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Author: Susan Snyder

Montgomery County family awarded $7.8M verdict in Bloomsburg U hazing death

A Luzerne County jury on Wednesday awarded a $7.8 million verdict to the family of Justin King, a Montgomery County resident and Bloomsburg University student who died in a 2019 fall after a night of drinking at a fraternity rush party.

The fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and dozens of individual defendants previously reached confidential settlements with King’s mother, Carol King, who brought the complaint in 2021, said the family’s lawyers Helen Lawless, Benjamin Present, and Mark Fuchs of the Kline & Specter law firm.

But the sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau, whose members’ house was used for the event, chose to go to court, and now it faces paying $3.5 million, including delay damages, the lawyers said.

Bloomsburg U. fraternity, sorority sued in 2019 death of student from Montgomery County

“I’m pretty happy about the verdict from the standpoint of its holding the national organization responsible for the actions of what happened,” said Carol King, of Gilbertsville in Montgomery County. “There is no bringing him back, and I will always have a hole in my heart for him. But this gets me closer to doing what I wanted to do, which is find some sort of justice for Justin.”

The sorority in a statement said it was disappointed that it was held partially liable for King’s death.

“We fundamentally disagree with this outcome and believe it both wrongly holds innocent parties responsible for circumstances beyond their control and establishes a deeply concerning precedent that violates settled Pennsylvania law,” Jordan Feldhaus, CEO of the sorority, said in a statement.

The sorority is considering its legal options, Feldhaus said.

King filed the lawsuit against the fraternity, sorority, and 36 of their members, alleging that they plied her son, then an 18-year-old freshman at Bloomsburg — now part of Commonwealth University — with liquor as part of an initiation process.

Police investigating death of Bloomsburg student who died in September

He was given liquor, including a mixture with vodka known as “jungle juice” or “blackout water,” participated in a “crate race” — a game involving large amounts of alcohol consumption over little time — and later fell down a 75-foot embankment, where he was found the next morning, according to the wrongful-death lawsuit. King had a .22 blood alcohol content, which is nearly three times the legal limit, his lawyers said.

Bloomsburg was not sued.

“They took action in this case, unlike the national sorority office,” said Lawless, one of King’s lawyers.

Bloomsburg permanently revoked the fraternity’s recognition, and the chapter was later expelled from the campus. The sorority was suspended for four years.

Police had not filed charges in the case, and Columbia County Coroner Jeremy Reese had ruled King’s death accidental.

The verdict assigned 35% of the fault for the death to the sorority, 35% to the fraternity, 24% to King, and 1% each to six fraternity members, King’s lawyers said.

That means the sorority would be responsible for $2.73 million, but the delayed damages raise that to more than $3.5 million, King’s lawyers said.

“The jury’s award makes clear that national Greek organizations cannot turn a blind eye to rampant drinking and policy violations on college campuses,” King’s lawyers said. “It speaks volumes that the six individual fraternity members each received only 1% of the causal fault. The jury understood where the culture at Bloomsburg came from, and they understood this case was about corporate responsibility.”

Carol King said she understood the jury’s decision to assign some of the fault to her son.

“He was drinking,” she said.

King had been at Bloomsburg only three weeks before attending the Sept. 13, 2019, party. He had been recruited to join the fraternity through a flier distributed in freshman dorms.

The lawsuit contended that the defendants violated the anti-hazing law enacted after the 2017 death of Tim Piazza, a Pennsylvania State University student who died after attending a booze-fueled fraternity party where he fell down stairs.

The sorority, according to King’s lawyers, was found liable for negligence as well as for violating the Anti-Hazing Statute.

Since her son’s death, Carol King, a retired corporate human resources director, said she has been speaking out about hazing to raise awareness and pursuing the legal action in her son’s case.

“It was never about the money,” she said. “It was about them taking responsibility,”

January 29, 2026
Penn says its finances are stronger than anticipated. More budget cuts are still coming.

The University of Pennsylvania will institute another round of budget cuts in response to Trump administration actions that threaten future funding and revenues, and because of rising legal and insurance expenses.

That is even though officials said finances look better than they anticipated a year ago, though they did not provide specific numbers.

Penn’s schools and centers have been directed to cut 4% from certain expenses in the next fiscal year and keep in place financial cutbacks instituted last year, including a staff hiring freeze and freezes on midyear adjustments in staff salaries. Schools and centers also were asked last year to cut 5% of certain expenses, and the new 4% reduction would be on top of this.

The university did not detail which expenses would be cut, but it is likely that discretionary funds for things like travel and entertainment would be targeted.

Penn, bracing for federal funding cuts, orders a hiring freeze and other changes

Penn leaders cited changes in student loan programs and visa policies, an increase in the endowment tax, and potential losses in research funding as reasons for continued financial restraint. Legal, insurance, and employee-benefit expenses also are rising faster than revenues, said Mark F. Dingfield, executive vice president, and John L. Jackson Jr., provost.

“Taken together, these conditions reinforce our responsibility to continue careful financial management to stabilize our finances for the long term,” the leaders wrote. “It is important to note that this planning effort is just that — an effort to plan deliberately and collaboratively against a changing financial landscape.”

Penn, which is the city’s largest private employer, with about 53,000 employees across the university and its health system, is expected to set tuition and fees and discuss its budget at board of trustee meetings in March.

Penn’s legal expenses have increased as the university responds to the Trump administration’s demands and investigations, including an ongoing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit seeking in effect personal contact information for Jewish faculty and staff. And the school faced additional costs related to a data breach in November.

School officials noted that Penn has not enacted some of the deeper cuts instituted by its peer schools. Columbia University in May laid off 180 people following the loss of government research grants. Stanford said in August it would lay off more than 360 staff as part of budget cuts. Duke also instituted voluntary buyouts and layoffs last year. And Brown University, amid a $30 million deficit last year, planned for dozens of layoffs.

Penn’s endowment grows 12.2% to $24.8 billion

But Penn said it had to take steps to prepare for the ongoing impact of federal policies.

The tax on Penn’s endowment earnings will rise to 4% in 2027, up from the 1.4% the school has been paying since 2022. In 2024, Penn — which has a $24.8 billion endowment — paid $10.4 million in endowment tax. The increase is not as steep as the 14% to 21% that federal lawmakers had included in earlier budget versions, but it will still financially impact the school. The tax is applied to net investment income.

Penn also stands to lose about $250 million if President Donald Trump’s cap on indirect cost reimbursement from the National Institutes of Health, currently the subject of litigation, is allowed to proceed.

Tensions rise on local campuses as Trump targets international students

Concerns, too, remain about Trump’s policies regarding international students. In the last year, the administration for a period paused student visa interviews, sought to bar international students from Harvard, and promised to “aggressively” scrutinize Chinese students over whether they will be permitted to study here.

It is unclear what long-term impact those policies may have on international enrollment. International student enrollment at U.S. colleges declined 1% from fall 2024 to fall 2025, according to the Institute of International Education. The number of international graduate students declined 12%.

Penn also is bracing for the effects of the federal government’s decision, among other policy changes, to place new caps on loans that graduate students can take out.

January 29, 2026
Temple has released its plan for the next decade. See what the North Philadelphia university has in mind.

Temple University on Wednesday released its plans for the school’s future, including a new 1,000-bed residence hall, STEM complex, quad with green space, and more attractive and defined entrances to its North Philadelphia main campus.

That’s just part of the 10-year strategic plan, which will take the more than 33,000-student university through its 150th anniversary in 2034 and includes supports for students and learning, a campus development plan, and a new vision for Broad Street both near and beyond its campus.

It emphasizes the student academic experience, with plans to elevate its honors program to an honors college, implement systems to identify and help students who are at risk of failing early on, increase online offerings to accommodate non-traditional students, and require career development and experiential learning for all students.

And the 20-year campus development plan, which is part of the strategic plan, also reiterates President John Fry’s desire to create an “innovation corridor” stretching from the recently acquired Terra Hall at Broad and Walnut Streets in Center City to Temple’s health campus, a little more than a mile north of main campus on Broad Street.

Temple is in the quiet phase of a $1.5 billion capital campaign — its largest to date — to raise money for faculty support and student financial aid, but also for initiatives outlined in the plan.

“What we’re trying to do is build on the momentum we think we have right now as already one of the most consequential urban research universities that wants to go to the next level,” said Temple President John Fry.

“What we’re trying to do is build on the momentum we think we have right now as already one of the most consequential urban research universities that wants to go to the next level,” Fry said in an interview before trustees approved the plan Wednesday. “This is a very ambitious plan that I think honestly will be a very big lift for us. But I think it’s achievable.”

Interim Provost David Boardman, who led the strategic planning effort, emphasized that the top priority is student success and new buildings and development are meant to support that.

“That, more than anything, is the heart of what we do,” Boardman said. “This is about providing meaningful research … It’s about us becoming the most important academic institution and partner in this community and really partnering for the future of Philadelphia and the region and the Commonwealth.”

David Boardman, Temple University’s interim provost

The planning effort, which included input from more than 2,000 Temple faculty, staff, students, and community members, started as an update of the 2022 plan that Fry initiated after becoming president in November 2024. But Temple officials realized a new plan was needed, Fry said.

Amid a challenging time nationally, John Fry is inaugurated as Temple’s 15th president with much hope and optimism

More greenery for campus and Broad Street

Fry envisions more green space for recreation and events and for making North Broad Street more aesthetically pleasing.

“It is a really harsh streetscape,” Fry said. “It’s really not inviting. Traffic is moving very quickly. …That street needs to be calmed down, and the best way … is to create medians, plants — both sides of Broad Street — making it a much more civilized area than it is now.”

The effort, he said, is modeled after the recently announced $150 million streetscape plan to make the Avenue of the Arts in Center City greener. Temple also is involved with that through its ownership of Terra Hall, which will become Temple’s Center City campus, he said.

The Avenue of the Arts to break ground on an ambitious $150 million streetscape to make Broad Street greener

“But we can’t do that without other public and private partnerships,” he said. “It’s beyond the institution’s capacity to fund that.”

To start, Temple will fund “significant greening” around the entrance to the under-construction Caroline Kimmel Pavilion for Arts and Communication, he said. More green work is planned at Burk Mansion at Broad and Oxford, which Temple owns, as development occurs there, he said.

With a large green lawn and courtyards, a quad is planned for the campus center, surrounded by Paley Hall, Tyler School of Art, the Charles Library, and the biology life sciences building.

Temple in December purchased the former McDonald’s site at 1201-1219 N. Broad St., by Girard Avenue, which is adjacent to the Temple Sports Complex. Fry envisions using that property to create a major campus gateway.

“Right now, you don’t really know when you come onto the Temple campus,” he said. “We would like Broad and Girard to announce you’re starting to enter Temple’s campus district.”

More on-campus student housing

Temple wants more on-campus residential space to improve the student experience and safety, Fry said.

“We think we’re at a minimum several thousand beds short of where we need to be,” he said. “A stronger residential experience really does make for a much more fulfilling undergraduate experience. The more kids living on campus, the more dense campus is, I think the better we’re going to do on safety.”

The plan calls for beginning to build a 1,000-bed residence hall along Broad Street on the former Peabody Hall site, south of Johnson and Hardwick Halls, in 2027. That would increase the current 5,000-bed capacity on the main campus by 20%. When that opens, Temple would upgrade Johnson and Hardwick, which have another 1,000 beds, he said.

The Annenberg Hall/Tomlinson Theater building, which will relocate to the new arts and communication building in 2027, could also be converted into more residential space if needed, Fry said.

An emphasis on STEM

Temple intends to upgrade facilities for science, technology, engineering and math.

“We just don’t have the research space, the wet lab space in particular, to accommodate the work that our faculty are doing,” Fry said.

Several buildings, including the biological life sciences facility, will be renovated, and the school plans a new STEM building, perhaps behind the engineering building, or the conversion of an existing facility, Fry said. The decision on whether to build new will come within six months, he said.

Temple needs to close some current science facilities to gain more space, he said.

The Beury building, next to the Bell Tower and across from the new Barnett College of Public Health, will begin to be demolished this summer, he said.

“Think of that as sort of the first down payment on this quad,” he said.

That would be the first step toward developing an innovation district, Fry said. While not on the scale of University City’s, it would be “a very good attempt to begin to build that capacity in North Philadelphia,” he said.

Terra Hall will nurture an arts hub, and both would contribute to creating an innovation corridor, he said.

The plan also calls for a new ambulatory care center to better serve North Philadelphia. Fry said those plans are in very early stages.

“A lot of outpatient care is occurring within the hospital right now,” Fry said. “It’s not great for patients… It also puts a real strain on our capacity to serve people who need inpatient services.”

A new academic home for star students

Temple aspires to make its honors program into an honors college, like Pennsylvania State University’s popular Schreyer Honors College, though with different parameters.

Boardman said that effort would require major fundraising. Currently, the program exists within the college of liberal arts and enrolls more than 2,200 students.

Elevating it to a college would require more programming, study-abroad and research stipends, experiential learning opportunities, and an option for those enrolled to live together in a residential community.

Temple’s college would consider more than grade-point averages and SATs for admission, Boardman said. Various talents and leadership potential would be considered, with interdisciplinary studies and public service infused, he said.

Staff writer Peter Dobrin contributed to this article.

January 28, 2026
Federal commission says Penn employed ‘intensive and relentless public relations campaign’ to avoid complying with subpoena

The federal commission seeking personal contact information for faculty and staff at the University of Pennsylvania has accused the school of engaging in an “intensive and relentless public relations campaign” to avoid complying with the subpoena.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in a court filing Monday, defended its subpoena seeking potential witnesses and victims of antisemitism at the university and said the request is not unusual for such investigations. The commission is seeking employees’ names, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to further an investigation it began in 2023 over the school’s treatment of Jewish faculty and other employees regarding antisemitism complaints following Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The commission’s request has spurred a backlash from student and faculty groups, including Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Penn Faculty Alliance to Combat Antisemitism, arguing that the information should not be turned over. Penn has refused to provide the information, prompting the EEOC to file the lawsuit in November.

Penn’s response to the lawsuit, along with filings by other groups, “forecast highly speculative and deeply nefarious outcomes should the EEOC’s subpoena be enforced,” the commission said. “This dark prognosticating has been predictably (and immediately) reported in national, local, and campus outlets.”

Penn calls federal commission’s request for personal employee information ‘unconstitutional,’ ‘disconcerting’ and ‘unnecessary’

The university, in a filing earlier this month, said the commission’s request was “disconcerting” and “unnecessary” and could pose a threat to employees.

“The EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university wrote in its filing.

The commission argued in response that Penn’s assertion of potential danger to employees is “untethered from both the law and the reality of these proceedings.”

“The EEOC seeks only to investigate allegations of serious, widespread antisemitic harassment in Respondent’s workplace,” the commission argued.

EEOC sues Penn for failing to release information related to antisemitism investigation

The commission, the group said, is only seeking information on faculty and staff “who complained of antisemitic harassment, who belonged to Jewish affinity organizations, or who worked in the Jewish Studies Program.” They could have knowledge of potential problems, the commission said.

Penn can provide the contact information without listing the employees’ organizational affiliations, the commission said.

Penn did not immediately comment on the latest EEOC filing.

Penn has said it provided over 900 pages of materials to the commission and offered to send notices to all employees about the EEOC’s request to hear of antisemitism concerns with the commission’s contact information, so they could reach out themselves if interested in participating.

But the commission called that offer “unworkable” and said it “would undermine the integrity of the agency’s investigation.”

“Messages from EEOC to employees filtered through an employer always risk creating confusion, fear, and mistrust among recipients,” the commission said.

That path could increase the possibility of retaliation against employees for cooperating with the investigation, the commission argued.

The university has challenged the validity of the EEOC’s charge, asserting that the commission has not identified a “single allegedly unlawful employment practice or incident involving employees.” It also “does not refer to any employee complaint the agency has received, any allegation made by or concerning employees, or any specific workplace incident(s) contemplated by the EEOC,” the university said.

While EEOC complaints typically come from those who allege they were aggrieved, this one was launched by EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, now chair of the body, on Dec. 8, 2023, two months after Hamas’ attack on Israel that led to unrest on college campuses, including Penn’s, and charges of antisemitism. It was also just three days after Penn’s then-president, Liz Magill, had testified before a Republican-led congressional committee on the school’s handling of antisemitism complaints; the testimony drew a bipartisan backlash and led to Magill’s resignation days later.

Lucas, according to the EEOC complaint, made the charge in Penn’s case because of “probable reluctance of Jewish faculty and staff to complain of harassing environment due to fear of hostility and potential violence directed against them.“

The commission in its filing Monday said its practice is within its regulations.

“This charge alleges a time frame, an unlawful employment practice (hostile work environment), the individuals potentially affected by that alleged unlawful employment practice (Jewish employees), and the publicly available sources,” the commission said.

The commission also criticized Penn’s concerns about potential leaks of employees’ contact information through the EEOC, noting the data breach that occurred at Penn last year, exposing employees’ information.

“Its concerns about the security of EEOC’s IT systems are disingenuous,” the commission said.

January 27, 2026
New University of Delaware president runs with staff and students and wants better relationships with state and local governments

On Thursdays at 7 a.m., Laura Carlson is by the iconic granite and bronze sculpture of an open book on University of Delaware’s Mentor’s Circle.

As the new university president, she invites faculty, staff, students and community members to join her there and run a five-kilometer loop through campus. Typically 10 to 20 people show.

“Rain or shine, we run down to the track on South Campus, loop the track and come back,” said Carlson, 60, who began the treks as interim president last summer and is continuing them in her permanent role, which started earlier this month.

University of Delaware president Laura Carlson (right) goes on one of her Prez Runs in Mobile, Ala., where the Blue Hens won a bowl game, defeating Louisiana-Lafayette 20-13 on Dec. 17, 2025.

The “Prez Run” is just one way the psychology scholar — who plans to run her 15th Boston Marathon in April — is building relationships on campus, with alumni and with the community and state. She also runs with alumni, employees, and students during events in other cities.

University of Delaware appoints interim president to the permanent post

“I’ve heard that the alumni association is going to put it on their bucket list of 10 things to do before you graduate,” she said.

Carlson, a Dartmouth alumna who got her doctorate in cognitive psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is focused on strengthening relationships with state and local governments and internally with faculty. Finding new revenue streams to plug holes from terminated federal grants and recruiting students in new national markets also are on her list.

The Massachusetts native previously served as provost for three years, having come to Delaware after 28 years as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She’s the first internal candidate to get the presidential appointment in about 50 years.

She follows Dennis Assanis, who resigned in June and is now chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Laura Carlson, president of the University of Delaware

Carlson is visiting classes each semester, including elementary organic chemistry and mechanical engineering.

“I want to make sure I don’t feel distant from the rhythm of the academic year,” she said. “Anything we value, we should put attention on it.”

When building a team, she asks participants to pick their top 10 values, such as family, world peace, humor, and authenticity, and rank them. Her top value is always purpose.

University of Delaware president Laura Carlson talks to fellow runners during one of her Prez Runs in Mobile, Ala., where the football team won a bowl game.

“I want to live a life of purpose,” she said.

Partnering with state and local government

She’s attempting to change the way the partnership with the state is viewed.

“We lead with what does the state need from us, as opposed to what do we need from the state,” she said.

Southern Delaware, where the university has a campus in Lewes and Georgetown, has housing, healthcare, education and workforce development needs, and the university can help, Carlson said.

She said she can envision a public-private partnership for new housing in Lewes, she said, or a classroom building with event space for the community.

Laura Carlson, president of the University of Delaware, discusses her priorities.

“If we are a university for the whole state, we need to show up in the whole state, and we need to be responsive to the needs across the state,” she said.

She’s also looking at the possibility of more residential space for the main campus in Newark — possibly a “sophomore village” — through a public-private partnership. The university has about 7,100 residential beds in Newark.

“That would take some of the pressure off the city,” she said, noting the tight rental market, and adding that parents and students may prefer on-campus housing options.

She also wants to help Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer with his plan to bring medical education to the state. Delaware remains one of few states without a medical school. The idea is not to build one from scratch but to partner with an existing medical university, she said.

“We’ve been in conversations with Thomas Jefferson” in Philadelphia, which has a nonexclusive memorandum of understanding with the state to explore a partnership, she said. “What we offer is the classrooms, the lab space, and so on to do kind of the first part of that medical school type of training.”

Penn cut doctoral student admissions by 20%, citing Trump’s threats to federal research funding

Federal government

Dealing with the federal government could be more challenging. The university has lost 41 grants worth $33.9 million since President Donald Trump took office last year. Those span engineering, biological sciences, arts, and sustainability, she said, and impact 117 graduate students and 27 postdoctoral students.

In total, $1.1 million in salaries and $2.1 million in stipends have been lost, though the university has been working to find other funding through foundations and industry, she said. No one has lost their job, she said.

“I’ve been really working hard on … kind of strengthening those relationships with our business community,” she said.

The school also has experienced a 19% decline in international graduate students following Trump’s pause on student visas and other policies, and the school lowered its doctoral admissions by 19.5% last year amid concerns over federal funding. What will happen with doctoral admissions this year is unclear.

“Each college is sort of looking strategically program by program and trying to figure out what is the right size for their doctoral programs,” she said. “If they’re compressing their number of students coming in, it’s because they’re trying to prioritize funding for their existing students.”

La Salle University saw a 40% jump in first-year students, as schools across the region see enrollments trending up

The school’s overall enrollment of more than 24,000 rose last fall and applications are up 10%, she said. But as another drop in high school graduates begins this year, the university has found success in new recruiting areas such as Colorado and Wake Forest, N.C., where the football team played as part of the school’s entry into Conference USA, she said.

“We’ve been very strategic about putting marketing in there, convening alumni and really using that as a way to establish ourselves more nationally,” she said.

Biden Institute — and a conservative counterpart

She said the university is on course to build Biden Hall, an academic building named for former President Joe Biden, a Delaware native. It will house the school’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and the Biden Institute on government theory and practice. The design phase likely will begin this spring.

Fundraising is also continuing for Siegfried Hall, which will include the Institute for Free Leadership and Enterprise. The donors, Robert L. Siegfried Jr., a certified public accountant and his wife, Kathleen Marie (Horgan) Siegfried, have said they wanted to bring a “conservative” vision and offer a balance to the Biden Institute.

Carlson said she doesn’t view the halls as conservative and liberal, but rather places where ideas can be vetted. She noted the Biden Institute is nonpartisan.

“Siegfried is a think tank on conservative economics, but part of that building will be also to sort of question the limits of those policies,” she said. “That’s what we do in any discipline.”

Personal life

Here are a few fun facts about Carlson, whose husband, Robert West, is a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the university.

Last book read: Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark.

Favorite band or musical group: Bruce Springsteen.

Favorite food: Indian. Greek.

Favorite vacation spot: “I spend so little time at my house. Some of my best days on break are if you don’t even get out of your pajamas.”

January 27, 2026
A Philly-area university prof is competing in the Jeopardy! tournament of champions

As Joshua Weikert shared ground rules for quizzes in his early morning international relations class, he sought to put his students at ease.

“I don’t want you stressing out about these,” he said Tuesday, as the new semester got underway at Immaculata University in Chester County. “I myself was a terrible student.”

Weikert, 47, of Collegeville, may not have been a star student, but he sure knows a lot.

The politics and public policy professor will compete on Jeopardy! 2026 Tournament of Champions at 7 p.m. Friday on ABC, having won six games when he was on the show in March.

Joshua Weikert teaches a class in international relations at Immaculata University.

Over a couple weeks, Jeopardy! shows will feature him vying against 20 other champions, including Allegra Kuney, a doctoral student at Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus, and Matt Massie, a Philadelphia lawyer who moved to the area in 2024, who also will appear on Friday’s show.

Friday’s match is a quarter-final, and if Weikert wins, he’ll advance to the semifinals. (Kuney won her quarter-final Tuesday.)

Weikert won about $103,000 when he competed last year, 10% of which he donated to a memorial scholarship fund named for his late friend, Jarrad Weikel, a Phoenixville man who died unexpectedly at age 40 in 2022. The winner of the champions tournament —which will conclude sometime in early February — will take home a grand prize of a quarter million.

Weikert will watch the show Friday among family and friends — including his fellow contestant Massie — at Troubles End Brewing in Collegeville, which named one of its beers after him. It’s an English Bitter, one of Weikert’s favorites, called “Who is Josh?”

At Immaculata, a Catholic college where Weikert has taught since 2016, students and staff are stoked. A campus watch party is planned, President Barbara Lettiere said.

His appearance last year, she said, has put a welcome spotlight on the school and brought an outpouring of enthusiasm from alumni. On tours, some prospective students and their parents who spot Weikert have recognized him, she said.

“I never knew that this show was as watched as it appears to be,” she said. “Win or lose, Immaculata wins.”

Student Ben Divens talks about his Jeopardy-star professor Joshua Weikert.

Ben Divens, 19, said it’s “jaw-dropping” and “surreal” to know his teacher will compete in the Jeopardy! champion tournament.

“I knew from the first time I met him he was a super, super smart person,” said Divens, a prelaw major from Souderton.

“He’s guided us so much in our major already,” added Bailey Kassis, 18, a political science major from Fort Washington.

“He’s guided us so much in our major already,” student Bailey Kassis said about her professor Joshua Weikert.

An early gamer

Weikert said he has watched Jeopardy! ever since he can remember, probably since 1984 when he was 6, and it came back on the air with Alex Trebek as host. He grew up just outside of Gettysburg in a family that loved to play games, he said.

“We took them very seriously, which is to say that they didn’t just let the kids win,” he said of his parents, both of whom had accounting degrees. “We were destroyed routinely in the games we played.”

About his performance as a student, he said he often skipped his homework.

“Just give me an exam,” he said, describing his attitude at the time. “I’ll pass it.”

He got his bachelor’s degree in international relations from West Chester University, master’s degrees from Villanova and Immaculata, and his doctorate from Temple. He also attended the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, where he studied modern standard Arabic while serving in the U.S. Army.

Joshua Weikert sets expectations for students as a new semester gets underway at Immaculata University.

In addition to teaching, he also works as a policy adviser to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives under state Rep. Joe Webster, a Democrat serving part of Montgomery County. He vets legislators’ ideas and offers ideas of his own.

“The only thing they’ve ever told me no on was [when] I tried to abolish the Pennsylvania Senate,” he said.

So many bills pass one body, then die in the other, he explained. If there were one legislative body where all House and Senate members served, that might be different, he said.

Weikert’s office walls are lined with framed newspaper front pages highlighting major events: “Nixon Resigns,” “Nazis Surrender,” “Man Walks on Moon,” “Kennedy Shot to Death.”

“Every once in a while, I just get up and read one of the stories,” he said.

He got them from his mother-in-law’s basement and put them up after his wife told him his office needed some decor.

Weikert’s status as a Jeopardy! champion makes clear he’s a fast thinker. He’s also a fast talker.

“I don’t really drink caffeine. I just talk this fast,” he told his students.

His wife, he told the class, tells him to slow down.

“Keep up,” he tells her, he said.

The road to Jeopardy

Since his mid-20s, Weikert has been trying to get on Jeopardy!. Years ago, he got a call from the game show, but he put the caller on hold to get to a quiet place. They hung up.

“I was like, well, I guess I missed that opportunity,” he said.

But he kept trying and started taking the online tests, which typically draw 200,000 participants annually. In 2024, he got an email, inviting him to take the test again — and then again under Zoom surveillance.

Next came a virtual audition and practice game in August 2024. That earned him a place in a pool of about 3,000 people, of whom a few hundred eventually became contestants.

Weikert got the call last January and was invited to fly to California the next month to compete.

In reality, his varied interests and life path had already prepared him for the show. He reads a lot. He’s a fan of historical fiction, pop culture, and movies. His work as a public policy scholar helps, too.

But to try and up his game, he read plots of Shakespeare plays and a book on great operas. He flipped through lists of presidents and vice presidents. His wife, Barbara, a Norristown School District middle school music teacher, read questions to him from old Jeopardy! shows. He knew about 80% of the answers, he said.

That, however, didn’t stop him from having panic dreams of being on stage and knowing nothing.

The toughest category for him, he said, is popular music. Movies, history, and politics are his strongest.

But the hardest questions, he said, are the ones with four or five strong possible answers.

“Getting a Jeopardy! answer right is more about knowing what it’s not than what it is,” he said.

Ultimately, he said, it’s impossible to really study for the game show.

“The odds that something you study would come up is almost zero,” he said.

It was an intense experience on stage last March, but the staff put contestants at ease, he said. Host Ken Jennings, formerly one of the show’s most successful contestants, told them, according to Weikert: “I promise you something today is going to be a win for you, so just relax and have fun.”

He has a hard time remembering his winning answers. He readily recalls his dumbest, he said.

The answer was “sacred cow.” He uttered “holy cow.”

“Even as it was coming out of my mouth, I knew it was wrong,” he said.

He’s proud that he only froze on one answer involving lyrics from the B-52’s “Love Shack,” he said.

There was less pressure competing in the championship match last month, given he was already a winner, he said. But it was harder in that the contestants were the best of the best.

“During the regular season, it’s a little under a quarter of a second between when you can start to buzz in and when the buzz actually comes,” he said. “In the tournament of champions, that drops to 0.08 seconds.”

This time, he also prepped by reading children’s books on topics such as basic cell biology, a tip he got from another contestant.

“It’s the simplest language they can use to convey the information,” he said.

He also read the book, Timelines of Everything: From Woolly Mammoths to World Wars.

He most enjoyed the camaraderie among contestants, he said. When filming was over, they hung out in a bar and — watched Jeopardy!.

“We were yelling out the answers,” he said.

January 22, 2026
Penn calls federal commission’s request for personal employee information ‘unconstitutional,’ ‘disconcerting’ and ‘unnecessary’

The University of Pennsylvania in a legal filing Tuesday pushed back against a federal commission’s demand that in effect would require it to turn over lists of Jewish faculty, staff, and students, calling the request “unconstitutional,” “disconcerting,” and “unnecessary.”

The filing comes in response to a lawsuit filed against the university in November by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, asserting that Penn failed to comply with its subpoena. The commission is seeking employees’ names, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to further an investigation it began in 2023 over the school’s treatment of Jewish faculty and other employees regarding antisemitism complaints that emerged following Hamas’ attack on Israel.

In its quest to find people potentially affected, the commission demanded a list of employees in Penn’s Jewish Studies Program, a list of all clubs, groups, organizations, and recreation groups related to the Jewish religion — including points of contact and a roster of members — and names of employees who lodged antisemitism complaints. It also sought names of participants in confidential listening sessions held by the school’s task force on antisemitism.

Jewish students and faculty at Penn ask that their names not be turned over in federal antisemitism investigation

The request has spurred a backlash from some student and faculty groups, including Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, arguing that the names and personal information should not be turned over to the government.

Penn has refused to provide the information, and the school doubled down on that position in Tuesday’s legal filing.

“The EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university wrote in its filing. “The government’s demand implicates Penn’s substantial interest in protecting its employees’ privacy, safety, and First Amendment rights.”

EEOC sues Penn for failing to release information related to antisemitism investigation

Also on Tuesday, the Penn Faculty Alliance to Combat Antisemitism, a group of more than 150 primarily Jewish professors, filed a brief in support of the university’s decision not to comply with the commission’s demand.

“While the Alliance supports the EEOC’s efforts to combat antisemitism at Penn, its members are gravely concerned that the scope of the EEOC subpoena … invokes the troubling historical persecution of Jews and threatens the personal security of the Alliance’s members,” the group wrote in the brief.

The alliance includes members who have had concerns about antisemitism at Penn, including faculty who were harassed online after attending a trip to Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the country, said Claire Finkelstein, a professor at Penn Carey Law School, member of the alliance, and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law.

Among its members are faculty “who have been really on the side of remediating antisemitism, do not believe that concerns about antisemitism are pretextual, do not think that it is a sham issue, and think there are real … issues to address at universities in general.”

Finkelstein said the alliance has not taken a position on whether the EEOC’s investigation is warranted or needed.

But the group is adamantly opposed to the subpoena and believes it could discourage membership in Jewish groups at Penn. In its brief, the group notes “the dark historical legacy associated with government lists of Jews,” including how Nazis “frequently demanded that others identify the Jews among them.”

Penn said in its filing that it had complied with the subpoena except for the list of names and contacts, noting it had provided over 900 pages of materials to the commission. The school noted that it even offered to send notices to all employees about the EEOC’s request to hear about antisemitism concerns with the commission’s contact information.

The university also asserted that the commission’s demand “is a particularly unjustified use of enforcement authority given the weakness of the underlying charge.”

The commission, the university argued, has not identified a “single allegedly unlawful employment practice or incident involving employees.”

“The charge does not refer to any employee complaint the agency has received, any allegation made by or concerning employees, or any specific workplace incident(s) contemplated by the EEOC, nor does it even identify any employment practice(s) the EEOC alleges to be unlawful or potentially harmful to Jewish employees,” Penn said in its response.

The original complaint was launched by EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas, now chair of the body, on Dec. 8, 2023, two months after Hamas’ attack on Israel that led to unrest on college campuses, including Penn’s, and charges of antisemitism. It was also just three days after Penn’s then-president, Liz Magill, had testified before a Republican-led congressional committee on the school’s handling of antisemitism complaints; the testimony drew a bipartisan backlash and led to Magill’s resignation days later.

Lucas, whom President Donald Trump appointed chair last year, also brought similar antisemitism charges against Columbia University that resulted in the school paying $21 million for “a class settlement fund.”

EEOC complaints typically come from those who allege they were aggrieved. Lucas, according to its complaint, made the charge in Penn’s case because of the “probable reluctance of Jewish faculty and staff to complain of harassing environment due to fear of hostility and potential violence directed against them.“

The commission’s investigation followed Lucas’ complaint to the commission’s Philadelphia office that alleged Penn was subjecting Jewish faculty, staff, and other employees, including students, “to an unlawful hostile work environment based on national origin, religion, and/or race.”

The allegation, the complaint said, is based on news reports, public statements made by the university and its leadership, letters from university donors, board members, alumni, and others. It also cited complaints filed against Penn and testimony before a congressional committee.

In its brief, the faculty alliance also asserted that the commission could have used other voluntary and informal methods to obtain contact information for Penn faculty and staff, such as setting up a website where people could report concerns.

Finkelstein, the Penn law professor, said she understands that the commission generally guarantees anonymity to witnesses or complainants, but leaks can occur.

“When state force extracts sensitive, personal details, those details could (and often do) become public, turning group members into targets for their enemies,” the group states in its filing.

Penn is creating an office of religious and ethnic inclusion, following concerns about antisemitism on campus

Penn has done a lot to address antisemitism concerns, said Brian Englander, president of the alliance and a professor of clinical radiology who has been at Penn for 22 years.

In its brief, the alliance listed antisemitic incidents that occurred on Penn’s campus in 2023, including a swastika left on a Penn building and messages that Penn called antisemitic that were light-projected onto several Penn buildings.

“Penn is a very different place than what we were experiencing in the fall of 2023,” he said.

Finkelstein agreed.

“Penn is not Columbia or Harvard or UCLA,” she said. “The problems that have appeared on those campuses have been much more extreme than what happened on Penn’s campus.”

“I also think there may be a limit to what university leadership can do in the face of widespread antisemitism that has really affected university campuses all over the country.”

But there is always room for improvement, she said.

“To the extent that there is an atmosphere that has made Jewish students and faculty feel unwelcome, or not heard, or vilified, that is something the university has to continue to address and I believe they will continue to address it,” she said.

Finkelstein was among about 40 faculty who took a four-day, personal trip to Israel in January 2024 and said hey felt attacked for supporting academics there and trying to learn more about the Oct. 7 attacks. An Instagram account by Penn Students Against the Occupation was critical of the trip and accused faculty of “scholasticide.” The EEOC referred to that incident in its complaint.

“My dean got hundreds of letters,” she said, protesting faculty going on the trip.

Englander said there probably are members of the alliance who would be interested in talking to the commission.

“But they would want to do it voluntarily,” he said.

The alliance, he said, is “straddling this middle line” in that it supports Penn’s refusal to turn over the names, but also recognizes “that antisemitism is a massive problem in the United States right now.”

“So having government support, whatever the motivation for that, is meaningful,” he said.

January 20, 2026
Pa. public universities didn’t get a state funding increase this year, and they’re preparing for a tough enrollment outlook

The universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education were flat-funded this year for the first time since 2021-22.

That funding, approved in the state budget deal lawmakers reached in November after a monthslong standoff, follows three years of state funding increases. In 2022-23, the system got a historic 15.7% increase.

PASSHE includes the 10 state-owned public universities. (State-related universities, including Pennsylvania State and Temple, are funded separately.)

Cheyney University, which is part of the system, got a special $5 million earmark “to develop and implement an enhanced transfer and workforce development initiative in partnership with a community college.” Cheyney, a historically Black college in Delaware and Chester Counties, and Community College of Philadelphia recently announced a partnership that will allow students to transfer seamlessly from CCP to Cheyney and earn bachelor’s degrees while remaining on CCP’s Philadelphia campus.

Pennsylvania’s state university system sees first enrollment increase since 2010

The state system had asked the state for a 6.5% increase in its general appropriation, which currently stands at $625 million. That would have brought in an additional $40 million for the 10-university system, said Christopher Fiorentino, chancellor of the system.

But he said the system has been preparing for the possibility of a funding freeze and had increased tuition this year for the first time in seven years, raising an additional $25 million.

Pennsylvania’s state university system sees first enrollment increase since 2010

“We knew it was going to be difficult, given the revenue situation in the commonwealth,” he said. “We weren’t blindsided by this.”

He said he was grateful for the system’s appropriation.

“That’s a huge amount of money,” he said. “… It is a significant commitment to public higher education, and we really appreciate that support.”

The system has requested a 5% state funding increase for 2026-27, which would allow universities to freeze tuition again, Fiorentino said.

But Kenneth M. Mash, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the faculty union, said that would not be enough if tuition is to be frozen. And he has concerns about the freeze in state funding this year.

“Too often, we go in there and act as if this is what we need to maintain the status quo, but the status quo is not good,” he said, citing technology and program needs. “We don’t have the support for students that we should have. We need to start paying attention to the quality of education and make sure it doesn’t suffer.”

The system has been in a state of readjustment as it has lost about a third of its enrollment since 2010, including merging six of its universities into two entities. The system’s universities are: Cheyney, Commonwealth, East Stroudsburg, Indiana, Kutztown, Millersville, Penn West, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester.

Planning for a drop in enrollment

Another enrollment cliff is expected to begin this year as the population of high school graduates begins to drop.

“The demographics right now going forward are unfavorable, so we have to continue to be prepared for the fact that even if we maintain our market share, we’re going to see declines in enrollment,” Fiorentino said.

The system is attempting to recruit in new markets and bring back to college those who have some credits but no degree, he said. Older students may want more weekend, night, and online courses, and that is something the system is reviewing, too, he said.

The system also is contemplating partnering with area doctoral institutions, such as Temple, to bring in doctoral students to teach at the system’s universities. That would save money on faculty hiring, while cultivating new potential talent for the system, he said.

And the system is reevaluating its programs, he said. Ninety-five percent of students are graduating from half the programs the system offers, he said. Some of the larger enrollments are in business, education, health, and engineering, he said.

But only 5% of students are enrolled in the other half of the system’s programs.

“We have to take a look at that,” he said. “How do we redeploy the money that we currently are receiving to make sure that we’re supporting the programs that are critical to the success of the commonwealth?”

Mash, the union president, said that bringing in doctoral students would create a viable stream of quality candidates, and that, under the contract, the system is permitted to employ a certain number of adjuncts. But he is concerned about eliminating programs with lower enrollments.

“We should be providing as broad of a spectrum of opportunity for students as we can,” he said.

Fiorentino said he was pleased to see Cheyney get the additional funding. The school, which has struggled with enrollment, saw an increase of 234 students — nearly 38% — this year, the highest percentage increase of any school in the system. Cheyney enrolls 851 students this year, its highest enrollment since 2014.

The new effort will allow Philadelphia students to get a Cheyney degree without having to travel to the rural campus, he said.

“A lot of their market is Philadelphia,” Fiorentino said of Cheyney, “and for a lot of the Philadelphia students, transportation has become more and more difficult.”

Temple and Penn State were flat-funded again this year. Temple said in a statement that it was grateful to see the budget pass.

“We also continue to be deeply grateful for the ongoing financial support that the university receives to reduce tuition costs for Pennsylvania residents,” the school said.

January 18, 2026
A former nun and her husband give $5 million to Neumann University for its nursing program

When Jackie Fegley, a former nun, got married 51 years ago, money was tight. So she borrowed a dress from a friend.

And when her husband looked at her nurse’s salary the first year he did her taxes, he said: “Do you know you’re borderline poverty?”

But all that changed over the ensuing decades, and on Friday, Jackie and her husband Bill Fegley Jr., who made his career in accounting, gave a $5 million gift to Neumann University. Jackie is a 1971 graduate of Neumann — then called Our Lady of Angels College.

Neumann University needed housing. A local convent had space. Now, nuns and students share a ‘dorm.’

She also spent 10 years as a nun with the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, which founded Neumann in 1965.

It’s the largest single gift Neumann — a Catholic university in Aston, Delaware County — has received from an individual, and the university in recognition named its nursing college The Jacquelyn Wilson Fegley ’71 College of Nursing.

“Bill and I were both lucky to receive a good education,” said Jackie, 81, who lives in Blue Bell with her husband, a Drexel University graduate. “So we decided that’s where we’d really like to give our money.”

Chris Domes, president of Neumann University

Neumann President Chris Domes said $4.5 million will be used for undergraduate nursing scholarships for students with the most need and highest achievement, and the other $500,000 for lab equipment. The scholarships will begin to be awarded in the fall, with 22 to 25 students benefiting each year and continuing to get the funds over four years.

Neumann University to purchase convent property of founding order, almost doubling size of campus

Nursing is the largest major at Neumann, with 368 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled. That’s about 17% of the 2,174-student body.

“If the scholarships give somebody an opportunity to change their life, it’s amazing,” said Bill, 78, who started his public accounting career with Arthur Young and then founded his own firm, Fegley & Associates, in 1975.

Domes said he hopes the gift encourages others to invest in higher education.

“It sends a signal that Neumann is a place that is financially strong and getting stronger,” he said. “It’s a real sign from Bill and Jackie that they believe in what we are doing here.”

Neumann University President Chris Domes (from left) and his wife Mary Domes, William Fegley Jr. and his wife Jacquelyn Fegley, of Blue Bell and Neumann’s Nursing Health Sciences Dean Theresa Pietsch at Neumann University in Aston, Pa. on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026.

Born in Chester, Jackie said she grew to admire the Franciscan sisters at her local parish and stayed in touch with them through high school. When she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Moylan in 1962, she joined the order.

During her decade there, she taught grade school, including one year at an orphanage where the children ranged in age from 3 to 9. She said that’s when she started to think she wanted a family.

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She got her bachelor’s degree while in the order, first taking classes at St. Joseph’s University and then moving over to Our Lady of Angels when it opened. She was part of the college’s second nursing graduating class.

“I think there were 10 of us in the class,” she said, including other nuns and lay people. “It was a wonderful experience integrating everyone together.”

After leaving the convent, she worked as a nurse at Holy Redeemer Hospital in Meadowbrook and Nazareth Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia. In January 1974, she met Bill, who grew up in Tamaqua, at a dance at a local pub. In September of that year, they married.

They have five children, now ages 40 to 50, who work as accountants, a personal trainer, a doctor, and a minimart operator.

Jackie has remained in contact with the sisters through the years.

“I love the sisters,” she said. “I still consider myself a Franciscan, just not a Franciscan sister.”

Bill — whose accounting firm has since merged with Morison Cogen LLP, where he continues to serve as a partner — has served on the foundation board for the Sisters of Saint Francis and has chaired it for about four-and-a-half years. And nine months ago, he joined Neumann’s board of trustees. He also has served as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct professor at Drexel and Pennsylvania State University.

The couple has visited Neumann to see how the educational program has grown and were pleased to see its Franciscan spirit thriving.

“I was really thrilled to see that this was how it was progressing,” Jackie said.

The couple attended the naming celebration and gift announcement at Neumann on Friday.

“We’re just pleased that God put us in a position that we’re able to do this,” Bill said.

January 17, 2026
A car accident derailed his education 25 years ago. Now he’s returning to college alongside others with physical disabilities.

In 2000, Aaron Deede was an 18-year-old Delaware college student who enjoyed acting and had dreams of becoming a playwright.

But a car accident left him paraplegic with a traumatic brain injury that upended his plans.

“It was a little detour,” Deede said.

Now, at 43, he is returning to college along with four other residents of Inglis House, a nursing facility in Philadelphia’s Wynnefield section for people with severe physical disabilities who use wheelchairs and have conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, or challenges following strokes.

Deede and three other Inglis residents on Monday started online classes — some may go in person in subsequent semesters — at Community College of Philadelphia, with a fifth student scheduled to start this summer. Inglis pays for the students’ education from a donor-supported fund.

“I love it. I can’t wait,” Deede said Friday during a celebration Inglis held for the new students at its Belmont Avenue complex, giving each of them a backpack to start their journey.

At right is Aaron Deede a resident of Inglis House. He is starting to take classes at Community College of Philadelphia. At left, Jaclyn Monaco, director of Therapeutic Life Enrichment, offers treats during the celebration for students.

Dozens of Inglis residents — who range in age from 18 to their 70s — have taken college classes over the years, and some have earned degrees. But this is the largest group to start together since the 1990s, said Jacklyn Monaco, Inglis’ director of therapeutic and life enrichment.

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“Things sort of ebb and flow as far as the types of resident who move in and their personal goals,” she said. “Sometimes they’re recreational goals. Sometimes they’re physical goals. Sometimes they’re educational goals. At this point in time we have a lot of younger folks who are really interested in pursuing higher education.”

Nikos Rapach, 21, had been planning to join either the Army or the Coast Guard when he was in a car accident and lost the use of his legs and the mobility of his fingers.

Nikos Rapach, a resident of Inglis House, sets up at his workstation in the computer lab.

“I’m not going to be able to swing a hammer, so I have to start using my brain more,” said Rapach, who is from Hazleton.

He is taking English and trigonometry classes at CCP. He will use the computers at Inglis that have adaptive technology to assist with note-taking.

“Everything here is a stepping stone for me,” said Rapach, who moved to Inglis in May. “I want to go back home. I want to get a job. I basically want to get my life back on track.”

He aspires to become a history teacher, he said.

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“Like they say, if you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it,” he said.

Deede, who came to Inglis in 2023, also would like to become a teacher, preferably at the elementary level.

Another resident who is taking classes at CCP aims to become a social worker at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Jeremy Ault, Inglis’ therapeutic education instructor. Another hopes to become an Urdu-to-English translator.

Stephanie Shea, 59, who is from Maryland and has a genetic neuromuscular condition, is taking liberal arts classes with the goal of getting a degree.

“It’s kind of a bucket-list thing,” said Shea, who recently got married to another resident. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to have.”

Founded in 1877, Inglis House currently serves about 180 residents, nearly 40% of whom are involved in educational activities — not just college. Classes are offered at Inglis in subjects such as history, law, science, poetry, and creative writing, as well as foundational skills like reading and personal finance.

Aaron Deed (right) and Nikos Rapach are starting taking classes at Community College of Philadelphia.

Inglis staff accompanied the students to CCP’s campus to take their placement tests, register for classes, and visit’s CCP’s Center on Disability, the office that helps students with disabilities.

“We suggest accommodations based on their needs,” said Lisa Papurt, coordinator of disability services at the center, which typically serves 400 to 500 students with disabilities per semester.

Those services could include extra time for tests or technology to assist with note-taking or assistance in communicating with professors.

Papurt said she is excited to see the Inglis students start their educational journey.

“I hope to be able to support them through getting degrees, graduating, and moving on to a four-year institution,” she said.

When students entered their surprise celebration Friday, Ault, the therapeutic education instructor, told them it was time for them to celebrate.

“I’m so proud of you guys for doing so well this past year,” he said. “You guys have been such a pleasure to teach and be part of your lives really.”

Ault is helping students prepare for entry into college.

“I’m working on my writing skills and grammar,” Rapach said. “Jeremy has been giving me essay prompts to help me be a better writer so that when I get to college, I’m not trying to relearn everything.”

He said he’s excited to get started.

“I feel good,” he said. “I’m ready for it.”

January 16, 2026