Restricting Teachers: When politicians use fear to control classroom discussions about slavery
By Raphael E. Rogers, Professor of Practice in Education, Clark University Of all the subjects taught in the nation’s public schools, few have generated as much controversy of late as the subjects of racism and slavery in the United States. The attention has come...
Teacher shortage problem: Why disrespect of the academic profession is driving educators away
By Henry Tran, Associate Professor of Education Leadership, University of South Carolina; Douglas A. Smith, Associate Professor of Education, Iowa State University States have recently focused their efforts to reduce the nation’s teacher shortage by promoting...
Drop in Enrollment: Wisconsin schools struggle to recover from pandemic even as COVID-19 cases decline
The COVID-19 pandemic hit public and charter schools hard. And though life in classrooms appears to have returned to normal, data released recently by the Wisconsin Policy Forum reveals schools are struggling to make up for declines in enrollment and graduation rates....
A Colonial War: How Ukrainians are resisting the centuries-old ambitions of Russia’s imperialism
By Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan The war being waged by Russia in Ukraine has been described in many ways – an attempt to recreate the USSR, a militant attempt to create a new Eurasia civilization, or a proxy war...
Unhealed Wounds: Russia’s aggression against Ukraine prompts Baltic states to remove Soviet memorials
By Dmitrijs Andrejevs, PhD candidate in Russian and East European Studies, University of Manchester Estonia is to remove all of its Soviet-era war monuments, the latest in a line of eastern European countries to go down this path. There are reportedly 200 to 400...
State-sponsored Antisemitism: Kremlin’s threat to close Jewish emigration service echoes Soviet era
By Shaul Kelner, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies, Vanderbilt University Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sparked a surge of refugees fleeing the war zone, but political repression and economic uncertainty have also prompted emigration...
Bravery as a brand: When Ukraine turned adverting its national image into an effective weapon of war
By Nadia Kaneva, Associate Professor, University of Denver When a preview of Vogue’s October 2022 cover story on Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska hit Twitter on July 26, 2022, reactions on social media were swift and polarized. Some critics said that a photo shoot...
Crimea’s significance: Understanding the new tactics by Ukraine to liberate its strategic territory
By Christoph Bluth, Professor of International Relations and Security, University of Bradford Russian president Vladimir Putin has reportedly replaced the commander of his Black Sea fleet just three days after an attack on the Russian Saki airbase in Crimea, as...
Under conditions of war: Friendships and family ties in Ukraine have been both shattered and strengthened
By Greta Uehling, Lecturer, Program in International and Comparative Studies, University of Michigan War does more than displace civilians, or kill them. When wars are waged in residential areas, they become part of the calculus of simply getting through the day....
The cost of cultural ignorance: Why American Sikhs remain targets of bigotry and racial violence
By Simran Jeet Singh, Visiting Lecturer, Union Theological Seminary Ten years ago, a white supremacist opened fire on a Sikh congregation in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and injuring several others before taking his own life. An eighth person, Baba Punjab...
Frontier Mythology: American gun culture ignores how common gun restrictions were in the Old West
By Pierre M. Atlas, Senior Lecturer, Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Even after the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings, 70% of Republicans said it is more important to protect gun rights than to control gun violence,...
Rage Giving: When charitable donations are motivated by dissatisfaction with the political climate
By Jennifer A. Taylor, Associate Professor of Political Science, James Madison University; and Katrina Miller-Stevens, Associate Professor of Management, Colorado College When anger over everything from the killing of unarmed people of color to new restrictions on...
