News Digest for February 19, 2025

Marketplace

Samsung bought back $2 billion of its own shares. Now it’s canceling them entirely.

And investors have a reason to prefer share cancellations to, say, offering a dividend, said Paul Shea, who teaches economics at Bates College. “You don’t pay a dividend tax rate on it,” said Shea. “You pay a capital gains tax rate, which is lower for most people.”

Library Journal

Book Review: What Had Happened Was (not available online, PDF attached)

Charles A. Dana Professor of English and Africana Theri Pickens debut poetry collection, What Had Happened Was, received a glowing review: “This collection demands attention and introspection by offering a raw yet eloquent portrayal of the intersections of history, identity, and systemic oppression. It’s an essential read for people seeking to honor the complexity of the experiences of Black Americans.”

Sun Journal

Portland’s Maine Jewish Film Festival set for March 1-9

Screenings for the festival will be held at the Portland Museum of Art, The Hill Arts, and Jewish Community Alliance in Portland ; the Eveningstar Cinema in Brunswick; the Maine Film Center in Waterville; and for students, at the Bates College Olin Arts Center in Lewiston.

Higher Education Stories of Note

Boston Globe

The Trump administration is expanding the affirmative action ban beyond college admissions

New York Times

Now in College, Luddite Teens Still Don’t Want Your Likes

Inside Higher Education

Ed Blum Takes a Victory Lap

Inside Higher Education

Higher Ed Policy Groups Push Back on Trump’s Anti-DEI Guidance

Chronicle of Higher Education

Ed. Dept.’s Broad DEI Warning Puts College Leaders in ‘Enormously Complicated Situation’

Boston Globe

How higher ed can reinvent itself

An opinion piece by Ann Kirschner and Jeffrey Selingo on how It needs to reform now or risk irrelevance.

Washington Post (opinion)

The college president who is fighting back against Trumpism