Latest news with #RhodeIslandCollege
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man wanted for threatening RIC concession stand employee
NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Police are searching for a man who reportedly locked himself inside of a Rhode Island College (RIC) concession stand with a woman and threatened her Monday afternoon. RIC's John Taraborelli confirmed to 12 News that the man walked into the concession stand at Pontarelli Baseball Field, locked the door and then demanded that the female employee working there 'get on her knees.' It's unclear at this time if anyone was injured. The man then ran out of the concession stand and hasn't been seen since. Taraborelli said the RIC and North Providence police departments are working together to identify and apprehend the suspect. RIC has increased patrols and are maintaining 'heightened vigilance' across campus as a result of the incident, according to Taraborelli. 12 News has reached out to the North Providence Police Department regarding the incident but has not yet heard back. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Raising of Palestinian flag at Providence City Hall also raises tensions among city leaders
PROVIDENCE – A Palestinian flag waved outside Providence City Hall in hopes of invoking solidarity and honoring 'the important role' that Palestinian-Americans play in a city as diverse as Providence, speakers at a May 16 flag-raising ceremony said. But the proposal to raise the flag has opened conflict within the ranks of local and state leaders. According to members of the City Council, the flag was raised at the request of constituents. 'Every one of us is safer when we can celebrate every part of our community,' City Council President Rachel Miller said at the flag-raising ceremony. The downtown Providence rally drew a large crowd to the steps of City Hall, where people of all ages brought their own Palestinian flags and banners, sticking around to play music and dance after an hour of speeches from community leaders. Despite support from some community members, there had been staunch opposition to placing a Palestinian flag on government property from other members of the public, who referred to it as an endorsement of terror and criticized the local government for taking a stance on international issues. A cohort of counterprotesters attended the Palestinian flag ceremony, too, carrying Israeli flags and, at times, attempting to drown out the official lineup of speakers, but the event carried on peacefully. 'City Hall displays many different flags throughout the year to mark different occasions and honor the many ethnic and cultural backgrounds and traditions that make our city strong. Just in the past couple of months, the city has flown the Dominican flag, the Irish flag, the Italian flag, the Armenian flag, and the Israeli flag,' the City Council's communication director, Marc Boyd, said in a statement. For Reema Said-Awad – a Palestinian Rhode Islander who just completed a master's degree in justice studies at Rhode Island College while focusing on academic freedom for Palestine – getting to see a flag from her homeland hanging outside City Hall has remarkable symbolic value. 'It means a lot. It means we're finally being recognized as human beings,' she told The Providence Journal after delivering remarks to the audience. 'We don't hold hate. We want unity. We want people to understand that we are human beings who deserve existence.' According to Said-Awad, hundreds of Palestinian-Americans across Rhode Island have joined campaigns to demand that state representatives use their power to end the U.S.-backed Israel-Hamas war. The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip has surpassed 53,000 people, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health, since Israel began its armed assault in October 2023, following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack into Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis and led to the taking of about 250 hostages. Since March, Israeli forces have blocked deliveries of food, water, medication and other necessities from entering Gaza, and aid groups stress the mounting toll that the humanitarian crisis is taking on civilians, as reported by Al Jazeera. Said-Awad said she and fellow community members have made thousands of phone calls, but they consistently receive generic responses. 'Obviously, we are very aware of what has been happening to the Palestinian people for quite some time now, so we want to uplift that message and show the Palestinian-Americans we have here that we see them and we're here to support them,' said City Councilor Miguel Sanchez. Sanchez said that a few council members were looped in about the request for a flag, and they alerted the mayor's administration before taking the idea public. Mayor Brett Smiley said that he would not have chosen to raise the flag himself out of fear that it would isolate Jewish residents. 'My office does not have the authority to prevent a separate, independent branch of government from expressing their differing political and cultural views,' Smiley said in a statement. 'It is my hope that both the City Council and the community who participates in the flag raising ceremony will use this as an opportunity to find unity instead of further division.' In an interview with NBC 10, Smiley said that Providence doesn't have a foreign affairs department and that taking such measures isn't part of a city leader's job. 'I would push back on the mayor's comments,' said Sanchez. 'The mayor was literally in Israel for a week.' The City Council's May 15 meeting was also a tense affair, where Councilwoman Helen Anthony and Councilman James Taylor opened the meeting with opposition to hanging a Palestinian flag. Taylor accused the City Council president and her staff of roping the council into her personal agenda, adding that at no point had he been consulted about the flag. 'You are welcome to speak, but you cannot make personal attacks on the floor,' replied Miller. A week after the state House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution recognizing Israeli independence and reaffirming the "bonds of friendship and cooperation" with the country, the state Senate on May 15 canceled a vote in a similar resolution. The Senate resolution, S1065, introduced by Providence Democratic Sen. Sam Zurier, was "placed on the desk," a move that means it could resurface for a vote – or not – at any time. "A couple of members raised concerns with the language of the resolution," Senate spokesman Greg Pare wrote in an email. "Because it was a new bill, they had not had the opportunity to speak with the sponsor." The proposed Senate resolution is identical to the House version that passed without objection, with the exception of one paragraph in the House version that says Israel "has sought to achieve a secure peace with the Palestinians and Israel's other Arab neighbors," which is absent in the Senate version. Both resolutions celebrate "a special relationship based on mutually shared democratic and moral values, common strategic interests, and bonds of friendship and mutual respect" between Rhode Island and Israel while lamenting "unjustified diplomatic and economic boycotts against the people of Israel." One of the senators who objected to the resolution was Sen. Sam Bell of Providence, who posted on the social network Bluesky that he was "deeply disappointed that the RI House of Representatives passed an inflammatory resolution praising Israel in deeply inaccurate and offensive terms." Smiley recently spent a week in Israel visiting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, among other locations. The trip was organized and partially paid for by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, while the mayor personally funded the remaining costs. The visit's primary purpose was to 'strengthen the relationship between Israel and Rhode Island.' Smiley told the Boston Globe that he converted to Judaism in 2024 after a year of study. On his first morning back in town from Israel on May 15, about 20 demonstrators with the group Jewish Voice for Peace gathered outside the mayor's house and chanted, 'Wake up Smiley,' while banging drums and noisemakers at 7 a.m. 'We're hoping to make it clear to Smiley and other local leaders and politicians that going on these kinds of propaganda trips has consequences,' said Zack Kligler, an organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace. 'We're not going to let you comfortably pander to the Israel lobby for your higher political ambitions and leave behind the people of Providence who are struggling with rising rents and putting food on the table.' The protest coincided with Nakba Day, Kliger said, which commemorates 77 years since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the creation of the state of Israel and the displacement of Palestinians. In Arabic, Nakba means, 'catastrophe.' 'It is a deep, deep irony that Smiley's first day back at his home is on the anniversary of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians,' said Kliger. 'We're both here to honor Nakba Day and the legacy of those Palestinians and to show Smiley that he can't sleep comfortably in his home while Palestinians are bombed in theirs.' 'People are progressive until it has to do with Palestine,' Said-Awad said. 'Look at our college campuses and what's happening there. They've been trying to shut us down for speaking out about Palestine.' This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Palestinian flag raising at Providence City Hall sparks tensions
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After RIC gives 20 degree programs the axe, some question what could have been done to save them
A September 2024 picture of Rhode Island College's Providence campus, where 20 academic programs are slated for suspension beginning in fall 2025. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) The indefinite suspension of 20 degree programs and concentrations at Rhode Island College (RIC) — including Portuguese, art history, and Latin American studies — surprised some people on campus. But the low enrollment in those programs was obvious, according to an April 16 email to the campus community by RIC President Jack Warner. 'I understand that change of this kind is often a source of trepidation,' Warner wrote. 'I can't emphasize enough that this work should be a regular part of our housekeeping processes; it only seems new and novel because it has not been done for so long.' Warner's email linked to a 32-page report conducted by the RIC Provost's Productivity and Efficiency team to comply with statewide policy for academic program review. The Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner (OPC) oversees public higher ed in Rhode Island and mandates that schools review their offerings 'no less frequently than every six years.' But such an exhaustive program review is 'something we have not done in many years,' Warner wrote. Students in affected programs can complete their studies, and courses and minors in the affected topics will still be offered, Warner said. But when the new academic year starts in the fall, no new students can enroll as majors in these programs — a process known as 'teach-out.' The majority of the affected RIC programs have awarded fewer than five degrees in each year since 2021. Neither Francophone studies or respiratory therapy, for instance, have awarded a baccalaureate degree since 2021. Under statewide policy, programs that haven't awarded at least 11 associate or bachelor's degrees, six master's, or four doctorates over a three-year period are subject to elimination, merging with other programs, or continued review. The RIC report recommended consolidating 15 programs and shuttering the 20 others. Warner said the curricular spring cleaning is not expected to impact faculty positions, and that the move 'was not an immediate cost-cutting measure.' Postsecondary Education Commissioner Shannon Gilkey said in an emailed statement that the program review process is 'consistent with practices among colleges and universities across the U.S.' Best practice or not, the maneuver left some RIC faculty and students flabbergasted with some claiming the process was performed less transparently than Warner suggested. Dozens of students held a 'Save Our Majors' protest at the Rhode Island State House on April 24. 'Why can't we have a say about what majors get shut down?' Hak Kay, a gender studies and film major said at the protest as quoted in RIC's student newspaper, The Anchor. Rhode Island College students protested at the State House on April 24 — the same day that had been slated for a celebration of RIC Day at the State House, until the event was canceled out of respect for the death of former Senate President Dominick Ruggerio on April 21. Still, the Rhode Island Senate praised RIC in a resolution passed May 6, one led by its freshly elected President Valarie Lawson, also a RIC alum. The resolution stated RIC was 'on the cutting edge of programs in cybersecurity, biotechnology, data science and artificial intelligence.' Vincent Bohlinger, a RIC film studies professor, said in an interview the process was inconsistent with the college's internal policies. Bohlinger's program survived the efficiency study for now, as did 21 other underenrolled programs included in the provost's report but spared from discontinuation or consolidation. All programs of study included in the report began filling out reviews in January after being identified as underenrolled, according to RIC's website. Faculty members who needed to fill out information for their programs' reviews had some troubles with the process, Bohlinger claimed. 'It was really like building a plane while it's on the runway,' Bohlinger said. 'The templates were changed, data was updated, they changed the deadlines, they moved them back, and then they moved it up for some people. It was really chaotic. …When the end game is actually suspending programs and reducing the options that students have for academic study and for career paths, it seems like process becomes more crucial than ever.' Bohlinger objected to the timing of the report's release in spring, when students are deciding which colleges to attend. 'RIC is cutting 20 programs. That's the headline,' he said. Dante DiGregorio, a junior majoring in political science, thought the school should redo the evaluations of low-enrolled classes and, like Bohlinger, claimed RIC did not follow either internal rules or the specifics of the OPC review policy. 'I think they should either suspend it or redo it, because they want to do this every year, and if this is how they did the first time, how will they do it the next time?' DiGregorio said. 'Procedurally, it was just awful.' DiGregorio's comments came after an April 29 State House press conference hosted by Rep. Karen Alzate, a Pawtucket Democrat and member of the Rhode Island Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian-American and Pacific Islander (RIBLIA) Caucus. Alzate, a 2013 RIC graduate, took to Room 135 of the State House to decry the cuts and noted that RIC is the first federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution in Rhode Island. Evaporating programs like foreign languages doesn't make sense, she said, especially in the current political climate. 'How are we making ourselves competitive when we're getting rid of something that is so important right now because of what's happening with the federal administration?' Alzate said after the presser. Alzate couldn't argue against the low enrollment, but she questioned if any outreach efforts were initiated to connect with potential students. 'What were you doing in order to get students to come to RIC who will major in these things?' she said. Alzate had several allies in the audience, including Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat. In a phone interview, Speakman said her solidarity with Alzate derived partially from her own experiences as a political science professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, where the school conducted a similar program review in 2023 that identified underenrollment in programs flagged for potential phaseout. (Full disclosure: This reporter previously worked at the same university during the time of the program review.) Smaller, private colleges like Roger Williams University are more likely to lack the resources to sustain less popular offerings in the humanities or liberal arts, especially in recent years. The post-COVID era saw enrollment patterns slide downward by 10% from 2012 to 2022 — a reduction of about two million students nationwide. Humanities often bear the brunt of the cuts at state-funded colleges and universities too. 2023 data from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences showed that humanities graduates make up a small chunk of the nationwide workforce, ranging from 1.9% in Mississippi to 8.3% in Vermont. Rhode Island had 5.8% of full-time workers holding humanities degrees. The interaction of economic constraints and student demand were not lost on Speakman, who sits on the New England Board of Higher Education. She understands how intense fiscal pressure can influence administrative decisions to cut courses. A hypothetical philosophy classroom with only three students in it, Speakman said, doesn't satisfy the idea of healthy enrollment. Speakman said the challenges facing the arts and humanities at the college level echo what's happening in elementary and secondary schools. 'Those programs have been under assault in schools for years…I don't want to sound overly mushy about it, but these disciplines — art, music, philosophy, literature — they make us fully human.' Speakman said the General Assembly mostly gets involved in public funding to K-12 schools, but she acknowledged one area of higher ed where the state has invested significantly: cybersecurity, with RIC at its epicenter via a $73 million share of a $160.5 million bond voters approved last November. 'My concern is that these are going to become the province of the wealthy again, as they were in the middle ages, where you had wealthy people being able to study literature and art…and the rest of us…we were apprentices at the blacksmith,' Speakman said. 'That's kind of a ridiculous example, but…all of us, no matter what our paying job is, should have access to those areas of study.' RIC has started to reverse its enrollment decline, Warner shared in his recap of the college's past year at a March 25 hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance. New, high-demand programs introduced since 2023, like cybersecurity, sports management and biotechnology, are seeing healthy demand, the president said. Warner foreshadowed the forthcoming announcement of cuts after a long process in which 'it was an important priority for us for any program affected to be heard.' Higher education, Warner said, is 'a mature industry, not just growing and growing and growing. So if you're going to put new programs into place, you have to make room for those by constantly evaluating the programs that might no longer be serving in ways that they were originally intended.' The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI), had slightly different results when it reviewed its programs. Between 2020 and 2023, it removed from its catalog 18 mostly technology-related offerings, many of them certificate programs, in which enrollment declined or the curriculum no longer aligned with today's job market. But CCRI also replaced the defunct programs with new offerings, like certificates for cyber defense and graphic design, or an associate's degree in cloud computing. 'Each change is the result of thorough academic and industry review and reflects our continuous efforts to offer programs that lead to meaningful careers for our students,' Amy Kempe, chief of staff at CCRI, said in an email. 'And, we actually came out a net positive one program!' The following 20 programs, some of which are concentrations offered under the umbrella of other degree programs, were marked for suspension in the Productivity and Efficiency report. Numbers from RIC show the number of people who obtained a degree from the program in 2024. In fall 2024, RIC had a total full-time enrollment of 5,420 students, both graduate and undergraduate. Art Education BFA — 0 students Art Education MA — 0 students Art History BA — 3 students English MA (Creative Writing) — 2 students Gender Studies BA — 0 students Global Studies BA — 0 students Health Sciences —Respiratory Therapy BS. 0 students Health Sciences — Dental Hygiene BS. 0 students Liberal Studies BA —2 students Modern Languages BA in Francophone Studies —0 students Modern Languages BA in French — 1 student Modern Languages BA in Latin American Studies — 0 students Modern Languages BA in Portuguese — 2 students Music Education MED — 0 students Elementary Ed. MED Early Childhood Education — 1 student Secondary Ed. BA General Science — 3 students Technology Education BS in Teaching — 3 students Technology Education BS in Applied Technology — 0 students World Languages BA in French — 0 students World Languages BA in Portuguese — 0 students SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Boston Globe
25-04-2025
- General
- Boston Globe
Rhode Island College suspends 20 degree programs, citing low demand
Related : The college is developing 'teach-out plans' for all programs selected for suspension or consolidation, and 'each and every student currently enrolled in those programs will complete their degrees as planned,' Warner wrote. Get Rhode Map A weekday briefing from veteran Rhode Island reporters, focused on the things that matter most in the Ocean State. Enter Email Sign Up He added that 'no faculty positions are expected to be impacted,' as the process is intended to reallocate resources 'where they will be most effective.' Advertisement 'This news may come as a surprise to some members of our campus community, and I understand that change of this kind is often a source of trepidation,' Warner wrote. 'I can't emphasize enough that this work should be a regular part of our housekeeping processes; it only seems new and novel because it has not been done for so long.' The suspended programs and concentrations include: 'Art Education BFA, Art Education MA, Art History BA, English MA (Creative Writing), Gender Studies BA, Global Studies BA, Health Sciences- Respiratory Therapy, Health Sciences- Dental Hygiene, and Liberal Studies BA,' according to the college's Advertisement 'Elementary Ed. MED Early Childhood Education; Secondary Ed. BA General Science; Technology Education BS in Teaching; Technology Education BS in Applied Technology,' will also be suspended, along with 'Music Education MED,' world language bachelor of arts degrees in French and Portuguese; and 'modern languages' bachelor of arts degrees in Francophone Studies, French, Latin American Studies, and Portuguese, the report states. Data provided by the college to the Globe shows no students are estimated to complete degrees for 10 of those programs this year, while other programs expect graduates in the single digits, with the highest being the art history program, which has six anticipated degree completions this year. Warner wrote he expects there will be 'some disagreement about the findings in this report' and that administrators will be meeting 'with all the affected program leaders to hear any concerns as we reimagine some programs and reinvigorate others.' 'I believe strongly that higher education institutions need an array of academic degree programs that is dynamic, i.e. those programs with very low demand need to be evaluated for whether they should be continued or make way for new programs with demonstrated high demand,' Warner wrote. Rhode Island College is far from alone in assessing its offerings. Colleges and universities across the United States have been slashing majors and programs – overdue attempts to balance budgets as federal COVID relief funding has dried up, enrollment fluctuates, and operational costs rise, In his letter, Warner wrote the college has been able to stabilize its budget and increase enrollment for the last two years. This year, enrollment topped 6,000 students – a first since 2019, he wrote. Advertisement 'But there is still work to be done,' he added. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
RIC cutting 20 degree programs due to ‘low demand'
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A group of Rhode Island College students and faculty members gathered Thursday outside the R.I. State House to voice their disapproval with planned cuts at the school. RIC's president, Dr. Jack Warner, announced in a letter that 20 degree programs will be suspended due to low enrollment, while 15 more will be consolidated. The cuts are effective this fall, but Warner said students currently enrolled in the affected programs will be able to complete their degrees. According to data provided by RIC, some of the majors being cut have had only a handful of completions in recent years, while others haven't had any at all. They include art and music education, creative writing, French and Portuguese. Warner said the school conducted a thorough review of its programs to weed out those with 'very low demand.' 'For bachelor's degrees, any program that graduates fewer than eleven students a year for three consecutive years should be subject to review. For master's degree programs, the threshold is fewer than six graduates for three consecutive years. All programs falling below these benchmarks were included in this review process,' he wrote in the letter. See the full list of affected programs at the bottom of this article. Students who attended Thursday's rally said they're frustrated that they didn't have any input during the process. They're also troubled about the types of programs being cut. 'In national higher education, we are seeing a growing desire to cut the liberal arts in favor of pre-professional careers,' one faculty member said. RIC student Judy LaRose told 12 News she isn't just upset about the cuts, but also the lack of warning. 'I was shocked. I was surprised because of the lack of communication leading up to,' LaRose said. 'I just think that there could have been a lot better communication to the students and to the professors. I think we deserved that as the student body of RIC.' 'This news may come as a surprise to some members of our campus community, and I understand that change of this kind is often a source of trepidation,' Warner wrote in the letter. 'I can't emphasize enough that this work should be a regular part of our housekeeping processes; it only seems new and novel because it has not been done for so long.' No faculty positions are expected to be impacted by the cuts, according to Warner. He said the college will next be meeting with leaders of the affected programs to 'hear any concerns.' 'This is not easy work, but it is important,' Warner added. 'The result will be a stronger, more effective and more efficient institution that better serves students and produces more graduates prepared to help power our state.' Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
