Wayne State University President Kimberly Espy is resigning. That’s according to a source with knowledge of the situation. Espy has reportedly been under pressure from the school’s board of governors to step down. In recent weeks, there’s been criticism about the unexplained decision to place the dean of Wayne State’s Medical School on leave.
A story by the Detroit News says the Interim Med School Dean resigned because his appointment did not follow proper channels. Espy was also criticized for not fully engaging in the Detroit community. She did not appear at an event on campus earlier this week to announce a program to make it easier for DPSCD high school students to attend Wayne State. Espy became the President of the university in August 2023.
A Wayne State Board of Governors’ meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 5 p.m.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is ending several grant programs reserved for colleges that have large numbers of minority students, saying they amount to illegal discrimination by tying federal money to racial quotas.
In a shift upending decades of precedent, the Education Department said Wednesday it now believes it’s unconstitutional to award federal grants using eligibility requirements based on racial or ethnic enrollment levels. The agency said it’s holding back a total of $350 million in grants budgeted for this year and called on Congress to “reenvision” the programs for future years.
More than $250 million of that figure was budgeted for the government’s Hispanic-Serving Institution program, which offers grants to colleges and universities where at least a quarter of undergraduates are Hispanic. Congress created the program in 1998 after finding that Latino students were going to college and graduating at far lower rates than white students.
Several smaller programs are also being cut, including $22 million for schools where at least 40% of students are Black, along with programs reserved for schools with certain enrollment levels of Asian American, Pacific Islander or Native American students. The programs have traditionally received bipartisan support in Congress and were created to address longstanding racial disparities in education.
Not included in the cuts is federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which are open to all students regardless of race.
“Diversity is not merely the presence of a skin color,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement Wednesday. “Stereotyping an individual based on immutable characteristics diminishes the full picture of that person’s life and contributions, including their character, resiliency, and merit.”
McMahon added that she aims to work with Congress to repurpose the funding for institutions that serve “underprepared or under-resourced” students without using quotas. She did not elaborate on plans to repurpose the $350 million.
The government’s grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions are being challenged in a federal lawsuit brought by the state of Tennessee and the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions. Tennessee argues that all of its public universities serve Hispanic students, but none meet the “arbitrary ethnic threshold” to be eligible for the grants.
The Justice Department declined to defend the grants in the lawsuit, saying in a July memo that the 25% enrollment requirement violates the Constitution.
In court filings, a national association of Hispanic-Serving Institutions said the grants are legal and help put its members on an even playing field.
More than 500 colleges and universities are designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions, making them eligible for the grants. It includes flagship campuses like the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Arizona, along with many community colleges and smaller institutions.
The new cuts drew backlash from Democrats in Congress.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Trump is “putting politics ahead of students simply looking to get ahead.” She drew attention to the government’s current funding bill, a stopgap measure passed in March that gives the administration more flexibility to redirect federal funding.
“This is another important reminder of why Congress needs to pass funding bills, like the one the Senate marked up this summer, that ensure Congress — not Donald Trump or Linda McMahon — decides how limited taxpayer dollars are spent,” Murray said in a statement.
The Education Department said it will still release about $132 million for similar grant programs that are considered mandatory, meaning their levels are dictated by existing laws. Even so, the department said it “continues to consider the underlying legal issues associated with the mandatory funding mechanism in these programs.”
Former President Joe Biden made Hispanic universities a priority, signing an executive action last year that promised a new presidential advisory board and increased funding. President Donald Trump revoked the order on his first day back in office earlier this year.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE – Pedestrians cross University Ave on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., July 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is visiting Renaissance High School in Detroit on Monday, raising alarms among teachers who say the Trump administration’s education agenda threatens the future of public schools. McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment executive whom President Donald Trump tasked with dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, is on a 50-state […]
A Detroit Montessori school is asking a Wayne County judge to immediately halt construction of a Chick-fil-A restaurant next door, arguing developers violated zoning laws and endangered children by building just feet from its playground. The Giving Tree Montessori, which serves 116 children from infancy through kindergarten, filed an emergency motion last week, accusing Verus […]
A Jewish children’s author and public school teacher has filed a lawsuit accusing Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit and Lake Orion Community Schools of violating her civil rights and misusing taxpayer dollars by forcing her to teach religion under a state-funded program intended for secular instruction. The case, brought by Lisa Rose in Oakland […]
CHICAGO (AP) — When Elizabeth Rivera’s phone would ring during the overnight shift, it was usually because the bus didn’t show up again and one of her three kids needed a ride to school.
After leaving early from her job at a Houston-area Amazon warehouse several times, Rivera was devastated — but not surprised — when she was fired.
“Right now, I’m kind of depressed about it,” said Rivera, 42. “I’m depressed because of the simple fact that it’s kind of hard to find a job, and there’s bills I have to pay. But at the same time, the kids have to go to school.”
Rivera is far from the only parent forced to choose between their job and their kids’ education, according to a new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and HopSkipDrive, a company that relies on artificial intelligence and a network of drivers using their own vehicles to help school districts address transportation challenges.
Most parents drive their children to school, the survey found, and those responsibilities can have a major impact.
About one-third of parents say taking their kids to school has caused them to miss work, according to the poll. Roughly 3 in 10 say they’ve been prevented from seeking or taking work opportunities. And 11% say school transportation has even caused them to lose a job.
Mothers are especially likely to say school transportation needs have interfered with their jobs and opportunities.
Around 4 in 10 parents with a household income below $100,000 a year said they’ve missed work due to pick-up needs, compared with around 3 in 10 parents with a household income of $100,000 or more.
Meredyth Saieed and her two children, ages 7 and 10, used to live in a homeless shelter in North Carolina. Saieed said the kids’ father has been incarcerated since May.
Although the family qualified for government-paid transportation to school, Saieed said the kids would arrive far too early or leave too late under that system. So, she decided to drop them off and pick them up herself.
She had been working double shifts as a bartender and server at a French restaurant in Wilmington but lost that job due to repeatedly missing the dinner rush for pickups.
“Sometimes when you’ve got kids and you don’t have a village, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” said Saieed, 30. “As a mom, you just find a way around it.”
The latest obstacle: a broken-down car. She couldn’t afford to repair it, so she sold it to a junk yard. She’s hoping this year the school will offer transportation that works better for her family.
Not all kids have access to a school bus
Although about half of parents living in rural areas and small towns say their kids still take a bus to school, that fell to about one-third of parents in urban areas.
A separate AP-NORC/HopSkipDrive survey of school administrators found that nearly half said school bus driver shortages were a “major problem” in their district.
Some school systems don’t offer bus service. In other cases, the available options don’t work for families.
The community in Long Island, New York, where police Officer Dorothy Criscuolo’s two children attend school provides bus service, but she doesn’t want them riding it because they’ve been diagnosed as neurodivergent.
“I can’t have my kids on a bus for 45 minutes, with all the screaming and yelling, and then expect them to be OK once they get to school, be regulated and learn,” said Criscuolo, 49. “I think it’s impossible.”
So Criscuolo drops them off, and her wife picks them up. It doesn’t interfere much with their work, but it does get in the way of Criscuolo’s sleep. Because her typical shift is 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and her children start at different times at different schools, it’s not uncommon for her to get only three hours of sleep a day during the school year.
The transportation burden falls heavier on moms
Mothers are most often the ones driving their children to and from school, with 68% saying they typically take on this task, compared with 57% of fathers.
Most mothers, 55%, say they have missed work, have lost jobs or were kept from personal or professional opportunities because of school transportation needs, compared with 45% of dads.
Syrina Franklin says she didn’t have a choice. The father of her two high school-age children is deceased, so she has to take them and a 5-year-old grandson to different schools on Chicago’s South Side.
After she was late to work more than 10 times, she lost her job as a mail sorter at the post office and turned to driving for Uber and Instacart to make ends meet.
“Most of the kids, they have people that help out with dropping them off and picking them up,” said Franklin, 41. “They have their father, a grandmother, somebody in the family helps.”
When both parents are able to pitch in, school pickup and drop-off duties can be easier.
Computer programmer Jonathan Heiner takes his three kids to school in Bellbrook, Ohio, and his wife picks them up.
“We are definitely highly privileged because of the fact that I have a very flexible job and she’s a teacher, so she gets off when school gets out,” said Heiner, 45. “Not a lot of people have that.”
Roughly 4 in 10 parents said getting their kids to school would be “much easier” or “somewhat easier” if there were more school bus routes, school-arranged transportation services or improved pedestrian and bike infrastructure near school. Around a third cited a desire for earlier or later start times, or centralized pick-up and drop-off locations for school buses.
Joanna McFarland, the CEO and co-founder of HopSkipDrive, said districts need to reclaim the responsibility of making sure students have a ride to school.
“I don’t think the way to solve this is to ask parents to look for innovative ideas,” McFarland said. “I think we really need to come up with innovative ideas systematically and institutionally.”
In Houston, Rivera is waiting on a background check for another job. In the meantime, she’s found a new solution for her family’s school transportation needs.
Her 25-year-old daughter, who still works at Amazon on a day shift, has moved back into the home and is handling drop-offs for her three younger siblings.
“It’s going very well,” Rivera said.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 838 U.S. adults who are parents of school-age children was conducted June 30-July 11, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
___
Sanders reported from Washington.
FILE – School buses are lined up in a storage lot, Aug. 14, 2025, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
Detroit’s schools are still recovering from the deep wounds of systemic neglect. Redlining, segregation, and a crash in city revenue starved schools of resources. Meanwhile, state funding for Detroit continues to lag behind wealthier districts.
Over the years, control of Detroit schools has taken many turns that have added to the trauma.
First, it was mayoral control, and later, state‑appointed emergency managers. These interventions were supposed to help, but they often made things worse.
Through it all, poverty has entrenched itself in the households of many Detroit students. Housing instability, unreliable transportation, and inaccessible healthcare have added trauma on top of trauma. And then came the pandemic, erasing precious early learning time.
But like the city itself, Detroit schools have been slowly, steadily rising. The latest glimmer is the new M‑STEP results, which show Detroit public school students largely making steady incremental improvements in math and English.
A Chalkbeat Detroit analysis of Michigan’s 2024-25 standardized tests puts the results into deeper context, showing Detroit’s third‑graders reading at their best level in over a decade.
Still, only about 13% of DPSCD third graders reached reading proficiency, that’s compared to nearly 39% statewide.
So what do these modest gains really mean, and how long can they last?
Dr. Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of Detroit Public Schools Community District, joined Robyn Vincent to answer these questions.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Longtime Detroit businessman and youth advocate Ed Deeb has died. The Michigan Youth Appreciation Foundation says the founder of Metro Detroit Youth Day passed away at home on Sept. 2, 2025. He was 89.
WDET’s Pat Batcheller was there when the Michigan Department of Natural Resources honored Deeb in 2018. Here’s Pat’s report.
The following story was originally published July 11, 2018.
Ed Deeb’s legacy lives on
Tensions were high in Detroit when a grocery store owner and two teenagers were killed in 1980. Then-Detroit Mayor Coleman Young called business leaders into his office, and challenged them to do something to keep young people out of trouble and ease the problems between retailers and the city’s youth. Ed Deeb was in that meeting. He founded the Michigan Food and Beverage Association. Deeb accepted Young’s challenge, and organized an event on Belle Isle. Since then, Metro Detroit Youth Day has become an annual rite of summer for thousands of kids across the city and the region. Deeb, who coached football at Eastern High School, says Belle Isle was a natural choice.
Pat Batcheller
“We didn’t have a practice field for football. We came here to practice,” Deeb says. “So when they said, ‘where are we going to have this event?’, I said, ‘well, the only thing I could think of is the athletic field at Belle Isle. Nobody’s using it, and we practice there’—so we got the permission to have our first one there, and we did.”
Deeb was disappointed with the turnout for the first Youth Day, which drew about 1,200 people and a few local celebrities. It’s where a young Bruce Ross met his idol, Detroit LionsHall of Famer Lem Barney. But Ross says Barney didn’t talk to him about football. Instead, he had message for Ross.
“You need to go to college. Make something of yourself,” Ross recalls. “So, Metro Detroit Youth Day has been more than just a fun event, it’s been an event that has reached out to me, have a college education.”
Ross earned his degree from Wayne State University and now works with Ed Deeb as a Youth Day board member. Education is a key component of Youth Day, which has presented more than 2,000 scholarships to young Metro Detroiters since its inception.
Pat Batcheller
Bruce Ross watched as city and state officials honored Deeb on July 6, 2018. From now on, Vista Avenue will be known as Edward Deeb Avenue. A new, bright blue sign bearing Deeb’s name now overlooks the athletic fields where the event has been held from the beginning. Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones says it’s a fitting tribute.
“And he can know that he has been appreciated, is still appreciated,” Jones says.
Ed Deeb says he expects the 2018 Metro Detroit Youth Day to attract about 40,000 people to Belle Isle,which is now a state park managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Deeb says he’s noticed the difference the DNR has made working with the Belle Isle Conservancy to improve the island for everyone.
“What they’ve done and what the conservancy has done,” Deeb says. “This is a new Belle Isle, and it’s going to get better than ever, and I’m just pleased to be part of it.”
Edward Deeb Avenue ensures he’ll be a part of Belle Isle for this Youth Day and many more to come.
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BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in research funding for Harvard University, delivering a significant victory to the Ivy League school in its battle with the White House.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of the Trump administration’s demands for changes to Harvard’s governance and policies.
The government had tied the funding freezes to Harvard’s delays in dealing with antisemitism, but the judge said the university’s federally backed research had little connection to discrimination against Jews. “A review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that (the government) used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities,” Burroughs wrote. The country must fight antisemitism, she wrote, but it also must protect the right to free speech.
The ruling reverses a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration escalated its fight with the nation’s wealthiest university. The administration also has sought to prevent the school from hosting foreign students and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status in a clash watched widely across higher education.
The restoration of federal money would revive Harvard’s sprawling research operation and hundreds of projects that sustained cuts. But whether Harvard actually receives the federal money remains to be seen. The government plans an immediate appeal, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement, calling Burroughs an “activist Obama-appointed judge.”
“To any fair-minded observer, it is clear that Harvard University failed to protect their students from harassment and allowed discrimination to plague their campus for years,” Huston said. “Harvard does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars.”
Harvard’s research scientists said they had been watching the case closely, but feared their funding would not be restored anytime soon.
“Many of us are worried that the federal government is going to appeal this decision or find other ways to obstruct the delivery of research dollars, despite the judge’s clear statement that the funding terminations were illegal,” said Rita Hamad, director of a center that researches the impact of social policies on health.
Beyond the courthouse, the Trump administration and Harvard officials have been discussing a potential agreement that would end investigations and allow the university to regain access to federal funding. President Donald Trump has said he wants Harvard to pay no less than $500 million, but no deal has materialized, even as the administration has struck agreements with Columbia and Brown.
Wednesday’s federal court ruling should embolden Harvard’s administration, said historian Kirsten Weld, president of Harvard’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which also prevailed in a lawsuit over the funding cuts. “We hope this decision makes clear to Harvard’s administration that bargaining the Harvard community’s rights away in a compromise with the government is unacceptable,” Weld said.
Harvard’s lawsuit accused the Trump administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands in an April 11 letter from a federal antisemitism task force.
The letter demanded sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions. It was meant to address government accusations that the university had become a hotbed of liberalism and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment on campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber pledged to fight antisemitism. But, he said, no government “should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants the same day Harvard rejected the administration’s demands. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later, the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard.
As Harvard fought the funding freeze in court, individual agencies began sending letters announcing that the frozen research grants were being terminated under a clause allowing grants to be scrapped if they no longer align with government policies. Harvard has moved to self-fund some of its research but warned it can’t absorb the full cost of the federal cuts.
The judge’s order reverses all of Harvard’s federal funding freezes and cuts since April 14, and it bars the government from future cuts that violate Harvard’s constitutional rights or run afoul of federal law.
Burroughs sided with the university’s argument that the cuts amounted to retaliation in violation of its First Amendment rights and that the government put unconstitutional conditions on Harvard’s federal money.
“As pertains to this case, it is important to recognize and remember that if speech can be curtailed in the name of the Jewish people today, then just as easily the speech of the Jews (and anyone else) can be curtailed when the political winds change direction,” the judge wrote.
Burroughs also agreed with Harvard’s claim that the government failed to follow steps prescribed by Congress to cut federal money under Title VI of the Higher Education Act, a federal law that forbids discrimination in education.
The Trump administration denied the cuts were made in retaliation, saying the grants were under review even before the April demand letter was sent. It argues the government has wide discretion to cancel contracts for policy reasons.
“It is the policy of the United States under the Trump Administration not to fund institutions that fail to adequately address antisemitism in their programs,” it said in court documents.
In a separate lawsuit filed by Harvard, Burroughs previously blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent the school from hosting international students.
Binkley reported from Washington, D.C. AP reporter Aamer Madhani contributed from Washington.
FILE – This Nov. 13, 2008 file photo shows the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)
When protests on college campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas war erupted across the nation, leaders at some universities cracked down.
The conflict between demonstrators and university officials raises questions about the limits of free speech for college students, and it’s just one of many points of friction on campuses that major institutions must confront.
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum is a psychologist who has spent over 40 years in higher education. She spent 13 of those years as the president Spelman College. Dr. Tatum believes these institutions need to create an environment to work through deep divisions.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
The state government faces a possible shut-down soon unless lawmakers come to an agreement on a new budget. The House and Senate are billions of dollars apart in terms of their spending and policy priorities, says Speaker of the Michigan House Matt Hall
Republican proposals align with much of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s agenda. But critics say the budget plan passed by House Republicans cuts too many programs.
It slashes funding for the Michigan State Police, hospitals and revenue shared with cities and counties among other cuts.
Without an agreement on a new budget, the state government will shut down in about a month.
Additional headlines from Tuesday, September 2, 2025
New restrictions on COVID vaccine access
It may be harder for many Michigan residents to get the new COVID vaccine this fall.
The Food and Drug Administration has limited shots to people 65 and older, and those with certain medical conditions. Others might be able to get the shot with a prescription.
The state health department encourages everyone over 6 months old to get the vaccine, including pregnant women and very young kids.
Syphilis on the rise for infants in Michigan
Syphilis cases in Michigan are decreasing – for adults. But Bridge Michigan reports diagnoses for infants are up 38% since 2021.
Health officials estimate between 50 and 60 newborns will test positive for syphilis this year.
Sphinx Organization releases album, holds applications for musicians of color
The Sphinx Organization released its latest album last week. “American Mirror” shares new works by Black, Indigenous and other composers of color.
The organization has also opened applications for the 2026 Orchestral Partners Auditions. The program offers classical musicians of color a chance to connect with a national professional network and to compete for up to 3500 in cash prizes.
Applications close on October 6th and are followed by a round of recorded submissions in November and live auditions in Detroit in January.
Wayne State hosts early childhood education conference
The event is free to educators and can be used to meet required training hours. The Centers for Family Development will host the conference at Wayne State September 20th.
In this episode of The Detroit Evening Report, we cover a virtual learning milestone, Detroit’s jobs report and an upcoming event for Black tech empowerment.
Statewide GetSetUp partnership celebrates five years
The state is celebrating a five-year partnership with the digital platform GetSetUp. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services credits the partnership with safeguarding the mental health of many older adults in the state.
State health official Scott Wamsley says the program allows older Michiganders to socialize and learn computer skills.
“There are a lot of older adults that enjoy taking classes online,” Wamsley says. “In fact, we’ve had over a half million residents attend more than 1.5 million classes. So obviously people are enjoying the platform. It’s used across all 83 counties. And so it’s really been a win-win for us.”
Wamsley says the virtual classes offer everything from support for caregivers and the latest on Medicare to learning about the arts, travel, and food.
Detroit wages increasing
Jobs and wages are moving in the right direction in Detroit, according to a report from University of Michigan. In the City of Detroit Economic Outlook for 2024-2030, wage growth at jobs located in the city averages 3.2% annually, which is faster than the entire State of Michigan overall.
Detroit is expected to gain 1,500 payroll jobs annually during the forecast period. And by 2030, the jobless rate should decline to 8.9% while Michigan’s rate should be at 5.6%.
Detroit to host Digital Empowerment Summit
Black Tech Saturdays is having their 2025 Digital Empowerment Summit in Detroit on Sep. 26–27. This 3-day event is part of the National Digital Inclusion Week, aimed at fostering economic mobility through mass tech adoption. Dr. Megan Hicks will be a featured speaker. For more information, go to blacktechsaturdays.com.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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The new school year is here. Teachers are meeting fresh faces, setting up their classrooms, and laying out lesson plans.
But the reality? Michigan doesn’t have enough teachers. Prep hours are disappearing. Class sizes are growing. Burnout is rising. And more teachers are walking away, some to retire, others to leave the profession altogether.
There is some good news, though. Middle schoolers, especially eighth-graders, posted gains in reading. But overall, proficiency in both reading and math is still below pre-pandemic levels.
Tara Kilbride is a co-author of that report and the Associate Director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University. She joined the show to help make sense of Michigan’s teacher workforce.
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Crossing paths with dogs, cats and other animals is part of campus life for students at Eckerd College, a liberal arts school in Florida that allows pets to live in dormitories.
Sophie Nocera, an Eckerd senior, said she probably knows the names of pets better than her fellow students.
“That’s the case for a lot of the students,” said Nocera, who lives on the campus in St. Petersburg with her Border collie, Zuko. “When I’m walking my dog, I often hear, ‘Oh my god, hi, Zuko!’ It’s like I’m not even there.”
Some colleges and universities around the country welcome pets in campus residences, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to Stephens College in Missouri.
For students, the companionship can help reduce stress, anxiety and homesickness. The colleges also see benefits for student engagement and helping them build connections with one another.
Federal law requires public and private colleges to allow service animals and emotional support animals in student housing. But growing numbers of schools are allowing pets, with various restrictions.
Not all animals are welcome on pet-friendly campuses
MIT allows only cats, in limited numbers and in preapproved spaces. At Eckerd, students can bring their family pets to live with them on campus after their first semester. The college requires pets to have been part of students’ home life at least six months before coming to campus and must not be venomous or aggressive.
Student Molly Cheer’s pet comfort cat, Louie, peers out of his shelter in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
At the University of Northern Colorado, students in three of the more than dozen residence halls on campus are allowed to have dogs and cats. The animals must be at least 6 months old and no more than 40 pounds. Students are limited to one pet. This fall, the school will have the most registered pets on campus since it began allowing them over a decade ago, said Jediah Cummins, executive director of housing.
“One of the markers of adulthood is, ‘Can I not just take care of myself, but can I take care of another living being?’ That’s an important part of this,” Cummins said.
Molly Cheer, a senior nursing major, said she chose Northern Colorado in part because of its pet-friendly policy. When she is stressed about school, she said, it helps coming home to Louie, the cat she adopted during her first year.
“Whenever I’m feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I pick him up and cuddle him, and he just deals with it for as long as I need it,” she said.
Student Molly Cheer sits with her pet comfort cat, Louie, in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Eckerd has had pet-friendly dorms since 1973. Jack Layden, assistant dean for residential life and student engagement, said the college has hosted hundreds of animals, including rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, birds, guinea pigs, bearded dragons, geckos, turtles, snakes, frogs, fish, and even a tarantula.
Pets change the college experience for their owners
Nocera said Zuko has helped her meet other people on campus, as well as emotionally, when she struggled with a decision to change her major.
“I remember coming back to my dorm and just melting to the floor, and Zuko was right there. And I remember thinking, whatever happens tomorrow, I’m going to wake up, and I’m going to take him to the dog park. And, we’re going to go play fetch regardless of what my major is,” said Nocera, who is the staff director of Pet Life, a student-led department on campus tasked with administering the pet policy.
Sophie Nocera, 21, a senior at Eckerd College, poses for a photo with her dog Zuco on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Tina Russell)
At Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania, Eva Chatterjee-Sutton saw the difference a pet can make when a first-year student was struggling to make connections before her mother suggested a puppy. After the dog’s arrival, the student became more involved in campus life, said Chatterjee-Sutton, vice president of student life.
“I think it’s absolutely changed her college trajectory and her connection with others on campus,” Chatterjee-Sutton said.
Residence halls set boundaries, get creative to support pet owners
Pet-friendly dorms require colleges to consider things like safety concerns, noise complaints, how to avoid agitating animals during fire alarm tests, as well as additional costs for cleaning, Layden said. Some schools charge a pet fee, which varies by school, type of pet and is often included in housing expenses. For example, at Stephens College, the annual fee for a dog or cat is $220, for a cage- or aquarium-dwelling pet is $50 and free for fish. Others require students to have liability insurance and roommate agreements. Pets are required to be restrained when in public, and most colleges require students to ensure their pets are healthy and vaccinated.
Eckerd and other colleges recognize pets’ role in their students’ lives at graduation ceremonies, allowing them to cross the commencement stage together in some cases.
“Having pets obviously isn’t for everyone, and that is totally OK,” Nocera said. “But for the people that it is a good fit for, it is so worth it. This upcoming year, I’ll be graduating, and Zuko will be in his little pet graduation ceremony, walking across the stage with me.”
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Student Molly Cheer gives her pet comfort cat, Louie, a treat in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
By TINA RUSSELL and THOMAS PEIPERT The Associated Press
Sophie Nocera, a senior at Eckerd College, lives on the campus of the liberal arts school in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her Border collie, Zuko.
Molly Cheer, a senior nursing major who has a cat named Louie, said she chose Northern Colorado in part because of its pet-friendly policy. Some colleges are allowing pets in dorms to boost students’ mental health and help them feel more at home.
This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Student Molly Cheer sits with her pet comfort cat, Louie, as she looks at upcoming course work in her dorm room at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Students in Pontiac and around the state who earn Promise Zone scholarships will now have more freedom to spend the money.
The program used to offer a stipend of $800 to help pay for textbooks and supplies, but the new legislation allows students who receive a scholarship to cover such expenses as housing, transportation, food, books, supplies, child care, loan fees or costs of obtaining a license or certification.
Pontiac offers $12,000 to $50,000 for the first two years and $13,000 for each of the final two years in assistance to obtain a two- or four-year degree, credentials from an accredited trade school, certificate program or apprenticeship. or earn a GED within the district.
There are 13 Promise Zones in the state led by Promise Zone Authorities composed of local public officials and private sector leaders and each makes its own decisions about how large its scholarships will be and at which Michigan colleges, universities and technical schools it can be used.
By state law, the Pontiac Promise Zone captures, or collects, half of the growth in the State Education Tax within the zone’s boundaries to help pay for its scholarship program. The SET is a 6-mill property tax levied on all property in the state that has not been exempted for some other purpose.
For the 2021-22 fiscal year their Promise Zone collected $1.4 million and for 2022-23 that number rose to $1.76 million.
Coco Moulder, Pontiac Promise Zone executive director and a former teacher in the Pontiac school district, said over $4 million could be available for the 2025-26 school year.
Moulder said the Pontiac Promise Zone is currently helping over 300 students and estimated over 60 new students will be able to take advantage of the new rules this fall.
“This opens up so many possibilities for our kids who could afford to cover tuition, but not even be able to afford a bus ticket to come home on weekends to see their families,” said Moulder. “Now they can use this money for child care, bus tickets, on campus meal programs and any supplies they need, not just sending tuition checks.”
Kaino Phillips, Pontiac Promise Zone chairman, said the new parameters allow for students to widen their choice of schools.
“Before students were not able to cover room and board or even be able to commute from Ann Arbor or East Lansing back to Pontiac,” said Phillips. “Now they can use those scholarship funds to take care of that, which now allows them to branch out and look at more schools that have the curriculum they are looking for and not be held back because they could not afford certain things. This is historic.”
State Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-13th District, was a co-sponsor on the bill.
“We were really thrilled when we finally got it passed and it will make things much easier for students going forward and keep students on track to looking into Promise Zone scholarships knowing that all the money can be used at their discretion rather than only for tuition,” said Bayer.
Moulder said over 440 students applied for Pontiac Promise Zone scholarships this year citing the new rules as an incentive.
“Students can now focus on school and their classes and know that money is now available to pay for other things they need and that has led to more students looking into our scholarships,” said Moulder.
Any student who has graduated from a Pontiac school within the last five years, completed the federal Free Application for Federal Student Aid application and been admitted into an accredited post-secondary institution is eligible for a scholarship.
State Sen. Rosemary Bayer, Kaino Phillips, Pontiac Promise Zone chairman and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after the November 2024 bill signing.
photo courtesy Pontiac Promise Zone
“Original Sin” situates the construction of Americans schools alongside American slavery and the attempted genocide of Native Americans. She argues they are used as a tool to condition Black and native communities.
While schools here in Michigan are struggling to develop student’s reading and math skills, producer Cary Junior II explored why Ewing believes the way we measure and define intelligence is inadequate.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Michigan elected officials and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center are urging U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to release detained refugees.
Six Hmong and eight Laotian refugees were detained on July 30th after receiving a letter from ICE and reporting for what they believed was a routine check in.
The refugees were transported through several sites before finally arriving in Louisiana. Immigration advocates believe that is the final stage before being deported to Laos.
State Representative Mai Xiong says the U.S. does not have a memorandum of understanding with Laos, and anyone deported there could be in danger.
These individuals fled, their family members fled persecution from Laos. Their parents, in particular, were involved in the the war in the 1970s in the Vietnam War, the secret war. They were recruited by the US to fight alongside American soldiers, and so they are in imminent danger.
The Michigan Immigrations Rights Center, the Asian Law Caucus and others sent a letter to ICE urging the agency not to deport these individuals since they are not in the U.S. illegally and can face persecution for aiding the U.S. government. The letter also called for transparency in the deportation process.
Reporting by Bre’Anna Tinsley
More headlines from Monday, August 11
A new study shows Michigan teachers are among the lowest-paid in the country.
Researchers at Michigan State University say the starting salary for a new teacher is almost $5000 lower than the national average. Experienced teachers earn about $3000 less than average.
The report also shows Michigan teachers earn about 23% less than workers in other fields with similar levels of education and experience. Public opinion polls cited in the report show strong support for paying teachers more money.
Reporting by Pat BatchellerThe Hannan Center is accepting nominations for its 70 Over Seventy Awards.
The honor and annual event spotlight people 70 and over who have and continue to make an impact on Detroit and Michigan. Anyone can nominate someone who is working, mentoring, creating or otherwise impacting community at hannan.org/70overseventy.
Call 313-833-1300 extension 16 with questions.
The Phoenix and Cielo Rooftop Detroit are hosting an alcohol-free, smoke-free, and vape-free “elevated nightlife experience” this Friday.
Organizers say the 21 and over substance-free event will offer panoramic views of the Detroit skyline with a high-energy vibe and free tastings from craft mocktail makers B. Nektar and Ted Segers, who make “regal… non-alcoholic brews for serious drinkers.”
The party starts with a live DJ spinning at 9pm Friday and runs to 1am, no entry fee required. Cielo Rooftop is located at 600 West Lafayette Boulevard
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
A Wayne State success program is providing an evening of jazz an poetry to raise money.
The Crockett-Lumumba Scholars provides assistance to incoming freshman as they transition to college. Students in the program are also enrolled in courses that teach them about their cultural roots, community building, and social responsibility.
This Saturday, August 16th, Crocket-Lumumba Scholars will host Homegrown: An Evening of Detroit Jazz and Poetry at the Gretchen Valade Center for Jazz. The fundraiser will feature renowned artists Marion Hayden, Michigan’s Poet Laureate Dr. Melba Joyce Boyd, Allen Dannard, and Tariq Gardner.
David Goldberg, the director of Crockett-Lumumba Scholars, and Dr. Melba Joyce Boyd joined the show to discuss the program’s importance.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
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