Continuing concern regarding Supreme Court

Once seen as untouched by political ideology, the Trump appointed conservative swing of the Supreme Court first signaled willingness to challenge Roe v. Wade and now it's coming for affirmative action. Appeals to Harvard's and the University of North Carolina's admissions processes will result in potentially fundamental challenge to what the trial judge in the UNC case found - that "UNC defendants produced substantial, credible, and largely uncontested evidence that it has made the deliberate decision to pursue the educational benefits that flow from student body diversity." This broad benefit to all is discarded by conservatives who dispense research that supposedly documents bias in admissions decisions. The Supreme Court's willingness to consider the Harvard and UNC case is a high stakes matter that "threatens the nation's ideals of equality," said the NAACP's Legal and Educational Defense Fund Director. Although the top 100 elite institutions are likely to be most impacted, the Supreme Court could hand down a decision that would influence all institutions.

The fact that 62% of U.S.A. citizens oppose consideration of race in admissions to college complicates the Supreme Court's consideration and may, in fact, influence its ultimate decision. The threat of striking down affirmative action has caused some institutions to begin planning for alternatives. Striving for alternatives reflects a persistent and informed view that diverse representation in learning matters - research proves it and faculty/staff witness it on a daily basis.

After the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, the Harvard and UNC cases were separated. The move allows Justice Brown Jackson to participate in the UNC deliberation while standing by her commitment to recuse herself from the Harvard case because she serves on its Board of Overseers.

The educational benefit of diversity for everyone, students, families, and society at large, are vast at this time of contested ideologies. Briefs filed by Harvard and UNC forcefully make this point. Overturning this commitment would do irreparable harm and would turn back the clock on progress that has been made and more yet to be realized. The irony is that "Students for Fair Admissions" filing with the Supreme Court claimed that affirmative action undermines advances achieved through the civil rights movement, although the opposition to affirmative action has been simmering since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Thirty-four briefs filed by conservative groups to support the lawsuit. As University of Houston law professor, Michael A. Olivas is quoted, "I... worried the day could again come when the court would revisit the issue. In those soul-searching moments, however, I never imagined a Supreme Court stacked by a President Trump, willing to act in an unprecedented and unprincipled way with the Senate to reverse Roe v. Wade - and now also perhaps affirmative action."

Accepting that minority students have historically and systematically been denied access to higher education is essential to understanding the intent of affirmative action. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have documented the dramatic difference in STEM enrollment for minority students, which are attributed to structural racism. However, 3 out of 4 in a Pew survey oppose consideration of race in college admissions and with large numbers of Americans opposing affirmative action overall, it is up for grabs. A Chicago Tribune editorial suggested that a supply chain strategy might be a viable alternative to affirmative action. The idea is to provide consistent and broadly available support systems that address educational equity. The point of increasing student success for all is that privileged white students are more likely to have built in supports from family and advanced knowledge of how systems work, resulting in their accessing services and asking for help when they need it. A supply chain strategy to respond to a more diverse student population would offer visible and easily accessible support to all.

Due to higher performance on admissions tests and their academic records, the proportion of Asian American students at elite institutions grew dramatically in the early 1990s. It then leveled off and is now surging again. Although comprising a small percentage of U.S.A. students, the number and proportion of Asian American students is a complicating factor in conservatives' challenge to affirmative action. The question is "what is to be done if a specific demographic group has an inherent advantage in relation to selection criteria?"

After the Roe v. Wade and affirmative action decisions, free v. civil speech will be the next issue that will likely come to the Supreme Court. It's just a matter of time until conservative students are able to convince courts that they've been discriminated against in campus speech codes and speaker/lecturer selections. Academic conversation can and should be challenging and fostering campus environments that include many perspectives should be the goal.

Arizona State University to offer online business in 40 languages

In Arizona State University's continued online emergence, the latest twist is their online business certificate that is projected to reach 100 million participants worldwide by 2030. The Thunderbird School of Global Management, whose Dean Sanjeev Khagram says is "the most global and digital management and leadership academic in the world," will target participants in the developing world by cultivating their business and entrepreneurial capacity.

Skeptics of the Thunderbird initiative say that the number of potential certificate seekers is hyper-exaggerated and others question how any program could be translated into 40 different languages in meaningful and culturally-respectful ways. Leadership scholars vary in their embrace of the GLOBE research that claims to have created a model that differentiates elements of leadership according to unique cultures.

It appears that ASU has competition in new initiatives. The University of Arizona Global Campus has a big vision as well but is facing scrutiny from its creditors and has enrollment challenges.

One has to question such ambitious, although potentially worthy, goals for the business and entrepreneurship program that could spread across the world. Will the content be truly adaptable to local circumstances or will the result be the imposition of prescriptive models that result in uniformity around the world? On the other case, the race for online dominance has many risks if quality is not a central focus.

Study abroad - reopening and impact

Students' studying abroad collapsed as a result of the pandemic. With exposure to other cultures and learning about the interconnected world in which we live increasing in importance, the rebound in U.S. students studying abroad is a welcome trend. The only problem is that studying abroad can cost on average $16,000/semester; who pays for it and how it is financed is an issue that must be addressed if this enriching option for learning is to continue.

After numerous study abroad programs were cancelled in 2020 and 2021, students substituted virtual alternatives or rearranged their academic schedules to include an international experience before they graduate. Virtual engagement is often viewed as a distant alternative to the experience of being and studying abroad. However, virtual exchange may match in-person and it is more readily available for students of a broader economic means. The advantage of virtual exchange is that it can help counter the shift back to Europe and away from countries such as India.

One of the interesting implications of study abroad is that a University of Georgia analysis of 35 U.S. institutions found that those who included studying outside their home country persisted to graduation, and a faster rate, than students who did not. When interpreting or celebrating this result for study abroad students, it's important to recognize that those able to expend the time and money may have advantaging demographic characteristics that would influence graduation outcomes.

HBCUs bomb threats by one teenager!

The investigation of over 50 bomb threats at HUBCUs in 2022 is over with the FBI concluding that the perpetrator was one teenager. Because of his age, he is not subject to federal criminal charges but will be subject to state laws. HBCU leaders were relieved to be notified of the FBI's investigation but some expressed concern over poor communication with the FBI. What is clearly evident in the chronology below is that the cost in disrupted education and negative consequences in well-being and mental health is very significant.

The information on bomb threats at eight HBCUs on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, offered little speculation about the cause and if, or how, these threats were coordinated. And, the University of Utah's Black Cultural Center received a bomb threat on Tuesday, January 11, 2022. Additional HBCUs were threatened Monday, January 31, and again on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, likely chosen because it was the first day of Black History Month. Continuing the 2-month long surge, Howard University experienced another threat along with three more institutions during the second week of February, 2022. Hampton University received a bomb threat on February 23. Curry College reported threats against Black people on its campus on February 22 and have sustained vandalism and graffiti. These incidents are deeply troubling and will require ongoing focus by campus administrators in the coming days, regardless of whether in HBCUs or PWIs.

By August of 2022 the bomb threats had not declined, with Howard University receive two threats in less than 72 hours. HBCU administrators have become increasingly frustrated with the inability of investigators to identify those responsible for the threats or to prevent them altogether. The FBI and DOJ offered a telephone briefing to HBCU, religious, and other leaders to provide an update on investigations of the threats. The press release about the briefing indicated that details "cannot be shared publicly due to sensitive aspects of the investigation."

It isn't just about the passing panic of the threats and the inconveniences they have caused, it's the impact on the sense of safety and security and the ongoing mental health risks for of all those who attend any HBCU or participate in programs advocating racial understanding and respect. In the words of Tymek Jones, a student leader at Howard University, "students have been fearful and anxious ever since the first threats..., especially knowing the history that lies within bombing Black communities and Black spaces." Hearings were held by Congress and federal funds to assist HBCUs with safety and security offered assistance. Some critics said that investigation of the perpetrators was more important.

As the bomb threatens continued, it became increasingly clear that they were either coordinated, or the result of copycat, acts of white supremacy. An article in Psychology Today cited the persistence of COVID coupled with racism and the weariness of engaging in activism as creating high levels of stress for students of color. The authors advocated taking positive action, enhancing protective factors, and students of color and allies working together, as ways to cope and to overcome racial disparity.

There is not much question that HBCUs are more comfortable learning environments for the Black and other students who attend them, which has led to some institutional leaders proposing branch campuses where no HBCUs are currently available. Some HBCUs have joined together on course-sharing, allowing their students to take courses at cooperating HBCUs when courses are not available from their home institutions. In order to diversify their employees, some major companies are partnering with HBCUs to recruit new hires, a move that is likely to further enhance the attractiveness of HBCUs and other minority serving institutions. These moves are timely alternatives to attract and hold Black and other minority students who seek more supportive campus environments.

A Stanford study previously warned of the possible increase of threats to HBCUs as a result of increases in their enrollments. The increases were credited to fears among students of color associated with the police violence and the protests that emerged over it during 2019. Those who sought safe havens could become new targets, one that is triggering to "faculty members who grew up in that era (1970s) where you're in church and someone calls in a bomb threat." Stanford has experienced 3 incidents of nooses being displayed on its campus, leading to naming them as hate crimes.

Bomb threats at HBCUs spilled over into a bomb threat at Tufts University when a would-be perpetrator messaged "Tufts university continues to fuel anti white racism... That is causing division in our country and we are fuckign sick of shit shit." This is hopefully a very isolated incident and will not result in copycat threats elsewhere.