Month: November 2022

Over the last four decades, affirmative action has helped transform diversity on college campuses in the United States. But soon, affirmative action in higher education may come to an end.

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. Many Court observers believe that the current 6-3 conservative supermajority will rule that higher education can no longer consider race as a factor in admitting students.

If affirmative action is overturned, what tools can colleges and universities use to make their campuses more diverse? For answers, we look to California. In 1996 the state banned the use of affirmative action in public universities.

Mitchell Chang is Associate Vice Chancellor of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Los Angeles. He spoke with NPR’s Adrian Florido.

The extremes of climate change are wreaking havoc on the Mississippi.

Over the past two months, this critical waterway has seen below average rainfall. In some places, water levels haven’t been this low for more than 30 years.

NPR’s Debbie Elliot explains how that is helping the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico push upriver, threatening municipal and commercial water supplies.

Then Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and Eva Tesfaye, of The Mississippi River Basin Ag and Water Desk, show us how life on the river can be just as hard when climate change produces too much water.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and other recent incidents have security experts worried about the potential for political violence around the midterm elections.

NPR’s Miles Parks and Odette Yousef explain what law enforcement and elections officials are preparing for.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Billions will be watching when the men’s soccer World Cup begins in Qatar this month. But the country’s human rights record will also be in the global spotlight during the tournament.

A 2021 investigation by The Guardian revealed that more than 6,500 migrant laborers died during the construction of World Cup facilities and infrastructure.

There are also questions about how LGBTQ soccer fans and players may be treated in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal.

We hear from one man who is speaking out about the lack of LGBTQ rights in his home country. And we speak with Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that has been putting pressure on Qatar ahead of the World Cup.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

More than eight months after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, new challenges are emerging.

NPR’s Franco Ordoñez reports that Ukrainian soldiers are preparing for what could be their toughest battle yet: the fight for the southern city of Kherson.

Meanwhile, supply chain issues are complicating the flow of Western military aid to Ukraine. We hear about that from NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR global economics correspondent Stacey Vanek Smith.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Elections are tight in many parts of the US these days. They certainly are in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where the last two presidential elections were decided by very thin margins. This year’s midterms could be just as tight in the state.

For Democrats, who are hoping to pick up a US Senate seat in Wisconsin, a key factor will be turnout among young voters. NPR’s Juana Summers talked to three Wisconsin voters under the age of 30 to find out what issues are driving them to the polls this year.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.