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General campus news of Baylor University for the Lariat

The Baylor Board of Regents during its regular fall meeting, received a progress report on the university’s Baylor in Deeds strategic plan with particular emphasis on the plan’s high impact Bold Pursuits and Extend the Line initiatives, an approved new master’s program and gave remarks on the Memorial of Enslaved Persons dedication ceremony Friday.

“It’s a result of just near optimal conditions for the survivability of the insects throughout its life cycle,” Dr. Jeff Back, a lab instrument specialist at the Center for Reservoir and Aquatic System Research, said. “And so lots of eggs hatch, lots of immature survive to adulthood, and, voila, you have cricket apocalypse.”

“There are a lot of people who don’t like to run by themselves, and so this is an opportunity to make some new friendships and get out there and do a community run, and maybe you guys can get some run buddies,” Uriah Yarbrough, Health Services staff nurse and outreach coordinator, said.

Alumni and current students are mourning the passing of Baylor Communication Professor Dr. David Schlueter, remembered for his kindness and gracious spirit. In a social media post made by the Baylor Department of Communication, they described a professor who made time for everyone, whether they met him once at an event or were mentored by him over the years.

The Baylor Lariat, the voice for the student body for the past 80 years, was silent. An empty newsroom was echoed only by the fateful last stand of the Feb. 22, 1980, editorial. But in the spring of 1980, the lights went out in the newsroom. Students still went to class, and Fountain Mall still hummed with springtime chatter — but the newsstands remained empty.

Upon its founding, Baylor banned the chartering of national fraternities and sororities. It wasn’t until 1975 that the ban was finally lifted, the floodgates opened and Baylor Greek life’s tumultuous and iconic history began.

As diverse as Baylor’s offerings are, though, the academic makeup of the student body is not exactly the intellectual rainbow that the triple-digit number suggests. The palette is probably better described as dozens of thin strips with slightly different shades, sprinkled among a few very wide bands of dominant colors.

Before the Wright brothers took flight or air conditioning cooled a single building, The Baylor Lariat was already in print. Now, 125 years and roughly 12,250 issues later, Baylor’s student-run newspaper continues to tell the university’s story with the same curiosity and conviction that first inked its pages in 1900.

“We are actually the very last BFA-granting R1 fiber concentration here in the state of Texas,” Tina Linville said. “So if you are interested in studying fiber at the undergraduate level at an R1-level institution and getting a [bachelor of fine arts] in fiber, this is where you go.”

As censorship rises across American media and education, Dr. James Kendrick, the interim department chair of journalism and professor of film and digital media, warns that power and algorithms are shaping what ideas reach the public. From classrooms to social media feeds, he said the suppression of controversial topics limits critical thinking and open dialogue.

“Sports aren’t just games,” Dr. Paul Putz said. “They’re places where people wrestle with questions of meaning, purpose and faith. My hope is that this book helps readers see how deeply connected those worlds really are.”

The Memorial, which was recommended by the Commission on Historical Campus Representations in 2020, addresses Baylor’s historical relationship with slavery. It recognizes the university’s construction through enslaved labor and Judge R.E.B. Baylor’s own possession of enslaved people, while continuing to acknowledge all parts of Baylor’s story.

A Night Under the Stars, which takes place on the evening of November 7 at Fountain Mall, will feature eight performances with live voting from the audience, an array of food trucks, and a premiere of “A Celebration of Everlasting Color,” an hour-long feature film created entirely by Baylor students. But before the event became a reality, it dealt with questioning when seeking approval and funding. And for good reason.