Top Stories
| The Antiracist Research and Policy Center to Honor 200 People Who Embody Frederick Douglass' Legacy |
| NBC4-WRC and ESPN's The Undefeated featured the announcement of the new joint initiative between The Antiracist Research and Policy Center and the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives that was shared on Douglass' 200th birthday (Feb. 14). The Frederick Douglass 200 will honor 200 people who embody the spirit of Frederick Douglass. At an event to announce The FD200, Founding Director Ibram X. Kendi said, “We cannot think of a better way to honor one of humanity's greatest ancestors, one of America's greatest ancestors, one of African-America's greatest ancestors than by honoring 200 people whose modern-day work best reflects the living and loving legacy of Frederick Douglass.” (2/14) |
| Learn to Spot the Secret Signals of Far-Right Fashion |
| Vice Magazine interviewed Cynthia Miller-Idriss, associate professor of education and sociology, for a Q-and-A about the relationship between far-right youth culture and fashion. Miller-Idriss, whose new book covers the topic, said, “What you're seeing in Germany are codes and signals that are recognizable to people in the scene, but not always to outsiders. I'm not sure we're seeing that in the states yet.” (2/12) |
Additional Feature
| American University Student Who Co-Founded Food Rescue Database Wins Scholarship |
| WJLA-ABC7 ran a feature story about Maria Rose Belding, an American University student who was awarded a scholarship for her work in reducing food waste in America. Belding co-founded MEANS, a database “that makes it possible for … people who make food for a living to let soup kitchens and homeless shelters know when they have extra food that they'd like to give them.” A local real-estate organization, The Kilner Group, awarded Belding the first Kilner Group Young Entrepreneurs Scholarship. Belding is a student entrepreneur in AU's Center of Innovation. (2/14) |
Faculty Authors
| Should the U.S. Only Give Foreign Aid to Its Friends? Well, Define 'Friends.' |
| Jessica Trisko Darden, assistant professor in the School of International Service, wrote an opinion article for The Washington Post about the Trump administration's approach to foreign aid. Darden wrote, “The Trump administration's plan seems to focus on rewarding friends… But most of those friends either don't need foreign assistance or lack the political and tactical significance of strategic partners.” (2/15) |
| Less Whole, Less Free, Less at Peace: Whither America's Strategy for a Post-Cold War Europe |
| James Goldgeier, professor in the School of International Service, authored an opinion article for War on the Rocks about America's strategy for engaging with Europe. Goldgeier wrote, “America's new long-term Europe strategy should seek a strengthening of relations with a more capable Europe to support a division of labor that upholds the liberal order.” (2/12) |
| Congress Failed to Fix Tax Woes for Gig Workers |
| Managing Director of the Kogod Tax Policy Center Caroline Bruckner wrote an opinion piece for The Conversation about the Republican tax bill. Bruckner wrote, “Because Congress didn't address a common loophole that creates headaches for people who earn money from gigs… most of these taxpayers will struggle to figure out their tax bills without receiving any tax information forms.” The article ran in 10 other outlets. (2/15) |
Expertise
| Au Pair Class Action Could Upend Decades-Old Program |
| Washington College of Law Professor Janie Chuang spoke to Bloomberg Businessweek about wages set by the U.S. Au Pair program. Au Pair stipends are lower than minimum wage for domestic workers, and Chuang said that “host families and the State Department… resist the idea that this is a labor program, because if it were treated as such, it would no longer be affordable for a lot of these families.” (2/13) |
| Black History Is Full of Hidden Figures- Help Us Honor Them |
| Theresa Runstedtler, chair of the Critical Race, Gender and Culture Studies Collaborative, spoke to Mother Jones magazine about remarkable figures in black history that are often overlooked and forgotten. Runstedtler said, “Usually, we go from the civil war and somehow magically end up in the civil rights movement…this narrative that erases all of that work, can also be disempowering for people” (2/12) |
| Florida School Shooting |
| CBS News spoke with Alexander Clayton, a Ph.D. candidate and an adjunct instructor at the School of Public Affairs, about the Florida school shooting and whether the Department of Homeland Security should play a bigger role in preventing school shootings. Clayton said, “It might be helpful to start thinking about terrorism as political terrorism and something like this, which would be social terrorism, which is an attack against society.” (2/15) |
| How Countries Can Strategically Handle ISIS Fighters |
| School of International Service Assistant Professor Stephen Tankel spoke to Newsy about how countries could strategically handle ISIS fighters returning home. Tankel said, "It's no secret that a lot of European countries would prefer that foreign fighters not return home. But at the same time, it's not always an option for them." (2/12) |
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