Daily Lumina News 041223

Bills banning colleges from spending funds on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are flooding state legislatures across the country. While touting these bills, lawmakers often say their primary objective is to protect state taxpayers.
But who are these taxpayers? What do lawmakers really mean when they invoke them? Does the public understand what “taxpayer” means, or has their understanding been warped by misuse of the term?

Community colleges represent an affordable and accessible pathway to higher education for millions of today's students. Yet, graduation rates at community colleges remain low.
Offering targeted support services could have a big impact on getting more students to and through their studies. That’s one of the takeaways from a new long-term analysis of three Ohio community colleges and their programs to help students stay on track and earn a degree as efficiently as possible.

In recent years, there’s been a shift in many students’ attitudes toward drinking. Instead of seeing alcohol as a fact of college life, more students are questioning its presence in their lives.
That’s great news for administrators who have long worked toward this end. But now they must figure out how to help students lead fulfilling social lives without alcohol—a substance which, like it or not, is entangled with many colleges’ bottom lines.

Trying to obtain an internship at a leading tech company or start-up can be a depressing quest for many college students, requiring a sustained, semester-long effort—often with little to show for it but a slew of rejections.
A new program at Bowie State University connects computing students directly with companies, bypassing an often harsh Silicon Valley vetting process.

When the COVID pandemic forced everyone to stay home, entrepreneurship ramped up. Young people in particular took note.
Many of these students are now taking their newly formed businesses to college, using the money they earn to pay for school. The money-making ventures also add value to students' coursework, while cultivating a passion for a future career.

As a Pakistani immigrant and first-generation college student, Nabiha Sheikh completed her associate degree from Lone Star College in Texas unaware of how difficult her transfer to a four-year university would be.
Sheikh’s experience speaks to the thousands of transfer students from marginalized communities who’ve had a difficult time achieving their dream of earning a four-year degree. Advocates say this should be a wake-up call for four-year schools to rethink how they can be better partners with their community colleges.