Colleges Come Under Closer Scrutiny For Holding Transcripts Hostage Over Unpaid Bills
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is seen in a file photo. One student who missed his final housing bill here offered to pay it, but after collection fees and other charges were added, he gave up. The university blocked him from obtaining his academic transcript.
Kate Flock/The Hechinger Report
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James Smith missed his final housing payment to the University of Massachusetts Amherst when he spent a year there as an exchange student on his way to a degree from the University of Minnesota.
Strapped and with his family struggling financially at the time, he promised to pay off the $2,000 balance as soon as he could. But then collection fees were added and, because of a clerical mistake, he was charged an additional amount owed by another student with the same name.
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Academic transcripts, which students need to get jobs, transfer or go on to graduate school, are almost universally withheld over unpaid bills, sometimes for very small amounts. A few colleges and universities are now changing that practice. Credit: Emily Kaplan for The Hechinger Report
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James Smith missed his final housing payment to the University of Massachusetts Amherst when he spent a year there in an exchange program on his way to a degree at the University of Minnesota.
Meet the woman who will lobby California s powerful legislature on behalf of Black communities
Sacramento Bee 5/12/2021 Marcus D. Smith, The Sacramento Bee
May 11 Dominique Donette is the new public affairs specialist for the California Hawaii State Conference NAACP(CA/HI NAACP).
She will be the CA/HI NAACP s lead lobbyist and will also support the organization s communications and public relations strategies.
Donette is a Sacramento native and was raised in Oak Park. She recently spoke with The Sacramento Bee to discuss her journey back to her hometown and her work with the NAACP.
Note: The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Leahy Ardon (Ish Shalom) is not afraid to laugh.
“I find things funny where I shouldn’t. I find a lot of life funny,” she said with a self-aware chuckle. “I have a terrible habit of laughing out loud if I find things funny. It could be the smallest, awkward interaction between two people and I just can’t help myself. But I think it’s a healthy thing.”
As a young playwright, her works like “Conflict Zone” and “Galim” certainly show off her sense of humor. But she is by no means a comic, and laughter is just one part of her style, one that acts as an entrance to a deeper world.
When mothers all over the world heard this cry, our collective hearts broke. Floyd’s cry became a rallying cry for mamas despite our ethnicity or race to answer. “All mothers were summoned” became the uniting phrase, waking up many white moms for the first time about the violent reality of policing and racism in this country.
Much has been written about the long-lasting effects of the movement following Mr. Floyd’s death, including questions about longevity, what Black mothers hope happens, and what real change would look like. For one, Black mothers demand systemic solutions to the systematic problem of police brutality. Mothers of victims of police violence don’t want pity, they want solidarity and justice.