Latest news with #HouseBill261
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Civil rights groups protest North Carolina bills targeting undocumented immigrants
Maria Fernanda Najera-Aguilar, an organizer with El Pueblo, said she prays for the safety of her family and friends each day amid a crackdown by immigration authorities. (Photo: Brandon Kingdollar / NC Newsline) Immigrant rights advocates called on a crowd of about 100 to stand up against bills targeting undocumented immigrants in the state as part of an Immigrant Rights Advocacy Day demonstration outside the North Carolina General Assembly Wednesday. Speakers from the ACLU of North Carolina, the Education Justice Alliance, the Carolina Migrant Network, Muslim Women For, and El Pueblo rallied on the lawn of the Legislative Building and denounced a set of four bills as part of a broader anti-immigrant agenda by lawmakers. After the demonstration, they split up into groups to talk to legislators and leave informational materials with their offices and marched to the Governor's Mansion to deliver a petition demanding the veto of the bills. The four bills seek to crack down on undocumented immigrants in a variety of ways: House Bill 318 requires sheriffs cooperate with ICE; Senate Bill 153 does the same for state law enforcement; House Bill 261 increases the felony level of criminal charges against defendants with past immigration-related offenses; and House Bill 690 requires state agencies and universities to vet the immigration status of benefit recipients. Fernando Martinez, an organizing director with the Education Justice Alliance, urged lawmakers to 'stop playing politics with our families.' He denounced North Carolina politicians for 'painting us as criminals' who are 'invading this country' and stressed that immigrants are neighbors, colleagues, and classmates who make up a fundamental part of the community. 'We go to prayer houses together. We serve and produce food. We are teachers, we are nurses, we are building this state — literally,' Martinez said. 'Immigrants belong here, [we] are North Carolinians — and stop pushing us out.' America Juarez, a coordinator for the Carolina Migrant Network, said families in Charlotte are living in fear of ICE, alleging that agents in unmarked vehicles have been detaining employees at their places of work and children at school in an expansive operation that began May 12. She said her organization has received more than 133 calls for help in just over a week, and warned that provisions in the bills expanding cooperation with ICE would only worsen this crackdown. 'When federal agents in unmarked vehicles and civilian abduct members in our community, our neighbors, our coworkers, our families, it does not make North Carolina safer, it makes us all less safe,' Juarez said. 'For our elected officials, your silence is complicit. Will you stand by as children in your district lose their parents?' Nora Khalifa, an organizer with Muslim Women For, said such 'intimidation tactics' have had a tangible impact on her community. She said she's noticed people who no longer come to worship services out of fear that they might be detained by ICE and has heard from people who avoid public spaces as much as possible for the same reason. Closing the demonstration, Maria Fernanda Najera-Aguilar of El Pueblo said she prays for the safety of her family and friends every day amid the ongoing mass detention of immigrants, and in particular, last year's House Bill 10, which required sheriffs to follow ICE detention orders. She urged lawmakers to take a stand for 'basic human rights.' 'How can we pursue happiness and achieve aspirations when peace and security are constantly under threat?' she asked. 'I stand here today not just to speak, but to remind you that we are watching, we are organizing, and we are not going anywhere.'
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Later school start times might not happen as state lawmakers consider repeal of '23 law
On second thought ... School start and end times might not be pushed back to later in the day in 2026 after all. Two years after state legislators approved a change pushing school start times back, some who supported that change are now backing a bill to scrap the idea. Senate Bill 296 moved through the Education Pre-K-12 Committee on Monday, March 3 on a vote of 6-1. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, would repeal the 2023 school start times law, which moved high school start times to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. and middle school start times to no earlier than 8 a.m. State Rep. Anne Gerwig, a Republican who previously served as mayor of Wellington, has introduced a companion bill in the state House, House Bill 261. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 2023 bill into law; he has given no indication about how he feels about its possible repeal. The later start times were thought to be a good way to help students get more sleep. But as school districts contemplated the changes, they worried about their impact on transportation, extracurricular activities, before- and after-school care as well as on student after-school jobs. The Palm Beach County School District has been among many across the state urging legislators to reconsider. "The school district is also requesting flexibility from the state legislature regarding the new start and end times," the district said in a statement regarding the repeal legislation. "This may result in the school district receiving legislative relief that will allow us to maintain our current start and end times." State Sen. Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, supported the 2023 bill pushing back start times. "I thought it was a great idea," Berman said of the notion of giving students an opportunity for more sleep. But Berman was among those on the Education Pre-K-12 Committee who voted to repeal the 2023 law. "I voted to reverse the original bill," she said, adding that she did so after district officials told her pushing start and end times back would be impractical. "I did say I would like to see them try to address (more sleep for students) as best as they can." Berman said she believes the repeal legislation will pass the full Senate. "I'm happy to see it reversed," she said. The school district held hearings and put together a survey to relay to state officials what they saw as the impracticalities of the new start and end times. It also posted a Q&A for parents on the school start change that suggested the biggest hurdle for the district would be the impact on transportation — and not just for middle and high school students. "Our buses run tiered routes, meaning most buses transport students for all three levels (elementary, middle, and high) at varied times," the district's Q&A information states. "If the start and end times for one level change, it will impact the transportation time for all levels." The district has been considering a trio of new schedules that would radically alter the school day for students, parents and teachers. One scheduling option, which the district outlined in its Q&A, would have elementary school students start their day at 7:30 a.m. and end at 1:35 p.m. Middle schoolers would start at 10:45 a.m. and go to 4:50 p.m., and high school students would begin at 8:45 a.m. and end their day at 3:45 p.m. District officials say having the existing fleet of buses handle the work isn't simply to avoid the cost of buying more vehicles, though that won't be inexpensive. "Buying more buses will not solve the problem because we currently have a bus driver shortage," the district Q&A information states. "We are actively recruiting bus drivers. This is a nationwide problem." Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@ Help support our work; subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Later school start times: Senators say repeal of law is poised to pass
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Strict Utah law cut DEI from colleges. Affected students say they no longer feel valued
Nevaeh Parker, president of the Black Student Union at the University of Utah, has spent much of the school year scrambling to salvage her organization, undercut by matters far beyond student control. A new Utah law banning diversity, equity and inclusion programming at public colleges took effect July 1, eliminating the Black Student Union's $11,000 in university funding, shutting down its gathering center and taking away staff support for an organization that for more than 50 years has been helping Black students succeed in college. As a condition of remaining a university-sponsored and funded organization, the group had to agree to never talk about bias, discrimination and identity politics on campus. The students refused — along with three other campus affinity groups. Now the Black Student Union, the Asian American Assn., the Pacific Islander Assn. and LGBTQ+ students are fending for themselves, scrambling to find community support, advisors, mentoring and a place to meet, while feeling they are no longer valued on campus. As President Trump sets out to ban DEI efforts across the federal government and in schools, colleges and businesses, Utah's law and its impact at the University of Utah offer a case study on what a college campus looks like without race- and gender-based campus programs. Utah is among at least 15 states with DEI bans in schools and higher education institutions. Utah's law prohibits public universities, K-12 schools and government offices "from engaging in discriminatory practices" based on a person's race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion or gender identity. The law states it "does not impact" academic freedom or research and classroom instruction, among other issues. When it comes to speech, "an institution may not take, express, or assert a position or opinion" on anti-racism, bias, critical race theory, implicit bias, intersectionality, prohibited discriminatory practices, racial privilege," the law states. Diversity training is also banned. Read more: Colleges, K-12 schools ordered by Trump administration to abolish DEI or face funding cuts Parker and others said that agreeing to limit their speech on issues important to them was the line they could not cross to keep their university support. 'Those things are not political, those things are real, and they impact the way students are able to perform on campus,' Parker said. Alex Tokita, a senior who is the president of the Asian American Student Assn., said obeying the law is 'bonkers.' 'It's frustrating to me that we can have an MLK Jr. Day, but we can't talk about implicit bias,' Tokita said. 'We can't talk about critical race theory, bias, implicit bias.' As a student, Tokita can use these words and discuss these concepts. But when speaking as part of a university-sponsored organization, using such speech is against the law. The university responds Utah's law, House Bill 261, known as 'Equal Opportunity Initiatives,' arose from a conservative view that DEI initiatives promote different treatment of students based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Violators risk losing state funding. To comply with the law, the University of Utah closed its Black Cultural Center, the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, the LGBT Resource Center and the Women's Resource Center — in addition to making funding cuts to the student affinity groups. Instead, the university opened a new Center for Community and Cultural Engagement to offer programming for education, celebration and awareness of different identity and cultural groups. A new Center for Student Access and Resources offers practical support services such as counseling to all students, regardless of identity. The law allows Utah colleges to operate cultural centers, so long as they offer only 'cultural education, celebration, engagement, and awareness to provide opportunities for all students to learn with and from one another,' according to guidance from the Utah System of Higher Education. For many students, the changes had little effect. Utah's undergraduate population is about 63% white, 14% Latino, 8% Asian and 1% Black. Gender identity and sexuality among students are not tracked. How students are coping Parker said she is dedicated to keeping the BSU going because it means so much to her fellow Black students. She said several of her peers have told her they don't feel they have a place on campus and are considering dropping out. 'The students are hurting,' she said, adding that she too is struggling. Read more: How California schools, colleges are responding to Trump's DEI crackdown 'I feel as though me living in this Black body automatically makes myself and my existence here political, I feel like it makes my existence here debatable and questioned,' Parker said. 'I feel like every single day I'm having to prove myself extra.' So she continues her work, organizing the group's monthly meetings on a bare-bones budget — about $1,000 from the student government, which serves more than 100 clubs. She often drives to pick up the pizza to avoid wasting precious dollars on delivery fees. She's helping organize community events outside the purview of the university to help Black, Asian and Latino students build relationships with one another and connect with professionals working in Salt Lake City for mentorship and networking opportunities. A group of queer and transgender students formed a student-run Pride Center, with support from the local Utah Pride Center. A few days a week, they set up camp in a study room in the library. They bring in Pride flags, informational fliers and rainbow stickers to distribute. Without an official center, they sit at a big table in case other students come looking for a space to study or spend time with friends. What the university is doing Lori McDonald, the university's vice president of student affairs, said so far, her staff has not seen as many students spending time in the two new centers as they did when that space was the Women's Resource Center and the LGBT Resource Center. 'I still hear from students who are grieving the loss of the centers that they felt such ownership of and comfort with,' McDonald said. 'I expected that there would still be frustration with the situation, but yet still carrying on and finding new things.' Katy Hall, a Republican state representative who co-sponsored the legislation, said in an email she wanted to ensure that support services were available to all students and that barriers to academic success were removed. 'My aim was to take the politics out of it and move forward with helping students and Utahns to focus on equal treatment under the law for all,' Hall said. 'Long term, I hope that students who benefitted from these centers in the past know that the expectation is that they will still be able to receive services and support that they need.' Concerns ahead Research has shown that a sense of belonging at college contributes to improved engagement in class and campus activities and to retaining students until they graduate. 'When we take away critical supports that we know have been so instrumental in student engagement and retention, we are not delivering on our promise to ensure student success,' said Royel M. Johnson, director of the national assessment of collegiate campus climates at the USC Race and Equity Center. Kirstin Maanum is the director of the new Center for Student Access and Resources; it administers scholarships and guidance previously offered by the now-closed centers. She formerly served as the director of the Women's Resource Center. 'Students have worked really hard to figure out where their place is and try to get connected,' Maanum said. 'It's on us to be telling students what we offer and even in some cases, what we don't, and connecting them to places that do offer what they're looking for.' That has been difficult, she said, because the changeover happened so quickly, even though some staffers from the closed centers were reassigned to the new centers. The new way of doing things Last fall, the new Center for Community and Cultural Engagement hosted a fall event around the time of National Coming Out Day in October, with a screening of 'Paris Is Burning,' a film about transgender women and drag queens in New York City in the 1980s. Afterward, two staff members led a discussion with the students, prefacing that talk with a disclaimer saying that they were not speaking on behalf of the university. Center staffers also created an altar for students to observe Día de los Muertos, held an event to celebrate Indigenous art and has hosted events in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month. But some students lament the loss of dedicated cultural spaces. For Taylor White, a recent graduate with a degree in psychology, connecting with fellow Black students through BSU events was, 'honestly, the biggest relief of my life.' At the Black Cultural Center, she said, students could talk about what it was like to be the only Black person in their classes or to be Black in other predominantly white spaces. She said that without the support of other Black students, she's not sure she would have been able to finish her degree. This article was produced by the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Strict Utah law cut DEI from colleges. Affected students say they no longer feel valued
SALT LAKE CITY — Nevaeh Parker, president of the Black Student Union at the University of Utah, has spent much of the school year scrambling to salvage her organization, undercut by matters far beyond student control. A new Utah law banning diversity, equity and inclusion programming at public colleges took effect July 1, eliminating the Black Student Union's $11,000 in university funding, shutting down its gathering center and taking away staff support for an organization that for more than 50 years has been helping Black students succeed in college. As a condition of remaining a university-sponsored and funded organization, the group had to agree to never talk about bias, discrimination and identity politics on campus. The students refused — along with three other campus affinity groups. Now the Black Student Union, the Asian American Assn., the Pacific Islander Assn. and LGBTQ+ students are fending for themselves, scrambling to find community support, advisors, mentoring and a place to meet, while feeling they are no longer valued on campus. As President Trump sets out to ban DEI efforts across the federal government and in schools, colleges and businesses, Utah's law and its impact at the University of Utah offer a case study on what a college campus looks like without race- and gender-based campus programs. Utah is among at least 15 states with DEI bans in schools and higher education institutions. Utah's law prohibits public universities, K-12 schools and government offices 'from engaging in discriminatory practices' based on a person's race, color, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion or gender identity. The law states it 'does not impact' academic freedom or research and classroom instruction, among other issues. When it comes to speech, 'an institution may not take, express, or assert a position or opinion' on anti-racism, bias, critical race theory, implicit bias, intersectionality, prohibited discriminatory practices, racial privilege,' the law states. Diversity training is also banned. Parker and others said that agreeing to limit their speech on issues important to them was the line they could not cross to keep their university support. 'Those things are not political, those things are real, and they impact the way students are able to perform on campus,' Parker said. Alex Tokita, a senior who is the president of the Asian American Student Assn., said obeying the law is 'bonkers.' 'It's frustrating to me that we can have an MLK Jr. Day, but we can't talk about implicit bias,' Tokita said. 'We can't talk about critical race theory, bias, implicit bias.' As a student, Tokita can use these words and discuss these concepts. But when speaking as part of a university-sponsored organization, using such speech is against the law. The university responds Utah's law, House Bill 261, known as 'Equal Opportunity Initiatives,' arose from a conservative view that DEI initiatives promote different treatment of students based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. Violators risk losing state funding. To comply with the law, the University of Utah closed its Black Cultural Center, the Center for Equity and Student Belonging, the LGBT Resource Center and the Women's Resource Center — in addition to making funding cuts to the student affinity groups. Instead, the university opened a new Center for Community and Cultural Engagement to offer programming for education, celebration and awareness of different identity and cultural groups. A new Center for Student Access and Resources offers practical support services such as counseling to all students, regardless of identity. The law allows Utah colleges to operate cultural centers, so long as they offer only 'cultural education, celebration, engagement, and awareness to provide opportunities for all students to learn with and from one another,' according to guidance from the Utah System of Higher Education. For many students, the changes had little effect. Utah's undergraduate population is about 63% white, 14% Latino, 8% Asian and 1% Black. Gender identity and sexuality among students are not tracked. How students are coping Parker said she is dedicated to keeping the BSU going because it means so much to her fellow Black students. She said several of her peers have told her they don't feel they have a place on campus and are considering dropping out. 'The students are hurting,' she said, adding that she too is struggling. 'I feel as though me living in this Black body automatically makes myself and my existence here political, I feel like it makes my existence here debatable and questioned,' Parker said. 'I feel like every single day I'm having to prove myself extra.' So she continues her work, organizing the group's monthly meetings on a bare-bones budget — about $1,000 from the student government, which serves more than 100 clubs. She often drives to pick up the pizza to avoid wasting precious dollars on delivery fees. She's helping organize community events outside the purview of the university to help Black, Asian and Latino students build relationships with one another and connect with professionals working in Salt Lake City for mentorship and networking opportunities. A group of queer and transgender students formed a student-run Pride Center, with support from the local Utah Pride Center. A few days a week, they set up camp in a study room in the library. They bring in Pride flags, informational fliers and rainbow stickers to distribute. Without an official center, they sit at a big table in case other students come looking for a space to study or spend time with friends. What the university is doing Lori McDonald, the university's vice president of student affairs, said so far, her staff has not seen as many students spending time in the two new centers as they did when that space was the Women's Resource Center and the LGBT Resource Center. 'I still hear from students who are grieving the loss of the centers that they felt such ownership of and comfort with,' McDonald said. 'I expected that there would still be frustration with the situation, but yet still carrying on and finding new things.' Katy Hall, a Republican state representative who co-sponsored the legislation, said in an email she wanted to ensure that support services were available to all students and that barriers to academic success were removed. 'My aim was to take the politics out of it and move forward with helping students and Utahns to focus on equal treatment under the law for all,' Hall said. 'Long term, I hope that students who benefitted from these centers in the past know that the expectation is that they will still be able to receive services and support that they need.' Concerns ahead Research has shown that a sense of belonging at college contributes to improved engagement in class and campus activities and to retaining students until they graduate. 'When we take away critical supports that we know have been so instrumental in student engagement and retention, we are not delivering on our promise to ensure student success,' said Royel M. Johnson, director of the national assessment of collegiate campus climates at the USC Race and Equity Center. Kirstin Maanum is the director of the new Center for Student Access and Resources; it administers scholarships and guidance previously offered by the now-closed centers. She formerly served as the director of the Women's Resource Center. 'Students have worked really hard to figure out where their place is and try to get connected,' Maanum said. 'It's on us to be telling students what we offer and even in some cases, what we don't, and connecting them to places that do offer what they're looking for.' That has been difficult, she said, because the changeover happened so quickly, even though some staffers from the closed centers were reassigned to the new centers. The new way of doing things Last fall, the new Center for Community and Cultural Engagement hosted a fall event around the time of National Coming Out Day in October, with a screening of 'Paris Is Burning,' a film about transgender women and drag queens in New York City in the 1980s. Afterward, two staff members led a discussion with the students, prefacing that talk with a disclaimer saying that they were not speaking on behalf of the university. Center staffers also created an altar for students to observe Día de los Muertos, held an event to celebrate Indigenous art and has hosted events in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month. But some students lament the loss of dedicated cultural spaces. For Taylor White, a recent graduate with a degree in psychology, connecting with fellow Black students through BSU events was, 'honestly, the biggest relief of my life.' At the Black Cultural Center, she said, students could talk about what it was like to be the only Black person in their classes or to be Black in other predominantly white spaces. She said that without the support of other Black students, she's not sure she would have been able to finish her degree. This article was produced by the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
