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Black America Web
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
IU Bloomington to Cut 100+ Academic Programs by 2026
Source: Nicholas Klein / Getty BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — In one of the most significant academic overhauls in its history, Indiana University Bloomington will suspend or eliminate more than 100 academic programs beginning ahead of the 2026–2027 academic year. The move is part of a larger statewide restructuring prompted by House Enrolled Act 1001 (2025), which introduces strict thresholds for degree program enrollment and completion. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education released the list of affected programs in a document shared during its June 30 meeting. The cuts impact undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs and span nearly every academic area—from arts and humanities to education, science, public health, and foreign languages. Among the undergraduate degrees facing elimination are longstanding liberal arts programs such as the Bachelor of Arts in African American and African Diaspora Studies, Art History, Comparative Literature, French, Gender Studies, and Spanish. Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Ballet, Cognitive Science, and Environmental Geoscience are also on the chopping block. Graduate and professional programs are equally affected. Several master's and Ph.D. programs will be phased out or merged, including doctoral tracks in Art History, Astrophysics, Japanese, and Gender Studies. The School of Education will also see multiple degrees—such as the in English, Mathematics, Journalism, and Social Studies—eliminated entirely. The drastic changes follow the university's recent announcement of a $100 million budget realignment and come on the heels of a shift in leadership on IU's Board of Trustees. The new majority, aligned with Indiana Governor Mike Braun, has emphasized prioritizing 'practical degrees' tied to workforce development outcomes. Gov. Braun remarked that IU President Pamela Whitten wanted to 'spruce up' the university—a comment that has sparked debate among students, faculty, and alumni about the deeper implications of the restructuring. Critics argue that the cuts disproportionately affect identity-based and humanities programs—disciplines that have historically been underfunded and under-enrolled but play a vital role in shaping civic, cultural, and ethical understanding. Supporters of the legislation, however, point to low graduation rates and dwindling enrollment in certain programs, saying the changes are necessary to make higher education more efficient and career-focused. As the 2025–26 school year approaches, students and faculty are left to grapple with what these sweeping changes mean for academic freedom, intellectual diversity, and the future of Indiana's flagship public university. RELATED: Indiana Governor Signs Bill into Law Establishing Online Agricultural Portal Source: SEE ALSO IU Bloomington to Cut 100+ Academic Programs by 2026 was originally published on
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
He was the first and only king of Haiti. What the life of Christophe says about its history
Marlene Daut's deep dive into Haiti's first — and only — king reads like a historical novel of a bygone era with Black princes and knights, an elaborate dress code and a palace, Sans-Souci, to match. But Daut's 'The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe,' isn't a novel— even if at times its fascinating prose about the self-proclaimed king and veteran of the Haitian Revolution and the betrayal and geopolitical clashes that shaped his 13-year reign over the Kingdom of Haiti at times seems like fiction. While Christophe ruled in the north, Alexandre Sabès Pétion, another hero of the revolution and later his rival, governed in the south as president of the Republic of Haiti. 'There's not a lot of attention paid necessarily to this period,' Daut said. 'Of course, there should be tons and tons of studies of the Haitian Revolution, but I think that we also need to study and pay more attention to the lives of the people who lived during the revolution, outside of Toussaint.' Toussaint is Toussaint Louverture, the former slave-turned-general, considered one of the foremost leaders of the Haitian Revolution, the only successful slave revolt leading to the founding of a Black nation and the abolition of slavery. But while Toussaint is traditionally depicted in literature as a hero, historians and artists have tended to portray Christophe as an 'irredeemable monster.' That, said Daut, a renown expert on Haiti's history and revolution who will be giving a public lecture at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Richter Library at the University of Miami, is what drove her to finally tackle a biography on the king. 'I was fascinated by the fact that the Christophe portrayals lasted for so long into the 20th Century, into the middle of the 20th Century, in comic books, and yet there still is not like a big Hollywood movie,' said Daut, a professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale University. 'I just really wanted to find out more about his life.' Born in Grenada to an enslaved mother and fluent in English, Christophe is perhaps best known as the architect of the famous Citadelle Henry, the mountaintop fortress completed in 1813 to guard against another French occupation. Located on the outskirts of Cap-Haïtien in the city of Milot, it stands today as a UNESCO World Heritage site, along with the remnants of his Sans-Souci Palace, largely destroyed in an 1842 earthquake. He is also known as the controversial and brash leader who despised idleness and, after creating a monarchy in Haiti in 1811, eventually suffered a tragic end. In 1820, after a stroke and with his enemies close, Christophe took a gun and shot himself in the heart, ending a 13-year reign during which he had built a prosperous Black kingdom after defeating what at the time was the world's most powerful army. In between those bookends, however, much about Christophe's life and contributions have been debated, exaggerated and even misrepresented against a backdrop of an isolated Haiti. He remains, Daut writes, 'as misunderstood now as in the past,' despite having been one of the most written about revolutionary figures in literature. This is Daut's fourth book, one she acknowledges she could not have written 15 years ago when her interest in Christophe first arose as she was researching her dissertation about the literary portrayals of Haiti's revolution. 'I wouldn't have known who exactly to look for if I had started out at the beginning to write this, because I also had to know the history of the Revolution. Because in the book, I have to tell the history of the Revolution,' Daut said. 'I try to do it through his eyes and experiences. But I had to, know what battle happened here, and so that way, when I'm reading a letter, I know what context to put it in.' When she finally decided to write the book 10 years ago, Daut said, she 'had to think about things differently from the way that I thought. 'I thought, 'Oh, I'm going to just go into archives and find all the information,' ' she said said earlier this year during a visit to Miami, where she presented the book at a reading sponsored by The Prologue Society at Temple Israel of Greater Miami. 'Then I realized that what I needed to think of as an archive, wasn't just like over in France or England or in New York, but the stuff that was from Haiti and that was scattered all over the place.' These included newspapers from the northern kingdom, and royal almanacs that the king had kept. She also used the writings of Christophe's loyal secretary and the subject of one of her previous books, Baron de Vastey, along with documents and scholarly works. All are used one way or another in the book to debunk lies and fictionalized misrepresentations, or to set the record straight. Among the revelations: Christophe was born is 1767 and not 1758 as often cited, and he was from Grenada, not St. Christopher, now St. Kitts. Another is his role in the fight for U.S. independence as a member of the regiment of free men of color, the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue, that fought alongside American and French troops in the Battle of Savannah in 1779. (In 2007, the Haitian American Historical Society in Miami built a monument in Savannah recognizing the regiment's contributions and featured a young Christophe as a drummer boy; a street in north Miami Dade County is also named after him using his French spelling, Roi Henri Christophe Boulevard). 'We know that he fought at the Battle of Savannah because one of his most important ministers wrote it in a book that he published on behalf of Christophe while Christophe was alive,' Daut said about the often debated topic. 'So that has to have more weight than something someone else would say... It was put in the official record by his own historian.' Daut's 630 pages is as much a story about Christophe as it is about Haiti's history and how its archives are scattered everywhere. To frame the history of Christophe she traveled to Italy, where his widow and children are buried in a church, and made visits to England, France and the New York Public Library. She also relied on friends and colleagues to access papers, some of which are in private hands. 'It's kind of a sad fact that a lot of the documentation from this period is in other countries,' Daut said. 'That is in large part because foreigners were in the country at the time, and they took materials home with them that Christophe gave to them. Some of the stuff, like 'The Armorial of Haiti,' is in England because the British, when he committed suicide, took it.' The Armorial Général du Royaume d'Hayti is a guidebook to the symbols of nobility during Christophe's reign. Christophe was a complicated figure. He was feared by world powers, but also revered and reviled by his own subjects. He championed a national education system and created a legal code. But he also pushed eyebrow-raising policies. 'The one I always cite is this idle policy; nobody can be idle. Everyone has to contribute to the state,' Daut said. One thing he was not, Daut says, was a sellout. Like revolutionary hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who on Jan. 1, 1804, declared Haiti free from French rule, 'Christophe didn't sell out the people to foreign powers,' and he did not give into France's threats. The French would later demand an indemnity of 150 million francs, reduced to 90 million, to compensate for the loss of property, an amount equivalent to about $21 billion today. 'Even if they were imperfect rulers, autocratic rulers, authoritarian rulers,' Daut said, Christophe and others stood up to France and turned down its demands. The one who did finally cave in was President Jean-Pierre Boyer, who after Christophe's death united the south and north, and agreed to France's demand for payment. 'I always come back to the indemnity,' said Daut, whose mother was born in Haiti. 'I know that it seems like such an abstraction to think about — what's the relationship of the indemnity to now. But when you think about the cost of the indemnity itself, the opportunities lost, then you have to have a different perspective on it, and also the way that the world treated Haiti in the 19th century, trying to isolate the country, trying to punish various Haitian leaders, to push them into a position of dependency. We can clearly see that it didn't have to be that way, it was orchestrated.' Daut says she wants readers, especially Haitians, to understand the period around Christophe's reign and all of its complexity. 'It's about the king, but it's also about the kingdom,' she said, adding that Haiti is more than its cycle of crises. 'It is a place with a nuanced history.' If you want to go: Stanford Lecture with Professor Marlene Daut, 'Henry Christophe: King in a World of Kings,' will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Richter Library at the University of Miami, 1300 Memorial Dr., Coral Gables. The event is free but registration is required at
Axios
21-02-2025
- Health
- Axios
Texas sees drop in Black medical students
The number of first-year Black medical students has dropped sharply in Texas, new data shows. Why it matters: Students who represent minority populations are more likely to provide better care for those populations when they become doctors, Chinwe Efuribe, a Hutto pediatrician who runs mentoring programs with the Austin Black Physicians Association, tells Axios. What they're saying:"We're more likely to be working in the community, more likely to participate in community health fairs and more likely to be involved in relationship building — and that leads to increased life expectancy and better health outcomes generally," Efuribe said. Doctors from similar backgrounds might have a better sense of what questions to ask patients and what cultural factors are at play with health challenges, Efuribe said. By the numbers: There are 195 Black medical students in Texas this year, down from 248 at the start of the 2021-22 academic year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which has collected data on this topic since 1978. Less than 10% of Texas medical students are Black. By comparison, 13.6% of the state population is Black. Yes, but: Black medical student enrollment at Baylor College's School of Medicine in Houston increased from 46 out of 721 students (6.4%) in 2021-2022 to 64 out of 831 students (7.7%) in 2024-2025. Flashback: Baylor College of Medicine established pipeline programs with its affiliated schools to attract and recruit more students of color. In 2020, School of Medicine Dean Jennifer Christner emphasized the importance of a diverse physician workforce. "Patients who have doctors who look like them tend to follow advice more and can be healthier," Christner said. Zoom out: Medical school student enrollment is also down nationally, following the Supreme Court decision to strike down affirmative action in higher education. Between the lines: The decline in Black medical school enrollment highlights how policies addressing systemic inequality aren't deeply embedded, as their removal quickly affects admissions, says Israel Herndon, a UT graduate researcher in African and African Diaspora Studies. The intrigue: The declines are "much larger than we would expect," even taking the Supreme Court decision into account, Norma Poll-Hunter, senior director of the Association of American Medical Colleges' human capital portfolio, tells Axios. The bottom line: " Every doctor brings with them a unique perspective to the profession, and when certain populations are not fully represented, this means that there are certain questions, approaches, and care that are missing from the field," Herndon says.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Yahoo
How the Uprising of 1969 changed civil rights
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The Historic Westside of Las Vegas is often forgotten. Still, the neighborhood is a pivotal part of the city's history, specifically the uprising of 1969 and its role in the civil rights movement. 'It introduces a new way to understand the city,' UNLV Associate Professor Tyler Parry said of the Westside of Las Vegas. 'And its heritage and its culture.' The Historic Westside is known as a part of Las Vegas many have seen but few truly know. It tells countless stories, mainly of its predominantly Black population. 'What we still see is the Westside as an area,' Parry said. 'One of the more disenfranchised areas of the city.' Parry, associate professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at UNLV, spoke with 8 News Now about that disenfranchisement and the tensions that boiled over as part of the uprising of 1969. 'It was a protest largely against poverty and police brutality,' Parry explained of the uprising. 'That continued to plague the area.' It was all part of Parry's historical presentation at Clark County Museum on Thursday. In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, members of the Black community were confined to 40 blocks in Las Vegas, bordered by Carey Avenue, Bonanza Road, I-15, and Rancho Drive. For decades, hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip did not allow Black patrons. Due to stringent segregation, people of color could not be seen or heard in most establishments, which led them to mainly live and work within the confines of the Historic Westside, an area which, at the time, lacked plumbing, electricity, or paved streets. 'It was a place that represented the stark segregation that existed in Las Vegas,' Parry explained. 'To where the Black community could really only live in one area of town.' Even after desegregation lifted legal restrictions in 1960, Black people were still marginalized. Soon, however, the tides would turn on October 5, 1969, when two Black men were arrested under what many called false pretenses. The moment, fueled by decades of community anger and frustration, was the catalyst for true change. 'At that point,' Parry said. 'Young people in the community rose up against the police state.' Protests that soon became riots broke out for several days, as people living within the Historic Westside demanded change and attention from their local leaders. 200 people were arrested, two others were killed, and hundreds more were hurt during the demonstrations. 'If people want to think about the civil rights movement in Vegas,' Parry said. 'You can't do that unless you actually focus on the Westside.' Today, Parry pointed out that these stories aren't just rich in culture, but pivotal to understanding the neighborhood's current complications. 'What we still see is the Westside as an area,' Parry said. 'One of the more disenfranchised areas of the city that still represents that original problem in Las Vegas.' He said it's a problem he hopes to bring to the forefront through continued education. The Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino was also a pivotal part of the Historic Westside's change as the first desegregated property to open its doors in the 1950s. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
12-02-2025
- Health
- Axios
Texas sees drop in Black med students
The number of first-year Black medical students has dropped sharply in Texas, new data shows. Why it matters: Students who represent minority populations are more likely to care for those populations when they become doctors, Chinwe Efuribe, a Hutto pediatrician who runs mentoring programs with the Austin Black Physicians Association, tells Axios. What they're saying:"We're more likely to be working in the community, more likely to participate in community health fairs and more likely to be involved in relationship building — and that leads to increased life expectancy and better health outcomes generally," Efuribe said. Doctors from similar backgrounds might have a better sense of what questions to ask patients and what cultural factors are at play with health challenges, Efuribe said. By the numbers: There are 195 Black medical students in Texas this year, down from 248 at the start of the 2021-22 academic year, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which has collected data on this topic since 1978. Less than 10% of Texas medical students are Black. By comparison, 13.6% of the state population is Black. The latest: Medical school student enrollment is also down nationally, following the Supreme Court decision to strike down affirmative action in higher education. Between the lines: The downturn in new Black medical school students shows that "policies meant to address systemic inequality have not been institutionalized to fully address these issues if removing them can negatively impact admission this quickly," Israel Herndon, who does graduate work at the University of Texas on the history of medicine in the African and African Diaspora Studies program, tells Axios. Meanwhile, this year's UT freshman class is just as diverse as previous classes, owing largely to automatic admission of the state's top-ranked high school students. Zoom in: At Dell Medical School in Austin, as of September 2024, 37% of students identify as white; 30.5% as Asian; 15% as Hispanic, Latino or of Spanish origin; 9% as Black or African American; and 3.5% as multiple races or ethnicities. Axios has filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act for changes in those percentages over time. Dell Med did not respond to an Axios interview request with the school dean. The intrigue: The declines are "much larger than we would expect," even taking the Supreme Court decision into account, Norma Poll-Hunter, senior director of the Association of American Medical Colleges' human capital portfolio, tells Axios. The bottom line: " Every doctor brings with them a unique perspective to the profession, and when certain populations are not fully represented, this means that there are certain questions, approaches, and care that are missing from the field," Herndon says.
