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 Dec. 12. To subscribe to the daily VUToday newsletter, visit news.vanderbilt.edu/vutoday.
The Washington Post: Selective colleges pledge to recruit more low-income students
Thirty selective colleges and universities announced Tuesday that they are teaming up in an effort to recruit more students from lower-income families. Calling their alliance the “American Talent Initiative,” or ATI, the schools declared that their goal is to enroll an additional 50,000 such students at 270 selective colleges and universities by 2025. Vanderbilt University is mentioned as one of the partners in the initiative.
Time: Sharp rise in drug withdrawal symptoms in rural-born babies
The number of babies born in rural areas with opioid withdrawal symptoms has grown much faster in rural America than in urban America, according to a new study, adding complexity for communities trying to get their arms around a national scourge that has had an enormous impact on small towns. Senior author Stephen Patrick, assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy, is quoted. Related articles appeared on CNBC, Daily Mail (U.K.) and Science Daily.
San Francisco Chronicle: Uber’s robot taxis come to SF as Google revamps
The next time you summon an Uber, it could be a robot taxi. To test passenger reactions, the ride-hailing company will put a handful of self-driving cars into service in San Francisco starting Wednesday. Douglas Schmidt, professor of computer science and computer engineering, is quoted.
Vox: Everything you were afraid to ask about white nationalism’s new place in American politics
In an effort to stop people like Richard Spencer of the white supremacist National Policy Institute from allowing inoffensive-sounding labels to distract from their shocking (and, to people of color, deeply threatening) beliefs and goals, some left-leaning publications have announced that they’ll reject the “alt-right” term altogether. On November 27, ThinkProgress editors announced that people in this movement would not be labeled with their chosen descriptors but rather would be called “white nationalists” or “white supremacists.” Sophie Bjork-James, postdoctoral scholar in anthropology, is quoted.
The Washington Post: There’s one big thing that can help poor kids get jobs 50 years later
It has been more than five decades since President Lyndon Johnson created Medicaid, but researchers are only now beginning to understand how consequential the program has been for the lives of the American poor. That is because Medicaid’s effects on the children who benefited have persisted long into adulthood, according to a working paper published by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, assistant professor of economics and author of the paper, is quoted.