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"content": "\n\u003cp>The NAACP San Francisco branch, along with parents and community advocates, accused the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">city’s public school district\u003c/a> of failing to take action against anti-Black rhetoric after multiple incidents at district high schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sept. 4, a Black student at Lincoln High School was called the “N-word” during a passing period, according to representatives for the NAACP and Coleman Advocates, a racial justice nonprofit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Coleman Advocates Youth Justice Director Rachel Jones said that after the student used the “N-word,” a physical altercation ensued. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Video footage of the incident, posted by KTSF, shows a child being shoved in the school hallway. Board of Education candidate \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXZAgoAQ6I/?img_index=2\">Laurance Lee said\u003c/a> on social media that the television station reported that a “Chinese American special education student was attacked after class,” and had been bullied before. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jones said Wednesday that “a physical response to a conflict is unacceptable, but racial slurs also cause significant harm and trauma.” She said the student had previously used the language last year, prompting classmates to ask administrators to intervene — but they didn’t feel that they got the support they needed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036911\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is not an isolated incident,” said Yolanda Williams, the vice president of the NAACP San Francisco branch. “Every Black child that enters the San Francisco Unified School District deserves respect, they deserve to be safe and they deserve to be in an educational environment that is free from racial hostility.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following the incident, Lincoln administrators sent an email to families, saying they had been made aware of “multiple instances of hate speech” on campus.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“At Lincoln, there is no place for slurs of any kind … discriminatory, hateful or demeaning language,” the letter reads. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SFUSD said in a statement that district leaders were meeting with the families involved in the Sept. 4 incident, as well as community stakeholders, including the NAACP. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are implementing restorative practices to ensure that students directly impacted by the incident receive the support they need,” the district wrote via email. “We are also focused on providing support for the broader Lincoln High School community to ensure every student has access to any resources they need and that it is made clear that we do not accept behavior of this kind anywhere at SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The incident at Lincoln occurred just days after SFUSD announced that it had removed Lowell High School’s varsity baseball coaching staff and that the team would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097872/sfs-lowell-hs-baseball-team-to-forfeit-3-games-remove-coaches-after-investigation\">forfeit three games\u003c/a> next spring after an incident of racial taunting last season. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The coaches have been on leave since May, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/lowell-high-racial-misconduct-baseball-22271411.php\">reports surfaced\u003c/a> that they were present during the school’s junior varsity championship game against Lincoln High School, where “alleged race-based taunting by Lowell’s varsity players” occurred.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In this school district today, the N-word is used repeatedly at the elementary, middle and high school levels,” Rev. Amos C. Brown said Wednesday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that after the Sept. 4 incident, the school was slow to respond, and he blamed the school’s principal for not taking independent ownership for the letter sent to families. He called the message “generalized,” and said it lacked specific details or information about what, if any, repercussions there have been for the students involved. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to a question about whether it had taken any disciplinary action.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Far too many principals have sought to sweep under the rug instances when Black children have been victimized by racialized, bigoted language,” Amos said, noting that Superintendent Maria Su has met with the NAACP and “been supportive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Virginia Marshall, a member of the NAACP, addressed Su specifically: “However, you must get the word out to your principals. You must get to word out to your assistant superintendents … to say to them, ‘the N word is never ever allowed.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 1979, the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP sued SFUSD, alleging that the district was engaging in racial discrimination and maintaining segregated schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case led to a consent decree requiring the district to accelerate efforts to achieve academic excellence for all students, particularly African American and Latino students, and to eliminate racial and ethnic segregation in schools and programs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“During that time, under the consent decree of the early years, African American students thrived in SFUSD,” Marshall said. “We fear that we are at that threshold again — we should not have to sue the school district for our children to thrive.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organizations called on the district to increase accountability for racist language and behavior on its campuses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Marshall said the schools must make it “their number one priority to make sure that all children receive a great education, and that all children are safe and all children feel that they are part of [their] school.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are implementing restorative practices to ensure that students directly impacted by the incident receive the support they need,” the district wrote via email. “We are also focused on providing support for the broader Lincoln High School community to ensure every student has access to any resources they need and that it is made clear that we do not accept behavior of this kind anywhere at SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The incident at Lincoln occurred just days after SFUSD announced that it had removed Lowell High School’s varsity baseball coaching staff and that the team would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097872/sfs-lowell-hs-baseball-team-to-forfeit-3-games-remove-coaches-after-investigation\">forfeit three games\u003c/a> next spring after an incident of racial taunting last season. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The coaches have been on leave since May, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/lowell-high-racial-misconduct-baseball-22271411.php\">reports surfaced\u003c/a> that they were present during the school’s junior varsity championship game against Lincoln High School, where “alleged race-based taunting by Lowell’s varsity players” occurred.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“In this school district today, the N-word is used repeatedly at the elementary, middle and high school levels,” Rev. Amos C. Brown said Wednesday. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said that after the Sept. 4 incident, the school was slow to respond, and he blamed the school’s principal for not taking independent ownership for the letter sent to families. He called the message “generalized,” and said it lacked specific details or information about what, if any, repercussions there have been for the students involved. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He said that after the Sept. 4 incident, the school was slow to respond, and he blamed the school’s principal for not taking independent ownership for the letter sent to families. He called the message “generalized,” and said it lacked specific details or information about what, if any, repercussions there have been for the students involved. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Far too many principals have sought to sweep under the rug instances when Black children have been victimized by racialized, bigoted language,” Amos said, noting that Superintendent Maria Su has met with the NAACP and “been supportive.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Virginia Marshall, a member of the NAACP, addressed Su specifically: “However, you must get the word out to your principals. You must get to word out to your assistant superintendents … to say to them, ‘the N word is never ever allowed.’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Virginia Marshall, a member of the NAACP, addressed Su specifically: “However, you must get the word out to your principals. You must get to word out to your assistant superintendents … to say to them, ‘the N word is never ever allowed.’”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 1979, the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP sued SFUSD, alleging that the district was engaging in racial discrimination and maintaining segregated schools. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The case led to a consent decree requiring the district to accelerate efforts to achieve academic excellence for all students, particularly African American and Latino students, and to eliminate racial and ethnic segregation in schools and programs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“During that time, under the consent decree of the early years, African American students thrived in SFUSD,” Marshall said. “We fear that we are at that threshold again — we should not have to sue the school district for our children to thrive.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“During that time, under the consent decree of the early years, African American students thrived in SFUSD,” Marshall said. “We fear that we are at that threshold again — we should not have to sue the school district for our children to thrive.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The organizations called on the district to increase accountability for racist language and behavior on its campuses. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Marshall said the schools must make it “their number one priority to make sure that all children receive a great education, and that all children are safe and all children feel that they are part of [their] school.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Marshall said the schools must make it “their number one priority to make sure that all children receive a great education, and that all children are safe and all children feel that they are part of [their] school.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "San Francisco Unified said in a statement that district leaders are meeting with families affected by the racist incident on a school campus.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>The NAACP San Francisco branch, along with parents and community advocates, accused the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">city’s public school district\u003c/a> of failing to take action against anti-Black rhetoric after multiple incidents at district high schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sept. 4, a Black student at Lincoln High School was called the “N-word” during a passing period, according to representatives for the NAACP and Coleman Advocates, a racial justice nonprofit. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Coleman Advocates Youth Justice Director Rachel Jones said that after the student used the “N-word,” a physical altercation ensued. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Video footage of the incident, posted by KTSF, shows a child being shoved in the school hallway. Board of Education candidate \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXZAgoAQ6I/?img_index=2\">Laurance Lee said\u003c/a> on social media that the television station reported that a “Chinese American special education student was attacked after class,” and had been bullied before. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jones said Wednesday that “a physical response to a conflict is unacceptable, but racial slurs also cause significant harm and trauma.” She said the student had previously used the language last year, prompting classmates to ask administrators to intervene — but they didn’t feel that they got the support they needed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036911\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250418-SFUSD-06-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is not an isolated incident,” said Yolanda Williams, the vice president of the NAACP San Francisco branch. “Every Black child that enters the San Francisco Unified School District deserves respect, they deserve to be safe and they deserve to be in an educational environment that is free from racial hostility.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Following the incident, Lincoln administrators sent an email to families, saying they had been made aware of “multiple instances of hate speech” on campus.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“At Lincoln, there is no place for slurs of any kind … discriminatory, hateful or demeaning language,” the letter reads. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SFUSD said in a statement that district leaders were meeting with the families involved in the Sept. 4 incident, as well as community stakeholders, including the NAACP. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are implementing restorative practices to ensure that students directly impacted by the incident receive the support they need,” the district wrote via email. “We are also focused on providing support for the broader Lincoln High School community to ensure every student has access to any resources they need and that it is made clear that we do not accept behavior of this kind anywhere at SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The incident at Lincoln occurred just days after SFUSD announced that it had removed Lowell High School’s varsity baseball coaching staff and that the team would \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097872/sfs-lowell-hs-baseball-team-to-forfeit-3-games-remove-coaches-after-investigation\">forfeit three games\u003c/a> next spring after an incident of racial taunting last season. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The coaches have been on leave since May, when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/lowell-high-racial-misconduct-baseball-22271411.php\">reports surfaced\u003c/a> that they were present during the school’s junior varsity championship game against Lincoln High School, where “alleged race-based taunting by Lowell’s varsity players” occurred.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In this school district today, the N-word is used repeatedly at the elementary, middle and high school levels,” Rev. Amos C. Brown said Wednesday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that after the Sept. 4 incident, the school was slow to respond, and he blamed the school’s principal for not taking independent ownership for the letter sent to families. He called the message “generalized,” and said it lacked specific details or information about what, if any, repercussions there have been for the students involved. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to a question about whether it had taken any disciplinary action.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Far too many principals have sought to sweep under the rug instances when Black children have been victimized by racialized, bigoted language,” Amos said, noting that Superintendent Maria Su has met with the NAACP and “been supportive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Virginia Marshall, a member of the NAACP, addressed Su specifically: “However, you must get the word out to your principals. You must get to word out to your assistant superintendents … to say to them, ‘the N word is never ever allowed.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046127\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-09-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 1979, the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP sued SFUSD, alleging that the district was engaging in racial discrimination and maintaining segregated schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The case led to a consent decree requiring the district to accelerate efforts to achieve academic excellence for all students, particularly African American and Latino students, and to eliminate racial and ethnic segregation in schools and programs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“During that time, under the consent decree of the early years, African American students thrived in SFUSD,” Marshall said. “We fear that we are at that threshold again — we should not have to sue the school district for our children to thrive.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organizations called on the district to increase accountability for racist language and behavior on its campuses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Marshall said the schools must make it “their number one priority to make sure that all children receive a great education, and that all children are safe and all children feel that they are part of [their] school.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-bay-area-teacher-was-acquitted-of-sexual-abuse-hes-on-trial-again-for-new-allegations",
"title": "A Bay Area Teacher Was Acquitted of Sexual Abuse. He’s on Trial Again for New Allegations",
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"headTitle": "A Bay Area Teacher Was Acquitted of Sexual Abuse. He’s on Trial Again for New Allegations | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story includes details of alleged sexual misconduct against minors. \u003c/em>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>For the second time in his teaching career, a former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> elementary teacher is on trial over allegations that he sexually abused his students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Matthew Shelton, 44, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children during his tenure at the Benicia Unified School District. Prosecutors say the alleged abuse took place between 2018 and 2022 at Robert Semple Elementary School, where he was a fifth-grade teacher, and during a field trip with students in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the trial is also putting a spotlight on Shelton’s tumultuous first year teaching in 2007, when students at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa accused him of similar allegations. And it comes as Benicia Unified faces three lawsuits from students who allege the district failed to protect them by hiring Shelton, despite the abuse allegations in Napa.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton, then 25 years old, was a popular third-grade teacher at the Napa school when he was accused of inappropriately touching four students. He was criminally charged, and three students testified against him during a six-day trial in 2008. Jurors deliberated for just 20 minutes before finding him not guilty. Benicia Unified hired him six months later.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During opening statements at a Fairfield courthouse on Monday, prosecutor Barry Shapiro argued that Shelton’s pattern of abuse continued at his new school. He told the jury that Shelton went on to touch Benicia elementary students on the buttocks or vaginal area, and that he had a student touch his penis, just as the students in Napa alleged nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shapiro said adults trust teachers to keep their children safe. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This case is about a teacher who violated that trust consistently over the span of 15 years at two schools in multiple grades,” Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shapiro painted Shelton as a sophisticated actor who had both the “knowledge and opportunity” to isolate girls and get away with the abuse, even in a classroom with other students present. Shelton instructed his Benicia students to applaud when adults entered his classroom, Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But one day in December 2022, Shapiro said the students were distracted and failed to clap. A teacher walked in and saw Shelton by his desk, holding hands with another student and “swaying back and forth.” The next day, several students complained to Principal Christina Moore that he made them uncomfortable by placing his hands on a classmate’s thigh, pinching a student’s arm, and moving his hand down to the pockets of a student’s pants.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Moore contacted the school’s resource officer and Benicia Unified put Shelton on leave. Months later students disclosed more serious allegations to Benicia police.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defense attorney Amanda Bevins denies any sexual motivation on Shelton’s part. She described him as a husband, father and dedicated educator who devoted his entire career to teaching, even after being wrongfully accused nearly two decades prior. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bevins said that in the 2007 case, a group of disgruntled friends made allegations against Shelton to their principal. Flash forward to 2022, she said another friend group at Robert Semple Elementary School — upset that Shelton singled out one of the girls and made her cry — complained to their principal about Shelton. Nearly two decades apart, the two friend groups both concocted claims against him, she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bevins asked the jury to pay attention to how the allegations changed over time and were influenced by schoolyard gossip, employee break room chatter, media coverage, repeated interviews by police and lawyers and civil lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The seriousness of the accusations does not tell us whether they are true,” Bevins said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said Shelton was acquitted in Napa and he did not abuse his students in Benicia. “Nothing plus nothing is nothing,” Bevins said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘I didn’t deserve that’ \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But details of Shelton’s short tenure teaching in Napa continue to reverberate in this trial. Former students who testified against Shelton in 2008, his former Napa teaching colleagues, and the detective who investigated the case were on a recent list of potential witnesses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After opening statements, one of the students who testified against Shelton during the Napa trial, now in her late 20s, took the stand again to face her former social studies teacher. She told the jury that in 2007, she saw Shelton touch one of her classmates on the crotch and another on the butt during class. KQED does not generally name victims of alleged abuse without their consent. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With her voice occasionally breaking, she testified that Shelton had also touched her butt after she went to his desk to ask a question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101868\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Solano County Law and Justice Center in Fairfield on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was extremely shocked. I was confused. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was OK,” the former student said. “I had never been touched like that before.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another alleged victim in the Napa case told KQED in a recent interview that Shelton was well-liked and touched students by playing games with them, picking girls up and pretending to be Superman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When she was interviewed by police in 2007, the student alleged that Shelton moved her hands across her “private spot” or made her touch his groin.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But she said the same educators who comforted her, hugged her and told her she was safe later defended Shelton during the trial, testifying that the girls who accused him were lying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When it was her turn to testify, she recalled sweating and shaking “not realizing the trauma that was coming up then.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she was just a kid holding a teddy bear in a courtroom filled with adults, including Shelton. She became confused by the attorney’s deluge of questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was all basically to prove that I was wrong,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she can still remember the expression on Shelton’s face. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The smirk,” the former student said. “He was getting satisfaction from us getting confused.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After Shelton was acquitted in 2008, the state’s teacher licensing agency reviewed the allegations against him in Napa to determine whether he should be allowed to continue working in California public schools, according to records from Napa Valley Unified. In addition to the criminal case, the agency also reviewed allegations from other students who said Shelton touched them on the stomach, rubbed their fingers and patted girls’ heads “like a dog.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nine people provided “very favorable” letters on Shelton’s behalf, including his defense attorney, former assistant principal and other third grade teachers, according to the agency’s investigative report. A teacher said one of the alleged victims “does a lot of lying” and that Shelton is “very kind-hearted.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the time, Shelton cited as evidence an evaluation from a psychologist who said: “This young man very clearly does not exhibit those personality traits or demographic factors that empirical research has shown to be present in most child molesters.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton told the teacher licensing agency he was looking forward to continuing his career as an educator. His credential was reinstated in 2008, and months later Benicia Unified hired him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A parent of one of the alleged victims in Benicia told KQED that it was “disgusting” that the state gave Shelton back his teaching credential. KQED is not naming the parent to protect the identity of her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Why are we hiring people that have those types of allegations?” the mother said. “He needs to be away from kids.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said her daughter, now a teenager, is still afraid of being taught by male teachers because of what happened to her. “There were plenty of times over the last three years where she has broken down, cried and said, ‘I didn’t deserve that.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101989\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Benicia Unified Superintendent Chris Calabrese declined to comment on Shelton’s hiring. Shelton resigned from Benicia Unified in 2023 after allegations surfaced that he touched students inappropriately. He was subsequently hired by the West Contra Costa Unified School District as an assistant principal. The district put him on leave when a parent of one of the victims informed the district he was under investigation by police.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>A spokesperson for West Contra Costa Unified said in a written statement that his credentials were valid when they hired him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton sued Napa Valley Unified and Benicia Unified in 2024 to stop the districts from releasing records of complaints against him, arguing doing so would impede his right to an impartial jury. The First Amendment Coalition \u003ca href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/case/shelton-v-napa-valley-unified-school-district/\">intervened\u003c/a> on behalf of this reporter and both districts released the records.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Since 2025, California law has required all public schools to check with every previous employing school to see if prospective teaching candidates had ever been reported to the state for credible or substantiated complaints of egregious misconduct.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097322/california-teacher-misconduct-bill-administrator-discipline-al-muratsuchi\">this month,\u003c/a> prompted by reporting by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082980/california-fired-teacher-sexual-harassment\">KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, clarifying that the teacher licensing agency may discipline educators who do not share their full employment histories and administrators who do not thoroughly vet applicants. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story includes details of alleged sexual misconduct against minors. \u003c/em>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>For the second time in his teaching career, a former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> elementary teacher is on trial over allegations that he sexually abused his students.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Matthew Shelton, 44, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children during his tenure at the Benicia Unified School District. Prosecutors say the alleged abuse took place between 2018 and 2022 at Robert Semple Elementary School, where he was a fifth-grade teacher, and during a field trip with students in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Matthew Shelton, 44, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children during his tenure at the Benicia Unified School District. Prosecutors say the alleged abuse took place between 2018 and 2022 at Robert Semple Elementary School, where he was a fifth-grade teacher, and during a field trip with students in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the trial is also putting a spotlight on Shelton’s tumultuous first year teaching in 2007, when students at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa accused him of similar allegations. And it comes as Benicia Unified faces three lawsuits from students who allege the district failed to protect them by hiring Shelton, despite the abuse allegations in Napa.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But the trial is also putting a spotlight on Shelton’s tumultuous first year teaching in 2007, when students at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa accused him of similar allegations. And it comes as Benicia Unified faces three lawsuits from students who allege the district failed to protect them by hiring Shelton, despite the abuse allegations in Napa.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shelton, then 25 years old, was a popular third-grade teacher at the Napa school when he was accused of inappropriately touching four students. He was criminally charged, and three students testified against him during a six-day trial in 2008. Jurors deliberated for just 20 minutes before finding him not guilty. Benicia Unified hired him six months later.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shelton, then 25 years old, was a popular third-grade teacher at the Napa school when he was accused of inappropriately touching four students. He was criminally charged, and three students testified against him during a six-day trial in 2008. Jurors deliberated for just 20 minutes before finding him not guilty. Benicia Unified hired him six months later.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During opening statements at a Fairfield courthouse on Monday, prosecutor Barry Shapiro argued that Shelton’s pattern of abuse continued at his new school. He told the jury that Shelton went on to touch Benicia elementary students on the buttocks or vaginal area, and that he had a student touch his penis, just as the students in Napa alleged nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During opening statements at a Fairfield courthouse on Monday, prosecutor Barry Shapiro argued that Shelton’s pattern of abuse continued at his new school. He told the jury that Shelton went on to touch Benicia elementary students on the buttocks or vaginal area, and that he had a student touch his penis, just as the students in Napa alleged nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101865\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This case is about a teacher who violated that trust consistently over the span of 15 years at two schools in multiple grades,” Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shapiro painted Shelton as a sophisticated actor who had both the “knowledge and opportunity” to isolate girls and get away with the abuse, even in a classroom with other students present. Shelton instructed his Benicia students to applaud when adults entered his classroom, Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shapiro painted Shelton as a sophisticated actor who had both the “knowledge and opportunity” to isolate girls and get away with the abuse, even in a classroom with other students present. Shelton instructed his Benicia students to applaud when adults entered his classroom, Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But one day in December 2022, Shapiro said the students were distracted and failed to clap. A teacher walked in and saw Shelton by his desk, holding hands with another student and “swaying back and forth.” The next day, several students complained to Principal Christina Moore that he made them uncomfortable by placing his hands on a classmate’s thigh, pinching a student’s arm, and moving his hand down to the pockets of a student’s pants.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But one day in December 2022, Shapiro said the students were distracted and failed to clap. A teacher walked in and saw Shelton by his desk, holding hands with another student and “swaying back and forth.” The next day, several students complained to Principal Christina Moore that he made them uncomfortable by placing his hands on a classmate’s thigh, pinching a student’s arm, and moving his hand down to the pockets of a student’s pants.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Moore contacted the school’s resource officer and Benicia Unified put Shelton on leave. Months later students disclosed more serious allegations to Benicia police.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Moore contacted the school’s resource officer and Benicia Unified put Shelton on leave. Months later students disclosed more serious allegations to Benicia police.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Defense attorney Amanda Bevins denies any sexual motivation on Shelton’s part. She described him as a husband, father and dedicated educator who devoted his entire career to teaching, even after being wrongfully accused nearly two decades prior. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Defense attorney Amanda Bevins denies any sexual motivation on Shelton’s part. She described him as a husband, father and dedicated educator who devoted his entire career to teaching, even after being wrongfully accused nearly two decades prior. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bevins said that in the 2007 case, a group of disgruntled friends made allegations against Shelton to their principal. Flash forward to 2022, she said another friend group at Robert Semple Elementary School — upset that Shelton singled out one of the girls and made her cry — complained to their principal about Shelton. Nearly two decades apart, the two friend groups both concocted claims against him, she said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bevins said that in the 2007 case, a group of disgruntled friends made allegations against Shelton to their principal. Flash forward to 2022, she said another friend group at Robert Semple Elementary School — upset that Shelton singled out one of the girls and made her cry — complained to their principal about Shelton. Nearly two decades apart, the two friend groups both concocted claims against him, she said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bevins asked the jury to pay attention to how the allegations changed over time and were influenced by schoolyard gossip, employee break room chatter, media coverage, repeated interviews by police and lawyers and civil lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bevins asked the jury to pay attention to how the allegations changed over time and were influenced by schoolyard gossip, employee break room chatter, media coverage, repeated interviews by police and lawyers and civil lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The seriousness of the accusations does not tell us whether they are true,” Bevins said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She said Shelton was acquitted in Napa and he did not abuse his students in Benicia. “Nothing plus nothing is nothing,” Bevins said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>She said Shelton was acquitted in Napa and he did not abuse his students in Benicia. “Nothing plus nothing is nothing,” Bevins said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But details of Shelton’s short tenure teaching in Napa continue to reverberate in this trial. Former students who testified against Shelton in 2008, his former Napa teaching colleagues, and the detective who investigated the case were on a recent list of potential witnesses. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But details of Shelton’s short tenure teaching in Napa continue to reverberate in this trial. Former students who testified against Shelton in 2008, his former Napa teaching colleagues, and the detective who investigated the case were on a recent list of potential witnesses. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After opening statements, one of the students who testified against Shelton during the Napa trial, now in her late 20s, took the stand again to face her former social studies teacher. She told the jury that in 2007, she saw Shelton touch one of her classmates on the crotch and another on the butt during class. KQED does not generally name victims of alleged abuse without their consent. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After opening statements, one of the students who testified against Shelton during the Napa trial, now in her late 20s, took the stand again to face her former social studies teacher. She told the jury that in 2007, she saw Shelton touch one of her classmates on the crotch and another on the butt during class. KQED does not generally name victims of alleged abuse without their consent. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>With her voice occasionally breaking, she testified that Shelton had also touched her butt after she went to his desk to ask a question. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>With her voice occasionally breaking, she testified that Shelton had also touched her butt after she went to his desk to ask a question. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I was extremely shocked. I was confused. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was OK,” the former student said. “I had never been touched like that before.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Another alleged victim in the Napa case told KQED in a recent interview that Shelton was well-liked and touched students by playing games with them, picking girls up and pretending to be Superman.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When she was interviewed by police in 2007, the student alleged that Shelton moved her hands across her “private spot” or made her touch his groin.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But she said the same educators who comforted her, hugged her and told her she was safe later defended Shelton during the trial, testifying that the girls who accused him were lying. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Shelton was acquitted in 2008, the state’s teacher licensing agency reviewed the allegations against him in Napa to determine whether he should be allowed to continue working in California public schools, according to records from Napa Valley Unified. In addition to the criminal case, the agency also reviewed allegations from other students who said Shelton touched them on the stomach, rubbed their fingers and patted girls’ heads “like a dog.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nine people provided “very favorable” letters on Shelton’s behalf, including his defense attorney, former assistant principal and other third grade teachers, according to the agency’s investigative report. A teacher said one of the alleged victims “does a lot of lying” and that Shelton is “very kind-hearted.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the time, Shelton cited as evidence an evaluation from a psychologist who said: “This young man very clearly does not exhibit those personality traits or demographic factors that empirical research has shown to be present in most child molesters.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shelton told the teacher licensing agency he was looking forward to continuing his career as an educator. His credential was reinstated in 2008, and months later Benicia Unified hired him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A parent of one of the alleged victims in Benicia told KQED that it was “disgusting” that the state gave Shelton back his teaching credential. KQED is not naming the parent to protect the identity of her daughter.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A parent of one of the alleged victims in Benicia told KQED that it was “disgusting” that the state gave Shelton back his teaching credential. KQED is not naming the parent to protect the identity of her daughter.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Why are we hiring people that have those types of allegations?” the mother said. “He needs to be away from kids.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She said her daughter, now a teenager, is still afraid of being taught by male teachers because of what happened to her. “There were plenty of times over the last three years where she has broken down, cried and said, ‘I didn’t deserve that.’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Benicia Unified Superintendent Chris Calabrese declined to comment on Shelton’s hiring. Shelton resigned from Benicia Unified in 2023 after allegations surfaced that he touched students inappropriately. He was subsequently hired by the West Contra Costa Unified School District as an assistant principal. The district put him on leave when a parent of one of the victims informed the district he was under investigation by police.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>A spokesperson for West Contra Costa Unified said in a written statement that his credentials were valid when they hired him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Benicia Unified Superintendent Chris Calabrese declined to comment on Shelton’s hiring. Shelton resigned from Benicia Unified in 2023 after allegations surfaced that he touched students inappropriately. He was subsequently hired by the West Contra Costa Unified School District as an assistant principal. The district put him on leave when a parent of one of the victims informed the district he was under investigation by police.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>A spokesperson for West Contra Costa Unified said in a written statement that his credentials were valid when they hired him. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shelton sued Napa Valley Unified and Benicia Unified in 2024 to stop the districts from releasing records of complaints against him, arguing doing so would impede his right to an impartial jury. The First Amendment Coalition \u003ca href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/case/shelton-v-napa-valley-unified-school-district/\">intervened\u003c/a> on behalf of this reporter and both districts released the records.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Since 2025, California law has required all public schools to check with every previous employing school to see if prospective teaching candidates had ever been reported to the state for credible or substantiated complaints of egregious misconduct.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097322/california-teacher-misconduct-bill-administrator-discipline-al-muratsuchi\">this month,\u003c/a> prompted by reporting by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082980/california-fired-teacher-sexual-harassment\">KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, clarifying that the teacher licensing agency may discipline educators who do not share their full employment histories and administrators who do not thoroughly vet applicants. \u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Former Benicia elementary teacher Matthew Shelton has pleaded not guilty, for the second time in his teaching career, to allegations that he sexually abused his students. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story includes details of alleged sexual misconduct against minors. \u003c/em>\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>For the second time in his teaching career, a former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> elementary teacher is on trial over allegations that he sexually abused his students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Matthew Shelton, 44, faces 12 felony counts of lewd acts on four children during his tenure at the Benicia Unified School District. Prosecutors say the alleged abuse took place between 2018 and 2022 at Robert Semple Elementary School, where he was a fifth-grade teacher, and during a field trip with students in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the trial is also putting a spotlight on Shelton’s tumultuous first year teaching in 2007, when students at Phillips Edison Elementary School in Napa accused him of similar allegations. And it comes as Benicia Unified faces three lawsuits from students who allege the district failed to protect them by hiring Shelton, despite the abuse allegations in Napa.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton, then 25 years old, was a popular third-grade teacher at the Napa school when he was accused of inappropriately touching four students. He was criminally charged, and three students testified against him during a six-day trial in 2008. Jurors deliberated for just 20 minutes before finding him not guilty. Benicia Unified hired him six months later.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During opening statements at a Fairfield courthouse on Monday, prosecutor Barry Shapiro argued that Shelton’s pattern of abuse continued at his new school. He told the jury that Shelton went on to touch Benicia elementary students on the buttocks or vaginal area, and that he had a student touch his penis, just as the students in Napa alleged nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shapiro said adults trust teachers to keep their children safe. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This case is about a teacher who violated that trust consistently over the span of 15 years at two schools in multiple grades,” Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shapiro painted Shelton as a sophisticated actor who had both the “knowledge and opportunity” to isolate girls and get away with the abuse, even in a classroom with other students present. Shelton instructed his Benicia students to applaud when adults entered his classroom, Shapiro said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But one day in December 2022, Shapiro said the students were distracted and failed to clap. A teacher walked in and saw Shelton by his desk, holding hands with another student and “swaying back and forth.” The next day, several students complained to Principal Christina Moore that he made them uncomfortable by placing his hands on a classmate’s thigh, pinching a student’s arm, and moving his hand down to the pockets of a student’s pants.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Moore contacted the school’s resource officer and Benicia Unified put Shelton on leave. Months later students disclosed more serious allegations to Benicia police.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defense attorney Amanda Bevins denies any sexual motivation on Shelton’s part. She described him as a husband, father and dedicated educator who devoted his entire career to teaching, even after being wrongfully accused nearly two decades prior. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bevins said that in the 2007 case, a group of disgruntled friends made allegations against Shelton to their principal. Flash forward to 2022, she said another friend group at Robert Semple Elementary School — upset that Shelton singled out one of the girls and made her cry — complained to their principal about Shelton. Nearly two decades apart, the two friend groups both concocted claims against him, she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bevins asked the jury to pay attention to how the allegations changed over time and were influenced by schoolyard gossip, employee break room chatter, media coverage, repeated interviews by police and lawyers and civil lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The seriousness of the accusations does not tell us whether they are true,” Bevins said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said Shelton was acquitted in Napa and he did not abuse his students in Benicia. “Nothing plus nothing is nothing,” Bevins said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘I didn’t deserve that’ \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But details of Shelton’s short tenure teaching in Napa continue to reverberate in this trial. Former students who testified against Shelton in 2008, his former Napa teaching colleagues, and the detective who investigated the case were on a recent list of potential witnesses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After opening statements, one of the students who testified against Shelton during the Napa trial, now in her late 20s, took the stand again to face her former social studies teacher. She told the jury that in 2007, she saw Shelton touch one of her classmates on the crotch and another on the butt during class. KQED does not generally name victims of alleged abuse without their consent. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>With her voice occasionally breaking, she testified that Shelton had also touched her butt after she went to his desk to ask a question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101868\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Solano County Law and Justice Center in Fairfield on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I was extremely shocked. I was confused. I wasn’t sure whether or not it was OK,” the former student said. “I had never been touched like that before.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another alleged victim in the Napa case told KQED in a recent interview that Shelton was well-liked and touched students by playing games with them, picking girls up and pretending to be Superman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When she was interviewed by police in 2007, the student alleged that Shelton moved her hands across her “private spot” or made her touch his groin.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But she said the same educators who comforted her, hugged her and told her she was safe later defended Shelton during the trial, testifying that the girls who accused him were lying. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When it was her turn to testify, she recalled sweating and shaking “not realizing the trauma that was coming up then.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she was just a kid holding a teddy bear in a courtroom filled with adults, including Shelton. She became confused by the attorney’s deluge of questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was all basically to prove that I was wrong,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she can still remember the expression on Shelton’s face. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The smirk,” the former student said. “He was getting satisfaction from us getting confused.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After Shelton was acquitted in 2008, the state’s teacher licensing agency reviewed the allegations against him in Napa to determine whether he should be allowed to continue working in California public schools, according to records from Napa Valley Unified. In addition to the criminal case, the agency also reviewed allegations from other students who said Shelton touched them on the stomach, rubbed their fingers and patted girls’ heads “like a dog.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nine people provided “very favorable” letters on Shelton’s behalf, including his defense attorney, former assistant principal and other third grade teachers, according to the agency’s investigative report. A teacher said one of the alleged victims “does a lot of lying” and that Shelton is “very kind-hearted.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the time, Shelton cited as evidence an evaluation from a psychologist who said: “This young man very clearly does not exhibit those personality traits or demographic factors that empirical research has shown to be present in most child molesters.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton told the teacher licensing agency he was looking forward to continuing his career as an educator. His credential was reinstated in 2008, and months later Benicia Unified hired him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A parent of one of the alleged victims in Benicia told KQED that it was “disgusting” that the state gave Shelton back his teaching credential. KQED is not naming the parent to protect the identity of her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Why are we hiring people that have those types of allegations?” the mother said. “He needs to be away from kids.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said her daughter, now a teenager, is still afraid of being taught by male teachers because of what happened to her. “There were plenty of times over the last three years where she has broken down, cried and said, ‘I didn’t deserve that.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101989\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20260928_BeniciaTeacherTrial_GC-13_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Robert Semple Elementary School in Benicia on Sept. 28, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Benicia Unified Superintendent Chris Calabrese declined to comment on Shelton’s hiring. Shelton resigned from Benicia Unified in 2023 after allegations surfaced that he touched students inappropriately. He was subsequently hired by the West Contra Costa Unified School District as an assistant principal. The district put him on leave when a parent of one of the victims informed the district he was under investigation by police.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>A spokesperson for West Contra Costa Unified said in a written statement that his credentials were valid when they hired him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shelton sued Napa Valley Unified and Benicia Unified in 2024 to stop the districts from releasing records of complaints against him, arguing doing so would impede his right to an impartial jury. The First Amendment Coalition \u003ca href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/case/shelton-v-napa-valley-unified-school-district/\">intervened\u003c/a> on behalf of this reporter and both districts released the records.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Since 2025, California law has required all public schools to check with every previous employing school to see if prospective teaching candidates had ever been reported to the state for credible or substantiated complaints of egregious misconduct.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097322/california-teacher-misconduct-bill-administrator-discipline-al-muratsuchi\">this month,\u003c/a> prompted by reporting by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082980/california-fired-teacher-sexual-harassment\">KQED and \u003cem>ProPublica\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, clarifying that the teacher licensing agency may discipline educators who do not share their full employment histories and administrators who do not thoroughly vet applicants. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Who showed you how to register to vote, find reliable information or recognize that your voice matters?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A series by KQED Education, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/education/538821/the-next-250-or-youth-voices-on-democracy\">The Next 250: Youth Voices on Democracy\u003c/a>, explores those questions through stories created by young people participating in the KQED Youth Media Challenge and the New Voters summer fellowship.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the second installment, three young organizers reflect on what motivated them to get involved in voter registration and electoral campaigns. New Voters founder Jahnavi Rao also discusses with KQED’s Almetria Vaba how civic participation can begin long before someone casts a ballot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Listen live on 88.5 KQED on Monday, Sept. 28, at 5:20 p.m. and Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 12:50 p.m. The segments are also available on the KQED app.\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Here Are San Francisco’s Top Picks to Rename César Chavez Street",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials revealed two possible names on Thursday that could replace \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cesar-chavez\">César Chavez \u003c/a>Street, following sexual abuse allegations against the activist earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Street signs along the 3-mile road could soon read: “Las Campesinas,” which means female farmworkers, or “Sí, Se Puede,” a rallying cry of the farmworkers’ movement, meaning “Yes, you can.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The names were selected by a working group of neighborhood residents, labor leaders and city officials put together by Mayor Daniel Lurie in the wake of a shocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> investigation, which accused Chavez of a pattern of sexual misconduct against young girls and women. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of his victims was Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez in the 1960s. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101366\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A street sign on César Chavez Street in San Francisco on March 19, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cities, schools and organizations across the U.S. moved quickly to strip the late labor leader’s name from public view, but in San Francisco, renaming the street carries additional weight for many. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Former Supervisor Susan Leal, who is co-leading the renaming working group, said she remembers the celebration when she and the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to name the street for Chavez, as well as the backlash that quickly followed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Chavez’s birthday in 1995, new signs bearing his name replaced “Army Street,” the former name for the artery that borders the Mission District’s Latino Cultural District and connects the Bayshore to Noe Valley. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the moment came at a time of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment, and some city residents quickly launched a movement to repeal the change through a citywide ballot measure later that fall.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That initiative was ultimately defeated, and for the last 30 years, the name has stood as a reminder of the farmworker movement Chavez helped build, and acknowledgment of San Francisco’s Latino community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The political climate that we’re in, it’s very similar to the political climate and hate against our community [in 1995],” Olga Miranda, the president of SEIU Local 87, said at a community meeting revealing the new name options on Thursday night. “Our entire community, we’ve been under assault, we’ve been attacked, our families have disappeared, kidnapped. And so what César Chavez meant to us was a really deal back then, and it still [is].”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miranda said the committee has spent weeks discussing many possible names, including those of other prominent leaders of the farmworker movement, like Huerta.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Travis-Allen raises her hand to speak at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ultimately, they settled on the two proposed on Thursday because of their importance to the farmworker movement as a whole, with a special nod to the women who were involved and those who were harmed by Chavez’s actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Among the two dozen or so residents who attended the meeting in Flynn Elementary’s gymnasium, there was fairly broad support for “Sí, Se Puede,” a phrase coined by Huerta.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One of the biggest [words] that really brings people together, in giving people hope, is ‘Sí Se Puede,’” said Alicia Bustos Sandoval, who was raised in the Mission and worked for the union for seven years. “It’s giving them ‘esperanza.’ It gives them hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. No one can bring you down. No one can tell you no.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Chavez’s scandal, many people suggested renaming many of the monuments honoring him for Huerta. But in the months that have passed, many people have begun to question dedicating spaces to individuals at all. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“As humans, we are fallible and make mistakes and often cause harm, even when we have done some goodness,” said Cynthia Meza, who has taught at Flynn Elementary on Chavez Street for 20 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Leal said in the committee’s deliberations, they considered a slew of individuals’ names, including Huerta’s, but repeatedly came back to the broader movement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many speakers said ‘Sí, Se Puede’ strikes a balance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101376\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Susan Cervantes speaks at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s sort of the rally for all causes,” Susan Cervantes, who is on the renaming working group, said. “I’ve seen Dolores Huerta end many of her rallies with that voice, saying, ‘Sí, se puede,’ with her fist up. Resistance and resilience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres, who is co-leading the committee, said it plans to make a final recommendation on a new name next week. That will then be proposed to the Board of Supervisors in official legislation from Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s office, and undergo a formal public hearing and vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Moisés García, who attended the meeting on behalf of the mayor’s office, said that a new name could be finalized as soon as December. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, the city will begin replacing street signs and associated etchings in sidewalks. The committee estimates that work will cost $107,000, which will be paid by the city.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Garcia said the Department of Public Works plans to work with the U.S. Postal Service to update delivery and mapping systems, and the city will support residents and businesses required to change their addresses and associated official documents over time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The names were selected by a working group of neighborhood residents, labor leaders and city officials put together by Mayor Daniel Lurie in the wake of a shocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> investigation, which accused Chavez of a pattern of sexual misconduct against young girls and women. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of his victims was Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez in the 1960s. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101366\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A street sign on César Chavez Street in San Francisco on March 19, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Cities, schools and organizations across the U.S. moved quickly to strip the late labor leader’s name from public view, but in San Francisco, renaming the street carries additional weight for many. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Former Supervisor Susan Leal, who is co-leading the renaming working group, said she remembers the celebration when she and the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to name the street for Chavez, as well as the backlash that quickly followed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Chavez’s birthday in 1995, new signs bearing his name replaced “Army Street,” the former name for the artery that borders the Mission District’s Latino Cultural District and connects the Bayshore to Noe Valley. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the moment came at a time of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment, and some city residents quickly launched a movement to repeal the change through a citywide ballot measure later that fall.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That initiative was ultimately defeated, and for the last 30 years, the name has stood as a reminder of the farmworker movement Chavez helped build, and acknowledgment of San Francisco’s Latino community.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The political climate that we’re in, it’s very similar to the political climate and hate against our community [in 1995],” Olga Miranda, the president of SEIU Local 87, said at a community meeting revealing the new name options on Thursday night. “Our entire community, we’ve been under assault, we’ve been attacked, our families have disappeared, kidnapped. And so what César Chavez meant to us was a really deal back then, and it still [is].”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The political climate that we’re in, it’s very similar to the political climate and hate against our community [in 1995],” Olga Miranda, the president of SEIU Local 87, said at a community meeting revealing the new name options on Thursday night. “Our entire community, we’ve been under assault, we’ve been attacked, our families have disappeared, kidnapped. And so what César Chavez meant to us was a really deal back then, and it still [is].”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Miranda said the committee has spent weeks discussing many possible names, including those of other prominent leaders of the farmworker movement, like Huerta.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Travis-Allen raises her hand to speak at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ultimately, they settled on the two proposed on Thursday because of their importance to the farmworker movement as a whole, with a special nod to the women who were involved and those who were harmed by Chavez’s actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Among the two dozen or so residents who attended the meeting in Flynn Elementary’s gymnasium, there was fairly broad support for “Sí, Se Puede,” a phrase coined by Huerta.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“One of the biggest [words] that really brings people together, in giving people hope, is ‘Sí Se Puede,’” said Alicia Bustos Sandoval, who was raised in the Mission and worked for the union for seven years. “It’s giving them ‘esperanza.’ It gives them hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. No one can bring you down. No one can tell you no.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“One of the biggest [words] that really brings people together, in giving people hope, is ‘Sí Se Puede,’” said Alicia Bustos Sandoval, who was raised in the Mission and worked for the union for seven years. “It’s giving them ‘esperanza.’ It gives them hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. No one can bring you down. No one can tell you no.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Chavez’s scandal, many people suggested renaming many of the monuments honoring him for Huerta. But in the months that have passed, many people have begun to question dedicating spaces to individuals at all. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Chavez’s scandal, many people suggested renaming many of the monuments honoring him for Huerta. But in the months that have passed, many people have begun to question dedicating spaces to individuals at all. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“As humans, we are fallible and make mistakes and often cause harm, even when we have done some goodness,” said Cynthia Meza, who has taught at Flynn Elementary on Chavez Street for 20 years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“As humans, we are fallible and make mistakes and often cause harm, even when we have done some goodness,” said Cynthia Meza, who has taught at Flynn Elementary on Chavez Street for 20 years. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Leal said in the committee’s deliberations, they considered a slew of individuals’ names, including Huerta’s, but repeatedly came back to the broader movement.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Many speakers said ‘Sí, Se Puede’ strikes a balance. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101376\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Susan Cervantes speaks at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s sort of the rally for all causes,” Susan Cervantes, who is on the renaming working group, said. “I’ve seen Dolores Huerta end many of her rallies with that voice, saying, ‘Sí, se puede,’ with her fist up. Resistance and resilience.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres, who is co-leading the committee, said it plans to make a final recommendation on a new name next week. That will then be proposed to the Board of Supervisors in official legislation from Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s office, and undergo a formal public hearing and vote. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Moisés García, who attended the meeting on behalf of the mayor’s office, said that a new name could be finalized as soon as December. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then, the city will begin replacing street signs and associated etchings in sidewalks. The committee estimates that work will cost $107,000, which will be paid by the city.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Garcia said the Department of Public Works plans to work with the U.S. Postal Service to update delivery and mapping systems, and the city will support residents and businesses required to change their addresses and associated official documents over time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials revealed two possible names on Thursday that could replace \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/cesar-chavez\">César Chavez \u003c/a>Street, following sexual abuse allegations against the activist earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Street signs along the 3-mile road could soon read: “Las Campesinas,” which means female farmworkers, or “Sí, Se Puede,” a rallying cry of the farmworkers’ movement, meaning “Yes, you can.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The names were selected by a working group of neighborhood residents, labor leaders and city officials put together by Mayor Daniel Lurie in the wake of a shocking \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/us/cesar-chavez-sexual-abuse-allegations-ufw.html\">\u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em>\u003c/a> investigation, which accused Chavez of a pattern of sexual misconduct against young girls and women. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of his victims was Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Chavez in the 1960s. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101366\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260319-Cesar-Chavez-Street-MD-01_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A street sign on César Chavez Street in San Francisco on March 19, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cities, schools and organizations across the U.S. moved quickly to strip the late labor leader’s name from public view, but in San Francisco, renaming the street carries additional weight for many. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Former Supervisor Susan Leal, who is co-leading the renaming working group, said she remembers the celebration when she and the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to name the street for Chavez, as well as the backlash that quickly followed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Chavez’s birthday in 1995, new signs bearing his name replaced “Army Street,” the former name for the artery that borders the Mission District’s Latino Cultural District and connects the Bayshore to Noe Valley. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the moment came at a time of heightened anti-immigrant sentiment, and some city residents quickly launched a movement to repeal the change through a citywide ballot measure later that fall.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That initiative was ultimately defeated, and for the last 30 years, the name has stood as a reminder of the farmworker movement Chavez helped build, and acknowledgment of San Francisco’s Latino community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The political climate that we’re in, it’s very similar to the political climate and hate against our community [in 1995],” Olga Miranda, the president of SEIU Local 87, said at a community meeting revealing the new name options on Thursday night. “Our entire community, we’ve been under assault, we’ve been attacked, our families have disappeared, kidnapped. And so what César Chavez meant to us was a really deal back then, and it still [is].”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Miranda said the committee has spent weeks discussing many possible names, including those of other prominent leaders of the farmworker movement, like Huerta.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101372\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mary Travis-Allen raises her hand to speak at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ultimately, they settled on the two proposed on Thursday because of their importance to the farmworker movement as a whole, with a special nod to the women who were involved and those who were harmed by Chavez’s actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Among the two dozen or so residents who attended the meeting in Flynn Elementary’s gymnasium, there was fairly broad support for “Sí, Se Puede,” a phrase coined by Huerta.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One of the biggest [words] that really brings people together, in giving people hope, is ‘Sí Se Puede,’” said Alicia Bustos Sandoval, who was raised in the Mission and worked for the union for seven years. “It’s giving them ‘esperanza.’ It gives them hope that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. No one can bring you down. No one can tell you no.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Chavez’s scandal, many people suggested renaming many of the monuments honoring him for Huerta. But in the months that have passed, many people have begun to question dedicating spaces to individuals at all. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“As humans, we are fallible and make mistakes and often cause harm, even when we have done some goodness,” said Cynthia Meza, who has taught at Flynn Elementary on Chavez Street for 20 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Leal said in the committee’s deliberations, they considered a slew of individuals’ names, including Huerta’s, but repeatedly came back to the broader movement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Many speakers said ‘Sí, Se Puede’ strikes a balance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101376\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/260924-ChavezRenaming-NG-38-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Susan Cervantes speaks at a community meeting on renaming César Chavez Street at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s sort of the rally for all causes,” Susan Cervantes, who is on the renaming working group, said. “I’ve seen Dolores Huerta end many of her rallies with that voice, saying, ‘Sí, se puede,’ with her fist up. Resistance and resilience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Joaquín Torres, who is co-leading the committee, said it plans to make a final recommendation on a new name next week. That will then be proposed to the Board of Supervisors in official legislation from Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s office, and undergo a formal public hearing and vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Moisés García, who attended the meeting on behalf of the mayor’s office, said that a new name could be finalized as soon as December. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then, the city will begin replacing street signs and associated etchings in sidewalks. The committee estimates that work will cost $107,000, which will be paid by the city.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Garcia said the Department of Public Works plans to work with the U.S. Postal Service to update delivery and mapping systems, and the city will support residents and businesses required to change their addresses and associated official documents over time.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "stanford-ai-usage-face-swaps-on-campus-banner-sparks-national-backlash",
"title": "Stanford AI Usage, ‘Face Swaps’ on Campus Banner Spark National Backlash",
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"headTitle": "Stanford AI Usage, ‘Face Swaps’ on Campus Banner Spark National Backlash | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> senior Billy Ramirez returned to campus this fall to find that the university’s housing and dining department used artificial intelligence to replace him with a Black woman on a public banner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Stanford Residential and Dining Enterprises, which oversees the university’s housing operations, dining services and campus conferences, hung the promotional banner in a student housing center, according to \u003ca href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2026/09/23/university-confirms-ai-edited-photo/\">\u003cem>The Stanford Daily\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outlet also reported that the original photo, taken in Stern Dining during a 2024 Lunar New Year celebration, was previously used unaltered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An ornate sandstone-colored building with a series of arches sitting on a brick plaza.\" class=\"wp-image-11956028\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-800x528.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1020x673.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1536x1014.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1920x1267.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The arches of the Main Quadrangle buildings on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto on Oct. 2, 2021. (David Madison/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In addition to replacing Ramirez, Stanford R&DE made significant changes to the other two students’ faces. The edits and use of AI caused a stir on the campus social media app, Fizz, according to the Daily, consequently drawing \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/stanford-photo-swap-black-hispanic-student.html\">national attention\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Seeing my identity changed and being left out of the picture made me feel, in a way, silenced and erased from a representation that was supposed to include me,” Ramirez told the \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordreview.org/stanford-r-de-uses-ai-to-race-swap-students-for-advertising/\">\u003cem>Stanford Review\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an independent paper founded by venture capitalist and university alum Peter Thiel. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez’s class was the last cohort admitted to a U.S. college before the Supreme Court gutted \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1181138066/affirmative-action-supreme-court-decision\">affirmative action\u003c/a> in 2023. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-complex-ramifications-of-students-for-fair-admissions-v-harvard/\">Brookings Institute\u003c/a> found that these changes had a sizable impact on the racial profile of college populations across the country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At Stanford, \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/01/final-enrollment-data-for-class-of-2028-reported-in-common-data-set\">enrollment\u003c/a> for Black or African American students fell from 8.9% to 4.5% and enrollment for Hispanic or Latino students fell from 16.7% to 14.6%. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the same time, Asian student enrollment increased from 28.8% to 33%, and White student enrollment increased from 21.9% to 24.1%. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Universities have a long history of artificially diversifying models in their marketing. In 2019, \u003ca href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/marketing-authenticity-higher\">\u003cem>Inside Higher Ed\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported on a series of incidents, including one at York College of Pennsylvania, where the school used Photoshop to replace two white students “with an African American student and (seemingly) Muslim student.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Stanford AI researcher Maty Bohacek said he found the situation “highly problematic” and explained how AI image editing introduces new problems to an old story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12067141\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hoover Tower at Stanford University in Palo Alto on Dec. 10, 2025. (Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Humans would most likely go into Photoshop and start working on specific areas of the image,” Bohacek, who focuses on media integrity, said. “But AI models these days, most of them anyway, can’t do that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohacek said that most publicly available AI models cannot work directly with individual pixels, the way a human would in photoshop. Instead, they take the entire image, convert it into a mathematical form, make edits, then convert it back into an image. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During this process, other parts of the photo can also be altered, like the two students to the left of Ramirez, he said, and biases can be introduced. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These models are heavily post-trained to produce imagery or text that humans tend to prefer or tend to rate as more aesthetically pleasing,” Bohacek said. “That to me is problematic because we changed people’s likeness,” noting that both students were made to look thinner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an anonymous Substack titled \u003ca href=\"https://theothertwo.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-stanford-community\">“The Other Two,”\u003c/a> the authors introduced themselves as the students pictured alongside Ramirez. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They wrote that they filed a report to the university’s Title VI office for discrimination and said they demanded that Stanford take down the banners with the photo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062227\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The arched walkways of Stanford’s Main Quad in Stanford Oct. 29, 2025. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The fact that the picture generated one of our peers into a Black woman to showcase “diversity,” despite enrolling the lowest Black student population in the past recent years, has shown that universities have not shown enough institutional support for their Black community and see them as a tool for their marketing,” the authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“To see Southeast Asian facial features be changed to adhere to the East Asian beauty standards shows that Stanford sees the Asia diaspora as a monolith,” they continued.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, Stanford spokesperson Charlene Gage said that the university “reviewed the matter and confirmed that AI was used to alter the image in violation of the university policy.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gage said that Stanford removed the banners with the image in question and “are working to provide additional training for all staff and ensure proper review.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In addition to replacing Ramirez, Stanford R&DE made significant changes to the other two students’ faces. The edits and use of AI caused a stir on the campus social media app, Fizz, according to the Daily, consequently drawing \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/stanford-photo-swap-black-hispanic-student.html\">national attention\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Seeing my identity changed and being left out of the picture made me feel, in a way, silenced and erased from a representation that was supposed to include me,” Ramirez told the \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordreview.org/stanford-r-de-uses-ai-to-race-swap-students-for-advertising/\">\u003cem>Stanford Review\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an independent paper founded by venture capitalist and university alum Peter Thiel. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ramirez’s class was the last cohort admitted to a U.S. college before the Supreme Court gutted \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1181138066/affirmative-action-supreme-court-decision\">affirmative action\u003c/a> in 2023. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At Stanford, \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/01/final-enrollment-data-for-class-of-2028-reported-in-common-data-set\">enrollment\u003c/a> for Black or African American students fell from 8.9% to 4.5% and enrollment for Hispanic or Latino students fell from 16.7% to 14.6%. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Universities have a long history of artificially diversifying models in their marketing. In 2019, \u003ca href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/marketing-authenticity-higher\">\u003cem>Inside Higher Ed\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported on a series of incidents, including one at York College of Pennsylvania, where the school used Photoshop to replace two white students “with an African American student and (seemingly) Muslim student.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Stanford AI researcher Maty Bohacek said he found the situation “highly problematic” and explained how AI image editing introduces new problems to an old story. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Humans would most likely go into Photoshop and start working on specific areas of the image,” Bohacek, who focuses on media integrity, said. “But AI models these days, most of them anyway, can’t do that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These models are heavily post-trained to produce imagery or text that humans tend to prefer or tend to rate as more aesthetically pleasing,” Bohacek said. “That to me is problematic because we changed people’s likeness,” noting that both students were made to look thinner. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an anonymous Substack titled \u003ca href=\"https://theothertwo.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-stanford-community\">“The Other Two,”\u003c/a> the authors introduced themselves as the students pictured alongside Ramirez. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They wrote that they filed a report to the university’s Title VI office for discrimination and said they demanded that Stanford take down the banners with the photo.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The fact that the picture generated one of our peers into a Black woman to showcase “diversity,” despite enrolling the lowest Black student population in the past recent years, has shown that universities have not shown enough institutional support for their Black community and see them as a tool for their marketing,” the authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“To see Southeast Asian facial features be changed to adhere to the East Asian beauty standards shows that Stanford sees the Asia diaspora as a monolith,” they continued.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, Stanford spokesperson Charlene Gage said that the university “reviewed the matter and confirmed that AI was used to alter the image in violation of the university policy.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Amid criticism from students and national coverage of the incident, Stanford has removed all banners with the image and pledged to conduct a proper review.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> senior Billy Ramirez returned to campus this fall to find that the university’s housing and dining department used artificial intelligence to replace him with a Black woman on a public banner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Stanford Residential and Dining Enterprises, which oversees the university’s housing operations, dining services and campus conferences, hung the promotional banner in a student housing center, according to \u003ca href=\"https://stanforddaily.com/2026/09/23/university-confirms-ai-edited-photo/\">\u003cem>The Stanford Daily\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The outlet also reported that the original photo, taken in Stern Dining during a 2024 Lunar New Year celebration, was previously used unaltered. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An ornate sandstone-colored building with a series of arches sitting on a brick plaza.\" class=\"wp-image-11956028\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-800x528.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1020x673.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1536x1014.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/230719-STANFORD-GETTY-DM-KQED-1920x1267.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The arches of the Main Quadrangle buildings on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto on Oct. 2, 2021. (David Madison/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In addition to replacing Ramirez, Stanford R&DE made significant changes to the other two students’ faces. The edits and use of AI caused a stir on the campus social media app, Fizz, according to the Daily, consequently drawing \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/stanford-photo-swap-black-hispanic-student.html\">national attention\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Seeing my identity changed and being left out of the picture made me feel, in a way, silenced and erased from a representation that was supposed to include me,” Ramirez told the \u003ca href=\"https://stanfordreview.org/stanford-r-de-uses-ai-to-race-swap-students-for-advertising/\">\u003cem>Stanford Review\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, an independent paper founded by venture capitalist and university alum Peter Thiel. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez’s class was the last cohort admitted to a U.S. college before the Supreme Court gutted \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/06/29/1181138066/affirmative-action-supreme-court-decision\">affirmative action\u003c/a> in 2023. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-complex-ramifications-of-students-for-fair-admissions-v-harvard/\">Brookings Institute\u003c/a> found that these changes had a sizable impact on the racial profile of college populations across the country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At Stanford, \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/01/final-enrollment-data-for-class-of-2028-reported-in-common-data-set\">enrollment\u003c/a> for Black or African American students fell from 8.9% to 4.5% and enrollment for Hispanic or Latino students fell from 16.7% to 14.6%. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the same time, Asian student enrollment increased from 28.8% to 33%, and White student enrollment increased from 21.9% to 24.1%. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Universities have a long history of artificially diversifying models in their marketing. In 2019, \u003ca href=\"https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/marketing-authenticity-higher\">\u003cem>Inside Higher Ed\u003c/em>\u003c/a> reported on a series of incidents, including one at York College of Pennsylvania, where the school used Photoshop to replace two white students “with an African American student and (seemingly) Muslim student.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Stanford AI researcher Maty Bohacek said he found the situation “highly problematic” and explained how AI image editing introduces new problems to an old story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12067141\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251210-STANFORDFILE00607_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hoover Tower at Stanford University in Palo Alto on Dec. 10, 2025. (Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Humans would most likely go into Photoshop and start working on specific areas of the image,” Bohacek, who focuses on media integrity, said. “But AI models these days, most of them anyway, can’t do that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohacek said that most publicly available AI models cannot work directly with individual pixels, the way a human would in photoshop. Instead, they take the entire image, convert it into a mathematical form, make edits, then convert it back into an image. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During this process, other parts of the photo can also be altered, like the two students to the left of Ramirez, he said, and biases can be introduced. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These models are heavily post-trained to produce imagery or text that humans tend to prefer or tend to rate as more aesthetically pleasing,” Bohacek said. “That to me is problematic because we changed people’s likeness,” noting that both students were made to look thinner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an anonymous Substack titled \u003ca href=\"https://theothertwo.substack.com/p/letter-to-the-stanford-community\">“The Other Two,”\u003c/a> the authors introduced themselves as the students pictured alongside Ramirez. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They wrote that they filed a report to the university’s Title VI office for discrimination and said they demanded that Stanford take down the banners with the photo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062227\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20251029_STANFORDFILE-_GH-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The arched walkways of Stanford’s Main Quad in Stanford Oct. 29, 2025. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The fact that the picture generated one of our peers into a Black woman to showcase “diversity,” despite enrolling the lowest Black student population in the past recent years, has shown that universities have not shown enough institutional support for their Black community and see them as a tool for their marketing,” the authors wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“To see Southeast Asian facial features be changed to adhere to the East Asian beauty standards shows that Stanford sees the Asia diaspora as a monolith,” they continued.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, Stanford spokesperson Charlene Gage said that the university “reviewed the matter and confirmed that AI was used to alter the image in violation of the university policy.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gage said that Stanford removed the banners with the image in question and “are working to provide additional training for all staff and ensure proper review.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">Mandarin immersion campus\u003c/a> has an official — temporary — home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The highly anticipated K-8 dual language school will be housed on the campus of the Mission Education Center beginning in fall 2027, before moving onto a permanent site. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is an exciting moment for San Francisco families who have been asking for a TK-8 Mandarin Immersion school,” Superintendent Maria Su said in a statement. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are excited to take this next step toward opening this new school as part of the vision to grow and expand learning opportunities at SFUSD to strengthen our schools.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12037008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SFUSD said that beginning in the fall, the new school and MEC, which has traditionally served newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrant students, will be co-programmed on the campus at 1670 Noe St. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In its first year, the district said it expects to have three kindergarten and one transitional kindergarten classroom dedicated to Mandarin immersion. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They plan to add more grades each year in a phased approach.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District announced that it would launch the new school in July 2025 after years of requests for more seats in language programs — which have traditionally amassed long waitlists and drawn families to SFUSD. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The initiative also came shortly after a group of city parents proposed plans to open a similar charter school, an effort that could have siphoned funding and students away from the district.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That effort was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053745/sf-school-board-to-vote-on-new-mandarin-charter-school-facing-likely-rejection\">rejected by the school board\u003c/a>, which cited concerns about its educational model and the negative financial impact on SFUSD, in August 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Liana Szeto, who founded the nation’s first Chinese Immersion public school — Alice Fong Yu K-8 — in San Francisco, is leading the new school’s development as a special advisor, but additional details about the program are still sparse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since taking the helm of SFUSD two years ago, Su has said she’s focused on expanding language pathways and transitional kindergarten to boost enrollment after years of decline.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12053561\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood on Aug. 25, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“For my family, this represents an amazing opportunity for my kids to connect to their heritage and connect with their Chinese-speaking family,” said parent Abby Chao, who is Chinese American, and hopes to send her three children to SFUSD Mandarin immersion schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, she co-founded the group Friends of SF Mandarin School, a parent advocacy group which worked with the district to establish the new school. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This school will double the number of Mandarin seats that are available at kindergarten” from 66, Chao said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“For all families, it is another reason to choose SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD also added Spanish immersion transitional kindergarten classes at MEC, but the rollout was shaky, as parents said the district failed to staff the classrooms with full-time teachers for months.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“For my family, this represents an amazing opportunity for my kids to connect to their heritage and connect with their Chinese-speaking family,” said parent Abby Chao, who is Chinese American, and hopes to send her three children to SFUSD Mandarin immersion schools. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD also added Spanish immersion transitional kindergarten classes at MEC, but the rollout was shaky, as parents said the district failed to staff the classrooms with full-time teachers for months.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The highly anticipated K-8 dual language school will be temporarily located on the campus of the Mission Education Center beginning in fall 2027.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/sfusd\">Mandarin immersion campus\u003c/a> has an official — temporary — home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The highly anticipated K-8 dual language school will be housed on the campus of the Mission Education Center beginning in fall 2027, before moving onto a permanent site. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This is an exciting moment for San Francisco families who have been asking for a TK-8 Mandarin Immersion school,” Superintendent Maria Su said in a statement. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are excited to take this next step toward opening this new school as part of the vision to grow and expand learning opportunities at SFUSD to strengthen our schools.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12037008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-11-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su speaks during a press conference at the school district offices in San Francisco on April 21, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SFUSD said that beginning in the fall, the new school and MEC, which has traditionally served newly arrived Spanish-speaking immigrant students, will be co-programmed on the campus at 1670 Noe St. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In its first year, the district said it expects to have three kindergarten and one transitional kindergarten classroom dedicated to Mandarin immersion. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They plan to add more grades each year in a phased approach.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District announced that it would launch the new school in July 2025 after years of requests for more seats in language programs — which have traditionally amassed long waitlists and drawn families to SFUSD. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The initiative also came shortly after a group of city parents proposed plans to open a similar charter school, an effort that could have siphoned funding and students away from the district.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That effort was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053745/sf-school-board-to-vote-on-new-mandarin-charter-school-facing-likely-rejection\">rejected by the school board\u003c/a>, which cited concerns about its educational model and the negative financial impact on SFUSD, in August 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Liana Szeto, who founded the nation’s first Chinese Immersion public school — Alice Fong Yu K-8 — in San Francisco, is leading the new school’s development as a special advisor, but additional details about the program are still sparse. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since taking the helm of SFUSD two years ago, Su has said she’s focused on expanding language pathways and transitional kindergarten to boost enrollment after years of decline.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12053561\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250825-SFUSDMISSIONEDCENTER-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Mission Education Center, a bilingual elementary school in the San Francisco Unified School District, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley neighborhood on Aug. 25, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“For my family, this represents an amazing opportunity for my kids to connect to their heritage and connect with their Chinese-speaking family,” said parent Abby Chao, who is Chinese American, and hopes to send her three children to SFUSD Mandarin immersion schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, she co-founded the group Friends of SF Mandarin School, a parent advocacy group which worked with the district to establish the new school. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This school will double the number of Mandarin seats that are available at kindergarten” from 66, Chao said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“For all families, it is another reason to choose SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD also added Spanish immersion transitional kindergarten classes at MEC, but the rollout was shaky, as parents said the district failed to staff the classrooms with full-time teachers for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-community-colleges-can-offer-up-to-12-new-bachelors-degrees-under-new-laws",
"title": "California Community Colleges Can Offer Up to 12 New Bachelor’s Degrees Under New Laws",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A set of bills signed into law by Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> Friday aims to rein in the topsy-turvy expansion of bachelor’s degrees at California \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/california-community-colleges/\">community colleges\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bills themselves caused new friction: In a last-minute shift, the community colleges that were championing these bills came out to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/community-college-bachelors-degrees-california/\">formally oppose them\u003c/a> after the lawmakers substantially revised the measures a day before a key constitutional deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two laws — \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb960\">Senate Bill 960\u003c/a> by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, a Democrat from Napa, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2694\">Assembly Bill 2694\u003c/a> by David Alvarez — allow college districts to have anywhere from two to 12 new bachelor’s degrees a year starting in 2028. The bills bake in accountability metrics: Districts with higher graduation and transfer rates will be permitted to add more degrees. The new caps do not apply to existing bachelor’s degrees at college districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 49 colleges \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/Educational-Services-and-Support/What-we-do/Curriculum-and-Instruction-Unit/Curriculum/Baccalaureate-Degree-Program\">either offer or will soon\u003c/a> offer 66 bachelor’s degrees. Districts would also need to prove that there’s a workforce need in their region to justify the creation of a bachelor’s degree. The caps apply to all districts, whether they have one campus or nine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community colleges opposed tying the number of degrees they can offer to student metrics, arguing that they punish districts that educate low-income students who are less likely to finish their certificates and associate degrees or transfer to a four-year university but would also benefit from more bachelor’s degrees offerings that are tied to local labor market needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other community college leaders said the bills’ numerous last-minute provisions were unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12098502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12098502\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk through the MiraCosta College campus in Oceanside on Sept. 26, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re being asked to … support a process that is not completely understood or vetted at the last minute, and so that’s just not great policymaking,” said Larry Galizio, president and chief executive of the Community College League of California, an association representing community college presidents and board leaders, in an interview for a previous story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills directly address the central tension that buffeted relations between the community colleges and the California State University. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202120220ab927\">Since 2022\u003c/a>, the community colleges were allowed to introduce no more than 30 bachelor’s degrees annually, as long as they didn’t duplicate degrees offered by any Cal State or University of California campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal State routinely objected to the bachelor’s degrees community colleges sought. And a few times the colleges went ahead with the degree programs anyway.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[aside postID=news_12100707 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-1-KQED.jpg']\u003c/span>Community colleges and influential lawmakers said it was unfair to block the colleges from creating bachelor’s degrees that local students and employers wanted, especially if the existing UC or Cal State degree is at a university hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students bemoaned the inability to earn bachelor’s degrees close to home. Many are priced out of relocating to those universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are 115 local community colleges in the state, far more than the 31 UC and Cal state campuses offering bachelor’s degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills Newsom signed Friday allow community colleges to create bachelor’s degrees even if a nearby Cal State offers a similar program, but only if that Cal State program rejects more than 25% of applicants from that nearby community college three consecutive years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills also insert a process for handling an impasse between the colleges and Cal State, something missing in past law. A review by the state’s secretary of labor siding with the colleges would remove the Cal State system’s challenge to the degree. But If the labor secretary sides with Cal State, the district is barred from submitting an application for a similar program for five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal State system, which opposed earlier versions of the bills, changed their position to neutral after the latest versions were published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community colleges are generally barred from duplicating a degree a UC campus offers, unless they come to a written agreement with the UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069108\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12069108 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom vetoed a related community college bachelor’s degree bill — one that he’s rejected twice before. For the third year in a row, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Democrat from Merced, sought a bill to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/09/nursing-shortage/\">allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing at a community college\u003c/a>, something they cannot currently do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom wrote in his veto message Friday that the bill is unnecessary because of the two bills by Alvarez and Cabaldon he signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is neither necessary nor appropriate to authorize an additional pilot or create an exception to the framework, as this bill proposes,” Newsom wrote. “California’s public higher education segments should instead focus on implementing this newly created, comprehensive system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/new-california-laws-community-college-degrees/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A set of bills signed into law by Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> Friday aims to rein in the topsy-turvy expansion of bachelor’s degrees at California \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/california-community-colleges/\">community colleges\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the bills themselves caused new friction: In a last-minute shift, the community colleges that were championing these bills came out to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/community-college-bachelors-degrees-california/\">formally oppose them\u003c/a> after the lawmakers substantially revised the measures a day before a key constitutional deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two laws — \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb960\">Senate Bill 960\u003c/a> by Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, a Democrat from Napa, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2694\">Assembly Bill 2694\u003c/a> by David Alvarez — allow college districts to have anywhere from two to 12 new bachelor’s degrees a year starting in 2028. The bills bake in accountability metrics: Districts with higher graduation and transfer rates will be permitted to add more degrees. The new caps do not apply to existing bachelor’s degrees at college districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 49 colleges \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/Educational-Services-and-Support/What-we-do/Curriculum-and-Instruction-Unit/Curriculum/Baccalaureate-Degree-Program\">either offer or will soon\u003c/a> offer 66 bachelor’s degrees. Districts would also need to prove that there’s a workforce need in their region to justify the creation of a bachelor’s degree. The caps apply to all districts, whether they have one campus or nine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community colleges opposed tying the number of degrees they can offer to student metrics, arguing that they punish districts that educate low-income students who are less likely to finish their certificates and associate degrees or transfer to a four-year university but would also benefit from more bachelor’s degrees offerings that are tied to local labor market needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other community college leaders said the bills’ numerous last-minute provisions were unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12098502\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12098502\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/CommunityCollegeCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk through the MiraCosta College campus in Oceanside on Sept. 26, 2024. \u003ccite>(Adriana Heldiz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re being asked to … support a process that is not completely understood or vetted at the last minute, and so that’s just not great policymaking,” said Larry Galizio, president and chief executive of the Community College League of California, an association representing community college presidents and board leaders, in an interview for a previous story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills directly address the central tension that buffeted relations between the community colleges and the California State University. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202120220ab927\">Since 2022\u003c/a>, the community colleges were allowed to introduce no more than 30 bachelor’s degrees annually, as long as they didn’t duplicate degrees offered by any Cal State or University of California campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal State routinely objected to the bachelor’s degrees community colleges sought. And a few times the colleges went ahead with the degree programs anyway.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>Community colleges and influential lawmakers said it was unfair to block the colleges from creating bachelor’s degrees that local students and employers wanted, especially if the existing UC or Cal State degree is at a university hundreds of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students bemoaned the inability to earn bachelor’s degrees close to home. Many are priced out of relocating to those universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are 115 local community colleges in the state, far more than the 31 UC and Cal state campuses offering bachelor’s degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills Newsom signed Friday allow community colleges to create bachelor’s degrees even if a nearby Cal State offers a similar program, but only if that Cal State program rejects more than 25% of applicants from that nearby community college three consecutive years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bills also insert a process for handling an impasse between the colleges and Cal State, something missing in past law. A review by the state’s secretary of labor siding with the colleges would remove the Cal State system’s challenge to the degree. But If the labor secretary sides with Cal State, the district is barred from submitting an application for a similar program for five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal State system, which opposed earlier versions of the bills, changed their position to neutral after the latest versions were published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community colleges are generally barred from duplicating a degree a UC campus offers, unless they come to a written agreement with the UC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069108\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12069108 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom vetoed a related community college bachelor’s degree bill — one that he’s rejected twice before. For the third year in a row, Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Democrat from Merced, sought a bill to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/09/nursing-shortage/\">allow students to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing at a community college\u003c/a>, something they cannot currently do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom wrote in his veto message Friday that the bill is unnecessary because of the two bills by Alvarez and Cabaldon he signed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is neither necessary nor appropriate to authorize an additional pilot or create an exception to the framework, as this bill proposes,” Newsom wrote. “California’s public higher education segments should instead focus on implementing this newly created, comprehensive system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/new-california-laws-community-college-degrees/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Newsom Again Vetoes Bill to Allow Undocumented College Students to Work on Campus",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Again Vetoes Bill to Allow Undocumented College Students to Work on Campus | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California college students without legal immigration status still cannot work at public colleges and universities after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> again \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Veto-msg-AB-713.pdf\">vetoed a bill Sunday\u003c/a> that would have given them that right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab713\">Assembly Bill 713\u003c/a> would have adopted an \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/08/students-without-legal-status-california/\">untested legal theory\u003c/a> that argues that a 1986 federal law barring employers from hiring workers in the country without authorization doesn’t apply to state governments. The logic? That 40-year-old law doesn’t mention state governments as a type of employer that cannot hire workers without proper status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[ad fullwidth]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the second time in three years, Newsom decided that adopting that theory for California would expose the state’s higher-education system to the wrath of the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The current federal government has shown it is quick to wreak destruction for political spectacle — attacking California’s public higher education institutions and terrorizing immigrant communities, including students, with reckless disregard for consequences and a desire for chaos,” Newsom wrote in his veto message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: “But given the gravity of this bill’s consequences — including potential criminal and civil liability for state employees — the federal courts must resolve the legality of the novel legal theory behind this legislation before we proceed. Seeking declaratory relief in federal court would provide such clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12097112\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12097112\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The UCLA campus in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 2022. \u003ccite>(Raquel Natalicchio for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom vetoed a nearly identical bill in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest bill by Assemblymember José Luis Solache, a Democrat from Lakewood, was meant to allow the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/cost-of-college-california/#1b26d91e-68aa-4023-aa9d-21e0a545a249\">estimated 60,000 students\u003c/a> without legal immigration status at California’s community college and public universities to earn paychecks safely on campuses instead of working for cash under the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill say campus jobs could be tailored to fit the students’ academic schedules or align with the research interests, such as employment in labs.[aside postID=news_12100707 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-1-KQED.jpg']Campus jobs are a key way these students can afford college given that they are ineligible for federal Pell grants — up to $7,400 annually — and federal student loans that come with more borrower protections than ones offered by private lenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California provides eligible in-state students tuition waivers regardless of their immigration status, so many of them can at least attend a public institution tuition-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While California has a longstanding commitment to expanding access, affordability, and student success in higher education, our undocumented students continue to face significant financial and structural barriers,” Solache said at a bill hearing in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University of California itself \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/01/undocumented-students-2/\">abandoned\u003c/a> its review of employing students without legal status in 2024 out of fears that the federal government could punish the system by withholding federal money or prosecuting UC personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That decision gutted a coalition of students who led the campaign to persuade the UC to voluntarily adopt the legal theory allowing them to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Newsom vetoed the 2024 bill, a student and former lecturer at the UC sued the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.spinxweb.net/horvitz/uploads/2025/10/Munoz-et-al.-v.-Regents-of-the-University-of-California-A171410.pdf\">state appellate court ruled\u003c/a> that UC’s argument that the federal government might sue the system was an abuse of discretion under the state’s law that bans employment and housing discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12100649\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12100649\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, where he signed 13 bills focused on protecting kids from technology, on Sept. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The court said UC’s policy of not hiring students without legal status was legally indefensible unless it can show that federal law requires the UC to continue its policy of not hiring undocumented students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UC appealed, but the state Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://law.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/PDFs/Center_for_Immigration_Law_and_Policy/Opportunity_for_All_Timeline.pdf?_gl=1*2kxkqq*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgwMDExNDcxNC4xNzg4MjA1Mzk3*_ga_LH03WX2T8B*czE3ODgyMDUzOTYkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODgyMDUzOTYkajYwJGwwJGgw\">let the appellate ruling stand\u003c/a>. Still, the court ruling was silent on the soundness of the legal theory that the state can hire workers without legal status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s veto message indicated that a federal court must weigh in on the legal theory before California can adopt a law such as Solache’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/newsom-veto-students-wtihout-legal-status/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California college students without legal immigration status still cannot work at public colleges and universities after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> again \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Veto-msg-AB-713.pdf\">vetoed a bill Sunday\u003c/a> that would have given them that right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab713\">Assembly Bill 713\u003c/a> would have adopted an \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/08/students-without-legal-status-california/\">untested legal theory\u003c/a> that argues that a 1986 federal law barring employers from hiring workers in the country without authorization doesn’t apply to state governments. The logic? That 40-year-old law doesn’t mention state governments as a type of employer that cannot hire workers without proper status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the second time in three years, Newsom decided that adopting that theory for California would expose the state’s higher-education system to the wrath of the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The current federal government has shown it is quick to wreak destruction for political spectacle — attacking California’s public higher education institutions and terrorizing immigrant communities, including students, with reckless disregard for consequences and a desire for chaos,” Newsom wrote in his veto message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: “But given the gravity of this bill’s consequences — including potential criminal and civil liability for state employees — the federal courts must resolve the legality of the novel legal theory behind this legislation before we proceed. Seeking declaratory relief in federal court would provide such clarity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12097112\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12097112\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/UCLACM-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The UCLA campus in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 2022. \u003ccite>(Raquel Natalicchio for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom vetoed a nearly identical bill in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest bill by Assemblymember José Luis Solache, a Democrat from Lakewood, was meant to allow the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/cost-of-college-california/#1b26d91e-68aa-4023-aa9d-21e0a545a249\">estimated 60,000 students\u003c/a> without legal immigration status at California’s community college and public universities to earn paychecks safely on campuses instead of working for cash under the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill say campus jobs could be tailored to fit the students’ academic schedules or align with the research interests, such as employment in labs.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Campus jobs are a key way these students can afford college given that they are ineligible for federal Pell grants — up to $7,400 annually — and federal student loans that come with more borrower protections than ones offered by private lenders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California provides eligible in-state students tuition waivers regardless of their immigration status, so many of them can at least attend a public institution tuition-free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While California has a longstanding commitment to expanding access, affordability, and student success in higher education, our undocumented students continue to face significant financial and structural barriers,” Solache said at a bill hearing in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University of California itself \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/01/undocumented-students-2/\">abandoned\u003c/a> its review of employing students without legal status in 2024 out of fears that the federal government could punish the system by withholding federal money or prosecuting UC personnel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That decision gutted a coalition of students who led the campaign to persuade the UC to voluntarily adopt the legal theory allowing them to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Newsom vetoed the 2024 bill, a student and former lecturer at the UC sued the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.spinxweb.net/horvitz/uploads/2025/10/Munoz-et-al.-v.-Regents-of-the-University-of-California-A171410.pdf\">state appellate court ruled\u003c/a> that UC’s argument that the federal government might sue the system was an abuse of discretion under the state’s law that bans employment and housing discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12100649\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12100649\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GavinNewsomCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, where he signed 13 bills focused on protecting kids from technology, on Sept. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Anna Hoch-Kenney/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The court said UC’s policy of not hiring students without legal status was legally indefensible unless it can show that federal law requires the UC to continue its policy of not hiring undocumented students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The UC appealed, but the state Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://law.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/PDFs/Center_for_Immigration_Law_and_Policy/Opportunity_for_All_Timeline.pdf?_gl=1*2kxkqq*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTgwMDExNDcxNC4xNzg4MjA1Mzk3*_ga_LH03WX2T8B*czE3ODgyMDUzOTYkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODgyMDUzOTYkajYwJGwwJGgw\">let the appellate ruling stand\u003c/a>. Still, the court ruling was silent on the soundness of the legal theory that the state can hire workers without legal status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s veto message indicated that a federal court must weigh in on the legal theory before California can adopt a law such as Solache’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/09/newsom-veto-students-wtihout-legal-status/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/university-of-california\">University of California \u003c/a>campuses cannot enforce an anti-harassment policy against members of a conservative group for referring to others using names and pronouns that are inconsistent with how they identify, a federal judge said this week.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that for now protects members of Defending Education from punishment associated with violating the part of that policy covering misgendering another. The policy also covers sexual harassment and violence and applies to all campus employees and students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>UC can still enforce the policy against members for other violations of the policy to prevent the “abuse of transgender students, just as they enforce the policy to prevent the abuse of any other student,” Slaughter wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12051530\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students walk past Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus in Los Angeles, on Aug. 15, 2024. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicole Neily, Defending Education’s president, said in a statement that the decision gratified the group.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It is unconstitutional for public universities to compel student speech, and we will continue to defend this principle in California and other schools across the country as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the policy is “designed to protect members of the university community from discrimination and harassment, not to regulate protected speech.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While we disagree with the court’s ruling, UC will always seek to foster a welcoming environment that protects both freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of all members of our community,” Zaentz said in the statement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Zaentz said UC “applies the same legal standards to [gender identity harassment reports] as it does to all allegations of harassment.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The move is the latest in a battle of conservative groups and politicians attempting to remove transgender protections in schools and on campuses by moving to, among other things, prevent transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams and limiting the privacy of a student’s gender identity from parents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the same day as Slaughter’s order, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-15/california-school-gender-identity-ruling-parent-rights\">a Southern California judge ruled\u003c/a> that schools are not required to notify parents if their child changes their preferred pronouns, but officials must answer questions about a child’s gender expression if parents ask.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defending Education is among those groups that have targeted several diversity initiatives and programs and transgender policies across the country. In a recent complaint against the Oakland Unified School District, Defending Education argued that a program aimed at helping Latino students discriminates against white students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group has also taken aim at UC Berkeley a number of times before, complaining that the school discriminated based on race and highlighted instances of ethnic studies curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The current lawsuit was first lodged against UC in June and argues similar claims in previous lawsuits brought by the group, alleging that the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At UC Berkeley, 2% of undergraduate students and 3% of graduate students are transgender or nonbinary, according to 2025 fall enrollment numbers. Another 2% of staff and 1% of lecturers identify the same way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Zaentz said UC “applies the same legal standards to [gender identity harassment reports] as it does to all allegations of harassment.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Defending Education is among those groups that have targeted several diversity initiatives and programs and transgender policies across the country. In a recent complaint against the Oakland Unified School District, Defending Education argued that a program aimed at helping Latino students discriminates against white students.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/university-of-california\">University of California \u003c/a>campuses cannot enforce an anti-harassment policy against members of a conservative group for referring to others using names and pronouns that are inconsistent with how they identify, a federal judge said this week.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday that for now protects members of Defending Education from punishment associated with violating the part of that policy covering misgendering another. The policy also covers sexual harassment and violence and applies to all campus employees and students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>UC can still enforce the policy against members for other violations of the policy to prevent the “abuse of transgender students, just as they enforce the policy to prevent the abuse of any other student,” Slaughter wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12051530\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/UCLAAP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students walk past Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles, campus in Los Angeles, on Aug. 15, 2024. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nicole Neily, Defending Education’s president, said in a statement that the decision gratified the group.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It is unconstitutional for public universities to compel student speech, and we will continue to defend this principle in California and other schools across the country as needed.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the policy is “designed to protect members of the university community from discrimination and harassment, not to regulate protected speech.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While we disagree with the court’s ruling, UC will always seek to foster a welcoming environment that protects both freedom of expression and the fundamental rights of all members of our community,” Zaentz said in the statement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Zaentz said UC “applies the same legal standards to [gender identity harassment reports] as it does to all allegations of harassment.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The move is the latest in a battle of conservative groups and politicians attempting to remove transgender protections in schools and on campuses by moving to, among other things, prevent transgender girls from competing on girls sports teams and limiting the privacy of a student’s gender identity from parents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the same day as Slaughter’s order, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-09-15/california-school-gender-identity-ruling-parent-rights\">a Southern California judge ruled\u003c/a> that schools are not required to notify parents if their child changes their preferred pronouns, but officials must answer questions about a child’s gender expression if parents ask.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defending Education is among those groups that have targeted several diversity initiatives and programs and transgender policies across the country. In a recent complaint against the Oakland Unified School District, Defending Education argued that a program aimed at helping Latino students discriminates against white students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group has also taken aim at UC Berkeley a number of times before, complaining that the school discriminated based on race and highlighted instances of ethnic studies curriculum.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The current lawsuit was first lodged against UC in June and argues similar claims in previous lawsuits brought by the group, alleging that the policy violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At UC Berkeley, 2% of undergraduate students and 3% of graduate students are transgender or nonbinary, according to 2025 fall enrollment numbers. Another 2% of staff and 1% of lecturers identify the same way.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-unified-faces-civil-rights-complaint-over-programs-for-latino-youth",
"title": "Oakland Unified Faces Civil Rights Complaint Over Programs for Latino Youth",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>A conservative parents’ group known for targeting diversity and equity programs in schools has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Oakland Unified School District, claiming the district discriminates on the basis of race and sex by offering targeted programs for Latino boys and youth of color.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organization Defending Education with the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights filed the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Oakland-Complaint_Letterhead_Exhibits_Final_9.10.26.pdf\">complaint\u003c/a>. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the nonprofit group cites the district’s Latino men and boys program, a Latinx mentoring and achievement program, professional development to help preschool teachers support the development of boys of color, and various other programs designed to support students of color. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group, founded in 2021 to fight what it sees a “political bias” in the nation’s public schools and backed by major conservative philanthropies, is asking the Department of Education to open a civil rights investigation into OUSD for violating Title VI, which prohibits racial discrimination; Title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination; and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In a ham-fisted attempt to guarantee student ‘equity’ outcomes, Oakland USD has sponsored a multitude of programs geared toward only one race or sex in violation of federal law,” Sarah Parshall Perry, Defending Education’s vice president and senior legal fellow, said in a statement. “Cash stipends, tutoring assistance, wellness programs and food and housing benefits for only one group of students, to the exclusion of others, are just the tip of the iceberg in one of California’s largest school districts.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OUSD did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Oakland Unified, about 33% of students meet grade level standards in reading and 27% in math. For Latino students, that number is far lower — 22% are proficient in reading and 15% in math — as is it for Black students — at 21% and 13%, respectively, according to state standardized tests. In 2024, the graduation rate for OUSD’s Latino students was 68%, compared with 74% of students overall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district contracts with the \u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/\">Unity Council\u003c/a>, a Fruitvale organization, to run the Latino men and boys program at four OUSD middle schools and two OUSD high schools; and the Latinx mentoring program at three OUSD high schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The programs are part of the district’s effort to increase the graduation rates for Latino youth and to support their mental and physical health, and their higher education and career planning. The Latinx mentoring program grew out of the Latino men and boys program, which expanded to include girls and nonbinary youth in 2019. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Unity Council declined to comment on the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Those programs and others are hallmarks of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/equity\">OUSD’s Office of Equity\u003c/a>, which was established in 2016 to address persistent racial inequities in academic achievement in Oakland schools. The office has programs supporting African American, Arab American, Pacific Islander and Latino students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Race-neutral approaches are not sufficient to repair the damage that’s come as a result of a long history of race-based discrimination, exclusion and miseducation — in our nation as well as inside of Oakland Unified School District,” a \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1756410916/ousdorg/fhzostizel2h0hkk1zcs/OUSD-Office-of-Equity-ImpactReport-WEB.pdf\">2025 report\u003c/a> from the Office of Equity found. “In order to heal past harms and close gaps in access and opportunity — which lead to gaps in academic outcomes — we must take intentional, tailored, targeted measures.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The programs have shown extraordinary impact. In January 2024, for example, 78% of students in OUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1736276490/ousdorg/nlioddpcvbcqtunukugr/OUSDOfficeofEquity-FactSheet-LSA.pdf\">Latino student achievement programs\u003c/a> had attendance rates of 95% or higher, compared with 39% of Latino students overall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042892\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the district has faced a backlash over its \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/09/15/ousd-oakland-chabot-diversity-equity-inclusion-pta-committees/\">diversity and inclusion programs\u003c/a>. In 2023, for example, after a notice for a playgroup for students of color at Chabot Elementary School was shared online, the playgroup’s organizers received racist emails and a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/08/29/chabot-elementary-evacuated-school-canceled-due-to-bomb-threat/\">bomb threat was called into the school\u003c/a>, forcing classes to be canceled for the day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defending Education has also brought complaints against other East Bay districts and organizations. Last year, the group alleged that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028442/san-leandro-schools-tried-uplift-black-boys-now-they-face-discrimination-complaint\">San Leandro schools\u003c/a> had violated civil rights laws with programs supporting Black boys through partnerships with the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/07/23/kingmakers-oakland-artificial-intelligence-sankofa-kings/\">Kingmakers of Oakland organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The New York Times found that the Office of Civil Rights has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/defending-education-smith-transgender.html\">opened nearly a dozen federal investigations\u003c/a> in response to complaints from Defending Education over school diversity programs and school policies protecting the rights of transgender students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Office of Civil Rights currently has an open investigation into OUSD over allegations that an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian teach-in held in December 2023 was tantamount to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/25/palestine-teach-in-prompts-civil-rights-probe-of-oakland-schools/\">discrimination against Jewish students\u003c/a>. The California Department of Education also filed a lawsuit against OUSD earlier this year, alleging that the district failed to remedy \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/10/31/state-finds-oakland-unified-discriminated-against-jewish-students/\">discriminatory environments for Jewish students\u003c/a> in several incidents, including the teach-in, the distribution of a map of the Middle East that did not include Israel, and the decision by one high school to briefly fly the Palestinian flag from the school flagpole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED is a media partner of \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/JaeOCADmygFBYBNWS8h99iGsuzS?domain=oaklandside.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Oaklandside\u003c/a>, a news outlet serving Oakland published by the nonprofit Cityside Journalism Initiative.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The organization Defending Education with the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights filed the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Oakland-Complaint_Letterhead_Exhibits_Final_9.10.26.pdf\">complaint\u003c/a>. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the nonprofit group cites the district’s Latino men and boys program, a Latinx mentoring and achievement program, professional development to help preschool teachers support the development of boys of color, and various other programs designed to support students of color. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The group, founded in 2021 to fight what it sees a “political bias” in the nation’s public schools and backed by major conservative philanthropies, is asking the Department of Education to open a civil rights investigation into OUSD for violating Title VI, which prohibits racial discrimination; Title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination; and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“In a ham-fisted attempt to guarantee student ‘equity’ outcomes, Oakland USD has sponsored a multitude of programs geared toward only one race or sex in violation of federal law,” Sarah Parshall Perry, Defending Education’s vice president and senior legal fellow, said in a statement. “Cash stipends, tutoring assistance, wellness programs and food and housing benefits for only one group of students, to the exclusion of others, are just the tip of the iceberg in one of California’s largest school districts.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“In a ham-fisted attempt to guarantee student ‘equity’ outcomes, Oakland USD has sponsored a multitude of programs geared toward only one race or sex in violation of federal law,” Sarah Parshall Perry, Defending Education’s vice president and senior legal fellow, said in a statement. “Cash stipends, tutoring assistance, wellness programs and food and housing benefits for only one group of students, to the exclusion of others, are just the tip of the iceberg in one of California’s largest school districts.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In Oakland Unified, about 33% of students meet grade level standards in reading and 27% in math. For Latino students, that number is far lower — 22% are proficient in reading and 15% in math — as is it for Black students — at 21% and 13%, respectively, according to state standardized tests. In 2024, the graduation rate for OUSD’s Latino students was 68%, compared with 74% of students overall. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The district contracts with the \u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/\">Unity Council\u003c/a>, a Fruitvale organization, to run the Latino men and boys program at four OUSD middle schools and two OUSD high schools; and the Latinx mentoring program at three OUSD high schools. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The district contracts with the \u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/\">Unity Council\u003c/a>, a Fruitvale organization, to run the Latino men and boys program at four OUSD middle schools and two OUSD high schools; and the Latinx mentoring program at three OUSD high schools. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The programs are part of the district’s effort to increase the graduation rates for Latino youth and to support their mental and physical health, and their higher education and career planning. The Latinx mentoring program grew out of the Latino men and boys program, which expanded to include girls and nonbinary youth in 2019. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The programs are part of the district’s effort to increase the graduation rates for Latino youth and to support their mental and physical health, and their higher education and career planning. The Latinx mentoring program grew out of the Latino men and boys program, which expanded to include girls and nonbinary youth in 2019. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Unity Council declined to comment on the complaint.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Those programs and others are hallmarks of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/equity\">OUSD’s Office of Equity\u003c/a>, which was established in 2016 to address persistent racial inequities in academic achievement in Oakland schools. The office has programs supporting African American, Arab American, Pacific Islander and Latino students. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Those programs and others are hallmarks of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/equity\">OUSD’s Office of Equity\u003c/a>, which was established in 2016 to address persistent racial inequities in academic achievement in Oakland schools. The office has programs supporting African American, Arab American, Pacific Islander and Latino students. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Race-neutral approaches are not sufficient to repair the damage that’s come as a result of a long history of race-based discrimination, exclusion and miseducation — in our nation as well as inside of Oakland Unified School District,” a \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1756410916/ousdorg/fhzostizel2h0hkk1zcs/OUSD-Office-of-Equity-ImpactReport-WEB.pdf\">2025 report\u003c/a> from the Office of Equity found. “In order to heal past harms and close gaps in access and opportunity — which lead to gaps in academic outcomes — we must take intentional, tailored, targeted measures.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The programs have shown extraordinary impact. In January 2024, for example, 78% of students in OUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1736276490/ousdorg/nlioddpcvbcqtunukugr/OUSDOfficeofEquity-FactSheet-LSA.pdf\">Latino student achievement programs\u003c/a> had attendance rates of 95% or higher, compared with 39% of Latino students overall. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The programs have shown extraordinary impact. In January 2024, for example, 78% of students in OUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1736276490/ousdorg/nlioddpcvbcqtunukugr/OUSDOfficeofEquity-FactSheet-LSA.pdf\">Latino student achievement programs\u003c/a> had attendance rates of 95% or higher, compared with 39% of Latino students overall. \u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042892\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the district has faced a backlash over its \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/09/15/ousd-oakland-chabot-diversity-equity-inclusion-pta-committees/\">diversity and inclusion programs\u003c/a>. In 2023, for example, after a notice for a playgroup for students of color at Chabot Elementary School was shared online, the playgroup’s organizers received racist emails and a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/08/29/chabot-elementary-evacuated-school-canceled-due-to-bomb-threat/\">bomb threat was called into the school\u003c/a>, forcing classes to be canceled for the day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the district has faced a backlash over its \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/09/15/ousd-oakland-chabot-diversity-equity-inclusion-pta-committees/\">diversity and inclusion programs\u003c/a>. In 2023, for example, after a notice for a playgroup for students of color at Chabot Elementary School was shared online, the playgroup’s organizers received racist emails and a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/08/29/chabot-elementary-evacuated-school-canceled-due-to-bomb-threat/\">bomb threat was called into the school\u003c/a>, forcing classes to be canceled for the day. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Defending Education has also brought complaints against other East Bay districts and organizations. Last year, the group alleged that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028442/san-leandro-schools-tried-uplift-black-boys-now-they-face-discrimination-complaint\">San Leandro schools\u003c/a> had violated civil rights laws with programs supporting Black boys through partnerships with the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/07/23/kingmakers-oakland-artificial-intelligence-sankofa-kings/\">Kingmakers of Oakland organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Defending Education has also brought complaints against other East Bay districts and organizations. Last year, the group alleged that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028442/san-leandro-schools-tried-uplift-black-boys-now-they-face-discrimination-complaint\">San Leandro schools\u003c/a> had violated civil rights laws with programs supporting Black boys through partnerships with the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/07/23/kingmakers-oakland-artificial-intelligence-sankofa-kings/\">Kingmakers of Oakland organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The New York Times found that the Office of Civil Rights has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/defending-education-smith-transgender.html\">opened nearly a dozen federal investigations\u003c/a> in response to complaints from Defending Education over school diversity programs and school policies protecting the rights of transgender students.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The New York Times found that the Office of Civil Rights has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/defending-education-smith-transgender.html\">opened nearly a dozen federal investigations\u003c/a> in response to complaints from Defending Education over school diversity programs and school policies protecting the rights of transgender students.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Office of Civil Rights currently has an open investigation into OUSD over allegations that an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian teach-in held in December 2023 was tantamount to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/25/palestine-teach-in-prompts-civil-rights-probe-of-oakland-schools/\">discrimination against Jewish students\u003c/a>. The California Department of Education also filed a lawsuit against OUSD earlier this year, alleging that the district failed to remedy \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/10/31/state-finds-oakland-unified-discriminated-against-jewish-students/\">discriminatory environments for Jewish students\u003c/a> in several incidents, including the teach-in, the distribution of a map of the Middle East that did not include Israel, and the decision by one high school to briefly fly the Palestinian flag from the school flagpole.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Office of Civil Rights currently has an open investigation into OUSD over allegations that an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian teach-in held in December 2023 was tantamount to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/25/palestine-teach-in-prompts-civil-rights-probe-of-oakland-schools/\">discrimination against Jewish students\u003c/a>. The California Department of Education also filed a lawsuit against OUSD earlier this year, alleging that the district failed to remedy \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/10/31/state-finds-oakland-unified-discriminated-against-jewish-students/\">discriminatory environments for Jewish students\u003c/a> in several incidents, including the teach-in, the distribution of a map of the Middle East that did not include Israel, and the decision by one high school to briefly fly the Palestinian flag from the school flagpole.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED is a media partner of \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/JaeOCADmygFBYBNWS8h99iGsuzS?domain=oaklandside.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Oaklandside\u003c/a>, a news outlet serving Oakland published by the nonprofit Cityside Journalism Initiative.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The programs were designed to close academic achievement gaps. Conservative parent group Defending Education wants a federal investigation, claiming the programs constitute racial discrimination.",
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"title": "Oakland Unified Faces Civil Rights Complaint Over Programs for Latino Youth | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>A conservative parents’ group known for targeting diversity and equity programs in schools has filed a federal civil rights complaint against Oakland Unified School District, claiming the district discriminates on the basis of race and sex by offering targeted programs for Latino boys and youth of color.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The organization Defending Education with the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights filed the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Oakland-Complaint_Letterhead_Exhibits_Final_9.10.26.pdf\">complaint\u003c/a>. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the nonprofit group cites the district’s Latino men and boys program, a Latinx mentoring and achievement program, professional development to help preschool teachers support the development of boys of color, and various other programs designed to support students of color. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group, founded in 2021 to fight what it sees a “political bias” in the nation’s public schools and backed by major conservative philanthropies, is asking the Department of Education to open a civil rights investigation into OUSD for violating Title VI, which prohibits racial discrimination; Title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination; and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-OUSDVIOLENCEINTERRUPTER-37-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Castlemont High School in Oakland on Dec. 5, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In a ham-fisted attempt to guarantee student ‘equity’ outcomes, Oakland USD has sponsored a multitude of programs geared toward only one race or sex in violation of federal law,” Sarah Parshall Perry, Defending Education’s vice president and senior legal fellow, said in a statement. “Cash stipends, tutoring assistance, wellness programs and food and housing benefits for only one group of students, to the exclusion of others, are just the tip of the iceberg in one of California’s largest school districts.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>OUSD did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Oakland Unified, about 33% of students meet grade level standards in reading and 27% in math. For Latino students, that number is far lower — 22% are proficient in reading and 15% in math — as is it for Black students — at 21% and 13%, respectively, according to state standardized tests. In 2024, the graduation rate for OUSD’s Latino students was 68%, compared with 74% of students overall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The district contracts with the \u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/\">Unity Council\u003c/a>, a Fruitvale organization, to run the Latino men and boys program at four OUSD middle schools and two OUSD high schools; and the Latinx mentoring program at three OUSD high schools. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The programs are part of the district’s effort to increase the graduation rates for Latino youth and to support their mental and physical health, and their higher education and career planning. The Latinx mentoring program grew out of the Latino men and boys program, which expanded to include girls and nonbinary youth in 2019. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Unity Council declined to comment on the complaint.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Those programs and others are hallmarks of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ousd.org/equity\">OUSD’s Office of Equity\u003c/a>, which was established in 2016 to address persistent racial inequities in academic achievement in Oakland schools. The office has programs supporting African American, Arab American, Pacific Islander and Latino students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Race-neutral approaches are not sufficient to repair the damage that’s come as a result of a long history of race-based discrimination, exclusion and miseducation — in our nation as well as inside of Oakland Unified School District,” a \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1756410916/ousdorg/fhzostizel2h0hkk1zcs/OUSD-Office-of-Equity-ImpactReport-WEB.pdf\">2025 report\u003c/a> from the Office of Equity found. “In order to heal past harms and close gaps in access and opportunity — which lead to gaps in academic outcomes — we must take intentional, tailored, targeted measures.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The programs have shown extraordinary impact. In January 2024, for example, 78% of students in OUSD’s \u003ca href=\"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1736276490/ousdorg/nlioddpcvbcqtunukugr/OUSDOfficeofEquity-FactSheet-LSA.pdf\">Latino student achievement programs\u003c/a> had attendance rates of 95% or higher, compared with 39% of Latino students overall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12042892\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-026_qed-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Oakland Unified School District Board listens to public comment during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. Students, families, educators, and community members raised their concerns about a proposed merger of their schools. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time the district has faced a backlash over its \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/09/15/ousd-oakland-chabot-diversity-equity-inclusion-pta-committees/\">diversity and inclusion programs\u003c/a>. In 2023, for example, after a notice for a playgroup for students of color at Chabot Elementary School was shared online, the playgroup’s organizers received racist emails and a \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/08/29/chabot-elementary-evacuated-school-canceled-due-to-bomb-threat/\">bomb threat was called into the school\u003c/a>, forcing classes to be canceled for the day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Defending Education has also brought complaints against other East Bay districts and organizations. Last year, the group alleged that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028442/san-leandro-schools-tried-uplift-black-boys-now-they-face-discrimination-complaint\">San Leandro schools\u003c/a> had violated civil rights laws with programs supporting Black boys through partnerships with the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/07/23/kingmakers-oakland-artificial-intelligence-sankofa-kings/\">Kingmakers of Oakland organization\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The New York Times found that the Office of Civil Rights has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/defending-education-smith-transgender.html\">opened nearly a dozen federal investigations\u003c/a> in response to complaints from Defending Education over school diversity programs and school policies protecting the rights of transgender students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Office of Civil Rights currently has an open investigation into OUSD over allegations that an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian teach-in held in December 2023 was tantamount to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2024/01/25/palestine-teach-in-prompts-civil-rights-probe-of-oakland-schools/\">discrimination against Jewish students\u003c/a>. The California Department of Education also filed a lawsuit against OUSD earlier this year, alleging that the district failed to remedy \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2025/10/31/state-finds-oakland-unified-discriminated-against-jewish-students/\">discriminatory environments for Jewish students\u003c/a> in several incidents, including the teach-in, the distribution of a map of the Middle East that did not include Israel, and the decision by one high school to briefly fly the Palestinian flag from the school flagpole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED is a media partner of \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/JaeOCADmygFBYBNWS8h99iGsuzS?domain=oaklandside.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Oaklandside\u003c/a>, a news outlet serving Oakland published by the nonprofit Cityside Journalism Initiative.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "will-we-still-learn-languages-when-machines-can-translate-with-abby-walker",
"title": "Will We Still Learn Languages When Machines Can Translate? (with Abby Walker)",
"publishDate": 1789552800,
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"headTitle": "Will We Still Learn Languages When Machines Can Translate? (with Abby Walker) | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Live AI translation tools are making it easier to converse across languages without a human translator, a phrasebook, or years of study. So will we all just stop taking Spanish or Mandarin classes? Sociolinguist \u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-english/faculty/abby-walker.html\">Abby Walker\u003c/a> doesn’t think so. She shares the many reasons we learn new languages, some of which have little to do with functional communication at all. We also hear how one AI-assisted conversation brought two future in-laws together, why machine translation is still so darn buggy, and why some languages are attracting a resurgence of new learners even in the age of translation apps.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> This is Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. I think it’s fair to say that over the past five years, we’ve been bombarded by all the new things AI can suddenly do. It’s solving these long unsolved math theorems, generating songs that rack up millions of listens, and even colluding with other AIs to break into servers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s so much crazy stuff happening, that a lot of other advances that would’ve seemed mind-blowing to us 10, 15 years ago feel almost pedestrian in comparison. I’d put real-time language translation down as one of these advances. Chat bots and translation apps now draw from a range of different kinds of AI to offer live translation for tons of different languages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can hear something in a language you don’t know, like Korean. You can use your phone to translate that speech into a language you do know, like English. “Which way is the restroom?” Offer your response in English. “Oh, yeah, it’s down this hallway here, second door on the right side.” And then it will speak your response aloud in Korean.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can do this today. People already are doing this. What’s more, a lot of tech companies are developing wearables, think smart glasses, smart earbuds, to make live translation more frictionless. No more fumbling for your phone. This is literally straight out of science fiction. Star Trek’s universal translator, Dr.Who’s TARDIS translation matrix, and from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish. For me, this raises some big questions. What do these live translation tools really let us do that we couldn’t do before? Will they ever fully replace human translators? And should my eight-year-old still be taking Spanish classes in school?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today’s guest is Abby Walker, a sociolinguist at Virginia Tech, where she’s co-director of the Speech Lab. She’s also a longtime friend from my grad school days. I’m Jess Love, and this is Life, Automated from Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity, distributed by KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Welcome Abby Walker to Life Automated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Thank you for having me, Jess. I’m so excited to be here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So there’s a clip I want to play for you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>I wanted Abby and I to listen to some tape we recorded from a person who recently used one of these live translation tools. This person’s name is Larry Berliner. Larry’s son was in love, and this was Larry’s first time meeting the girlfriend’s parents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here’s the catch. Larry, father of the boyfriend, spoke English but not Chinese. And Kevin, father of the girlfriend, spoke Chinese but not English. So they used a ChatGPT app on one of their cell phones to translate between them. In this first clip, Larry’s just remarking about what this tool did for the two of them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> If not for this, I wouldn’t have got to know Kevin at all. I was able to connect with Kevin, meet Kevin, talk to Kevin seriously about myself, about my business, about my thoughts of his own daughter, what his daughter has transformed in my son. So much, right? There was so much I was able to say to him.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> And here’s another part of that conversation, this time with Larry talking about how having the tool helped everyone else in the room, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> We have all been there, where there’s the individual who’s the translator amongst three people or among five people, sometimes eight. And two things happen. One is that translator has to work so hard. You can see how much energy they’re having to invest in translating for everybody and make the room successful. The other thing you see is how slow everything goes. The point is, that’s not what happened in our room because Larry and Kevin were involved in this AI-enhanced live translation mode, and the other four were freed. So they were able to have a free, wonderful, free-ranging conversation, and they were able to have that ability to connect in their way.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I love that example and how it’s not just about the personal interaction, but actually about the group dynamics, too. It shows you the work that’s involved in having a human translator, that someone has to mediate that process for you, and that’s actually work on them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of it, which is kinda cool. If you have a human interpreter, there might be things that you want to talk about that you don’t want them to hear about. And I think this is a common situation a little bit with, we know sometimes when immigrants come to a country where they don’t speak the kind of dominant language, that often their kids become interpreters, as they’re dealing with banks and as they’re dealing with medical providers. But, like if you think about, do you want your daughters to know all of your personal information that you might talk about with a doctor? No, right? And so just getting to choose who hears what information, yeah, that’s going to be really empowering.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, it seems like in this example, depending on who is going to have to play that role of translator, is he going to feel comfortable, showering all this attention on perhaps his future daughter-in-law, for instance? If she’s the one translating.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. Yeah. That would be really embarrassing. Though it may be a cool, slick move as well. She has to be like, “Oh, Daddy’s saying I’m so pretty,” and yeah, something like that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So already these tools are letting people connect with other people in new ways, really connect. But I didn’t invite Abby on this show just to marvel over what’s now possible with machine translation. Like I said, I have a lot of questions. Like, “Is that it? Are we humans all just done learning second, third, fourth languages because the machines can translate for us now? Or are there some parts of a conversation that a machine probably isn’t going to be able to translate for us, at least not anytime soon?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So a lot of people think of translation as just this simple process of taking words from one language and then mapping them one-to-one onto another language. But from a sociolinguist perspective, what else is language doing other than delivering that kind of information?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s doing so much, Jess. I love all the other things that language does. So one of the big things that I study and my field looks at is all the other information in the speech signal. So not just the content of the message but how you’re delivering it and all the other information that comes from that. So for example, anyone listening right now, you can probably hear that I was not born and raised in America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I’ve got a New Zealand English accent. But people in New Zealand can probably also hear that I’ve lived in America for a while, that’s probably in my speech as well. You might be able to hear that you and I are friends and friendly. We’re both trying to be friendly. We’re both trying to sound smart right now, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maybe you can tell that this is a little bit more awkward formality for us than usual conversation with wine. So just your identity, and sometimes that stuff you’re trying to mark, like sometimes you’re like, “I want to sound really professional in this moment. I want to sound really from this place. I want to really lean into my higher roots or my New Zealand roots or something.” But then other times, there’s information there that you just can’t even control, right? Like, I’m not always necessarily trying to be like, “I’m a woman,” but most people will hear my voice and be like, “You’re a woman.” Or I’m not always trying to say I’m from New Zealand, but my vowels are always saying I’m from New Zealand.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Right. So whether you want to or not, you are communicating a whole lot about who you are as a person and maybe how you’re feeling in that moment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby says that any tool focused primarily on the words we are saying will always miss a lot of the social information that language communicates, information that a human interpreter who can pick up on body language or emotion could probably make better sense of.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And even at the word level there’s a lot of ways for a translation to be incomplete. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>I mean, some things like if I say boot or trunk of a car, that’s a difference between British and American English. But I’m thinking even things more like if I say groovy or neato or amazeballs or, we have lots of ways to express that something’s cool, and how another language does that, they might miss that I’m being playful, or they might miss that I’m outdated in my slang. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>How do you translate that someone is saying amazeballs unironically because they’re really that excited? How do you translate that someone is saying groovy ironically because they’re making fun of themselves for being five decades late to the party? And that’s not all. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>The other thing that language has built into it, both in vocal tone and stuff, but then also in word choice and sometimes actually in your grammar, is your relationship to other people. It’s not just me expressing my identity. I can also be trying to say something about the relationship that you and I have or the relationship I’d like us to have. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So anything that is doing this translation, whether it’s a human or whether it’s a machine, they’re having to make some choices, and the nature of those choices are not going to be obvious to somebody who’s participating and only able to understand one side of that conversation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, and most of the time, again, this… The technology’s kind of amazing. Being able to talk with anyone who you couldn’t talk to before, if the alternative is not being able to talk to them at all, that’s pretty amazing. But there are going to be times where if you don’t know the situation, it might be doing some really impolite things, and you might not know, right? Like the translation system might have decided to use an informal tone here, and you don’t realize it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>And to some extent, that’s going to be true of a human translator but to a much lesser extent if they are very culturally fluent with both languages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, no, I actually… Now I’m remembering I had a student who was Korean-American, and her parents had come over from Korea beforehand, so they were native Korean speakers, and I was learning Korean at the time. And it was graduation, and I was saying something to her dad, like I don’t know. I can’t remember what I was saying, but I was trying to say something polite. And she’s like, “Um,” kind of to her dad like, “Uh, she’s just learning.” And I was like… I assumed that I’d used some impolite grammatical forms or something, right? I’d done some… She knew that I was kind of doing something inappropriate that I didn’t know that I was doing and was just smoothing over the situation because yeah, I think one of the things that humans do is that we’re very socially savvy. We’re always looking at, contextually, what’s contextually appropriate language. And if you’re a bilingual person, which a human translator has to be, right, to some degree to be able to do this translation work, presumably they’re going to know the social navigation pathways of both languages. And so they’re going to be able to pull on that information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Is there a danger that if we do move toward this world of relatively frictionless live translation, we could become overconfident that we’ve understood everything?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s… I think that’s almost part of it. It’s almost like the same problem that people are having right now with, you know, you hand in an essay that AI produced, and it looks so good that you don’t know that the citations are made-up. It’s that sort of confidence that it got the answer right that you would have that same kind of problem with translation, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Given the sheer complexity of language and all the things it’s trying to do, maybe it shouldn’t be a big surprise that as incredible as these tools are, they still make mistakes. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/live-voice-translation-is-the-ai-americans-want-most-ahead-of-email-drafting-and-meeting-notes-new-deepl-research-finds-302858925.html\">recent survey\u003c/a> found that about half of people who’ve used some kind of translation app, chat bot, or wearable find it clunky.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>My own personal experience is pretty hit or miss. When I visited Quebec City this summer, Airbnb automatically translated my text messages to my host into French, and then translated his responses back into English. It was so seamless that I barely noticed. But then, when I tried out a pair of smart glasses to have a spoken conversation with a Bulgarian scholar here at the Ryan Institute about his summer vacation, a topic slightly more nuanced than what is the entry code to the apartment, it was a little rough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At first, I had to repeat my question three times until the glasses finally heard me well enough to translate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Jess Love talking to Bulgarian Scholar]: \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>“All right, let’s try again. Okay. Okay. I was holding it too long. I heard a rumor that you are going to the Dolomites this summer to do some hiking.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Bulgarian Scholar Translation Audio]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>That’s exactly how we’re going with a large group of friends. It’s about 20 people, and I’m pretty excited since it’s raining here, but there are almost no mountains, and I very rarely get to see mountains.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hungarian Scholar: \u003c/strong>It’s somewhat accurate.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> The glasses kept messing up. We managed to stumble through a basic conversation but only because my colleague knew English and could correct the mistakes. It was not frictionless. So at least with the tools we have today, it’s pretty clear to me that some tasks will still require human translators, even if a lot of others don’t, and Abby agreed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the case that we’re always going to need human translators, because there are high-stakes situations, right? Like international negotiations, big business deals. But I also imagine a young person looking at a career path and still seeing, probably rightly so, that there’s going to be less path forward for them there. And I think about the medical world a bit. I think that’s often where there was a feeling that there would be a lot of interpreters was in the medical field.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And you do already see them starting to use these tools and these translation tools automatically. You would hope they would always have someone on staff still, like to do translations when things get really nuanced and stuff. But I do think if I was a young person looking, even though there still will be those jobs, I would wonder about them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I would wonder too. Some of the practical reasons for learning a language are going away. After all, not everyone is going to be involved in negotiating corporate mergers or making high-stakes medical decisions. For a lot of situations, good enough really is good enough. And AI’s getting better. Companies are already trying to deal with these issues by like collecting visual data or following people over time so the machines have access to previous conversations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s no guarantee that these tools will still be making the same kinds of mistakes in five years, or even two. And so, yeah, some people who would’ve learned another language probably will decide, “Eh, why bother?” But Abby doesn’t see a future where people just decide to stop learning other languages, no matter how good the machines get, because there are a bunch of reasons for learning a language that have nothing to do with the mere exchange of information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After the break, she makes her case. We’ll also hear why some very unexpected languages are actually experiencing a resurgence of new learners, apps be damned. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I’m going to Germany later this year. The big reason, one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Germany, apart from working with some great researchers, is that I wanted to get my German better. I have no need to get German better. This is not an important thing in my life. I will not speak it. I will never need it, but I want to be good at it, right? I want to be better at it. I like it. I enjoy it. It’s a puzzle. It’s a game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby’s not alone. A lot of people are learning languages they don’t have to learn for purely communicative reasons, like because they need a job or need to get around a city.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Like people right now are learning Welsh, and people are learning Te Reo Māori, and these people can all speak English in Wales and in New Zealand, but they’re choosing to learn this language that they do not need for communication, so why are they choosing to learn this language? Because they have an identity connection to this language, right? And so its important to them, separate from how many other people they can talk to in this language, right? Like its kind of a way to connect to an identity, because I think people really do associate languages with identity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s so interesting. Is there a resurgence in people trying to learn these minority languages, even right now in 2026?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. There’s definitely a resurgence in people trying to learn these languages. But that’s been happening since the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s. But since I’ve been in the States for almost 20 years now, and when I go back to New Zealand, it is shocking to me the amount of Te Reo that is around now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And what is Te Reo [Māori]?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s the language. Sorry. It’s Māori. Māori. Sorry. It’s the Māori language. It’s just called the language, so it’s Te Reo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, can you just give a little… ‘Cause most of our audience is not from New Zealand, so just give a little… What is this language, and why do you think that people are learning to speak it more in New Zealand?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, so this was the first language, human language spoken in New Zealand by the Māori. And then waves of English settlers came, and the language was forbidden, like happens in many of these situations. There was both an incentive to learn English for economic reasons, but then there were also actual moves to ban the language in school. And so kids would get smacked and things if they were speaking it in playgrounds and stuff. And so there was a generation or two that kind of were native speakers of Māori that literally intentionally chose not to pass it on to their children because it had only caused grief for them, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And then there was this next generation that was “Wait, we’ve lost this kind of connection to our identity.” And so there’s been this really big resurgence. And this is happening before the technology that we’re talking about, but it’s happening because this has identity meaning to people. This is culturally significant to them. Quite correctly, they see it as something that was taken away from them by kind of outsiders, and then they are trying to correct that and connect to these roots. Which what’s really interesting in New Zealand is a ton of white people or Pākehā, like me, a ton of white people have been learning Māori as well, right? So it’s also becoming a symbol of your political and New Zealand identity as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So because this language has more cultural significance than it does, a purely functional significance, do you see it as pretty protected or insulated from some of the challenges of machine translation?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah. When I’m thinking about it, now that we’re talking about it, I do think that it would be unlikely that you would use a translation app. If you were talking to someone who was a native or near-native fluent speaker of Te Reo and you wanted to communicate with them, you would do it in English or you would learn Te Reo. Why would you use an app to talk to them in this language, stiltingly with pauses and slowly when you both can talk in English, right? They are not going to appreciate that. They’re not really going to be interested in that, and what would probably be more impressive was you stumbling through some beginner Te Reo, which at least showed that you were putting in some effort yourself, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Do you remember that Mamdani clip? Should I try to find it and play it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Okay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Abby wanted us to listen to this recent video released by Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>So there’s this clip you can find, it went kind of a little viral, a little while ago, and it’s Mamdani doing… the mayor of New York doing a piece to camera, and it’s kind of some political speech. I don’t know what he’s actually promoting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so he is talking in Spanish and so he is trying to, you know, reach his Spanish Constituence. He does not speak Spanish, right? And so, there is this video of him and he is kind of like stumbling through Spanish and he takes it again and he’s getting corrected by AOC on his pronunciation. He keeps kind of forgetting things. And they’ve released this, right? And they think it’s not crazy that that happened but it’s very interesting to me that they released it because they are trying to emphasize that it wasn’t easy for him to speak Spanish and that he needed help speaking Spanish and he is not good at Spanish, but they knew that it would be charming and it is, right? Because it shows someone is trying to speak Spanish, right? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They could have just released speeches with him in like fluent Spanish, or they could have had someone else who is a fluent Spanish speaker speaking on his behalf. In a little while, they could probably do videos where it looks like he is speaking Spanish, right? We’re kind of at that point of the technology now with video and audio that we could have something that sounds like him speaking in Spanish, looks like him speaking in Spanish. But they don’t do that, right? What they do is show someone who isn’t very good and who is trying, right? Part of what is really important to people is that you try to speak their language, right? And an app takes out that friction. It makes communication easier, but part of what language is signaling, too, when you use a language that is not a language that comes easy to you, is you’re signaling that you are trying, right? You are signaling that you are putting in some effort, that you don’t expect them to just understand you, and that you’re putting in some effort to be understood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> All right. Well, we’ve been dancing around this idea of the importance of friction, and I want to just ask you to spell it out. Why is friction important? What could friction signal? We’ve talked about belonging, we’ve talked about effort. What else?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I mean, if I’m really just using an app to talk to you, right, I… And I’m not paying attention, I’m not really trying to do anything, I’m just trying to communicate with you, so I use an app, and it spits out whatever to talk to you, and I nod. You got the message, I got the message, I move on. Like, I haven’t really changed because of that interaction, right? So when you learn a language, to talk to someone, the effort of doing it, you are actually also changing yourself. So you are adding vocab, adding things that you can use in a new situation, adding things that you can use when you don’t have your phone around you, et cetera. So there’s just, literally you are changing a little bit, maybe in small ways. There is some evidence for regular bilinguals, like people who are regularly using multiple languages in their day-to-day, that they have better executive function than monolingual speakers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And by executive function, we’re talking about your ability to ignore irrelevant information and suppress responses that you might automatically make. And if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense why this would be tied to bilingualism, because you have a day where you are telling whatever language you’re not using, you’re saying, “Shut up. This isn’t about you.” So you’re ignoring anything else that’s irrelevant while you’re having these conversations. And from my understanding, those advantages get bigger as you age. So it’s essentially like you’re keeping your brain more active in this particular way. So obviously, all of those benefits, and just the fact that each time I stumble through something in German or Korean or today Māori, I am getting a little bit better, right? I’m learning a little bit more. That is this really big obvious thing that is being lost, is just that you are not having this growth. And it’s almost sad in some ways, because you had an opportunity, right? So let’s say you go to another country, you stay there for two months. You have this opportunity to do something, and you just spend all the time using these translation apps. You miss this opportunity to have this personal growth.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> It’s true. I went to Italy, and by the end of the trip, I was fully capable of asking where the bathroom was all by myself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> In Italian?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> In Italian.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Wow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Don’t ask me to do it now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Oh, boy. Try. Al bagno? Bagno? Bagno? I don’t want to talk about it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Okay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Live translation tools are decent, and they’re going to get better. You can even imagine a version that works out most of the bugs. AI that does start picking up on body language and slang. Science fiction becoming reality. The universal translator, the Babel fish. But do we always want that? Throughout our conversation, as we talked about the importance of friction, it struck me that maybe today’s live translation tools, imperfect as they are, have their own charms, not despite the friction, but because of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I decided to play Abby another excerpt from our conversation with proud dad, Larry Berliner. While he and fellow dad Kevin were conversing on their ChatGPT app, they were speaking into the phone, which would generate a written translation, which the other one would read. Hardly seamless. But here, Larry talks about the conversation being so profound because of those seams.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This allowed us to speak in long paragraphs, like I’m doing right now, right? Shakespearean style, not a back and forth, but long paragraphs of ideas, and then it would translate, and we’d watch each other read it, which was exciting, and then the person would respond. And what ended up being magical was, first of all, we did it for a very long time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What he chose to talk about was things that I don’t think he would ever have spoke about first if I was speaking his native language. Or wow, the extent of which is amazing. He talked about how he had met Sonya and the previous people he had been with at the time. He talked about his failures as a father. And just– it was immediately right to the bone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> I’m just struck by how he feels that conversation was facilitated by the fact that there was this level of friction, of literally having to read. Maybe the fact that you’re putting something into print and then somebody is going to read it makes you less likely to just waste that time to say, “Well, what do you think of the weather?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, that’s a really interesting idea, and it kinda makes sense. What it makes me think, though, is that there was this feeling that this was temporary, right? That this was not going to be the regular state of affairs. It’s almost like deathbed conversation. It feels like a little bit like what it sounded like to me. Just “I need you to, here are some really big things on my mind and my heart that I just really want you to know now that we’ve got this opportunity.” It is interesting, though, to think about, what if you never get there with someone who speaks your own language because you’ve always got the dance of we can speak so easily to each other.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and it was the artificiality of their own communication that led to something much deeper. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I love that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> So am I going to encourage my eight-year-old to learn Spanish? Yes, absolutely. There’s so much we can’t know about AI and where it’s headed, but even if some reasons for learning another language go away, others won’t, or could even grow in importance. And in honor of our topic this week, we’ve machine translated our credits into ‘Klingon and back’, because why not?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here we go. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>I am Jess of the clan Love. \u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>At the Northwestern University Citadel of Knowledge, inside the Kellogg School of Management, Life, Automated is an honorable battle quest of the Ryan Institute on Complexity. KQED hurls our battle transmissions across the void to conquer the airwaves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jesse Dukes sliced the captured sounds into submission. Stephen Jackson forged the battle hymns and struck the war drums. The machinery masters, Will Feeney and George Christensen, trapped the vocal cries of the interrogation inside the sound cage. Ananya Mallapragada commanded the proclamations of our glory and subjugated the civilian chatter web.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Producer: Jesse Dukes\u003cbr>Music: Steven Jackson\u003cbr>Recording: George Christensen, Will Feeney\u003cbr>Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Editorial guidance from Laura Pavin\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Special thanks to Larry Berliner and Georgi Demirev for their help testing out live translation tools\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Live AI translation tools are making it easier to converse across languages without a human translator, a phrasebook, or years of study. So will we all just stop taking Spanish or Mandarin classes? Sociolinguist \u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-english/faculty/abby-walker.html\">Abby Walker\u003c/a> doesn’t think so. She shares the many reasons we learn new languages, some of which have little to do with functional communication at all. We also hear how one AI-assisted conversation brought two future in-laws together, why machine translation is still so darn buggy, and why some languages are attracting a resurgence of new learners even in the age of translation apps.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Live AI translation tools are making it easier to converse across languages without a human translator, a phrasebook, or years of study. So will we all just stop taking Spanish or Mandarin classes? Sociolinguist \u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-english/faculty/abby-walker.html\">Abby Walker\u003c/a> doesn’t think so. She shares the many reasons we learn new languages, some of which have little to do with functional communication at all. We also hear how one AI-assisted conversation brought two future in-laws together, why machine translation is still so darn buggy, and why some languages are attracting a resurgence of new learners even in the age of translation apps.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> This is Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. I think it’s fair to say that over the past five years, we’ve been bombarded by all the new things AI can suddenly do. It’s solving these long unsolved math theorems, generating songs that rack up millions of listens, and even colluding with other AIs to break into servers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> This is Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. I think it’s fair to say that over the past five years, we’ve been bombarded by all the new things AI can suddenly do. It’s solving these long unsolved math theorems, generating songs that rack up millions of listens, and even colluding with other AIs to break into servers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>There’s so much crazy stuff happening, that a lot of other advances that would’ve seemed mind-blowing to us 10, 15 years ago feel almost pedestrian in comparison. I’d put real-time language translation down as one of these advances. Chat bots and translation apps now draw from a range of different kinds of AI to offer live translation for tons of different languages.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>There’s so much crazy stuff happening, that a lot of other advances that would’ve seemed mind-blowing to us 10, 15 years ago feel almost pedestrian in comparison. I’d put real-time language translation down as one of these advances. Chat bots and translation apps now draw from a range of different kinds of AI to offer live translation for tons of different languages.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>You can hear something in a language you don’t know, like Korean. You can use your phone to translate that speech into a language you do know, like English. “Which way is the restroom?” Offer your response in English. “Oh, yeah, it’s down this hallway here, second door on the right side.” And then it will speak your response aloud in Korean.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>You can hear something in a language you don’t know, like Korean. You can use your phone to translate that speech into a language you do know, like English. “Which way is the restroom?” Offer your response in English. “Oh, yeah, it’s down this hallway here, second door on the right side.” And then it will speak your response aloud in Korean.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>You can do this today. People already are doing this. What’s more, a lot of tech companies are developing wearables, think smart glasses, smart earbuds, to make live translation more frictionless. No more fumbling for your phone. This is literally straight out of science fiction. Star Trek’s universal translator, Dr.Who’s TARDIS translation matrix, and from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish. For me, this raises some big questions. What do these live translation tools really let us do that we couldn’t do before? Will they ever fully replace human translators? And should my eight-year-old still be taking Spanish classes in school?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>You can do this today. People already are doing this. What’s more, a lot of tech companies are developing wearables, think smart glasses, smart earbuds, to make live translation more frictionless. No more fumbling for your phone. This is literally straight out of science fiction. Star Trek’s universal translator, Dr.Who’s TARDIS translation matrix, and from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish. For me, this raises some big questions. What do these live translation tools really let us do that we couldn’t do before? Will they ever fully replace human translators? And should my eight-year-old still be taking Spanish classes in school?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Today’s guest is Abby Walker, a sociolinguist at Virginia Tech, where she’s co-director of the Speech Lab. She’s also a longtime friend from my grad school days. I’m Jess Love, and this is Life, Automated from Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity, distributed by KQED. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Today’s guest is Abby Walker, a sociolinguist at Virginia Tech, where she’s co-director of the Speech Lab. She’s also a longtime friend from my grad school days. I’m Jess Love, and this is Life, Automated from Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity, distributed by KQED. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Welcome Abby Walker to Life Automated.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Thank you for having me, Jess. I’m so excited to be here.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Thank you for having me, Jess. I’m so excited to be here.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So there’s a clip I want to play for you. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>I wanted Abby and I to listen to some tape we recorded from a person who recently used one of these live translation tools. This person’s name is Larry Berliner. Larry’s son was in love, and this was Larry’s first time meeting the girlfriend’s parents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>I wanted Abby and I to listen to some tape we recorded from a person who recently used one of these live translation tools. This person’s name is Larry Berliner. Larry’s son was in love, and this was Larry’s first time meeting the girlfriend’s parents.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Here’s the catch. Larry, father of the boyfriend, spoke English but not Chinese. And Kevin, father of the girlfriend, spoke Chinese but not English. So they used a ChatGPT app on one of their cell phones to translate between them. In this first clip, Larry’s just remarking about what this tool did for the two of them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Here’s the catch. Larry, father of the boyfriend, spoke English but not Chinese. And Kevin, father of the girlfriend, spoke Chinese but not English. So they used a ChatGPT app on one of their cell phones to translate between them. In this first clip, Larry’s just remarking about what this tool did for the two of them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> If not for this, I wouldn’t have got to know Kevin at all. I was able to connect with Kevin, meet Kevin, talk to Kevin seriously about myself, about my business, about my thoughts of his own daughter, what his daughter has transformed in my son. So much, right? There was so much I was able to say to him.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> If not for this, I wouldn’t have got to know Kevin at all. I was able to connect with Kevin, meet Kevin, talk to Kevin seriously about myself, about my business, about my thoughts of his own daughter, what his daughter has transformed in my son. So much, right? There was so much I was able to say to him.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> And here’s another part of that conversation, this time with Larry talking about how having the tool helped everyone else in the room, too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> And here’s another part of that conversation, this time with Larry talking about how having the tool helped everyone else in the room, too.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> We have all been there, where there’s the individual who’s the translator amongst three people or among five people, sometimes eight. And two things happen. One is that translator has to work so hard. You can see how much energy they’re having to invest in translating for everybody and make the room successful. The other thing you see is how slow everything goes. The point is, that’s not what happened in our room because Larry and Kevin were involved in this AI-enhanced live translation mode, and the other four were freed. So they were able to have a free, wonderful, free-ranging conversation, and they were able to have that ability to connect in their way.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> We have all been there, where there’s the individual who’s the translator amongst three people or among five people, sometimes eight. And two things happen. One is that translator has to work so hard. You can see how much energy they’re having to invest in translating for everybody and make the room successful. The other thing you see is how slow everything goes. The point is, that’s not what happened in our room because Larry and Kevin were involved in this AI-enhanced live translation mode, and the other four were freed. So they were able to have a free, wonderful, free-ranging conversation, and they were able to have that ability to connect in their way.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I love that example and how it’s not just about the personal interaction, but actually about the group dynamics, too. It shows you the work that’s involved in having a human translator, that someone has to mediate that process for you, and that’s actually work on them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I love that example and how it’s not just about the personal interaction, but actually about the group dynamics, too. It shows you the work that’s involved in having a human translator, that someone has to mediate that process for you, and that’s actually work on them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of it, which is kinda cool. If you have a human interpreter, there might be things that you want to talk about that you don’t want them to hear about. And I think this is a common situation a little bit with, we know sometimes when immigrants come to a country where they don’t speak the kind of dominant language, that often their kids become interpreters, as they’re dealing with banks and as they’re dealing with medical providers. But, like if you think about, do you want your daughters to know all of your personal information that you might talk about with a doctor? No, right? And so just getting to choose who hears what information, yeah, that’s going to be really empowering.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of it, which is kinda cool. If you have a human interpreter, there might be things that you want to talk about that you don’t want them to hear about. And I think this is a common situation a little bit with, we know sometimes when immigrants come to a country where they don’t speak the kind of dominant language, that often their kids become interpreters, as they’re dealing with banks and as they’re dealing with medical providers. But, like if you think about, do you want your daughters to know all of your personal information that you might talk about with a doctor? No, right? And so just getting to choose who hears what information, yeah, that’s going to be really empowering.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, it seems like in this example, depending on who is going to have to play that role of translator, is he going to feel comfortable, showering all this attention on perhaps his future daughter-in-law, for instance? If she’s the one translating.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, it seems like in this example, depending on who is going to have to play that role of translator, is he going to feel comfortable, showering all this attention on perhaps his future daughter-in-law, for instance? If she’s the one translating.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. Yeah. That would be really embarrassing. Though it may be a cool, slick move as well. She has to be like, “Oh, Daddy’s saying I’m so pretty,” and yeah, something like that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. Yeah. That would be really embarrassing. Though it may be a cool, slick move as well. She has to be like, “Oh, Daddy’s saying I’m so pretty,” and yeah, something like that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So already these tools are letting people connect with other people in new ways, really connect. But I didn’t invite Abby on this show just to marvel over what’s now possible with machine translation. Like I said, I have a lot of questions. Like, “Is that it? Are we humans all just done learning second, third, fourth languages because the machines can translate for us now? Or are there some parts of a conversation that a machine probably isn’t going to be able to translate for us, at least not anytime soon?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So already these tools are letting people connect with other people in new ways, really connect. But I didn’t invite Abby on this show just to marvel over what’s now possible with machine translation. Like I said, I have a lot of questions. Like, “Is that it? Are we humans all just done learning second, third, fourth languages because the machines can translate for us now? Or are there some parts of a conversation that a machine probably isn’t going to be able to translate for us, at least not anytime soon?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>So a lot of people think of translation as just this simple process of taking words from one language and then mapping them one-to-one onto another language. But from a sociolinguist perspective, what else is language doing other than delivering that kind of information?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>So a lot of people think of translation as just this simple process of taking words from one language and then mapping them one-to-one onto another language. But from a sociolinguist perspective, what else is language doing other than delivering that kind of information?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s doing so much, Jess. I love all the other things that language does. So one of the big things that I study and my field looks at is all the other information in the speech signal. So not just the content of the message but how you’re delivering it and all the other information that comes from that. So for example, anyone listening right now, you can probably hear that I was not born and raised in America.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s doing so much, Jess. I love all the other things that language does. So one of the big things that I study and my field looks at is all the other information in the speech signal. So not just the content of the message but how you’re delivering it and all the other information that comes from that. So for example, anyone listening right now, you can probably hear that I was not born and raised in America.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I’ve got a New Zealand English accent. But people in New Zealand can probably also hear that I’ve lived in America for a while, that’s probably in my speech as well. You might be able to hear that you and I are friends and friendly. We’re both trying to be friendly. We’re both trying to sound smart right now, right?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>I’ve got a New Zealand English accent. But people in New Zealand can probably also hear that I’ve lived in America for a while, that’s probably in my speech as well. You might be able to hear that you and I are friends and friendly. We’re both trying to be friendly. We’re both trying to sound smart right now, right?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Maybe you can tell that this is a little bit more awkward formality for us than usual conversation with wine. So just your identity, and sometimes that stuff you’re trying to mark, like sometimes you’re like, “I want to sound really professional in this moment. I want to sound really from this place. I want to really lean into my higher roots or my New Zealand roots or something.” But then other times, there’s information there that you just can’t even control, right? Like, I’m not always necessarily trying to be like, “I’m a woman,” but most people will hear my voice and be like, “You’re a woman.” Or I’m not always trying to say I’m from New Zealand, but my vowels are always saying I’m from New Zealand.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Maybe you can tell that this is a little bit more awkward formality for us than usual conversation with wine. So just your identity, and sometimes that stuff you’re trying to mark, like sometimes you’re like, “I want to sound really professional in this moment. I want to sound really from this place. I want to really lean into my higher roots or my New Zealand roots or something.” But then other times, there’s information there that you just can’t even control, right? Like, I’m not always necessarily trying to be like, “I’m a woman,” but most people will hear my voice and be like, “You’re a woman.” Or I’m not always trying to say I’m from New Zealand, but my vowels are always saying I’m from New Zealand.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Right. So whether you want to or not, you are communicating a whole lot about who you are as a person and maybe how you’re feeling in that moment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Right. So whether you want to or not, you are communicating a whole lot about who you are as a person and maybe how you’re feeling in that moment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby says that any tool focused primarily on the words we are saying will always miss a lot of the social information that language communicates, information that a human interpreter who can pick up on body language or emotion could probably make better sense of.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby says that any tool focused primarily on the words we are saying will always miss a lot of the social information that language communicates, information that a human interpreter who can pick up on body language or emotion could probably make better sense of.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And even at the word level there’s a lot of ways for a translation to be incomplete. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And even at the word level there’s a lot of ways for a translation to be incomplete. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>I mean, some things like if I say boot or trunk of a car, that’s a difference between British and American English. But I’m thinking even things more like if I say groovy or neato or amazeballs or, we have lots of ways to express that something’s cool, and how another language does that, they might miss that I’m being playful, or they might miss that I’m outdated in my slang. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>I mean, some things like if I say boot or trunk of a car, that’s a difference between British and American English. But I’m thinking even things more like if I say groovy or neato or amazeballs or, we have lots of ways to express that something’s cool, and how another language does that, they might miss that I’m being playful, or they might miss that I’m outdated in my slang. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>How do you translate that someone is saying amazeballs unironically because they’re really that excited? How do you translate that someone is saying groovy ironically because they’re making fun of themselves for being five decades late to the party? And that’s not all. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>How do you translate that someone is saying amazeballs unironically because they’re really that excited? How do you translate that someone is saying groovy ironically because they’re making fun of themselves for being five decades late to the party? And that’s not all. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>The other thing that language has built into it, both in vocal tone and stuff, but then also in word choice and sometimes actually in your grammar, is your relationship to other people. It’s not just me expressing my identity. I can also be trying to say something about the relationship that you and I have or the relationship I’d like us to have. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>The other thing that language has built into it, both in vocal tone and stuff, but then also in word choice and sometimes actually in your grammar, is your relationship to other people. It’s not just me expressing my identity. I can also be trying to say something about the relationship that you and I have or the relationship I’d like us to have. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So anything that is doing this translation, whether it’s a human or whether it’s a machine, they’re having to make some choices, and the nature of those choices are not going to be obvious to somebody who’s participating and only able to understand one side of that conversation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So anything that is doing this translation, whether it’s a human or whether it’s a machine, they’re having to make some choices, and the nature of those choices are not going to be obvious to somebody who’s participating and only able to understand one side of that conversation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, and most of the time, again, this… The technology’s kind of amazing. Being able to talk with anyone who you couldn’t talk to before, if the alternative is not being able to talk to them at all, that’s pretty amazing. But there are going to be times where if you don’t know the situation, it might be doing some really impolite things, and you might not know, right? Like the translation system might have decided to use an informal tone here, and you don’t realize it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, and most of the time, again, this… The technology’s kind of amazing. Being able to talk with anyone who you couldn’t talk to before, if the alternative is not being able to talk to them at all, that’s pretty amazing. But there are going to be times where if you don’t know the situation, it might be doing some really impolite things, and you might not know, right? Like the translation system might have decided to use an informal tone here, and you don’t realize it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>And to some extent, that’s going to be true of a human translator but to a much lesser extent if they are very culturally fluent with both languages.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>And to some extent, that’s going to be true of a human translator but to a much lesser extent if they are very culturally fluent with both languages.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, no, I actually… Now I’m remembering I had a student who was Korean-American, and her parents had come over from Korea beforehand, so they were native Korean speakers, and I was learning Korean at the time. And it was graduation, and I was saying something to her dad, like I don’t know. I can’t remember what I was saying, but I was trying to say something polite. And she’s like, “Um,” kind of to her dad like, “Uh, she’s just learning.” And I was like… I assumed that I’d used some impolite grammatical forms or something, right? I’d done some… She knew that I was kind of doing something inappropriate that I didn’t know that I was doing and was just smoothing over the situation because yeah, I think one of the things that humans do is that we’re very socially savvy. We’re always looking at, contextually, what’s contextually appropriate language. And if you’re a bilingual person, which a human translator has to be, right, to some degree to be able to do this translation work, presumably they’re going to know the social navigation pathways of both languages. And so they’re going to be able to pull on that information.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, no, I actually… Now I’m remembering I had a student who was Korean-American, and her parents had come over from Korea beforehand, so they were native Korean speakers, and I was learning Korean at the time. And it was graduation, and I was saying something to her dad, like I don’t know. I can’t remember what I was saying, but I was trying to say something polite. And she’s like, “Um,” kind of to her dad like, “Uh, she’s just learning.” And I was like… I assumed that I’d used some impolite grammatical forms or something, right? I’d done some… She knew that I was kind of doing something inappropriate that I didn’t know that I was doing and was just smoothing over the situation because yeah, I think one of the things that humans do is that we’re very socially savvy. We’re always looking at, contextually, what’s contextually appropriate language. And if you’re a bilingual person, which a human translator has to be, right, to some degree to be able to do this translation work, presumably they’re going to know the social navigation pathways of both languages. And so they’re going to be able to pull on that information.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Is there a danger that if we do move toward this world of relatively frictionless live translation, we could become overconfident that we’ve understood everything?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Is there a danger that if we do move toward this world of relatively frictionless live translation, we could become overconfident that we’ve understood everything?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s… I think that’s almost part of it. It’s almost like the same problem that people are having right now with, you know, you hand in an essay that AI produced, and it looks so good that you don’t know that the citations are made-up. It’s that sort of confidence that it got the answer right that you would have that same kind of problem with translation, too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s… I think that’s almost part of it. It’s almost like the same problem that people are having right now with, you know, you hand in an essay that AI produced, and it looks so good that you don’t know that the citations are made-up. It’s that sort of confidence that it got the answer right that you would have that same kind of problem with translation, too.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Given the sheer complexity of language and all the things it’s trying to do, maybe it shouldn’t be a big surprise that as incredible as these tools are, they still make mistakes. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/live-voice-translation-is-the-ai-americans-want-most-ahead-of-email-drafting-and-meeting-notes-new-deepl-research-finds-302858925.html\">recent survey\u003c/a> found that about half of people who’ve used some kind of translation app, chat bot, or wearable find it clunky.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Given the sheer complexity of language and all the things it’s trying to do, maybe it shouldn’t be a big surprise that as incredible as these tools are, they still make mistakes. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/live-voice-translation-is-the-ai-americans-want-most-ahead-of-email-drafting-and-meeting-notes-new-deepl-research-finds-302858925.html\">recent survey\u003c/a> found that about half of people who’ve used some kind of translation app, chat bot, or wearable find it clunky.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>My own personal experience is pretty hit or miss. When I visited Quebec City this summer, Airbnb automatically translated my text messages to my host into French, and then translated his responses back into English. It was so seamless that I barely noticed. But then, when I tried out a pair of smart glasses to have a spoken conversation with a Bulgarian scholar here at the Ryan Institute about his summer vacation, a topic slightly more nuanced than what is the entry code to the apartment, it was a little rough.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>My own personal experience is pretty hit or miss. When I visited Quebec City this summer, Airbnb automatically translated my text messages to my host into French, and then translated his responses back into English. It was so seamless that I barely noticed. But then, when I tried out a pair of smart glasses to have a spoken conversation with a Bulgarian scholar here at the Ryan Institute about his summer vacation, a topic slightly more nuanced than what is the entry code to the apartment, it was a little rough.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At first, I had to repeat my question three times until the glasses finally heard me well enough to translate. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At first, I had to repeat my question three times until the glasses finally heard me well enough to translate. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Jess Love talking to Bulgarian Scholar]: \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>“All right, let’s try again. Okay. Okay. I was holding it too long. I heard a rumor that you are going to the Dolomites this summer to do some hiking.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Jess Love talking to Bulgarian Scholar]: \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>“All right, let’s try again. Okay. Okay. I was holding it too long. I heard a rumor that you are going to the Dolomites this summer to do some hiking.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Bulgarian Scholar Translation Audio]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>That’s exactly how we’re going with a large group of friends. It’s about 20 people, and I’m pretty excited since it’s raining here, but there are almost no mountains, and I very rarely get to see mountains.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Bulgarian Scholar Translation Audio]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>That’s exactly how we’re going with a large group of friends. It’s about 20 people, and I’m pretty excited since it’s raining here, but there are almost no mountains, and I very rarely get to see mountains.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hungarian Scholar: \u003c/strong>It’s somewhat accurate.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hungarian Scholar: \u003c/strong>It’s somewhat accurate.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> The glasses kept messing up. We managed to stumble through a basic conversation but only because my colleague knew English and could correct the mistakes. It was not frictionless. So at least with the tools we have today, it’s pretty clear to me that some tasks will still require human translators, even if a lot of others don’t, and Abby agreed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> The glasses kept messing up. We managed to stumble through a basic conversation but only because my colleague knew English and could correct the mistakes. It was not frictionless. So at least with the tools we have today, it’s pretty clear to me that some tasks will still require human translators, even if a lot of others don’t, and Abby agreed.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the case that we’re always going to need human translators, because there are high-stakes situations, right? Like international negotiations, big business deals. But I also imagine a young person looking at a career path and still seeing, probably rightly so, that there’s going to be less path forward for them there. And I think about the medical world a bit. I think that’s often where there was a feeling that there would be a lot of interpreters was in the medical field.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the case that we’re always going to need human translators, because there are high-stakes situations, right? Like international negotiations, big business deals. But I also imagine a young person looking at a career path and still seeing, probably rightly so, that there’s going to be less path forward for them there. And I think about the medical world a bit. I think that’s often where there was a feeling that there would be a lot of interpreters was in the medical field.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And you do already see them starting to use these tools and these translation tools automatically. You would hope they would always have someone on staff still, like to do translations when things get really nuanced and stuff. But I do think if I was a young person looking, even though there still will be those jobs, I would wonder about them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And you do already see them starting to use these tools and these translation tools automatically. You would hope they would always have someone on staff still, like to do translations when things get really nuanced and stuff. But I do think if I was a young person looking, even though there still will be those jobs, I would wonder about them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I would wonder too. Some of the practical reasons for learning a language are going away. After all, not everyone is going to be involved in negotiating corporate mergers or making high-stakes medical decisions. For a lot of situations, good enough really is good enough. And AI’s getting better. Companies are already trying to deal with these issues by like collecting visual data or following people over time so the machines have access to previous conversations.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I would wonder too. Some of the practical reasons for learning a language are going away. After all, not everyone is going to be involved in negotiating corporate mergers or making high-stakes medical decisions. For a lot of situations, good enough really is good enough. And AI’s getting better. Companies are already trying to deal with these issues by like collecting visual data or following people over time so the machines have access to previous conversations.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>There’s no guarantee that these tools will still be making the same kinds of mistakes in five years, or even two. And so, yeah, some people who would’ve learned another language probably will decide, “Eh, why bother?” But Abby doesn’t see a future where people just decide to stop learning other languages, no matter how good the machines get, because there are a bunch of reasons for learning a language that have nothing to do with the mere exchange of information.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>There’s no guarantee that these tools will still be making the same kinds of mistakes in five years, or even two. And so, yeah, some people who would’ve learned another language probably will decide, “Eh, why bother?” But Abby doesn’t see a future where people just decide to stop learning other languages, no matter how good the machines get, because there are a bunch of reasons for learning a language that have nothing to do with the mere exchange of information.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After the break, she makes her case. We’ll also hear why some very unexpected languages are actually experiencing a resurgence of new learners, apps be damned. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After the break, she makes her case. We’ll also hear why some very unexpected languages are actually experiencing a resurgence of new learners, apps be damned. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I’m going to Germany later this year. The big reason, one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Germany, apart from working with some great researchers, is that I wanted to get my German better. I have no need to get German better. This is not an important thing in my life. I will not speak it. I will never need it, but I want to be good at it, right? I want to be better at it. I like it. I enjoy it. It’s a puzzle. It’s a game.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I’m going to Germany later this year. The big reason, one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Germany, apart from working with some great researchers, is that I wanted to get my German better. I have no need to get German better. This is not an important thing in my life. I will not speak it. I will never need it, but I want to be good at it, right? I want to be better at it. I like it. I enjoy it. It’s a puzzle. It’s a game.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby’s not alone. A lot of people are learning languages they don’t have to learn for purely communicative reasons, like because they need a job or need to get around a city.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby’s not alone. A lot of people are learning languages they don’t have to learn for purely communicative reasons, like because they need a job or need to get around a city.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Like people right now are learning Welsh, and people are learning Te Reo Māori, and these people can all speak English in Wales and in New Zealand, but they’re choosing to learn this language that they do not need for communication, so why are they choosing to learn this language? Because they have an identity connection to this language, right? And so its important to them, separate from how many other people they can talk to in this language, right? Like its kind of a way to connect to an identity, because I think people really do associate languages with identity.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Like people right now are learning Welsh, and people are learning Te Reo Māori, and these people can all speak English in Wales and in New Zealand, but they’re choosing to learn this language that they do not need for communication, so why are they choosing to learn this language? Because they have an identity connection to this language, right? And so its important to them, separate from how many other people they can talk to in this language, right? Like its kind of a way to connect to an identity, because I think people really do associate languages with identity.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s so interesting. Is there a resurgence in people trying to learn these minority languages, even right now in 2026?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s so interesting. Is there a resurgence in people trying to learn these minority languages, even right now in 2026?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. There’s definitely a resurgence in people trying to learn these languages. But that’s been happening since the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s. But since I’ve been in the States for almost 20 years now, and when I go back to New Zealand, it is shocking to me the amount of Te Reo that is around now.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. There’s definitely a resurgence in people trying to learn these languages. But that’s been happening since the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s. But since I’ve been in the States for almost 20 years now, and when I go back to New Zealand, it is shocking to me the amount of Te Reo that is around now.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And what is Te Reo [Māori]?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And what is Te Reo [Māori]?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s the language. Sorry. It’s Māori. Māori. Sorry. It’s the Māori language. It’s just called the language, so it’s Te Reo.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s the language. Sorry. It’s Māori. Māori. Sorry. It’s the Māori language. It’s just called the language, so it’s Te Reo.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, can you just give a little… ‘Cause most of our audience is not from New Zealand, so just give a little… What is this language, and why do you think that people are learning to speak it more in New Zealand?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, can you just give a little… ‘Cause most of our audience is not from New Zealand, so just give a little… What is this language, and why do you think that people are learning to speak it more in New Zealand?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, so this was the first language, human language spoken in New Zealand by the Māori. And then waves of English settlers came, and the language was forbidden, like happens in many of these situations. There was both an incentive to learn English for economic reasons, but then there were also actual moves to ban the language in school. And so kids would get smacked and things if they were speaking it in playgrounds and stuff. And so there was a generation or two that kind of were native speakers of Māori that literally intentionally chose not to pass it on to their children because it had only caused grief for them, right?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, so this was the first language, human language spoken in New Zealand by the Māori. And then waves of English settlers came, and the language was forbidden, like happens in many of these situations. There was both an incentive to learn English for economic reasons, but then there were also actual moves to ban the language in school. And so kids would get smacked and things if they were speaking it in playgrounds and stuff. And so there was a generation or two that kind of were native speakers of Māori that literally intentionally chose not to pass it on to their children because it had only caused grief for them, right?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And then there was this next generation that was “Wait, we’ve lost this kind of connection to our identity.” And so there’s been this really big resurgence. And this is happening before the technology that we’re talking about, but it’s happening because this has identity meaning to people. This is culturally significant to them. Quite correctly, they see it as something that was taken away from them by kind of outsiders, and then they are trying to correct that and connect to these roots. Which what’s really interesting in New Zealand is a ton of white people or Pākehā, like me, a ton of white people have been learning Māori as well, right? So it’s also becoming a symbol of your political and New Zealand identity as well. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And then there was this next generation that was “Wait, we’ve lost this kind of connection to our identity.” And so there’s been this really big resurgence. And this is happening before the technology that we’re talking about, but it’s happening because this has identity meaning to people. This is culturally significant to them. Quite correctly, they see it as something that was taken away from them by kind of outsiders, and then they are trying to correct that and connect to these roots. Which what’s really interesting in New Zealand is a ton of white people or Pākehā, like me, a ton of white people have been learning Māori as well, right? So it’s also becoming a symbol of your political and New Zealand identity as well. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So because this language has more cultural significance than it does, a purely functional significance, do you see it as pretty protected or insulated from some of the challenges of machine translation?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So because this language has more cultural significance than it does, a purely functional significance, do you see it as pretty protected or insulated from some of the challenges of machine translation?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah. When I’m thinking about it, now that we’re talking about it, I do think that it would be unlikely that you would use a translation app. If you were talking to someone who was a native or near-native fluent speaker of Te Reo and you wanted to communicate with them, you would do it in English or you would learn Te Reo. Why would you use an app to talk to them in this language, stiltingly with pauses and slowly when you both can talk in English, right? They are not going to appreciate that. They’re not really going to be interested in that, and what would probably be more impressive was you stumbling through some beginner Te Reo, which at least showed that you were putting in some effort yourself, right?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah. When I’m thinking about it, now that we’re talking about it, I do think that it would be unlikely that you would use a translation app. If you were talking to someone who was a native or near-native fluent speaker of Te Reo and you wanted to communicate with them, you would do it in English or you would learn Te Reo. Why would you use an app to talk to them in this language, stiltingly with pauses and slowly when you both can talk in English, right? They are not going to appreciate that. They’re not really going to be interested in that, and what would probably be more impressive was you stumbling through some beginner Te Reo, which at least showed that you were putting in some effort yourself, right?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Do you remember that Mamdani clip? Should I try to find it and play it?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Do you remember that Mamdani clip? Should I try to find it and play it?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Okay. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Okay. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Abby wanted us to listen to this recent video released by Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Abby wanted us to listen to this recent video released by Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>So there’s this clip you can find, it went kind of a little viral, a little while ago, and it’s Mamdani doing… the mayor of New York doing a piece to camera, and it’s kind of some political speech. I don’t know what he’s actually promoting.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>So there’s this clip you can find, it went kind of a little viral, a little while ago, and it’s Mamdani doing… the mayor of New York doing a piece to camera, and it’s kind of some political speech. I don’t know what he’s actually promoting.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And so he is talking in Spanish and so he is trying to, you know, reach his Spanish Constituence. He does not speak Spanish, right? And so, there is this video of him and he is kind of like stumbling through Spanish and he takes it again and he’s getting corrected by AOC on his pronunciation. He keeps kind of forgetting things. And they’ve released this, right? And they think it’s not crazy that that happened but it’s very interesting to me that they released it because they are trying to emphasize that it wasn’t easy for him to speak Spanish and that he needed help speaking Spanish and he is not good at Spanish, but they knew that it would be charming and it is, right? Because it shows someone is trying to speak Spanish, right? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And so he is talking in Spanish and so he is trying to, you know, reach his Spanish Constituence. He does not speak Spanish, right? And so, there is this video of him and he is kind of like stumbling through Spanish and he takes it again and he’s getting corrected by AOC on his pronunciation. He keeps kind of forgetting things. And they’ve released this, right? And they think it’s not crazy that that happened but it’s very interesting to me that they released it because they are trying to emphasize that it wasn’t easy for him to speak Spanish and that he needed help speaking Spanish and he is not good at Spanish, but they knew that it would be charming and it is, right? Because it shows someone is trying to speak Spanish, right? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They could have just released speeches with him in like fluent Spanish, or they could have had someone else who is a fluent Spanish speaker speaking on his behalf. In a little while, they could probably do videos where it looks like he is speaking Spanish, right? We’re kind of at that point of the technology now with video and audio that we could have something that sounds like him speaking in Spanish, looks like him speaking in Spanish. But they don’t do that, right? What they do is show someone who isn’t very good and who is trying, right? Part of what is really important to people is that you try to speak their language, right? And an app takes out that friction. It makes communication easier, but part of what language is signaling, too, when you use a language that is not a language that comes easy to you, is you’re signaling that you are trying, right? You are signaling that you are putting in some effort, that you don’t expect them to just understand you, and that you’re putting in some effort to be understood.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>They could have just released speeches with him in like fluent Spanish, or they could have had someone else who is a fluent Spanish speaker speaking on his behalf. In a little while, they could probably do videos where it looks like he is speaking Spanish, right? We’re kind of at that point of the technology now with video and audio that we could have something that sounds like him speaking in Spanish, looks like him speaking in Spanish. But they don’t do that, right? What they do is show someone who isn’t very good and who is trying, right? Part of what is really important to people is that you try to speak their language, right? And an app takes out that friction. It makes communication easier, but part of what language is signaling, too, when you use a language that is not a language that comes easy to you, is you’re signaling that you are trying, right? You are signaling that you are putting in some effort, that you don’t expect them to just understand you, and that you’re putting in some effort to be understood.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> All right. Well, we’ve been dancing around this idea of the importance of friction, and I want to just ask you to spell it out. Why is friction important? What could friction signal? We’ve talked about belonging, we’ve talked about effort. What else?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> All right. Well, we’ve been dancing around this idea of the importance of friction, and I want to just ask you to spell it out. Why is friction important? What could friction signal? We’ve talked about belonging, we’ve talked about effort. What else?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I mean, if I’m really just using an app to talk to you, right, I… And I’m not paying attention, I’m not really trying to do anything, I’m just trying to communicate with you, so I use an app, and it spits out whatever to talk to you, and I nod. You got the message, I got the message, I move on. Like, I haven’t really changed because of that interaction, right? So when you learn a language, to talk to someone, the effort of doing it, you are actually also changing yourself. So you are adding vocab, adding things that you can use in a new situation, adding things that you can use when you don’t have your phone around you, et cetera. So there’s just, literally you are changing a little bit, maybe in small ways. There is some evidence for regular bilinguals, like people who are regularly using multiple languages in their day-to-day, that they have better executive function than monolingual speakers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I mean, if I’m really just using an app to talk to you, right, I… And I’m not paying attention, I’m not really trying to do anything, I’m just trying to communicate with you, so I use an app, and it spits out whatever to talk to you, and I nod. You got the message, I got the message, I move on. Like, I haven’t really changed because of that interaction, right? So when you learn a language, to talk to someone, the effort of doing it, you are actually also changing yourself. So you are adding vocab, adding things that you can use in a new situation, adding things that you can use when you don’t have your phone around you, et cetera. So there’s just, literally you are changing a little bit, maybe in small ways. There is some evidence for regular bilinguals, like people who are regularly using multiple languages in their day-to-day, that they have better executive function than monolingual speakers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And by executive function, we’re talking about your ability to ignore irrelevant information and suppress responses that you might automatically make. And if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense why this would be tied to bilingualism, because you have a day where you are telling whatever language you’re not using, you’re saying, “Shut up. This isn’t about you.” So you’re ignoring anything else that’s irrelevant while you’re having these conversations. And from my understanding, those advantages get bigger as you age. So it’s essentially like you’re keeping your brain more active in this particular way. So obviously, all of those benefits, and just the fact that each time I stumble through something in German or Korean or today Māori, I am getting a little bit better, right? I’m learning a little bit more. That is this really big obvious thing that is being lost, is just that you are not having this growth. And it’s almost sad in some ways, because you had an opportunity, right? So let’s say you go to another country, you stay there for two months. You have this opportunity to do something, and you just spend all the time using these translation apps. You miss this opportunity to have this personal growth.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And by executive function, we’re talking about your ability to ignore irrelevant information and suppress responses that you might automatically make. And if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense why this would be tied to bilingualism, because you have a day where you are telling whatever language you’re not using, you’re saying, “Shut up. This isn’t about you.” So you’re ignoring anything else that’s irrelevant while you’re having these conversations. And from my understanding, those advantages get bigger as you age. So it’s essentially like you’re keeping your brain more active in this particular way. So obviously, all of those benefits, and just the fact that each time I stumble through something in German or Korean or today Māori, I am getting a little bit better, right? I’m learning a little bit more. That is this really big obvious thing that is being lost, is just that you are not having this growth. And it’s almost sad in some ways, because you had an opportunity, right? So let’s say you go to another country, you stay there for two months. You have this opportunity to do something, and you just spend all the time using these translation apps. You miss this opportunity to have this personal growth.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> It’s true. I went to Italy, and by the end of the trip, I was fully capable of asking where the bathroom was all by myself.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> It’s true. I went to Italy, and by the end of the trip, I was fully capable of asking where the bathroom was all by myself.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> In Italian?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> In Italian?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> In Italian.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Wow.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Wow.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Don’t ask me to do it now.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Don’t ask me to do it now.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Oh, boy. Try. Al bagno? Bagno? Bagno? I don’t want to talk about it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Oh, boy. Try. Al bagno? Bagno? Bagno? I don’t want to talk about it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Okay.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Okay.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Live translation tools are decent, and they’re going to get better. You can even imagine a version that works out most of the bugs. AI that does start picking up on body language and slang. Science fiction becoming reality. The universal translator, the Babel fish. But do we always want that? Throughout our conversation, as we talked about the importance of friction, it struck me that maybe today’s live translation tools, imperfect as they are, have their own charms, not despite the friction, but because of it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Live translation tools are decent, and they’re going to get better. You can even imagine a version that works out most of the bugs. AI that does start picking up on body language and slang. Science fiction becoming reality. The universal translator, the Babel fish. But do we always want that? Throughout our conversation, as we talked about the importance of friction, it struck me that maybe today’s live translation tools, imperfect as they are, have their own charms, not despite the friction, but because of it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I decided to play Abby another excerpt from our conversation with proud dad, Larry Berliner. While he and fellow dad Kevin were conversing on their ChatGPT app, they were speaking into the phone, which would generate a written translation, which the other one would read. Hardly seamless. But here, Larry talks about the conversation being so profound because of those seams.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This allowed us to speak in long paragraphs, like I’m doing right now, right? Shakespearean style, not a back and forth, but long paragraphs of ideas, and then it would translate, and we’d watch each other read it, which was exciting, and then the person would respond. And what ended up being magical was, first of all, we did it for a very long time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This allowed us to speak in long paragraphs, like I’m doing right now, right? Shakespearean style, not a back and forth, but long paragraphs of ideas, and then it would translate, and we’d watch each other read it, which was exciting, and then the person would respond. And what ended up being magical was, first of all, we did it for a very long time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What he chose to talk about was things that I don’t think he would ever have spoke about first if I was speaking his native language. Or wow, the extent of which is amazing. He talked about how he had met Sonya and the previous people he had been with at the time. He talked about his failures as a father. And just– it was immediately right to the bone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What he chose to talk about was things that I don’t think he would ever have spoke about first if I was speaking his native language. Or wow, the extent of which is amazing. He talked about how he had met Sonya and the previous people he had been with at the time. He talked about his failures as a father. And just– it was immediately right to the bone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> I’m just struck by how he feels that conversation was facilitated by the fact that there was this level of friction, of literally having to read. Maybe the fact that you’re putting something into print and then somebody is going to read it makes you less likely to just waste that time to say, “Well, what do you think of the weather?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, that’s a really interesting idea, and it kinda makes sense. What it makes me think, though, is that there was this feeling that this was temporary, right? That this was not going to be the regular state of affairs. It’s almost like deathbed conversation. It feels like a little bit like what it sounded like to me. Just “I need you to, here are some really big things on my mind and my heart that I just really want you to know now that we’ve got this opportunity.” It is interesting, though, to think about, what if you never get there with someone who speaks your own language because you’ve always got the dance of we can speak so easily to each other.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, that’s a really interesting idea, and it kinda makes sense. What it makes me think, though, is that there was this feeling that this was temporary, right? That this was not going to be the regular state of affairs. It’s almost like deathbed conversation. It feels like a little bit like what it sounded like to me. Just “I need you to, here are some really big things on my mind and my heart that I just really want you to know now that we’ve got this opportunity.” It is interesting, though, to think about, what if you never get there with someone who speaks your own language because you’ve always got the dance of we can speak so easily to each other.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and it was the artificiality of their own communication that led to something much deeper. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I love that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> So am I going to encourage my eight-year-old to learn Spanish? Yes, absolutely. There’s so much we can’t know about AI and where it’s headed, but even if some reasons for learning another language go away, others won’t, or could even grow in importance. And in honor of our topic this week, we’ve machine translated our credits into ‘Klingon and back’, because why not?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> So am I going to encourage my eight-year-old to learn Spanish? Yes, absolutely. There’s so much we can’t know about AI and where it’s headed, but even if some reasons for learning another language go away, others won’t, or could even grow in importance. And in honor of our topic this week, we’ve machine translated our credits into ‘Klingon and back’, because why not?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>I am Jess of the clan Love. \u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>At the Northwestern University Citadel of Knowledge, inside the Kellogg School of Management, Life, Automated is an honorable battle quest of the Ryan Institute on Complexity. KQED hurls our battle transmissions across the void to conquer the airwaves.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>I am Jess of the clan Love. \u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>At the Northwestern University Citadel of Knowledge, inside the Kellogg School of Management, Life, Automated is an honorable battle quest of the Ryan Institute on Complexity. KQED hurls our battle transmissions across the void to conquer the airwaves.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jesse Dukes sliced the captured sounds into submission. Stephen Jackson forged the battle hymns and struck the war drums. The machinery masters, Will Feeney and George Christensen, trapped the vocal cries of the interrogation inside the sound cage. Ananya Mallapragada commanded the proclamations of our glory and subjugated the civilian chatter web.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Jesse Dukes sliced the captured sounds into submission. Stephen Jackson forged the battle hymns and struck the war drums. The machinery masters, Will Feeney and George Christensen, trapped the vocal cries of the interrogation inside the sound cage. Ananya Mallapragada commanded the proclamations of our glory and subjugated the civilian chatter web.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Producer: Jesse Dukes\u003cbr>Music: Steven Jackson\u003cbr>Recording: George Christensen, Will Feeney\u003cbr>Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Editorial guidance from Laura Pavin\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Special thanks to Larry Berliner and Georgi Demirev for their help testing out live translation tools\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Live AI translation tools are making it easier to converse across languages without a human translator, a phrasebook, or years of study. So will we all just stop taking Spanish or Mandarin classes? Sociolinguist \u003ca href=\"https://liberalarts.vt.edu/departments-and-schools/department-of-english/faculty/abby-walker.html\">Abby Walker\u003c/a> doesn’t think so. She shares the many reasons we learn new languages, some of which have little to do with functional communication at all. We also hear how one AI-assisted conversation brought two future in-laws together, why machine translation is still so darn buggy, and why some languages are attracting a resurgence of new learners even in the age of translation apps.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated\">KQED\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> This is Life, Automated, the show where we explore what it means to live, work, and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. I think it’s fair to say that over the past five years, we’ve been bombarded by all the new things AI can suddenly do. It’s solving these long unsolved math theorems, generating songs that rack up millions of listens, and even colluding with other AIs to break into servers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s so much crazy stuff happening, that a lot of other advances that would’ve seemed mind-blowing to us 10, 15 years ago feel almost pedestrian in comparison. I’d put real-time language translation down as one of these advances. Chat bots and translation apps now draw from a range of different kinds of AI to offer live translation for tons of different languages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can hear something in a language you don’t know, like Korean. You can use your phone to translate that speech into a language you do know, like English. “Which way is the restroom?” Offer your response in English. “Oh, yeah, it’s down this hallway here, second door on the right side.” And then it will speak your response aloud in Korean.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>You can do this today. People already are doing this. What’s more, a lot of tech companies are developing wearables, think smart glasses, smart earbuds, to make live translation more frictionless. No more fumbling for your phone. This is literally straight out of science fiction. Star Trek’s universal translator, Dr.Who’s TARDIS translation matrix, and from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish. For me, this raises some big questions. What do these live translation tools really let us do that we couldn’t do before? Will they ever fully replace human translators? And should my eight-year-old still be taking Spanish classes in school?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today’s guest is Abby Walker, a sociolinguist at Virginia Tech, where she’s co-director of the Speech Lab. She’s also a longtime friend from my grad school days. I’m Jess Love, and this is Life, Automated from Kellogg’s Ryan Institute on Complexity, distributed by KQED. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Welcome Abby Walker to Life Automated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Thank you for having me, Jess. I’m so excited to be here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So there’s a clip I want to play for you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>I wanted Abby and I to listen to some tape we recorded from a person who recently used one of these live translation tools. This person’s name is Larry Berliner. Larry’s son was in love, and this was Larry’s first time meeting the girlfriend’s parents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here’s the catch. Larry, father of the boyfriend, spoke English but not Chinese. And Kevin, father of the girlfriend, spoke Chinese but not English. So they used a ChatGPT app on one of their cell phones to translate between them. In this first clip, Larry’s just remarking about what this tool did for the two of them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> If not for this, I wouldn’t have got to know Kevin at all. I was able to connect with Kevin, meet Kevin, talk to Kevin seriously about myself, about my business, about my thoughts of his own daughter, what his daughter has transformed in my son. So much, right? There was so much I was able to say to him.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> And here’s another part of that conversation, this time with Larry talking about how having the tool helped everyone else in the room, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> We have all been there, where there’s the individual who’s the translator amongst three people or among five people, sometimes eight. And two things happen. One is that translator has to work so hard. You can see how much energy they’re having to invest in translating for everybody and make the room successful. The other thing you see is how slow everything goes. The point is, that’s not what happened in our room because Larry and Kevin were involved in this AI-enhanced live translation mode, and the other four were freed. So they were able to have a free, wonderful, free-ranging conversation, and they were able to have that ability to connect in their way.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I love that example and how it’s not just about the personal interaction, but actually about the group dynamics, too. It shows you the work that’s involved in having a human translator, that someone has to mediate that process for you, and that’s actually work on them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of it, which is kinda cool. If you have a human interpreter, there might be things that you want to talk about that you don’t want them to hear about. And I think this is a common situation a little bit with, we know sometimes when immigrants come to a country where they don’t speak the kind of dominant language, that often their kids become interpreters, as they’re dealing with banks and as they’re dealing with medical providers. But, like if you think about, do you want your daughters to know all of your personal information that you might talk about with a doctor? No, right? And so just getting to choose who hears what information, yeah, that’s going to be really empowering.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, it seems like in this example, depending on who is going to have to play that role of translator, is he going to feel comfortable, showering all this attention on perhaps his future daughter-in-law, for instance? If she’s the one translating.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. Yeah. That would be really embarrassing. Though it may be a cool, slick move as well. She has to be like, “Oh, Daddy’s saying I’m so pretty,” and yeah, something like that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> So already these tools are letting people connect with other people in new ways, really connect. But I didn’t invite Abby on this show just to marvel over what’s now possible with machine translation. Like I said, I have a lot of questions. Like, “Is that it? Are we humans all just done learning second, third, fourth languages because the machines can translate for us now? Or are there some parts of a conversation that a machine probably isn’t going to be able to translate for us, at least not anytime soon?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>So a lot of people think of translation as just this simple process of taking words from one language and then mapping them one-to-one onto another language. But from a sociolinguist perspective, what else is language doing other than delivering that kind of information?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s doing so much, Jess. I love all the other things that language does. So one of the big things that I study and my field looks at is all the other information in the speech signal. So not just the content of the message but how you’re delivering it and all the other information that comes from that. So for example, anyone listening right now, you can probably hear that I was not born and raised in America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I’ve got a New Zealand English accent. But people in New Zealand can probably also hear that I’ve lived in America for a while, that’s probably in my speech as well. You might be able to hear that you and I are friends and friendly. We’re both trying to be friendly. We’re both trying to sound smart right now, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maybe you can tell that this is a little bit more awkward formality for us than usual conversation with wine. So just your identity, and sometimes that stuff you’re trying to mark, like sometimes you’re like, “I want to sound really professional in this moment. I want to sound really from this place. I want to really lean into my higher roots or my New Zealand roots or something.” But then other times, there’s information there that you just can’t even control, right? Like, I’m not always necessarily trying to be like, “I’m a woman,” but most people will hear my voice and be like, “You’re a woman.” Or I’m not always trying to say I’m from New Zealand, but my vowels are always saying I’m from New Zealand.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Right. So whether you want to or not, you are communicating a whole lot about who you are as a person and maybe how you’re feeling in that moment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby says that any tool focused primarily on the words we are saying will always miss a lot of the social information that language communicates, information that a human interpreter who can pick up on body language or emotion could probably make better sense of.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And even at the word level there’s a lot of ways for a translation to be incomplete. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>I mean, some things like if I say boot or trunk of a car, that’s a difference between British and American English. But I’m thinking even things more like if I say groovy or neato or amazeballs or, we have lots of ways to express that something’s cool, and how another language does that, they might miss that I’m being playful, or they might miss that I’m outdated in my slang. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>How do you translate that someone is saying amazeballs unironically because they’re really that excited? How do you translate that someone is saying groovy ironically because they’re making fun of themselves for being five decades late to the party? And that’s not all. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>The other thing that language has built into it, both in vocal tone and stuff, but then also in word choice and sometimes actually in your grammar, is your relationship to other people. It’s not just me expressing my identity. I can also be trying to say something about the relationship that you and I have or the relationship I’d like us to have. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So anything that is doing this translation, whether it’s a human or whether it’s a machine, they’re having to make some choices, and the nature of those choices are not going to be obvious to somebody who’s participating and only able to understand one side of that conversation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, and most of the time, again, this… The technology’s kind of amazing. Being able to talk with anyone who you couldn’t talk to before, if the alternative is not being able to talk to them at all, that’s pretty amazing. But there are going to be times where if you don’t know the situation, it might be doing some really impolite things, and you might not know, right? Like the translation system might have decided to use an informal tone here, and you don’t realize it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>And to some extent, that’s going to be true of a human translator but to a much lesser extent if they are very culturally fluent with both languages.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, no, I actually… Now I’m remembering I had a student who was Korean-American, and her parents had come over from Korea beforehand, so they were native Korean speakers, and I was learning Korean at the time. And it was graduation, and I was saying something to her dad, like I don’t know. I can’t remember what I was saying, but I was trying to say something polite. And she’s like, “Um,” kind of to her dad like, “Uh, she’s just learning.” And I was like… I assumed that I’d used some impolite grammatical forms or something, right? I’d done some… She knew that I was kind of doing something inappropriate that I didn’t know that I was doing and was just smoothing over the situation because yeah, I think one of the things that humans do is that we’re very socially savvy. We’re always looking at, contextually, what’s contextually appropriate language. And if you’re a bilingual person, which a human translator has to be, right, to some degree to be able to do this translation work, presumably they’re going to know the social navigation pathways of both languages. And so they’re going to be able to pull on that information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Is there a danger that if we do move toward this world of relatively frictionless live translation, we could become overconfident that we’ve understood everything?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s… I think that’s almost part of it. It’s almost like the same problem that people are having right now with, you know, you hand in an essay that AI produced, and it looks so good that you don’t know that the citations are made-up. It’s that sort of confidence that it got the answer right that you would have that same kind of problem with translation, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Given the sheer complexity of language and all the things it’s trying to do, maybe it shouldn’t be a big surprise that as incredible as these tools are, they still make mistakes. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/live-voice-translation-is-the-ai-americans-want-most-ahead-of-email-drafting-and-meeting-notes-new-deepl-research-finds-302858925.html\">recent survey\u003c/a> found that about half of people who’ve used some kind of translation app, chat bot, or wearable find it clunky.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>My own personal experience is pretty hit or miss. When I visited Quebec City this summer, Airbnb automatically translated my text messages to my host into French, and then translated his responses back into English. It was so seamless that I barely noticed. But then, when I tried out a pair of smart glasses to have a spoken conversation with a Bulgarian scholar here at the Ryan Institute about his summer vacation, a topic slightly more nuanced than what is the entry code to the apartment, it was a little rough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At first, I had to repeat my question three times until the glasses finally heard me well enough to translate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Jess Love talking to Bulgarian Scholar]: \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>“All right, let’s try again. Okay. Okay. I was holding it too long. I heard a rumor that you are going to the Dolomites this summer to do some hiking.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Bulgarian Scholar Translation Audio]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>That’s exactly how we’re going with a large group of friends. It’s about 20 people, and I’m pretty excited since it’s raining here, but there are almost no mountains, and I very rarely get to see mountains.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hungarian Scholar: \u003c/strong>It’s somewhat accurate.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> The glasses kept messing up. We managed to stumble through a basic conversation but only because my colleague knew English and could correct the mistakes. It was not frictionless. So at least with the tools we have today, it’s pretty clear to me that some tasks will still require human translators, even if a lot of others don’t, and Abby agreed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I think it’s the case that we’re always going to need human translators, because there are high-stakes situations, right? Like international negotiations, big business deals. But I also imagine a young person looking at a career path and still seeing, probably rightly so, that there’s going to be less path forward for them there. And I think about the medical world a bit. I think that’s often where there was a feeling that there would be a lot of interpreters was in the medical field.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And you do already see them starting to use these tools and these translation tools automatically. You would hope they would always have someone on staff still, like to do translations when things get really nuanced and stuff. But I do think if I was a young person looking, even though there still will be those jobs, I would wonder about them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> I would wonder too. Some of the practical reasons for learning a language are going away. After all, not everyone is going to be involved in negotiating corporate mergers or making high-stakes medical decisions. For a lot of situations, good enough really is good enough. And AI’s getting better. Companies are already trying to deal with these issues by like collecting visual data or following people over time so the machines have access to previous conversations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s no guarantee that these tools will still be making the same kinds of mistakes in five years, or even two. And so, yeah, some people who would’ve learned another language probably will decide, “Eh, why bother?” But Abby doesn’t see a future where people just decide to stop learning other languages, no matter how good the machines get, because there are a bunch of reasons for learning a language that have nothing to do with the mere exchange of information.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After the break, she makes her case. We’ll also hear why some very unexpected languages are actually experiencing a resurgence of new learners, apps be damned. Stay with us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I’m going to Germany later this year. The big reason, one of the big reasons I wanted to go to Germany, apart from working with some great researchers, is that I wanted to get my German better. I have no need to get German better. This is not an important thing in my life. I will not speak it. I will never need it, but I want to be good at it, right? I want to be better at it. I like it. I enjoy it. It’s a puzzle. It’s a game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> Abby’s not alone. A lot of people are learning languages they don’t have to learn for purely communicative reasons, like because they need a job or need to get around a city.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Like people right now are learning Welsh, and people are learning Te Reo Māori, and these people can all speak English in Wales and in New Zealand, but they’re choosing to learn this language that they do not need for communication, so why are they choosing to learn this language? Because they have an identity connection to this language, right? And so its important to them, separate from how many other people they can talk to in this language, right? Like its kind of a way to connect to an identity, because I think people really do associate languages with identity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, that’s so interesting. Is there a resurgence in people trying to learn these minority languages, even right now in 2026?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yes. There’s definitely a resurgence in people trying to learn these languages. But that’s been happening since the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s. But since I’ve been in the States for almost 20 years now, and when I go back to New Zealand, it is shocking to me the amount of Te Reo that is around now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> And what is Te Reo [Māori]?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> It’s the language. Sorry. It’s Māori. Māori. Sorry. It’s the Māori language. It’s just called the language, so it’s Te Reo.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Yeah, can you just give a little… ‘Cause most of our audience is not from New Zealand, so just give a little… What is this language, and why do you think that people are learning to speak it more in New Zealand?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, so this was the first language, human language spoken in New Zealand by the Māori. And then waves of English settlers came, and the language was forbidden, like happens in many of these situations. There was both an incentive to learn English for economic reasons, but then there were also actual moves to ban the language in school. And so kids would get smacked and things if they were speaking it in playgrounds and stuff. And so there was a generation or two that kind of were native speakers of Māori that literally intentionally chose not to pass it on to their children because it had only caused grief for them, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And then there was this next generation that was “Wait, we’ve lost this kind of connection to our identity.” And so there’s been this really big resurgence. And this is happening before the technology that we’re talking about, but it’s happening because this has identity meaning to people. This is culturally significant to them. Quite correctly, they see it as something that was taken away from them by kind of outsiders, and then they are trying to correct that and connect to these roots. Which what’s really interesting in New Zealand is a ton of white people or Pākehā, like me, a ton of white people have been learning Māori as well, right? So it’s also becoming a symbol of your political and New Zealand identity as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>So because this language has more cultural significance than it does, a purely functional significance, do you see it as pretty protected or insulated from some of the challenges of machine translation?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah. When I’m thinking about it, now that we’re talking about it, I do think that it would be unlikely that you would use a translation app. If you were talking to someone who was a native or near-native fluent speaker of Te Reo and you wanted to communicate with them, you would do it in English or you would learn Te Reo. Why would you use an app to talk to them in this language, stiltingly with pauses and slowly when you both can talk in English, right? They are not going to appreciate that. They’re not really going to be interested in that, and what would probably be more impressive was you stumbling through some beginner Te Reo, which at least showed that you were putting in some effort yourself, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Do you remember that Mamdani clip? Should I try to find it and play it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Okay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Abby wanted us to listen to this recent video released by Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker: \u003c/strong>So there’s this clip you can find, it went kind of a little viral, a little while ago, and it’s Mamdani doing… the mayor of New York doing a piece to camera, and it’s kind of some political speech. I don’t know what he’s actually promoting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so he is talking in Spanish and so he is trying to, you know, reach his Spanish Constituence. He does not speak Spanish, right? And so, there is this video of him and he is kind of like stumbling through Spanish and he takes it again and he’s getting corrected by AOC on his pronunciation. He keeps kind of forgetting things. And they’ve released this, right? And they think it’s not crazy that that happened but it’s very interesting to me that they released it because they are trying to emphasize that it wasn’t easy for him to speak Spanish and that he needed help speaking Spanish and he is not good at Spanish, but they knew that it would be charming and it is, right? Because it shows someone is trying to speak Spanish, right? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Zohran Mamdani speaking in Spanish]\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>They could have just released speeches with him in like fluent Spanish, or they could have had someone else who is a fluent Spanish speaker speaking on his behalf. In a little while, they could probably do videos where it looks like he is speaking Spanish, right? We’re kind of at that point of the technology now with video and audio that we could have something that sounds like him speaking in Spanish, looks like him speaking in Spanish. But they don’t do that, right? What they do is show someone who isn’t very good and who is trying, right? Part of what is really important to people is that you try to speak their language, right? And an app takes out that friction. It makes communication easier, but part of what language is signaling, too, when you use a language that is not a language that comes easy to you, is you’re signaling that you are trying, right? You are signaling that you are putting in some effort, that you don’t expect them to just understand you, and that you’re putting in some effort to be understood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> All right. Well, we’ve been dancing around this idea of the importance of friction, and I want to just ask you to spell it out. Why is friction important? What could friction signal? We’ve talked about belonging, we’ve talked about effort. What else?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I mean, if I’m really just using an app to talk to you, right, I… And I’m not paying attention, I’m not really trying to do anything, I’m just trying to communicate with you, so I use an app, and it spits out whatever to talk to you, and I nod. You got the message, I got the message, I move on. Like, I haven’t really changed because of that interaction, right? So when you learn a language, to talk to someone, the effort of doing it, you are actually also changing yourself. So you are adding vocab, adding things that you can use in a new situation, adding things that you can use when you don’t have your phone around you, et cetera. So there’s just, literally you are changing a little bit, maybe in small ways. There is some evidence for regular bilinguals, like people who are regularly using multiple languages in their day-to-day, that they have better executive function than monolingual speakers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And by executive function, we’re talking about your ability to ignore irrelevant information and suppress responses that you might automatically make. And if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense why this would be tied to bilingualism, because you have a day where you are telling whatever language you’re not using, you’re saying, “Shut up. This isn’t about you.” So you’re ignoring anything else that’s irrelevant while you’re having these conversations. And from my understanding, those advantages get bigger as you age. So it’s essentially like you’re keeping your brain more active in this particular way. So obviously, all of those benefits, and just the fact that each time I stumble through something in German or Korean or today Māori, I am getting a little bit better, right? I’m learning a little bit more. That is this really big obvious thing that is being lost, is just that you are not having this growth. And it’s almost sad in some ways, because you had an opportunity, right? So let’s say you go to another country, you stay there for two months. You have this opportunity to do something, and you just spend all the time using these translation apps. You miss this opportunity to have this personal growth.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> It’s true. I went to Italy, and by the end of the trip, I was fully capable of asking where the bathroom was all by myself.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> In Italian?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> In Italian.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Wow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Don’t ask me to do it now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I was gonna say.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> Oh, boy. Try. Al bagno? Bagno? Bagno? I don’t want to talk about it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Okay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]: \u003c/strong>Live translation tools are decent, and they’re going to get better. You can even imagine a version that works out most of the bugs. AI that does start picking up on body language and slang. Science fiction becoming reality. The universal translator, the Babel fish. But do we always want that? Throughout our conversation, as we talked about the importance of friction, it struck me that maybe today’s live translation tools, imperfect as they are, have their own charms, not despite the friction, but because of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I decided to play Abby another excerpt from our conversation with proud dad, Larry Berliner. While he and fellow dad Kevin were conversing on their ChatGPT app, they were speaking into the phone, which would generate a written translation, which the other one would read. Hardly seamless. But here, Larry talks about the conversation being so profound because of those seams.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>[Audio of Larry Berliner]:\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003cem> This allowed us to speak in long paragraphs, like I’m doing right now, right? Shakespearean style, not a back and forth, but long paragraphs of ideas, and then it would translate, and we’d watch each other read it, which was exciting, and then the person would respond. And what ended up being magical was, first of all, we did it for a very long time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>What he chose to talk about was things that I don’t think he would ever have spoke about first if I was speaking his native language. Or wow, the extent of which is amazing. He talked about how he had met Sonya and the previous people he had been with at the time. He talked about his failures as a father. And just– it was immediately right to the bone.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love:\u003c/strong> I’m just struck by how he feels that conversation was facilitated by the fact that there was this level of friction, of literally having to read. Maybe the fact that you’re putting something into print and then somebody is going to read it makes you less likely to just waste that time to say, “Well, what do you think of the weather?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> Yeah, I mean, that’s a really interesting idea, and it kinda makes sense. What it makes me think, though, is that there was this feeling that this was temporary, right? That this was not going to be the regular state of affairs. It’s almost like deathbed conversation. It feels like a little bit like what it sounded like to me. Just “I need you to, here are some really big things on my mind and my heart that I just really want you to know now that we’ve got this opportunity.” It is interesting, though, to think about, what if you never get there with someone who speaks your own language because you’ve always got the dance of we can speak so easily to each other.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and it was the artificiality of their own communication that led to something much deeper. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Abby Walker:\u003c/strong> I love that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jess Love [Voiceover]:\u003c/strong> So am I going to encourage my eight-year-old to learn Spanish? Yes, absolutely. There’s so much we can’t know about AI and where it’s headed, but even if some reasons for learning another language go away, others won’t, or could even grow in importance. And in honor of our topic this week, we’ve machine translated our credits into ‘Klingon and back’, because why not?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Here we go. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>I am Jess of the clan Love. \u003cem>[Klingon words] \u003c/em>At the Northwestern University Citadel of Knowledge, inside the Kellogg School of Management, Life, Automated is an honorable battle quest of the Ryan Institute on Complexity. KQED hurls our battle transmissions across the void to conquer the airwaves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jesse Dukes sliced the captured sounds into submission. Stephen Jackson forged the battle hymns and struck the war drums. The machinery masters, Will Feeney and George Christensen, trapped the vocal cries of the interrogation inside the sound cage. Ananya Mallapragada commanded the proclamations of our glory and subjugated the civilian chatter web.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Producer: Jesse Dukes\u003cbr>Music: Steven Jackson\u003cbr>Recording: George Christensen, Will Feeney\u003cbr>Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Editorial guidance from Laura Pavin\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Special thanks to Larry Berliner and Georgi Demirev for their help testing out live translation tools\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-historically-black-college-in-oakland-a-task-force-is-dreaming",
"title": "A Historically Black College in Oakland? A Task Force Is Dreaming",
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"headTitle": "A Historically Black College in Oakland? A Task Force Is Dreaming | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>A task force is quietly working to expand higher education offerings in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> by bringing a historically Black college or university here. And Oakland Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/barbara-lee\">Barbara Lee\u003c/a> is central to the effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There are a little over 100 recognized HBCUs in the country, but they are concentrated in the Southeast since many were established in the years following the Civil War, when African Americans were barred from most colleges and universities. The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution — the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation. If an HBCU lands in Oakland, it could offer the first opportunity for undergraduate students in California to get a culturally relevant education closer to home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When students head east to enroll at an HBCU, they often don’t come back, said Kim Thompson, a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She described that as a loss for California’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That’s a big brain drain and loss of students who could be staying here and gaining access to high-wage STEM careers that the Bay Area has to offer,” Thompson told The Oaklandside. “There’s a lot of students we think could benefit from the culturally affirming education that an HBCU could provide.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1123\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12015107\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1920x1078.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There are over 100 HBCUs in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast. The West Coast has only one, in Los Angeles. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Oakland HBCU initiative, a fiscally sponsored project of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandfund.org/oaklandhbcu\">Oakland Fund\u003c/a>, officially launched last year and is still in the early stages. A volunteer task force composed of Mayor Lee along with individuals from business, higher education, civic and philanthropic communities in Oakland is leading the effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The task force undertook a feasibility study this year to explore the potential economic impacts of a campus for Oakland and to identify which industries here are primed for growth. Thompson said the task force plans to publish the results of the study in the next month, but said they’ve already identified technology, entrepreneurship, life sciences, artificial intelligence, logistics and transportation as areas of focus.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The task force will then move to the next phase: solidifying a list of interested schools and settling on a location. The team is exploring a range of ideas, including a satellite campus for a single college, a hub center that would allow multiple colleges and universities to offer classes in Oakland and a partnership with the Peralta Community Colleges District to offer a pathway to a four-year degree from an HBCU.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s community colleges already have a \u003ca href=\"https://icangotocollege.com/hbcu-transfer-opportunities\">transfer pathway for students to enroll at HBCUs\u003c/a>, which guarantees admission to more than 30 colleges and comes with a $5,000 scholarship, but few students take it, Taína Knox, another member of the task force, said. While tens of thousands of students transfer from community college to a UC or Cal State campus each year, those taking advantage of the HBCU transfer pathway number in the tens, Knox said. Five students received the Cal-HBCU transfer grant in 2024-2025, 10 in 2025-2026, and five payments are in progress for this academic year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Students are still hesitant to transfer to out-of-state schools, and having an HBCU school here in California would have an impact,” Knox told The Oaklandside. “We think that an HBCU partnership could bolster what is already happening and hopefully increase students’ resiliency to continue through with the process that they start.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2022, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, was in talks to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/04/21/texas-hbcu-paul-quinn-college-expansion-oakland-california/\">establish a campus in Oakland\u003c/a>. In 2024, Thompson and others, including then-deputy mayor Kimberly Mayfield representing the mayor’s office, attended the annual conference of the United Negro College Fund, the HBCU membership organization, to scout interest in Oakland. But the conference took place in July 2024, weeks after then mayor \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/tag/oakland-fbi-raids/\">Sheng Thao’s home was raided by the FBI\u003c/a>, so timing wasn’t ideal, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After Lee became mayor last year, the talks restarted. At one point, Howard University, the country’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/asia-alexander/2026/08/01/top-hbcus-20-historically-black-colleges-universities-that-set-grads-up-for-success/\">top-ranked private HBCU\u003c/a>, was interested, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They came out for a site visit, we had ongoing conversations with them for several months,” Thompson said. “Currently, they have an interim leader in place, so now is not perfect timing for them to be making a definitive decision on something like this, but we continue to keep them in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lee said she is able to tap connections with HBCUs that she built during her time in Congress. Lee, who graduated from Mills College, the former women’s college in Oakland, has \u003ca href=\"https://uncf.org/the-latest/the-murell-family-legacy-establishing-a-uncf-scholarship-to-expand-educational-opportunity\">family members who attended HBCUs\u003c/a> and received an \u003ca href=\"https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/go-where-need-greatest-honorary-degree-designee-barbara-lee-has-spent-lifetime-uplifting-people\">honorary doctorate from Howard University last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081625\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland City Hall in Oakland on April 28, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Establishing an HBCU in Oakland could be crucial to stabilizing the Black population here, Lee said. When she was elected to Congress, 40% of Oakland was Black, she said, and now it’s around 20%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here in Oakland, gentrification, redlining, and systemic discrimination has been a driver of bringing our population down,” she told The Oaklandside. “This would give some stability in many ways to the Black population and for everyone in Oakland to see that we still care about the Black community and Black students.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In exploring potential locations, the task force has toured the former Holy Names University campus in the hills, as well as locations in downtown Oakland, but they don’t want to commit to a site until they’re further along in talks with the colleges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group also held listening sessions last fall with students to gauge their interest in an HBCU here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A lot of students said, ‘It’d be great to go to an HBCU, but I’m the first in my family to go to college, and it’s expensive to travel out of state,’” Thompson said. “But if it were here, that would be a great alternative opportunity to go to an HBCU, which many students had an interest in attending.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/\">The Oaklandside\u003c/a> and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>There are a little over 100 recognized HBCUs in the country, but they are concentrated in the Southeast since many were established in the years following the Civil War, when African Americans were barred from most colleges and universities. The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution — the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation. If an HBCU lands in Oakland, it could offer the first opportunity for undergraduate students in California to get a culturally relevant education closer to home.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>There are a little over 100 recognized HBCUs in the country, but they are concentrated in the Southeast since many were established in the years following the Civil War, when African Americans were barred from most colleges and universities. The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution — the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation. If an HBCU lands in Oakland, it could offer the first opportunity for undergraduate students in California to get a culturally relevant education closer to home.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When students head east to enroll at an HBCU, they often don’t come back, said Kim Thompson, a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She described that as a loss for California’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>When students head east to enroll at an HBCU, they often don’t come back, said Kim Thompson, a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She described that as a loss for California’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That’s a big brain drain and loss of students who could be staying here and gaining access to high-wage STEM careers that the Bay Area has to offer,” Thompson told The Oaklandside. “There’s a lot of students we think could benefit from the culturally affirming education that an HBCU could provide.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12015107\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1920x1078.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There are over 100 HBCUs in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast. The West Coast has only one, in Los Angeles.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12015107\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There are over 100 HBCUs in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast. The West Coast has only one, in Los Angeles.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Oakland HBCU initiative, a fiscally sponsored project of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandfund.org/oaklandhbcu\">Oakland Fund\u003c/a>, officially launched last year and is still in the early stages. A volunteer task force composed of Mayor Lee along with individuals from business, higher education, civic and philanthropic communities in Oakland is leading the effort.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The task force undertook a feasibility study this year to explore the potential economic impacts of a campus for Oakland and to identify which industries here are primed for growth. Thompson said the task force plans to publish the results of the study in the next month, but said they’ve already identified technology, entrepreneurship, life sciences, artificial intelligence, logistics and transportation as areas of focus.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The task force will then move to the next phase: solidifying a list of interested schools and settling on a location. The team is exploring a range of ideas, including a satellite campus for a single college, a hub center that would allow multiple colleges and universities to offer classes in Oakland and a partnership with the Peralta Community Colleges District to offer a pathway to a four-year degree from an HBCU.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The task force will then move to the next phase: solidifying a list of interested schools and settling on a location. The team is exploring a range of ideas, including a satellite campus for a single college, a hub center that would allow multiple colleges and universities to offer classes in Oakland and a partnership with the Peralta Community Colleges District to offer a pathway to a four-year degree from an HBCU.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California’s community colleges already have a \u003ca href=\"https://icangotocollege.com/hbcu-transfer-opportunities\">transfer pathway for students to enroll at HBCUs\u003c/a>, which guarantees admission to more than 30 colleges and comes with a $5,000 scholarship, but few students take it, Taína Knox, another member of the task force, said. While tens of thousands of students transfer from community college to a UC or Cal State campus each year, those taking advantage of the HBCU transfer pathway number in the tens, Knox said. Five students received the Cal-HBCU transfer grant in 2024-2025, 10 in 2025-2026, and five payments are in progress for this academic year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Students are still hesitant to transfer to out-of-state schools, and having an HBCU school here in California would have an impact,” Knox told The Oaklandside. “We think that an HBCU partnership could bolster what is already happening and hopefully increase students’ resiliency to continue through with the process that they start.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2022, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, was in talks to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/04/21/texas-hbcu-paul-quinn-college-expansion-oakland-california/\">establish a campus in Oakland\u003c/a>. In 2024, Thompson and others, including then-deputy mayor Kimberly Mayfield representing the mayor’s office, attended the annual conference of the United Negro College Fund, the HBCU membership organization, to scout interest in Oakland. But the conference took place in July 2024, weeks after then mayor \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/tag/oakland-fbi-raids/\">Sheng Thao’s home was raided by the FBI\u003c/a>, so timing wasn’t ideal, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2022, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, was in talks to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/04/21/texas-hbcu-paul-quinn-college-expansion-oakland-california/\">establish a campus in Oakland\u003c/a>. In 2024, Thompson and others, including then-deputy mayor Kimberly Mayfield representing the mayor’s office, attended the annual conference of the United Negro College Fund, the HBCU membership organization, to scout interest in Oakland. But the conference took place in July 2024, weeks after then mayor \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/tag/oakland-fbi-raids/\">Sheng Thao’s home was raided by the FBI\u003c/a>, so timing wasn’t ideal, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After Lee became mayor last year, the talks restarted. At one point, Howard University, the country’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/asia-alexander/2026/08/01/top-hbcus-20-historically-black-colleges-universities-that-set-grads-up-for-success/\">top-ranked private HBCU\u003c/a>, was interested, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They came out for a site visit, we had ongoing conversations with them for several months,” Thompson said. “Currently, they have an interim leader in place, so now is not perfect timing for them to be making a definitive decision on something like this, but we continue to keep them in mind.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Lee said she is able to tap connections with HBCUs that she built during her time in Congress. Lee, who graduated from Mills College, the former women’s college in Oakland, has \u003ca href=\"https://uncf.org/the-latest/the-murell-family-legacy-establishing-a-uncf-scholarship-to-expand-educational-opportunity\">family members who attended HBCUs\u003c/a> and received an \u003ca href=\"https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/go-where-need-greatest-honorary-degree-designee-barbara-lee-has-spent-lifetime-uplifting-people\">honorary doctorate from Howard University last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Lee said she is able to tap connections with HBCUs that she built during her time in Congress. Lee, who graduated from Mills College, the former women’s college in Oakland, has \u003ca href=\"https://uncf.org/the-latest/the-murell-family-legacy-establishing-a-uncf-scholarship-to-expand-educational-opportunity\">family members who attended HBCUs\u003c/a> and received an \u003ca href=\"https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/go-where-need-greatest-honorary-degree-designee-barbara-lee-has-spent-lifetime-uplifting-people\">honorary doctorate from Howard University last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>A task force is quietly working to expand higher education offerings in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> by bringing a historically Black college or university here. And Oakland Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/barbara-lee\">Barbara Lee\u003c/a> is central to the effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There are a little over 100 recognized HBCUs in the country, but they are concentrated in the Southeast since many were established in the years following the Civil War, when African Americans were barred from most colleges and universities. The West Coast has only one historically Black educational institution — the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, one of only a handful of historically Black medical schools in the nation. If an HBCU lands in Oakland, it could offer the first opportunity for undergraduate students in California to get a culturally relevant education closer to home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When students head east to enroll at an HBCU, they often don’t come back, said Kim Thompson, a member of the Oakland HBCU task force. She described that as a loss for California’s workforce.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That’s a big brain drain and loss of students who could be staying here and gaining access to high-wage STEM careers that the Bay Area has to offer,” Thompson told The Oaklandside. “There’s a lot of students we think could benefit from the culturally affirming education that an HBCU could provide.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1123\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12015107\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-800x449.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1536x862.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/OaklandGetty-1920x1078.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There are over 100 HBCUs in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast. The West Coast has only one, in Los Angeles. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Oakland HBCU initiative, a fiscally sponsored project of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandfund.org/oaklandhbcu\">Oakland Fund\u003c/a>, officially launched last year and is still in the early stages. A volunteer task force composed of Mayor Lee along with individuals from business, higher education, civic and philanthropic communities in Oakland is leading the effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The task force undertook a feasibility study this year to explore the potential economic impacts of a campus for Oakland and to identify which industries here are primed for growth. Thompson said the task force plans to publish the results of the study in the next month, but said they’ve already identified technology, entrepreneurship, life sciences, artificial intelligence, logistics and transportation as areas of focus.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The task force will then move to the next phase: solidifying a list of interested schools and settling on a location. The team is exploring a range of ideas, including a satellite campus for a single college, a hub center that would allow multiple colleges and universities to offer classes in Oakland and a partnership with the Peralta Community Colleges District to offer a pathway to a four-year degree from an HBCU.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s community colleges already have a \u003ca href=\"https://icangotocollege.com/hbcu-transfer-opportunities\">transfer pathway for students to enroll at HBCUs\u003c/a>, which guarantees admission to more than 30 colleges and comes with a $5,000 scholarship, but few students take it, Taína Knox, another member of the task force, said. While tens of thousands of students transfer from community college to a UC or Cal State campus each year, those taking advantage of the HBCU transfer pathway number in the tens, Knox said. Five students received the Cal-HBCU transfer grant in 2024-2025, 10 in 2025-2026, and five payments are in progress for this academic year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Students are still hesitant to transfer to out-of-state schools, and having an HBCU school here in California would have an impact,” Knox told The Oaklandside. “We think that an HBCU partnership could bolster what is already happening and hopefully increase students’ resiliency to continue through with the process that they start.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2022, Paul Quinn College, an HBCU in Dallas, was in talks to \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2022/04/21/texas-hbcu-paul-quinn-college-expansion-oakland-california/\">establish a campus in Oakland\u003c/a>. In 2024, Thompson and others, including then-deputy mayor Kimberly Mayfield representing the mayor’s office, attended the annual conference of the United Negro College Fund, the HBCU membership organization, to scout interest in Oakland. But the conference took place in July 2024, weeks after then mayor \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/tag/oakland-fbi-raids/\">Sheng Thao’s home was raided by the FBI\u003c/a>, so timing wasn’t ideal, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After Lee became mayor last year, the talks restarted. At one point, Howard University, the country’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/asia-alexander/2026/08/01/top-hbcus-20-historically-black-colleges-universities-that-set-grads-up-for-success/\">top-ranked private HBCU\u003c/a>, was interested, Thompson said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“They came out for a site visit, we had ongoing conversations with them for several months,” Thompson said. “Currently, they have an interim leader in place, so now is not perfect timing for them to be making a definitive decision on something like this, but we continue to keep them in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lee said she is able to tap connections with HBCUs that she built during her time in Congress. Lee, who graduated from Mills College, the former women’s college in Oakland, has \u003ca href=\"https://uncf.org/the-latest/the-murell-family-legacy-establishing-a-uncf-scholarship-to-expand-educational-opportunity\">family members who attended HBCUs\u003c/a> and received an \u003ca href=\"https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/go-where-need-greatest-honorary-degree-designee-barbara-lee-has-spent-lifetime-uplifting-people\">honorary doctorate from Howard University last year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081625\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Oakland City Hall in Oakland on April 28, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Establishing an HBCU in Oakland could be crucial to stabilizing the Black population here, Lee said. When she was elected to Congress, 40% of Oakland was Black, she said, and now it’s around 20%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here in Oakland, gentrification, redlining, and systemic discrimination has been a driver of bringing our population down,” she told The Oaklandside. “This would give some stability in many ways to the Black population and for everyone in Oakland to see that we still care about the Black community and Black students.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In exploring potential locations, the task force has toured the former Holy Names University campus in the hills, as well as locations in downtown Oakland, but they don’t want to commit to a site until they’re further along in talks with the colleges.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The group also held listening sessions last fall with students to gauge their interest in an HBCU here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“A lot of students said, ‘It’d be great to go to an HBCU, but I’m the first in my family to go to college, and it’s expensive to travel out of state,’” Thompson said. “But if it were here, that would be a great alternative opportunity to go to an HBCU, which many students had an interest in attending.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/\">The Oaklandside\u003c/a> and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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