It’s a story likely to be written many times and across the United States over the next 12 months: the elimination of full-time faculty positions at colleges and universities.
As MLive reports, Adrian College has announced planned cuts.
According to a news release from the Adrian College Association of Professors (ACAP), Jerry Wright, vice president for business affairs at Adrian College, sent a letter to ACAP saying the college intended to eliminate 10 faculty members over the summer followed by another 12 layoffs in the fall of 2021.
If all 22 positions are indeed cut, that would represent roughly 23% of the 95 full-time faculty.
The NBA’s players deserve accolades for their decision to boycott two days’ worth of playoff games last week after a black man in Wisconsin was shot in the back seven times by a white police officer.
That boycott served as the most powerful statement made by any sports organization in reminding America (and the world) that Black Lives Matter. Within hours, multiple MLB, MLS and WNBA teams joined the boycott, which the NHL also added its name to one day later.
The boycott was the right decision and made at the right time.
Now it must be extended internationally.
These basketball players, emboldened unlike at any time in the past in calling attention to social and racial injustice, must remind the Chinese that their government’s treatment of the Uighur minority is despicable. And until it changes, the players must make clear they’ll have nothing to do with China and a popular shoe company.
VOX.com summarizes the plight of Uighurs well, noting
…in recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has arbitrarily detained between 1 million and 3 million other Uighurs in so-called “reeducation centers” and forced them to undergo psychological indoctrination programs, such as studying communist propaganda and giving thanks to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Chinese officials have also reportedly used waterboarding and other forms of torture,including sexual abuse, as part of the indoctrination process.
Why is Nike important in this conversation? According to TheSource.com, half of the 14-richest shoe deals in the NBA are linked to that company.
The current players sporting Nikes include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Zion Williamson. The late Kobe Bryant also had a Nike deal.
This above list includes three of the NBA’s best players (Antetokounmpo, Durant and James); they have the gravitas to tell Nike to delink its products with China until there’s verified evidence the Uighurs are being treated with dignity.
The NBA has a billion-dollar relationship with China, and it’s hit turbulence in recent months. So far, the league’s front office has shown zero spine in calling attention to China’s human rights abuses. If that continues, and it appears it will, then the players must lead in demanding change.
If Black Lives Matter in the United States, then Uighur Lives Matter in China.
The players’ platform starts with consistently and publicly embarrassing Nike until that company confirms Uighurs — and anyone imprisoned in China — aren’t making any Nike shoes.
It includes breaking their shoe contracts until Nike gets its act together. (Let’s face it, if Nike takes these players to court for violating shoe deals, the company loses, no matter the verdicts.)
The platform also must call on the NBA to suspend contracts with China until human rights conditions dramatically improve.
Lastly, it includes refusing to play pre- or regular-season games in that country until China publicly acknowledges that Uighur Lives Matter.
It’s a heavy lift, and the blowback from China will be fierce. But it’s the right thing to do.
To anyone who believes it’s not fair to single out the NBA’s players, here’s the deal: The league and its players have been leaders in calling out racial injustice in the U.S. over the past 4-5 years. Their commitment to this effort has been all the more important because professional baseball, football, hockey and soccer players have said almost nothing in the same time period.
The NBA’s players are using their megaphone for the right reasons. But they can’t limit themselves to only what’s happening at home.
CNN reports there might be as many as 1200 coronavirus cases at the University of Alabama, and the Associated Press adds Arizona State University officials believe more than 450 cases exist on that campus.
In another part of the country, the San Diego Union Tribune notes roughly 200 students from San Diego State University were seen out without masks.
After reading these reports, many Americans are quick to draw a conclusion: My community is doomed. Whether they blame the students for the explosion in coronavirus cases is irrelevant; fear leads them to quickly conclude the same crisis will unfold in their city. (Yes, I recognize there also are millions of people who read the reports and shake their head, convinced there’s no crisis. I’ll refrain from criticizing them in this post.)
Yes, the media need to report these data, regardless of whether the coronavirus cases are happening on a college campus or in nearby communities.
However, while these stories generate headlines, they miss an important point: The circumstances in, say, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have no bearing on the health conditions in, say, Lawrence, Kansas.
In other words, a coronavirus outbreak at one college doesn’t mean a similar outbreak will occur at another college, hundreds or thousands of miles away. Likewise, people who live in those communities ought not be panicking.
Could a similar outbreak happen? Of course, it could. I’m not suggesting we be ignorant of the potential harm and do something idiotic, such as stare at solar eclipses while not wearing protective glasses. We must remain hyper-cautious in this lingering pandemic. However, the worst coronavirus cases thus far (and thus far are two incredibly important words to remember) to hit college campuses have tended to happen in states where the overall coronavirus numbers have been high.
Correlation? Causation? Coincidence? You decide.
As more colleges begin their fall terms this week and in the coming weeks, there will be outbreaks on many of those campuses. It’s critical for everyone to remember responsible college leaders are in constant communication with county and state health officials; and if those officials recommend closing a campus (similar to what we experienced in March), then the campus will be shuttered. No ethical leader is going to risk an even more dangerous situation by stubbornly keeping the campus open.
And just because an outbreak is reported in one part of the country, the rest of America ought not demand the colleges near them send students home before a crisis strikes.
Remain vigilant in how you protect yourself and your loved ones from this vicious virus. But don’t spread irrational fear.
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