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Bottleneck delays payments to military students
At Michigan State University, student veterans say they’re being left behind — not by the government, but by their own school.
Each semester, around a thousand students at MSU rely on the G.I. Bill to pay for college. But there’s a bottleneck. The university only has two employees to certify all those payments — a task the federal government says requires at least eight. The result? Long delays in funding that force students to take on debt, skip essentials, or even drop out.
Veterans like Kyle Hiner and Andrew Branam-Drock say they’ve been pleading with MSU administrators for years — meeting with the president, the board, anyone who’ll listen. But so far, they say it’s been all talk, no action.
MSU acknowledges the problem and says it’s “looking into it.” Meanwhile, the student veterans resource center — run mostly on donations — does what it can. But its director says without more certifying staff, things won’t improve.
Student veterans helped build MSU’s legacy. Now, they’re asking the university to live up to its promises.
‘Brilliance is not determined by your language’: MSU professor teaches power of AAVE
When Dr. Denise Troutman read a Psychology Today article titled “Black English” years ago, it sparked a mission — one that would shape her career.
Now a linguistics professor at Michigan State University, Troutman teaches students about the power, complexity, and history of Ebonics — also known as African American Vernacular English.
She works to dismantle the myth that it’s just “slang” or “broken English.” In her words: “Brilliance is not determined by your language.”
Her classes dive deep — from James Baldwin’s writing to the 1979 Ann Arbor Black English case, where a federal judge ruled schools must recognize the linguistic needs of Black students.
For Troutman, Ebonics isn’t just a subject — it’s her first language, her activism, and her way of changing minds.
“As long as MSU stands by diversity and inclusion,” she says, “I’ll keep teaching this course — because language deserves respect.”
Based on original reporting by Alex Walters and Somer Sodeman.
