African-American

Within the Department of Education, there exists a dedicated team whose job is to investigate abuse by institutions of higher education. Their focus is on for-profit schools such as DeVry and Corinthian Colleges. The team is tasked with determining whether for-profit institutions misled students about job prospects or tricked them into predatory loans. The Takeaway discusses a new report from The New York Times that alleges Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is effectively dismantling the investigative team tasked with monitoring abuses by for-profit colleges. Plus, we look at a study from the National Center for Education Statistics finding that 94% of teachers in high-poverty school districts pay for classroom supplies out of pocket; a death-sentence case in Sudan that is prompting international uproar; and a new documentary exploring the black, L.G.B.T.Q. disco club that served members of Los Angeles’s marginalized communities for decades.

You can connect with The Takeaway on Twitter, Facebook, or on our show page at TheTakeaway.org.

This week, the public witnessed yet another incident of a white person calling the police on a person of color when no crime had been committed. A white Yale student called 911 on a fellow student, who was taking a nap in the campus lounge. It’s just the latest in a string of similar incidents where the police have been called for discriminatory reasons, or for no reason at all. The Takeaway looks into who is calling the police on people of color and why they’re doing so. Plus, we examine the conflicting impulses that drive what it means to be both Native and American; and we review the films you should catch (or skip) at the box office this weekend.

You can connect with The Takeaway on Twitter, Facebook, or on our show page at TheTakeaway.org.

Great ideas come from diverse minds, and efforts to get more African Americans into cutting edge fields — science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine — are gaining ground, but with considerable challenges. How might efforts to increase this kind of diversity fare under a Trump presidency and beyond? Host Mary Kay Magistad explores.