Teen missing for 8 years found alive – National & International News – MON 3Jul2023

Texas teen missing 8 years found alive.

Suit targets legacy admissions at Harvard after SCOTUS strikes down affirmative action.

EU Commissioner wants to admit Ukraine, Moldova within 4 years.

NATIONAL NEWS

Teen missing 8 years found alive

Rudy Farias was last seen in Houston, TX, when he was 17 years old. He was out walking his two dogs, but when they returned home without him, Rudy’s mother knew something was wrong. The year before, Rudy had seen his brother killed in a motorcycle accident. He had since been suffering with depression and anxiety. Still his mother did not believe he would simply leave home, and his family feared he had been kidnapped or trafficked.

In mid-June, the Texas Center for the Missing posted a message on Twitter about Rudy. Just a few weeks later, Rudy, now 25, has been found alive. His mother told a news outlet he had been found “unresponsive” outside of a church. He also bore cuts, bruises and other injuries and is now recovering in a hospital.

Family members said Rudy’s mother was “a mess” since her son’s return. There are still many unanswered questions, and his mother said there “would be a long healing journey” ahead, but she is grateful to have her son back.

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After SCOTUS strikes down affirmative action, lawsuits target legacy admissions at Harvard 

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Harvard and UNC had violated the 14th Amendment by considering race in their admissions processes. The ruling struck a blow to decades of work to increase access to elite universities for people of color. In response, two advocacy and legal groups want Harvard and other elite universities to do away with the practice of “legacy” admissions.

Legacy policies give a leg up in the admissions process to applicants whose family members either attended the universities or are major donors. At Harvard, being a legacy student makes you 6 times more likely to gain admission, and these students are overwhelming white and wealthy. Last week, President Biden reacted to the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling by calling on elite universities to end the practice, saying it “expands privilege rather than opportunity”.

Boston-based non-profit legal group Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is suing on behalf of Black and Latino community groups in New England. The suit alleges that Harvard’s legacy admission policy violates the Civil Rights Act. LCR also wants the Department of Education to ban legacy admissions for universities that receive federal funding, as Harvard does.

Michael Kippins of LCR says, “Harvard’s practice of giving a leg-up to the children of wealthy donors and alumni – who have done nothing to deserve it – must end. Particularly in light of last week’s decision from the Supreme Court, it is imperative that the federal government act now to eliminate this unfair barrier that systematically disadvantages students of color.”

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

EU Commissioner wants to admit Ukraine, Moldova within 4 years

European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen is calling for the admission of Ukraine and Moldova to the currently 27-nation bloc. “Can you imagine the European Union will be without Ukraine, without Moldova without the western Balkans?” von der Leyen asked. “And those parts of Europe are under the influence of Russia or China? Impossible. So the direction of travel is clear”. 

Both nations applied and received candidate status in June of 2022. However, most regarded this move as symbolic given the tensions with Russia. Until 2014, Ukraine and Moldova were part of a sort of geo-political “buffer zone” between Russia and Europe. That changed when a pro-Western government seized power in Ukraine. Since then, Ukraine and Russia have twice been at war and Moldova has seen the rise of a militarized Russian-aligned separatist region of its own. Admitting Ukraine and Moldova to EU would be as inflammatory and destabilizing as admitting them to NATO.

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