Education
Police in Louisiana Investigate Hazing Episode After University Student’s Death
The police in Baton Rouge, La., are investigating whether a hazing episode at a fraternity may have played a role in the recent death of a 20-year-old Southern University student, university officials said Wednesday.
The student, Caleb Wilson, of New Orleans, died at 12:27 a.m. on Feb. 27, the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office said. A university investigation into his death started after rumors of “unsanctioned off-campus activities” began to swell, the university, whose full name is Southern University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, announced on social media. The activities are believed to have been organized by the Beta Sigma chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the university said.
“We have been informed that the local authorities have launched an investigation into this tragic incident,” the fraternity said in a statement on its website on Feb. 28. “We have extended ourselves to them and are ready to assist in any way possible during this difficult time.”
The coroner’s office said that “the cause and manner” of Mr. Wilson’s death were still under investigation. The Baton Rouge Police Department, which is investigating Mr. Wilson’s death, did not immediately respond on Wednesday to an email or phone call seeking additional information.
“An off-campus incident is believed to have contributed to Caleb’s death,” John K. Pierre, the chancellor for the school, said on Feb. 27 in a Facebook message. “Southern University is cooperating fully with the Baton Rouge Police Department.”
It is unclear whether Mr. Wilson was a fraternity member.
Mr. Wilson was a junior at Southern University, a historically Black institution, majoring in mechanical engineering. He was also a member of the “Human Jukebox” Marching Band, the school’s prestigious collegiate musical group that incorporates dance and music and has performed at Super Bowls and presidential inaugurations.
“This tragic loss leaves a void in our Jaguar family,” the school said, referring to the university’s mascot. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Caleb’s family, friends, classmates, and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.”
Southern University also said that it had begun a “student judiciary process” in the aftermath of Mr. Wilson’s death.
“Caleb was a bright and talented young man with a promising future ahead of him,” his family said in a statement provided to WAFB, a local television station. “We are committed to seeking the truth about the circumstances surrounding Caleb’s passing and ensuring that no other family has to endure such a tragedy.”
A candlelight vigil honoring his life was held on campus on Friday evening.
In recent years, there has been a crackdown on fraternity hazing at schools across the country, and several states have passed legislation to address the problem.
Earlier this year, four fraternity members at San Diego State University were charged with felony counts after a pledge was set on fire during a skit at a party last year.
In October, two men who were charged in the 2017 hazing death of a Pennsylvania State University sophomore were sentenced to two to four months in prison.
Education
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Booker T. Washington and 6 Other Americans Who Shaped U.S. History
When Donald J. Trump eulogized Schlafly at her funeral in September 2016, he cast both himself and her as underdogs — perhaps reasonably. Mr. Trump looked like the most long shot presidential nominee in living memory. Schlafly, who gave him a rare early endorsement, had in the 1970s slayed the Equal Rights Amendment, which sought to give women equality under the Constitution — a seeming shoo-in, until she got involved.
By 2016, much of American life had turned nightmarish for someone like her.
Gay marriage: widely accepted. Abortion: legalized. Gender-neutral bathrooms: commonplace on many campuses. Many women no longer measured their success in marriage and children, but in financial independence and personal fulfillment.
These days, though, her arguments ring anew in our ears, as a new generation of conservative women challenges feminism’s gains.
Today, anti-feminists hold powerful roles in Washington. Social media has gone frilly with tradwives. Their reasoning echoes Schlafly’s: Homemakers enjoy special status, protected and provided for by their husbands. Why give it up?
Decades before battles erupted over unisex bathrooms for transgender people, Schafly warned that the Equal Rights Amendment would spawn co-ed bathrooms. Long before “America First” and “stop the steal,” the ultra-isolationist Schlafly accused shadowy “kingmakers” of conspiring to nominate “America Last” candidates for president. She tarred feminists as radicals, just as her heirs do now.
To combat the E.R.A., abortion and gay rights, she mobilized formerly apolitical evangelical Christians, helping to build the coalition of religious conservatives that propelled Ronald Reagan to victory and eventually ousted social moderates from the Republican Party.
The political divisions that defined those 1970s debates “only got more pronounced over the years,” leading to today’s hyper-polarization, said Marjorie J. Spruill, the author of “Divided We Stand.” “And Schlafly’s tone had a lot to do with it.”
Schlafly’s victories came wreathed in paradoxes: She presented herself as a model wife and mother, breastfeeding all six of her children, yet she had resources (her husband, a lawyer, came from wealth) and a housekeeper that allowed her to run political campaigns and churn out books, newsletters and commentary. While exalting homemaking, she lobbied (unsuccessfully) for a top post in the Reagan administration.
Calmly, she deflected accusations of hypocrisy, saying that she had raised her children before embracing what she called her “hobby” — politics. Career and homemaking, she said, came “at different times in my life.”
Feminists never tire of leveling similar charges today, against women like Erika Kirk, the conservative activist who now leads the influential organization started by her late husband, Charlie Kirk; and Katie Miller, the prominent Republican political operative who promotes motherhood as women’s highest calling.
Yet many young women are veering further left, and their conservative peers aren’t necessarily sticking to homemaking, either. At a recent Turning Point USA conference for conservative young women, several speakers openly discussed balancing family with high-powered careers. You could see Schlafly’s influence. You could also see feminism’s.
Education
Test Your Knowledge of Books That Inspired Popular Screen Adaptations
Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about printed works that have gone on to find new life as movies, television shows, theatrical productions and more. As America edges closer to its 250th birthday next month, this week’s challenge highlights the popular screen adaptations of books about significant eras in the country’s history. Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. Scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their screen versions.
Education
Video: How the Job Market Is Leaving New Graduates Behind
new video loaded: How the Job Market Is Leaving New Graduates Behind
By Sydney Ember, Nour Idriss and Stephanie Swart
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