News — University

Sankore Mosque and University is the oldest continuously-operating institution of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is believed that the mosque and university were erected in the 1100s C.E. (Twelfth Century) by Berbers who settled in the Timbuktu region of modern-day Mali. Mansa Musa I, ruler of the Mali Empire from 1312 to 1337, made several improvements to the mosque after his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324; he staffed it with scholars in various fields and helped it gain more visibility within the Islamic world. The mosque and university underwent more changes under Askia Daoud (Dawud), ruler of the Songhai empire from 1549 to 1583. Askia Daoud (Dawud) grew the mosque and university to 180 facilities and 25,000 students, a remarkable feat considering that the Timbuktu population was only 100,000 at the time.

Sankore mosque and university consisted of numerous buildings made of clay, stone beams, and a wooden scaffold for repairs after rainy seasons, modeled after the Malian indigenous mud structures. Each building was run by its own imam (worship leader) or ulema (Islamic scholar). There was no central authority within the school besides the ruler of Timbuktu. Classes were conducted in private rooms or open courtyards. Students used locally-made wooden boards and ink to complete assignments.

Prior to entering the university, students pursued two degrees. The first degree required learning how to read and write in Arabic (this was the level of education that most people in Timbuktu obtained). Students admitted to the university then studied language, poetry, grammar, and literature for the second degree. University students engaged in both mandatory and optional studies. Mandatory studies consisted of philosophy, Islamic law, interpretation of the Quran, language studies, and advanced grammar. Optional studies included history, algebra, physics, medicine, chemistry, arithmetic, and astronomy. It took 10 years on average for students to graduate. Students who did complete the course of study received clothes, blocks of salt, livestock, and money as gifts upon their graduation. Wealthier graduates performed a graduation ceremony that consisted of wearing a white garment while riding a white horse towards the mosque and university. This ceremony ended with a large festival in celebration of the graduate’s accomplishments.

Many prominent scholars taught courses in the mosque and university, including Abu Abdallah, Ag Mohammed ibn Utman, Ag Mohammed Ibn Al-Mukhtar An-Nawahi, Mohammed Bagayogo as-Sudan al Wangari al-Timbukti, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad Buryu ibn, and Modibo Mohammed al-Kaburi. The most notable scholar professor at the mosque and university was Ahmad Bamba, who wrote over 60 texts on subjects ranging from philosophy to language studies. Most of the university’s professors were educated in Islamic universities in Makkah and Fez in present-day Morocco, Tunis in present-day Tunisia, and Cairo, Egypt. They followed the Maliki school of Islamic philosophy and were members of the Qadiri Sufi order.

After the Moroccan invasion of Songhai in 1591, Sankore mosque and university was stripped of most of its scholars and many of its texts were destroyed. The university still exists today, however, serving primarily as a place of Quranic studies for young children.

The University of the West Indies (UWI) is a public regional university unique in the world of higher education.  The university is supported by and operating for the benefit of the people of 17 nations and territories in and around the Caribbean. These nations include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos. Each of these countries is either a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory.

The University currently consists of three major campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, and Cave Hill in Barbados.  There are satellite campuses in Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago, Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Nassau, Bahamas.  Each nation without a branch or satellite campus nonetheless has an Open Campus, that is, a small facility that symbolizes the physical presence of the University and has the same governance structure.  The Open Campus although located in 13 separate countries and territories nonetheless constitutes the fourth campus of the University of the West Indies.

The University of the West Indies was established in 1948 initially at Mona Jamaica.  The original campus was a branch of the University of London.  It achieved independent University status in 1962, ironically the year that Jamaica became an independent nation. The St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad, formerly the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, was started in 1960 and the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados was founded in 1963.  The Open Campus was established in 2008.

The current enrollment on all four campuses combined is approximately 56,000 students and there are about 1,000 faculty and staff. UWI offers programs for undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Science and Social Sciences.

The University of the West Indies has a number of notable alumni, including Derek Walcott, the poet and Nobel Laureate; Sir Arthur Lewis, a Nobel Laureate in Economics; the historian Walter Rodney; and the current and former Prime Ministers of sixteen Caribbean nations.

Founded on October 4, 1962, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is a public university located in Zaria, Kaduna State in northern Nigeria. With over 35,000 students, it is the largest university in sub-Saharan Africa and the second largest on the African continent after the University of Cairo in Egypt. The institution was originally founded as the University of Northern Nigeria but was renamed in honor of the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, who was the first premier of northern Nigeria and the university’s first chancellor. Bello was murdered by Army officers on January 15, 1966 during Nigeria’s first military coup.

The university has two main campuses, the Samaru and Kongo campus. The Samaru campus is home to the administrative offices, sciences, social sciences, arts and languages, education and research facilities. The Kongo campus houses the Faculties of Law and Administration, which consists of accounting, business administration, local government and development studies, and public administration departments. The university also has the ABU Teaching Hospital, which is one of the largest training hospitals in Nigeria.

Currently, the university covers a land area of 7,000 hectares and encompasses twelve academic faculties, a postgraduate school and 82 academic departments. It also has five institutes, six specialized centers, a Division of Agricultural Colleges, a demonstration secondary school, a primary school and extension and consultancy services, which provide a variety of services to the university and the wider society. While most students are from northern Nigeria, the university attracts students from all over Africa. There are about 1,400 academic and research staff and 5,000 support staff working at ABU.

Ahmadu Bello University has numerous notable alumni including the current vice president of Nigeria, Namadi Sambo. Its philosophy/motto is, “The first duty of every university is the search for and the spread of knowledge and the establishment of the nation.”

Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts have accused a former Northeastern University track and field coach of tricking several female student-athletes into sending him their nude photographs.

According to a press release, 28-year-old Steve Waithe was arrested on Wednesday. He was arraigned in court the same day on the charges of one count of cyberstalking and one count of wire fraud.

Per the charging documents, Waithe worked as a track and field coach at Boston’s Northeastern University between October 2018 and February 2019. During his time at the institution, prosecutors say he regularly tricked female athletes into giving him their phones under the guise of “filming their form at practice and at meets.” While he had their phones in his possession, he was occasionally seen “scrolling through” them.

Prosecutors also say Waithe masterminded a scheme where he tricked female athletes at the university into sending him either nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Through fake social media accounts, Waithe would allegedly get in touch with the victims and tell them he has discovered “compromising” images of them on the internet and would then play the good Samaritan by offering to “help” remove the said images online. Using that frame-up, Waithe would then ask the victims to send him either nude or semi-nude photos of themselves so he can use them for “reverse image searches,” the statement said.

In addition to the aforementioned allegations, Waithe is also accused of cyberstalking at least one female student-athlete at the university. Prosecutors say he did that “through messages sent via social media, an anonymized phone number and intrusion into her Snapchat account.”

“The investigation revealed that internet search and browsing history tied to Waithe allegedly included searches for information on how to hack Snapchat accounts and visits to webpages with titles like, ‘Can anyone trace my fake Instagram account back to me?’,” the statement added.

The accused, however, did not stop at that. Prosecutors said Waithe also emailed victims asking them to send him their photos under the guise of “athlete research” or “body development” study. Using aliases, Waithe would ask the victims to send him photos of themselves in a “uniform or bathing suit to show as much skin as possible.” He would also tell them that their photos won’t be circulated or saved, going as far as even attaching a sample image to illustrate the kind of photo he wants them to send. Over 300 nude and semi-nude photos related to the so-called “study” were discovered in Waithe’s email accounts and over 10 of his victims were identified, prosecutors said.

Besides Northeastern University, Waithe was also a former track and field coach at a host of other institutions including the University of Tennessee, Penn State University, Concordia University and Chicago Illinois Institute of Technology.

Waithe would appear in court again on Friday for a judge to rule if he should remain in custody following an argument by prosecutors that he could possibly attempt to intimidate his victims if he’s granted bail, The Associated Press reported. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate McClelland also labeled his actions as “brazen and predatory.”

Waithe’s attorney, however, argued his client has a clean criminal history and he hasn’t been accused of publicly sharing the images or going after people he did not receive photos from. The accused faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the cyberstalking charge. He also faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the wire fraud charge, prosecutors said.

A Texan teenager just became University of Houston’s youngest Fall 2020 graduate at the age of 17 and her message to the world is, “anything is possible and to not let circumstances get in the way.” Raised by a single mother, Salenah (Selena) Cartier graduated with two degrees under her belt.

It was a tough call for Cartier to choose homeschooling full time after 6th grade. Prior to that, she was shuffling between public education in elementary and middle school. Being at the top of her class constantly, Cartier was bullied by her peers for always chalking high-level academic successes.

Not wanting to entertain ‘mediocrity’ and always seeking bigger challenges academically, Cartier enrolled in a self-paced homeschooling program that made her sail through her course works with ease. So at 14, she graduated from high school and had her eyes set on college.

“I needed a new challenge, and attending college presented the perfect academic and social growth opportunity for me,” she said.

Her mother is a strong pillar in her life because Cartier is one of four children and the family found it hard to make ends meet. They struggled financially but the 17-year-old did not let that impede her progress academically.

While taking dual credit classes at Lone Star College-Kingwood, she found a way to pay for the chunk of her fees by retailing used textbooks on eBay she purchased for less in thrift stores and online.

One piece of advice from her mother kept her going and Cartier said that statement always pushed her to keep feeding her brains regardless of how tough life got.

“My mom would always say you have to figure out what you want to do in life and how you want to make an impact on the world,” she said.

With that mantra plus a few life lessons on the importance of self-worth, she graduated from Lone Star College-Kingwood with an associate of science degree then transferred to the University of Houston.

She is now the youngest graduate in her class with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the UH College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. She will also receive a certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship from C.T. Bauer College of Business.

Her dream is to help the less fortunate in society through what she knows best — education. Cartier aspires to be an educator, researcher and policymaker to help disadvantaged children in society go for gold.

“I hope that my achievements are able to inspire [people] of all ages. It is never to early or late to pursue a goal. There will never be a perfect time to start a journey, but if you want to succeed, you just have to start. As long as you maintain an open mindset, you will learn on every step of the journey.”

The young scholar has her eyes set on a master’s degree in the College of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction program at UH and concurrently applying to doctoral programs.

“After I complete the master’s program, I will teach college level courses while attending a doctoral program. I would like to research the impact that early life exposure to adversity has on cognitive development,” she told Because Of Them We Can.