Director of Athletic Diversity and Inclusion Chris Dixon was quoted in the Star Tribune story “Minneapolis streets erupt in elation over guilt verdicts for Derek Chauvin.” Dixon recalled the aftermath of the trial of the LAPD officers who beat Rodney King. Speaking about the Chauvin trial, he said, “I hope it’s a turning point for state and national justice systems to address police violence towards Black folks.”

MPR News on March 17 featured the final keynote address for the 2021 Forum on Workplace Inclusion, a conversation between MPR News host Angela Davis and Eddie Glaude Jr., a professor at Princeton University. Glaude made a call to action for conference participants, encouraging them to tell the truth about what has gotten in the way of full inclusion and to allow people to bring the fullness of themselves to the table. The MPR News site offers a complete audio version of the conversation, “The ‘workplace revolution’ with author and academic Eddie Glaude Jr.”

This recording of the call to action also gained attention through a tweet from Princeton University.

Lupita Benavides, a student in the Master of Arts in Nursing program’s transcultural nursing track, is administering COVID-19 vaccines in this KARE 11 story. The February vaccine clinic, sponsored by M Health Fairview and St. Mary’s Health Clinics, targeted members of the Latinx community in St. Paul, which has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. 

View the story on this Cision page. It begins at 17:04:17.

FOX 9 recently featured Minneapolis South High School students Gabe Chang-Deutsch and Clara Conry, who are part of the nation’s top-ranked debate team in the January 2021 National Coaches Poll. Minneapolis South High School is one of the schools that participates in Minnesota Urban Debate League, a program of Augsburg University. 

Chang-Deutsch noted that the Urban Debate League’s coaching has helped them be competitive with students from prestigious private schools. Amy Cram Helwich, executive director of the Minnesota Urban Debate League, also was interviewed.

Watch the FOX 9 segment “Minneapolis South High School debate team ranked No. 1 nationally” to learn more about the students’ achievements.

On January 20, William Green, M. Anita Gay Hawthorne professor of critical race and ethnic studies at Augsburg University, gave a lecture titled “What Happened in This Region to Create the Disparities That Black Americans Continue to Experience Today?” The lecture was part of a series on racial justice sponsored by the St. Croix Valley Foundation. In it, Green spoke about moments in history, such as the Civil War, when people addressed injustice; reflected on whether or not the protests following the death of George Floyd signaled major change; and spoke about the need for leaders to make racial equity a priority if the work is to continue.

The lecture was covered by the Pioneer Press in the article “For racial equity to occur, there must first be a ‘formation of trust,’ professor says.’”

President Paul Pribbenow was quoted extensively in “Private college presidents turn focus from pandemic to insurrection,” an Inside Higher Ed story about how college and university presidents are responding to the recent attack on the U.S. Capitol. Pribbenow and others learned of the violence during a plenary panel he was leading as part of the Council of Independent Colleges’ virtual Presidential Institute. Among the topics he addressed were concerns about how the historic trauma faced by students of color can be exacerbated by images from January 6 and the need for institutions of higher education “to model healthy democratic engagement.” 

Professor Jeanne Boeh, chair of business administration at Augsburg University, was one of three experts in WCCO’s “Good Question” segment on December 28, 2020. Boeh and two other economists answered the question, “How is the economy doing?” She expressed concern based on the unemployment rate and spoke about the potential for foreclosures if people don’t get back to work soon.