Valentine’s Day is upon us, my friends. If you haven’t bought and curated a special bouquet of flowers or box of chocolates, you have one more day to do so. But before you get started, let’s take a pop quiz.
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What is the largest public university system in the nation and WHO is currently in charge of it?
That would be California State University. Jolene Koester serves as the interim chancellor following the resignation of Joseph I. Castro. Now the search is on for his permanent replacement.
In my colleague Adolfo Guzman-Lopez’s latest story, he offers a look inside the process of hiring the next chancellor and provides some insight about how you can play a part. It is not an elected position but, as Adolfo reported, you can still influence the decision.
If you want to have a say, here’s a few things to know: the CSU Chancellor is in charge of nearly 500,000 students and about 56,000 employees. Chancellors must tackle a wide range of issues, like student housing, food insecurity and employee pay equity, which is spread across 23 campuses throughout California. To be successful in the role, not only should they know how to solve problems, the next chancellor should have charisma, good judgment and an equity mindset, Adolfo reported.
As you can tell, the position has quite big shoes to fill. If you’d like to know more about what past chancellors accomplished for the CSUs and what the next chancellor will be responsible for, read Adolfo’s story here.
As always, stay happy and healthy, folks. There’s more news below — just keep reading.
(After you stop hitting snooze)
*At LAist we will always bring you the news freely, but occasionally we do include links to other publications that may be behind a paywall. Thank you for understanding!
THREE — A lot of Black history on Super Bowl Sunday
Yesterday’s Super Bowl was pretty historic. Not only was this the first time the Super Bowl had two Black quarterbacks facing each other, this was also the first time a Black woman coached in a Super Bowl. Autumn Lockwood is an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph went back to her Broadway roots and performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Ralph tweeted that she sang the Black National Anthem on the same date it was first publicly performed 123 years ago.
TWO — #FentyBowl
Last night, I made sure I had gear and food ready to enjoy the #FentyBowl (or the Rihanna concert as some folks have been calling it) in the middle of that important football game. Yep, that’s right Rihanna took the stage for the first time in YEARS after handling two businesses and having a baby. The Navy just couldn’t wait to see what she had in store. By the way, check out this incredibly insightful It’s Been A Minute podcast with two of my NPR faves, Brittany Luse and Gene Demby, about everything that led up to Rihanna’s halftime performance. And yes, we learned last night that Rihanna is pregnant with her second child.
ONE — De La Soul loses one of its good souls: RIP Dave
Trugoy The Dove (née David Jolicoeur), one-third of the iconic rap group De La Soul, has died. The rapper’s death was confirmed by the group’s publicist on Sunday, according to several news publications. Information about the cause of death was not provided at the time, although he had discussed his struggles with congestive heart failure. Yesterday on Twitter, a lot of love flowed for Dave. De La Soul was preparing to release music via streaming services after years of having legal issues with sample clearances.
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