Republican Scalise Seeks Votes from Party in Bid for House Speaker

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Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are set to meet Thursday as Republican Steve Scalise faces a test of whether he can get enough support from his party to become the next House speaker. Republicans nominated Scalise in a closed-door vote Wednesday to be their choice to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted last week. He won the internal party ballot 113-99, beating out House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. The 58-year-old Scalise won the backing of Republicans with support primarily coming from long-time and establishment party members. Scalise must now gain approval of the fullmore

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Republicans Nominate Steve Scalise for US House Speaker

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U.S. House Republicans voted 113-99 Wednesday to nominate Representative Steve Scalise to serve as speaker. But their narrow majority in the lower chamber of Congress and divisions within their own party leave it uncertain when and if Scalise will ascend to the leadership post. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. …

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ACT Test Scores for US Students Drop to New 30-Year Low

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High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test. Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in the class of 2023 whose scores were reported Wednesday were in their first year of high school when the virus reached the U.S. “The hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success inmore

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25 Years After Murder, ‘Laramie Project’ Stages Reading in Wyoming

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It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. The gay college student had been tied to a fence post, tortured, and left to die.  The murder drew national attention to violence against gay people, and attracted the interest of theater director Moises Kaufman, who turned the horror into art with “The Laramie Project.”  This 25th anniversary has triggered deep sadness for Kaufman, founder and artistic director of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project. He wonders about all the things Shepard could have become.  “Every year around this time, it’s painful to remember,more

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Republicans to Start Voting on House Speaker Candidate

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Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are set to meet Wednesday to start closed-door, internal voting to try to agree on a nominee to be the next House speaker. The two leading candidates, Representatives Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise, addressed members of their party at a forum late Tuesday seeking to make their case to take the job following last week’s ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy told colleagues not to nominate him to reclaim the post. Republicans hold a slim 221-212 majority in the House, meaning they will need to unite behind a candidate in ordermore

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Business Student from India Thriving in NY

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A sophomore business student from India says he’s living his dream as a student at Fordham University in New York. At Fordham, Om Bhosale says, he’s been able to combine two interests: entrepreneurship as part of his business administration major and global business as a minor. Read an interview with him here.  …

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Pioneering Women’s College Sued Over Gender Pay Gap 

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One of the first women’s colleges in the United States is the target of a federal lawsuit, with five current or former tenured faculty members saying the school pays female professors less than their male counterparts.  The New York Times reports Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York, also faces allegations of delayed promotions for female professors and a discriminatory performance-evaluation system. (September 2023)       …

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US-China Relations Straining Academic Exchanges  

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U.S. policymakers are worried about losing potential American advances in science and technology to China, and this could lead to limits on academic exchanges. Fewer research papers are being jointly authored by scientists from the two countries, and there are signs that the United States is becoming a less desirable study destination for Chinese students. But academic ties should be preserved, according to an article in Foreign Affairs magazine. …

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VOA Immigration Weekly Recap, Oct. 1–7

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Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.  US Government to Resume Deportations to Venezuela The Biden administration announced Thursday it will resume the deportation of migrants back to Venezuela in hopes of decreasing the numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. On a background call with reporters — a method often used by U.S. authorities to share information with reporters without being identified — Biden officials said Venezuelan nationals who cross into the United States unlawfully will still be processed. But if itmore

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Facing a Deficit, One College Drops Foreign Languages

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West Virginia University, the flagship public institution in one of America’s poorest states, has announced a plan to get rid of all foreign languages and creative writing, and fire about 7% of its academic staff. The move is unprecedented among large American schools, and faculty and students are not happy. Nick Anderson of The Washington Post takes a deeper look at the controversy. (August 2023) …

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Biden Says He Can’t Stop New Border Barrier Plan

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President Joe Biden said Thursday he was unable to legally divert money away from a plan to build several miles of new barriers along the southern border – directly contradicting his campaign vow to build “not another foot of wall” and drawing harsh criticism from Mexico’s president. A notice to allow construction in Texas was released Wednesday night in the Federal Register, the official U.S. government gazette. “There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the notice. U.S. Customs and Bordermore

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Students, Teachers Grapple With ChatGPT

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Many of the students say they use ChatGPT to organize their notes and make outlines, not to cheat. But other students have used the AI chatbot to do just that. Confusingly, some students who don’t use ChatGPT are being flagged for plagiarism by AI-detection services, often because their work is of a suspiciously high standard. Read more about the dilemma in an ABC News report. (September 2023) …

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Could ‘Microcredentials’ Change Higher Education?

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The University of Texas system, one of the largest in the U.S., is “betting big” on microcredentials, or academic certifications short of a degree. UT is partnering with Coursera to do so, as well as big tech firms like IBM and Google. The goal for the 30,000 students expected to participate is to help them build skills employers want. Lauren Coffey of Inside Higher Ed reviews the new program. (September 2023) …

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Biden Touts $9B Student Loan Relief After Pandemic Repayment Pause Ends

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President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced another $9 billion in student debt relief through improvements to existing programs, a move that will affect 125,000 Americans, and which he touted as leading to economic improvement.   Wednesday’s announcement focuses on three programs: one for borrowers who have worked in public service for more than a decade; another for those who paid down their loans continuously for 20 years, and who now get credit for past payments and forgiveness on the balance; and another effort targeted at disabled borrowers.   The announcement comes just days after the expiration of a three-year pandemicmore

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Florida’s State Universities Are Accepting a New Admissions Test

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Florida’s 12 state universities will now accept the Classics Learning Test (CLT), a controversial standardized testing alternative to the SAT and ACT, this fall. They also will continue to accept the more-established SAT and ACT test results. The CLT focuses on the “classical” Western and Christian canon, according to Inside Higher Ed. The move comes as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has attempted to reshape higher education in the state, banning diversity programs and fighting with the national College Board over classes like psychology and African American studies. Juliana Kim reports for NPR. (September 2023) …

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America’s Most Followed College Rankings Released

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U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings have been criticized for inaccuracy and exclusivity. The magazine tried to fix this year’s undergraduate rankings by measuring social mobility and graduation rates for first-generation students. It also dropped several indicators, such as alumni giving, that critics say have more to do with prestige than with the quality of education. Jeremy Bauer-Wolf has more for Higher Ed Dive. (September 2023) …

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As Birth Rates Crash, Countries Could Force Students to Stay Home

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China is one of the world’s largest source countries for international students, but it just entered a “demographic deficit,” meaning that its population is likely to decline. In a shrinking future, Chinese leaders, and those in other countries, might not want to let young talent go to other countries, especially if the move is permanent. The result, according to one sociologist, will be a boom in long-distance and online education, as governments try to keep their best students at home. John Ross of Times Higher Education reports. (August 2023)   …

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