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As the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the ability of many college-bound high school students to take either the ACT or the SAT, West Virginia University has joined a long list of institutions relaxing test score requirements in its admission policies.

If a student is not able to take the SAT or ACT, we will still admit them to WVU as long as they have shown academic ability on other areas of their application, said George Zimmerman, WVU executive director of admissions and recruitment. We have found that GPA is a better predictor of college success and reflects a students overall academic performance.

However, Zimmerman noted some scholarships and individual program admissions, including the PROMISE Scholarship, may still require a test score. As a result, a test score is still recommended in certain cases in order for a student to be considered for the most merit aid.

Some students admitted under the test optional process, who do not meet specific program requirements, will begin their career in the WVU Center for Learning, Advising and Student Success.

We want high school seniors to have confidence that their application will be reviewed without scores, provided that other benchmarks are met, Zimmerman said.

Its also important for students to understand that WVU has a rolling admissions calendar, so we encourage students to apply as soon as possible to get an admissions decision, he added. If a test can benefit their application, students can submit test scores at any point in the process before the start of the fall term, Zimmerman said.

The change will take effect Aug. 1 for admission to spring and fall 2021 terms and will be re-evaluated in time for the spring 2022 term.

Read the rest here:
ACT/SAT optional in spring admission - Dominion Post - The Dominion Post

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The cancel culture is getting out of hand. Some folks insist on getting rid of anything that offends them, with no concern about what might offend others. Who can dispute that Black lives matter? Who can dispute that all lives matter? But what about the organization, Black Lives Matter? Go to its website. Its origins are based partly on two falsehoods: first, that killers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were not acting legally in self-defense.

Actually, there was a nationally televised trial which found George Zimmerman not guilty in the Trayvon Martin case, and then Attorney Gen. Eric Holder investigated the Brown case and cleared Officer Darren Wilson. The BLM websites What We Believe section states: We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. So, BLM supports the most self-destructive facet of Black culture, fatherless families, which guarantees much higher rates of school dropout, crime, unemployment, incarceration and suicide.

Also, BLM focuses on the unwarranted killing of blacks by police (these are in fact very few and are exaggerated grossly), but ignores the far greater problem of Black-on-Black murders.

Check the FBI website for 2018, which shows that the murder rate for Black-on-white is 12 times that for white-on-Black. LM is pushing to defund police, which is resulting in an explosion of violent crime, disproportionately by Blacks against Blacks. This is anarchy. How is any of this helping Black lives? Its not. Its ending them. So apparently only some Black lives matter to BLM yet BLM signs proliferate at civil rights marches.

Why should non-Blacks not find this organization offensive and want to cancel it? And why should they empathize with the civil rights movement when BLM purports to speak for most Black people?

LT. COL. WALT BRINKER

U.S. Army (retired)

Eastover, N.C.

See the article here:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: To BLM, some Black lives matter - Washington Times

The BLM movement isnt a recent group, nor led by an ungodly alliance. But like every movement, there are those who for various reasons try to usurp authority claiming to represent them. Its been around since July 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of African American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier, in February 2012.

If religion was the best representative, then why didnt religious leaders start it or form one of their own? Why was one highly respected black minister assassinated over 50 years ago?

Shaun King did say what Mr. Waugh said he did. But he is not a leader of BLM, though he is a prominent left-wing fundraiser, activist and minister. Hes not even a fundraiser for BLM. The truth is, on Sept. 12, 2019, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson wrote a lengthy article raising multiple concerns in regards to King, especially related to fundraising. If you are going to judge all by the acts and words of a few then that has to be done to the police as well. You dont get it both ways.

I am a news junkie. I dont listen to sound bites and videos of one station. I do listen to FOX along with several others because the press isnt perfect. Its run by humans who as much as possible try to be unbiased. Yet arent always successful. They all have indisputable evidence that sometimes they have to apologize for. So I research what is said before forming an opinion or debating it with others. I dont presume one is omnipotent.

Sylvia McClelland-Morrison

Ashland

Trump like

a Sadducee

There were two major political parties during the New Testament times in Palestine:the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Pharisees were known for insisting that the law of God be observed as the scribes interpreted it and for their special commitment to keeping the laws of tithing and ritual purity.

The Sadducees membership opposed Jesus during His ministry. The Sadducees came from the leading families of the nation the priest, merchants and aristocrats. The high priest and the most powerful members of the priesthood were mainly Sadducees. Many wealthy lay people were also Sadducees.

They enjoyed privileged positions in society and managed to get along well under Roman rule. The Sadducees also rejected the tradition of the elders who were the body of oral and written commentary that interpreted the law of Moses.

Donald Trump is likened to the Sadducees. He also believes in free will,in which the people are responsible for their own prosperity or misfortune. Trump wants to make the law and everyone to abide by his interpretation. He wants to surround himself with people who will agree on his authoritative ways.

Trump is trying to set up a dynasty with his family to follow him in power. Trump looks up to Vladimir Putin and his power over the Russian people, and would like to operate in the same manner as Putin.

If Trump can remove the power of the people and their elected officials who somewhat keep him in check, he will be able to operate as Putin does. As Trump continues to drain the proverbial swamp of the people who do not agree with his way of governing, and as he exercises his authority in controlling the actions of the elected members who are trying to function in their elected duty to operate the government. He uses fear tactics and slanderous utterance in the presence of the whole nation to defame and defeat anyone who may disagree with his fashion of governing.

He has proven to me that he needs to be removed from his diabolic skepticism.

Ralph Martin

Ashland

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Excerpt from:
In Your View: Religion isn't the answer - The Independent

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - NOVEMBER 16: Tyson Chandler #19 of the Houston Rockets looks on during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on November 16, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Houston Rockets teammates Tyson Chandler and Austin Rivers will both wear their own names on the back of their NBA jerseys after the name they chose was not one of the 29 approved slogans.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, both players discussed their original plan to honor slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin with his name on the back of their jerseys. Martin was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida by George Zimmerman in 2012.

Im going to stick with my name, Chandler said. What I was thinking about doing was wearing Trayvon Martins name because I thought that would be a powerful statement. I felt like it would remind people that we dont know what this young mans future could have been.

And I felt like, with his name on the back of a jersey, it would remind people of lives that are cut short and we never know what those lives could have become, Tyson continued. I thought it would have been a nice gesture to wear it out on the court and for his family to remind people.

But that wasnt one of the ones (we could use) so Ill keep my name on the back.

As part of its commitment to continuing its support around social and racial justice which became a focal point around the world this summer after the death of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer the NBPA approved 29 slogans that players could choose from to wear on the back of their jerseys during the NBA restart in Orlando.

Some players chose from the list, whose messages included Equality, I Am A Man, How Many More? and Black Lives Matter, while others including LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis have chosen to wear their own names but will still support social justice issues.

Chandlers Houston Rockets teammate, Austin Rivers, will also wear his name on the back of his jersey for the same reason.

I wasnt able to put Trayvon so Im using my name. I do like some of the messages that they have. I like that some of the players are using that, but I wanted to go a different route, said Rivers.

I wanted topersonally for me, being from Orlando and Trayvon being from right outside Orlando that kind of resonated with me and my city and where Im from. No matter where I go or where I play, I always represent Orlando Florida.

So I wanted that but theyre not letting it happen so if thats the case, Ill wear Rivers.

Chandler said he has plans to keep the conversation on racial and social justice going and take action.

For the long run, Id like to get with lawmakers. I think thats where we could have a big impact. A lot of the laws need to be changed, that way we can govern them correctly, he said.

I love the momentum. I love the movement and everything that everyone is standing for, he continued. I would love to get with some lawmakers here in the near future. That is my plan.

Visit link:
Houston Rockets: Chandler, Rivers wont wear social justice messages on jerseys - Hoops Habit

Black Lives . . ., an installation and online exhibition at Concord Center for the Visual Arts, features Washingtons larger-than-life-size charcoal portraits of people he met in those communities. He started in Oakland, where transit police held down and shot Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man, in 2009. In Hempstead, Texas, he took pictures of students and staff at Prairie View A&M University, where Sandra Bland was headed when she was pulled over for a minor traffic violation that led to her 2015 death in jail. He visited Los Angeles, Ferguson, Cleveland, and more.

I put 5,000 miles on the car, Washington said. It was more emotionally challenging than I anticipated.

The people in Washingtons portraits are unnamed. Theyre just ordinary people who continue to live and survive in these places, he said.

Drawn with a loose hand, with swiveling strokes and smudges, the portraits almost shimmer, and they brim with personality. Women smile and men preen. One young man crosses his arms protectively in front of him and wears a seraphic grin.

Washington has installed the drawings in two groups of four suspended from Concord Arts 12-foot skylight. Four drawings form a square. Inside each square, the artist has placed an offering. Loose cigarettes honor Eric Garner, who was selling single smokes when he was killed by a Staten Island police officer in 2014. A pack of Skittles and a can of iced tea remember Trayvon Martin, who had bought them the night in 2012 that George Zimmerman killed him in Sanford, Fla.

These four people are here protecting, Washington said of the portraits surrounding the tea and Skittles. The installation conveys the scars and resilience of communities contending daily with the grief and terror of white supremacy.

The artist was originally slotted to curate (un)seen, a group show about racism, at Concord Art this summer, but COVID-19 squelched it. That exhibition, which was to include Washingtons vibrant and haunting paintings of lynching sites, has been postponed until next summer.

After George Floyd was killed, all the nonprofits in Concord were talking about how we could promote anti-racism here, said Concord Arts executive director, Kate James, pointing to the towns history of abolitionism.

James thought of Washington. I called him and said, Lets do something, she said. Washington offered up Black Lives . . .

We knew we could do it online, but after we hung it, we said, We have to show these by appointment, James said.

The pandemic has changed exhibition schedules everywhere. Four of the Within Our Gates paintings can still be seen in After Spiritualism: Loss and Transcendence in Contemporary Art at the Fitchburg Art Museum once the museum reopens on July 22. The exhibition has been extended through Sept. 6.

That project came about after the Alfred P. Murrah building was blown up, and the term domestic terrorism came in, Washington said. Black folks and Native American folks have been victims of domestic terrorism for years.

The artist is still working on that series. I still have Emmett Tills site, Washington said, but he has no immediate plans to go to Mississippi. The reason is not coronavirus. He took to the road for Black Lives . . . before Donald Trump was elected President.

I dont feel nearly as safe traveling, he said. For now, hell be staying home.

BLACK LIVES . . .

At Concord Center for the Visual Arts, 37 Lexington Rd., Concord, online and in person by appointment through Aug. 9. http://www.concordart.org

Cate McQuaid can be reached at catemcquaid@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @cmcq.

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Portraits of ordinary people who continue to live and survive at the site of police killings - The Boston Globe