The 2013 Opportunity Index, an economic indicator established in 2011, reveals that "overall opportunity" in the United States has risen by 2.6 percent since the index was created, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on Monday. The index, developed by nonprofit Opportunity Nation, is based partially on education indicators. While 78.2 percent of high-school students graduated on time last year, an increase of 3.5 percent from 2011, the percentage of young people who are neither in school nor employed described as "disconnected youth" has also increased. Roughly 14.6 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds are "disconnected," an increase of 0.1 percent from the 2011 index. The index also reported that national unemployment has decreased by 20 percent since the 2011 index, but overall poverty has increased and household income has dropped.
Following a week-long boycott, Grambling State University's football players returned to practice on Monday, The Washington Post reported. After losing 18 straight football games to NCAA opponents and going through two coaching changes this season, the players boycotted practice and only 22 team members, or a quarter of the team, showed up to a game against Jackson State on Saturday. The players decided to boycott following a contentious meeting with the university administration. Their grievances, deriving from an alleged $75,000 cut to the football program's budget, included locker room mold and improperly cleaned uniforms, which could potentially increase the risk of staph infections. Although the boycotting players will return to practice, they released a statement saying they "have not forgotten the situation."
Former CIA director David Petraeus will become a non-resident senior fellow for Harvard University Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, The Crimson reported. Petraeus will co-lead "The Coming North America Decades," a project aimed at determinating North America's future competitiveness by examining technological, economic and scientific factors. The project supplements Petraeus's work at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he co-chairs another task force with former World Bank president Robert Zoellick. Since resigning from the CIA in November, Petraeus has become more involved in higher education, taking teaching positions at the University of Southern California and the City University of New York.
