Campus protests multiply as demonstrators breach barriers at UCLA | The Excerpt

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Campus protests continue nationwide over the war in Gaza. USA TODAY National Immigration Reporter Lauren Villagran discusses what Texas 'border czar' Mike Banks says about the border. Many states have enacted laws since 2021 that could limit voter access and inhibit the ability of officials to administer elections. USA TODAY Education Reporter Alia Wong examines the new AP African American Studies course. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem defends shooting a family dog.

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Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, April 29th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest from campus protests. Plus, what the Texas Border Czar is saying about his state's approach to immigration. And we learn about a new AP African American Studies course.

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Protests continued on college campuses across the country over the weekend surrounding the war in Gaza. Physical altercations came yesterday on UCLA's campus in Los Angeles when demonstrators breached a security barrier. The incident came one day after arrests on at least four universities as demonstrations and days long encampments in opposition to the war swept across the nation's colleges.

At the Crosstown University of Southern California, the campus remains closed after 93 people were arrested during demonstrations on Wednesday. The school has canceled its main graduation ceremony amid the turmoil. Students around the country are calling for a ceasefire and want their schools to stop investing in Israeli firms that are involved with or profit from Israel's war against Hamas. Protesters also want the US to stop military aid for Israel's war effort.

Meanwhile, Israel has said it will not invade the border city of Rafah in southern Gaza until officials have spoken with US leaders about their concerns, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told ABC's This Week yesterday. Israel, in recent days, appeared set to launch an invasion of the area where more than a million Palestinian civilians are sheltering in which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza. The international community has long warned Israeli leaders of the massive humanitarian toll in targeting the area.

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Should Americans be worried about the border? The first so-called Texas Border Czar says yes. I spoke with USA TODAY national immigration reporter Lauren Villagran about her chat with the official and the ongoing conversation along the Texas-Mexico border. Lauren, thanks for hopping on.

Lauren Villagran:

Thanks for inviting me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Lauren, let's just start by talking about Mike Banks. Who is he, and what's his role as the first so-called Border Czar of Texas?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah. Well, you know that Texas has had a very aggressive border enforcement strategy under what Texas governor Greg Abbott calls Operation Lone Star. It's an $11 billion strategy to secure the US-Mexico border in Texas. And a little more than a year ago, Governor Abbott hired what he called the first Border Czar of Texas, Mike Banks. Mike Banks is a former Border Patrol agent who basically retired from the federal agency for one day before jumping over to Texas to take on this role.

Taylor Wilson:

How worried does Banks say Americans should be about the border, and how worried are they shaping up to be?

Lauren Villagran:

Taylor, I asked Mr. Banks that question in part because poll after poll has shown that immigration and border security are among American voters' top concerns even in places that are far from the border. Mr. Banks said he does think that Americans should be concerned about border security. Now, he also said, and I found this really interesting, that border security should be decoupled from immigration. And when I asked what he meant by that, he said the nation needs comprehensive immigration reform, a legal immigration system that would better fit the needs of migrants and the American labor force.

Taylor Wilson:

So Lauren, Texas is building, really, its own border infrastructure. This includes controversial measures like concertina wire being implemented among other things. What do critics say about this, and how does Banks respond to criticisms that what we see happening in Texas might go too far or is inhumane?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah, it's interesting. Mike Banks comes from, again, the Border Patrol, which has pursued a 25 or 30-year policy of prevention through deterrence. What does that mean? It means finding myriad ways, including obstacles at the border, to deter migrants from crossing. Texas governor Greg Abbott and Mr. Banks say what Texas is doing is working. And the Texas strategy has been focused on these sorts of obstacles, concertina wire, razor wire up higher, National Guard troops, law enforcement officers sent from other states around the country, particularly from Republican-led states. And Texas will point to a decline in migrant crossings this spring as evidence that its policies are working. I hear from analysts and others, including migrants themselves, that it's not so much the concertina wire that's deterring them, but rather it's Mexico.

Taylor Wilson:

You and I often talk about the Mexican government's role when it comes to border issues. What did Banks say about their relationships with counterparts in Mexico?

Lauren Villagran:

So this was interesting. Texas is in a spat with the Biden administration over border enforcement, and the Mexican federal government has been clear that it won't deal with Texas on matters of immigration. That being said, it does seem like the State of Texas is working with counterparts at the state level, which has historically been the case, but it appears to have intensified with northern Mexican states. But the other thing that's going on, Taylor, is that we know that Mexico has cracked down on immigration through its territory to the US border like never before.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. So Lauren, what is Mexico doing and has it been effective?

Lauren Villagran:

Yeah. So, Mexico has really stepped up its interdiction in its territory. The country's National Migration Agency has set up checkpoints all across the country. And what we hear that Mexico is doing from migrants and from immigrant advocates as well is that immigration agents, alongside federal and state law enforcement, are stopping buses, stopping trains, rounding up migrants and busing them south over and over again to either delay or stop their ability to reach the US border.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Lauren Villagran covers the border and immigration for USA TODAY. Thank you, Lauren.

Lauren Villagran:

Thank you, Taylor.

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Taylor Wilson:

More than half of US states have enacted laws since 2021 that could limit voter access and inhibit the ability of officials to administer elections according to a new report published by the Voting Rights Lab. Former president Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have floated legislation to prevent non-citizens from voting, which is already illegal in federal elections. Their proposal faces slim chances in the Democratic-led Senate, but other significant new rules are already in effect in major 2024 battleground states. They include Georgia and North Carolina, which could help decide the results of a close presidential election.

In Georgia in particular, a series of election rules passed over the last three years, threaten to overburden election officials and in some cases issue criminal penalties against them. New election measures passed by the Republican-led state legislature in late March, awaiting a signature from Governor Brian Kemp, could further hamper the way elections offices operate if enacted, according to experts. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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A new African American studies course is in pilot mode at schools around the country. I spoke with USA TODAY education reporter Alia Wong about her experience observing a class and more. Alia, thanks for hopping on.

Alia Wong:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Alia, what is Advanced Placement African American Studies, and where is this course being offered?

Alia Wong:

Advanced Placement African American Studies, it's an interdisciplinary course. It's obviously an Advanced Placement course, which is a national program that's been around for decades that's run by the College Board. This course has four units starting with Ancient African Civilization. So it goes all the way back to a point in history that rarely, if ever, gets talked about in standard history classes. And then it goes into freedom and enslavement and resistance all the way up through modern times where the course talks about movements and modern debates.

This is a course that's been under development for a while. As any other AP course, there's a very sort of protracted process of getting feedback, going revisions, seeing what works, what doesn't work. It's in its second pilot year. We were able to identify locations of a little more than half of the 700 total schools that are piloting it right now, and there are some interesting trends there. A solid majority of the schools we identified to be piloting it, about 80% are in counties that voted for Biden in 2020. So there's a clear tilt towards more progressive areas. These schools tend to have a higher proportion of Black students than the average schools. And it will be interesting to see whether those trends continue once the course goes live next school year.

Taylor Wilson:

And Alia, you observed a class this spring. What was that like? Set the scene for us.

Alia Wong:

One student described the course as an hour and a half long conversation. That really was exactly what it was like. The students discussed the accomplishments of Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas, who's a Virginian and the first Black all around Olympic champion in gymnastics. They talked about the purpose of Black History Month. They talked about the linguistic differences between the word slave and the term enslaved person. They talked about the Amistad Rebellion. So it really ran the gamut in a single session, both in terms of the type of discussions and the time periods. And just physically, the layout of the class really embodies the scope of the subject matter that's discussed. In one corner there were clay figurines and coins that were representing ancient African civilizations. There were African flags strung on the periphery of the room. There were student-made posters about the history and significance of Black family reunions. It's a very colorful class, both literally and figuratively, and it's just very interactive.

Taylor Wilson:

Alia, why do supporters say this material is necessary, and what do critics say about this curriculum?

Alia Wong:

I mean, this is content that has never been taught before. Standard social studies or history classes might touch on snippets from history, the slavery aspect, the civil rights movement, a few key figures, but then it kind of just moves on to the next topic. This is material and a story that students and adults alike had never been exposed to before. There's also a sense that this course will help elevate the experiences of African American students. This is a population that historically has participated in AP classes at a relatively lower rate, and the fact that this is a course that speaks to them and is reaching out to them could be a game changer. This is an AP course. And AP courses effectively set national curriculum for whatever the topic is. And so, there's something to be said about an organization like that with such heft really standardizing material of this nature.

As far as what the critics say about the curriculum, the main critique is that this is a form of what some might describe as woke indoctrination, that this is filled with leftist propaganda that has no place in the classroom. Original versions of the framework went into topics like intersectionality and Black Lives Matter and reparations, and these are topics that conservatives feel uncomfortable with. Many of those topics remain optional in the course after those critiques. Some have been incorporated back in.

Florida, as I mentioned, is one state that banned it. But after that, Arkansas abruptly, right before the school year began, also said that it would be banned. But despite that, a few schools in the state, six to be exact, decided to continue offering it. They said, "Hey, this is important enough for us to kind of defy the state's directives." And students can take it there just without getting credit towards graduation. In some of the other red states that I did my reporting in, we know that they reviewed the course and considered restricting it. Even in Virginia where I spent time in a classroom, students can only take it as an elective and cannot get a standard social studies credit.

Taylor Wilson:

Alia Wong covers education for USA TODAY. Thank you, Alia.

Alia Wong:

Thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem defended herself Friday against Democratic attacks over her account of shooting a dog on her family farm. She describes killing an untrainable dog in an upcoming memoir, excerpts of which were first published by The Guardian on Friday. She also said she shot and killed a goat. The Democratic National Committee called the comments horrifying and disturbing in a statement. Responding on X, Noem said, "We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down three horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years." Noem is a contender to become Republican Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate. According to veterinarians.org, an estimated 10 million animals die from abuse or cruelty every year in the United States.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA TODAY.