Daily Lumina News 101323

Like many states, Montana is facing an epic-level teaching shortage. For Montana, the challenge is particularly acute in rural areas and on Native American reservations.
The Teachers of Promise Pathways program hopes to help. Facilitated by Montana State University-Northern and Great Falls College Montana State University, the effort enables high school students to earn college credits, join teaching teams at area elementary schools, and get on a faster path to becoming a teacher.

The nonprofit ACT, which administers the test of the same name, reported this week that scores had declined for the sixth consecutive year, with a record proportion of test takers reaching none of the organization’s benchmarks for college readiness.
And yet, it is difficult to interpret the scores because of sweeping changes in college admissions and state high school requirements that may bring down scores.

The raging war between Israel and the militant group Hamas is reigniting debate on America’s college campuses, where emotions are running high and officials are feeling the pressure not to stay silent.
And for some students, speaking out has proven to be problematic, underscoring the real-world consequences for young people who choose to exercise their free speech rights or showcase their identities amid such a divisive dispute.

Located in a corner of West Texas that borders New Mexico and Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso is one of the nation’s leading Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Eighty-four percent of UTEP’s 24,000 students are Hispanic. That's more than triple the percentage (25 percent) that the federal government uses to designate a college as an HSI.
In this interview, UTEP’s Heather Wilson talks about lowering college costs for students, the possible effects of anti-DEI legislation in Texas, and her leadership style as one of the small percentage of women presiding over a top research university.

Artificial intelligence might be the new frontier in technology, but Toby Reed, a senior at Fremont High in Oakland, has no doubts about whether to harness its powers—at least on his college application essay.
In the first application season since generative AI tools like ChatGPT have become widely available, colleges and high schools are grappling with the ethical and practical implications of text-writing technology.

Is there a civil discourse crisis in higher education? Judging from the controversial speakers shouted down on campuses and the sessions canceled at scholarly meetings, the complicated and often combustible mix of academic freedom, free speech, and opposition to hate speech has created a landscape seemingly littered with rhetorical land mines.
Academics, nonprofit leaders, and college administrators recently gathered to assess the state of campus discourse and the steps to improve it.