Daily Lumina News 062620

When classes resume at Purdue University’s campus in late August, many professors will be outfitted with special masks and give lectures to students from behind part of the mile of Plexiglas the institution has bought.
But not all faculty members and students around the country will have the same amount of protection, including those at community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, and minority-serving institutions. Their biggest worry: running out of basic supplies.

A new report by a group of educators and policy thinkers argues that community colleges are in the best position to upskill and train millions of Americans who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The study calls on community colleges to position themselves as central players in their regional economies, suggesting they teach academic and technical skills, employ work-based learning, engage employers more, and integrate credit and noncredit education.

At first glance, the former Highland Mall in Austin, Texas, looks like a typical shopping center. But visitors passing through the large glassy entrance on its west side are greeted by something else: an expansive learning center run by Austin Community College.

The coronavirus lockdowns have magnified inequalities in U.S. society—with higher unemployment rates among women, young workers, and those without a college degree. The gap looms especially large along racial lines, a fact now amplified by nationwide protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
While many people would like to see more government help, some people in cities like Baltimore are taking their own steps to ease economic burdens.

With millions of Americans unemployed or reluctant to travel or socialize because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and even though most courses will be online, summer registrations at colleges nationwide appear to be booming.
As more students fill summer courses, which speeds up degrees and saves students money, many are asking: Why aren’t all colleges open in the summers? Experts say it’s time to rethink a calendar that dates back to when students had to go home to help on the farm.

Hundreds of thousands of international college students sent home this spring are still stuck there because of travel and visa restrictions.
Colleges, which were already losing enrollment because of the anti-immigrant political environment, are bracing for losing still more students this fall.