Campbell Institute News

Jackie Orr, associate professor of sociology, was named Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence. The professorship was created to recognize and reward outstanding teaching at the University.

Chris Faricy, associate professor of political science, finds in recent surveys that people significantly overestimate the amount of tax middle- and low-income households pay in federal taxes. 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, says that the ordering and execution of military action in Syria could make President Trump look more conventional, even if the polls look distinctly tepid for him now.

Tom Keck looks at the possibility and the effects of the Senate's 'Nuclear option', which would change the rules for Supreme Court nominees, while triggering heavy partisan fallout.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, describes Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's confirmation as “a normal accomplishment; and I think he [President Trump] needs a couple of those at this point, given everything else.” 

"People are going to see harm in their own lives and to the government, and they're going to blame the people who are in charge now, which is the Republican majority," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

Campbell Institute Director and WRVO Campbell Conversations Host Grant Reeher moderated a debate on the recommendation to establish a new municipal form of government for Onondaga County, with a single executive and a 33-seat legislature. This Campbell Debate is part of an ongoing series sponsored by the Campbell Public Affairs Institute of the Maxwell School.

"The release of two pages from President Trump’s 2005 tax returns didn’t show much. But they did show just how much Trump—and other super-rich Americans—would benefit from his proposed tax plan," says Christopher Faricy, associate professor of political science.

According to University Professor Sean O'Keefe, NASA’s role as a “development catalyst” has been part of the agency’s objectives since its earliest days.

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, "A lot of prominent Republicans, the usual suspects, either aren't interested or they were critical of the Trump campaign so therefore, they are not being looked at."

According to Margaret S. Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, some religious congregations may leave their buildings, but other groups can replace them, often representing groups that are new or growing in the community.

"The goals of nativist enclave policies and a robust job-creating economy are fundamentally at odds with one another. A full-throated embrace of nativism at this point will mean that we are walling ourselves inside our nation only to discover that we have walled in the very people that enclave nativists sought to eject," writes Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science.

“The moon program looks more and more like an astounding aberration in the American political context. The space station does show it’s feasible to have a long-term program, but it has to be maintained by a sequence of presidents and a sequence of NASAs. And that’s the dilemma,” says Professor Harry Lambright.

"These are the folks who actually attempt to implement the policy changes that the administration is trying to push down from above," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about the importance of political appointees below the Cabinet level.

"In response to the climate crisis we face, our leaders must not continue to merely say 'no' to climate policies proposed by others, or to hope, as we have for decades, for an unforeseeable technological breakthrough that will render fossil fuels uneconomical," write eleven scientists and professors from SUNY ESF and Syracuse University.

 According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, progressives will have to sustain the movement to the midterm elections of 2018 if they want to enact fundamental change. "The question from here on in is how sustainable will this be," Reeher said. "What will this look like a year from now?"

“It is in the government’s interest to do everything possible to avoid any appearance that rights violations are being permitted or encouraged,” says Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science.