Education
NC A&T’s chancellor-elect promises to exceed expectations

James R. Martin II will lead the nation’s largest HBCU.
A civil engineer from a rural Southern town has been tapped to lead the nation’s largest historically black college and university (HBCU). James R. Martin II has been named the thirteenth president of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) in Greensboro, North Carolina.
System Council of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Committee of Governors on Personnel. announced it June 21 at a news conference, noting that Martin is a “distinguished academic, administrator and civil engineer” who has worked at three major public research institutions: Clemson University, Virginia Tech and the University of Pittsburgh, where he’s currently vice chancellor for Innovation and STEM research.
“I’m excited to be here. My goal is definitely to exceed the expectations I set for myself,” Martin said throughout the press conference.
Over there seems to be disturbingnonetheless, of the “three members of the search committee,” according to the chancellor-elect will lead the nation’s largest HBCU, “even though he has never attended, taught at, or directed an HBCU.”
According to , “There were candidates who had that experience, the HBCU culture, who were products of HBCUs,” said one search committee member. “I wouldn’t say it’s disqualifying if it wasn’t. But we have had a lot of success with leaders who come from A&T and who come from the HBCU world and culture.”
Meanwhile, Search Advisory Committee Chair Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, who served as Chair of the A&T Board of Directors, stated: “From the beginning, Dr. Martin emerged as the leading candidate because of his experience, preparation and the vision he articulated for A&T. He will be an outstanding leader for our university.”
Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The Citadel and a master’s and Ph.D. in civil engineering are from Virginia Tech. As dean at Pittsburgh, Martin oversaw an engineering program that enrolled 2,900 students, 850 graduate students and 200 faculty members, according to his profile. There, he raised research funding by 50%, built strategic partnerships with industry and government, and increased diversity, enrollment and graduation rates. He previously headed the civil engineering department at Clemson and was the founder and executive director of the Risk Engineering and Systems Analytics (RESA) Institute at Clemson.
Martin, a specialist in disaster and earthquake risk engineering, conducted global research in earthquake zones that led to stronger constructing codes within the United States. He has provided international engineering consulting to nearly 100 firms and government agencies.
He will now lead A&T, a land-grant doctoral college with a national status in STEM education with greater than 13,500 students and greater than 70,000 graduates.
According to statement from the UNC System, “Martin’s numerous national, state and university awards for research, teaching, scholarship and service include the Norman Medal of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the highest honor for published work in his field. In 2015, he was also inducted into the Virginia Civil Engineering Technology Alumni Academy.”
Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. – has no reference to James Martin II – announced in September 2023 to retire at the top of the present academic 12 months, leaving after 15 years because the longest-serving chancellor of the UNC System. A nationwide search then began, with UNC System President Peter Hans announcing the members of the A&T Search Advisory Committee on October 4. A series of listening sessions with internal and external participants that took place in January complemented a web based public input survey that also began in October.
According to the university, the A&T Board of Trustees beneficial three unranked candidates to Hans, who nominated one candidate on the June 21 Board of Governors meeting.
During the press conference, James Martin II talked about his childhood growing up near Union, a small rural town in South Carolina, riding a tractor to see it pull from Upstate South Carolina to North Carolina; and proverbially how the upper education pathway was transformative.
“I am motivated by the fact that higher education serves as a platform for social advancement,” Martin said during a news conference. “Obtaining an engineering degree allowed me to change not only my life, but in addition the lifetime of my entire family and surrounding areas; people I actually have contact with. If you actually need to change lives, in the event you want to change households, in the event you want to change communities, change your relationship with science.
Martin’s appointment as chancellor will begin on August 15.
Education
NAACP asks for a formal meeting after the Kennesaw State University program is completed

NAACP in Georgia asked for a formal meeting with Kennesaw State University after the school announced that it deactivates a handful of “low producers”, including the Black Studies program.
In a recent note addressed to colleagues, officials on the third largest university in Georgia announced that it could deactivate Black Studies, Filosophy and Technical Communication Sofors, effective immediately, Then AND Atlanta’s voice Reported.
According to WABE, the assistant of the KSU Vice President for Strategic Communication, Tammy Demel, called programs “low producers” on account of their low number of scholars. In E -Mailes obtained by The Atlanta Voice, university officials, making an allowance for the low registration of scholars, the programs were not needed after re -evaluation and made the best decision on “limited resources”.
General’s University System of Criteria In the case of “low production” there is lower than 10 for a bachelor program. While black studies and technical communication programs had lower than 10 students, WABE announced that the philosophical program enrolled 40 students on April 29.
The “two -year teaching plan” shall be implemented in order that students currently enrolled in programs can complete them. The faculty and employees will keep their positions to proceed to supply minors, general education courses and select.
However, the commercial shocked members amongst lecturers, the student body and more.

“The NAACP conference in Georgia is concerned about reports on the potential elimination of the Black State program at Kennesaw State University,” said the organization in Edition published to X This definitely condemned this decision.
“The Black Studies program is not only an academic discipline-it is an important space for intellectual investigation, cultural affirmation and historical telling of the truth,” the organization continued. “His presence reflects the university’s involvement in integration education and a representation of marginalized votes in the academic canon. District of such a program would be a deep harmful to students of all environments and a clear background in the constant pursuit of justice and justice in higher education.”
According to Atlanta Voice, employees query the move to deactivate programs as a violation of resolutions adopted by the RCHSS Program Committee in April 2024.
Although the reason given was the low registration of scholars, because Trump’s administration is addressed to Dei programs and rules in schools and institutions throughout the country, it is difficult to disregard some.
“We intend to talk about the behavior and full support of the Black Studies program and ensure that the university will maintain its responsibility for supporting the diverse and integration of the academic community,” said Georgia NAACP.

(Tagstranslate) Black Studies (T) Education (T) Kennew State University
Education
Bill Bill Sparks Texas Bill

Guber
On May 3, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed laws establishing a personal school coupon According to .
The law comes into force at the tip of 2026 before this, the Texas controller is designed to create an education savings account program.
According to The Bill 2 Senate allows families to make use of public dollars of taxpayers to finance child education in an accredited private school or paying for other expenses related to high school, akin to textbooks, transport or therapy. The port fund in the quantity of $ 1 billion establishes it as one in all the most important regulations regarding the alternative of faculty within the country.
This problem has been a source of competition in Texas for years. Democrats and village Republicans in a rustic who fought him say that coupons can ultimately harm public school systems that Texas is already insufficient, and plenty of inhabitants of low income from Texas, who cannot afford a personal school, even with the support of the coupon.
Coupon programs in other states have already been revealed as helpful for wealthy families who could already afford private teaching, on the expense of colourful students, special students and low -income students, in addition to resulting in disappointing academic results for college students.
“Remember about this day when the school closes in your area,” he said on the press conference Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin). “Remember that the next day his beloved teacher resigns because he cannot support his family to their salary. Remember this next mouth of local property taxes, because the state government does not make a fair share in school financing. And if the recession comes and we are forced to make even deeper cuts of public education, remember that day.”
Texas Rep. Gene Wu, (D-Houston) Democratic Chairman of the Club, was Critical of the 4 -level program system. “Billionaires can use it and there is only no explanation why. When it comes to raising poor people, just check poor people.”
According to ABC-13, although the bill has a priority to ascertain low-income students’ priorities and stays open to all levels of income, these goals He created doubts for education policy and public education experts About the state’s ability to assist children from Texas who need the best help.
Josh Cowen, professor of educational policy at Michigan State University and a critic of coupons programs, told The Outlet that there is no such thing as a method to win Abbott and help the lower and medium income at the identical time.
“(Legislators) are in a difficult place who really want to do it for children. What they are trying to do is create a universal coupon bill to win the governor, and at the same time adhere to messages, and maybe even a policy that is to help families with lower income and medium income. And these two goals of the conflict,” said Cowen.
In April, a representative of the state Jolanda Jones (D-Houston) argued in the course of the Houston Black Rescue City Hall that the coupon program was a two -level education system This brought only Texans who could afford private schools.
“Public dollars should not be spent in private places and spaces,” said Jones. “We don’t want coupons, because for everyone this is not good education, for some it is simply great education. Most private schools are $ 30,000, and $ 10,000 everything he does is his prosperity, a subsidiary for rich people.”
Education
The Department of Justice has completed a ten -year school desegregation order. Others are expected to fall

When the Department of Justice raised the order for school desegregation in Louisian this week, officials called his further existence “bad historical” and suggested that others with the Civil Rights Movement must be considered again.
The end of the legal agreement of 1966 with Plaquemines Parish Schools announced on Tuesday shows that Trump’s administration, “re -focusing of America in our bright future,” said the assistant of the Prosecutor General Harmeet Dhillon.
In the Department of Justice, officials appointed by President Donald Trump expressed their desire to withdraw from other desegregation orders, which they perceive as an unnecessary burden on schools, according to a person conversant in the issue that received anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak public.
Dozens of school districts within the south remain as part of contracts enforced by the court, dictating steps in the sector of integration, many years after the Supreme Court limited racial segregation in education. Some perceive the strength of court orders as a sign that the federal government has never eliminated segregation, while officials in Louisiana and in some schools perceive orders as past relics that must be removed.
The Department of Justice opened a wave of matters within the Sixties, after the Congress released the department to follow schools that were based on desegregation. Known as consent decrees, orders may be raised when districts prove that they’ve eliminated segregation and its heritage.

The small district of Louisiana has a long -lasting case of integration
The Trump administration called Plaquemines an example of administrative neglect. It was found that the Delta Delta of the Mississippi River within the south -eastern Louisiana integrated in 1975, however the case was to remain under the view of the court for the subsequent yr. The judge died in the identical yr, and the judicial register “seems to be lost in time,” in accordance with the court application.
“Considering that this case remained for half a century with zero proceedings by the court, parties or any third parties, the parties are satisfied that the United States’s claims were fully resolved,” in accordance with the joint submission of the Department of Justice and the Office of the Prosecutor General Liz Murill.
SUPERINTENDENT Plaquemines Shelley Ritz said that the officials of the Department of Justice still visited yearly in 2023 and asked for data on topics, including employment and discipline. She said that the documentation was a burden for her district lower than 4,000 students.
“These were data compilation hours,” she said.
Louisiana “gained his act ten years ago,” said Leo Terrell, senior adviser to the Civil Rights Department on the Department of Justice, in a statement. He said that the discharge is corrected by historical evil, adding that “the time had been going to recognize how far we have come.”
Murrill asked the Department of Justice to close other school orders in her condition. In a statement she promised cooperation with schools in Louisiana to help them “put the past in the past.”
Activists for civil rights claim that that is the improper move. Many orders have been loosely enforced only in recent many years, but this doesn’t mean that problems have been resolved, said Johnathan Smith, who worked within the Department of Civil Rights of the Department of Justice in the course of the administration of President Joe Biden.
“It probably means the opposite – that the school district remains sorted. In fact, most of these districts are now more sorted than in 1954.” – said Smith, who’s currently the chief of staff and general adviser to the National Center for Youth Law.

Desegregation orders include a number of instructions
According to the files of submitting this yr, over 130 school systems are based on the desegregation orders of the Department of Justice. The overwhelming majority are in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, with smaller numbers in states equivalent to Florida, Louisiana and South Karolina. Some other districts remain on the premise of separate desegregation agreements with the education department.
Orders may include a number of remedies, from bus requirements to district policy, enabling students in black schools to transfer to the fundamental white. Agreements are between the school district and the US government, but other parties may ask the court to intervene after they resumed signs of segregation.
In 2020, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund referred to the Decree of consent within the Leeds school district in Alabama, when he stopped offering school meals in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Civil Rights Group said that it’s disproportionately harmful to black students, in violation of the desegregation order. The district agreed to resume meals.
Last yr, the school board in Louisiana closed mainly the Black Primary School near the petrochemical institution after NACP Legal Defense and Education Fund said that he disproportionately exposes black students to health threats. The Council made a decision after the group submitted a request to a ten -year desegregation order within the parish of St. John the Baptist.
Closing cases can lead to legal challenges
The release caused alarms amongst some who are afraid that this may occasionally withdraw his many years of progress. Research on districts exempt from orders showed that many have recorded a greater increase in racial segregation compared to those that are subject to court orders.
“In many cases, schools react quite quickly and there are new fears regarding civil rights for students,” said Halley Potter, an older worker of the Century Foundation who studies educational inequality.
The end of orders would cause that desegregation isn’t any longer a priority, said Robert Westley, a professor of anti -discrimination law on the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.
“It is really a signaling that the deviation that began some time ago is completed,” said Westley. “The United States government no longer cares about dealing with problems of racial discrimination in schools. This is the end.”
Raymond Pierce, president and general director of Southern Education Foundation.
“This is a disregard for education for a large part of America. It is a disregard for America’s need for an educated labor force,” he said. “And it is a disregard for the rule of law.”

(Tagstranslate) Education
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