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Montez study on population health, policy trends published in MQ
"US State Polarization, Policymaking Power, and Population Health," written by Gerald B. Cramer Faculty Scholar in Aging Studies Jennifer Karas Montez, was published in the Milbank Quarterly. The troubling trend in US life expectancy and the widening disparities in life expectancy across the United States have deep roots. In the article, Montez posits that both trends are grounded in the dynamic changes in the policy and political landscapes since the 1980s.
10/21/2020

Stonecash provides insight on understanding the election in NY Times
To understand the election, Jeffrey Stonecash says, we should be asking "about what values and ideas are driving polarization and which groups embrace some ideas rather than others." At the moment, he argues, Americans seems intensely divided by the question: "What defines America: is it a set of people (white, Christian) or is it a set of ideals that anyone can come and achieve. To the former immigrants are an alien threat and dangerous (as it has always been in American history). What value should prevail: individual rights and anti-government beliefs or is there a collective interest that sometimes requires some constraints on individuals?" Read more in the New York Times article, "Biden Is Not Out of the Woods."
10/21/2020

Cohen piece on critical race theory, US election published in El País
"With immigration halted and immigrants who remain forced to live in terror, Trump is now delivering to his followers the next phase of his war, in which his targets are the US citizens who have long been forced to the margins of their own country," says Professor Elizabeth Cohen and co-author Jason Stanley of Yale University. "Both the 2016 campaign and the 2020 campaign are celebrations of white nationalism. Both campaigns were about race all along." Their article, "Critical race theory and the 2020 US election," was published in El País.
10/20/2020

Reeher speaks to Washington Examiner about the role of suburban voters
In an increasingly polarized political climate, Professor Grant Reeher says the "friends and neighbors" effect of politics hasn't been so effective in recent cycles. "It makes perfect sense that Biden’s going to play that up, especially when he has the advantage of being from one of the most important battleground states," Reeher says. "He can use that connection. How much it resonates with people in an election that is so deeply nationalized and polarized is probably less than it would be maybe 20 years ago." Read more in the Washington Examiner article, "Biden counts Pennsylvania as second home, but voters there aren't sold on him."
10/20/2020

Engelhardt discusses housing-related financial distress in USA Today
"With the current eviction moratorium expiring in January, the situation could be even more challenging for renters," says Gary Engelhardt, professor of economics. "Many renter households across the country could find themselves with no place to live and no means to repay missed payments." Engelhardt was quoted in the USA Today article, "More than 6M households missed their rent or mortgage payment in September."
10/19/2020

Heflin article on the effect of material hardship on health published
"Material Hardship, Perceived Stress, and Health in Early Adulthood," co-authored by Professor Colleen Heflin, was published in the Annals of Epidemiology. The authors found the adjusted odds of fair or poor health status, depression, sleep problems, and suicidal thoughts were higher among individuals with material hardship than counterparts without. A considerable proportion of the association between material hardship and health outcomes was attributable to perceived stress.
10/19/2020

Landes cited in HPR article on disability housing, COVID-19
A recent study led by Scott Landes found that the COVID-19 case rate for people living in New York’s residential group homes was disproportionately high. The fatality statistics reported for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in congregate settings are even higher than those reported for Black Americans, Landes explains, which are already exposing some of the nation’s worst inequities. "If you look at those mortality rates that we report, those are worse than any that I’ve seen from any minority in this country," he says. "That just makes the point." Landes was cited in the Harvard Political Review article, "A Crisis Decades in the Making: Disability Housing Policy and COVID-19."
10/16/2020

Reeher discusses Biden-Trump competing town halls in USA Today
Professor Grant Reeher says that Trump could be looking to recover after being largely criticized for his performance in the first presidential debate last month, where the candidates traded insults and crosstalk clogged much of the conversation. "I think there's more pressure on (Trump) to remedy that in terms of the way he comes across in this event," Reeher says. Read more in the USA Today article, "Here's what to know about the Joe Biden, Donald Trump competing town halls tonight."
10/16/2020

Lasch-Quinn explores the meaning of life in new book
In her new book, “Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living” (Notre Dame Press), Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, professor of history in the Maxwell School, explores Americans’ stirring interest in ancient Greco-Roman philosophies including Cynicism, Platonism, Gnosticism, Stoicism and Epicureanism, and whether they can offer any alternatives to contemporary consumer culture as a means to happiness and well-being.
10/16/2020

Reeher speaks to VOA about why the VP is important this election
Professor Grant Reeher was interviewed by VOA Korea for a segment on why the vice president is significant for the 2020 election. Reeher cites the ages of the presidential candidates and President Trump's health issues. His comments begin at 2:50.
10/13/2020

Barkun quoted in Foreign Policy article on QAnon
"It might seem strange to call an online conspiracy theory an apocalyptic movement," says Professor Emeritus Michael Barkun. "But at the heart of such beliefs, from those who expected the Second Coming in 19th-century America to their counterparts in the Taiping Rebellion across the Pacific, is the idea of revelation. Believers are offered some special insight into the future and the knowledge that a great change is coming. That’s part of what made QAnon so appealing," he says. Read more in the Foreign Policy article, "QAnon’s Sound and Fury."
10/13/2020

Center for Disability Resources empowers students, changes perceptions
Miguel Pica ’22, a history major in the Maxwell School, knows the important work the Center for Disability Resources (CDR) does to help students with disabilities meet their academic goals. He has been working with an access counselor at the center since he came to campus in 2019—and has found his personal success with their efforts. Pica, who was medically retired from the U.S. Army after being injured on active duty, was concerned about completing his coursework on time, having enough time on exams and possibly being penalized or forced to drop a class for too many medically related absences.
10/12/2020

O'Keefe discusses executive-legislative relations on CSIS podcast
University Professor Sean O’Keefe served in senior positions in both Congress and the executive branch. He has a unique perspective on how these two branches of government work together for a greater common good. Host Dr. John Hamre and O’Keefe discuss the tension between these two branches and the imperative for collaboration on a recent episode of CSIS's The Engine Room of Democracy, "Executive-Legislative Relations: The Tension and Collaboration Essential for Effective Government."
10/12/2020

Reeher weighs in on Trump's impact on Katko's campaign in The Citizen
"Trump has become a millstone around Katko's neck," says Professor Grant Reeher. "Clearly the main campaign strategy of the Balter campaign is to associate Katko with Trump as much as possible. In this regard, the president's performance in the first debate probably hurt Katko by proxy," he says. Read more in the The Citizen article, "How Biden and Trump are helping (or hurting) Balter and Katko in CNY race for Congress."
10/11/2020

Banks featured in WAER piece on COVID-19 in the WH, national security
"Attention on the domestic political situation and the President’s dominance of the news and his well-being is obscuring what else might be going on in the world that should be drawing some of our attention," says Professor Emeritus William Banks. He was interviewed for the WAER segment, "Syracuse National Security Expert Shares Concerns with White House, Military Officials in Quarantine."
10/9/2020

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