein, Civil Rights activist - The Harvard University Gazette

Albert Einstein, Civil Rights activist - The Harvard University Gazette: Einstein’s response to the racism and segregation he found in Princeton was to cultivate relationships in the town’s African-American community. Jerome and Taylor interviewed members of that community who still remember the white-haired, disheveled figure of Einstein strolling through their streets, stopping to chat with the inhabitants, and handing out candy to local children.

Here’s something you probably don’t know about Albert Einstein.

In 1946, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist traveled to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the alma mater of Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall and the first school in America to grant college degrees to blacks. At Lincoln, Einstein gave a speech in which he called racism “a disease of white people,” and added, “I do not intend to be quiet about it.” He also received an honorary degree and gave a lecture on relativity to Lincoln students.

The reason Einstein’s visit to Lincoln is not better known is that it was virtually ignored by the mainstream press, which regularly covered Einstein’s speeches and activities. (Only the black press gave extensive coverage to the event.) Nor is there mention of the Lincoln visit in any of the major Einstein biographies or archives."

NPR : County Apologizes to Emmett Till Family

NPR : County Apologizes to Emmett Till Family: More than 50 years ago, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was kidnapped and murdered by two white men in the Mississippi community where he'd been visiting family. The killers were acquitted by an all-white jury at the Tallahatchie County courthouse. And it was at that courthouse on Tuesday that community leaders in the rural town of Sumner apologized to Till's family.

New HBCU Rankings Get Mixed Reviews

New HBCU Rankings Get Mixed Reviews: U.S. News & World Report has launched a new ranking series, “America’s Best Black Colleges,” which ranks historically Black colleges and universities separately but by using the same methodology as its annual “America’s Best Colleges” rankings.

The inspiration behind the new series, Kenneth Terrell, assistant managing editor for education at U.S. News, says came from readers and an effort to show the relevancy of Black institutions, which don’t normally do well in the annual rankings when compared to the more than 4,000 other colleges and universities.

“We think that it’s very important to show that Black colleges are rewarding institutions, and we want them to be more visible, and for our readers to see the tremendous experience they have to offer to not only Black students but first-generation college students, other students of color and ones that come from low-income and disadvantage communities,” Terrell says.

Only four-year institutions that are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as HBCUs and had appeared in the U.S. News’ annual “America’s Best Colleges” rankings were eligible to participate in the new ranking series, Terrell says.

Police: Black student marked with 'KKK' at deaf school - CNN.com

Police: Black student marked with 'KKK' at deaf school - CNN.com: Police: Black student marked with 'KKK' at deaf school

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A weekend incident with racial overtones at a high school for deaf students could result in criminal charges with "enhanced penalties for a hate crime," Metro Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Wednesday.

A black student was held against his will and then released with "KKK" and swastikas drawn on him in marker at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf on Sunday, she said.

No charges have been filed, and no names have been released, Lanier said.

The incident began when a group of black students and a group of white students were in a dorm. "My understanding is the two groups engaged in friendly horseplay," she said.

But, she said, the groups got "angry with each other."

The two groups separated, she said, but later, six white students and one black student -- all between the ages of 15 and 19 -- took one of the black students into a dorm room and "held him there against his will."

"They used markers to write 'KKK' and draw swastikas on the student," Lanier said.

The student was released after about 45 minutes. He notified dorm and school authorities, who called police.

Lanier said police have identified and interviewed the students involved and the "investigation is ongoing."

National Hispanic Heritage Month

National Hispanic Heritage Month: The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have positively influenced and enriched our nation and society.

National Hispanic Heritage Month: National Register of Historic Places Celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2007

National Hispanic Heritage Month: National Register of Historic Places Celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2007: The National Register of Historic Places is pleased to help foster the general public's awareness, understanding, and appreciation for Hispanic culture during National Hispanic Heritage Month. As part of the celebration, this site highlights various properties listed in the National Register, travel itineraries, education lesson plans and National Parks that deal directly with the ingenuity, creativity, cultural, and political experiences of Hispanic Americans. Join the National Register of Historic Places in recognizing and exploring the achievements of a people that have contributed so much to American culture.

Education World Lesson Planning: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!

Education World Lesson Planning: Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month!: September 15 to October 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month. Education World offers a pinata full of activities that will help teachers focus attention on the contributions of people of Hispanic heritage to the history of the United States.

Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 44 million people in the United States are of Hispanic origin. That's about 14 percent of us!

Teaching of the contributions of Hispanic Americans, and learning about the cultures from which they come, will be the focal point of many classroom activities and discussions in the weeks ahead as students across the United States recognize Hispanic Heritage Month -- September 15 to October 15.

Smithsonian Education - Hispanic Heritage Teaching Resources

Smithsonian Education - Hispanic Heritage Teaching Resources: Each year, the Smithsonian honors Hispanic Heritage Month with a calendar full of activities. Visit the Hispanic Heritage Month website each September 15 - October 15 for more information on the events in the Washington, DC area.

Dream In Color

Dream In Color: In an effort to bring this celebration to life, we’ve partnered with the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Through the wonderful tradition of storytelling, your students can learn more about their diverse backgrounds and take pride in their distinct cultures. By taking notice of the details of their daily lives through their writing, students of all ages can explore and express the unique family and cultural heritage that helps make up their identity. Our fun and inspiring storytelling activities, grade-appropriate lesson plans, videos and helpful resources are all of the materials you’ll need to help them create their own stories now and throughout the school year.

Census numbers show education divide among immigrant groups - CNN.com

Census numbers show education divide among immigrant groups - CNN.com: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly one in five people living in the United States speaks a language at home other than English, according to new census data that illustrate the wide-ranging effects of immigration.

The number of immigrants nationwide reached an all-time high of 37.5 million in 2006, affecting incomes and education levels in many cities across the country. But the effects have not been uniform.

In most states, immigrants have added to the number of those lacking a high-school diploma, with almost half of those from Latin America falling into that category.

However, at the other end of the education spectrum, Asian immigrants are raising average education levels in many states, with nearly half of them holding at least a bachelor's degree.

Hispanic entrepreneurship, buying power on the rise - CNN.com

Hispanic entrepreneurship, buying power on the rise - CNN.com: (CNN) -- If you don't think Hispanics are a major force in the American marketplace, think again.

Hispanic business ownership is growing three times as fast as the national average and Hispanic purchasing power is expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2011, according to the Census Bureau and other studies.

All too aware of this growing force, many companies are wooing Hispanic consumers and their spending power.

"The Hispanic consumer market here in the U.S. is actually as big or bigger than the GDP [gross domestic product] of Mexico or Canada," Michael Barrera, CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told CNN. "We're the second largest economy in North America."

Latino wage-earners still lag behind the national average, with median personal income of $20,000 in 2005, compared to $26,900 for the nation as a whole, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

Teachers Against Prejudice

Teachers Against Prejudice

TAP Proudly Presents

The 2007-2008 Essay Contest!

TAP is conducting our Eighth Annual International Essay and Media Contest to commence on October 1, 2007; the deadline is December 15, 2007. The winners will be notified by March 1, 2008 and, with permission, winning entries will be posted on our website by April 15, 2008. This contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 5 through 12 in public and independent schools. There are two separate categories, one for middle school students (grades 5—8) and one for high school students (grades 9—12).