University News and Communications publishes VUToday, a compilation of Vanderbilt mentions in the media, each weekday. Read a selection of Vanderbilt news stories for the week of Nov. 21. To subscribe to the daily VUToday newsletter, visit news.vanderbilt.edu/vutoday.
The Tennessean: David Price makes $2.5 million donation to Vanderbilt
Boston Red Sox pitcher and former Vanderbilt student-athlete David Price has donated $2.5 million to complete the Commodores’ new $12 million baseball facilities project. Vanderbilt made the announcement Friday afternoon during a ceremony at the construction site with Price, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, Head Coach Tim Corbin, and David Williams, vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletics director. Zeppos, Williams and Price are quoted. A related article in The Tennessean—Rexrode: In glory and grief, Tim Corbin is pure gold at Vanderbilt—quotes Corbin and Price. ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Boston Globe and Nashville Post also covered the news of Price’s gift, and the Associated Press story was picked up by dozens of outlets nationally.
Inside Higher Ed: Opinion: Building a diverse STEM workforce
When the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case Fisher vs. the University of Texas in July, university admissions officers cheered the affirmation of including race and ethnicity as admissions criteria when narrowly tailored to the institution’s mission. But despite the positive decision for affirmative action, university leaders are facing another challenge: making sure they have the right diversity practices in place to support the students they admit. The piece mentions the Fisk–Vanderbilt Master’s-to-Ph.D. Bridge program and its graduate Fabienne Bastien, the first African American woman to be published in Nature and the first African American recipient of the NASA Hubble Fellowship.
The Christian Science Monitor: Could ‘faithless electors’ undermine the Electoral College?
Despite President-elect Donald J. Trump’s victory in the Electoral College, Hillary Clinton currently has a slim but growing lead in the popular vote, with 1.7 million more votes than the Republican candidate as of Monday morning. That’s a larger margin of popular votes than those carried by some winning presidential candidates and has led to renewed support among Democrats to call for the end of the 228-year-old Electoral College. Thomas Schwartz, professor of history, is quoted.
ABC News: Defense secretary contender James Mattis faces legal obstacle to getting the post
The saying is “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” and if President-elect Donald Trump picks retired Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense, he is still too much a Marine in the eyes of the law. Mattis retired in 2013, leaving him four years short of the requisite seven years after active duty before commissioned officers may serve as secretary of defense. David Lewis, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science, is quoted.
The Christian Science Monitor: In change on abortion, Pope Francis sends big message (+video)
During his tenure Pope Francis has worked to emphasize a more pastorally-inclusive message to lesbians, gays and transgender people, as well as divorced couples, women and oppressed minorities. On Monday, he carried that message of mercy further, allowing all priests to offer absolution to women who have had an abortion. Bruce Morrill, Edward A. Malloy Professor of Catholic Studies, is quoted.