Straws in the Wind - Part 152

From Inside Higher Ed: Shootings at... historically Black universities... left campuses reeling. The incidents came at a time when students and staff were already on edge, after violent threats caused lockdowns at multiple HBCU campuses last month. HBCU leaders across the country have been ramping up campus security measures in response... Someone fired a gun on campus during homecoming weekend at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, killing a visitor from Delaware and injuring six people, including a current student and an alum. University leaders suspended classes... for a “day of healing and reflection.” Gunshots near Howard University in Washington, D.C., also left four individuals injured..., though Howard officials confirmed in a statement that no one involved in the confrontation, or hurt by it, was affiliated with the institution.

Earlier [last] month, three people carrying firearms—including one who fired his weapon—were arrested during homecoming at Southern University and A&M College in Louisiana, though no one was hurt. Shootings at South Carolina State University’s homecoming killed a 19-year-old woman visiting campus and injured another homecoming attendee. The victims and an individual arrested for possessing a firearm weren’t students, but the campus remained unsettled.

“This tragedy has deeply affected our students and we’re helping them work through the trauma,” said the university’s president, Alexander Conyers, at an Oct. 6 news briefing. Two shootings also broke out at Mississippi HBCUs, Jackson State University and Alcorn State University, during October homecoming events, killing one victim at Alcorn State. John Pierre, chancellor of Southern University and A&M College, emphasized that these types of incidents happen across higher ed. Shots were fired at a Louisiana State University football game this month, injuring two people. And a shooting at Florida State University last spring killed two people and injured six others.

...HBCUs tend to experience more regular threats than other institutions, said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president of public policy and government affairs at the United Negro College Fund, which represents private HBCUs. A UNCF research brief found that HBCUs received 76 threats in the last three years, affecting 51 out of the 101 institutions in the country and disrupting campus operations on 77 different days...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/safety/2025/10/29/hbcus-ramp-security-after-threats-campus-shootings.

New Partnership Agreement

From Forbes: The National Education Equity Lab, an education justice nonprofit, has enlisted more prestigious universities to offer college courses and supports to students in some of the nation’s poorest high schools. The new partners include Morehouse College and the University of California System. They join Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell, Wesleyan University, Barnard College, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Spelman College, Brown University, Howard University, and Arizona State University, all of which were early providers in the Ed Equity network.

Founded in 2019 by Leslie Cornfeld, a former federal civil rights prosecutor and later an advisor to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and two U.S. Secretaries of Education, Ed Equity Lab has quickly become one of the nation’s leading models for preparing low-income and underrepresented minority students to enroll and succeed in college. It’s helping fill the college pipeline with talented students who might have otherwise never believed they could succeed at college. The Lab follows a simple plan, a first-ever national model: deliver and support college credit-bearing courses taught by faculty from a network of leading colleges and universities in teacher-led high school classrooms, at no cost to students.

Here’s how it works. School districts serving low-income students are invited to participate, and they offer the opportunity to principals in Title 1 high schools. Principals pick the high school teachers who assist the college faculty in offering the course, and they also select the students - typically about 25 per course. Many Ed Equity Lab high schools offer multiple courses – meaning students can graduate with a semester or more of transferable credits under their belts, resulting in substantial tuition savings...

Commenting on his university’s new partnership with the Ed Equity Lab, University of California president Michael V. Drake said, “The University of California is committed to expanding access to higher education for students of all backgrounds. We are proud to collaborate with the National Education Equity Lab to further that goal - and reach more students than ever before.”

Full story at https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2023/04/21/university-of-california-morehouse-join-other-top-schools-in-national-effort-to-close-college-opportunity-gap/.

Straws in the COVID wind

 From Stanford: ... [COVID] case counts have increased by 20% among students and decreased by 1% among employees compared to the week before. According to the dashboard, 212 students are in isolation as of Monday, which is an increase from the 147 students reported last week. The rise in student cases comes after the University lifted the Color COVID-19 weekly testing requirement for vaccinated students on April 11...

Full story at:

https://stanforddaily.com/2022/04/18/stanford-covid-19-cases-increase-to-217-during-first-week-without-mandatory-testing-for-vaccinated-students/.

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From Howard: Howard University will hold only online undergraduate classes (except for lab classes) during the final weeks of the spring semester. Final exams for undergraduate courses will also be online. A letter to the campus from Anthony K. Wutoh, the provost, and Hugh Mighty, dean of the College of Medicine, said the positivity rate on campus increased, from 2 percent to 5 percent, in the last week. It has also increased in the Washington, D.C., area.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2022/04/18/howard-u-moves-classes-online.