At-Risk Youth Group Urges Federal Support for Tested Interventions

At-Risk Youth Group Urges Federal Support for Tested Interventions: Officials with a national advocacy organization for at-risk teenage students urged Washington, D.C., policymakers on Tuesday to enact federally supported initiatives that would provide youths at risk for dropping out of high school educational and social support to help them earn diplomas, postsecondary education opportunities and job training.

Convening its second annual thought leader symposium, which was billed “Closing the Achievement Gap in Education and Employment Outcomes for At-Risk Minority Youth,” the Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) organization brought Washington policymakers, including Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, and JAG national organization and affiliate officials together for a forum that touted scalable and tested interventions for at-risk high school students.

“We’re advocating solutions proven to be scalable and verified through research,” Maine Gov. John E. Balducci told an audience of 150 state, federal, corporate and JAG officials attending the thought leader symposium.

Blacks at Higher Risk of Colon Polyps, Study Says

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Blacks are more likely than whites to have large colon polyps, and their tumors tend to be located higher in the colon where they are harder to detect, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.

Blacks are already known to have higher rates of colon cancer than whites and up to 43 percent higher death rates from the disease, which kills 52,000 Americans annually.

Researchers said several factors may account for the racial disparity in colon cancer rates, including genetic differences that account for about a third of all cases of the disease. But blacks also have poorer access to health care and lower rates of participation when screening is offered.

Since 1985, colon cancer has risen among black men and is unchanged among black women, while declining by as much as 25 percent among whites, the report in the Journal of the American Medical Association said.

Early detection of colon cancer is considered a key to successful treatment.

In a study of nearly 5,500 blacks and more than 80,000 whites who had colonoscopies, researchers at Portland VA Medical Center found nearly 8 percent of blacks had one or more polyps sized more than 9 millimeters in diameter compared to slightly more than 6 percent of whites.

The tumors detected in blacks were more likely to be in the upper part of the colon where a sigmoidoscopy -- a procedure that looks only at the lower half of the colon -- would be unlikely to find it.

The incidence of large polyps was noticeably high among black women younger than age 50, the age when adults are recommended to begin getting regular colonoscopies.

"If this finding is confirmed in other studies, consideration should be given to initiation of screening before age 50 years in black women," wrote David Lieberman, who led the team performing the study.

"These data strongly emphasize the importance of timely screening in black women and men," he added.

University of Florida Law School Celebrates 50 Years of Integration

University of Florida Law School Celebrates 50 Years of Integration: Virgil Hawkins never reached the promised land in his attempt to gain admission to the University of Florida law school, but he was honored Wednesday as a trailblazer in the fight to open the school’s doors to minority students.

UF’s Levin College of Law celebrated the work of Hawkins and other pioneers in its Constitution Day observance Wednesday as it marked the 50th anniversary of integration at Florida’s flagship university, where more than 12,000 Blacks have graduated as part of his legacy.

Hawkins waged a nine-year legal battle to attend Florida’s law school and included five trips to the Florida Supreme Court and four trips through the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hawkins, who died in 1988 at the age of 81, never was able to attend the University of Florida. As part of an agreement to desegregate the state’s universities in 1958, Hawkins agreed to withdraw his application to attend the UF Law School.

Poll: Views Still Differ Sharply by Race

Poll: Views Still Differ Sharply by Race: Since the nation’s birth, Americans have discussed race and avoided it, organized neighborhoods and political movements around it, and used it to divide and hurt people even as relations have improved dramatically since the days of slavery, Reconstruction and legal segregation.

Now, in what could be a historic year for a Black presidential candidate, a new Associated Press-Yahoo News poll, conducted with Stanford University, shows just how wide a gap remains between Whites and Blacks.

It shows that a substantial portion of White Americans still harbor negative feelings toward Blacks. It shows that Blacks and Whites disagree tremendously on how much racial prejudice exists, whose fault it is and how much influence Blacks have in politics.

Immigrants follow U.S.-borns' path often to Sun Belt - USATODAY.com

Immigrants follow U.S.-borns' path often to Sun Belt - USATODAY.com: Foreign-born Americans are moving from place to place in patterns similar to those of the U.S.-born, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census data out today offering the first detailed look at migration since the beginning of the decade.

The foreign-born, who in the 1990s concentrated in enclaves in large metropolitan areas, are increasingly following the same trajectory as natives. They're often leaving congested, expensive coastal cities for smaller, middle-class metro areas where schools are better and housing is cheaper.

It's the first time since the 2000 Census that such detail on the movement of Americans in and out of thousands of places has been collected.

The 2007 numbers open a window on the effects of a tumultuous decade marked by terrorist attacks, natural disasters, globalization and a housing boom and collapse.

Data Show Big Dip in Migration To the U.S. - washingtonpost.com

Data Show Big Dip in Migration To the U.S. - washingtonpost.com: The number of immigrants coming to the United States slowed substantially in 2007, with the nation's foreign-born population growing by only 511,000, compared with about a million a year since 2000, according to Census figures released today.

In 14 states, the foreign-born population declined, including in such traditional immigrant gateways as New Jersey and Illinois and such newer destinations as Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.

The Washington area's immigrant population continued to grow, but much more slowly, increasing by 25,916, compared with average yearly increases of 37,091 since 2000.

Demographers said the data, which were part of a diverse release of social, economic and housing characteristics, reflected the economic slowdown.

"I think this shows that immigrants are keeping an eye on the economy when they make their decision on whether to come or where to live in the United States," said William H. Frey, a researcher with the Brookings Institution who analyzed the numbers. "When the economy appears to be in decline -- particularly for the kind of construction, retail and service jobs that immigrants are inclined to take -- they are less attracted to us."

Diversity advocate Nancy Hicks Maynard dies at 61 - USATODAY.com

Diversity advocate Nancy Hicks Maynard dies at 61 - USATODAY.com: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nancy Hicks Maynard, the first black female reporter at The New York Times who, with her husband, became publisher of the Oakland Tribune and the founder a renowned institute that trains minority journalists, has died. She was 61.

Maynard died Sunday, said the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. She had been ill for several months.

'She was a fearless, astute champion of diversity in news media,' A. Steve Montiel, a former president of the institute, said in a statement posted on the site. 'We've lost a leader who made a difference.'

The former Nancy Hicks began her journalism career in the mid-1960s at the New York Post. Later, at age 23, she became the first black female reporter at The New York Times.

After marrying Washington Post reporter Robert C. Maynard in 1975, the couple helped found the non-profit institute that bears their name to train minority journalists.

Suit Filed Against New Mexico State University

Suit Filed Against New Mexico State University: Four current and former New Mexico State University faculty members and a graduate student have filed a lawsuit in federal court charging university administrators with racial discrimination and unfair professional retaliation.

Four plaintiffs allege they were racially and sexually discriminated against in the university’s Department of Health Science and then lost their positions or were denied promotions after they complained about the problems, the 37-page complaint said.

The plaintiffs include faculty members Satya Rao, who is East Indian; former faculty members Dr. Yelena Bird, who is Black, and her husband, Dr. John Moraros, who is of Greek and Hispanic descent; and graduate student Freedom Cheteni, who is from Zimbabwe.

A fifth plaintiff, Robert Buckingham, who is White, alleged he was retaliated against professionally for refusing to help administrators support charges of plagiarism against Bird and Moraros, the complaint said.

Hispanic Heritage Month 2008

On September 15, academic institutions and cultural groups nationwide embarked on a month-long celebration of Hispanic heritage and culture. Initially begun as a week-long observance in 1968, National Hispanic Heritage Month was expanded in 1988 to 30 days. September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration to include the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Report Calls for Presidential Commission on Latino Issues

The University of Denver (DU) Latino Center and Grupo Salinas' Fundacion Azteca America, a non-profit affiliate of Azteca America Television Network, are calling for a U.S. presidential commission on Latino issues to increase access to educational, health, economic and civic opportunities.

The recommendation was part of a report that also concludes that a lack of immigration reform widens disparities and limits the future progress of the Latino population and the nation.

DU and Fundacion Azteca America had previously released the introduction to the report during the Democratic National Convention. On Monday, they released the full report in anticipation of a Sept. 23 televised policy briefing for members of the U.S. Congress and representatives of the presidential campaigns.

The report, “The State of Latinos 2008: Defining an Agenda for the Future,' was produced by the university’s Latino Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship.

The Next Best Thing to Family

The Next Best Thing to Family: A generation ago, Latina sororities were in their infancy on American college campuses. Membership has ebbed and flowed since the founding of the first one, Lambda Theta Alpha, at Kean University in Union, N. J., in December 1975.

Though still small in member numbers today, compared to more long-established mainstream fraternities and sororities, Latina sororities have emerged as an important ingredient for success for many Hispanic women in college. They find Latina sororities fill a personal void other campus groups don’t. “

They are looking for cultural identity and community service,” says Yvonne Hernandez, a member of Kappa Delta Chi and chair of the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO), the umbrella council for 23 nationally recognized Hispanic Greek-letter groups. “Once you get them active, they are passionate about getting involved in the community.”

New Study Examines Diversity in STEM Fields

New Study Examines Diversity in STEM Fields: A shortage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workers is threatening to push the United States from its global leadership position as a key innovator in these fields, say CEOs and other executives at Fortune 1000 STEM companies.

Most of the executives agree that more minorities and women must enter STEM fields to solve the talent deficit. At present, Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians account for only 8 percent of employees, according the executives surveyed in a new Bayer Corporation study examining diversity in STEM fields. Women make up 20 percent.

Across the board executives blamed the pre-college school system for low representation of women and minorities in science and technology fields.

Dr. Mae Jemison, who made history as the first Black woman to go into space, agrees that grade school experiences play a major role in determining how many women and minorities go into science and technology.

Nearly all the executives surveyed say the best way for students to learn science is through a hands-on approach. Jemison agrees, and goes on to explain that every child finds science fascinating. “But then we go into school, it’s drilled out of us because we don’t teach science in exploratory way ... kids are just taught to memorize things.”"

Michigan State Revokes Mugabe’s Honorary Degree

Michigan State Revokes Mugabe’s Honorary Degree: Michigan State University trustees Friday stripped Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of an honorary law degree it gave him in 1990, citing a pattern of human rights abuses and political repression.

Mugabe led the successful struggle to overcome White minority rule over what then was called Rhodesia. But he now faces wide domestic and international opposition because of Zimbabwe’s economic collapse and his crackdown on opponents.

A Zimbabwe diplomat said the board’s timing is odd − one day after Mugabe announced a power-sharing agreement with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe, 84, has received more than 50 honorary degrees over the years, said Wilbert Gwashavanhu, political counselor at the Zimbabwe Embassy in Washington.

“If they want to revoke that honorary degree, he probably doesn’t even remember it,” Gwashavanhu told The Associated Press by telephone. “He has worked for his country. He’s a national hero.”

Michigan State said in July that it was considering whether to revoke the degree."

Education Department Expands Web Site to Promote College-going Culture

Education Department Expands Web Site to Promote College-going Culture: Soon, aspiring college students will use a federal Web site to share their goals and dreams for higher education.

The Department of Education (DoE) plans to expand its College.gov Web site to allow students to create and write messages about why they want go to college.

The Education department posted the Web site May 25 on a trial basis, planning an official roll-out later this month with a promotional blitz in late fall and winter.

The site provides information and resources about planning, preparing and paying for higher education. College.gov aims to encourage high schoolers, especially those from underrepresented groups, to prepare for college.

“We focus on students who are first generation, English-as-a-second language, low-income (and) those who didn’t have an adult in their life,” explains Vickie Schray, deputy assistant secretary for higher education.

Registered users will be able to upload a photo and an “I’m Going” statement about why they want to attend college. They can link their message to Facebook profiles or other Web sites and send them to others. Students in focus groups said they wanted to hear from others in similar situations."

Scholars Blame Low Minority Retention in STEM on Affirmative Action

Scholars Blame Low Minority Retention in STEM on Affirmative Action: Minority students are leaving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines in disproportionate numbers before graduating, because affirmative action may be placing students in rigorous academic settings for which they are not prepared, a panel of scholars told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Friday.

Some scholars told the commission, which is charged with monitoring federal civil rights enforcement, the system of “mismatching” may hurt minority students in STEM who are induced to attend selective schools.

In 1990, underrepresented minorities received 10 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded in the sciences and engineering. By 2004, underrepresented minorities constituted 17.2 percent of students awarded science and engineering degrees, according to the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology.

Despite these gains, Black, Hispanic, South East Asian and American Indian students continue to be less likely to complete degrees in agricultural sciences, engineering and physical sciences, when compared to their counterparts in all science and engineering fields.

National graduation data for STEM majors reveal that by the sixth year of college, only about 29 percent of minority students majoring in a STEM field graduate compared to about 40 percent of all students entering STEM majors.

States hire foreign teachers to ease shortages - USATODAY.com

States hire foreign teachers to ease shortages - USATODAY.com: BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) — The school system in coastal Baldwin County — 60 miles by 25 miles of Alabama farmland framed on two sides by waterfront towns — was short on teachers, especially in courses such as math and science.

So short, in fact, that district officials went around the world last year, with expenses paid by a teacher recruiting firm, and brought back Michel Olalo of Manila and 11 other Filipinos to teach along the shores of the Gulf Coast and Mobile Bay and in the communities in between.

That raised some eyebrows in Baldwin County, where nine out of 10 people are white, just one in 50 is foreign-born and, as the county's teacher recruiter Tom Sisk noted recently, 'Many of our children will never travel outside the United States.'

Yet school administrators throughout the U.S. are plucking from an abundance of skilled international teachers, a burgeoning import that critics call shortsighted but educators here and abroad say meets the needs of students and qualified candidates.

'All my friends were applying,' said Olalo, hired through San Mateo, Calif.-based Avenida International Consultants to teach physics. 'I thought, why don't I try it? Luckily, when I was lined up for an interview, it was people from Baldwin County.'

CDC: Blacks, gays at high risk for new HIV infections - CNN.com

CDC: Blacks, gays at high risk for new HIV infections - CNN.com: ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Young black gay men, black women and white gay men in their 30s and 40s are much more likely to be newly infected with HIV than other groups in the United States, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The analysis -- based on figures showing that the HIV infection rate for 2006 is much worse than previously thought -- looks at the number of new HIV infections and who gets them. The study appears in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

It shows 53 percent of the estimated 56,000 cases of new HIV infection in 2006 were among gay and bisexual men, and 46 percent of the infections occurred among blacks. Within the gay and bisexual group, young black men (13 to 29 years old ) were roughly twice as likely to get infected as young white and young Hispanic men. And among women, black women were almost 15 times more likely to get HIV than white women and almost four times more likely than Hispanic women.

These new figures -- highlighting which age, gender and racial groups are at higher risk -- are based on data released by the CDC in August. Those numbers showed that new HIV infections for 2006 were 40 percent higher than the CDC had previously estimated.

For payout or pride, more claim Native American heritage - USATODAY.com

For payout or pride, more claim Native American heritage - USATODAY.com: A new generation of Americans is identifying itself as Native American, pushing the growth rate of that group higher than the nation's general population.

Those identifying themselves as at least part American Indian grew from 4.1 million in 2000 to 4.5 million last year, according to U.S. Census data released in August — a 10% increase.

The total American population grew an estimated 7.7% over that period, the data show.

Demographers say the growth, too large to attribute to birth rates, comes after more than a century of Native Americans choosing to hide their ethnicity over fear of discrimination.

'There's less of a stigma with Indians identifying themselves than there was in the past,' says Jacqueline Johnson Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C.

Where are Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders in Higher Education? The Academy Speaks

Where are Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders in Higher Education? The Academy Speaks: How does your university or college classify Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students and faculty? Most continue to misclassify Pacific peoples within the Asian category, despite the fact that over a decade ago, the federal government issued a policy directive to create the racial category of “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.” The implications of this misclassification are detrimental to the recruitment and retention of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders in higher education. For example, at Wesleyan University, where I teach, the profile of the class of 2012 does not even list this category under its “students of color” category (it also leaves out the category American Indians and Alaska Natives), which only includes: “Black/African American,” “Asian/Asian American,” and “Latino/Hispanics.”

The addition of the “Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander” category was made in 1997, when the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Directive 15: Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative required by Congress since 1977. These standards are required by Congress and have guided the collection of racial and ethnic data by federal agencies, researchers, business and industry.

Parents, Community Holds Key to Hispanic Education Achievement

Parents and family are the No. 1 enablers, and the No. 1 obstacles” to student success, Sara Martinez Tucker, the undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education, told a group of educators, parents and community organizers at the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans on Thursday.

During the daylong summit, held to discuss education reform and Hispanic education attainment, speakers tackled topics from Hispanic high school dropout rates to parental and family involvement in education. Tucker encouraged the audience to “take some of these best practices and give to communities,” to help the children.

Greater community involvement was often cited as a key component to decreasing high school dropout rates and promoting higher education, and thus, a better quality of life. Some promoted educational services to children outside of the classroom, while others lauded community-based programs.

The vice president for children’s programs, Clara López, and development director, María López, of a multifaceted program designed to help Hispanic students and parents get involved in education from pre-school to college presented on the subject.

Eduardo Cancino, assistant superintendent from Hidalgo, Texas, applauded community programs and also noted the efforts of public schools. Cancino has implemented a variety of programs focused on increasing the number of college-bound students in the community, as well as promoting adult literacy, financial literacy and parental empowerment. He said that it was important to “strengthen the home environment.

Other speakers also emphasized the importance of families.

NAFEO Report Highlights HBCU Role in Graduating Black Students, Attracting Diversity

A report released by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) Tuesday credited historically Black colleges and universities with a disproportionately large share of Black educational gains over the past two decades.

Coinciding with the 2008 National HBCU Week Conference in Washington, the NAFEO report, “The State of Blacks in Higher Education,” revealed that HBCUs “awarded nearly 50 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to Blacks in the natural and physical sciences, a little more than 25 percent of all bachelor’s degrees in engineering, and nearly 25 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to Blacks.”

“This is an outstanding achievement given that HBCUs are only 3.3 percent of all the institutions,” the report notes.

“It will be an annual report that we will put out each year. What I think the data show is that although Black colleges tend to be woefully and disproportionately underrepresented in terms of public dollars … with the dollars that are invested in HBCUs, we’re having significantly greater output,” says Dr. Leslie Baskerville, NAFEO president.

Baskerville adds the report points out that HBCU “engineering programs were making progress; that directly aligns with the fact that we got federal dollars earmarked for HBCU science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.”

As Barriers Disappear, Some Gender Gaps Widen

When men and women take personality tests, some of the old Mars-Venus stereotypes keep reappearing. On average, women are more cooperative, nurturing, cautious and emotionally responsive. Men tend to be more competitive, assertive, reckless and emotionally flat. Clear differences appear in early childhood and never disappear.

What’s not clear is the origin of these differences. Evolutionary psychologists contend that these are innate traits inherited from ancient hunters and gatherers. Another school of psychologists asserts that both sexes’ personalities have been shaped by traditional social roles, and that personality differences will shrink as women spend less time nurturing children and more time in jobs outside the home.

To test these hypotheses, a series of research teams have repeatedly analyzed personality tests taken by men and women in more than 60 countries around the world. For evolutionary psychologists, the bad news is that the size of the gender gap in personality varies among cultures. For social-role psychologists, the bad news is that the variation is going in the wrong direction. It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal Botswanan clan seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to diverge.

These findings are so counterintuitive that some researchers have argued they must be because of cross-cultural problems with the personality tests. But after crunching new data from 40,000 men and women on six continents, David P. Schmitt and his colleagues conclude that the trends are real. Dr. Schmitt, a psychologist at Bradley University in Illinois and the director of the International Sexuality Description Project, suggests that as wealthy modern societies level external barriers between women and men, some ancient internal differences are being revived.

Police used Tasers more on black suspects, city finds - CNN.com

Police used Tasers more on black suspects, city finds - CNN.com: HOUSTON (AP) -- Houston police officers have used Tasers more on black suspects than any other group of individuals, according to a city study released Monday.

Of 1,417 Taser deployments by officers between December 2004 and June 2007, nearly 67 percent were used on black suspects, according to an audit conducted for the city by a team of criminology, statistics and mathematics experts. About 25 percent of Houston's population is black.

The audit was requested by Houston Mayor Bill White in 2006, after several high-profile incidents. That year, Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary was shocked during a traffic stop, and an officer called to quiet a noisy music club shocked musicians and concertgoers. The latter incident was videotaped and widely viewed on YouTube.

Minister Robert Muhammad, with the southwest regional headquarters for The Nation of Islam, said the study shows that police are more apt to use the weapons on black suspects than suspects of other races.

"Can we say it's racism? Yes, and some people would argue no," said Muhammad. "The greater argument is abuse of authority. We give them authority to protect us. But instead of using that authority to protect us, they abuse us with it."

Tennessee State Freedom Riders Get Overdue Recognition

Pauline Knight was a 21-year-old college junior when the chance to help change history beckoned.

“I never understood what ‘called’ meant, but I felt I had to do something,” Knight said in a recent interview from her home in Georgia. “I didn’t ask to go. I simply said ‘I am a Freedom Rider today.’ It was bigger than me.”

Knight was reflecting on the historic Freedom Rides of 1961, a series of ‘test’ rides she and hundreds of college students took on Greyhound and Trailways buses across the South. They were trying to force an end to racial segregation in interstate transportation on buses and trains and in their passenger stations.

For her part, Knight rode the Greyhound from Nashville to Montgomery, Ala., and Montgomery to Jackson, Miss., where, upon her arrival, she was arrested and jailed with other students, some who came before her and some who came afterward.

During her 42 days in jail, Knight received notice from her school – Tennessee A&I State College – that she and 13 other Tennessee State ‘Freedom Riders’ were being expelled for “misconduct.”

They sued the school and won re-admittance. Separately, the government eventually issued an order barring the segregation the students protested. The students had won a victory for justice in their country but lost their school’s confidence and support in the process.

New Report: Black Colleges Crucial to Grooming New Scientists

New Report: Black Colleges Crucial to Grooming New Scientists: Historically Black colleges and universities play a vital role in producing future scientists and engineers, according to a recent report released by the National Science Foundation.

The report, entitled “Role of HBCUs as Baccalaureate-Origin Institutions of Black S&E Doctorate Recipients,” analyzes educational trends over the past two decades and compares private and public schools and HBCUs with non-HBCU institutions in conferring undergraduate degrees to future doctoral recipients in the science, engineering and health fields.

Among the findings, the percentage of science and engineering doctoral degree recipients who earned undergraduate degrees from HBCUs ranged between 24 and 33 percent from 1986 to 2006. Additionally, the top five baccalaureate-origin institutions of 1997-2006 Black science and engineering doctoral recipients were Howard University with 224 Ph.D. recipients, Spelman College with 150, Hampton University with 135, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University with 100, and Morehouse College with 99.

Officials say that HBCUs are consistently proving to be leaders in educating the scientists, researchers and engineers of tomorrow.

From Bad to Worse: Unemployment Rate Hits Working Americans Across the Spectrum

This morning’s big news is the jump in the unemployment rate to a frightening 6.1 percent in August 2008, up from 5.7 percent in July. This sharp increase underscores labor market deterioration for all groups and across almost all industries in August, with a total loss of 84,000 jobs in one month.

The unemployment rate now stands at its highest level since September 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This stunning increase in the unemployment rate—0.4 percentage points in one month—is the second-largest jump since April 1995 with the largest registered in May 2008. Overall, the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 percentage points, from 4.7 percent, over the past 12 months. This is the largest increase in the unemployment rate over the course of one year since the 12-month period that ended in May 2002.

This deterioration in labor market conditions is hitting Americans across the spectrum. Over the past year, the unemployment rate for men rose by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3 percent; by 1.2 percentage points to 5.8 percent for women; by 1.2 percentage points to 5.4 percent for whites; by 2.9 percentage points to 10.6 percent for African Americans; and by 2.5 percentage points to 8.0 percent for Hispanics. The youth unemployment rate rose by 2.7 percentage points to 18.9 percent, and the unemployment rate for people between the ages of 35 and 44 increased by 1.4 percentage points to 4.9 percent.

10 Diversity Champions II

10 Diversity Champions II: Introducing the “Champions of Diversity” in the Academic Kickoff issue proved a timely reminder of the mission of Diverse during the lead-up to the 25th anniversary of Cox, Matthews and Associates, the founder of the former Black Issues in Higher Education and publisher of Diverse. In this edition, the editors at Diverse unveil its second slate of Champions, defining further the promise and vision committed organizations and individuals have put forth to bring about an inclusive U.S. society. By now, it’s more than clear that Champions bring diversity and excellence together as harmonious and complementary values. It should also be clear that Champions deserve recognition for the transformative and vital work that they do.

Arkansas State University Project Studies Mexican Laborer History

Arkansas State University Project Studies Mexican Laborer History: Arkansas State University is participating in a history research project on the ``braceros'' guest worker program that brought Mexican laborers to the United States to address a labor shortage, beginning in World War II.

Researchers hope to do at least 25 interviews, as well as collect archival materials, on how the braceros contributed to life in the state. They want to collect period hand tools, clothing, photographs, identification cards, letters and other documents.

The work will become part of the Bracero History Archive, a project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Brown University, and The Institute of Oral History at the University of Texas at El Paso.

New School Rules on Bias Bullying - NYTimes.com

New School Rules on Bias Bullying - NYTimes.com: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced regulations on Wednesday that are meant to combat bullying in city schools that is based on bias.

“Simply put, there is just no place for prejudice or hate or bullying in our schools,” said Mr. Bloomberg, who was joined by Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein as he announced the rules.

The policy is intended to deter intimidation and harassment based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

Every principal will be required to designate a staff member to whom students can report bullying, and schools will be required to report complaints to the Department of Education within 24 hours.

The schools will have to investigate the complaints and contact the families of students accused of bias-based harassment.

A report of the complaints, broken down by school, will be made public on the Internet at the end of each school year.

“I’ve often said that you can’t manage a problem unless you can measure it,” the mayor said.

The rules were prompted in part by attacks on Sikh students in the last school year. In one of the most serious cases, on June 3, a Queens high school student punched a Sikh schoolmate in the face and tried to remove his religiously mandated turban.

Study: Boys' parents more likely to report problems - USATODAY.com

Study: Boy's parents more likely to report problems - USATODAY.com: Parents of about 15% of kids spoke to school staff or health care providers about their children's emotional and behavior problems in the last year, according to a survey released Wednesday, the first-ever to gauge the issue.

Nearly 1 out of 5 boys had parents who discussed such difficulties, and about 1 out of 10 girls, says the report from more than 17,000 parents with children 4 to 17 years old. The survey, released by the National Center for Health Statistics, was done in 2005 and 2006.

There's no comparable earlier survey, but some children's mental health experts were surprised at the extent of concern, especially for boys — and divided as to whether it's a good or bad sign.

About 5% of children were prescribed medicine, mostly for attention-deficit disorder (ADHD), with another 5% receiving other treatment, such as therapy, alone or combined with medication.

Virginia Tech to Increase Investment in Diversity

Virginia Tech to Increase Investment in Diversity: Virginia Tech plans to invest nearly $1 million over the next five years to increase ethnic diversity on campus.

A report said the school will spend $899,000 to implement task force recommendations that call for additional faculty, greater minority student recruitment efforts, outreach programs and curriculum changes.

Last fall, Virginia Tech's Black student enrollment was 4.6 percent, third-lowest among the state's 15 four-year public universities, according to the State Council of Higher Education. Hispanic enrollment ranked in the bottom half.

Tech Provost Mark McNamee formed the task force in the summer of 2006, in response to protests over the announced departure of Black political science professor Christopher Clement, who received a negative review in his tenure process.

The task force's action plan calls for ``cluster hires'' in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 academic years to bolster the complement of minority professors and provide mentors to faculty already at the schools."

IU Offers Support for American Indian Group

IU Offers Support for American Indian Group:Indiana University administrators are working to find a new space and director for a support group for American Indian students weeks after student leaders accused IU of not supporting the group.

In early August, members of The First Nations Educational and Cultural Center said the group's governing board was dissolving due to inadequate treatment by the university.

But school administrators are now working to secure a new space, a director and additional staff for First Nations. The group held an open house Friday that drew about 70 students.

Lillian Casillas, director of IU's La Casa, the campus' Latino cultural center, has agreed to serve as First Nation's interim director for up to a year.

"It would have been the most ideal to have somebody from the beginning," Casillas said.

Kansas University Professor Measures the Impact of Desegregation

Kansas University Professor Measures the Impact of Desegregation: During a recent session at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting, Dr. Argun Saatcioglu, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy and an adjunct assistant professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, asserted that desegregation increased schools’ contribution to minority success.

Since school desegregation in most states produced only modest academic gains for minority students, desegregation, to a large extent, has been outlawed as a type of educational reform. But, Saatcioglu argues that there is hidden value in integrated schools.

In a recent study, Saatcioglu examined the impact segregated, desegregated and resegregated schools in Cleveland had on Black and White students over a 30-year period. He suggests that while desegregation did little to improve students’ performance in terms of test scores and graduation rates, it was able to increase the impact that the schools made in the lives of the children.

According to Saatcioglu’s report, “The Hidden Value of School Desegregation,” desegregated schools didn’t fail students; they empowered them, to a large extent. Unfortunately, test scores remained low because of social and economic impediments outside the school, the report says."

Hard Times Hitting Students and Schools

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With mortgage foreclosures throwing hundreds of families out of their homes here each month, dismayed school officials say they are feeling the upheaval: record numbers of students turning up for classes this fall are homeless or poor enough to qualify for free meals.

“We’re seeing a lot more children in poverty,” said Lauren Roberts, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County school system, a 98,000-student district that includes Louisville and its suburbs.

At the same time, the district is struggling with its own financial problems. Responding to a cut of $43 million by the state in education spending and to higher energy and other costs, school officials in Jefferson County have raised lunch prices, eliminated 17 buses by reorganizing routes, ordered drivers to turn off vehicles rather than letting them idle and increased property taxes.

The Jefferson County system is typical this school year.

As 50 million children return to classes across the nation, crippling increases in the price of fuel and food, coupled with the economic downturn, have left schools from California to Florida to Maine cutting costs. Some are trimming bus service, others are restricting travel, and a few are shortening the school week. And as many districts are forced to cut back, the number of poor and homeless students is rising.