Public Administration and International Affairs Department News, Media Commentary and Research

Maxwell X Lab, part of the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, recently completed a series of projects designed to reduce overdue property tax bills in the City of Syracuse. So far, the initiative has helped the City to recoup more than $1.4 million in overdue property taxes, and hundreds of additional properties were prompted to get current on their bills, preventing more costly and troublesome outcomes for both the owner and the City alike.

The Susan and H. Lewis Rapaport Endowed Scholarship will support undergraduate students who have demonstrated interest in studying history or political science. When complete, the Rapaport endowment will total $250,000. “As a member of the Maxwell Advisory Board, I’ve seen first-hand the remarkable undergraduate students who are attending Maxwell today,” Lewis Rapaport ’59 B.A. (AmSt) says. 

According to Professor Emeritus William C. Banks, U.S. troops can’t detain, arrest or search anyone at the border. That’s a law enforcement function, and the military can’t perform those duties on U.S. soil unless there’s no other way to enforce the law. 

"Some people will make hay while the sun shines," says University Professor James Steinberg. "If people have an interest in doing business with Trump, they may want to do it now."

Responding to immigration influxes has typically been the purview of the National Guard, such as Operation Jump Start from 2006-2008 under former President George W. Bush, says Professor Emeritus William C. Banks.

"It does look like it was not a terribly sophisticated campaign or attack," says Professor Emeritus William Banks about high profile democrats, public figures, and the CNN newsroom in New York receiving apparent explosive devices. "On the other hand, the packages did manage to get through the postal system without getting detected, so it is certainly a worrisome case."

William C. Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says "There are no Justice Department rules that limit the investigation in the pendency of an election. Mr. Mueller is simply going about his day and lugging the law and facts to where they need to go."

Professor Emeritus William Banks discussed Christopher Wray's Senate Testimony on a Bloomberg Law podcast. In his testimony, Wray named China as the number one threat to the U.S, and discussed FBI mishandlings of background checks and drone regulations.

William Banks, on Bloomberg Radio, discusses President Trump’s Monday comments, where he supported a "very comprehensive" investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh

Colleen Heflin and Michah Rothbart, professor and assistant professor, respectively, of public administration and international affairs, have received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to research the relationship between student participation in the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and school readiness. The results of the study will help the USDA understand both the effectiveness and efficiency of the SNAP program.

"The Privacy Act is a big hurdle here unless Congress takes control of the materials and tries to release them themselves," says William C. Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs.