Latest news with #LindaLivingstone
Yahoo
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips named chair of NCAA Board of Governors
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been named chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, the NCAA announced Thursday. He will replace president Linda Livingstone, who has held the role since 2022. Phillips will serve a two-year term as board chairman, which takes effect immediately. He joined the NCAA's Board of Governors in August 2024 as a voting member and will become the first commissioner to serve as chair. 'Serving on the NCAA Board of Governors has been an incredible honor, and it's a privilege to be selected as chair,' Phillips said in a statement. 'During this time of continuous change, I look forward to the ongoing collaboration with my colleagues to elevate the student-athlete experience and further tackle the opportunities and challenges within higher education. I'm also incredibly appreciative of Linda Livingstone, as her steady leadership over the past three years was remarkable.' Phillips has served as ACC commissioner since 2021 after previously serving as the athletics director at . During his time with the university, he became the first AD to serve on the Board of Governors during his first term from 2015-17. Additionally, Phillips serves as the president of the Collegiate Commissioners Association – a role he took on last month. He has also served on the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball selection committees and the Big Ten TV/media committee during his administrative career. 'My sincere thanks to Linda for her leadership and service as chair of the board. I'm also grateful to Jim for taking on this role and his continued dedication to the Association,' NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement. 'His deep experience and strategic mindset will help us build on the momentum and progress already underway.' Phillips was one of a handful of appointments to the NCAA's Board of Governors this week. president Ted Carter and president Doug Girod both joined as D-I representatives, while former Concordia-St. Paul athlete Davaris Cheeks is a Division II graduate student-athlete representative. Former athlete Allison Feaster, who also serves as the vice president of the Boston Celtics, was reappointed as an independent representative. Jim Phillips' appointment came as the NCAA Board of Governors approved two major initiatives. One would enhance the Division I basketball performance fund by adding additional units in the men's and women's tournament. Previously, the unit system stopped after the Sweet Sixteen. Additionally, the board established women's championships in stunt, as well as acrobatics and tumbling.
NBC News
09-07-2025
- General
- NBC News
Baylor University to return $643,000 LGBTQ-inclusion grant
Baylor University, a Baptist institution in Waco, Texas, announced Wednesday that it would rescind its acceptance of a $643,000 grant that it had recently been awarded to study the inclusion of women and LGBTQ people in the church. In a letter posted to the university's website, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone said returning the funds 'is the appropriate course of action and in the best interests' of the school. 'We remain committed to providing a loving and caring community for all — including our LGBTQIA+ students — because it is part and parcel of our University's mission that calls us to educate our students within a caring Christian community,' Livingstone's letter said. She added: 'As we reviewed the details and process surrounding this grant, our concerns did not center on the research itself, but rather on the activities that followed as part of the grant. Specifically, the work extended into advocacy for perspectives on human sexuality that are inconsistent with Baylor's institutional policies, including our Statement on Human Sexuality.' The university's Statement on Human Sexuality says, in part: 'The University affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God. Christian churches across the ages and around the world have affirmed purity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman as the biblical norm. Temptations to deviate from this norm include both heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.' Wednesday's announcement comes just nine days after the university announced its Center for Church and Community Impact had been awarded a sizable grant from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation 'to help foster inclusion and belonging in the church.' 'Through academic research, this grant will help us better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change,' the June 30 announcement, which was removed from the university's website, said. The Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, according to its website, is a nonprofit family foundation that 'supports progressive, inclusive, nonprofit organizations that reflect the love of Christ.' Among its funding priorities, its website notes, 'faith-based post-secondary education,' 'social justice and advocacy' and 'inclusivity initiatives.'
