Morehouse College Glee Club to Appear in Santa Monica

(Save the Date) — “Echoes of Excellence,” featuring the Morehouse College Glee Club, will take place Feb. 27, 8 p.m., at the Eli Broad Stage, at 1310 11th St., Santa Monica.

The club plays classical music by black composers. It has toured Russia, Poland and South Africa and performed at events and venues around the world.

The cost is $150 for VIP tickets, which includes a reception honoring L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, filmmaker Seith Mann, and jazz musician Billy Mitchell. The V.I.P. reception begins at 6 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at www.tix.com or www.glamaa.org.

Information: Darnell Holcomb, (310) 203-7802.

Calif. Race-Based Admissions Law Challenged Anew

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A pro-affirmative action group is renewing efforts to overturn the California law that prohibits public universities from considering race in student admissions.

Attorneys for Michigan-based By Any Means Necessary filed a class-action lawsuit Feb. 16 in federal court in Oakland. It challenges the constitutionality of the ballot measure approved by the state’s voters in 1996.

Both a federal appeals court and the California Supreme Court have rebuffed earlier challenges to the law, known as Proposition 209.

The complaint says a pair of U.S. Supreme Court rulings in affirmative action cases since those earlier decisions warrant another effort to invalidate the part of Proposition 209 that deals with university admissions. The law also barred racial preferences in government hiring and contracts.

Media Funding Frozen After Student TV Show Mocks Blacks’ Outrage to Ghetto Party

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The University of California, San Diego, has halted funding for student media after a TV segment ridiculed black students outraged by a party mocking Black History Month.

The head of the campus Associated Students froze funding for 33 media outlets last week after one, The Koala, ran a student TV episode calling black students ungrateful and using a derogatory term for blacks.

Associated Students President Utsav Gupta called the program “deeply offensive and hurtful” and revoked The Koala’s television charter.

“We will only open it again when we can be sure that such hateful content can never be aired again on our student funded TV station,” Gupta wrote in a letter posted on a new university Web site to address recent racially charged incidents on campus.

The Koala, which has a reputation for airing offensive material, made fun of reaction to an off-campus party Feb. 15, the “Compton Cookout,” which urged partygoers to dress as ghetto stereotypes to commemorate Black History Month.

Tensions were running high before the TV program aired last week. Only about 2 percent of the school’s 29,000 students are black, a historically low number that the Black Student Union highlighted last week when it presented a series of demands to administrators that aim to improve the racial climate.

A group of state legislators had demanded an investigation into who was behind the party, including possible student suspensions and revocation of fraternity permits.

On the Net: UC San Diego, http://battlehate.ucsd.edu/.

Most Calif. Schools Bow  Out of $700M Grant Contest

(AP) — Less than half of California school districts and only about a quarter of teacher unions have promised to make key education reforms required for the state to win $700 million in competitive federal grants, officials said Feb. 17.

Only 41 percent of school districts and 60 percent of eligible charter schools signed on for changes needed to participate in the Obama administration’s Race to the Top contest in which states can win extra federal funding to ease the impact of steep budget cuts.

Still, state education officials were hopeful California would be among the states chosen in April to share about $4.35 billion.

School districts across the state have suffered severe funding cuts during the past two years, resulting in thousands of teacher layoffs and program cuts. More budget struggles are coming in the next academic year.

The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to ask voters in June to ante up a temporary parcel tax to help close an estimated $640 million deficit. The district has agreed to participate in the contest.

If chosen, California would receive half the grant money and distribute the other half to school districts that agreed to make the changes backed by the federal education department.

The reforms include improving systems to track student performance, enhancing teacher and principal development, and turning around low-performing schools.

Payton, Rice Lead First Black College Hall Class

ATLANTA (AP) — Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, Deacon Jones and former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson were among the first set of honorees inducted into the Black College hall of Fame Feb. 20.

The Atlanta-based Black College Hall was established last year by former Pro Bowl quarterback James Harris and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams. The first class included eight players, two coaches and one contributor.

Williams, who starred at Grambling, said the Feb. 20 event was the culmination of a lot of work.

“Just like you practice for weeks before the season, we’ve been preparing for this night for a long time, and it’s game-time now,” Williams said. “We’re inducting some people who everyone knows, but some who have contributed just as much, but are just not as well known yet.”

 Although several of the inductees have passed away, all were represented Feb. 20. Several, such as Jones and Bill Nunn Jr., a former Pittsburgh Steelers scout, were present. Other local dignitaries in attendance included civil rights icon Andrew Young and Falcons owner Arthur Blank.

 “You have people like Bill Nunn, who a lot of people have never heard of, but was so worthy,” Williams said. “He was instrumental in getting guys from Historical Black College and Universities such as L.C. Greenwood, Mel Blount, Donnie Shell and John Stallworth, guys who were major contributors in the Super Bowls of the ’70s.”

Boston Area Colleges Lag In Minority Faculty

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston area is home to some of the most prestigious universities in the nation, but the number of minority faculty at such schools is lower than that of schools elsewhere in the nation.

The American Council on Education says blacks and Hispanics make up 8.8 percent of tenured and tenure-track faculty at universities nationwide.

But the Boston Globe reports that blacks and Hispanics make up 3.4 percent of the tenure-line faculty at BostonUniversity; 3 percent at Brandeis University; and 5.4 percent at Harvard University.

Not all area colleges are trailing the national average. UMass-Boston and Wheelock College are above the average.