Maxwell School News

A Syracuse University/Maxwell team participating in the National Model United Nations (NMUN) conference earlier this month was named a “Distinguished Delegation” for its portrayal of the Republic of Finland/Suomi. To prepare for their simulation of global diplomacy, the SU/Maxwell team members studied the history, economy, politics, geography, culture, and foreign policy of Finland/Suomi, the structure and practice of the UN system, and the conference rules of procedure.

"If President Trump and his advisers can out-think and out-strategize [Putin] in order to get Russia to provide some useful assistance in changing North Korea’s nuclear program, then it could be a win for the president, but it’s high-risk to say the least," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

Shannon Monnat, associate professor of sociology and Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, says her findings indicate that places where rates of death due to drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and suicide are high are also places that heavily supported Trump in the election.

“The Otey and Barbara Scruggs scholarship is a fitting tribute to a treasured member of the History Department and his wife,” said Associate Professor and Chair of History Norman Kutcher. “Otey cared deeply about the University generally and the History Department especially. Graduate education grew substantially in strength and numbers under his leadership, so it is fitting that this scholarship will benefit our most deserving graduate students.”

"The current struggle over an affirmative message is further compounded by the fact that the negative messaging is taking up all the energy," says Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher. "Everything is about opposing Trump." 

The SoldierStrong scholarship program supports U.S. military veterans wishing to pursue higher education opportunities as civilians upon their return from service abroad. Maxwell graduate students Mitch Forbes and Chris Tonsmeire, both U.S. military veterans, have been named as this year’s SoldierStrong scholars.

Maxwell alumnus Ben Walsh '05 M.P.A. was elected mayor of the City of Syracuse. Walsh is Syracuse's first independent mayor in more than 100 years and the city’s second mayor-elect to ever be unaffiliated with any major political party.

“I think this part of an an escalating war of words between the Saudis and the Iranians, really instigated by Saudi Arabia, but unfortunately [for the Saudis] I don’t think they’re really as strategic as the Iranians are in terms of making these moves of the chessboard of the Middle East,” says Mehrzad Boroujerdi, professor of political science.

Miriam Elman, associate professor of political science, says that "the current hostility to the Balfour Declaration Centennial tells us a lot about why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains so intractable. It isn’t really about post-1967 settlements or post-1967 borders, but about a very basic and visceral intolerance to Jewish sovereign legitimacy anywhere in the Jewish people’s ancestral homeland.”

"When you see a piece of misinformation, even when it’s in the context of being corrected and you believe the correction, it can still have lingering effects on your attitudes," says Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science.

"I would never underestimate the Japanese military," says Robert Murrett, deputy director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism. "In terms of just sheer military proficiency — unit for unit, person for person, they’re the best military in Asia."

"People have always been susceptible to misinformation," Emily Thorson, assistant professor of political science, says. "The real challenge now lies in the immediacy, scope and ease of dissemination we now see with new technologies like social media."

Thomas Keck, Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics, says that while constitutional conventions could help advance civil rights by allowing organized groups to propose and implement changes to the state constitution, there is a fear that the same issues that plague state legislatures, like corporate cash or politician corruption, could also influence the construction of a new constitution.