Top Stories
| Appointments: Matthew Bennett |
| Matthew Bennett joins American University as the new Vice President and Chief Communications Officer. The announcement was picked up by 19 outlets, including The Chronicle of Higher Education. (6/19) |
| Appointments: Amy K. Dacey |
| Amy K. Dacey, joins the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics as its inaugural Executive Director. The announcement was picked up by over 60 outlets, including Inside Higher Ed. (6/21) |
Faculty Authors
| There Is No Middle Ground on Reparations |
| Ibram Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center, wrote an article for The Atlantic about reparations. Kendi wrote, “To oppose reparations is to be racist. To support reparations is to be antiracist. The middle ground is racist ground.” (6/19) |
| How Countries Make Higher Ed Affordable: What the Data Shows |
| Associate Professor of Education Jennifer Steele wrote an article for EdSurge about how different countries make higher education affordable. Steele wrote, “The graph shows a positive correlation between countries' fraction of private higher education funding and the attainment of bachelor's degrees.” (6/17) |
| What a U.S. Operation in Russia Shows About the Limits of Coercion in Cyber Space |
| Benjamin Jensen, scholar-in-residence in the School of International Service, wrote an article for War on the Rocks about coercion in cyber space. Jensen wrote, “The fact is that the national security community – to include both practitioners and scholars – does not yet have a firm grasp on what cyber strategy is, much less an agreed-upon set of strategic approaches for using digital domain to achieve various political ends.” (6/20) |
News Brief
Expertise
| For Democratic State Leaders, Taxing the Rich Carries Risks for Suburban Strategy |
| Assistant Professor of Public Affairs Andrew Ballard spoke to The Washington Post about the political risks of raising income tax on the rich. Ballard said, “Democrats can win, or hold, in suburban districts, but it's going to take a lot of campaign artistry to get people to think, ‘Well, even though I am affluent, this tax probably won't affect me.'” (6/18) |
| How Did NASA Put Men on the Moon? One Harrowing Step at a Time |
| Howard McCurdy, professor of public affairs, spoke to The Washington Post about the strategy NASA implemented for the first moon landing. McCurdy said, “It was a Faustian bargain. The space cadets got the moon, but the price they paid for it was there wouldn't be anything after the moon.” (6/19) |
| National Security Officials Debate What to Call the Far-Right Threat |
| Cynthia Miller-Idriss, professor of sociology and education, spoke to NPR's All Things Considered about the challenge of creating a term for far-right threats. Miller-Idriss said, “I just came from meeting two weeks ago with a group of scholars across the country. And we spent the whole dinner practically talking about should we- can we come up with a term?” (6/18) |
| Trump Should Be a Shoo-in for 2020, But Low Approval Holds Him Back |
| Distinguished Professor of History Allan Lichtman spoke to Bloomberg News about President Trump's chances of winning the 2020 Election. Lichtman said, “Right now, Trump is much better positioned that the Democrats or the conventional wisdom would have us believe.” (6/18) |
| Gig Economy Workers May Get Shortchanged When it Comes to Social Security Checks |
| Caroline Bruckner, managing director of the Kogod Tax Policy Center, spoke with MSNBC about her research about gig economy workers and the impact that the gig economy may have on Social Security earnings. Bruckner said, “If it's not your primary source of income, you're not going to remember when it comes tax time that you earned $1,000 last summer driving for Uber.” (6/20) |
| Advocates Welcome IFC Reforms, But With Some Caveats |
| David Hunter, professor in the Washington College of Law, spoke to Devex about new reforms in the International Finance Corporation that would increase resources to support the organization's work in environment and social issues. Hunter told Devex that the “increased resources should strengthen IFC's ability to …..‘screen out' risky projects before they get approved.” (6/17) |
| Why Is Trump Kicking Off His Re-Election Campaign So Early? |
| Elizabeth Sherman, assistant professor of public affairs, spoke to ThinkProgress about the Trump administration's decision to kick off Trump's re-election campaign so early. Sherman said, “Getting the re-election train going allows [Trump] to do what he does best- hold rallies, show enthusiastic support, go on offense and put Democrats on defense.” Allan Lichtman, distinguished professor of history, also talked with ThinkProgress. (6/18) |
|
