Colleges Combating Coronavirus Turn to Stinky Savior: Sewage

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Days after he crossed the country to start college, Ryan Schmutz received a text message from Utah State University: COVID-19 had been detected at his dorm.  Within 10 minutes, he dropped the crepes he was making and was whisked away by bus to a testing site.”We didn’t even know they were testing,” said Schmutz, who is 18 and from Omaha, Nebraska. “It all really happened fast.”Schmutz was one of about 300 students quarantined to their rooms last week, but not because of sickness reports or positive tests. Instead, the warning bells came from the sewage.  Colleges across the nation —more

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Hungarian Protesters Demand Academic Freedom for Top Arts University

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Several thousand people protested Sunday for the independence of Hungary’s University of Theatre and Film Arts following the imposition of a government-appointed board, which they say will undermine its autonomy.The management of the school, which nurtured many of Hungary’s most famous directors and filmmakers, resigned Monday in protest over the changes, which have also prompted several top theater directors to quit their teaching roles.Attendants of the rally formed a chain in the streets of central Budapest before the crowd gathered at a main square outside Parliament, demanding autonomy for the school and freedom for artistic endeavor and education.Prime Minister Viktormore

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DC University Investigating White Professor Who Claimed to Be Black

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George Washington University is investigating the case of a history professor who allegedly admitted to fraudulently pretending to be a Black woman for her entire career.In a blog post that has gained international attention, a writer claiming to be Jessica Krug, a GW associate professor of history, writes that she is in fact a white Jewish woman.”I concealed my past as a white Jewish child from the residential suburbs of Kansas City in favor of several black identities that I was not allowed to claim: first Black from North Africa, then African-American , and finally Black from the Bronx, ofmore

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University of Oklahoma Students: Virus Response Inadequate

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More than a dozen students gathered outside the University of Oklahoma’s administration building Thursday to protest what they say is an inadequate response to the coronavirus pandemic.Students are violating the university and the city of Norman’s mask mandates at bars, restaurants and at fraternity and sorority functions, OU student Kellie Dick, a senior from Shawnee, told The Associated Press.”We really need people to wear their masks, I don’t want this to kill any more people than it already has,” Dick said.There are a reported 909 newly confirmed coronavirus cases in Oklahoma on Thursday and 14 more deaths due to COVID-19,more

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More Charges Brought in College Admissions Bribery Scandal

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Another wealthy parent was charged Wednesday with trying to bribe his child’s way into an elite university as a fake athletic recruit, a day after two former college coaches caught up in the nationwide admissions bribery scandal were hit with additional charges. Amin Khoury, 54, of Palm Beach, Florida, and Mashpee, Massachusetts, in May 2014 paid $200,000 to get former Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst to designate his daughter as a tennis recruit even though her “tennis skills were below that of a typical Georgetown tennis recruit,” the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said in a statement. Khoury is the 57thmore

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Court Filing Shows 11-3 Big Ten Vote to Postpone Football Season

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A court filing disclosed Monday shows Big Ten Conference presidents voted 11-3 to postpone the football season, bringing some clarity to a key question raised in a lawsuit brought by a group of Nebraska football players. The vote breakdown was revealed in the Big Ten’s response to the lawsuit.  The court documents did not identify how each school voted, but a person familiar with the outcome told The Associated Press that Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio State voted against postponing the fall football season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Big Ten was not planning on making the specificsmore

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Young Activists Take Center Stage at March on Washington

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When the son of famed civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. took to the stage in Washington on Friday – 57 years after his father’s famous “I Have a Dream” address – he stepped aside for yet another King.“I am so honored to be here,” Martin Luther King III said while standing at the Lincoln Memorial. “But before I say something, I want you to hear from the future of our nation.”Wearing a bright teal headband and a black-and-white dress, 12-year-old Yolanda Renee King adjusted the microphone lower and glanced sideways at her father, smiling nervously.The younger King launchedmore

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College Athletes Add to Voices to Those Protesting Injustice

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College athletes across the country added their voices to those calling for an end to racial injustice Friday with football players and others marching on campus or stepping away from practices to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.In Oklahoma, the Sooners football team walked in rows of three to the Unity Garden, where they held a 57-second moment of silence in honor of the 57-year anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.Assistant coach Dennis Simmons led a prayer before the team returned to its facilities.”The problems outmore

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College Towns Growing Alarmed Over Outbreaks Among Students

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As more and more schools and businesses around the country get the OK to reopen, some college towns are moving in the opposite direction because of too much partying and too many COVID-19 infections among students. With more than 300 students at the University of Missouri testing positive for the coronavirus, the local health director Friday ordered bars to stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. and close by 10 p.m. Iowa’s governor ordered all bars closed this week around the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, while the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, did the same in the hometown of themore

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Small Businesses in College Towns Struggle Without Students

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Perry Porikos sat in the street outside one of his five businesses, in a makeshift patio area that didn’t exist before the COVID-19 pandemic  sent his best customers — University of Michigan students — back home in mid-March. The Greek immigrant arrived here more than four decades ago as a 20-year-old soccer player for the Wolverines and part-time dishwasher at The Brown Jug Restaurant, which he now owns. He nonchalantly dropped names of sports stars like Tom Brady and Michael Phelps, two of the many former Michigan students he counts as friends, and recalled hustling enough to own more thanmore

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US School District Lost 700 Students During Online Classes

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Hundreds of students in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, didn’t participate in online learning last spring and all but vanished after the coronavirus pandemic drove the district to close classrooms. Keloland.com reported 700 kids, or 3% of the district’s student body, never connected with their teachers during the last quarter of the year. Assistant Superintendent Teresa Boysen said the district tried to reach out to the students but never connected with them. She says phone numbers and emails changed and some students moved to different towns so they’d have someone to take care of them while parents kept working.  Boysen said some studentsmore

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Can Anonymous Classrooms Protect Students from Beijing Snooping?

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With many American universities holding online courses this semester because of the pandemic, faculty members at Princeton, Harvard and other elite schools are looking for ways to protect the privacy and identity of students logging in from Hong Kong and China, where they are subject to China’s repressive rules on self-expression.  The Hong Kong National Security Law that passed in June allows Chinese authorities to prosecute any foreign institution, organization or individuals, regardless of their location, if they are involved in any action deemed to be a crime. Legal scholars say the law opens the door for a wide rangemore

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Can Anonymous Classrooms Protect Students from Beijing’s Snooping?

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With many American universities holding online courses this semester because of the pandemic, faculty members at Princeton, Harvard and other elite schools are looking for ways to protect the privacy and identity of students logging in from Hong Kong and China, where they are subject to China’s repressive rules on self-expression.  The Hong Kong National Security Law that passed in June allows Chinese authorities to prosecute any foreign institution, organization or individuals, regardless of their location, if they are involved in any action deemed to be a crime. Legal scholars say the law opens the door for a wide rangemore

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US Schools Scramble to Close Digital Gap

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Many schools are opening around the U.S. for in-person classes, but many others are offering classes online only.  That has set parents, school officials and community members scrambling to make sure every student has the equipment they need for online learning.The pandemic has drawn attention to a long-standing problem in the U.S.: the gap between students who have the computers and internet access needed for online learning and those who do not.  Roughly 1 in 5 homes in the U.S. lack either a computer or an internet connection strong enough for online work, according to data from a Pew Research Centermore

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Anonymous Classrooms: Professors Try to Protect Students from Beijing’s Snooping

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With many American universities holding online courses this semester because of the pandemic, faculty members at Princeton, Harvard and other elite schools are looking for ways to protect the privacy and identity of students logging in from Hong Kong and China, where they are subject to China’s repressive rules on self-expression.  The Hong Kong National Security Law that passed in June allows Chinese authorities to prosecute any foreign institution, organization or individuals, regardless of their location, if they are involved in any action deemed to be a crime. Legal scholars say the law opens the door for a wide rangemore

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Zoom Suffers Worldwide Outages

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Videoconferencing platform Zoom experienced worldwide outages Monday morning, coinciding with the first day of remote classes for many schools and universities. On its status page, Zoom reported partial outages for its website, meetings and webinars. By Monday afternoon, all systems were reported as operational. Downdetector recorded a spike in issue reports, mostly from North America and western Europe, which peaked at nearly 17,000 complaints at 9 a.m. EST. Lighter areas on Downdetector’s map Monday morning also showed complaints in China, India, Mexico and other countries, although most had faded by the afternoon. The company’s Twitter mentions were flooded with concerned and panicked users, includingmore

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US Faces Back-to-School Laptop Shortage

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Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found. The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration sanctions on Chinese suppliers, according to interviews with over two dozen U.S. schools, districts in 15 states, suppliers, computer companies and industry analysts.As the school year begins virtually in many places becausemore

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US WeChat Users sue Trump Over Order Banning Messaging App

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Some U.S.-based users of WeChat are suing President Donald Trump in a bid to block an executive order that they say would effectively bar access in the U.S. to the hugely popular Chinese messaging app.The complaint, filed Friday in San Francisco, is being brought by the nonprofit U.S. WeChat Users Alliance and several people who say they rely on the app for work, worship and staying in touch with relatives in China. The plaintiffs said they are not affiliated with WeChat, nor its parent company, Tencent Holdings.In the lawsuit, they asked a federal court judge to stop Trump’s executive ordermore

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Parents Who Fought Admissions Scandal Charges Are Sentenced

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The high-profile faces of a college admissions scandal – a Hollywood actor and her fashion designer husband – have been sentenced to two and five months, respectively, in prison after pleading guilty of bribing their daughters’ way into prestigious schools.  Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli were sentenced after a judge accepted their plea deal in federal court via videoconferencing because of the coronavirus pandemic.U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton also sentenced Loughlin to two years of supervised release, during which time she must complete 100 hours of community service, and she must pay a fine of $150,000. Giannulli was also sentencedmore

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Iowa University Drops 4 Sports Amid Financial Crisis Tied to Coronavirus

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The University of Iowa will drop four sports programs as part of the athletic department’s response to a projected loss of $100 million in revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic.School president Bruce Harreld and athletic director Gary Barta said Friday that men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis and men’s and women’s swimming and diving will be discontinued after the 2020-21 academic year.Barta said the Big Ten’s decision to postpone football and other fall sports until the spring will create an overall budget deficit between $60 million and $75 million this year.”A loss of this magnitude will take years to overcome. We havemore

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