Daily Lumina News 061223

Andrea Marquez teaches management in the business college of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She never thought of critical race theory as connected to her work in the classroom. But in the spring of 2022, Marquez realized that might not be how state lawmakers saw it.
She was right. And her second-guessing reflects a shift happening at public colleges all over Texas and elsewhere.

Itzayana Mondragon is a 23-year-old mother employed at a health clinic in Austin. Thirty-year-old Juan Carlos Cerda is a Yale University graduate and lobbyist for immigration reform. Cristhian Ordaz-Deanda is a 22-year-old who works as a mason and plans to finish his anthropology degree in San Marcos.
All three depend on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to support themselves and their families. But their livelihoods are uncertain as a federal judge in Houston is expected to rule for the second time that DACA is illegal.

For decades, U.S. News & World Report has been ranking colleges and universities. And for decades, colleges and universities have been complaining about the guide's outsized influence and the criteria used.
Last week, Columbia University announced that its undergraduate schools would no longer provide information for the rankings list. Francie Diep, a senior reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education, offers her thoughts on whether more boycotts may soon follow.

When Jason Pettit started school at Fort Lewis College in the fall of 2020, his home was his Ford Ranger pickup and wherever he felt safe enough to park.
Pettit has an abundance of the kind of grit required to survive these extraordinary conditions. But Fort Lewis is tackling the college homelessness crisis with the belief that no student—no matter their age, demographic, or ability to endure hardship—should have to weather the things Pettit has had to for an education.

A recently released study of race-considered admissions in higher education says that ending such programs would threaten progress made in student diversity. The report comes just as the U.S. Supreme Court plans to make a major ruling on affirmative action in the coming days.
Anthony Carnevale, the study’s lead author and director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and Georgia State University law professor Tanya Washington discuss the impact of the anticipated court ruling.

Nonprofit Chicago Scholars is testing out a new interactive college and career pathways app, REACH Pathways, that enables first-generation, low-income students to interact with mentors and companies.
CEO Jeffery Beckham says the tool provides a way to empower underrepresented and underserved students as they navigate real-world tasks like internships and interviews. He explains more about closing the gap between talent and opportunity in this interview.