Commentary

Six Months Later, Questions of Justice Haunt the Jelani Day Case →

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Six Months Later, Questions of Justice Haunt the Jelani Day Case

When she heard about the body in the river, Dr. Diane Jeanne Blakeney-Billings knew in her gut it was Jelani Day. How could her former student—the brilliant, kind leader, the one who helped quieter students find their voice—suddenly be dead? Day was only 25 years old, one week into classes as a speech pathology graduate student at Illinois State University. Blakeney-Billings had written his recommendation letter for entry into the program.

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Conservative Crusade Censors Gender and Race Debate in U.S. Classrooms →

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Conservative Crusade Censors Gender and Race Debate in U.S. Classrooms

At a school in Florida, a young woman starts a school presentation talking about her two mothers. An alarm sounds and a red light comes on. The teacher encourages her to continue the exhibition, until the educator herself is called to the reception to be reprimanded. The scene is part of a 30-second ad released last week by the nonprofit Equality Florida as a warning of a dystopian future if a new law, called by its critics "Don't Say Gay", is enacted in the state.

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American Democracy Is Sick. Can Colleges Be Part of the Cure? →

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American Democracy Is Sick. Can Colleges Be Part of the Cure?

There’s long been a belief that a more perfect civic education can lead to a more perfect union. Colleges tried service learning. Then they pushed to get out the vote. But the political events and rhetoric of the past few years—culminating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol—have heightened the sense of urgency that higher education do something more to patch the widening cracks in American democracy. In an era of viral digital disinformation, eroding governance norms and increased political violence, the same old campus “civic engagement” programs no longer seem sufficient.

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How Social Media Is Fueling Protests Against Campus Sexual Assault →

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How Social Media Is Fueling Protests Against Campus Sexual Assault

Over the course of a week in early September, Jordan Musantry and her fellow students at Auburn University received three emails from the administration about sexual assaults reported on campus. The last one, sent last Tuesday, detailed a rape reported to have occurred at a fraternity house, but it didn’t name which one, to many students’ frustration. In a campus-safety chat on the GroupMe app, Musantry, a sophomore, organized a protest for that evening at Toomer’s Corner, a landmark in the Alabama city and popular meeting spot. Musantry said she expected 10 people to show up. Instead, 500 did, she estimates.

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Can Colleges Reform Their Police Departments? →

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Can Colleges Reform Their Police Departments?

A new model policy for “racially just policing,” written by the ACLU of Massachusetts and Bridgewater State University, and published on Tuesday, was designed to prevent episodes like that, which have occurred again and again. They can traumatize the victims and make students and employees of color feel as if they don’t belong on predominantly white college campuses.

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Opinions Still Split on Police Academies at HBCUs →

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Opinions Still Split on Police Academies at HBCUs

Last month, Lincoln University of Missouri’s interim president Dr. John Moseley, stood on stage in front of the nine members of the first graduating class of Lincoln’s law enforcement training academy—the first police academy to exist on the grounds of an historically Black college or university (HCBU). Dr. Charlies H.F. Davis III, an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Michigan and an expert on campus protests, worried that because Black and brown officers are statistically less likely to use force, they are being recruited as a “band aid” to a much bigger problem.

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Davis Featured on Student Affairs NOW Podcast →

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Davis Featured on Student Affairs NOW Podcast

Dr. Heather Shea discusses how campuses and racial justice activists are grappling with issues of campus policing with four panelists who sit at various vantage points–scholars, activists, students–in the Black Lives Matter movement. Joining the conversation are Dr. Charles H.F. Davis III, Dr. Erin S. Corbett, Jude Paul Dizon, and Jael Kerandi.

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A Guilty Verdict, a Sigh of Relief →

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A Guilty Verdict, a Sigh of Relief

The conclusion of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty on murder and manslaughter charges for the killing of George Floyd, produced a sense of hope and relief among students, faculty members and college leaders across the country. After a year of anger and outrage, accusations and recrimination, bridge building and bridge burning, calls for accountability and promises of change -- played out mostly remotely and on social media as Americans hunkered down while in the throes of the pandemic -- the verdict Tuesday was largely viewed as a welcome development and a symbol of possibilities for positive change for the country -- and perhaps on American college campuses.

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