Quick hits.
- The family of the Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who died from alcohol poisoning in 2021 after an alleged hazing is suing the Delta Chi fraternity for $28 million. (Associated Press)
- The University of Texas at Austin’s student-government assembly voted 25 to 1 to condemn “The Eyes of Texas,” the university’s alma mater, which has been criticized for its connections to racism. There’ll be a nonbinding student-body referendum on the song this month. (Twitter, Texas Tribune)
- The University of South Florida has paused its search for a chief diversity officer after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he would push legislation to prevent state institutions from funding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (Tampa Bay Times)
- The office of Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has told state officials, including public-university leaders, to stop considering diversity in hiring. A memo by Abbott’s chief of staff warned agency leaders that using diversity policies violates state and federal law. (Texas Tribune)
- The descendants of T.C. Williams Sr., whose estate donated $25,000 to the University of Richmond’s law school in the 1890s, is asking for the money back with interest — a total of $51 million — after the university removed Williams’s name from the law school because he held enslaved people. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
- Columbia College Chicago is starting a graduate-certificate program in the art of intimacy. The practice of intimacy coordination on film and stage sets gained traction during the #MeToo movement. (The Columbia Chronicle)
Stat of the day.
46 percent.
That’s the percentage of Black bachelor’s-degree students with competing responsibilities who have considered dropping out of college in the past six months, according to a new report from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. The report describes the challenges Black students face in finishing postsecondary programs. Black students have lower six-year completion rates than other racial or ethnic groups in any degree or program.
Here are some other findings from the report:
- Thirty-six percent of Black students reported having major life responsibilities outside of class. That’s almost twice the share for all other bachelor’s students (18 percent).
- One in five Black students is balancing coursework with a full-time job. That’s almost twice the proportion (11 percent) for all other students.
Read our Kate Marijolovic’s story on the report here.
Get a rundown of higher-ed trends.
Join us on Friday, February 24, for a subscriber-only discussion of our latest Trends Report, coming next week. Six Chronicle journalists will break down key issues — like new admissions practices to improve access, the effects of intrastate competition, and the demand for “total flexibility” from instructors — and answer your questions. We hope to see you there!
Comings and goings.
- Deborah Ford, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, has been named chancellor of Indiana University-Southeast.
- Lorraine Sterritt, president of Saint Michael’s College, in Vermont, plans to retire in June.
- Armin Afsahi, associate vice president for alumni affairs and development and dean of development for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, has been named vice president for alumni relations and development at the University of Chicago.
- Felicia Benton-Johnson, assistant dean and director of the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been named vice president for diversity and inclusive excellence at Clemson University.
To submit a new-hire announcement, email people@chronicle.com.
Footnote.
I love being reminded that The Chronicle’s readers are just as punctilious as we are. When I shared our preferred dictionary and asked for yours, I wasn’t (but should have been) prepared for the incoming wave of affronted, contented, and nostalgic responses. Mostly, responders advocated for The Oxford English Dictionary.
“The OED is not only the gold standard of dictionaries, but my love for the OED, and subsequent astonishment at its exclusion, inspired me to take action,” wrote Jordan Cofer, a professor of English and associate provost for transformative learning experiences at Georgia College & State University. “I’m sure you’ll get more emails from fellow OED enthusiasts.”
And sure enough, I did. Five other readers also shared their love of the OED with me. Other scholars offered their own, more obscure, dictionaries — like one linguist who shared her favored foreign-language options, like Alain Rey’s Dictionnaire Historique de la langue française.
Chronicle buffs who were disappointed to find we don’t rely on the OED will be glad to know we do keep a couple sets in the office. If ever we feel the urge to look up a truly esoteric word, rest assured, we’ve got options.
