News
Harvard's president speaks out against Trump. And, an analysis of DEI job losses
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Today’s top stories
In a video interview with Morning Edition‘s Steve Inskeep, Harvard President Alan Garber said institutions need to double down on their “commitment to the good of the nation” and be firm in what they stand for, which he believes is education and the pursuit of truth. The university sued once when the administration cut off billions of dollars of research grants and contracts. The latest suit came last week when the administration banned Harvard from hosting international students. A judge temporarily blocked the administration’s latest action, allowing foreign students the ability to stay for now.
Harvard University president Alan Garber (left) sits for an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep in Boston on May 26.
Jay Shaylor/NPR
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Jay Shaylor/NPR
- 🎧 The Harvard lawsuit and Garber argue that the administration is going after something bigger than international students. Garber says he doesn’t fully know the administration’s motives. However, Garber says he knows some conservatives want to reshape higher education over issues like diversity, equity and inclusion. Garber says he wants to encourage free debate on campus and that having international students helps contribute to the university’s environment.
- ➡️ Here’s a look, by the numbers, at the impact of international students at Harvard and across the U.S., including where most of them come from.
Corporate America is distancing itself from DEI. This move showcases a significant shift from five years ago, when the racial reckoning triggered by George Floyd’s murder sent companies racing to staff up. NPR reports on the extent of job losses in this field.
- 🎧 More than 2,600 jobs in DEI have been eliminated in the last couple of years, NPR’s Maria Aspan reports on Up First. That is over 10% of the DEI jobs that existed at the start of 2023. Aspan talked with Candace Byrdsong Williams, who was laid off last summer and hasn’t been able to find a new job. Aspan says that though Williams is only one person, there are thousands of people who have been living through this very changing and politized job market.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a new group backed by the U.S. and Israel, is starting to bring limited quantities of food to Gaza, where hunger is widespread and extreme. However, the group is facing suspicion and growing criticism from the UN and other aid groups. Jake Wood, the executive director, resigned on Sunday, saying he could not abandon principles of humanity, impartiality and independence.
- 🎧 Instead of distributing food to sites in Gaza where people are starving, the new group will operate in only four new zones with Israeli soldiers guarding the perimeters, NPR’s Daniel Estrin reports. The private contractors will give out boxes of food to families once a week. A private U.S. company run by a former CIA officer is involved in the group, which won’t say where its funding comes from.
Deep dive
ears after their son left the U.S. to join ISIS, a Minnesota couple learned they had two young grandsons trapped in a Syrian desert camp. They were determined to rescue them.
Dion MBD for NPR
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Dion MBD for NPR
Years after their son left the U.S. to join ISIS, a Minnesota couple learned they had two young grandsons trapped in a Syrian desert camp. They’re among an estimated 22 U.S. citizens still in the sprawling, primitive camps, including about 17 American children, according to the State Department. The two Minnesota boys were there until May 2024, when they were flown in a military cargo plane to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to start a new life in the American Midwest. Read the full story here by NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer.
Picture show
The view of the Andes from Cerro San Cristobal above Santiago, Chile.
Brian Mann/NPR
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Brian Mann/NPR
Autumn has arrived in South America, and it’s perfect hiking conditions in Santiago, Chile, the capital, where steep hills rise above the city. At the center is Cerro San Cristóbal, with breathtaking views of wildflowers, pine forests and the Andes Mountains. NPR’s Brian Mann made the trek, where he ventured through forested hills of volcanic rock and groves of cactus. Check out photos from his journey and listen as he shares his experience from the trail here.
3 things to know before you go
Hummingbirds gather around a hummingbird feeder filled with sugar water, in a backyard in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, July 17, 2014.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
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Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
- A new study in Global Change Biology details the evolutionary change of Anna’s Hummingbirds in the western U.S., finding their beaks have grown longer and more tapered to get the most from common backyard feeders.
- In 2016, Tulika Prasad’s non-verbal, autistic son had an outburst at a grocery store. A stranger, also a parent of a child with autism, understood what was happening. The unsung hero helped her with her groceries and offered empathy instead of showing pity.
- Filmmaker Marcel Ophuls, who was known as one of the great documentarians of his era, died Saturday at age 97. He commanded his audience’s attention with four-hour-plus documentaries like The Sorrow and The Pity.
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
News
Man Charged With Posting Bomb Instructions Used in New Orleans Attack
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a former Army serviceman they accused of distributing instructions on how to build explosives that were used by a man who conducted a deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day last year.
The former serviceman, Jordan A. Derrick, a 40-year-old from Missouri, was charged with one count of engaging in the business of manufacturing explosive materials without a license; one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device; and one count of distributing information relating to manufacturing explosives, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. The three charges together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years in federal prison.
Starting in September 2023, the authorities said, Mr. Derrick was using various social media sites to share videos of himself making explosive materials, including detonators. His videos provided step-by-step instructions, and he often engaged with viewers in comments, sometimes answering their questions about the chemistry behind the explosives.
The authorities said that Mr. Derrick’s videos were downloaded by Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, 42, who was accused of ramming a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Jan. 1, 2025, in a terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured dozens. Mr. Jabbar was killed in a shootout with the police. Before the attack, Mr. Jabbar had placed two explosives on Bourbon Street, the authorities said, but they did not detonate.
The authorities later recovered two laptops and a USB drive in a house that Mr. Jabbar had rented. The USB drive contained several videos created by Mr. Derrick that provided instructions on making explosives. The authorities said the explosives they recovered were consistent with the ones Mr. Derrick had posted about.
Mr. Derrick’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Derrick was a combat engineer in the Army, where he provided personnel and vehicle support, the authorities said. He also helped supervise safety personnel during demolitions and various operations. He was honorably discharged in February 2013.
The authorities did not say whether Mr. Derrick had any communication with Mr. Jabbar, or whether the men had known each other. In some of Mr. Derrick’s videos and comments, he indicated that he was aware that his videos could be misused.
“There are a plethora of uh, moral, you know, entanglements with topics, any topic of teaching explosives, right?” he asked in one video, according to the affidavit. “Of course, the wrong people could get it.”
The authorities also said that an explosion occurred at a private residence in Odessa, Mo., on May 4, and the occupant of the residence told investigators that he had manufactured explosives after watching online tutorials from Mr. Derrick.
Mr. Derrick’s YouTube account had more than 15,000 subscribers and 20 published videos, the affidavit said. He had also posted content on other platforms, including Odysee and Patreon. Some videos were accessible to the public for free, while others required a paid subscription to view.
“My responsibility to my countrymen is to make sure that I serve the function of the Second Amendment to strengthen it,” Mr. Derrick said in one of his videos, according to the affidavit. “This is how I serve my country for real.”
Outside of the income he received through content creation, Mr. Derrick did not have any known employment. He did receive a monthly disability check from Veterans Affairs, the affidavit stated.
News
The Girls: “This isn’t ringing alarms to y’all?” : Embedded
News
Chud the Builder, Known for Racist Confrontations, Charged With Attempted Murder
A streamer known for hurling racist slurs in public settings under the nickname “Chud the Builder” was charged with attempted murder after a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse on Wednesday, the authorities said.
The streamer, Dalton Eatherly, 28, was involved in a confrontation with an unidentified man that escalated to gunfire outside the Montgomery County Court in Clarksville, about 50 miles northwest of Nashville, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Both men sustained gunshot wounds and were in stable condition, the office said.
In addition to attempted murder, Mr. Eatherly was charged with employing a firearm during dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the sheriff’s office said.
Mr. Eatherly, who is white, has accumulated an online audience by livestreaming confrontations in which he uses racist language toward Black people in public.
Law enforcement did not provide any details about the second man involved in Wednesday’s shooting. Mr. Eatherly posted an audio recording online of paramedics treating his wounds in which he claims he shot the man in self-defense.
A video posted by the website Clarksville Now shows Mr. Eatherly on a stretcher with a microphone attached to his lapel.
Mr. Eatherly is being held at the Montgomery County Jail, pending arraignment, the sheriff’s office said.
According to court records, Mr. Eatherly was scheduled to appear for a court hearing on Wednesday morning in an unrelated case brought by Midland Credit Management, a collections agency.
A lawyer listed in court records from a separate harassment case in which Mr. Eatherly was a defendant in November did not respond to a request for comment.
On Sunday, three days before the shooting in Clarksville, Mr. Eatherly was arrested in Nashville. According to a police affidavit, Mr. Eatherly live streamed his meal at a restaurant, Bob’s Steak and Chop House, on Saturday even though the restaurant had asked him ahead of time not to do so.
When he was confronted, Mr. Eatherly “became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene,” according to the affidavit.
He then refused to pay for his $370 meal. Mr. Eatherly was charged with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was released on $5,000 bond.
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