He's all-Ivy -- accepted to all 8 Ivy League colleges

He's all-Ivy -- accepted to all 8 Ivy League colleges: In the next month, Kwasi Enin must make a tough decision: Which of the eight Ivy League universities should he attend this fall?

A first-generation American from Shirley, N.Y., the 17-year-old violist and aspiring physician applied to all eight, from Brown to Yale.

The responses began rolling in over the past few months, and by late last week when he opened an e-mail from Harvard, he found he'd been accepted to every one. School district officials provided scanned copies of acceptance letters from all eight on Monday. Yale confirmed that it was holding a spot for Enin.

The feat is extremely rare, say college counselors — few students even apply to all eight, because each seeks different qualities in their freshman class. Almost none are invited to attend them all. The Ivy League colleges are among the nation's most elite.

The Real Reasons New York has the Country’s Most Segregated Schools - The Daily Beast

The Real Reasons New York has the Country’s Most Segregated Schools - The Daily Beast: New York schools are the most segregated in the country according to a new study, but blaming charter schools, which only serve 6% of city students, won’t fix the real problems.

New York City occupies a special place in the American consciousness as the tumultuous seat of our financial markets and the buzzing capital of our culture. Most importantly, it’s the city that exemplifies American pluralism, the “melting pot” that attracts new immigrants looking for work and college graduates drawn from their hometowns by the promise of excitement and diversity. So, when it turns out that the melting pot has the most segregated schools in the country, as a new study reports, it suggests that something has gone very wrong in our approach to education.

Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday

Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday: Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday was established by Los Angeles volunteers who organized and led the effort in California that won Cesar Chavez Day, the first legal state holiday and day of service and learning in honor of farm worker leader Cesar E. Chavez. The legal holiday bill introduced by then State Senator Richard Polanco (Los Angeles-D) was signed into law by then Governor Gray Davis (D) on August 18, 2000. The holiday is celebrated in California on Cesar E. Chavez’s birthday March 31st. This marked the first time that a labor leader or Latino has been honored with a public legal holiday.

The California legal holiday set into motion a wave of initiatives resulting in optional and commemorative Cesar Chavez Days in nine additional states (Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Rhode Island.)

Cesar Chavez Day brings together hundreds of thousands who engage in celebrations, service and learning projects, and other actions that further the many causes which Cesar Chavez worked for.

The mission of Cesar E. Chavez National Holiday, a public benefit organization, is to work for national recognition of Cesar E. Chavez on his birthday March 31. We are forming national, state and local coalitions; organizing volunteer committees; and providing education about the value to our nation of honoring Cesar E. Chavez.

Presidential Proclamation -- Cesar Chavez Day, 2014 | The White House

Presidential Proclamation -- Cesar Chavez Day, 2014 | The White House: BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

On Cesar Chavez Day, we celebrate one of America's greatest champions for social justice. Raised into the life of a migrant farm worker, he toiled alongside men, women, and children who performed daily, backbreaking labor for meager pay and in deplorable conditions. They were exposed to dangerous pesticides and denied the most basic protections, including minimum wages, health care, and access to drinking water. Cesar Chavez devoted his life to correcting these injustices, to reminding us that every job has dignity, every life has value, and everyone -- no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from -- should have the chance to get ahead.

Food Chain Workers Take Action on Cesar Chavez Day|Joann Lo

Food Chain Workers Take Action on Cesar Chavez Day|Joann Lo: March 31 is Cesar Chavez Day. As you probably know, Cesar Chavez was a co-founder and leader of the United Farm Workers union. A farmworker himself, in the 1960s through the 1980s, Chavez organized with workers in the fields in California who struggled for fair wages, safe working conditions and respect on the job. Chavez also collaborated with Filipino labor leaders like Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz to found the United Farm Workers.

Because of Chavez's legacy of multi-racial organizing for workers' rights, the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA) chose Cesar Chavez Day for a day of action to raise the minimum wage. On March 31, food workers from around the U.S. are meeting up in Washington, D.C., to deliver a MoveOn.org petition with over 101,000 signatures and a letter signed by over 100 food movement organizations and businesses to House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner is refusing to allow the members of the House of Representatives to vote on the Fair Minimum Wage Act (H.R. 1010), which would increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, and the tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of that. The current national minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, while the tipped minimum wage is $2.13.

Cesar Chavez's Legacy| Peter Dreier

Cesar Chavez's Legacy| Peter Dreier: Many people thought Cesar Chavez was crazy to think he could build a union among migrant farmworkers. Since the early 1900s, unions had been trying and failing to organize California's unskilled agricultural workers. Whether the workers were Anglos, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos or Mexican Americans, these efforts met the same fate. The organizing drives met fierce opposition and always flopped, vulnerable to growers' violent tactics and to competition from a seemingly endless supply of other migrant workers desperate for work. So when Chavez left his job as a community organizer in San Jose in 1962 and moved to rural Delano to try, once again, to bring a union to California's lettuce and grape fields, even his closest friends figured he was delusional.

The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' to 'People Of Color' : Code Switch : NPR

The Journey From 'Colored' To 'Minorities' to 'People Of Color' : Code Switch : NPR: Language is and always will be an essential element in the struggle for understanding among peoples. Changes in the words and phrases we use to describe each other reflect whatever progress we make on the path toward a world where everyone feels respected and included.

A Google Ngram search comparing the frequency of the use of "colored people," "minorities" and "people of color" delivers . The use of the phrase "colored people" peaked in books published in 1970. For "minorities," the top-ranked year was 1997. Since then, the term has steadily declined but continues to significantly outstrip the use of "people of color," which reached its apex in 2003 (although it is important to note that 2008 is the latest year for which results are available).

Let's consider the evolution of that ubiquitous phrase "people of color." It's not new.

Women’s History Month Edition - Higher Education

Women’s History Month Edition - Higher Education: Diverse features 30 trailblazing women who are paving the way for other female leaders behind them. Diverse also teams up with the American Counseling Personnel Association (ACPA) and The Ohio State University’s Dr. Terrell Strayhorn to present a new national study on the most promising places to work in student affairs.

Undergrads Get Tips From the Experts at College Language Association Convention - Higher Education

Undergrads Get Tips From the Experts at College Language Association Convention - Higher Education: NEW ORLEANS — Kyr Rashad Mack and Jeremiah Carter fell in love with Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man a few years ago. It was something about the language and the sophistication of the characters in Ellison’s 1952 epic novel that arrested their attention from the moment they first encountered the text.

These two English majors from Hampton University were among a handful of undergraduates who got the chance to show off their academic prowess at the annual convention of the College Language Association — the largest gathering of literary and language scholars whose work focuses on African, Caribbean and African American themes.

Mack and Carter who wrote their senior capstone thesis paper on Invisible Man, participated in a panel discussion at CLA’s convention in New Orleans last week and was treated to rare feedback from some of the nation’s most visible and established literary scholars.

Can a lawsuit by nine students topple teacher tenure? | PBS NewsHour

Can a lawsuit by nine students topple teacher tenure? | PBS NewsHour: MEGAN THOMPSON: Sisters Beatriz and Elizabeth Vergara attend public high school in a low-income, mostly Hispanic section of northern Los Angeles. The girls are aiming for college, and would be the first in the family with higher degrees.

But the Vergara sisters say that in middle school, they faced obstacles in pursuing their education – chaotic classrooms and little to no instruction. Elizabeth, now a junior, and Beatriz, a sophomore, say back in 7th grade, they both had a particularly bad history teacher.

ELIZABETH VERGARA: He would just be at his desk. Like, just using his computer or sleeping. And students were just using their magazines and he wouldn’t care. They would be throwing food or, like, stuff. And I didn’t even learn anything. Like, I was getting behind.

BEATRIZ VERGARA: And he would let students smoke marijuana -

MEGAN THOMPSON: They were smoking marijuana in class?

BEATRIZ VERGARA: Yeah. I know, it’s hard to believe.

MEGAN THOMPSON: Beatriz also says a science teacher was offensive.

Fueled By Rejection, Black Scholars Built College Language Association to Last - Higher Education

Fueled By Rejection, Black Scholars Built College Language Association to Last - Higher Education: NEW ORLEANS ― Just ask Dr. Kokavah Zauditu-Selassie if she’s ever been a member of the Modern Language Association, and suddenly the full professor of English at Coppin State University in Baltimore becomes deeply expressive.

“Never!” she says with a ring of defiance. “I don’t belong to any organization that didn’t allow Black people to be a member. When they finally opened up the door to us, I said, ‘I’m fine in the space you put me in.’”

For the last 25 years, Zauditu-Selassie has been an active member of the College Language Association (CLA), the scholarly organization that sprung up 77 years ago after the MLA — like many other academic organizations — abruptly shut their doors to the legions of African American scholars that were beginning to pave out careers within the academy.

Latinos Live Longer But Struggle To Save Enough For Retirement : Code Switch : NPR

Latinos Live Longer But Struggle To Save Enough For Retirement : Code Switch : NPR: Many American workers find themselves financially unprepared for retirement. Among racial and ethnic groups, Latinos are the least prepared.

They're one of the fastest-growing racial or ethnic groups, and they have a longer life expectancy than whites and blacks — .

But four out of five Hispanic households have less than $10,000 in retirement savings, according to a .

Compare that to three out of four black households and one out of two for whites. (The report does not break down the data for Native Americans or Asian Americans.)

"This is a national crisis," says Nari Rhee, manager of research at the National Institute on Retirement Security. "I think that there are serious racial dimensions to this."

Poll Finds Big Racial Gap On Compensating College Athletes : Code Switch : NPR

Poll Finds Big Racial Gap On Compensating College Athletes : Code Switch : NPR: A decision yesterday by the National Labor Relations Board found . That means that Northwestern players can move forward with plans to form a union — a move that sent shock waves through the world of college athletics, even though it's too early to know just what it will mean.



But it has already profoundly complicated one of the oldest, thorniest questions in college sports: Should student-athletes be paid?

Drexel Discrimination Suit May Jeopardize Privacy Rights of Uninvolved Students - Higher Education

Drexel Discrimination Suit May Jeopardize Privacy Rights of Uninvolved Students - Higher Education: What might otherwise be a routine discrimination suit about one aggrieved ex-student’s dismissal for poor academic performance has implicated the privacy rights of more than 100 other students.

The case being played out in a Philadelphia federal courthouse pits Le Ke’s discrimination claims against a university’s legal duty and the rights of other students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Ke, who was born in China, is suing for damages and reinstatement to Drexel University’s College of Medicine. He alleges that discrimination based on his race and Chinese ethnicity led to his dismissal in 2011, an allegation that the university denies.

Ke is representing himself in the case.

“He contends that he can only prove his case by obtaining identifying information about students who he claims were treated differently from him and their medical school files,” U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky said.

University of Pennsylvania Center Aims to Turn MSI Research Into Results - Higher Education

University of Pennsylvania Center Aims to Turn MSI Research Into Results - Higher Education: PHILADELPHIA ― Launched in January, the Penn Center for Minority-Serving Institutions (CMSI), via the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, was created to highlight and advance the contributions of minority serving institutions (MSI) in higher education. The goals of the center include, among many, connecting academic and administrative leadership, advancing effective policies that strengthen MSIs, increasing development and support of students and faculty, and augmenting initiatives that aim to close achievement gaps in underrepresented groups.

Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education in the GSE and director of the center, explained the significance of an MSI designation and their specifics at higher education institutions in an interview with Diverse on Tuesday.

“In addition to interactively mapping online all the MSIs throughout the country, we will be able to then monitor the progress of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI), which have seen the most growth.”

The Nation's Most Segregated Schools Aren't Where You'd Think They'd Be

The Nation's Most Segregated Schools Aren't Where You'd Think They'd Be: NEW YORK -- The nation's most segregated schools aren't in the deep south -- they're in New York, according to a report released Tuesday by the University of California, Los Angeles' Civil Rights Project.

That means that in 2009, black and Latino students in New York "had the highest concentration in intensely-segregated public schools," in which white students made up less than 10 percent of enrollment and "the lowest exposure to white students," wrote John Kucsera, a UCLA researcher, and Gary Orfield, a UCLA professor and the project's director. "For several decades, the state has been more segregated for blacks than any Southern state, though the South has a much higher percent of African American students," the authors wrote. The report, "New York State’s Extreme School Segregation," looked at 60 years of data up to 2010, from various demographics and other research.

Morgan State Constructing New School of Business in Honor of Earl Graves - Higher Education

Morgan State Constructing New School of Business in Honor of Earl Graves - Higher Education: A new state-of-the-art building is being constructed at Maryland’s oldest HBCU—Morgan State University—and will be named after one of its most successful alumni—businessman and media mogul Earl G. Graves Sr.

The construction of the $80 million facility will house the university’s School of Business and Management, which was renamed in 2005 after the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine who donated a $1 million gift to advance business education at the college located in Baltimore.

With more than 50 full-time faculty members and an enrollment of about 1,500 graduate and undergraduate students, the School of Business has outgrown its current facility, said Morgan’s president, Dr. David Wilson.

Study: American Indians Highly Motivated for College, Yet Lacking Preparation - Higher Education

Study: American Indians Highly Motivated for College, Yet Lacking Preparation - Higher Education: The message that earning a college degree provides a proven path to middle-class employment and stability has been pushed heavily toward young Americans in recent years, particularly as the Obama administration has established national goals for college degree attainment and challenged Americans to ensure that students are college- and career-ready when they finish high school.

In a study released last week, the ACT testing organization found that American Indians overwhelmingly say they want to pursue college and other forms of postsecondary education. Eighty-six percent of American Indian students indicate that they intend to further their education following high school. However, the findings showed that most American Indian students are poorly prepared to succeed in college.

Elite California Universities Partner to Recruit Minorities in STEM - Higher Education

Elite California Universities Partner to Recruit Minorities in STEM - Higher Education: University of California, Berkeley doctoral student Sidney Hill is certain that his career lies in science. Hill’s love for science dates back to first grade when, during a presentation, he explained to classmates the differences between a solid, a liquid and gas.

He remains uncertain, however, of whether to pursue job opportunities in academia or industry. Next month, Hill hopes to explore more of the pros and cons of both career options during a Stanford University retreat targeting underrepresented, Ph.D.-seeking minorities in specific STEM fields.

The retreat is the first major event by a new consortium consisting of UC-Berkeley, Stanford, the University of California, Los Angeles and the California Institute of Technology that aims to increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering the postdoctoral and faculty ranks in STEM disciplines at top-tier universities.

Funded by a $2.2 million National Science Foundation grant, the consortium, known as the California Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, is trying to improve diversity in these disciplines at universities and national labs.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Most Powerful Nerd In The Universe Is Also A Scientific Anomaly : Code Switch : NPR

Neil deGrasse Tyson: The Most Powerful Nerd In The Universe Is Also A Scientific Anomaly : Code Switch : NPR: Neil deGrasse Tyson — astrophysicist, irreverent tweeter, vanquisher of Pluto, frequent Stephen Colbert foil — is America's "It" Nerd.

A lot of people have held that title before, acting as evangelists for science and discovery. Ben Franklin. . Our buddy George Washington Carver. Stephen Jay Gould. Carl Sagan. Tyson's the latest standard-bearer, and two weeks he presided over an hourlong meditation on the birth and scope of the universe that was being broadcast on several networks at once.

"[The Big Bang] is as far back as we can see in time," he intoned, on Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. He paused for effect. "For now."

Cosmos is an update of the beloved science 1980 PBS series of the same name hosted by Sagan. The new edition is full of allusions to the old one "We are made of starstuff," Tyson says in the first episode, repeating one of Sagan's most famous lines. A lot has been made of the fact that decades ago, Sagan — once the "It" Nerd himself — tried unsuccessfully to recruit the teenaged Tyson to Cornell University.

Students See Many Slights as Racial ‘Microaggressions’ - NYTimes.com

Students See Many Slights as Racial ‘Microaggressions’ - NYTimes.com: CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A tone-deaf inquiry into an Asian-American’s ethnic origin. Cringe-inducing praise for how articulate a black student is. An unwanted conversation about a Latino’s ability to speak English without an accent.

This is not exactly the language of traditional racism, but in an avalanche of blogs, student discourse, campus theater and academic papers, they all reflect the murky terrain of the social justice word du jour — microaggressions — used to describe the subtle ways that racial, ethnic, gender and other stereotypes can play out painfully in an increasingly diverse culture.

On a Facebook page called “Brown University Micro/Aggressions” a “dark-skinned black person” describes feeling alienated from conversations about racism on campus. A digital photo project run by a Fordham University student about “racial microaggressions” features minority students holding up signs with comments like “You’re really pretty ... for a dark-skin girl.” The “St. Olaf Microaggressions” blog includes a letter asking David R. Anderson, the college’s president, to address “all of the incidents and microaggressions that go unreported on a daily basis.”

Nation Falls Far Short on Educational Equity, Data Show - Education Week

Nation Falls Far Short on Educational Equity, Data Show - Education Week: New federal civil rights data show persistent and widespread disparities among disadvantaged students from prekindergarten through high school on key indicators—calling into question whether the national push for educational equity and college and career readiness for all students is working.

Minorities and students with limited English proficiency are more likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers, attend a high school with limited math and science offerings, and be disciplined at higher rates than their white peers, according to information from the 2011-12 school year released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.

The results of this comprehensive survey paint a dismal picture of the state of educational opportunity, even as the federal government spends $14.4 billion a year in Title I funds aimed at helping disadvantaged students, along with other federal initiatives.

Among the starkest findings from the data, as gathered and analyzed by the Education Department’s office for civil rights:

• Nearly 7 percent of black students attend schools where more than 20 percent of teachers hadn’t yet met all state certification requirements. That figure was four times higher than for white students.

• While black students represented 16 percent of overall enrollment, they represented 33 percent of students suspended out of school, and 34 percent of students who were expelled.

• Of schools serving the highest percentages of black and Latino students, only 66 percent and 74 percent offer chemistry and Algebra 2, respectively.

• Black children make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but close to half—48 percent—of preschool children suspended more than once.

HBCUs Gather in Silicon Valley for Innovation, Entrepreneurship Symposium - Higher Education

HBCUs Gather in Silicon Valley for Innovation, Entrepreneurship Symposium - Higher Education: San Jose, Calif. — Nearly 100 HBCU stakeholders are meeting at a symposium here this week seeking to leverage the intellectual capital and top-tier research activity at HBCUs into dollars needed to ensure institutional viability in the years to come.

Held in conjunction with OPEN 2014-the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance’s (NCIIA) 18th Annual Conference, the HBCU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Collaborative Symposium highlighted numerous opportunities HBCUs have to attract more grant dollars and join forces to kick-start their entrepreneurial activity. The symposium is being hosted jointly by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), NCIIA, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office with funding from The Lemelson Foundation and the Lumina Foundation.

Henry Ramsey Jr., Pioneering Legal Luminary, Dies at 80 - Higher Education

Henry Ramsey Jr., Pioneering Legal Luminary, Dies at 80 - Higher Education: A former Howard University law school dean whose groundbreaking career in the legal profession and academia led to a national diversity award being named after him has died at age 80.

Henry Ramsey Jr. died March 14, a few days after suffering a stroke at his Berkeley, Calif., home.

A judge, educator, lawyer, politician and Korean War veteran, Ramsey capped a 30-year career in California by serving as Howard’s law dean from 1990 to 1996. His son, Charles Ramsey, recalls his father’s pride in taking the helm of the storied law school following a long line of larger-than-life leaders such as Charles Hamilton Houston and William Henry Hastie.

“For my father, this job was a dream come true,” the younger Ramsey says.

Finding college segregation remedies likely to be complicated, expensive - baltimoresun.com

Finding college segregation remedies likely to be complicated, expensive - baltimoresun.com: After a federal judge found that Maryland's historically black colleges face unfair and unconstitutional competition from the state's predominantly white universities, the parties headed into negotiations this month to work it out.

But even with the far-reaching court decision, some worried the rights of black institutions wouldn't be protected and tried to put the judge's ruling on the books as state law.

"I'm normally not a Doubting Thomas," said state Sen. Joan Carter Conway, a Baltimore Democrat and member of the Legislative Black Caucus who introduced the legislation. "I just don't see them coming to an agreement."

Team Wears Hijab Headscarves in Support of Muslim Teammate Banned from Match | Bleacher Report

Team Wears Hijab Headscarves in Support of Muslim Teammate Banned from Match | Bleacher Report: After watching their teammate get turned away due in part to her religious beliefs, the rest of the Overland High School girls soccer team in Aurora, Colo., displayed the true meaning of unity.

According to Yahoo Sports' Eurosport, referees barred Samah Aidah from competing in a match while wearing an Islamic headscarf, or hijab. In an effort to stand behind Aidah, all of her teammates decided to don hijabs for their next game.

Although many of the players who wore the hijabs weren't even Muslim, it was about much more than that. Rather than allowing their teammate to feel oppressed, the Overland players decided to take matters into their own hands.

Per Carol Kuruvilla of the New York Daily News, referees deemed that Aidah wearing the hijab in a game would have been "dangerous." However, even FIFA has decided to allow players to wear headscarves during matches, according to Al Jazeera.

Aidah and her teammates were allowed to play while wearing the hijabs in the following match.

Davis is among those who don't see any issue with female athletes being allowed to wear headscarves during competition, according to Kuruvilla.

Food Pantries on the Rise at U.S. College Campuses - Higher Education

Food Pantries on the Rise at U.S. College Campuses - Higher Education: STONY BROOK, N.Y. ― Days after biology major Gillian Carll arrived at Stony Brook University last fall, she encountered a young woman on a bench outside her dormitory who said she had nothing to eat.

“I was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ I didn’t know kids could afford to go here but couldn’t have mac and cheese or something like that,” said the Livonia, N.Y., freshman. “It was kind of unbelievable.”

Carll got the student some food from her dorm room and later volunteered at Stony Brook’s new food pantry ― one of dozens cropping up at colleges across the country in recent years as educators acknowledge the struggles many students face as the cost of getting a higher education continues to soar.

Making Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Relevant to Aspiring Teachers - Higher Education

Making Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Relevant to Aspiring Teachers - Higher Education: As a scholar of race and education deeply involved in the work of teacher preparation, I always have been concerned about the education of African-American males and whether the teachers we train are effectively prepared to meet their needs. President Obama’s recent announcement of a task force, in the wake of the murders of Travyon Martin and Jordan Davis, signals the extent to which the public may be prepared to engage in a discussion about the specific challenges and related solutions needed to resolve the crisis facing this population. Right now, there also is considerable focus on teacher education. As politicians continue to increase the accountability demands on teacher preparation, our community continues to seek new ways to better prepare teachers to effectively serve African-American males and other critically underserved populations.

The truth is that teacher preparation programs are struggling. While most teacher preparation programs provide pre-service teachers with some rudimentary knowledge regarding the foundations of education for underserved populations, our real challenge is translating increased awareness about race, culture and student background into effective practices.

Many Institutions Continue to Struggle With Gender Imbalance - Higher Education

Many Institutions Continue to Struggle With Gender Imbalance - Higher Education: “Hey, where are all the college guys?” inquired USA Today in 2001; “Gender imbalance in college applications: Does it lead to a preference for men in the admissions process?” asked the Economics of Education Review journal in 2005; and Shirley Wilcher, executive director of the American Association for Affirmative Action, proposed in Diverse in 2010 that “Affirmative Action May be Needed — for Men.”

Particularly, on historically Black campuses, the female-to-male ratio has been even greater.

In 2006, Roderick J. Harrison, a demographer with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, predicted that gender inequity in college enrollment would have serious consequences for African-Americans.

How public sector layoffs add to the racial income gap | MSNBC

How public sector layoffs add to the racial income gap | MSNBC: There have been better times to be a public sector worker. Over the past several years, government employees have been buffeted by across-the-board sequestration cuts, a years-long federal pay freeze, unpaid furloughs, benefit cuts and threats to the relative strength of their labor unions. But most of all, government employees have been deluged by pink slips.

 Aggressive budget-cutting in the aftermath of the recession has resulted in public sector layoffs on an unprecedented scale. By mid-2012, the public sector had shed more than 600,000 jobs, “the largest decrease in any sector since the recovery began in July 2009,” according to the Brookings Institution. The flood of terminations slowed to a trickle in 2013, but it didn’t stop entirely. And while the most recent jobs report offered some hope that public sector jobs may finally be coming back, it will be a long time before the government employs as many people as it did before the financial collapse.

“They were taking a meat cleaver” to public sector employment, said
William Rodgers, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University. And the result wasn’t just swelling unemployment or reduced government services: Mass firings in the public sector have also disproportionately affected black communities, inflaming America’s swollen racial income gap.

Female Presidents in Higher Ed Pay Price for Breaking Mold - Higher Education

Female Presidents in Higher Ed Pay Price for Breaking Mold - Higher Education: It’s a question most university chief executives must answer at least once during the height of winter: Do we keep the doors open or closed on a blustery and bitterly cold school day? The answer to that question rarely makes national news.

But when Dr. Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign opted to keep the doors open despite painfully frigid temperatures earlier this year, Wise, an Asian American, was blasted on social media by students tweeting profane laden racist and sexist rants.

“In room with Phyllis Wise, Adolf Hitler and a gun with one bullet. Who do I shoot,” read one.

“Phyllis Wise is the Kim Jong Un of chancellors,” read another.

City Agrees to Pay $98M to Settle FDNY Bias Lawsuit - Civic Center - DNAinfo.com New York

City Agrees to Pay $98M to Settle FDNY Bias Lawsuit - Civic Center - DNAinfo.com New York: MANHATTAN — The city has agreed to pay $98 million to settle a longstanding legal battle with a group of black firefighters and the U.S. Department of Justice who accused the FDNY of discriminatory hiring practices, lawyers on both sides announced Tuesday.

Members of the Vulcan Society of Black Firefighters have been fighting since 2007, accompanied by the Department of Justice, alleging that the New York City Fire Department's recruiting and hiring process systematically shut out black firefighters.

The settlement will provide back pay, including $6 million for lost medical benefits, to about 1,500 black and Hispanic former FDNY applicants and current firefighters, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the Vulcans and the DOJ.

“We are pleased with the settlement, and we are optimistic that this represents a first step by the de Blasio administration to ensure that fair and equal hiring practices become the standard in the FDNY from this day forward,” said Vulcan Society President John Coombs.

‘Afraid of the Dark’: New documentary deals with ‘scary black man’ stereotype | theGrio

‘Afraid of the Dark’: New documentary deals with ‘scary black man’ stereotype | theGrio: From Sean Bell to Oscar Grant to Jordan Davis, there is a long history in this country of black men being presumed guilty because of the color of their skin.

Afraid of the Dark, an upcoming documentary, looks to explore the psychosis behind the stereotypes of young African-American males.

Brooklyn filmmaker Mya B., who happens to be a woman, talked to Shadow and Act about the project:

“I wanted to analyze the damaging stereotypes of black men which has led to them being murdered and criminalized. I also wanted black men to receive their glory outside of all the bad things you hear in the media and profile the amazing black men I know and who are in our communities.

19 Photos of Oxford Students of Color Prove Racism Still an Issue at Elite Schools - PolicyMic

19 Photos of Oxford Students of Color Prove Racism Still an Issue at Elite Schools - PolicyMic: The recent "I, too, am Harvard" campaign, in which students aired their frustrating experiences of being black on campus, sparked an interesting discussion about racism at the university. Now that movement has inspired a sister project: "I, Too, Am, Oxford." This new photo series features Oxford students with dry erase boards sharing some of their own frustrations and revealing the types of comments they hear on campus.

"A message that was consistently reaffirmed throughout the day was that students in their daily encounters at Oxford are made to feel different and Othered from the Oxford community," the project's organizers wrote. "Hopefully this project will demonstrate that despite there being a greater number of students of colour studying at Oxford now than there has ever been before, there are still issues that need to be discussed. In participating in 'I, Too, Am Oxford,' students of colour are demanding that a discussion on race be taken seriously and that real institutional change occur."

UCLA Law Students Say Racism Against Blacks On The Rise At Campus [VIDEO] | Hip-Hop Wired

UCLA Law Students Say Racism Against Blacks On The Rise At Campus [VIDEO] | Hip-Hop Wired: Black students at the UCLA School of Law have been rallying together against a growing presence of racism on the campus. After students questioned the support of a controversial law professor and created a video regarding the racial disparity at UCLA, some say they have been bombarded with bold racist attacks.

A critical point of the contention between Black and white law students began when students began to openly support professor Richard Sander, who has spoken at length about how he feels affirmative action doesn't help Black students and finds them to be ill-equipped.

White students wore “Team Sander” t-shirts in support of Professor Sander, angering the small but vocal Black student body at the school. After creating an awareness campaign about the racial divide and the aforementioned video, students say they have been getting vicious responses.

Black Princeton Students Pulled Over by Police, Then This Happened - The Root

Black Princeton Students Pulled Over by Police, Then This Happened - The Root: Exchanges between black youth and the police don't always have to end in violence.

What began as a unfortunate incident of alleged police profiling in Princeton, N.J., ended with a public-forum discussion with the officer who did the profiling.

According to one member of the Black Youth Project 100, or BYP100, a youth-centered black activist group, the police pulled over a car carrying members leaving a conference on Princeton University's campus. The officer cited a broken taillight, but upon investigation the vehicle was found to be intact. The unidentified officer let the group go, but when they asked him to take part in a discussion, he agreed to meet the young people at another location, offering them free parking as an apology so they could talk at will.

And so he did.

SAT Scores for Black Students Don't Predict Success - The Root

SAT Scores for Black Students Don't Predict Success - The Root: Major changes are coming to the SAT. Both the SAT and the ACT are used to influence admissions and placement at colleges and universities in the U.S. In 2016 the SAT will return to a 1,600-point scale from 2,400, eliminate antiquated vocabulary words and assess students’ understanding of context rather than rote memorization. The essay section will also be optional. In addition, the test will no longer penalize students for wrong answers, and the reading-comprehension section will incorporate subjects that students typically learn in high school and middle school.

Throughout the history of the SAT and ACT, black students’ average scores have been the lowest among all race groups. Currently, the national average for black students on the ACT is 17, compared with 22 for white students, and the national average for black students on the SAT is 860, compared with 1,061 for white students. Black students’ scores on the SAT and ACT have been relatively flat for the last 20 years, although significant gains have been made in black students’ graduation rates and college-degree attainment.

The disparity in those numbers raises questions about the significance of the SAT in predicting long-term college success for African Americans—or any student, for that matter.

Bias a Factor in Suspending Black Students

Bias a Factor in Suspending Black Students: WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A new collection of research shows that despite the myths surrounding Black student behavior, poverty and severity of the offense have very little to do with the rate Black students are suspended from school.

Rather, the studies point a finger in another direction: the implicit bias perpetrated by school officials.

The Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative, a group of researchers, educators, advocates, and policy analysts funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Foundations, compiled the research on school discipline.

According to the Collaborative, more than 3 million students from kindergarten to 12th grade were suspended during the 2009-2010 school year, twice the rate of suspensions since the 1970s. Black students are nearly 3.5 times as likely to be suspended than their White peers.

Latinos will pass whites as majority ethnicity in California in March | Daily Sundial

Latinos will pass whites as majority ethnicity in California in March | Daily Sundial: In the wake of the ethnic studies debacle at Cal State Los Angeles, educators believe the forecasted change in California’s demographic profile represents a significant event and could become a catalyst for debate, not only in diversity reform throughout all levels of education, but in hiring practices.

In Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2014-2015 budget summary, Latinos were projected to eclipse whites as the plurality, or largest racial/ethnic group, in the state by a margin of 39 percent to 38.8 percent, respectively, this month.

The Department of Finance previously projected the Latino and white populations would draw even by the middle of 2013, but a decline in birth rates caused a slight deviation in the estimate.

While the shift in demographics is not unique — states like New Mexico and Hawaii have a Latino and Asian plurality, respectively — Mary Pardo, Chicano studies department chair, believes the change is significant for a state as populous and diverse as California.

Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students Of Color -- Reports

Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students Of Color -- Reports: A so-called school-to-prison pipeline flows from school discipline that lands disproportionately on students with disabilities and students of color, according to a set of reports by 26 experts released on Thursday.

African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at "hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students," said a report by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative, which includes experts from fields such as advocacy, policy, social science and law. Latino students, girls of color, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students also were disproportionately suspended -- a punishment the report said increases dropout risks and helps push troubled students out of classrooms and into the justice system.

"We already knew that African Americans were disproportionately affected, but this new research is also saying that it's also Latino students, it's also students with disabilities, it's also girls of color," said Russell Skiba, the Indiana University professor who directed the project. "LGBT students may be at risk for increased discipline. These things have a big effect on achievement."

Minority Male Students Face Challenge to Achieve at Community Colleges - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Minority Male Students Face Challenge to Achieve at Community Colleges - Students - The Chronicle of Higher Education: Although black and Latino male students enter community colleges with higher aspirations than those of their white peers, white men are six times as likely to graduate in three years with a certificate or degree, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Center for Community College Student Engagement at the University of Texas here.

The report’s findings are all the more puzzling, it says, given that minority men are more engaged than their white classmates in tutoring, study-skills sessions, and other practices the center identifies as key to college success.

The report, "Aspirations to Achievement: Men of Color and Community College," is based on responses from more than 145,000 male community-college students to the center’s annual survey on student engagement from 2010 to 2012.

High school students attend 24th annual Latino College Expo and Leadership Summit at NYU's Kimmel Center - News 12 Bronx

High school students attend 24th annual Latino College Expo and Leadership Summit at NYU's Kimmel Center - News 12 Bronx: NEW YORK - High school students from all over the city looking to leave their mark on the world are looking toward the Latino College Expo and Leadership Summit to point them in the right direction.

More than 95 colleges and about 1,000 students filled the event space at New York University's Kimmel Center.

This marks the 24th year of the massive expo for Latino students and families. The entire day is filled with guest speakers, separate workshops for parents and students and college representatives to answer questions and recruit applicants.

Organizers say the theme of the event is motivating the students to make the college choice right for them.

One Bronx student says she will be the first in her family to go to college, and wishes to make them proud.

Tutors with Latino Student Fund help kids with much more than just homework | WJLA.com

Tutors with Latino Student Fund help kids with much more than just homework | WJLA.com: (WJLA) - Every Saturday morning, National Cathedral School fills to the brim with students from all over the region.

It's a free tutoring session for Hispanic students, through the Latino Student Fund.

What makes this one so different?

The tutoring is one-on-one, and students have the chance to stay with the same tutor for years, said Executive Director Maria Fernanda Borja.

"I think you build a trust, and trust is the most important thing for the Hispanic/Latino community," Borja described.

Students have responded remarkably to the concept.

"Just to have a program that really reaches out to Latino students and understands the struggles.... I thought it was amazing," said 17-year-old participant Eva Salmeron.

The volunteer tutors say the experience is a special one for them, as well. Mark and Michele Lerner have tutored the same kids for five years straight.

One of the Lerners' students, Tatiana Osorio, comes all the way from southern Maryland for her sessions.

Latin American Herald Tribune - Black, Latino Students in U.S. Disproportionately Suspended

Latin American Herald Tribune - Black, Latino Students in U.S. Disproportionately Suspended: CHICAGO – African Americans, Latinos and sexual minorities are among the groups that are “disproportionately” punished with suspension for behavior problems in public schools, according to a study released Thursday by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative.

The study, headed by Indiana University Professor Russell Skiba, says that suspensions increase the possibility of dropping out of school and push problem students toward the judicial system.

At the presentation of the study, which was conducted over three years and participated in by 26 nationally recognized experts and attorneys, Skiba said that the high presence of African Americans among the students punished for bad conduct was expected.

Medal of Honor: A Wrong Put Right | The Obama Diary

Medal of Honor: A Wrong Put Right | The Obama Diary: On March 18th, 2014, President Barack Obama will award 24 Army veterans the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry.

These veterans will receive the Medal of Honor in recognition of their valor during major combat operations in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Each of these Soldiers’ bravery was previously recognized by award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest military award; that award will be upgraded to the Medal of Honor in recognition of their gallantry, intrepidity and heroism above and beyond the call of duty.

In 2002, Congress, through the Defense Authorization Act, called for a review of Jewish American and Hispanic American veteran war records from WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, to ensure those deserving the Medal of Honor were not denied because of prejudice. During the review, records of several Soldiers of neither Jewish nor Hispanic descent were also found to display criteria worthy of the Medal of Honor. The 2002 Act was amended to allow these Soldiers to be honored with the upgrade – in addition to the Jewish and Hispanic American Soldiers.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Cosmos," How Science Got Cool, and Why He Doesn't Debate Deniers | Mother Jones

Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Cosmos," How Science Got Cool, and Why He Doesn't Debate Deniers | Mother Jones: Last Sunday's debut of Cosmos, the rebooted series from Fox and National Geographic, made television history. According to National Geographic, it was the largest global rollout of a TV series ever, appearing on 220 channels in 181 countries and 45 languages. And, yes, this is a science show we're talking about. You will have to actively resist the force of gravity in order to lift up your dropped jaw and restore a sense of calm to your stunned face.

At the center of the show is the "heir apparent" to legendary science popularizer and original Cosmos host Carl Sagan: the impassioned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who appeared on this week's episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast to talk about what it's like to fill Sagan's shoes (stream below). On the podcast, Tyson discussed topics ranging from what we know now about the cosmos that Sagan didn't (top three answers: dark matter and dark energy, the profusion of discovered exoplanets, and the concept of parallel universes, or the "multiverse") to why science seems to have gotten so supercool again.

New Contenders Emerge in Quest to Identify Yale’s First African-American Graduate - NYTimes.com

New Contenders Emerge in Quest to Identify Yale’s First African-American Graduate - NYTimes.com: For Richard Henry Green, recently declared to have been Yale College’s first known African-American graduate, fame, or at least the certainty of his claim on history, was fleeting.

Just last month, an Americana specialist at the Swann Auction Galleries made public the discovery that Mr. Green, the son of a New Haven bootmaker, had attended Yale 17 years before Edward Bouchet, an 1874 graduate previously thought to have broken its color barrier. But while Mr. Bouchet spent a century and a half on that pedestal, his accomplishments praised with every honor, from academic symposiums to undergraduate fellowships to a portrait in Yale’s main library, the scant weeks since Mr. Green unseated him have brought nothing but new challengers.
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A letter collection that led to Richard Henry Green’s gaining a Yale distinction that once belonged to Edward Bouchet, an 1874 graduate.
Discovery Leads Yale to Revise a Chapter of Its Black HistoryFEB. 28, 2014

According to an article in the journal Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, a man named Moses Simons may in fact have been the first undergraduate to break Yale’s color barrier.

Bethann Hardison’s Cause: More Diversity in Fashion - NYTimes.com

Bethann Hardison’s Cause: More Diversity in Fashion - NYTimes.com: Bethann Hardison, the fashion industry gadfly, has adopted a slogan: “Activism needs to remain active.” Her cause is the lack of diversity on fashion’s runways, its magazine pages and its ad campaigns. It is one that she has pursued vocally for years, as the ebb and flow of trends steer models of color into and out of favor. Now, for being a persistent thorn in the side of an industry that often prefers to ignore the issue, Ms. Hardison is to receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Founders Award in June. Most thorns get plucked. This one is getting a trophy.

“I became so emotional, because all I could think about was the revolution,” Ms. Hardison said of her reaction. “Viva la revolution. First thing, I said, ‘I’ve got to call Fidel!’ ”

Mellon Mays Fellows Making a Mark in Academia - Higher Education

Mellon Mays Fellows Making a Mark in Academia - Higher Education: Dr. Sean Decatur arrived at Swarthmore College intending to become an engineer, but within two years, his interests turned to chemistry and Black studies.

“It was pretty clear at that stage I wasn’t going to become an engineer, but I also had no idea what I was going to do after I graduated,” Decatur recalls.

A professor in a Black literature course helped Decatur make up his mind, by encouraging him to apply for a new fellowship designed to increase the number of college professors of color. In 1989, Decatur became one of the first recipients of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.

The fellowship paid for a small stipend during Decatur’s junior and senior years, travel to academic conferences, two summer research projects and regular social gatherings with faculty members.

Diverse Docket: Southern Miss Wins Race, Origin, Ethnic Suit from Former Grad Student - Higher Education

Diverse Docket: Southern Miss Wins Race, Origin, Ethnic Suit from Former Grad Student - Higher Education: The University of Southern Mississippi has again defeated a former graduate student’s race, national origin and ethnic discrimination suit.

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling that dismissed the case of Maria Salcido, a part-time student in the university’s marriage and family therapy master’s program.

Salcido initially filed an internal complaint with the university and a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. After the OCR inquiry found no Title VI violations, the university proposed a plan to help her finish her degree requirements even though she had moved out of state, according to the decision.

Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books? - NYTimes.com

Where Are the People of Color in Children’s Books? - NYTimes.com: Of 3,200 children’s books published in 2013, just 93 were about black people, according to a study by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin.

Reading came early to me, but I didn’t think of the words as anything special. I don’t think my stepmom thought of what she was doing as more than spending time with me in our small Harlem apartment. From my comfortable perch on her lap I watched as she moved her finger slowly across the page. She probably read at about the third grade level, but that was good enough for the True Romance magazines she read. I didn’t understand what the stories were about, what “bosom” meant or how someone’s heart could be “broken.” To me it was just the comfort of leaning against Mama and imagining the characters and what they were doing.

Later, when my sisters brought home comic books, I got Mama to read them to me, too. The magazines and comics pushed me along the road of the imaginative process. When I got my first books — “The Little Engine That Could,” “Bible Stories for Every Day,” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” — I used them on the same journeys.

Some White People Tried To Rally For Their Race Today

Some White People Tried To Rally For Their Race Today: A smattering of white people on Saturday stood up to discrimination against their race that exists only in their minds.

The so-called "White Man March" was the brainchild of an organizer named Kyle Hunt, who wrote on his website that he expected "thousands" of people to take part in "coordinated pro-white activity."

By the looks of it, his vision may have been a bit lofty. The demonstrations appear to have mostly involved a few people here and there holding up signs decrying "diversity."

Hunt's movement did, however, earn a ton of mockery on Twitter with the hashtag #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns.

There was some participation though. Individuals from Missouri, Arkansas and even New Zealand posted photos on the event's website. Most of the photos showed no more than a couple white guys holding banners that read "'DIVERSITY' = WHITE GENOCIDE," apparently the event's rallying cry.

Pizza Chain That Markets To Mexicans Says New Promotion Isn't Profane : Code Switch : NPR

Pizza Chain That Markets To Mexicans Says New Promotion Isn't Profane : Code Switch : NPR: EDITOR'S NOTE: Fair warning - this story is about and includes the use of a Spanish-language word that some consider a profanity.

Pizza Patrón is a Dallas-based chain that's generated a lot of media buzz over the years for advertising aimed at its core customer base, Mexican immigrants. Its newest promotion uses a popular Mexican slang word that to some means "super cool," while others find it super-offensive.

The chain is getting set to launch a limited time offer, later this month, for an extra-spicy pizza with jalapeño encrusted pepperoni, topped with even more jalapeño. They are calling it La Chingona....

Click here to listen to the radio ad.

In the radio ad, a customer walks in and asks for the "pizza chingona" and is told it's only for chingones. Said customer subsequently makes a case for his chingon-ness: he can clap with one hand, make music with the rattles of rattle snakes, and live with his mother-in-law for a whole month.

Now, chingona means different things to different people. (More on that in a moment.) And as more marketing efforts reach beyond English to speak to an increasingly multilingual America, we're going to be running into this more often — same word, multiple reactions.

Before The NBA Was Integrated, We Had The Black Fives : Code Switch : NPR

Before The NBA Was Integrated, We Had The Black Fives : Code Switch : NPR: Most people have heard of the Negro Leagues in baseball and of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the late 1940s — but relatively few people have heard of the Black Fives, the African-American basketball teams that played up until the NBA was integrated in 1950.

An exhibit at the New-York Historical Society aims to rectify that.

When basketball was invented in 1891, it was a totally white game. In 1904, Edwin Bancroft Henderson, a black Washington, D.C., gym teacher, took a summer course at Harvard and brought the game back to black segregated schools. From there, it went to YMCAs, and eventually to black teams with names like the Washington Bears and the New York Renaissance.

Claude Johnson, guest curator of this exhibit, says there are "dozens and dozens" of all-black teams that played basketball before 1950 — and that their legacy reflects the changing face of America at the time.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wins US National Book Critics Circle award | Books | theguardian.com

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wins US National Book Critics Circle award | Books | theguardian.com: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's first novel was longlisted for the Man Booker prize; her second, Half of a Yellow Sun, won the Orange prize. Now her third, the acclaimed Americanah, has beaten Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch to win the Nigerian author one of most prestigious literary prizes in the US, the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) award.

Adichie's story of a Nigerian blogger who returns to her home country from the US to meet the man who was her childhood sweetheart was much-praised in the UK the Guardian called it "impressive [and] subtle, but not afraid to pull its punches"; the Telegraph said it was "a brilliant exploration of being African in America".

Now the NBCC awards – the only US prize judged by critics – has also chosen to honour the novel, on Thursday announcing the "love story, immigrant's tale and acute snapshot of our times" as the winner of its best novel prize, ahead of The Goldfinch, Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being, Javiar Marías's The Infatuations and Alice McDermott's Someone.