Daily Lumina News 110520

This year, college presidents have juggled the health risks of operating in a pandemic, financial losses, and responding to calls for racial equity. Now it is unclear how long it will be before there is a president-elect.
By Wednesday evening, Joseph R. Biden Jr., the former vice president and Democratic nominee, appeared close to securing the 270 electoral votes necessary to claim the office. Meanwhile, President Trump has vowed to challenge results that are unfavorable to his candidacy. An ugly and unprecedented few weeks or months are not impossible. College presidents say they expect to be called upon for calm and stability—and some may speak out as civic leaders.

Before classes had even started at the University of Missouri this August, Eli Hoff, the managing editor of the student newspaper, got a hot tip: A fraternity member had tested positive for the coronavirus.
As American colleges become a major source of outbreaks, with at least 214,000 cases linked to campuses, student journalists have found themselves playing a vital role in the pandemic, reporting stories of national importance and holding their administrators and fellow students accountable.

Californians voted this week by a 56.1 percent to 43.9 percent margin to continue the state’s ban on considering race, ethnicity, and gender in public college admissions, hiring, and contracting. But universities are pushing forward with other efforts to recruit and retain a diverse student body.
This work is often led by students like Nona Claypool. Claypool says too many students who would benefit most from higher education are unable to access it.

Millions of people have been put out of work by the pandemic, and countless others have had their studies interrupted by financial or health emergencies in their families. Economic dislocations have also hastened many industries’ pace of automation, which means that millions more people—who were just getting by in low-wage, “non-college” service jobs—could be forced out of the labor market by 2025 without additional education.
No matter who is president, the social and economic imperatives for colleges to serve older students—offering them convenient, affordable academic programs—have never been more compelling.

A growing body of evidence finds high student anxiety and uncertainty about what comes after college. Livia and Julia Morris, two recent UC Davis graduates who conducted a survey of college students around the country, offer their insight on how students feel about career exploration.
Kai Drekmeier, the founder and chief development officer at InsideTrack, also weighs in on the rising student demand for crisis help and what that means for higher education.

Even before the pandemic, there were tens of thousands of college students without stable housing or enough to eat. Job losses in the restaurant and retail sectors, where many students find work, only made things worse. Some students are months behind on rent with a federal eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of the year.
But some colleges and universities are finding new ways to respond.