Daily Lumina News 070820

Many obstacles still keep people with intellectual disabilities from considering college. Perhaps the largest is the “presumption of incompetence,” a misconception that college—let alone taking college classes for credit—lies beyond the reach of people with intellectual disabilities. And it’s clearly a widespread assumption, since only about 5 percent of colleges offer such programs.
But students in the Aggies Elevated program at Utah State University aren’t confined by low expectations.

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, colleges and universities across the United States are sharing plans for the fall semester. Many are telling large segments of their student populations to stay home.
Those who are allowed on campus will be living in a world where parties are banned, where everyone is frequently tested for the coronavirus and—perhaps most draconian of all—where students attend many if not all their courses remotely, from their dorm rooms.

Drop-in counseling for Black students. Therapy groups on coping with racism. Programs for white students on how to be anti-racist.
As the pandemic and the racial-injustice crisis continue to take a toll on Black people and other marginalized groups, colleges face a newfound urgency to support the mental health of students of color.

As college students across the United States and around the world contemplate what their upcoming semester might look like, new federal guidance limits options for international students and leaves them with an uncomfortable choice: attend in-person classes during a pandemic or take them online from another country.
And for students enrolled in schools that have already announced plans to operate fully online, there is no choice. Under the new rules, the State Department will not issue them visas, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection will not allow them to enter the country.