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Tag: universities and colleges

  • Opinion: Ron DeSantis brought his culture wars to my college campus | CNN

    Opinion: Ron DeSantis brought his culture wars to my college campus | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sophia Brown is a senior at New College of Florida and editor of the school newspaper, The Catalyst. The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion at CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    The freedoms of students in Florida have long been under fire during Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration, with his book banning, attacks on critical race theory and the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

    But I still wasn’t entirely prepared for his attacks on academic freedom at New College of Florida, the liberal arts college in Sarasota, where I’ve been a student for the past four years.

    As bad as things got in Florida, I and many of my classmates thought that surely his culture war policies wouldn’t reach our school, which has been something of a bubble of sanity and safety for queer students like me, as well as my transgender and BIPOC classmates. With any luck, DeSantis’ ginned-up culture wars will scuttle his presidential aspirations.

    The governor is continuing to plow ahead with his takeover of New College. He has installed a new board of trustees and a new interim president. Last month, the board voted to abolish New College’s Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence. Our Dean of Diversity was fired a few days later. And just last week, it was announced that our provost has been replaced, as DeSantis continues to force his conservative values on a place where they’re not wanted.

    Many students who have come to think of New College as a sanctuary, now feel as though they are no longer welcome here. Students feel as if they’re walking on eggshells – in part because the new conservative leadership has been incredibly vague about the next changes they will try to ram through.

    Each time he has given a speech on campus, our interim president has spoken about the great things he wants to do for New College. But he also recently wrote in a letter to donors and alumni in which he said that the school is “dominated by a self-aggrandizing few who want to co-opt the education system to force their personal beliefs on other people’s children.”

    This doesn’t augur well for its future as an academic and cultural oasis. Students are feeling burned out and afraid. Many of us are just trying to make it through what feels like it could be the last “normal” semester at the school we love so much.

    When people ask me why I chose New College, my usual answer is that I always wanted to go to a small school (we have an enrollment of just 700 students) with a rigorous academic program. But there’s much more to it than that.

    I went to a high school where students would wear shirts bearing the image of the Confederate flag. During my freshman year there, my classmates would draw swastikas on the corners of the papers on my desk when I wasn’t looking. I don’t think it was meant maliciously against me, but it showed the degree to which they had internalized and normalized hateful behavior. It was a high school that was tolerant enough to have a Gay Students’ Association, but intolerant enough that some kids would sign each other up as a prank.

    New College was a departure from all of that. It has been a sanctuary that not only made me passionate about education in a way that high school never did, but that taught me that I don’t have to compromise who I am. As an LGBTQ student, I don’t need to leave my identity at the door in order to have the education I deserve. My full identity can sit in the classroom with me because it informs my education and interests in a way that I cannot sever from myself.

    One of the trustees appointed by Gov. DeSantis, Christopher Rufo, gave a speech in January in which he described diversity, equity and inclusion efforts of the type that make New College such a tolerant community as “Orwellian” and said that they “manipulate” and “divide the world into oppressor and oppressed.”

    In fact, the diversity efforts proudly practiced at New College were inherent to a quality education. A student’s academics are enriched when they are able to encounter a variety of people and viewpoints. Broadening our horizons is the point of pursuing higher education.

    Anyone who reframes these concepts as deceitful or who wields them as a weapon in a culture war that the New College community did not ask to participate in, will never serve the best interests of students. In opposing diversity, equity and inclusion, DeSantis and the people he has put in place to run my school are agitating against the very thing that has made New College such a wonderful place to spend four years.

    I’m now a senior and in my final weeks as a student at New College. It’s been a great time. I’m editor-in-chief of our student-run newspaper, the Catalyst, and have had a complete, well-rounded and rigorous academic experience. But who knows how much longer it will be allowed to continue?

    The New College we knew, one of my friends recently said to me, is dead. I hope she’s wrong. I hope it can return one day to what it was: a college where students have access to an education free from interference by powerful individuals and entities that will never know our names and never really, truly cared – other than to score political points – about what we want to learn.

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  • Police release Michigan State shooting timeline and a troubling note found in the gunman’s pocket | CNN

    Police release Michigan State shooting timeline and a troubling note found in the gunman’s pocket | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The gunman who killed three Michigan State University students and critically wounded five others last month in a mass shooting wrote in a note found in his pocket that he was “tired of being rejected” and was hurt, police said Friday.

    The Michigan State University Police and Public Safety Department released a detailed timeline of events and shared images of a note gunman Anthony Dwayne McRae, 43, wrote, police said in a news release.

    Written on spiral notebook paper, the two-page document is dated a day before the February 12 shooting. Portions of it have been redacted by police.

    One side of the note starts with the gunman identifying himself: “Hi My Name is Anthony McRae.” A second side starts with “They hurted me” at the top of the page before listing the locations of other targeted areas.

    McRae writes that he is the leader of a group of 20 people and claims “another team” in his group will be targeting the other outlined locations – upon discovering the note, law enforcement officials “investigated and cleared all of the other locations McRae named in the note,” police said.

    “While McRae states in the note that he was acting with others, investigators from MSU DPPS, Michigan State Police and the FBI have determined through comprehensive reviews and detailed follow-up that McRae acted alone and was not working with other people,” the statement from MSU DPPS said.

    In the letter, McRae appears to write about his grievances repeatedly writing “they hate me” and detailing other general, non-specific, perceived slights against him like “I’m tired of being rejected,” “No one noticed me,” “Everywhere I go people treat me different.”

    Police detail a timeline of events, sharing the gunman’s whereabouts and how police responded to his movements accordingly:

    • 8:18 p.m. – Ingham County 911 started receiving calls of the first shots fired at Berkey Hall, MSU police said
    • Two minutes later, at 8:20 p.m. ET, officers entered Berkey Hall
    • 8:24 p.m. – McRae entered the Union
    • 8:26 p.m. – First report of shooting at the Union
    • 8:27 p.m. – Officers arrived at the Union
    • 8:30 p.m. – First emergency alert notification was sent
    • 8:31 p.m. – Second emergency alert notification was sent
    • 11:18 p.m. – Photo of suspect was shared on MSU DPPS social media
    • 11:35 p.m. – Ingham County 911 received a call about a person matching the description of the suspect walking on Lake Lansing Road near High Street in the City of Lansing
    • 11:49 p.m. – Officers approached McRae and he shot and killed himself

    As part of the ongoing investigation, police said they are currently reviewing and finalizing details of the route McRae took as he left campus, according to the statement.

    From February 13 to February 14 between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m., Ingham County 911 received 2,100 phone calls, which is the equivalent of 2.5 days’ worth of calls for the dispatch center – within a 5-hour period, police said.

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  • All flights grounded at airport near Penn State University over suspicious device, 100 passengers bused to campus | CNN

    All flights grounded at airport near Penn State University over suspicious device, 100 passengers bused to campus | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    All flights were grounded at University Park Airport in Pennsylvania Friday as authorities investigated a suspicious device in a checked bag, forcing about 100 passengers to be bused out of the area and the airport to close until Saturday, officials said.

    The airport in State College, located less than five miles from the Penn State University campus, was closed to air traffic and passengers while an explosives device team and local police examined the contents of the bag, which was checked on a flight en route to Chicago, Penn State University Police and Public Safety said in a statement.

    The “suspicious” contents were later determined to not be an explosive device, Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Marie Powers told CNN late Friday.

    The item had been detected by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the airport, according to TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein. Local police officers and FBI officials were also on site, she said.

    “The immediate area was evacuated and a perimeter established,” Farbstein said in a statement, adding bomb technicians would be looking at the bag and its contents.

    The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for the airport “due to security.” The airport will reopen early Saturday morning, police said.

    The airport closure took place as Penn State students were gearing up for their Spring Break travel plans next week. Buses from the university came to the airport to transport about 100 passengers to the campus, where they were offered shelter and given food, according to police.

    The University Park Airport calls itself “a home town airport with a world of destinations,” according to its Facebook page. It says four airlines – Allegiant, Delta, United, and American airlines – offer regularly scheduled flights to and from major hub cities including Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington/Dulles.

    Earlier in the day, the general passenger terminal at the airport was evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” police said. There were no incoming or outgoing flights scheduled when the evacuation took place.

    The investigation at the airport comes just days after federal agents arrested a Pennsylvania man after he allegedly tried to bring explosives in his suitcase on a flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown to Florida.

    Marc Muffley, 40, faces two charges, according to a federal complaint, including possession of an explosive in an airport and possessing or attempting to place an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.

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  • High levels of chemicals could pose long-term risks at Ohio train derailment site, researchers say | CNN

    High levels of chemicals could pose long-term risks at Ohio train derailment site, researchers say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    An analysis of data from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s measurements of pollutants released from the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, suggests that nine of the dozens of chemicals that the EPA has been monitoring are higher than would normally be found in the area, according to a group of scientists from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon University.

    If the levels of some of these chemicals remain high, it could be a problem for residents’ health in the long term, the scientists say. Temperature changes or high winds might stir up the chemicals and release them into the atmosphere.

    The highest levels found in East Palestine were of a chemical called acrolein, the analysis says.

    Acrolein is used to control plants, algae, rodents and microorganisms. It is a clear liquid at room temperature, and it is toxic. It can cause inflammation and irritation of the skin, respiratory tract and mucous membranes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “It’s not elevated to the point where it’s necessarily like an immediate ‘evacuate the building’ health concern,” said Dr. Albert Presto, an associate research professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, who is working on the university’s chemical monitoring effort in East Palestine. “But, you know, we don’t know necessarily what the long-term risk is or how long that concentration that causes that risk will persist.”

    Much of what scientists know about chemical exposure comes from people’s contact with chemicals at work, Preston said, which generally means exposure for about eight hours a day. People now living in East Palestine are in constant contact with the chemicals, he said, and the impact of that kind of exposure on the human body is not fully understood.

    The EPA and local government officials have repeatedly said that their tests show the air quality in the area is safe and that the chemicals should dissipate. As of Sunday, officials have tested air in 578 homes, and they say chemical pollution levels have not exceeded residential air quality standards.

    EPA’s air monitoring data shows that levels of monitored chemicals “are below levels of concern for adverse health impacts from short-term exposures,” an agency spokesperson told CNN on Monday. “The long-term risks referenced by this analysis assume a lifetime of exposure, which is constant exposure over approximately 70 years. EPA does not anticipate levels of these chemicals will stay high for anywhere near that. We are committed to staying in East Palestine and will continue to monitor the air inside and outside of homes to ensure that these levels remain safe over time.”

    However, residents have reported rashes and trouble breathing, sometimes even in their own homes, Presto said.

    “When someone says to them then, ‘everything is fine everywhere,’ if I were that person, I wouldn’t believe that statement,” he said.

    So who’s right? The scientists say it’s not a black-and-white issue.

    “I think it’s important for the public to understand that all sides are right. No one’s lying to them,” said Dr. Ivan Rusyn, director of the Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center and part of the team that did the analysis. “It’s just that every time you’re sharing information, whether it’s Administrator of EPA Michael Regan or Governor [Mike] DeWine or someone from Ohio EPA, when they say certain things are ‘safe,’ they really need to explain what they mean.”

    Rusyn says the EPA and local officials need to do a better job of communicating with the public about the risk to residents when they are exposed to chemicals released in the crash.

    Communication struggles have been a consistent pattern over the years and over numerous environmental disasters, he said. Officials will often do a good job of collecting and releasing data but then fail to give the proper context that the public will understand.

    “That’s what I would like to encourage all parties to do rather than to point fingers,” Rusyn said. “The general public has to trust authorities. Cleanup is continuing. They are doing monitoring. We just need to do a better job communicating the results.”

    Government communication about residents’ real level of risk has been a significant source of frustration in East Palestine, Presto said.

    “People are furious. They feel like they’re getting this black-and-white answer – things are safe or not safe – when it’s not a black-and-white sort of situation,” Presto said.

    The EPA says it will continue to monitor the air quality in the area and in residents’ homes. It is also setting up a community center so residents and business owners can ask questions about agency activity there.

    The agency said it is collecting outdoor air samples for contaminants of concern, including vinyl chloride, a hard plastic resin used to make plastic products like pipes or packaging material that can be a cancer concern; n-butyl acrylate a clear liquid used to make resins and paint products that can cause eye, throat, nose and lung irritation or damage as well as a skin allergy; and ethylhexyl acrylate, another colorless liquid used to make paints, plastics and adhesives that can cause skin and eye irritation.

    The EPA also collected field measurements for hydrogen sulfide, benzene, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen chloride, phosgene and particulate matter.

    Scientists from Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon are monitoring the chemicals in the area using a mobile lab that they’ve used for the past decade to measure air pollution in real time in cities across the country. They expect to release data from their own tests in East Palestine on Tuesday.

    The mobile lab has extremely sensitive equipment that can measure pollution in the parts per trillion. Scientists would then be able to plot them on a graph to show, in real time, where the concentrations of chemicals may be and at what level, Presto said.

    Mobile lab workers will try to determine whether there are chemicals in the air that the EPA isn’t monitoring. They are also looking at pollution levels in places where the agency did not set up monitoring stations.

    “The situation has to be monitored, and the EPA should continue measurements, and they should also communicate to the general public as to what they’re seeing and put this into context of risk, rather than use the numbers and expect people to figure it out for themselves,” Rusyn said.

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  • Opinion: Gymnastics teams look nothing like they used to. And this is the biggest change of all | CNN

    Opinion: Gymnastics teams look nothing like they used to. And this is the biggest change of all | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Onnie Willis Rogers is a former collegiate gymnastics champion at UCLA and a professor of psychology at Northwestern University whose research focuses on human development, diversity and equity and education. The opinions expressed here are her own. Read more opinion at CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    I’m one of just five Black women in history to win the NCAA individual all-around title in gymnastics. It was a tremendous accomplishment which, when I won it two decades ago, left me elated.

    But it was a particular kind of joy, tinged with the frustration often felt by the Black athlete who excels in a sport where they are one of only a very few.

    I grew up in the sport in the 1980s. I took my first gymnastics class at the age of 3 and finished my final competition at the age of 22. Throughout all of my years training in the sport, I was often the lone brown face in a gym filled with tumbling, somersaulting, hand-standing kids.

    Before accepting a full ride sports scholarship to UCLA, I was an elite gymnast, a member of the National Team for USA Gymnastics (USAG). As a Black gymnast growing up, being one of few was normal. And as I progressed up the ranks, the sport seemed only to get whiter.

    Even during my four years at UCLA, an urban school with a sizable Black population, I was the only Black female gymnast on my team. In 2001, the year I won my NCAA title, I could probably count the other Black women gymnasts at top-ranked schools we competed against on one hand.

    But I’ve noticed something different about gymnasts today, and perhaps you have, as well. There are more Black and brown athletes in the sport than ever before. And they are turning out to be a force to be reckoned with.

    This year marks 20 years since my last gymnastics competition, and a lot has changed in the sport — but perhaps nothing so much as the dramatic increase in racial and ethnic diversity. The change has been nothing short of astonishing — especially at last summer’s stunning National Championships, when African American women swept the podium.

    I’d been involved in gymnastics my entire life, and I never saw it coming. The diversity — and the excellence — exhibited by the top-performing women of color in the sport has been something to behold.

    There’s Simone Biles who, of course, needs no introduction. She’s a global icon who has earned seven Olympic medals and 25 world championship medals — more than anyone else in gymnastics — and is regarded as the GOAT in our sport. Some have even argued that she is the greatest athlete of all time, period. Before Biles, there was Gabby Douglas, who was crowned the 2012 Olympic all-around champion, becoming the first Black gymnast to capture that title.

    To be honest, it’s hard to name all the women of color who have made it to the top ranks of the sport since I stopped competing. Laurie Hernandez, who is Puerto Rican, was the youngest gymnast to earn gold in Rio 2016. Jordan Chiles helped Team USA secure the gold at last year’s world championships. And there’s Sunisa Lee, a Hmong American who became the first Asian American to win the Olympic all-around title. The list goes on and on.

    The standouts of color at the collegiate level have been no less impressive. Florida Gator Trinity Thomas holds a breathtaking record of perfection. UCLA’s Chae Campbell, Chiles and freshman standout Selena Harris continue to grab headlines in our sport, as does Jordan Rucker of the University of Utah and Haleigh Bryant of Louisiana State University — and, astonishingly, too many others to name.

    These women of color are setting new records and breaking the internet with performances of exceptional style and athleticism. I can’t think of another major sport that has seen its ranks change so dramatically. Swimming? Golf? Tennis? No, not really. These predominantly White sports have seen a relative few breakthrough athletes of color, but overall the complexion of the sports haven’t changed much.

    Over the years, structural racism has powerfully shaped access, opportunity and identity — all of which help explain why gymnastics was so White in the first place. The long arm of economic inequality touches every facet of life, including sport.

    Sports where Black people have been represented have traditionally been those accessible through schools, such as football, basketball and track and field. Gymnastics is a very expensive sport, costing thousands of dollars and requiring long, intense training hours. High-quality instruction is only accessible in private clubs and at elite training facilities that are few and far between. Growing up, my family fundraised furiously, did extra jobs at my gymnastics club, and housed visiting gymnasts to offset the unreachable high cost of tuition.

    There is no magic that has “created” gymnasts of color in the past decade. There have always been strong, talented Black and brown girls capable of excelling in the sport. Many of the first Black women in the sport, like Diane Dunham and Wendy Hilliard, simply were not acknowledged because our society has for so long refused to value or validate Black women. Instead, the sport favored a Nadia Comaneci-style waif, thin and childlike. That doubtless kept a lot of women who looked like me on the sidelines. Elite gymnastics did not always see them or make space for them.

    Luckily for me, there were always exceptions, and these women became my inspirations. Betty Okino and Dominique Dawes were the trailblazers in my day. I watched them represent Team USA with their brown bodies and Black girl hair and I knew it was a little more possible for me.

    I vividly remember being 16 years old laying belly down on the green shag carpet in my living room in Tacoma, Washington, captivated as UCLA — and even more significantly for me, Stella Umeh — clinched its first-ever NCAA Title.

    On the floor, Umeh was Black, full-bodied and fierce; her hair was a close shave; the music for her floor routine was rhythmic and pulsating. She was unlike any gymnast I had ever seen. I attended UCLA after Umeh had graduated, but walked confidently and fully in her footsteps, not simply because she too was a Black woman, but because she remade the mold.

    Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the NCAA Metroplex Challenge gymnastics competition with my 11-year-old daughter and her gymnastics team. There were multiple Black gymnasts competing for every school on the floor.

    As a developmental psychologist who studies youth identity development, I couldn’t ignore the significance of the moment. I couldn’t fail to register the awe in their eyes as they watched their possible future selves from their front row seats, a real image of who they may become. In short, identity and representation matter. How many Black girls even enter the sport in the future will be influenced by what they see as attainable or impossible.

    Meanwhile, the breakthroughs in gymnastics just keep coming: This year, Fisk University is the first HBCU to have an NCAA gymnastics team — an entire team of Black and brown girls doing gymnastics. It’s radical. It’s transformative. And as Black History Month draws to a close, it’s a reminder of what is possible.

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  • Vanderbilt University apologizes for using ChatGPT to write mass-shooting email | CNN Business

    Vanderbilt University apologizes for using ChatGPT to write mass-shooting email | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Vanderbilt University’s Peabody School has apologized to students for using artificial intelligence to write an email about a mass shooting at another university, saying the distribution of the note did not follow the school’s usual processes.

    Last Friday, the Tennessee-based school emailed its student body to address the tragedy at Michigan State that killed three students and injured five more people: “The recent Michigan shootings are a tragic reminder of the importance of taking care of each other, particularly in the context of creating inclusive environments,” reads the letter in part, as first reported by the Vanderbilt Hustler, a student newspaper.

    At the end of the school’s email was a surprising line: “Paraphrase from OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI language model, personal communication, February 15, 2023,” read a parenthetical in smaller font.

    Following an outcry from students about the use of AI to write a letter about community during human tragedy, the associate dean of Peabody sent an apology note the next day. Nicole Joseph, one of the three signatories of the original letter, called using ChatGPT “poor judgment,” according to the Vanderbilt Hustler.

    On Tuesday, Vanderbilt said Joseph and assistant dean Hasina Mohyuddin, another signer of the email, have stepped back from their responsibilities while the school conducts a complete review.

    “The development and distribution of the initial email did not follow Peabody’s normal processes providing for multiple layers of review before being sent. The university’s administrators, including myself, were unaware of the email before it was sent,” according to a statement Tuesday to CNN from Camilla P. Benbow, the Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development.

    Since it was made available in late November, ChatGPT has been used to generate original essays, stories and song lyrics in response to user prompts. It has drafted research paper abstracts that fooled some scientists. Some CEOs have even used it to write emails or do accounting work.

    While it has gained traction among users, it has also raised some concerns, including about inaccuracies, its potential to perpetuate biases and spread misinformation, and the ability to help students cheat.

    Vanderbilt’s letter also included reference to “recent Michigan shootings,” though only one occurred.

    “As dean of the college, I remain personally saddened by the loss of life and injuries at Michigan State, which I know have affected members of our own community,” Benbow said. “I am also deeply troubled that a communication from my administration so missed the crucial need for personal connection and empathy during a time of tragedy.”

    Rachael Perrotta, editor in chief of the Vanderbilt student newspaper, said that students told her “they are outraged about this situation and confused as to what prompted administrators to turn to ChatGPT to write their message about the Michigan State shooting.”

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  • 3 Michigan State University students remain in critical condition after shooting | CNN

    3 Michigan State University students remain in critical condition after shooting | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three students wounded in a deadly shooting last week at Michigan State University remain in critical condition Sunday, according to university police.

    The university community was paralyzed by the mass shooting that left three students dead and five others injured. One of the wounded students who was previously listed in critical condition was in serious condition Sunday and the fifth person was in fair condition, university police said in a tweet.

    Classes are expected to resume Monday, one week after a 43-year-old gunman opened fire on two parts of the campus, but no classes will be held in the rooms where students were shot and killed or wounded, said MSU Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Thomas Jeitschko.

    Those two parts of the campus will remain closed at least through the remainder of the semester, Jeitschko said at a news conference Sunday.

    “We have decided that we will return to campus, both in terms of the classroom setting as well as the regular work, come tomorrow,” Jeitschko said. “I’d like to emphasize that no one thinks that we’re coming back to a normal week. In fact, this semester is not going to be normal.”

    Around 300 scheduled classes have been moved to other spaces across the university, according to Jeitschko, including areas formerly used to host lunches and seminars.

    It’s still unclear why the gunman – a man with no known ties to MSU – targeted the university. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said, and had a note that threatened other shootings hundreds of miles away in New Jersey.

    Funerals for two of the victims, Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner, were held Saturday, and the funeral for the third, Arielle Anderson, will be in a few days, MSU interim President Teresa Woodruff said.

    “We continue as a community to hold the families in our hearts as they remember and celebrate their loved ones lost and grieve that loss,” Woodruff said.

    “We’re grateful to our faculty, staff, and academic staff and our support staff, as well as our students, for their grace and dignity in this last week,” she said.

    University officials said they hope students will be able to manage their return to school with the support of the staff and the community.

    Coming back together “is something that will help us,” Jeitschko said. “We’re a community that was shaped around the interest of discovery and learning, and it is as a community we will heal.”

    For employees and faculty, the university has an employee assistance program, and for students, there are counseling and psychiatric services.

    Advisers will make allowances “for extenuating circumstances” where students are not able to make it to class and faculty can work with their department chairs or school directors, as well as their deans, Jeitschko said.

    The university has arranged to cover funeral costs for those killed and will also pay the hospital bills for the injured students, Woodruff said. A fund has so far raised more than $250,000, with around 2,000 students making donations over just a few days.

    The fund will be used to support the “continuing needs of the individuals most critically impacted,” Woodruff said, and will also go toward counseling for students, faculty and staff, and “campus safety enhancements.”

    “We all share in grief and loss and we know that we must replace the chaos of last Monday with the possibility for change in our world, through compassion for all, collaboration and educational continuity,” Woodruff said.

    Michigan State University has almost 50,000 students and 15,000 faculty and staff, Woodruff said. “We’re a community that is strong. Not as a reaction but as a statement of purpose and principle.”

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  • Michigan State to ease back into classes and athletics as students and staff continue to grapple with horror of mass shooting | CNN

    Michigan State to ease back into classes and athletics as students and staff continue to grapple with horror of mass shooting | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    After the Michigan State University community was paralyzed by a horrific mass shooting that killed three students, injured five others and halted campus activity, the school will begin to resume athletic and academic life, as many are still struggling to make sense of the tragedy.

    Athletic events, some of which were postponed or canceled due to the shooting, are scheduled to resume this weekend and classes will recommence Monday, university officials announced.

    “Athletics can be a rallying point for a community in need of healing, a fact many of our student-athletes have mentioned to me,” MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller said in a statement Thursday. “The opportunity to represent our entire community has never felt greater.”

    Student athletes may opt out of participating, Haller said, explaining, “there are some who aren’t ready to return to athletic events. Those feelings are incredibly valid.”

    All classes were canceled through Sunday and other activities suspended for at least two days after a 43-year-old gunman opened fire Monday evening on two parts of the campus. As they fled the deadly rampage, students leapt from smashed windows and ran to dorms as others sheltered in place for hours. Some students found themselves reliving a familiar nightmare, as they had survived another mass shooting just over a year ago.

    The five injured students are “showing signs of improvement,” MSU interim President Teresa Woodruff said Thursday. One has been moved from critical to stable condition and the others remain in critical condition, Board of Trustees chair Rema Vassar said.

    Berkey Hall, where Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner were killed, will remain closed for the rest of the semester, Woodruff said. The nearby student union, where Brian Fraser was killed, is also closed, she said, noting its reopening is still being evaluated.

    But even as the campus transitions back to normal operations, community members like professor Marco Díaz-Muñoz are still working through the pain and shock of Monday night’s tragedy.

    Díaz-Muñoz doesn’t want to return to Berkey Hall, where the gunman entered through the back door of his classroom and began firing at his Cuban literature students, injuring several and killing Anderson and Verner, he told CNN’s Miguel Marquez.

    “It was like seeing something not human standing there,” he said, describing the masked gunman. After the shooter left the classroom, Díaz-Muñoz threw himself against one of the doors to block him from possibly reentering.

    Some students were able to escape through the windows as others stayed behind to help the injured, using their hands to clamp down on the wounds, he said. “I’ve never seen so much blood.”

    Two girls, who he later learned were Anderson and Verner, seemed to be in the worst condition and were “lying there in these pools of blood,” the professor said. He believes most or all of the injured students were in his classroom.

    “I feel like I want to not remember these scenes and not have to go teach that class,” he said. “But there is another part of me that feels a great need, a strong need to see my students again … to see that they are alive, I need to see their faces.”

    He is trying to write his students a letter, but is struggling with what to say.

    The gunman, Anthony Dwayne McRae, was found by police about 4 miles from campus later Monday night after a tipster recognized his photo in the news and alerted authorities, according to authorities.

    As police approached him, McRae shot and killed himself, said Michigan State Police Lt. Rene Gonzalez.

    On his body and in his backpack, investigators found two legally purchased but unregistered 9mm handguns, several loaded magazines and dozens of loose rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

    “He did purchase the gun legally. He was allowed to purchase the gun. There was nothing in place to prohibit him from purchasing a firearm,” MSU police interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said Thursday.

    McRae was arrested in 2019 and charged with the felony of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, and later pleaded guilty to a lower misdemeanor charge of possession of a loaded firearm as part of a plea deal, court records show.

    But the lesser charge, negotiated down by a prosecutor, did not prohibit him from purchasing firearms in the future, Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee said Thursday.

    Investigators also found a note on McRae that listed other potential attack targets, MSU police confirmed. Two schools in New Jersey’s Ewing Township were on the list, police there have said, adding that there is no threat to the schools.

    Other possible targets detailed in the note included a warehouse, an employment agency, a discount store, a church and a fast food restaurant, law enforcement officials who have access to the note told CNN.

    “We found that he had had contact with some of those places,” Gonzalez said Thursday. He confirmed McRae had once worked at the warehouse, belonging to the Meijer supermarket chain.

    “In a couple of other businesses, it appears that he’d had some issues with the employees there, where he was asked to leave,” Gonzalez said. It looked like McRae’s possible motive was that “he just felt slighted, and that’s kind of what the note indicated,” he said.

    The businesses listed have been notified by law enforcement and told that the gunman is dead, law enforcement officials said.

    Students Alexandria Verner, Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser were killed in Monday's shooting.

    The three students killed, two of whom are from the same Michigan hometown, included an aspiring doctor, a beloved fraternity president and a biology student from a close-knit town.

    Fraser, 20, was the president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, the fraternity said in a statement.

    “As the leader of his chapter, Brian was a great friend to his Phi Delt brothers, the Greek community at Michigan State, and those he interacted with on campus,” the statement said.

    The fraternity and his parents have created a memorial scholarship in Fraser’s honor, in the hopes that recipients “will embody Brian’s charismatic, contagious smile and caring, loyal energy,” Phi Delta Theta announced.

    Fraser, a sophomore, and Anderson, a junior, were both from the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

    Anderson, 19, was a “remarkable student” studying to become a doctor, her aunt Chandra Davis said in an Instagram post.

    “She was working diligently to graduate from Michigan State University early to achieve her goals as quickly as possible,” the family said in a statement. “As an Angel here on Earth, Arielle was sweet and loving with an infectious smile that was very contagious. We are absolutely devastated by this heinous act of violence upon her and many other innocent victims.”

    Verner, 20, was a junior at the university studying biology, according to The State News.

    “Her kindness was on display every single second you were around her,” family friend Billy Shellenbarger told CNN. He has known Alexandria, or Alex, as he called her, since she was in kindergarten.

    In her hometown of Clawson, Michigan, Verner was a student leader and fantastic three-sport athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball, said Shellenbarger, who is the Clawson Public Schools Superintendent.

    “To lose her on this planet, let alone our small community, it’s tough,” he said. “And it’s going to take a while to recover, but to have known her for the duration of time that we all have, once again, is a gift to all of us.”

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  • Video: Has Elon Musk ruined Twitter and why EV trucks are getting bigger on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

    Video: Has Elon Musk ruined Twitter and why EV trucks are getting bigger on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

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    How is Musk doing at Twitter? Why are EVs getting bigger? And why so many meetings?!

    In this week’s “Nightcap,” The New York Times reporter Mike Isaac evaluates Elon Musk’s first 100 days at Twitter. Curbed writer Alissa Walker explains the issue with EVs getting bigger. And UNC Charlotte professor Steven Rogelberg explains to CNN’s Jon Sarlin how to combat the trend of too many meetings. To get the day’s business headlines sent directly to your inbox, sign up for the Nightcap newsletter.

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  • Another education fight over DEI emerges, this time at a conservative campus in Texas | CNN

    Another education fight over DEI emerges, this time at a conservative campus in Texas | CNN

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    Lubbock, Texas
    CNN
     — 

    One of the largest universities in Texas is now reviewing its hiring procedures after one department closely scrutinized candidates over their knowledge of diversity, equity and inclusion, more commonly known as DEI.

    “We could see that this could be viewed as possibly exclusionary,” Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec said in an interview with CNN. “And so we wanted to step back and review the whole process.”

    The biology department at Texas Tech University – set in deeply conservative West Texas – asked faculty candidates in 2021 to submit statements on their commitment to DEI. Some candidates received negative notes if their answers were deemed insufficient, such as not knowing the difference between “equality” and “equity.”

    The process, which came to light earlier this month, prompted swift conservative backlash against the storied institution, with critics decrying such DEI screenings as litmus tests that discriminate based on ideology. The term DEI has become the latest target among conservative politicians in the recent era of racial reckoning, echoing the heated debates over critical race theory in schools.

    DEI programs have become commonplace in the worlds of business, government, and education to promote multiculturalism and to encourage success for people of all races and backgrounds. But they’ve also become a focal point of those who describe them as another example of extreme political correctness.

    In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier this month he intends to ban state universities from spending money on DEI initiatives. “We want education, not indoctrination,” he said at an event in Jacksonville.

    And in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott this month issued a memo to state agencies and universities asserting that using DEI as a screening tool is illegal. “When a state agency adjusts its employment practices based on factors other than merit, it is not following the law. Rebranding this employment discrimination as ‘DEI’ does not make the practice any less illegal,” the memo said.

    Schovanec said the school’s lawyers insist the biology department’s actions were not illegal, but the university is ending efforts that use DEI as a screening tool for faculty while it undergoes a review of its hiring practices campuswide.

    A group called the National Association of Scholars first uncovered the situation at Texas Tech by obtaining DEI-specific notes and documents from the biology department’s hiring process through open records requests. The group published the roughly 100 documents online, along with an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, called “How ‘Diversity’ Policing Fails Science.”

    The DEI portion was just one component of screening candidates in the biology department, according to the university. Each applicant was asked to submit a curriculum vitae, three representative publications, separate statements of research and teaching interests, three potential referees, and “a diversity statement that addresses any past contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion and outlines plans and actions for advancing DEI” at Texas Tech. Finalists were also interviewed by a DEI committee.

    According to the documents, candidates were flagged for being “reluctant” to answer questions about DEI or not having a “good grasp” of the concept. Under the “weaknesses” for one candidate, it was noted the candidate repeatedly used the pronoun “he” when talking about professors. The same candidate was “red-flagged” and hiring committee members wrote they had “reservations about sending him into a large, diverse undergrad classroom with his current understanding and strategies.”

    Another candidate’s weakness was listed as: “Mentioned that DEI is not an issue because he respects his students and treats them equally.”

    While the names of the candidates in the documents were redacted, Texas Tech University confirmed to CNN that some of the candidates featured in the documents were hired and not all of the positions have been filled yet.

    Steve Balch is a former Texas Tech professor and founder of the National Association of Scholars, which has done considerable research on DEI efforts in universities to illustrate what it sees as an impediment to academic freedom.

    “My quarrel isn’t with people who think diversity, equity and inclusion are good things,” he told CNN. “My argument and the argument of the NAS is turning them into dogma and then using them to vet faculty members, graduate students, undergraduate students – creating aversive environment in which you feel you have to swear fealty to a particular creed. I think that’s wrong.”

    The issue at Texas Tech also came up in a state Senate hearing on February 8. Sen. Joan Huffman questioned Texas Tech’s chancellor Tedd Mitchell, saying she was “concerned and confused” over the incident.

    “I do not believe in litmus tests of any type,” Mitchell said. “It’s no more appropriate to ask somebody about their position on DEI than it is to ask them if they’re a Christian or a Muslim. When we find out something like that has occurred, we stop it.”

    Schovanec recognizes that Tech is in conservative part of a conservative state with many key conservative stakeholders, donors, and legislators involved in school funding.

    “We have to be pragmatic in acknowledging issues that are being raised,” he said. “Our legislators are responding to their constituents. And in this country right now, education has many challenges.”

    He stressed the importance of diversity at the school, which has its own DEI division. According to Texas Tech, 46% of this year’s incoming class are students of color, and 30% of faculty are faculty of color.

    “So we’re totally committed to a diverse campus community, but those hiring practices could present the perception that certain candidates would be excluded based on their ideological views, as opposed to the real excellence related to that discipline and the ability to address the priorities of our mission here,” he said.

    Schovanec said the school needs more diverse faculty, and he acknowledged that some prospective candidates might see the school’s recent move to end DEI screenings and question Tech’s commitment to diversity.

    “Faculty and students have to judge us by our actions. Do we support them? Do we create an environment here where they feel they belong and this is a place where they can thrive? That’s a much bigger issue than certain elements of a hiring process,” he said “But that is a challenge that we have.”

    Paulette Granberry Russell, president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, said the political firestorm over the incident at Texas Tech is simply an “attempt to fuel the base” among those who don’t agree with longstanding efforts to increase diversity.

    She’s concerned that DEI will follow the same path as critical race theory, or CRT, and become a term that’s twisted and misrepresented for political purposes.

    “It’s demonizing efforts, not only within higher education, but I think within this country to create a more equitable, just United States,” she said. “On some levels it’s misappropriating the work that is being done and using it as a basis for saying we’re discriminating against others.”

    Granberry Russell said she wants people to understand the nuance of DEI and that it’s designed to increase opportunities for people who have been historically marginalized or not well represented in higher education or the workforce.

    “My hope would be that as we begin to think more broadly about inclusion, that people will better understand this is not a situation where some are intending to take access away, but to expand access,” she said.

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  • She was ‘everything you’d want your daughter or friend to be.’ Here’s what we know about the Michigan State University shooting victims | CNN

    She was ‘everything you’d want your daughter or friend to be.’ Here’s what we know about the Michigan State University shooting victims | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Alexandria Verner was kind, positive and “everything you’d want your daughter or friend to be,” a family friend said.

    “Her kindness was on display every single second you were around her,” Clawson Public Schools Superintendent Billy Shellenbarger told CNN. He is friends with the Verner family and has known Alexandria, or Alex, as he called her, since she was in kindergarten.

    Verner was one of three Michigan State University students killed in a mass shooting on campus Monday night, university police said Tuesday.

    The Michigan State University Department of Police and Public Safety identified the three students killed Monday night as junior Arielle Anderson, sophomore Brian Fraser and Verner, who was also a junior.

    Anderson and Fraser hailed from the same town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, leaving their hometown with a double loss.

    Five other students remain in the hospital in critical condition, the release said.

    “We cannot begin to fathom the immeasurable amount of pain that our campus community is feeling,” the police release said.

    These are the stories of the victims.

    Verner touched a lot of people in the town of Clawson, Michigan, Shellenbarger said, which he described as a small, 2-mile by 2-mile community.

    “To lose her on this planet, let alone our small community, it’s tough,” he said. “And it’s going to take a while to recover, but to have known her for the duration of time that we all have, once again, is a gift to all of us,” he said.

    Verner’s family is “being about as strong as a human being can be in the face of this tragedy,” Shellenbarger said, adding that he spoke with them Tuesday.

    Shellenbarger was the principal at Clawson High School while Verner was a student there. She graduated in 2020.

    Verner was a fantastic three-sport athlete in volleyball, basketball and softball, as well as an excellent student who was active in many leadership groups at the school, Shellenbarger said.

    Shellenbarger sent a letter to families on Tuesday informing the community of her death and offering resources for students.

    “Alex was and is incredibly loved by everyone. She was a tremendous student, athlete, leader and exemplified kindness every day of her life!” he wrote in the letter. “Her parents, Ted and Nancy, and sister Charlotte and brother TJ are equally grieving but are certainly already feeling the uplifting support of this tremendous community.”

    “If you knew her, you loved her and we will forever remember the lasting impact she has had on all of us,” he wrote.

    Brian Fraser

    Fraser served as the president of the Michigan Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, the fraternity said in a statement.

    He was a leader and a great friend to his brothers, the Greek community and the people he interacted with on campus, the fraternity said.

    “Phi Delta Theta sends its deepest condolences to the Fraser family, the Michigan Beta Chapter, and all those who loved Brian as they mourn their loss,” the statement reads.

    Fraser was a sophomore who hailed from Grosse Pointe, which is in the Detroit area, university police said.

    He graduated in 2021 from Grosse Pointe South High School, according to district superintendent Jon Dean.

    Arielle Anderson

    Anderson, a junior at Michigan State, was also from Grosse Point, university police said.

    She graduated in 2021 from Grosse Pointe North High School, according to Dean.

    “How is it possible that this happened in the first place, an act of senseless violence that has no place in our society and in particular no place in school?” Dean said. “But then, it touched our community not once, but twice.”

    Four of the five injured students from the shooting required surgery and some immediate intervention, Dr. Denny Martin, Interim President and Chief Medical Officer at Sparrow Hospital, said Tuesday.

    “Without going into the specifics of their injuries, I will say that it took a team of numerous anesthesiologist(s), trauma surgeons, general surgeons, cardiothoracic surgery and a neurosurgery team to handle the full extent of the injuries,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

    One student who was injured “did not require immediate surgical intervention” and they were taken directly to the ICU, he said.

    Martin said it’s too early to give a long-term prognosis on their conditions.

    “They’re all under the care of trauma and critical care teams here,” Martin said. “Some are more critical than others, but again, it’s quite early…in their recovery from this event.”

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  • Mass shooting at Michigan State University leaves 3 dead and 5 injured | CNN

    Mass shooting at Michigan State University leaves 3 dead and 5 injured | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A mass shooting at Michigan State University left three people dead and five others injured Monday evening, triggering an hourslong manhunt and shelter-in-place orders before the suspect died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

    The gunman opened fire at two campus locations, turning the sprawling university where over 19,000 students live into a crime scene and forcing terrified students to hide as hundreds of officers in tactical gear swarmed the school – something that has become a familiar occurrence for many US communities.

    It’s unclear what motivated the killings at MSU.

    The gunman was a 43-year-old man who was not affiliated with the university, Interim Deputy Chief Chris Rozman said. “We have no idea why he came to campus to do this tonight,” he added.

    “I can’t even begin to imagine what that motive would be,” Rozman said. “That will obviously be part of our investigation. I know that that is going to be a question that lingers on everybody’s mind.”

    There have been more mass shootings in the US than there have been days so far this year. The attack at MSU marked the 67th mass shooting in 2023, according to data from the non-profit group Gun Violence Archive. Both CNN and GVA define a mass shooting as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

    The first report of shots fired came at 8:18 p.m. ET from Berkey Hall, an academic building on the northern end of campus. Officers responded to the building within minutes and found several shooting victims, including two who died, Rozman said.

    Immediately after, another shooting was reported nearby at the Michigan State University Union Building, where the third fatality was reported, he said.

    At least five people were taken to a hospital, all of them in critical condition, according to Rozman. Police have not disclosed whether the victims included students or released information on their age range.

    Hours after the first gunshots rang out, the suspect “was contacted by law enforcement off campus” and “it does appear that that suspect has died from a self inflicted gunshot wound,” Rozman reported.

    But the hours of uncertainty that came before police found the suspect fueled chaos across campus, with police saying they got numerous erroneous 911 calls reporting gunshots heard and shootings across different locations on campus.

    Police work the scene where a man suspected of a shooting on the Michigan State University campus February 14, 2023, in Lansing.

    Authorities called the ordeal “horrific” as students hid and officers fanned out across campus.

    Though officials said there is no longer a threat to the campus, the university will move into emergency operations for the next two days, during which time students will experience a continued police presence as investigators probe multiple scenes.

    All classes, athletics and campus-related activities at MSU are canceled for 48 hours, campus police said, adding, “Please DO NOT come to campus tomorrow.”

    “We want to wrap our warm arms around every family that is touched by this tragedy and give them the peace that passeth understanding in moments like this… we will change over time,” MSU’s interim president Teresa Woodruff said in an overnight news conference. “We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.”

    The attack at MSU – which came one day before the five-year anniversary of a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida – resulted in the closure of all East Lansing Public Schools Tuesday.

    “Tonight has been horrific. It’s been horrific for all of the students here and around the region. Schools have been closed. This has affected our whole region, our whole community. It’s affected families, everyone across our community,” Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said.

    The campus community will need time to heal, officials said.

    “This truly has been a nightmare that we are living tonight,” Rozman said. “We are relieved to no longer have an active threat on campus, while we realize that there is so much healing that will need to take place after this,” he added.

    The mass shooting made for a terrifying experience for students as the suspect remained at large and officers in tactical gear streamed through the campus.

    “One of the things I’m most proud of is on a campus this size how quickly every student staff faculty member immediately took action. They sheltered in place and they did so for hours,” Woodruff said.

    MSU student Chris Trush told CNN he saw people running out of the Union building – a congregation spot for students on campus – shortly before an emergency alert went out to students informing them of the shooting on campus.

    Trush said he was watching TV just after 8 p.m. in his apartment when he saw police cars and ambulances speeding down Grand River Avenue. He then saw people running out of the Union building.

    “That’s when I knew something’s really up,” he said.

    Trush said he saw dozens of officers begin to swarm the area with long rifles, and realized a shooting had taken place.

    “I’m obviously not going to go outside for the next couple of days,” he said.

    As shelter-in-place orders were in effect Monday evening, another student, Gabe Treutel, said he and his dorm mates hunkered down and turned to a local police scanner for information.

    Treutel said he and his friends ultimately began barricading their door, just in case a shooter tried to get inside.

    Another MSU student, Nithya Charles, told CNN she was sheltering within a lounge area at Campbell Hall on the north side of campus with about 30 other people.

    “We’re not learning very much,” Charles told CNN’s Erin Burnett earlier in the night, saying she did not hear any gunshots herself, but that some of her co-workers heard shots.

    MSU Vice President for Public Safety and Chief of Police Marlon Lynch said responding to the shooting was a “monumental task” due in part to the size of the campus.

    “We have 400 buildings on campus and over 5,300 acres and part of the process of the response that we had is that we were able to divide and organize to be methodical in the search process and obtain evidence and share as it comes through. But with a university our size and the areas that we are responsible for, that becomes a task,” Lynch said.

    The two buildings at the center of Monday evening’s shootings are accessible to the general public during business hours, police said in an early morning news conference Tuesday.

    Police said it’s unknown how long the suspect was on campus before opening fire.

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  • University of Texas at Austin blocks TikTok from its IT network | CNN Business

    University of Texas at Austin blocks TikTok from its IT network | CNN Business

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The University of Texas at Austin blocked TikTok from its IT network on Wednesday under an earlier order by Gov. Greg Abbott banning the short-form video app from state-managed electronic resources.

    The move makes it impossible for users of TikTok to access the app, even on personal devices, if they are connecting via the school’s wired or wireless networks, the university wrote in a message posted to its website.

    “The university is taking these important steps to eliminate risks to information contained in the university’s network and to our critical infrastructure,” the message said, citing Abbot’s statewide directive, which highlighted fears that TikTok’s US user data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.

    The university had already begun removing TikTok from official cell phones, tablets and other devices as part of complying with the directive, the message continued.

    The university is not the first to restrict TikTok from its network. The University of Oklahoma and Auburn University in Alabama have each taken steps to clamp down on TikTok in response to governors’ orders in their respective states. In all, more than half of states have banned TikTok from government devices, according to a recent CNN analysis.

    The bans come as a growing number of lawmakers continue to scrutinize TikTok over possible national security concerns due to its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance.

    TikTok has previously said it’s “disappointed” to see “so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok.”

    “We’re especially sorry to see the unintended consequences of these rushed policies beginning to impact universities’ ability to share information, recruit students, and build communities around athletic teams, student groups, campus publications, and more,” the company previously said.

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  • ‘Skeletonized’ human remains were found on UC Berkeley’s campus | CNN

    ‘Skeletonized’ human remains were found on UC Berkeley’s campus | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The University of California Police Department has opened an investigation after a human skeleton was found on the UC Berkeley campus, officials say.

    UC Berkeley police were alerted to the skeleton Tuesday, according to a statement shared with CNN. The “skeletonized” human remains were found “in a building which has not been occupied for many years” on the school’s Clark Kerr Campus, about a mile from the main campus.

    “It is not clear how many years they have been there,” police said in the statement. “There are no outstanding cases of missing individuals from the campus community.”

    The Alameda County Coroner’s Office has also opened an investigation into the remains, according to the statement. The cause of death has not yet been determined.

    “We understand that there are many questions and we anticipate that the coroner’s report will provide additional information,” said police. “We do not anticipate this investigation will disrupt resident activities at the Clark Kerr Campus.”

    The University of California, Berkeley enrolled 30,853 undergraduates and 11,666 graduate students as of fall 2018, according to its website. The university describes its Clark Kerr residential hall complex as “a mini-neighborhood with Spanish mission-style architecture, tree-lined courtyards and access to nature and hiking trails.”

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  • University of Georgia football player and staff member killed in car crash hours after championship celebration | CNN

    University of Georgia football player and staff member killed in car crash hours after championship celebration | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    University of Georgia football player Devin Willock and football staff member Chandler LeCroy were killed in a single car crash early Sunday just hours after their team celebrated its national championship with a victory parade and celebration, according to a statement from the UGA Athletic Association and reporting from CNN affiliate WXIA.

    Willock, 20, and LeCroy, 24, were among four people in the vehicle at the time of the crash, which happened around 2:45 a.m. on Sunday not far from the UGA campus in Athens, WXIA reported.

    “Devin and Chandler were two special people who meant so much to the University of Georgia, our football program and our athletic department,” the UGA Athletic Association said in a statement. “We ask that everyone keep their families in your prayers during this very difficult time.”

    Willock, a redshirt sophomore from New Milford, New Jersey, played on the offensive line in all 15 of the team’s games this year, according to Georgia’s football roster.

    Two other members of the football program were injured in the crash and are in stable condition at a hospital, the university said. The two others who were injured have not yet been identified.

    CNN has reached out to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department to obtain a copy of the incident report.

    Hours earlier, the UGA players, coaches and fans packed into Sanford Stadium to celebrate their second straight national championship. Many offered condolences and memories of the two.

    “We are all heartbroken and devastated with the loss of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy,” UGA Head Football Coach Kirby Smart said in a statement Sunday morning.

    “Devin was an outstanding young man in every way. He was always smiling, was a great teammate and a joy to coach. Chandler was a valuable member of our football staff and brought an incredible attitude and energy every single day. We grieve with their families for this tragic loss and will support them in every way possible,” the coach added.

    University President Jere W. Morehead remembered Willock and LeCroy in a statement Sunday morning.

    “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends. We also pray for the full recovery of those injured in this tragic accident.”

    Former Georgia defensive lineman Jordan Davis, now with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, said in a tweet he was heartbroken. “Watching them grow and become like family over these few years. There is no grief without love, and we love both of you like family,” he wrote.

    Georgia linebacker Nolan Smith said the deaths “hurt my heart man, all I have to say the GREAT ONES LEAVE TO SOON,” he wrote on Twitter. “@DevinWillock I LOVE YOU FOREVER.”

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  • As University of Idaho students return to classes, they say the arrest of a murder suspect brings peace of mind. But the campus may never feel the same | CNN

    As University of Idaho students return to classes, they say the arrest of a murder suspect brings peace of mind. But the campus may never feel the same | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Classes resume Wednesday at the University of Idaho, just weeks after many students abandoned the campus amid anxiety over the lack of an arrest in the gruesome stabbing deaths of four students in November.

    The arrest of a suspect over winter break, however, has alleviated many students’ fears, allowing them to walk into classrooms Wednesday with more confidence in their safety. Still, the community’s long-held sense of security has been irrevocably shattered, some university members say.

    “It definitely seems like a different place,” sophomore Shua Mulder said to CNN affiliate KXLY. “I’m hanging out with some more people. Definitely staying in groups.”

    The university is still mourning the loss of the four students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 – who were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on November 13.

    Nearly seven weeks passed without an arrest in the case, leaving the tight-knit campus wracked with unease and uncertainty. The university significantly heightened security measures and gave students the option to leave campus and complete the semester remotely.

    So when Bryan Kohberger, 28, was arrested and named the sole suspect on December 30, students like sophomore Ryder Paslay were offered a little peace of mind.

    Paslay was watching the news with his family when he learned of Kohberger’s arrest. “I breathed a sigh of relief and I’m pretty sure my mom did the same thing,” he told KXLY.

    Though some security measures implemented after the killings will be scaled down this semester, campus security will remain heightened, the university’s provost and executive vice president Torrey Lawrence told CNN last week. While students still have the option to attend remotely, he said most have returned to campus.

    Even so, he said, the “very peaceful, safe community” has experienced a “loss of innocence” in the tragedy’s wake. Before November’s stabbings, Moscow hadn’t seen a murder since 2015.

    “I don’t know if it will ever feel the same,” sophomore Paige Palzinski told KXLY, “But I think just being conscious of knowing what’s happened and having more protections in place has been huge.”

    Following his arrest at his parents’ Pennsylvania home, Kohberger waived extradition to Idaho, where he’s been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in each of the killings and one count of burglary.

    Kohberger is set to appear in court Thursday for a status hearing. He has yet to enter a plea and is currently being held without bail in the Latah County, Idaho, jail.

    A court order prohibits the prosecution and defense from commenting beyond referencing the public records of the case.

    Following the killings, students’ anxieties grew as several weeks passed without a publicly named suspect or announcements of significant advances in the case. Moscow police also received backlash after they initially said there was no immediate threat to the community, but later backtracked on their assurance.

    Criticism of police mounted as it appeared the case had stalled with no suspect or discovery of a murder weapon. But behind the scenes, investigators were working meticulously to narrow down on the suspected killer, court documents show.

    Investigators had their sights set on Kohberger weeks ahead of his arrest, the documents show, but decided not to share key developments with the public to avoid compromising the investigation.

    Notably, a crucial witness account was not shared publicly until after Kohberger was in custody, when the probable cause affidavit was unsealed.

    One of the victims’ two surviving roommates told investigators she saw a man dressed in black inside the house the morning of the killings, the affidavit said. She described the man as being 5’ 10” or taller, “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” it said. The roommate’s description was consistent with Kohberger’s driver’s license information, which investigators reviewed in late November.

    Armed with the suspect’s driver’s license and plate information, investigators were able to obtain phone records, which indicate Kohberger’s phone was near the crime scene the morning of the killings, according to the affidavit. The records also show his phone was near the victims’ home at least a dozen times between June 2022 and the present day, it said.

    Kohberger had finished his first semester as a PhD student in Washington State University’s criminal justice program in December, the school confirmed. He was living on the school’s Pullman, Washington campus, which is about a 15-minute drive from Moscow, where the killings took place.

    Investigators linked Kohberger to the killings through DNA found on a knife sheath left at the crime scene, according to an affidavit. His car was also seen near the victims’ home around the time of the killings, the document said.

    Law enforcement tracked Kohberger to his family’s home in Pennsylvania, where he was visiting for the holidays.

    He was surveilled for four days leading up to his arrest, a law enforcement source told CNN. During that time, he was seen putting trash bags in neighbors’ garbage bins and “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the source.

    On December 30, a Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team arrested him at his parent’s home, breaking down the door and windows in what is known as a “dynamic entry” – a tactic used in rare cases to arrest “high risk” suspects, the source added.

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  • Georgia Bulldogs crush the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs 65-7 to win second consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship | CNN

    Georgia Bulldogs crush the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs 65-7 to win second consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs scored on their first six drives and dominated No. 3 Texas Christian University 65-7 to win their second consecutive College Football Playoff championship game on Monday night in Inglewood, California.

    In the convincing win, Heisman Trophy-finalist quarterback Stetson Bennett passed for four touchdowns and ran for two more to lead the Bulldogs (15-0), who became the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Alabama in 2011 and 2012.

    Bennett finished 18-of-25 with 304 yards passing in his final collegiate contest. He left the game with 13:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.

    Georgia built a 38-7 halftime lead, scoring the final 28 points before intermission after TCU’s Max Duggan, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, rushed for a touchdown that made it 10-7 with 5:45 left in the first quarter.

    The Bulldogs controlled play and the clock in the half, having the ball for almost 19 of the first 30 minutes and outgaining the Horned Frogs (13-2) 354 yards to just 121.

    The onslaught continued in the second half until Georgia head coach Kirby Smart effectively called off the dogs and began using more second-team players in the fourth quarter. By then it was 52-7.

    Georgia’s Ladd McConkey, a sophomore wide receiver, had two touchdown grabs, including a wide-open, 37-yard reception that brought the first six of the Bulldogs’ 55 consecutive points.

    Sophomore tight end Brock Bowers, the national player of the year at his position, had one touchdown catch in his seven receptions and 152 yards receiving.

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  • Republican Sen. Ben Sasse resigns to become University of Florida president, opening seat for appointment by Nebraska governor | CNN Politics

    Republican Sen. Ben Sasse resigns to become University of Florida president, opening seat for appointment by Nebraska governor | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Sen. Ben Sasse, a Republican who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the attack on the US Capitol, officially resigned from the Senate Sunday, opening up his seat for appointment by Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Jim Pillen.

    Sasse announced last year that he would step down from his position to become the University of Florida’s next president. His academic appointment by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees in November despite criticism from students and faculty over the secretive search process, Sasse’s limited relevant experience and his past criticisms of same-sex marriage.

    “I’m here rather than at some other school, or rather than trying to claw to stay in the United States Senate for decades, because I believe that this is the most interesting institution in the state that has the most happening right now, and is therefore the best positioned to help lead our country through a time of unprecedented change,” Sasse told the UF board at the time.

    Sasse made little secret of the frustration he felt with the Senate and the changing nature of the Republican Party. He explained his decision to vote to convict Trump by saying that the former president’s lies about the election “had consequences” and brought the country “dangerously close to a bloody constitutional crisis.” He was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump after the House of Representatives impeached him for incitement of an insurrection.

    Before his election to the Senate in 2014, Sasse was president of Midland University, a private Lutheran liberal arts school in Nebraska with an enrollment of about 1,600 students. He graduated from Harvard and earned a PhD in American history at Yale and also worked at Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and private equity firms, according to his website.

    The University of Florida has an enrollment of over 60,000 students on a 2,000-acre campus with over a thousand buildings. Unlike Sasse, the university’s most recent presidents had extensive careers as administrators at major universities prior to taking the school’s top job.

    Sasse was reelected to another six-year term in 2020. His resignation will not change the balance of power in the Senate. The seat will temporarily filled by an appointment made by Pillen, who was elected in November and was sworn in on Thursday.

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  • West Point kicks off process to remove Confederate monuments on campus | CNN Politics

    West Point kicks off process to remove Confederate monuments on campus | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Military Academy will begin removing Confederate monuments from its campus, including a portrait of Robert E. Lee that shows him wearing a Confederate uniform.

    The academy will undergo a “multi-phased process” during the holiday break to remove all 13 identified references and installations honoring the Confederacy, the academy’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, wrote in a letter to the West Point community last week.

    That includes the portrait of Lee from the library, a stone bust of Lee from the campus’ Reconciliation Plaza and a “bronze triptych” at the entrance to Bartlett Hall.

    “We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” he wrote. “In the case of those items that were class gifts (specifically, Honor Plaza and Reconciliation Plaza), we will continue to work closely with those classes throughout this process.”

    The changes at West Point were approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in October and are part of a larger set of recommendations proposed by the Naming Commission, which was mandated by Congress last year in the National Defense Authorization Act.

    “The Commission’s thorough and historically informed work has put the Department on a path to meet Congressional intent – and to remove from U.S. military facilities all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy,” Austin wrote in a memo approving the recommendations.

    “The Commission has chosen names that echo with honor, patriotism, and history – names that will inspire generations of Service members to defend our democracy and our Constitution.”

    This commission garnered national attention in 2020 when former President Donald Trump threatened to veto any NDAA bill that sought to strip Confederate names from military bases or other landmarks. Trump followed through on his pledge, ultimately vetoing the NDAA and sending it back to Congress, where members voted to override his veto.

    West Point plans additional changes to be implemented in early spring 2023: A quote from Robert E. Lee at Honor Plaza will be replaced, and stone markers at Reconciliation Plaza will be modified “with appropriate language and images that comply with the Commission’s recommendations, while still conveying the Plaza’s central message of reconciliation.”

    Also, West Point’s Memorialization, History, and Museum Committee will propose new names for streets, buildings and areas at the academy named for those who served in the Confederacy.

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  • Former Harvard fencing coach and Maryland businessman are both acquitted of bribery charges | CNN

    Former Harvard fencing coach and Maryland businessman are both acquitted of bribery charges | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A former Harvard fencing coach and a Maryland businessman were both acquitted of conspiring to get the businessman’s two sons admitted to Harvard in exchange for more than $1.5 million in bribes, authorities announced Wednesday.

    Former fencing coach Peter Brand, 67, and businessman Jack Zhao, 61, were acquitted of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and federal programs bribery – more than two years after they were indicted, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

    Brand’s attorney said the verdict exonerates his client.

    “We are very grateful to the jury for their service and careful consideration of the evidence,” Attorney Douglas Brooks said. “Today’s verdict exonerates Peter Brand who is 100% innocent.”

    Attorney Bill Weinreb, who represents Zhao, told CNN, “We are grateful to the jury for their service and for doing justice in this case.”

    Brand was Harvard’s men’s and women’s fencing coach from 1999 until 2019, when Harvard University fired him, months after he was accused of selling his home to Zhao, whose son was actively looking to apply to the school.

    The sale of the Needham, Massachusetts, home in 2016 particularly drew investigators attention because Zhao bought it for almost twice what a tax document said it was worth.

    The purchase of the home was among $1.5 million in payments scrutinized by prosecutors in the case, including a large payment to Brand’s charitable foundation and college tuition payments for Brand’s son.

    Zhao has two sons who are fencers and were admitted to Harvard. He denied the bribery allegations and his attorney has called his children academic and fencing stars who got into Harvard on their own merit.

    After the two men were acquitted, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts told CNN in a statement that they fundamentally disagreed with but respected the verdict.

    “This case was prosecuted for the millions of high school seniors and their families who engage in the stressful and humbling exercise of applying to college every year. That process is supposed to be a meritocracy,” the US Attorney’s Office statement read. “The instant case exposed such profound levels of privilege, entitlement and wealth abusing the college admissions process that something had to be done. And I am proud that we did.”

    The case against Brand and Zhao came amid a sprawling college admissions scam, first revealed in March 2019, in which rich parents of college applicants used their wealth to cheat on standardized tests, bribe sports coaches and lie about the payments.

    “Our trial team worked tirelessly and tried an excellent case. Their efforts were not in vain,” US Attorney’s Office said. “This case and all of the college admissions prosecutions have led to significant reforms at colleges and universities across the country aimed at curtailing the ability of those with means and access to flagrantly ignore the rules that apply to everyone else.”

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