In an effort to save money, Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, is proposing merging Jackson State University, Mississippi Valley State University and Alcorn State University into one school.

Will this work?

Randolph Forde, a teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School in suburban Atlanta was arrested and charged with making terrorist threats against one of his students.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the attorney of the student who allegedly was threatened said Forde repeadedly  asked his client  if he was gay and after an altercation in class asked another student to kill him.

Here is an embedded clip of TV coverage of the story.

A 10-year-old Detroit area child is proving that with the right guidance and support, our youth are capable of doing amazing things.

Estin Baldwin, a fourth-grade student at McIntyre Elementary School has done something that many people never do — he’s written a book.

Baldwin’s book “Skate It” is about four friends who share a love for skateboarding. He hopes to eventually turn the book into a TV series or a movie.

Baldwin also said he enjoys writing so don’t be surprised if he writes a few more books in his lifetime.

Kudos to Estin and his family for their hard work.

Lionel McIntyre, a 59-year-old professor at Columbia University in New York, was arrested and charged with assault and harassment after allegedly punching  a white colleague in the eye during a heated argument about white privilege.

Carrie Davis, the alleged assault victim is also an employee of Columbia University.

From New York Times:

The encounter happened in Toast, a popular, noisy bar and restaurant on Broadway north of campus, where the chatter often runs to current events and politics. Professor McIntyre liked to engage fellow patrons on the subject of race, according to one regular customer, Daniel Morgan, who considers himself a close acquaintance of both Professor McIntyre and Ms.  Davis.

The incident has also become a cultural/political issue.  In response to reporting of the story in the New York Post, a blogger wrote that McIntyre should be charged with a hate crime.

While not condoning the punch, noted columnist and educator Boyce Watkins understands how McIntyre felt.

What do you think?  Should McIntyre be charged with a hate crime?

Parents and school officials from Rea View Elementary in suburban Charlotte, NC are outraged as black students were forced to act like slaves during a field trip to a plantation.

From UPI.com

Teachers at Rea View Elementary in Waxhaw said they are planning to write leaders at the Latta Plantation about a lesson during a Wednesday field trip that involved an African-American tour guide instructing black students to pretend to be slaves while their white classmates looked on, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported Friday.

Parents said the three students chosen by tour guide Ian Campbell wore bags used to gather cotton while mimicking cotton picking.

“I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 — even before that period,” said Campbell, who added he has been a historian for 15 years.

“I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct,” he said.

Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg National Asssociation for the Advancement of Colored People, criticized the lesson.

“There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery. Because that’s still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct,” he said.

Did the plantation go too far in their educational efforts? What do you think?

Prairie View A&M University has suspended intake activities for all campus groups as the university reviews its policies for student organizations.

From Black College Wire

According to university president, George C. Wright the Organization Review Board (ORB), made the moratorium decision based upon several critical factors. First, the university thinks that many students don’t see actions that surround hazing as wrong. Secondly, the university thinks that students have created a code of silence against actions of wrongdoing, called “no snitching.” The third factor surrounding the board’s decision was based on a personal concern of the university president.

Wright explained, “I am in my seventh year as president here at Prairie View, and in each of 12 semesters I’ve spent here, there has been a complaint or a report made about hazing or inappropriate behavior. We made this decision to ensure that students know how to police themselves when doing extracurricular activities. I’m all for student organizations, if their membership processes are done accordingly.”

A mishap on a New Jersey school bus caused 7-year-old Chisano Mutts to be dragged for a block clinging for life.

The Tavis Smiley Communication School at Texas Southern University (TSU) will be renamed as school’s governing board voted to cut ties with the author and journalist for not delivering on his pledge to raise $2 million for the historically Black college.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Smiley agreed in 2004 to personally donate $200,000 annually for a period of five years as well as raise $1 million through private and corporate donations.

TSU officials said Smiley raised $300,000.

Smiley said concerns with the school’s fiscal management after its previous president was fired and sentenced to probation for improper usage of school funds, made it difficult to raise funds for the institution.

“I … will continue with my benevolence where it’s appreciated,” said Smiley in an email to TSU officials.

Smiley formerly worked for BET.

Comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Dick Gregory were among hundreds who gathered in Washington D.C on Monday to award comedian and social activist Bill Cosby with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The 72-year-old actor, writer and television producer was lauded not only for his comedic genius but for also “breaking down racial barriers and stereotypes.”

From the Associated Press via BlackAmericaWeb

Cosby has won other major awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. Still, the Mark Twain Prize is special, he said, because Twain was the “quintessential American writer — because he held his language and his love for words in perfect American form.”

The tribute will air Nov. 4 nationwide on PBS. Cosby insisted the performances at the tribute be free of profanity and that the show reflect his emphasis on education.

The Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) pulled no punches when he met with a group of education officials.

John Wilson said in order for HBCUs to survive and compete for African-American students, the institutions have to stop whining about what they do not have and instead come up with innovative ways to raise money and recruit students.

From 2TheAdvocate.com

HBCUs must stop feeling sorry for themselves, he said, and switch their focus from playing violins to trumpets.

“We play the violin too much,” Wilson said. “We think people owe us something.”

Many HBCUs are facing financial difficulty due to declining enrollment and increasing costs. The recession has also tightened the wallets of businesses and charities that typically donate and support HBCUs.

Wilson also called out HBCU alumni who “will go to Homecoming” but refuse to give back to their alma mater.

A lot of that is a failure of the colleges to treat their students and alumni well, he said.

“If they (students) have built up an attitude with the financial aid office, which had an attitude with them, they’re going to leave here with an attitude and they’re not going to write a check,” Wilson said. “They’re going to come back for Homecoming, but they’re not going to open their checkbooks.”

Wilson is a graduate of Morehouse College.