Preclearance Provision of Voting Rights Act at Core of Supreme Court Case

Preclearance Provision of Voting Rights Act at Core of Supreme Court Case: Just months after the election of the nation’s first Black president, in which African-American voter registration and voter turnout was at its highest, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether states with a history of racial discrimination at the polls still need federal oversight.

At issue is the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was reauthorized in 2006. It mandates that certain state and local governments must obtain permission from the Justice Department or a federal court before making a decision that affects voting processes. The statute currently applies to nine states – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia – and dozens of counties and municipalities in other states.

In the case Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder, the municipal utility district in Austin, Texas, is arguing that it should not be required to consult the Justice Department to change a polling station or for any other change in voting processes on the grounds that it has never been accused of voter discrimination. In fact, the utility district did not exist until the mid-1980s, long after Jim Crow reigned supreme in the South.

Perspectives: African-American Ph.D.s: Good Enough for America’s Educational Institutions?

Perspectives: African-American Ph.D.s: Good Enough for America’s Educational Institutions?: For several years after receiving our doctorates, we struggled to find full-time work as tenure-track professors. Despite having more qualifications than many of the fresh Ph.D.s who were getting interviews and job offers, we were relegated to adjunct faculty positions that offered none of the benefits of tenure-track jobs.

As colleges and universities look to cut costs and keep budgets tight, we are concerned that African-American Ph.D.s like us will be left out of the university hiring process. Despite the old adage about higher education institutions being bastions of liberalism, many remain very conservative in their hiring process.

In fact, only 5 percent of university full-time faculty members are Black, and we suspect that there is a disproportionate amount of those at HBCUs. We worry that, as the demographics of universities change, diverse faculty are being shut out of opportunities.

‘No Child’ Law Is Not Closing a Racial Gap - NYTimes.com

‘No Child’ Law Is Not Closing a Racial Gap - NYTimes.com: The achievement gap between white and minority students has not narrowed in recent years, despite the focus of the No Child Left Behind law on improving the scores of blacks and Hispanics, according to results of a federal test considered to be the nation’s best measure of long-term trends in math and reading proficiency.

Between 2004 and last year, scores for young minority students increased, but so did those of white students, leaving the achievement gap stubbornly wide, despite President George W. Bush’s frequent assertions that the No Child law was having a dramatic effect.

Although Black and Hispanic elementary, middle and high school students all scored much higher on the federal test than they did three decades ago, most of those gains were not made in recent years, but during the desegregation efforts of the 1970s and 1980s. That was well before the 2001 passage of the No Child law, the official description of which is “An Act to Close the Achievement Gap.”

Britain Proposes Affirmative Action Bill

Britain Proposes Affirmative Action Bill: Is the end near for the English gentleman of privilege? Britain has proposed an affirmative action bill meant to tackle thorny class divisions and encourage equal opportunities for women and minorities — a proposal already causing an uproar in some circles.

Under the proposed act, White male job applicants could lose out to women and minorities with equal qualifications, while private companies with 250 employees or more would be required to disclose salary discrepancies between male and female employees.

Although no date has been set for parliamentary debate, the Labour-led government hopes to push the bill through before next year’s general election. The bill, which would collect a raft of anti-discrimination provisions in a single act, would likely fail under a Conservative-led government.

Younger Students Show Gains in Math, Reading Skills - washingtonpost.com

Younger Students Show Gains in Math, Reading Skills - washingtonpost.com: The nation's 9- and 13-year-olds are doing better in math and reading than in the early 1970s, but average scores for students approaching high school graduation haven't budged, according to test results released today.

Performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which offers a long view of the achievement of American schoolchildren, shows several bright spots.

Nine-year-olds in 2008 posted the highest average scores ever: 220 in reading and 243 in math on a 500-point scale. For comparison, scores were 208 in reading in 1971 and 219 in math in 1973.

Black and Hispanic students made strong gains in the latest testing. But the high school results were less encouraging. Seventeen-year-olds did no better in reading or math since the early 1970s.

David P. Driscoll, a member of the director of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the exams, said the overall picture shows promise but is mixed.

Expanding the Conversation

Expanding the Conversation: They’re not the topics found in a conventional law review: An Austinbased journal delved into the reproductive rights of Hispanic women entering into commercial surrogacy contracts.

The next issue of a University of California, Berkeley-based journal will probe the Voting Rights Act — and how it affects Puerto Ricans. A Harvard-based review once took on taxation of undocumented immigrants. And at the University of California, Los Angeles, this semester, the review will turn a mirror on itself and others with a historical look back at Hispanic law reviews.

Not your traditional topics. And that, precisely, has been the point of the four Hispanic- focused, student-edited publications that began with the first, UCLA’s Chicano Law Review, in 1972.

“Too often, civil rights scholarship means writing about the issues and problems of Blacks. Not immigrants. Not people who are Spanish-speaking,” says Seattle University law professor Richard Delgado, whose new book Latinos and the Law: Cases and Materials, co-authored with Seattle University research professor Jean Stefancic and University of Florida law professor Juan Perea, will be dissected in the next issue of the Harvard Latino Law Review.

Washington Region's Poorest Areas Have an Abundance of Beginning Teachers - washingtonpost.com

Washington Region's Poorest Areas Have an Abundance of Beginning Teachers - washingtonpost.com: Students in the region's poorest neighborhoods are nearly twice as likely to have a new or second-year teacher as those in the wealthiest, a Washington Post analysis has found. The pattern means some of the neediest students attend schools that double as teacher training grounds.

The analysis found 93 schools in the past academic year at which at least a third of the faculty were beginners, with less than two years in the profession. They were chiefly in the District and in Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties.

Experts say an effective teacher is key to raising academic achievement. Yet some disadvantaged students can spend years in classrooms led by untested recruits.

A teacher need not be experienced to be effective, and there are plenty of ineffective veterans. Maverick programs including Teach for America, which steer graduates from elite colleges into urban classrooms, have glamorized the first-year teacher by showing that youthful enthusiasm and smarts occasionally trump experience.

But studies show that inexperienced teachers tend to be less effective, especially in their first two years. That is when they learn to tame an unruly bunch into a class, prepare six hours of daily lessons and grade 25 homework assignments without working through dinner.

Court to Weigh Public Schools' Responsibility to Fund Private Special Education - washingtonpost.com

Court to Weigh Public Schools' Responsibility to Fund Private Special Education - washingtonpost.com: The Supreme Court will consider a question this week that has riled parents, cost local school boards here and across the country hundreds of millions of dollars, and vexed the justices themselves: When must public school officials pay for private schooling for children with special needs?

The issue has emerged as one of the fastest-growing components of local education budgets, threatening to 'seriously deplete public education funds,' which would then detract from the care of students with disabilities who remain in the system, according to a brief filed by the nation's urban school districts.

It has also become one of the most emotional and litigious disagreements between frazzled parents and financially strapped school officials, with the battles often ending in court. District of Columbia schools allocated $7.5 million of this year's $783 million budget just for such legal costs.

Congress and the court have made it clear that every child with disabilities has a right to a 'free appropriate public education.' If the school system can't provide one for a child with a disability, it must reimburse parents for private school costs.

Making It: A Native American man leaves the FBI to investigate ways to help his people - washingtonpost.com

Making It: A Native American man leaves the FBI to investigate ways to help his people - washingtonpost.com: Growing up on Native American reservations in the West and in the pueblos of the Southwest, Walter Lamar got a front-seat view of law enforcement riding around in his father's police patrol car. Not surprisingly, he decided to go into his dad's line of work, eventually training to become an FBI agent.

Four years ago, after serving 20 years as an FBI agent and acting director of law enforcement for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Walter began pursuing his dream of starting his own law enforcement-related business. Taking $25,000 from his savings, he launched Lamar Associates, offering investigative services and law enforcement training in the federal reservation lands known as Indian Country. He located his firm in the District, where he has a home, so he could build on his relationships with government agencies that serve Indian Country. (He and his wife have another home in Albuquerque.)

Civil Rights Pioneer: Education and Service Key to Ending Discrimination, Injustice

Civil Rights Pioneer: Education and Service Key to Ending Discrimination, Injustice: The arc of Cleveland Sellers Jr.’s life has taken him from rural South Carolina to the Ivy League, through the civil rights movement into the first-ever campus shooting in the United States, to exile in Greensboro, N.C., and academia in Columbia then back home to the place where it all started — Denmark, S.C.

Along the way, two values have informed every action: education and service. From the beginning, Sellers has advanced the simple idea that through the acquisition of knowledge and an understanding of cultural heritage, Blacks can become at once fully enfranchised and wholly unique, and Americans generally can leave the days of discrimination and injustice behind them once and for all.

College Board Report: 350,000 Undocumented Students Would Benefit From DREAM Act

College Board Report: 350,000 Undocumented Students Would Benefit From DREAM Act: The nonprofit College Board announced Tuesday its support of the DREAM Act, while unveiling a report that said the plan to legalize undocumented college students could benefit 350,000 students today.

The report’s author, Dr. Roberto Gonzales, an assistant professor of the University of Washington, Seattle, School of Social Work, called the barriers that undocumented students face “probably the most important civil rights issue of our time.”

About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools each year, said the report: “Young Lives On Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students.”

Under a 1982 Supreme Court decision, undocumented students can legally attend K-12 public schools. In most states, they can attend college. But other obstacles make that choice difficult. Most states require them to pay out-of-state tuition rates. They don’t qualify for federal financial aid. They can’t legally work to pay for college.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Promotes a More Inclusive Environmental Movement

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Promotes a More Inclusive Environmental Movement: Lisa Jackson, the first African-American to serve as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is committed to diversifying the landscape of environmental advocacy, which is often defined by the contributions of White Americans.

While in the midst of preparing for a busy Earth Day, Jackson spoke with Diverse about a few of her forthcoming plans for the agency. Among them are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, managing chemical risks, cleaning up hazardous waste sites, and protecting America’s water.

“We are trying to make sure that the American people understands that the EPA hears them,” said Jackson. “They want a clean environment. The want healthy air. They want clean drinking water, and we are going be there to help provide those things. A cleaner and healthier world, that is our core business.”

Before becoming EPA’s Administrator, Jackson served as chief of staff to New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine. Prior to that, she was appointed by Corzine to be commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2006.

Montgomery County, Md., Urged to Help At-Risk Latino Teens - washingtonpost.com

Montgomery County, Md., Urged to Help At-Risk Latino Teens - washingtonpost.com: Community leaders are warning of a crisis among Latino teens in Montgomery County and calling for a broad effort to improve the odds for those at risk of joining gangs, dropping out of high school and other troubles.

Leaders of a newly formed Latino Youth Task Force have met in recent weeks with county and school district officials to present the findings of a recent teen survey and to draw attention to the county and state's 'very troubling' statistics on Latino youth.

Last year, for example, 78.13 percent of Latinos received high school diplomas, compared with 94.5 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 83.94 percent of African Americans and 95.45 percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders, state education figures show.

State health data also suggest that Latinas in Montgomery have a higher incidence of teen motherhood, with the birth rate for girls ages 15 to 17 nearly three times that for African Americans and nearly four times that for non-Hispanic whites.

First Ladies of Law

First Ladies of Law: "Diverse checks in with some of the nation's women law school deans, including the only five who are Black. Despite tremendous gains made by women in our nation's leading law schools, the numbers reveal that there is still room for improvement. As of the 2006-2007 academic year, 47 out of the 200 American Bar Association-approved U.S. law schools were being led by women, according to the ABA. Here, the deans we caught up with, many of them the first women to lead their respective institutions, reflect on everything from first lady Michelle Obama's impact on the image of Black women lawyers to diversifying the legal profession. For more on their backgrounds and other reflections, visit www.diverseeducation.com/womenlawdeans."

Scholars Debate the Efficacy of Race Versus Class-based Affirmative Action in College Admissions

Scholars Debate the Efficacy of Race Versus Class-based Affirmative Action in College Admissions: "Substituting class for race-conscious affirmative action may be more politically palatable, but it does little to improve racial diversity on college campuses, said affirmative action proponents at a debate Thursday evening.

"Substituting class for race may make some more comfortable with affirmative action, but it makes poor policy," said NAACP chairman Julian Bond, during a debate between four activists and scholars on whether class-based affirmative action should replace race-conscious admissions.

The debate came as race-based opportunity policies have been impeded by statewide referendums. Last November, Nebraska became the latest state, behind California, Michigan and Washington, to ban affirmative action. In a sign of where diversity policies are headed, the Supreme Court two years ago ruled that public school administrators should use socioeconomic status, not race, to integrate segregated public schools."

English-Language Learner Case Framed as Civil Rights Enforcement Issue Before Supreme Court

At a time when children with limited English skills are among the fastest-growing groups in public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court today will hear a case that could greatly impact the way states educate English-language learners.

On one side: Arizona's top education official and legislative leaders. They want federal courts to release them from a 2000 consent decree that said their English-language learner (ELL) programs violated ELL students' civil right to an equal education because they were so underfunded they couldn't effectively teach the students English or other subjects. They say Arizona has greatly improved its ELL programs, particularly in the Nogales district along the U.S.-Mexico border where the lawsuit got its start.

On the other: Miriam Flores, a Nogales mother who joined the suit in 1996 after her daughter's grades dropped in the third grade, when bilingual classes shifted to English-only. Her daughter, also Miriam, is 22 now far beyond the reach of the decision to be made by the Supreme Court justices.

Still, the elder Flores said in an interview in Spanish, "I'm nervous because it's something so much bigger now."

If the stack of briefs filed in the Supreme Court is an indicator, the case indeed is far more significant today.

Books Examining America's Racial History Headline 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for Art - washingtonpost.com

Books Examining America's Racial History Headline 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for Art - washingtonpost.com: Two works that probed America's complex and disfiguring racial history over three centuries were awarded Pulitzer Prizes in the letters, drama and music categories yesterday.

Annette Gordon-Reed's 'The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family,' a multi-generational history of the family of Thomas Jefferson's slave Sally Hemings, won the 2009 prize for history. And Wall Street Journal editor Douglas A. Blackmon was awarded the general nonfiction prize for 'Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans From the Civil War to World War II,' which documented the systematic disenfranchisement, arrest and forced labor of African Americans in the South after emancipation.

Other winners were Newsweek editor Jon Meacham for his biography of Andrew Jackson; New York dramatist Lynn Nottage for her play 'Ruined'; poet W.S. Merwin, for his collection 'The Shadow of Sirius'; writer Elizabeth Strout for her short-story collection, 'Olive Kitteridge'; and Steve Reich for the musical composition 'Double Sextet.'

Obama Era Brings New Angle to Teaching the Civil War - washingtonpost.com

Obama Era Brings New Angle to Teaching the Civil War - washingtonpost.com: The Civil War began 148 years ago this month with the assault on Fort Sumter and ended when rebel forces surrendered in 1865, but the battle over how to teach the conflict to new generations of Americans has never stopped.

Ask Northerners the cause of the war, and the answer often is a single word: slavery. In many places in the South, the answers can vary: states' rights, freedom, political and economic power.

As students across the region begin springtime Civil War lessons, historians say the election of Barack Obama as the first African American president offers an unprecedented opportunity to break through stereotypes and view the era in broader ways.

"His election means we can be more honest. We can stop giving one-word answers," said Edward L. Ayers, a Civil War scholar who is president of the University of Richmond, in the city that became the capital of the Confederacy.

Obama's ascent, historians say, has opened the door to a national discussion about race. There is renewed relevance to issues surrounding the country's racial past, including the origins and aftermath of its deadliest conflict, said Randall Miller, professor of history at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

"This doesn't mean the subject will be any less controversial," Miller said, "but it does mean that we are again talking about issues such as slavery, freedom, race and fundamental identities."

Aryan Nations recruiting again in northern Idaho - washingtonpost.com

Aryan Nations recruiting again in northern Idaho - washingtonpost.com: COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- The Aryan Nations has returned to northern Idaho with what it is calling a 'world headquarters' and a recruitment campaign.

Coeur d'Alene resident Jerald O'Brien, who has a large swastika tattoo on his scalp, is one of the leaders of the white supremacist group and said he expects membership to grow because of the election of President Barack Obama.

He told The Spokesman-Review newspaper that the president is the 'greatest recruiting tool ever.'

Residents of a Coeur d'Alene subdivision found recruitment fliers on their lawns Friday and O'Brien said more fliers will be distributed. He said the group has 'several handfuls' of members in the city.

The fliers show a young girl asking her father "Why did those dark men take mommy away?"

But many in the region reject the group.
"I saw Aryan Nations and put it in the trash," said Garvin Jones. "What's wrong with these people? Give me a break. I bet if you went back in their family history, not one is 100 percent white."

The newspaper reported that most people interviewed about the fliers declined to be identified for fear of retribution.

High Court Poised To Closely Weigh Civil Rights Laws - washingtonpost.com

High Court Poised To Closely Weigh Civil Rights Laws - washingtonpost.com: The Supreme Court has an opportunity to reaffirm or reshape the nation's civil rights laws as it faces a rare confluence of cases over the next two weeks, including a high-profile challenge brought by white firefighters who claim they lost out on promotions because of the 'color of their skin.'

The cases also touch on the Voting Rights Act, the need to provide English classes for immigrant children and, more tangentially, discriminatory mortgage lending.

The most emotionally charged case is from the New Haven, Conn., firefighters, whose complaints define the real-life quandary that sometimes accompanies government efforts to ensure racial equality.

The firefighters accuse city officials of violating civil rights laws and the Constitution by throwing out a promotions test on which they performed well but no blacks scored high enough to be eligible. The city responds that relying on test results with such wide racial discrepancies could have violated federal law and left them open to being sued by minorities.

The court will hear the arguments, along with the others, in the midst of an evolving national conversation about the role of race and diversity and in the wake of the historic presidential election.

"Each of these cases goes to the ability of our society to achieve opportunity, fairness and ultimately to our ability to be the democracy that we aspire to be," said John Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "We've made tremendous progress as a society, and some of that progress is having in place anti-discriminatory" laws to ensure it continues.

His organization calls for the court in each case to affirm a vigorous role for government in recognizing the need for race-conscious vigilance.

Blacks and Mexican Americans Disproportionately Denied Law School Admittance

Blacks and Mexican Americans Disproportionately Denied Law School Admittance: Despite an increase in capacity, law schools have been admitting fewer African-American and Mexican American students over the last 15 years.

As director of the Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic at the Columbia University Law School, law professor Conrad Johnson knows that digital technology has the power to highlight and amplify social justice concerns and to enable people to take direct action. Under Johnson’s leadership, the clinic has developed and maintained the Columbia-hosted Web site titled “A Disturbing Trend in Law School Diversity,” which highlights more than a decade of declining to stagnant African-American and Mexican American enrollment at U.S. law schools.

“What we tried to do in this study is something we haven’t seen done very often (and that) is to measure the trends of inclusiveness in the context of the capacity of law schools to take in students, which has increased by 10 percent over the last 15 years,” Johnson says.

The Web site features 12 graphs taken from Law School Admission Council (LSAC) data showing how first-year African-American and Mexican American enrollment has declined 8.6 percent, from a total of 3,937 in 1992 to 3,595 in 2005. The Web site notes that in 1992 there were 176 accredited U.S. law schools and by 2006 that total had increased to 195 accredited schools, offering a gain of nearly 4,000 first-year seats for law school students. It’s also shown that, while African-American and Mexican American applicants have endured falling admissions rates, their undergraduate grade point averages and Law School Admission Test scores have improved during the same period.

Percentage of Black Players in MLB Rises

Percentage of Black Players in MLB Rises: The percentage of Black players in the major leagues increased to 10.2 percent last year, the first rise since the 1995 season.

The sport had reached an all-time low of 8.2 percent in 2007, according to Dr. Richard Lapchick, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. The percentage of Black pitchers rose to 5 percent from 3 percent and the percentage of Black infielders went up to 9 percent from 7 percent.

“The decline of African-American players has been a big story and this may represent a halt in that slide,” Lapchick said.

Baseball received an A for race hiring for the first time in his annual report, which was released Wednesday, up from an A- last year. He cited 10 minority managers at the start of this season, matching the previous high in 2002. There were five African-Americans, four Hispanics and one Asian-American.

There were five minority GMs: three African-Americans and two Hispanics.

The sport got a B for gender hiring, up from a C . Its overall grade went up to B from B.

Study Documents the Changing Immigrant Population

Study Documents the Changing Immigrant Population: More than half of the estimated 11.9 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States lack health insurance and many are more likely to live in poverty than those with legal status, according to a new study from the Pew Hispanic Center.

The 52-page report, “Portrait of Undocumented Immigrants in the United States,” was released Tuesday and picks up where a similar survey left off in 2008. While last year’s survey found that the influx of legal immigrants surpassed that of undocumented immigrants for the first time in a decade, this survey reveals that the latter’s growth rate has completely stabilized.

About 75 percent of the undocumented people in the United States are Hispanic. Mexican immigrants hold the majority (59 percent), although other immigrant groups comprise significant numbers: Asians and Central Americans represent 11 percent of undocumented immigrants each; followed by South Americans at 7 percent; people from the Caribbean represent 4 percent; and Middle Easterners compose less than 2 percent.

Taking the Plunge

... Launched the aquatics concentration last semester at Hampton University in Hampton, Va. Beginning swimming is one of 13 classes in the concentration, the equivalent of a minor and one of the first of its kind at a historically black college. The program prepares students for careers in aquatics, but on a deeper level, by developing black swimmers who can serve as role models, it is also aimed at overcoming barriers that have kept many blacks from learning to swim.

Black children are three times more likely to drown than whites, and 60 percent of black children can't swim, according to a 2008 survey commissioned by USA Swimming, the governing body for the sport that trains teams for the Olympics. The statistics are attributable largely to cultural and economic obstacles. Swimming is considered by many blacks to be a white, elitist sport -- or, at the very least, a white suburban pursuit -- and it's typically not free. So while many black children growing up in cities can play football or basketball just by going outside, a pool might as well be a polo field. Also, "You can't have access to a pool without supervision," Jensen says, "and then if the parents don't know how to swim, you start getting into factors like segregation." In other words, it's quite possible that many of today's black college students have grandparents who were once barred from public pools or beaches, and thus were unable to swim and help their offspring learn to swim.

Grad Rates for Black College Athletes Increase

Black college athletes are graduating at higher rates than in the past.

The Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for Black athletes is 62 percent in 2009, up from 59 percent three years ago, according to a report released Monday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

The NCAA uses the GSR to measure graduation rates.

"These results reflect what we've been saying for a long time --the opportunities available through intercollegiate athletics and the hard work of many have led to academic improvement for African-American student-athletes, especially African-American male student-athletes," NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson said in an e-mail. "We hope and expect this progress will continue."

The GSR for Black football players in the top division rose from 54 to 58 percent. It increased from 49 to 54 percent for men's basketball players and from 71 to 76 percent in women's basketball.

Federal graduation rates for Black athletes improved from 35 percent for students entering school in 1984 to 53 percent for those entering in 2001. The federal rate uses a different formula than the GSR, which takes into account athletes who transfer between schools.

A gap remains in graduation rates between White and Black athletes, but the study found it is shrinking. The federal rate for White athletes entering school in 1984 was 59 percent, 24 percentage points higher than for Black athletes. The gap had decreased to 15 percentage points for students entering in 2001, when the federal rate for White athletes was 68 percent.

The report also found that African-American athletes are graduating at higher rates than Black college students as a whole. The most recent federal rate for all Black students was 45 percent, compared with 53 percent for athletes.

One in Five Preschoolers Obese, Rate Higher for Minorities

One in Five Preschoolers Obese, Rate Higher for Minorities: A striking new study says almost 1 in 5 American 4-year-olds is obese, and the rate is alarmingly higher among American Indian children, with nearly a third of them obese.

Researchers were surprised to see differences by race at so early an age.

Overall, more than half a million 4-year-olds are obese, the study suggests. Obesity is more common in Hispanic and Black youngsters, too, but the disparity is most startling in American Indians, whose rate is almost double that of Whites.

The lead author said that rate is worrisome among children so young, even in a population at higher risk for obesity because of other health problems and economic disadvantages.

“The magnitude of these differences was larger than we expected, and it is surprising to see differences by racial groups present so early in childhood,” said Sarah Anderson, an Ohio State University public health researcher. She conducted the research with Temple University’s Dr. Robert Whitaker.

Hispanic Students Lag in College Admission

Hispanic Students Lag in College Admission: Hispanic students in Texas are falling behind educationally, with high school graduation rates lower than average and college enrollment lagging that of Black and White students.

Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Texas, but they are falling behind in some measures of academic success.

Only 68 percent graduate from high school within four years, 10 points below the overall rate, and just 42.5 percent of those who graduated in 2007 enrolled in college or technical training the following fall, lower rates than Black and White students.

The challenges of improving education of Hispanics, who make up about 36 percent of the state, have been complicated by rapid growth.

“We’ve made progress,” said Raymund Paredes, higher education commissioner for Texas, in a story published Sunday for the Houston Chronicle. “Our challenge is, we started so far behind, and the Latino population is growing so fast.”

Minority-serving Institutions Called To Serve as Leaders in Student Retention

Minority-serving Institutions Called To Serve as Leaders in Student Retention: The Lumina Foundation for Education is requesting proposals for its Minority-Serving Institutions–Models of Success grant program.

According to Lumina, historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and universities educate more than 2.3 million students or about one-third of all American students of color and represent a vital segment of the nation’s higher education system.

“Clearly, MSIs represent a vital segment of the nation’s higher education system, and we at Lumina Foundation believe many of these institutions can serve as leaders in a national effort to improve college attainment rates,” Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of the foundation, said in a written appeal to MSI administrators.

Through the MSI–Models of Success program, Lumina Foundation will provide as much as $5 million in grants to amplify the collective voice and national leadership of MSIs to improve institutional practice and develop policy to more effectively educate all students of color.

Authors Explore American Immigrant Experience : NPR

Authors Explore American Immigrant Experience : NPR: Immigrants bring many things to the U.S., but their lasting contribution to the country has always been their children. The NPR series 'Immigrants' Children' looks at that legacy, telling the stories of those children and examining the issues they face.

Award-winning authors Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz and Samina Ali all came to this country as children — Danticat from Haiti, Diaz from the Dominican Republic, and Ali from India.

As part of NPR's series on the children of immigrants, these three authors offer perspective on the transformation of immigrants in America as the next generation assimilates.

Edwidge Danticat's most recent book, Brother, I'm Dying, is a memoir about her uncle's tragic story of trying to immigrate to this country.


Author Junot Diaz was born in the Dominican Republic. His Pulitzer-prize winning book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was praised for its vibrant prose and street-smart language, often in the Spanglish that surrounded Diaz growing up.

Samina Ali, author of Madras on Rainy Days, was raised both in India and the U.S like the protagonist in her novel, Layla.

UMass to Put Papers of W.E.B. Du Bois Online

UMass to Put Papers of W.E.B. Du Bois Online: The University of Massachusetts in Amherst said Friday it would scan, catalog, digitize and put online papers of civil rights movement pioneer W.E.B. Du Bois.

The university’s W.E.B. Du Bois Library has an estimated 100,000 diaries, letters, photographs and other items related to Du Bois, who helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“What we’re looking to do is spark conversation about difficult issues in race, inequality, class and all these things are things that concerned Du Bois,” said Robert Cox, director of the special collections at the library.

UMass received a $200,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to put the collection online during the two-year project, which begins in July.

Haddon Selected as University of Maryland Law School Dean, Marking First for an African-American

Haddon Selected as University of Maryland Law School Dean, Marking First for an African-American: University of Maryland officials last week announced the appointment of Phoebe A. Haddon as dean of the University of Maryland School of Law, effective July 1, 2009. Haddon, who will be the ninth dean and the second woman in the position, will be the first African-American to serve as the dean of the University of Maryland system’s only law school.

“Phoebe Haddon is passionate about legal education, about the essential role of innovative and influential scholarship in the continued development of our faculty, and about the School of Law’s vital public service mission,” says Dr. David J. Ramsay, the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Rutgers Names First Black Chancellor

Rutgers Names First Black Chancellor: Rutgers University’s board has appointed the school’s first Black chancellor.

Dr. Wendell Pritchett will be the top official on Rutgers’ Camden campus when he starts June 30. He has been a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania law school since 2001. He served as associate dean for academic affairs at Penn Law from 2006 to 2008, focusing on faculty development and the quality of the student experience.

The 44-year-old holds a bachelor’s from Brown University, a law degree from Yale Law School, and a doctorate in history from Penn. Last year, he published a biography of the first African-American cabinet secretary, Robert Clifton Weaver.

Pritchett has served in the administration of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and on a task force for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

A Pipeline to the Tenure Track

A Pipeline to the Tenure Track: Dr. Roberto M. Aguilar has no doubt that landing a postdoctoral fellowship through the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program has put him in serious contention to pursue a tenure-track faculty position at a major research university. Working on neurobiology research at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, has proved to be a gratifying accomplishment for Aguilar, a first-generation college graduate.

“Without this fellowship it wouldn’t be possible for me to be considered by the research schools that have expressed interest in my research,” Aguilar says.

“There’s not that many places in the United States doing the research that’s done at the Reeve center ... I’m very fortunate to be here.”

At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. Lachelle Hannickel, another current participant in the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program, has been able to spend the time since earning her Ph.D. in French in 2007 working on journal articles, a book manuscript and her job search. She says she benefited by attending professional development workshops along with other UC postdoctoral fellows as well as getting advice from her designated faculty mentor.

UCLA Study Outlines Strategy to Bolster Number of Black HIV/AIDS Researchers

UCLA Study Outlines Strategy to Bolster Number of Black HIV/AIDS Researchers: While African-Americans are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, the number of Black HIV/AIDS researchers is in short supply. However, a research team at the University of California, Los Angeles is working to remedy this problem.

To increase the number of Black HIV/AIDS researchers, a research team from the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma and Mental Health Disparities and the UCLA AIDS Institute recently released a series of recommendations aimed at reversing the trend and recruiting more Blacks into the field. The recommendations, directed at universities, government and private research funders, were published in a supplement to the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

“We need African-American experts who are at the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention,” said Dr. Gail Wyatt, lead author and director of the UCLA AIDS Institute, in a written statement. “HIV/AIDS research conducted by highly trained African-Americans should be the norm and not the exception.”

Why teenagers are moody, scientists find the answer - Telegraph

Why teenagers are moody, scientists find the answer - Telegraph: Psychologists used to blame the unpleasant characteristics of adolescence on hormones. However, new brain imaging scans have revealed a high number of structural changes in teenagers and those in their early 20s.

Jay Giedd, at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, led the researchers who followed the progress of 400 children, scanning them every two years as they grew up.

They found that adolescence brings waves of so-called 'brain pruning' during which children lose about one per cent of their grey matter every year until their early 20s.

This reduction trims unused neural connections that were overproduced in the childhood growth spurt, starting with the more basic sensory and motor areas of the brain.

These mature first, followed by the regions involved in language and spatial awareness and then finally those involved in more cerebral functions.

Among the last to mature is the very front of the brain's frontal lobe, which is involved in control of impulses, judgement and decision-making, which scientists say might explain some of the bizarre decisions made by the average teenager.

This area also controls and processes emotional information sent from the amygdala - the fight or flight centre of gut reactions - which may account for the short-tempers among some teenagers.

As grey matter is lost, the brain gains white matter, a fatty tissue which helps conduct electrical impulses and stabilise neural connections.

Scientists say that at this stage of life the brain acts as sponge for learning, but the lack of impulse control may lead to risky behaviour such as drug and alcohol abuse, smoking and unprotected sex.

Research Links Poor Kids' Stress, Brain Impairment

Children raised in poverty suffer many ill effects: They often have health problems and tend to struggle in school, which can create a cycle of poverty across generations.

Now, research is providing what could be crucial clues to explain how childhood poverty translates into dimmer chances of success: Chronic stress from growing up poor appears to have a direct impact on the brain, leaving children with impairment in at least one key area -- working memory.

"There's been lots of evidence that low-income families are under tremendous amounts of stress, and we know that stress has many implications," said Gary W. Evans, a professor of human ecology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., who led the research. "What this data raises is the possibility that it's also related to cognitive development."

With the economic crisis threatening to plunge more children into poverty, other researchers said the work offers insight into how poverty affects long-term achievement and underscores the potential ramifications of chronic stress early in life.

In Tough Economy, MSIs Win Funding Increases

In Tough Economy, MSIs Win Funding Increases: With Congress completing work on a $ 410 billion omnibus spending bill, minority-serving institutions can point to some tangible funding gains in the first months of 2009 with the possibility of more gains ahead.

From earmarks for individual colleges to little-noticed provisions of the economic stimulus package, MSIs have realized gains that may help cushion the effects of the ongoing economic downturn. The stimulus package, for example, includes $15 million for the U.S. Department of the Interior to support historic preservation at historically Black colleges and universities.

HBCUs have $700 million in historic preservation needs, says Edith Bartley, government affairs director at the United Negro College Fund. She notes, “We’re thrilled with this investment. It’s a step in the right direction.”"

Suburban Schools See Limited Hispanic Integration

Suburban Schools See Limited Hispanic Integration: Hispanic students have become more segregated in suburban public schools over the last decade, even while Blacks and Asians have become slightly less isolated, according to a new study.

The report by the Pew Hispanic Center challenges the conventional assumption that growing minority populations will create an instant 'melting pot' in suburban and other districts. It raises questions about whether local school boards need to actively promote integration.

'Suburbia has changed, and suburban schools are getting much more diverse,' said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at Pew, a Washington think tank. 'But we shouldn't assume that White suburban students as a result are interacting significantly more with non-Whites.'

The popularity of charter schools, now promoted by President Barack Obama, is a factor behind some of the segregation in grades K-12, Fry and other experts say. This is because many charter schools have special ethnic themes or offer bilingual courses, and minorities are choosing to enroll in schools with classmates of the same race.

The nation's suburbs added 3.4 million students from 1993 to 2007, representing two-thirds of the growth in public school enrollment. Virtually all the suburban growth came from the addition of Hispanic, Black and Asian students.

Scholars Discuss Black Power in the Age of Obama

WASHINGTON - The Black Power movement is not a vestige of the past, but a living didactical legacy that is as relevant now in the Obama era as it has ever been, said a group of scholars and activists during a two-day symposium dedicated to the impact of the Black Power movement on America.

“On the Sunday morning shows, when everyone wants to pay tribute to the great mobilization and organizing [of the Obama campaign], I sit and say, ‘You know, there was the Jackson campaigns in ‘84 and ‘88 that increased Black voter registration tenfold,” said Donna Brazile, vice chair of the Democratic National Committee Voting Rights Institute. “There was the Shirley Chisholm campaign [in 1972]. There was Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Democratic Party. We have so much to be grateful for.’”

“I am living proof that there was indeed a Black Power movement,” added Brazile. “I see a direct link between the Black Power movement, the Civil Rights movement and where we are today. I see a connection between those African Americans who stood in those long lines in ’84 and ’88 for Rev. [Jesse] Jackson and those who turned out for President Barack Obama.”

Because of Recession, Many Private Colleges Admitting More Students Than Usual - washingtonpost.com

Because of Recession, Many Private Colleges Admitting More Students Than Usual - washingtonpost.com: Many private colleges have admitted more students than usual this year, hedging their bets as they wait to find out whether families find higher tuitions difficult to manage in the recession.

After years of increasing selectivity driven by bumper crops of strong applicants, many private college officials are concerned that more students will turn to public universities, which are less expensive. As of today's deadline to notify most applicants, many schools have sent out more acceptance letters and e-mails, built bigger waiting lists and pumped more money into financial aid to lure students to their campuses.

The bottom line: It will be slightly easier to gain admission to some private colleges this year, officials said.

The private schools' concerns are part of a confusing overall admissions picture for the high school Class of 2009, the largest ever at 3 million students. Many public universities have experienced increases in applications, but it is unclear whether that has made admission more difficult across the board. And some elite universities such as Harvard and Dartmouth are even more competitive than usual this year, in part because they have assured low-income students that they won't have to borrow money to pay their costs.