Britain's Prince William revealed that he has been anonymously helping out on a crisis helpline during the coronavirus lockdown. The Duke of Cambridge's work with Shout 85258 -- an around-the-clock text messaging helpline developed by the Royal Foundation -- was made public to mark Volunteers Week. Last month, he told fellow volunteers in a video call that was shared on social media late Friday: "I'm going to share a little secret with you guys, but I'm actually on the platform volunteering." William, who is second in line to the throne, is one of more than 2,000 volunteers who have been formally trained to help those in need. More than 300,000 text conversations have taken place between volunteers and people needing mental health support, with around 65% of those texting being younger than 25. William's wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, has also been helping others by taking part in "check in and chat" calls with people who are self-isolating or vulnerable during the pandemic.
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A Kansas technical school canceled plans for Ivanka Trump to give a virtual commencement speech to graduates because of criticism of President Donald Trump's response to protests over the death of George Floyd. Administrators at Wichita State University and WSU Tech announced the decision late Thursday, just hours after they had announced that the president's daughter would be speaking to WSU Tech graduates. Administrators of both universities, which are affiliated, said Saturday's graduation for the technical university would be "refocused" on students, with a nursing graduate as the only speaker. Ivanka Trump visited WSU Tech's National Center for Aviation Training last fall. She responded in a tweet, saying: "Our nation's campuses should be bastions of free speech. Cancel culture and viewpoint discrimination are antithetical to academia. Listening to one another is important now more than ever!" The tweet included a link to a YouTube video of her telling the students who obtained their degrees amid a global pandemic that "You are a wartime graduate" and that their training has prepared them "for exactly this moment." The announcement that the president's daughter would speak drew immediate criticism, led by Jennifer Ray, associate professor of photo media at Wichita State, who sent a letter asking school administrators to cancel the speech. It circulated on social media and garnered 488 signatures from faculty members, students and alumni before the speech was canceled, The Wichita Eagle reported. Rep. Ron Estes, R-Kan., who joined Ivanka Trump on the trip to the Wichita State facility, said in a statement that he was "disappointed."
