Students Embrace Cuban Educational Experience - Higher Education

Students Embrace Cuban Educational Experience - Higher Education: GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) – For more than 40 years, U.S. tourism to the island nation of Cuba has been forbidden.

An embargo placed on travel in the 1960s essentially has cut off one of the most fascinating countries in the world.

Few U.S. travelers have been able to experience the spicy mix of garlic, cumin and oregano in authentic meat turnovers called empanadas or enjoy a café cubano espresso sweetened with locally grown sugar.

But this winter, Greenwood native Jordyn Perry was able to experience Cuban culture firsthand.

Perry, 21, toured Cuba as part of a school-sponsored research trip through Illinois College. She worked with botanists, educators and doctors to examine the benefits and disadvantages of the public health care system in preparation for her own career in occupational therapy, the Daily Journal reported.

Korean Julia Sun-Joo Lee Brings New Face to Black Literature - Higher Education

Korean Julia Sun-Joo Lee Brings New Face to Black Literature - Higher Education: Dr. Julia Sun-Joo Lee has gotten used to the strange looks that sometimes greet her on the first day of class.

“My students may initially be surprised to see me in the classroom,” says Lee, who teaches African-American Literature at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“But I always say that African-American literature is not just limited to African-Americans. It is American literature and is so much a part of the history of this country. It shouldn’t be ghettoized.”

Lee, who is Korean American, earned her Ph.D. in English and American Language and Literature from Harvard University in 2008 and credits Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. with piquing her interest in African-American and transatlantic literature.

Latino Consortium Looks to Evolve for Growing Latino Community - Higher Education

Latino Consortium Looks to Evolve for Growing Latino Community - Higher Education: n 1983, Latinos made up less than 2 percent of faculty members and less than 5 percent of college students. Public funding for Latino research was paltry, and for research purposes many policymakers often arbitrarily lumped Latinos with other minorities.

Despite their evidently soaring numbers, Latinos were, in effect, invisible in the academy.

It was against this backdrop that directors of four Latino research centers—the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA, Stanford and Hunter College—met to come up with plans to boost Latino-focused research and increase the pool of Latino researchers and faculty.

One outcome of their meeting was the creation of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR).

Prepared to Be a Professor, Not a Pioneer - Higher Education

Prepared to Be a Professor, Not a Pioneer - Higher Education: Several publications and recent reports have highlighted the plight of Women of Color (WOC) in the academy, particularly WOC within science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields. In November 2013, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research published “Accelerating Change for Women Faculty of Color in STEM: Policy, Action, and Collaboration,” which reports that WOC represent only 5.7 percent (i.e., 6,400) of all STEM faculty at U.S. four-year colleges or universities, medical schools, and university-affiliated research institutes. With this initially low number, there are few to no reports or public databases presenting disaggregated data about STEM WOC faculty within specific disciplines such as engineering.

SiriusXM Radio Channel Broadcasts the HBCU Experience - Higher Education

SiriusXM Radio Channel Broadcasts the HBCU Experience - Higher Education: Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have long sought opportunities to expose and educate the public about the unique contributions they have made to American society.

Among such efforts, Howard University has put the resources and the prestige of its popular campus radio station behind the launch of the HBCU Channel on the SiriusXM satellite radio network system. Since mid-November, the Howard University Radio Network, which includes WHUR 96.3, has operated the HBCU Channel on SiriusXM channel 142 to deliver a wide range of programming that showcases the Black college experience.

Howard University interim president Wayne A.I. Frederick described the newly-launched channel as an “excellent platform to showcase the extraordinary stories and success” of HBCUs. SiriusXM radio channels are available to more than 25 million subscribers.

Samford Law’s Wendy Greene Uses Lessons of Civil Rights Movement to Fight Current Day Racial Inequality - Higher Education

Samford Law’s Wendy Greene Uses Lessons of Civil Rights Movement to Fight Current Day Racial Inequality - Higher Education: From an early age, Wendy Greene knew she wanted to be a lawyer.

Inspired by the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the stories of her parents’ participation in student-led sit-in demonstrations for civil rights, Greene learned as a young girl that the law could be a force for bringing about social justice.

The civil rights struggle in the U.S. “just motivated me to think about being a lawyer and how the law can make such positive changes in our lives, and also how it can be a negative,” says Greene.

In addition to recognizing the law’s influence while growing up, Greene saw firsthand the positive impact that teachers had within her hometown of Columbia, S.C. The examples of her parents, grandmother, aunts and uncles, who were educators, planted the idea that she could combine teaching and law into a career.

Diverse Conversations: Recruiting a Diverse Student Population - Higher Education

Diverse Conversations: Recruiting a Diverse Student Population - Higher Education: Diversity is immensely valuable to any higher education institution, but not all universities and colleges are successful or even aware of how to recruit a diverse student population. Fortunately, this is an area in which John LaBrie, dean and vice president for Professional Education, Northeastern University College of Professional Studies, is an expert. I recently sat down with him to find out about the types of strategies that are helping universities ensure that they recruit diverse student populations.

Stanford Continues Bill Walsh’s Legacy By Keeping Diversity on the Field a Priority - Higher Education

Stanford Continues Bill Walsh’s Legacy By Keeping Diversity on the Field a Priority - Higher Education: Though Stanford University has a reputation for strong academics, there is another distinction to add to its repute: athletics. The elite private school’s record of coaching diversity in major sports over the last 25 years is hard to match.

Stanford has had three Black head football coaches, more than any other school in Division I, outside of HBCUs.

“I think it is a pretty big deal,” says Dr. Boyce Watkins, a scholar who has pushed for racial equality in NCAA sports. “If you consider the history of racism, I think a lot of schools would be hard-pressed to have had three Black football coaches.”

What Does 'Sold Down The River' Really Mean? The Answer Isn't Pretty. : Code Switch : NPR

What Does 'Sold Down The River' Really Mean? The Answer Isn't Pretty. : Code Switch : NPR: For generations, the phrase "sold down the river" has been used to signify a profound betrayal.

"River" was a literal reference to the Mississippi or Ohio rivers. For much of the first half of the nineteenth century, Louisville, Ky., was one of the largest slave trading marketplaces in the country. Slaves would be taken to Louisville to be "sold down the river" and transported to the cotton plantations in states further south.

In his 2010 history of the Mississippi River, journalist Lee Sandlin said that "the threat of being 'sold down the river' was seen as tantamount to a death sentence."

Because white planters valued men over women as laborers, were far more likely to be "sold down the river." In addition to the tragedy of being separated from family to be sent down the river meant a sentence of brutally hard labor. As the global demand for cotton grew, the demand for more and more slave labor grew at an equally large pace.

Game Changer: Experts Say Health Risks to Put Football in Hands of Low-Income, Minority Players - Higher Education

Game Changer: Experts Say Health Risks to Put Football in Hands of Low-Income, Minority Players - Higher Education: These are not the best of times for football, arguably America’s most popular sport. Although football’s popularity remains at a frenzied high and continues to generate substantial revenue in the pros and for many leading collegiate programs, the sport is in the midst of its toughest PR campaign in a century.

First, there was the steady drizzle of news reports and medical studies that suggested a link between concussions sustained playing football and brain damage. Initially, NFL officials denied there was a link. Then earlier this year, the NFL settled a class-action lawsuit brought on by more than 4,500 former players for $765 million. The money will be used to help offset the costs of some of the medical expenses incurred as a result of concussions suffered as players. In recent months, several former college football players have filed lawsuits against the NCAA for concussions they allege they sustained as student players.

Eduardo González Putting UMass Boston on Map With Grants and Success - Higher Education

Eduardo González Putting UMass Boston on Map With Grants and Success - Higher Education: Dr. Eduardo González’s parents never attended school because they had to work in the agricultural fields of Mexico. They were in no position to provide any guidance to their son as he made choices about his own schooling.

“I was always trying to do what felt right because I never had that influence,” says González. He found his way into a science-oriented high school, where he fell in love with mathematics and physics. He enrolled in a Mexican college that also specialized in science and technology.

A Mexican mathematician who completed his Ph.D. in the United States helped González understand in the late ’90s that he too needed to follow that path in order to be on the cutting edge of math. Gonzalez arrived at Stony Brook University in 1999 and plunged into his doctoral studies.

Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black : NPR

Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black : NPR: A couple weeks ago, Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin spoke to , a white adoptive mother of three African-American children. Our conversation on transracial adoption drew a lot of responses, so we decided to follow up with another perspective.

Chad Goller-Sojourner is African-American. In 1972, when he was 13 months old, he was adopted by white parents in Tacoma, Wash. He and his siblings are all different races than their parents.

They were raised in a white suburb, but worked hard to expose them to other people who looked like him, and checked out every library book with a black author they could find. They even sent them to a more diverse school in a different neighborhood.

Fraternity expelled over MLK-themed party

Fraternity expelled over MLK-themed party: PHOENIX -- Arizona State University severed ties with the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity Thursday night, only days after a party over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend depicting racial stereotypes drew harsh criticism from civil rights leaders.

The university released a statement saying it has notified the fraternity that its recognition as a fraternity chapter at ASU has been permanently revoked.

Revoking recognition means the 65-year-old local chapter is no longer affiliated with ASU. The group won't be listed on the university's website and cannot recruit members or hold meetings on campus.

ASU President Michael Crow said in the statement that the university's student code of conduct establishes behavior standards.

"At ASU, students who violate these standards will be subject to disciplinary sanctions in order to promote their own personal development, to protect the university community, and to maintain order and stability on our campuses," he said.

Black Scholars: Sincerity Key to Academy’s Dealing With Faculty Prospects - Higher Education

Black Scholars: Sincerity Key to Academy’s Dealing With Faculty Prospects - Higher Education: Colleges and universities looking for advice on best practices for recruiting and retaining faculty of color, got candid advice here Thursday from three Black scholars offering tips based on their own experiences navigating the academy.

In the blunt, oft times humorous exchanges with colleagues from across the country gathered for the annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the scholars cordially disagreed on some strategic advice for their peers.

By the same token they were in agreement in their advice that institutions need to look and be receptive to faculty prospects who are not cookie cutter versions of existing faculty, that recruiting needs to be sincere not just hiring done to fill a quota and leaders of an institution should work at ensuring the college or university has a cultural landscape and environment that is understanding and receptive to the ordinary needs of faculty of color.

Native Americans Taking Stand for Education Against California’s Humboldt County Schools - Higher Education

Native Americans Taking Stand for Education Against California’s Humboldt County Schools - Higher Education: The principal and superintendent of Loleta Elementary School in California’s Humboldt County grabbed a Native American student by the ear and asked, “See how red it’s getting?” The school secretary said students behaved like “wild Indians.” Native American students have been suspended for seemingly minor infractions ― breaking crayons and kicking a ball on a roof. Native American students are forced to finish their lunches, including having to drink spoiled milk while White students can throw out unfinished food.

These are some of the charges in a complaint filed with the Office for Civil Rights by the California Indian Legal Services, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Youth Law at the end of last year. The latter two groups also filed a federal lawsuit against the Eureka City Schools district charging that school officials discriminate against African American and Native American students.

Teen Handcuffed For Cutting In Line In School Cafeteria: Complaint

Teen Handcuffed For Cutting In Line In School Cafeteria: Complaint: In some schools, students who cut in line at the cafeteria might be scolded or sent to a guidance counselor. In Wake County, N.C., they risk getting handcuffed and thrown in jail, according to a complaint against the local school district and law-enforcement agencies filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the 74-page complaint, a coalition of civil- and children’s-rights groups representing eight students alleges that the district has failed to take meaningful steps to “stem the tide of students being pushed out of school and into juvenile and criminal court systems.”

Over the past five years, the district’s use of law enforcement officers to deal with disciplinary issues has landed thousands of students in court, keeping them out of school, according to the complaint.

The toll on black students and students with disabilities is disproportionately high, it continues. Although black students accounted for just a quarter of the district’s student population during the past few years, they’ve received as many as three-quarters of the district’s school-based delinquency complaints in a given year, according to data from North Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice.

African-American Students Step Up #BBUM Campaign at Univ. of Michigan - Higher Education

African-American Students Step Up #BBUM Campaign at Univ. of Michigan - Higher Education: The Black Student Union kicked off a social media campaign last fall at the University of Michigan that highlighted the concerns of African-American students about race relations at the predominantly White institution. The group took the consistently trending discussion to another level this week when it presented a list of demands to the school’s Board of Regents.

The social media discussion, Twitter hashtag #BBUM (Being Black at the University of Michigan), has sparked a nationwide debate.

The demands list was presented by Robert Greenfield IV, treasurer of the BSU and a double major junior, along with Eric Gavin and Shayla Scales, double major seniors.

Greenfield addressed the UM Board of Regents, “I assure you I am only a messenger and not an amplifier for every single person that felt as if they did not belong here on campus, despite their acceptance letter saying otherwise.”

Genao Now More Than Willing to Lead the Way - Higher Education

Genao Now More Than Willing to Lead the Way - Higher Education: Dr. Soribel Genao’s upbringing in the Lower East Side not only gave the Dominican and Haitian American an impetus to attain a higher education, but it also inspired her to study education policy and its effects on mostly Latino and Black communities.

“The school I attended on the Lower East Side was one of the worst-performing schools and was known as a dropout factory,” recalls the now assistant professor of Educational and Community Programs at the City University of New York’s Queens College. Genao notes that there was one particular teacher who helped her see her potential — Ms. Irene Moore.

“When I was in high school, Ms. Irene Moore cared so much about the students,” says Genao. “She walked around to classrooms asking if they wanted to do internships and was a very caring teacher.”

BBC News - Mandela statue: Row over rabbit in Nelson's ear

BBC News - Mandela statue: Row over rabbit in Nelson's ear: South Africa's government has ordered sculptors to remove a bronze rabbit they hid in the ear of a Nelson Mandela statue, unveiled after the former president's death last month.

It wanted to "restore dignity back to the statue", a spokesman told the BBC.

The sculptors reportedly inserted the rabbit as a trademark signature and to denote the haste with which they had to complete the statue.

Rabbit in the Afrikaans language is "haas", which also means haste.

"We don't think it's appropriate because Nelson Mandela never had a rabbit on his ear," Mogomotsi Mogodiri, the spokesman for the Department of Arts and Culture, told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.

"We'd want people to see that statue as a symbol of hope, not about something like a rabbit."

Report: AAPI College Students Primarily Turn to Peers for Academic Advice - Higher Education

Report: AAPI College Students Primarily Turn to Peers for Academic Advice - Higher Education: Low-income Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) college students tend to seek academic advice from peers rather than from designated support centers on campus because of perceived barriers. Furthermore, parents of these students typically support their academic endeavors but don’t necessarily comprehend them.

These are among the findings in a new, national report by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF).

The first of its kind by the Washington, D.C.-based organization, the report is based on results of assessment surveys conducted in 2009 and 2011. Survey respondents were 1,035 winners of scholarships dating back to APIASF’S 2003 inception, although college freshmen made up the majority of respondents. Students were either eligible for Pell grants or came from families living at or below poverty level.

'Hispanic' Or 'Latino'? Polls Say It Doesn't Matter — Usually : Code Switch : NPR

'Hispanic' Or 'Latino'? Polls Say It Doesn't Matter — Usually : Code Switch : NPR: Carlos Mencia is well-known for his standup humor, which is slyly good-natured and often focuses on race and ethnicity. The 46 year-old Mencia has had a successful series on The Comedy Channel (Mind of Mencia) and draws huge crowds when he tours the country. When he was starting out in the business, he spent a lot of time on college campuses. And he learned pretty quickly that how he talked about the ethnicity he thought he shared with his audience could get him into trouble.

He told TV host Katie Couric about the scoldings he'd get as he thrashed around trying to find a name for the politicized students who'd come to see him.

"I said 'Latinos,' and they said, 'We're not Latin!' " he told Couric. "And then I said 'Chicano,' and they said, 'We're not of Mexican descent.' So I said 'I don't know what to say — Hispanic?' And they said, 'There's no such country as Hispania!' " He's chuckling now, but the memory was still clearly frustrating. "How am I supposed to describe us?" he wondered.

New trial sought for South Carolina teen executed for 1944 murders | Reuters

New trial sought for South Carolina teen executed for 1944 murders | Reuters: Attorneys in South Carolina say they have fresh evidence that warrants a new trial in the case of a 14-year-old black teenager put to death nearly 70 years ago for the murders of two white girls.

George Stinney Jr. was the youngest person to be executed in the United States in the last century, and attorneys say the request for another trial so long after a defendant's death is the first of its kind in the state.

No official record of the original court proceedings exists; no trial participants are alive, and no evidence was preserved. The law is unclear on whether any statute of limitations would prevent the case from being reopened.

Despite those obstacles, attorneys for Stinney's family will argue at a hearing on Tuesday that the crime that rocked the small mill town of Alcolu in 1944 deserves another look.

Arizona State University Frat Celebrates MLK Day By Being Extraordinarily Racist (VIDEO)

Arizona State University Frat Celebrates MLK Day By Being Extraordinarily Racist (VIDEO): A fraternity at Arizona State University decided to celebrate the national holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., by being overtly racist.

The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at ASU held an unregistered party Sunday and dubbed it an "MLK Black Party," according to CBS5. Attendees wore basketball jerseys, drank from cups made out of watermelons and flashed gang signs for the camera.

The partygoers posted a number of photos on social media. Attendees included the following hashtags on their Instagram posts:

#myboymartin
#hood
#killem
#ihaveadream
#blackoutformlk

All of the people identified in the Instagram photos used by local media have since deleted their accounts.

The fraternity was already on "social probation" at the time of the incident, ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler told the Phoenix New Times, meaning it wasn't allowed to have parties.

Taking The Pulse Of Latino Health Concerns : Shots - Health News : NPR

Taking The Pulse Of Latino Health Concerns : Shots - Health News : NPR: Latino immigrants to the U.S. say the quality and affordability of health care is better in the U.S. than the country they come from, , the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. But many report having health care problems.

In the last 12 months, 31 percent say they had a serious problem with having enough money to pay for health insurance. About one in four had a serious problem affording doctor and hospital bills and prescription medicines.

When it comes to the health issue that concerns Latinos most about their own and their families' health, diabetes tops the list — whether they were born in the U.S. or immigrated here.When asked in a poll last year what the biggest health problem facing the nation was, they had a different answer: "cancer."

This split may reflect the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Hispanic populations. About 10 percent of Latino adults have been diagnosed with it or are in a stage that is often silent called "prediabetes."

Poll Focuses On Views From A Wide Array Of Latino Americans : Code Switch : NPR

Poll Focuses On Views From A Wide Array Of Latino Americans : Code Switch : NPR: You've probably heard a lot about "the Latino voter" or the way companies are trying to win over "the Latino consumer."

It's a cliché at this to point out that Latinos, like every other ethnic group, are not monolithic. But let's say it one more time, anyway: Latinos are not monolithic.

That's underscored by a new major poll of nearly 1,500 Latino Americans by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The poll, like our previous African-American poll, covered several aspects of people's lives — religious beliefs, personal finances, health status, education and more. It featured enough respondents that we could break them out into a few key groups by ethnic ancestry — Cubans, Dominicans, South Americans, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans. We were also able to contrast responses from folks who were immigrants with those who were born in the United States.

85 richest people own as much as bottom half of population, report says - chicagotribune.com

85 richest people own as much as bottom half of population, report says - chicagotribune.com: The 85 richest people on Earth have the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the population, according to a new report that highlights growing income inequality as political and business leaders gather for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Those wealthy individuals are a small part of the richest 1% of the population, which combined owns about 46% of global wealth, according to the report from British humanitarian group Oxfam International.

The study found the richest 1% had $110 trillion in wealth -- 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the population.
That bottom half of the population owned about $1.7 trillion, or about 0.7% of the world's wealth. That's the same amount as owned by the 85 richest people, the report said.

The findings undermine democracy and make it more difficult to fight poverty, the report said.

“It is staggering that in the 21st century, half of the world’s
population own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage," said Winnie Byanyima, the group's executive director.

Martin Luther King’s Nobel Speech Is an Often Ignored Masterpiece - The Daily Beast

Martin Luther King’s Nobel Speech Is an Often Ignored Masterpiece - The Daily Beast: When Martin Luther King accepted his Nobel Prize, he delivered a speech that has been unfairly ignored because his delivery was so muted. Read 50 years later, it is electrifying.

Martin Luther King’s gifts were manifest. He was an inspired leader, a galvanizing orator, and a brilliant polemicist and prose writer. But more than anything, he knew how to rise to an occasion.

On December 10, 1964, when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, he knew the world was watching. He knew that he was the public face of the American civil rights movement, and that everything he said would be weighed and judged, sometimes harshly. Put in that position, almost any of us would tremble. But King just stepped up to the podium and delivered one of the finest speeches of his life.

PHOTOS: Martin Luther King Jr. In Color

PHOTOS: Martin Luther King Jr. In Color: Most of our memories of Martin Luther King, Jr., are in black and white, making his life and work seem longer ago and almost quaint, like the horn-rimmed glasses and skinny dark ties of the era. TPM put together a collection of color photos. Take a look.

Haribo stops making liquorice candy shaped like African masks after racism complaint | The Raw Story

Haribo stops making liquorice candy shaped like African masks after racism complaint | The Raw Story: According to the New Straits Times, customers in Sweden began complaining after Twitter users posted pictures of the Asian, Native American and African caricatures contained within the “Skipper Mix.” A description of its contents claims that it includes “many different delightful shapes [like] sea creatures, boats, little houses, bears and ridged cylinders.”

The head of Haribo Sweden, Ola Dagliden, told the AFP that the offending candies were meant to represent what “a sailor who travelled the world” in “days gone by” would have collected. That the “sailor” pictured on the packaging is an accordion-wielding white man contributed to Twitter complaints about the company’s racial insensitivity. According to Saam Kapadia, the white sailor with his “treasure” of racist caricature liquorice candies brought to mind the legacy of colonialism and the slave trade.

HBCUs Need to Seek Leaders from Nontraditional Sources - Higher Education

HBCUs Need to Seek Leaders from Nontraditional Sources - Higher Education: In this environment of limited educational funds, stable leadership is the key to ensuring the health of any university. However, unsteady leadership acutely impacts historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). With the recent departure of Alcorn State University’s former president, M. Christopher Brown, another HBCU has seen a change in leadership. Unfortunately, some of these leadership changes have been marred in scandal.

As an Alcorn alumnus, I am very concerned with Brown’s unexpected departure. The Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL), Mississippi’s public college and university governing body, is investigating Brown’s purchasing practices. In addition, the IHL is planning a search for Alcorn’s next president. During the search process, my No. 1 question is: How can alumni work with IHL to assist in finding the best candidates?

Traditionally, HBCU presidential candidates have moved from leadership positions at other HBCUs. Also, they have traditionally been alumni of HBCUs or minority serving institutions (MSI). In the past, that was a good formula for the HBCU seeking a new president. However, it leaves one HBCU without leadership while another one gains from their loss. This situation presents an opportunity to expand the leadership search outside the ranks of the traditional HBCU community.

Some Schools Working Through MLK Holiday - Higher Education

Some Schools Working Through MLK Holiday - Higher Education: While most public colleges and universities will be closed today to honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a number of private and religious-affiliate schools across the country will be open for business, much to the chagrin of some faculty and students.

“It’s very disappointing,” says Steven McFarland, a junior at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and co-president of the Swarthmore African American Student Society. “This day is about what Swarthmore is about, social justice. That is why I came here.”

The Philadelphia native says that, for more than a decade, student leaders have, without much success, called on administrators to postpone classes until after the holiday.

Mark Anskis, a spokesman for Swarthmore, says that Dr. Collin Williams Jr., a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, will speak at a breakfast this morning on campus and that the university will honor the lives of three generations of Swarthmore African-American men, including Paul Cato, a student leader who is scheduled to graduate in May.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations Honor The Late Civil Rights Activist

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebrations Honor The Late Civil Rights Activist: The nation paused to remember Martin Luther King Jr. Monday with parades, marches and service projects.

King was born Jan. 15, 1929, and the federal holiday is the third Monday in January.

In Atlanta, a service was planned at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was pastor. In Memphis, Tenn., where King was assassinated, an audio recording of an interview with King would be played at the National Civil Rights Museum. The recording sheds new light on a phone call President John F. Kennedy made to King's wife more than 50 years ago.

Historians generally agree Kennedy's phone call to Coretta Scott King expressing concern over her husband's arrest in October 1960 — and Robert Kennedy's work behind the scenes to get King released — helped JFK win the White House.

In Ann Arbor, Mich., activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte planned to deliver the keynote address for the 28th annual Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium on Monday morning at the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium.

The good white folks of the Academy | Al Jazeera America

The good white folks of the Academy | Al Jazeera America: The Academy Awards have made progress in terms of racial representation. This year a film about slavery is the clear front-runner in many of the major categories, and if “12 Years a Slave” or “Gravity” wins best picture, it would be the first time a movie by a nonwhite director takes the prize. It’s also possible that Lee Daniels (“The Butler”) could join Steve McQueen (“12 Years”) and Alfonso Cuaron (“Gravity”) to make best director a majority-minority category for the first time ever.

It’s certainly a relief to see Oscar-nominated films about black experience actually written and directed by black people (unlike, for example, recent Oscar darlings “Django Unchained,” “The Help,” and “The Blind Side”). But it’s the movie’s producers — who have more power over a film’s content than most recognize — who will actually walk up to accept the best picture statuette. Unsurprisingly, most of them are still white.

That might be one reason why the representations of black experience that the Academy deems best-picture-worthy remain fundamentally unchallenged. Out of the 120 films that received a best picture nomination in the last 20 years, only 17 featured nonwhite protagonists or major characters.

Why The Race Of The New Football Coach At University Of Texas Matters : NPR

Why The Race Of The New Football Coach At University Of Texas Matters : NPR: The Texas Longhorn football team is trying to regroup after several disappointing seasons under veteran coach Mack Brown.

The University of Texas hired Charlie Strong last week to usher in a new era in Austin. He will be the first black head coach of any men's sport at the university.

Strong has not been a popular hire with some of Texas' billionaire boosters, despite having led an impressive career since 1986.

But Lou Holtz, who coached at Arkansas, Notre Dame and the University of South Carolina, among other places, testifies to Strong's abilities and professionalism.

Investigators: Montana judge’s racist Obama email just one of hundreds | The Raw Story

Investigators: Montana judge’s racist Obama email just one of hundreds | The Raw Story: A federal judicial panel revealed on Friday that a former federal judge’s email suggesting President Barack Obama’s mother had sex with a dog was one of hundreds showing “disdain for African Americans and Hispanics,” the Billings Gazette reported.

The March 2013 report from the Judicial Council of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals traced Richard Cebull’s proclivity for sending racist and sexist material back to 2008. Cebull, a former U.S. District Court Judge, was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

The probe discovered that Cebull violated the second and fifth canons of the judicial code of conduct barring judges from political activity, as he sent several emails “related to pending legislation or an issue that could come before the courts, such as immigration, gun control, civil rights, health care or environmental matters.” Other messages contained “inappropriate jokes relating to sexual orientation,” particular “disdain” for undocumented Latino immigrants, “certain faiths,” and “liberal political leaders.” Other emails focused on “sexual topics and were disparaging of women.”

A Black Chef At An All-White Club Who 'Never Looked Back' : NPR

A Black Chef At An All-White Club Who 'Never Looked Back' : NPR: Clayton Sherrod was just 19 in 1964, when he became the executive chef at an all-white club in Birmingham, Ala. Sherrod, who is African-American, had started working in the kitchen there when he was 13, after his father had a heart attack.

"My mother said, 'You can't go back to school. You're going to have to find a job.' So I went to the country club."

Sherrod's friends thought he was crazy when he decided he would become a chef, he recalls during a visit to StoryCorps. "But I saw something that no one else could see, and that is me walking around with that big tall hat on.

"So I counted how many positions it was from washing dishes to the executive chef, and I had my chart pinned to the wall in our little outdoor bathroom there, and I would mark every time I got a promotion," Sherrod says. "And then I would turn the light off, and I would dance."

New Reports Help Answer Expanding College Opportunity Challenge - Higher Education

New Reports Help Answer Expanding College Opportunity Challenge - Higher Education: On the day the Obama Administration convened a White House summit on expanding college opportunity for low-income Americans, The Education Trust advocacy organization released a pair of reports highlighting measures institutions can take to boost enrollment and graduation rates of underrepresented minorities and low-income students.

In “Learning from High-Performing and Fast-Gaining Institutions” and “Leading Change: Increasing Graduation Rates at CSU-Northridge”, Education Trust researchers document case studies and strategies that institutions—ranging from those with open admissions to highly competitive flagship public universities and selective private schools—can employ to increase “success rates for low-income students and students of color.”

Scholar Works to Combat ‘Academic Fraud’ for Black Males - Higher Education

Scholar Works to Combat ‘Academic Fraud’ for Black Males - Higher Education: Dr. T. Elon Dancy II has spent much of his academic career thinking about the concept of impostership, or what others have called academic fraud.

“I’ve mentored a number of students who always confess feelings that they don’t belong, that they are not smart enough, even though all the evidence points to the contrary,” says Dancy, an associate professor of higher education at the University of Oklahoma who has written extensively about minority groups who have at times struggled with this very complex.

“For people who have not been White, male, straight, Christian, or wealthy — all these identities that have experienced marginalization — they are likely to be part of the breeding ground for impostership.”

With a joint appointment in African and African American Studies, Women & Gender Studies and the OU Center for Social Justice, the Pine Bluff, Ark. native has made it his mission to help his students realize that they do belong. And he uses his own life journey to illustrate this very point.

‘How It Feels to Be Free’ Salutes Black Female Entertainers - NYTimes.com

‘How It Feels to Be Free’ Salutes Black Female Entertainers - NYTimes.com: Ruth Feldstein’s important new book, “How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement,” is an original exploration of the little-known but central role that black entertainers, especially black women, played in helping communicate and forward the movement’s goals. Lena Horne, Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll and Cicely Tyson — the black women entertainers in this book — were popular at the height of an organized global struggle for black freedom, from around 1959 till the mid-1970s. They were influenced by this movement, even as they helped shape it.

Ms. Feldstein, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University in Newark, has not written tell-all celebrity biographies of these women. Nor is hers the story of a group of women working together, though Simone, Lincoln and Makeba became close friends. “How It Feels to Be Free” is a work of cultural history that insists upon the importance of popular art to the work of social change.

NAACP Has 'Serious Concerns' With New Voting Rights Legislation

NAACP Has 'Serious Concerns' With New Voting Rights Legislation: The NAACP on Thursday expressed appreciation for lawmakers' effort to update voting rights laws, but raised "serious concerns" with provisions of the bill.

...The bill, which would repair a provision of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court last summer, would keep communities informed of local voting changes, strengthen federal courts' hand in cases of discriminatory voting changes and tighten the leash on areas with recent voting rights violations. But the bill was designed to garner support from both sides of the aisle, and some of its compromises concern the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

The NAACP said in a statement:

The NAACP appreciates that the U.S. Congress has made a bipartisan effort to update the Voting Rights Act, however we have serious concerns about the ability of some provisions in this bill to protect ALL voters from discrimination at the polls ... From the exceptions for voter ID laws to decreased preclearance coverage to increased reliance on costly litigation, there are essential revisions and amendments to this bill that must take place to ensure ALL voters have fair and equitable access to the ballot box.

Is There Only Room For One Black Film At The Top Of The Heap? : Code Switch : NPR

Is There Only Room For One Black Film At The Top Of The Heap? : Code Switch : NPR: First, let's acknowledge one thing: 12 Years a Slave has achieved something amazing and wonderful.

With nine Oscar nominations, it has proven a brutal story about the worst degradations of American slavery can attract the biggest accolades Hollywood has to offer.

In particular, seeing Steve McQueen within spitting distance of becoming the first black person to win an Oscar for directing, you feel both a sense of progress for the moment and profound disappointment that such a benchmark would remain untouched in 2014. (That feeling persists for Gravity director Alphonso Cuaron, a Mexican director poised to make a similar achievement for Latinos).

But, as wonderful as it is to see the film's top acting and production talent rewarded for a bracing and informative work, it's worth noting that 2014 was a banner year for films about nonwhite people.

Lawmakers Roll Out Voting Rights Act Fix : It's All Politics : NPR

Lawmakers Roll Out Voting Rights Act Fix : It's All Politics : NPR: A bipartisan group of lawmakers took the first step Thursday to patch a gaping hole in the 1965 Voting Rights Act after the Supreme Court eviscerated a key part of the law that allowed for federal oversight of states with a history of ballot box discrimination.

The bill, known as the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014, has been sponsored in the House by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., and in the Senate by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Chris Coons, D-Del. Their proposal includes several important provisions:

• a trigger to bring states under federal pre-approval for election changes if those states have five or more voting rights violations over the past 15 years.
• a way to allow courts to require federal oversight for states even if the Justice Department or private litigants can't demonstrate intentional discrimination at the ballot box.
• a requirement for states to provide broad public notice of voting changes such as redistricting and moving of polling places so the public gets early warning of potential problems.
• a statement that makes clear states can continue to pass photo ID laws that are "reasonable."

U.S. to Expand Rules Limiting Use of Profiling by Federal Agents - NYTimes.com

U.S. to Expand Rules Limiting Use of Profiling by Federal Agents - NYTimes.com: The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations, a government official said Wednesday.

The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations.

The Bush administration banned profiling in 2003, but with two caveats: It did not apply to national security cases, and it covered only race, not religion, ancestry or other factors.

Since taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has been under pressure from Democrats in Congress to eliminate those provisions. “These exceptions are a license to profile American Muslims and Hispanic-Americans,” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, said in 2012.

When an “Educated” Black Man Becomes Lighter in the Mind’s Eye | SAGE Open

When an “Educated” Black Man Becomes Lighter in the Mind’s Eye | SAGE Open: We offer novel evidence that a Black man appears lighter in the mind’s eye following a counter-stereotypic prime, a phenomenon we refer to as skin tone memory bias. In Experiment 1, participants were primed subliminally with the counter-stereotypic word educated or with the stereotypic word ignorant, followed by the target stimulus of a Black man’s face. A recognition memory task for the target’s face and six lures (skin tone variations of ±25%, ±37%, and ±50%) revealed that participants primed with “educated” exhibited more memory errors with respect to lighter lures—misidentifying even the lightest lure as the target more often than counterparts primed with “ignorant.” This skin tone memory bias was replicated in Experiment 2. We situate these findings in theorizing on the mind’s striving for cognitive consistency. Black individuals who defy social stereotypes might not challenge social norms sufficiently but rather may be remembered as lighter, perpetuating status quo beliefs.

Study Reveals The Unconscious Bias Towards Dark Skin People We Already Knew Existed

Study Reveals The Unconscious Bias Towards Dark Skin People We Already Knew Existed: The black community is no stranger to the deep-seated issues of colorism, so the results of a new study highlighting color bias are not surprising.

Professors at San Francisco State University released a study titled "When an 'Educated' Black Man Becomes Lighter in the Mind’s Eye" on Tuesday exploring a concept they call "skin tone memory bias."

The study claims to provide evidence for the subconscious bias where educated black men are remembered as having lighter skin. The claim adds fervor to the implication that successful black people are thought of as exceptions to their race rather than examples of what people within that race are capable of.

"Black individuals who defy social stereotypes might not challenge social norms sufficiently but rather may be remembered as lighter, perpetuating status quo beliefs," the study explained.

Yes, Schools In The U.S. Still Bear The Names Of White Supremacists

Yes, Schools In The U.S. Still Bear The Names Of White Supremacists: After years of debate, a barrage of media reports, and a petition that gained more than 162,000 signatures, Florida's Duval School District finally changed the name of a high school named for former Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest earlier this month.

Unfortunately, the district is not the last in the country to have a school named after a white supremacist. There are still schools with titles that commemorate leaders who, at one point in their lives, wanted to deny African Americans basic human rights. Still, a name change does not appear to be in the works for many of these schools.

...we have compiled a list of these leaders who, despite having at one point held horrifying views, are still commemorated with school names, buildings or statues. It should be noted, however, that some, like late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, later apologized for their involvement with these controversial groups.

Scholar Poised to Introduce Intersection Between Race, Modern English - Higher Education

Scholar Poised to Introduce Intersection Between Race, Modern English - Higher Education: With the publication of his first book, set for April 2014, Dr. Dennis Austin Britton is poised to bring the English literature research that he has labored on since graduate school to a wider public audience. The book, Becoming Christian: Race, Reformation, and Early Modern English Romance, has been described as “an exciting study that offers a theological account of race and racialization” in early modern England.

“In the book I was able to draw together many of my previous interests in a more precise way,” says Britton, a University of New Hampshire associate professor of English. “I’ve always been interested in issues of race and religion and in theology.”

For Britton, the publication of Becoming Christian will mark the latest in a series of noteworthy early career achievements by the recently tenured scholar. Since gaining tenure during the 2012-13 academic year, the scholar has reached new heights by winning an Excellence in Teaching award from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) this past fall.

The thinnest Americans are Asian Americans, CDC data show - chicagotribune.com

The thinnest Americans are Asian Americans, CDC data show - chicagotribune.com: Which Americans are least likely to be overweight or obese? Asian Americans, by a long shot.


New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 38.6% of Asian American adults have a body mass index over 25, the threshold for being considered overweight. That’s far below the 66.7% rate among whites, 76.7% rate among blacks and 78.8% rate among Latinos.

Some Asian American adults are more likely to be overweight than others. For instance, 43% of men have a BMI over 25, compared with 34.7% of women. In addition, the prevalence of overweight adults is nearly 1.5 times higher among adults who are at least 40 years old than it is among those between the ages of 20 and 39, the data show.

Discovering Grief And Freedom In A Family's History Of Slavery : NPR

Discovering Grief And Freedom In A Family's History Of Slavery : NPR: NPR continues a series of conversations about , where thousands of people have submitted their thoughts on race and cultural identity in six words. Every so often, NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris will dip into those six-word stories to explore issues surrounding race and cultural identity for Morning Edition.

The wrenching film 12 Years a Slave, based on true events, re-creates the story of a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the 1840s. The Golden Globe-winning film has prompted an uptick in six-word entries concerning slavery sent to the Race Card Project, particularly from people who have tried to uncover their own family connections to slavery.

For many of those people, like Robert Goins of San Francisco, the search can be difficult — and the discoveries painful.

Goins was researching his ancestors in North Carolina a decade ago when he stumbled upon grief while going through a ledger on microfiche — hence, his six-word submission: "."

"I found my great-grandfather's family and some notes held at the North Carolina archives," Goins tells Norris. "The family lived in Belews Creek — and Sauratown." Sauratown, Goins notes, sounds like "sorrow."

A Woman Comes To Terms With Her Family's Slave-Owning Past : NPR

A Woman Comes To Terms With Her Family's Slave-Owning Past : NPR: NPR continues a series of conversations about , where thousands of people have submitted their thoughts on race and cultural identity in six words. Every so often, NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris will dip into those six-word stories to explore issues surrounding race and cultural identity for Morning Edition.

Kate Byroade lives in Connecticut, but she has a family history that reaches far back to the American South. She always knew her ancestors had once owned slaves, but had been told again and again, particularly by her Southern grandmother, that the family's slaves had been treated well.

"She was matter-of-fact that the family had owned slaves in the past," Byroade says. "And emphasized that we did not come from 'plantation-type' families — that our slaves had been trusted house servants."

"At first this seemed OK to me because it was OK to her," Byroade continues. "But eventually I understood that the domination of another person's free will was unacceptable."

UPenn Professor Overcomes Odds, Uses Community Research to Study HIV - Higher Education

UPenn Professor Overcomes Odds, Uses Community Research to Study HIV - Higher Education: As a child, Bridgette M. Brawner saw too much—the strewn drug vials and addicts’ discarded needles that littered her playground, the senseless fighting that hit close to home, more kids on the street than in school and adults who had given up on life. For a time, this was Brawner’s world growing up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Even through the bright eyes of a 10-year-old, life in her community looked bleak. It was then that Brawner told herself, “There has to be more than this.”

The single mother who raised Brawner uprooted her young daughter and fled to the suburbs for safety. While Brawner says she was able to escape some of the chaos of the streets, she “never stopped looking back” and caring about the people who were left behind.

“I was young, but I knew even then that I wanted to grow up to do something that could make a difference in the world and in the lives of others,” says Brawner.

‘Invisible’ Burmese, Bhutanese Americans Face ‘Alarming’ Dropout Rates - Higher Education

‘Invisible’ Burmese, Bhutanese Americans Face ‘Alarming’ Dropout Rates - Higher Education: A startling 39 percent of U.S. Burmese are high school dropouts, so not surprisingly, 30 percent of this ethnic group lives below the poverty line, according to a new report.

Scheduled for release Wednesday, the report, titled “Invisible Newcomers,” explores the educational attainment, socioeconomic challenges, migration and settlement experiences of the Burmese and Bhutanese, who make up the two largest, recent refugee groups in this country. The report’s authors are Dr. Chia Youyee Vang, an associate professor of history and comparative ethnic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Dr. Monica Mong Trieu, an assistant professor of sociology and Asian American studies at Purdue University. It was issued by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) in collaboration with the Association for Asian American Studies.

Bank executives still disproportionately white, NAACP says - latimes.com

Bank executives still disproportionately white, NAACP says - latimes.com: Leadership positions at large U.S. banks are predominantly held by whites, according to a new report by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

“Equal opportunity for people of color in the United States remains an unrealized goal,” said Lorraine Miller, the NAACP's chief executive.

The NAACP based its report on a survey of five large U.S. banks: Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. The banks were asked to identify the race of total employees and those hired and promoted in the calendar year 2011.

Based on the results, the NAACP gave letter grades to the five banks, with Bank of America and Citibank receiving a C+, JPMorgan and Well Fargo getting a C and U.S. Bank slapped with a D+.

Univ. of Nevada Professor Works to Preserve California Indian History - Higher Education

Univ. of Nevada Professor Works to Preserve California Indian History - Higher Education: It’s not often that a child decides in elementary school that he wants to grow up to be a historian. But Dr. William Bauer, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, drew his earliest inspiration from field trips to California state parks.

Growing up on the Round Valley Indian Reservation in Northern California, Bauer says he noticed certain omissions. “Very often native people were ignored in these parks,” Bauer recalls. “They rarely made reference to the native people who were indigenous to these areas. So I wanted to devote my time and energy to looking at the role that native people, and native workers, had in helping to create what we know about the American West.”

Bauer says his work differs from other research that has been done on the Round Valley community and other reservations. “Much of [the research] that [has] been done tends to look at what non-native people did to native people; what my work emphasizes is what Native Americans themselves have done and are doing.” He relies heavily on oral history records and on his own oral interviews.

Stanford Dean Claude Steele Selected as UC Berkeley Provost - Higher Education

Stanford Dean Claude Steele Selected as UC Berkeley Provost - Higher Education: Claude Steele, a preeminent scholar of social psychology and dean of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, has been selected to serve as the next executive vice chancellor and provost of the University of California, Berkeley. His appointment is contingent on the approval of the Regents of the University of California, which will vote on the appointment and terms of employment at its next meeting this month.

If approved, Steele is expected to assume the position on March 31. He will succeed retiring Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George W. Breslauer, who has served in that role since 2006.

As executive vice chancellor and provost, Steele will serve as the chief academic officer for UC Berkeley’s 14 schools and colleges. Working closely with the Faculty Senate and student leaders, Steele will have leadership responsibility for all academic programs, faculty recruitment and retention and undergraduate and graduate education.

Desegregation Pact Gets Judge's Approval In Arkansas : The Two-Way : NPR

Desegregation Pact Gets Judge's Approval In Arkansas : The Two-Way : NPR: A long-running school desegregation fight in Arkansas is over, after a federal judge accepted a settlement reached by the state, lawyers for black students, and three school districts in and around Little Rock. Under the deal, the state will no longer have to send payments — around $70 million this year — to aid desegregation.

According to the terms of the deal, those payments can stop after the 2017-2018 school year. They had been mandated by a court-ordered program that also included forming magnet schools and shifting students between school districts.

As Debbie Elliott reported for Code Switch earlier today, the complicated case was sparked by the effects of white flight, which created a ring of white, affluent schools around the city. Its deeper roots run to the forced integration of Little Rock's Central High School under federal guard in 1957.

"This is not a joyful day for African-American people in America," John Walker, an attorney who represented black students in the desegregation case, told Debbie.

Interview: Sonia Sotomayor, Author Of 'My Beloved World' : NPR

Interview: Sonia Sotomayor, Author Of 'My Beloved World' : NPR: Like most sitting Supreme Court justices, Sonia Sotomayor is circumspect when talking about the court; but she has written intimately about her personal life — more so than is customary for a Supreme Court justice.

"When I was nominated by the president for this position, it became very clear to me that many people in the public were interested in my life and the challenges I had faced," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "... And I also realized that much of the public perception of who I was and what had happened to me was not quite complete."

In her memoir, My Beloved World, Sotomayor recounts growing up poor in the South Bronx; living with juvenile diabetes, a chronic disease; being raised by a single mother after her father, who was an alcoholic, died; and struggling to get a good education in spite of the odds. It became a best-seller when it was published last year and has just come out in paperback.

Judge OKs pact ending Ark. desegregation payments - Houston Chronicle

Judge OKs pact ending Ark. desegregation payments - Houston Chronicle: LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge approved a settlement Monday that will allow the state of Arkansas to stop making payments to three Little Rock-area school districts to aid their desegregation efforts.

U.S. District Judge Price Marshall signed off on the pact after hearing several hours of testimony from opponents of the deal and lawyers for the signees: the state, the districts and black schoolchildren.

Since 1989, the state has given the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts more than $1 billion, total, above their regular state appropriations. The money — about $70 million this fiscal year — goes toward magnet schools and transporting students from districts where they'd be in the majority to those where they'd be in the minority.

The state has wanted to halt the payments for years, and Marshall had scheduled a March trial to hear Attorney General Dustin McDaniel's lawsuit seeking the arrangement's immediate end.

The Civil Rights of Children - NYTimes.com

The Civil Rights of Children - NYTimes.com: Most school officials try to apply disciplinary policies fairly and in compliance with federal laws that forbid racial discrimination. Even so, a large and troubling body of data — some if it gathered by the federal government — shows that black and Hispanic students are disproportionately and unjustifiably subjected to suspension, expulsion or even arrest for nonviolent offenses that should be dealt with in the principal’s office.

As a result, minority children who are already at greater risk of dropping out are being ejected from school and denied the right to an effective public education.

Is the United States a 'Racial Democracy'? - NYTimes.com

Is the United States a 'Racial Democracy'? - NYTimes.com: ...Our view is that the system that has emerged in the United States over the past few decades is a racial democracy. It is widely thought that the civil rights movement in the 1960s at last realized the remarkable political ideals of the United States Constitution. If political ideals have the tendency to mask the reality of their violation, it will be especially difficult for our fellow American citizens to acknowledge that we are correct. More argument is required, which we supply in making the case for the following two claims.

First, encountering the police or the courts causes people to lose their status as participants in the political process, either officially, by incarceration and its consequences, or unofficially, via the strong correlation that exists between such encounters and withdrawal from political life. Secondly, blacks are unfairly and disproportionately the targets of the police and the courts. We briefly summarize part of the case for these claims here; they are substantiated at length elsewhere.

Fight for boardroom diversity: Column

Fight for boardroom diversity: Column: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) made news this week with the announcement that the company has amended its nominating and corporate governance committee charter to state that it is "committed to actively seeking out highly qualified women and individuals from minority groups to include in the pool from which board nominees are chosen." How magnanimous of the technology giant – the world's most valuable company is willing to consider women and minorities for its board. And while Apple will, of course, follow-up this announcement with the appointment of a director with impeccable credentials who meets the company's baseline criteria of being a woman or minority, it is difficult to see this "heroic act" as anything more than an empty gesture.

This is not an instance of a light-bulb turning on over the heads of Apple's board members. The charter amendment comes only after two investor groups, Trillium Asset Management and Sustainability Group, threatened to offer a board diversity proposal for vote at Apple's annual shareholder meeting next month.

‘Anchorman 2’ and the Normalization of an Ethnic Slur - Higher Education

‘Anchorman 2’ and the Normalization of an Ethnic Slur - Higher Education: You have to be literally living under a rock to have escaped the holiday marketing blitz of “Anchorman 2.” From muscle car ads to real news shows, the fake newsman Ron Burgundy (alter ego of actor Will Ferrell) has reared his ugly hair-sprayed head all over the media.

I’m more concerned about what the movie says about diversity.

Nothing good, really.

Yes, I know this movie’s a silly trifle, especially with more important things to write about like starving kids in the Philippines, the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

But that’s my point. When Ron Burgundy/Will Ferrell tells a joke about Filipino dog eating, it’s just not funny. It’s a tasteless and unneccessary re-telling of an old ethnic slur.

Am I being oversensitive?

Blacks, I’m sure hear different notes when people talk about African-Americans eating watermelon and fried chicken. That strikes a chord of an ethnic slur from way back.

LaSalle Professor Embarks on Groundbreaking Work in HIV/AIDS - Higher Education

LaSalle Professor Embarks on Groundbreaking Work in HIV/AIDS - Higher Education: ...Now, at the age of 35, Baker is an assistant professor in the Master of Public Health Program at La Salle University and credits her family and mentors like Dr. Loretta Jemmott, a world-class researcher and nursing faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, with helping her to develop a keen interest in public health issues.

Baker’s dramatic rise to become one of the nation’s leading researchers on developing ways to stem the HIV crisis, particularly in minority communities, was hardly predictable.

As a psychology major at Penn, Baker was unsure of her career trajectory until she enrolled in Jemmott’s human sexuality class during her junior year and became fascinated by the subject.

Modern Language Convention Focuses on ‘Vulnerable Times’ - Higher Education

Modern Language Convention Focuses on ‘Vulnerable Times’ - Higher Education: CHICAGO—Professors and graduate students braved subzero temperatures and travel hurdles in snow-laden Chicago last week to convene for four days about the “vulnerable times” in the field of language and literature.

Held from Thursday through Sunday, the 129th Modern Language Association Convention lacked the racial diversity it has seen in years past, one scholar of color noted, which some might read as a testament to certain “vulnerabilities in academia.” Yet attendees found a hefty program that represented a broad — and often arcane — array of scholarly interests.

A special session, titled “The Poetics and Politics of Ecocinema,” drew scholars from as far as Australia and Hawaii, who parsed elements of the fantasy drama film, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Another session looked at “black vulnerability in ‘Three Days Before the Shooting,’” the title given to Ralph Ellison’s unfinished second novel.