Campus News - Page 387

Grambling is exploring becoming the first HBCU to offer women’s gymnastics

By WILL GRAVES Grambling State University is in the exploratory process of becoming the first historically Black college and university to offer women’s gymnastics. “Our university leadership is looking at young gymnasts in our community and realizing and understanding the path from toddler gymnastics tumbling to the Olympics for a Black and brown gymnast is arduous,” said Raven Thissel, the marketing and public relations director for The Doug Williams Center, located on Grambling’s campus. “How can we make it a smoother one?” Grambling hosted 100 Black and brown gymnasts over the weekend for the Brown Girls Do Gymnastics annual conference. Derrin Moore founded

What Took Tuskegee So Long To Name Charlotte Morris As President?

By Jarrett Carter Sr. The winding road to Charlotte Morris finally being named as Tuskegee University’s permanent president reached its destination today, as the long-serving executive will finally steer the Machine with a formal executive’s title, salary, and expectations. Her credentials as a key part of the university’s academic enterprise for the better part of 30 years affirm her as the right choice for the job. For over three decades, Dr. Morris has served in several roles at Tuskegee University including Chief of Staff to the 5th President and Secretary to the Board of Trustees. As Chief of Staff, she

Historically Black Colleges Finally Get the Spotlight

By Stephanie Saul Historically Black colleges and universities are having a moment, one that many educators say is more than a century overdue. It may have started with the new vice president, Kamala Harris, who has celebrated her roots at Howard University, calling it “a place that shaped her.” Howard, in Washington, also recently announced a string of high-profile hirings, including the writers Ta-Nehisi Coates and Nikole Hannah-Jones and the actor Phylicia Rashad, who was appointed dean of the fine arts program. Athletic programs are landing top recruits, and making big-name hires. Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla., recently announced

Getting Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates to Howard was a stroke of genius by president Wayne A.I. Frederick

BY FARRELL EVANS Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick is a board-certified surgeon, trained at Howard University, where he is president and a faculty member in the medical school, but he can also sound like a football coach and a griot when it comes to describing developments at the private historically Black college and university (HBCU) in Washington, where prominent Black journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates recently joined the faculty. “I think it often gets overlooked, but the reality is that our academic institutions, the anchoring of them, should be academic excellence,” Frederick told me. “It’s been the same blocking

What university tenure battles teach us about the White world of academia

by Brandon Tensley The months-long tenure struggle between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Nikole Hannah-Jones was never about debates over the 1619 Project. The fight was about power — about the White conservatives who thought that the Pulitzer Prize-winning Black journalist had gained too much of it. “I have studied power my entire life from within institutions where I wielded none. I have written about it. I have reported on it. I have read about it. I have observed it. And, over the years, I have worked myself to accrue it, which is really what angers

‘Now, you see:’ Nikole Hannah-Jones’ UNC tenure battle hits home for some local Black academics

By Joel Brown There were many Black professionals and academics watching Tuesday morning’s interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones as if they were sitting in a Black church. That is to say, there were some loud “amens” spoken in agreement to what Hannah-Jones said about achieving success in white spaces. “I’ve spent my entire life proving that I belong in elite white spaces that were not built for Black people,” she told interviewer Gayle King, detailing the clarity she gained from what she called the “shabby” treatment she received from UNC-Chapel Hill through her tenuous battle for tenure. “I decided I didn’t

Cornel West resigns from Harvard after tenure dispute and accuses university of ‘spiritual rot’

By Eric Levenson and Gregory Lemos Cornel West, the eccentric professor, public intellectual and progressive activist, resigned from Harvard after a tenure dispute and accused the university of “spiritual rot” in a letter posted to his Twitter on Monday. “How sad it is to see our beloved Harvard Divinity School in such decline and decay,” he wrote in the letter. “The disarray of a scattered curriculum, the disenchantment of talented yet deferential faculty, and the disorientation of precious students loom large.” His resignation comes after he said Harvard denied him an opportunity to receive tenure, the indefinite academic appointment that makes

Black student groups call for change after tenure debacle

By DeJuan Hoggard Just one day after acclaimed journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones decided against accepting a tenured position at UNC-Chapel Hill, instead. taking a job at Howard University, Black organizations on campus came together to present their list of demands to university officials. During a Wednesday afternoon press conference, members and leaders from the Black Graduate & Professional Association, the Carolina Black Caucus, and the Black Student Movement met inside a room at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center on campus to express their continued support for Hannah-Jones and used the time to share what they called their “2021 Priorities”. “It was

‘It was racist:’ UNC journalism faculty respond to Hannah-Jones decision, tenure controversy

By Heather Leah Faculty from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media posted a statement Tuesday after Nikole Hannah-Jones’ announcement that she would reject an offer to take a position at UNC after weeks of controversy surrounding her fight for tenure. “While disappointed, we are not surprised. We support Ms. Hannah-Jones’s choice. The appalling treatment of one of our nation’s most-decorated journalists by her own alma mater was humiliating, inappropriate, and unjust,” writes a spokesperson on Hussman Faculty’s Medium page. “We will be frank. It was racist,” they wrote. Hannah-Jones was hired in

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