Open Campus

Jan 24, 2025 | opencampusmedia.org | Miranda Dunlap

At a lab table inside San Jacinto College’s Central Campus in mid-January, Sam Rayburn High School senior Abigail Gova wields a BIC lighter to ignite her Bunsen burner. Once ablaze, her lab partner, Paola Alvarado, gingerly passes the tip of a metal wire through the blue flame. The Pasadena ISD students are practicing sterilization of lab tools by simulating aseptic techniques, a vital skill for preventing contamination with bacteria.

Jan 24, 2025 | opencampusmedia.org | Adam Echelman

As a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Gov. Gavin Newsom made a pledge to create 500,000 new apprenticeships in the decade after taking office, part of his broader strategy to boost the state’s job programs. He’s on track to reach that goal — with about 200,000 apprenticeships so far — according to last month from the governor’s office. But a few weeks after that, he cited a new and much larger number.

Jan 24, 2025 | opencampusmedia.org | Claire Rafford

An Indianapolis Democrat blasted Gov. Mike Braun’s first budget proposal as racist. Braun’s proposed budget would not fund the state’s only predominantly Black university or a state grant program designed to get more first-generation and minority students to college. “The active intervention to end or attack anything in the budget that gives state dollars to people of color is sickening,” said Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, in a news release. “I won’t mince my words: It’s racist.

Jan 24, 2025 | opencampusmedia.org | Amy Morona

Ohio lawmakers are again looking to ban diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the state’s colleges as President Donald Trump looks to do the same at the federal level. DEI is “institutionalized discrimination paid for by the taxpayers,” State Sen. Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, said at a press conference introducing Senate Bill 1 at the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday.

Jan 24, 2025 | opencampusmedia.org | Colleen Murphy

Some D-1 colleges could begin directly paying their athletes this year. And, as Trump returns to office, our reporters dig into immigration issues in higher-ed. A newsletter about role of higher education in society — plus Open Campus developments. This year will be a crucial one for colleges in the four most-lucrative athletic conferences.