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GOP Rep. Virginia Foxx admonishes Harvard for ‘unacceptable’ response to antisemitism investigation

By Matt Egan House Education Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx blasted Harvard University on Tuesday evening for failing to turn over all the documents lawmakers demanded in their antisemitism investigation into the Ivy League school. Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina, described Harvard’s initial production of documents as “woefully inadequate” and warned of consequences if the university does not comply with the committee’s requests. Harvard faced a 5 pm ET deadline on Tuesday to respond to a demand from lawmakers for a mountain of documents relating to antisemitism on campus. “Rather than answering the Committee’s request in a substantive manner, Harvard has chosen

Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 62

By Curtis Bunn Dexter Scott King, the lookalike of his iconic father, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., has died. He was 62. King died Sunday in California after a bout with prostate cancer, his family confirmed in a statement. His wife, Leah Weber King, said in a statement from the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change that her husband “transitioned peacefully in his sleep at home with me in Malibu.” “He gave it everything and battled this terrible disease until the end. As with all the challenges in his life, he faced this hurdle with bravery and might,” she said.

New poll reveals a generational divide among Black Americans on overturning affirmative action in higher education

By Nicole Chavez and Chandelis Duster While a majority of Americans of all races see the end of affirmative action as “mostly a good thing,” there is a generational split among Black adults over the impact on higher education and their racial group, according to a new Gallup Center on Black Voices report. Black adults’ views on last year’s Supreme Court ruling that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis in granting admissions are split, the survey found, with 56% of those 40 and older viewing the decision negatively and 62% of younger adults viewing it positively. The findings released Tuesday were based on a Gallup Panel survey

Video released of white officer kneeling on Black teen near Las Vegas school in incident that sparked George Floyd comparison

School officials in Las Vegas have released police reports and body camera footage under court order showing a campus officer kneeling on a Black student last year — an incident that drew accusations of police brutality after bystander video of it circulated widely on social media. In his incident report, Clark County School District police Lt. Jason Elfberg said the teen, whose name is redacted, refused to move away from officers handcuffing another student while investigating a report that a gun had been brandished the previous day and a threat had been made to “shoot up” a Las Vegas school.

Abortion fight puts Vice President Harris at the center of the 2024 election campaign

By Chris Megerian Vice President Kamala Harris is taking center stage in the Democrats’ renewed push for abortion rights during this year’s election and she will mark the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling on Monday in Wisconsin. It will be the first in a series of events hosted by Harris, and it comes one day before she joins President Joe Biden at another campaign event focused on abortion in Virginia. First lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are also expected to be there. In her speech in Wisconsin, Harris plans to hammer former President Donald Trump for saying he

Bipartisan bill aims to fight antisemitism on campus by fortifying civil rights complaint system

Written By Matt Egan A bipartisan Senate bill introduced Thursday could make it easier for students to file civil rights complaints over antisemitism and Islamophobia on college campuses and to hold those schools accountable for protecting students. The bill, introduced by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy and Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey, would require colleges and universities to report the number of civil rights complaints they receive and the actions they took to address them. Under the legislation, called the Protecting Students on Campus Act, the Education Department’s inspector general would be required to audit institutions that report high ratios

Florida public colleges barred from using state and federal funds for DEI programs

By Michelle Garcia Florida’s Board of Education announced a new rule Wednesday that bars public colleges from using state and federal funds for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, activities and policies. The rule, which applies to the 28 schools within the Florida College System, “will ensure that taxpayer funds can no longer be used to promote DEI on Florida’s 28 state college campuses,” the board wrote in a statement. The schools include Seminole State College of Florida, Valencia College, Florida State College at Jacksonville and others that serve sizable populations of Black and Latino students. State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said in a statement that

Harris speaks at Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in South Carolina

By Jeffrey Martin Communities across the nation celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday with acts of service, prayer services and parades. But with the November presidential election as a backdrop, some events took on an overtly political turn. Speaking at the MLK Day at the Dome rally at the South Carolina Statehouse, Vice President Kamala Harris said young people two or three generations removed from King have seen their freedoms shrink — from laws restricting voting to bans on abortions and the ever-present threat of gun violence, especially in schools. “They even try to erase, overlook and

SC House Republicans go after gender-affirming care in first week of legislative session

Written by Devyani Chhetri In its first week back in session, the South Carolina Statehouse has started brimming with activity again. Gov. Henry McMaster unveiled his budget proposal on Jan. 5. Increasing the minimum teacher pay to $45,000, allocating $95 million for workforce tech scholarships, and investing $50 million to build and create training institutes at technical colleges to develop skilled workforce for manufacturing hubs like BMW in the Upstate and Scout Motors in the Midlands are some of McMaster’s agenda items in his plan to address rising needs of a growing state. Meanwhile, House Republicans have begun the new

Biden administration urges 16 states to address funding disparities faced by land-grant HBCUs

By Justin Gamble The Biden administration demanded governors in 16 states address a more than $12 billion funding disparity between land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and their non-HBCU counterparts, according to the US Department of Agriculture. In joint letters sent to the governors of each state Monday, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack noted that HBCUs have “not been able to advance in ways that are on par” with other land-grant institutions in those states “in large part due to unbalanced funding.” A land-grant institution is a college or university that provides education

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