Michael Ebner, associate professor of history, describes how fascism emerged in Italy as a response to the growing power of socialists, and how fascist violence was used to break their hold on local administration and labor organizations.

According to University Professor James Steinberg, Steve Bannon's formal inclusion in the U.S. national security policymaking process "is such an explicit rejection of the well-entrenched principle that when it comes to matters of national security that politics doesn’t have any place in the room.”

“She has no expertise or experience in the educational world,” Kristi Andersen, professor emerita of political science, says. “She has not been a teacher, she has not been an administrator, she has not been a policymaker, she has not worked for an educational think tank and she has not written about education.”

"This ban leaves thousands of our wartime allies to fend for themselves against the very enemies we asked them to fight," writes Maxwell alumnus Matt Zeller, co-founder and CEO of No One Left Behind. "We are permanently harming the fabric of U.S. national security. Our credibility is forever tarnished if not eroded."

William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, says "since 9/11, no one has been killed in this country in a terrorist attack by anyone who emigrated from any of the seven countries," on President Trump's travel ban.

"Universities are not taking a collaborative role" in helping vets find the most efficient path to a degree, says Corri Zoli, director of research at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

“Morally you don’t have the right to torture people. Inhumane treatment is not a good thing,” says Bill Smullen, director of Maxwell's National Security Studies program.

“When I talk about the consequences of not acting on climate change, I talk about freedom, liberty and property," Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography, says. "I tell them, ‘The greatest threat to property in the coming decades is climate change.'"

Sarah Pralle, associate professor of political science, says Republican opposition to climate change evidence and advocacy is not new. What's different now, she says, is that "they have a bigger platform and megaphone in the voice of Donald Trump" and the executive power to disrupt federal scientists' work.

William Banks, director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, was quoted in The New York Times article, "Trump Orders a Wall Built, but Congress Holds the Checkbook." In theory, Mr. Trump could order the military to spend extra money to protect national security, then move around the funding within the bureaucracy to pay for a wall built by the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Banks said.

Margaret S. Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, believes the nearly 3 million women and men who came out to Women's Marches nationwide will impact the future. “If even 10% of those actually become actively involved, in talking with their representative and lobbying for policies that they think are important, we’re going to see some remarkable change.”

Alan Allport, associate professor of history, analyzes that the British government has been “cagey” on what it intends to do with EU citizens. Glyn Morgan, associate professor of political science, adds that Britain is expecting to get support from the United States during its transition away from the EU’s single market system.

“There seems to be, based on some of the public comments (Trump) has made, a focus on reducing the period over which someone is responsible for loans so that people that can’t afford to don’t have to continue repaying loans for an extended period, although the burden may be higher during the repayment period,” said Michah Rothbart, assistant professor of public administration and international affairs.

University Professor Sean O’Keefe says that the new administration faces challenges such as standardizing information technology, the consequences of budget decisions and talent acquisition.

"I think a good working definition of civility is a baseline of respect that we owe one another in public life, and that has long been the definition of civility," says Keith Bybee, professor of political science.

"The current environment of spiraling violence and economic and political uncertainty makes predicting the outcome difficult," writes Yüksel Sezgin, assistant professor of political science and director of the Middle Eastern Studies program, of the referendum to transition Turkey from parliamentary to presidential.

Daniel McDowell, assistant professor of political science, identifies major changes to the global financial landscape from the 1960s through the 2008 global financial crisis that repeatedly undermined the IMF’s ability to act as an effective manager of international financial crises, in his new book "Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?"

Francine D'Amico, associate professor of international affairs, served on the National Screening Committee for the Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship 2017-2018 offered through the Institute of International Education. The committee is comprised of area specialists and authorities in various fields who review applications and nominate candidates to the award sponsors.