Campbell Institute News

“Trump is not reading judicial decisions and criticizing constitutional arguments. He is denouncing a so-called judge and saying decisions are ridiculous. Those pointed attacks from a sitting president are for sure unusual," says Thomas M. Keck, professor of political science.

The recently announced two-year funding extension will support a total of four additional Robertson fellows. All Robertson fellows receive funding for two years of study, allowing them to pursue one of the joint degrees offered through the Public Administration and International Affairs Department. 

Tom Keck was featured in The Daily Orange article, "SU political science professor evaluates President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee." "(Gorsuch) has also publicly praised Justice Scalia and indicated his hope to follow in his footsteps," he says, and notes that many Democrats and independents are unhappy with the nomination.

Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, compares the volume of leaks coming out of the Trump administration to the Nixon administration and its handling of the Watergate scandal.

According to Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher, President Donald Trump "is doubling down, and I think the reaction on the part of those who are not favorably oriented toward him is going to harden.”

"Since the 1940s we've been not only recruiting nurses from other countries but actually in some cases getting people into training abroad and then bringing them to America," says Elizabeth Cohen, associate professor of political science. "This H-1B shift could really reduce the population of highly skilled doctors and nurses."

“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.”

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.

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.”

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.

"By voting against the repeal bill last week, Katko can maintain a fig leaf of independence, while doing nothing to actually stop his Republican colleagues from enacting policies that will be disastrous for his constituents," writes Thomas M. Keck, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law & Politics.

"Anti-SAFE Act signs still dot the upstate countryside...That speaks to the 'cultural differences' that often lead to very different voting patterns in upstate and downstate communities," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, about Upstate New York opposition to Governor Cuomo's gun-control law.

“More information cannot easily be provided (to) the public—the classification is required to preserve the secrecy of the sources and methods we used to learn about the hacking,” says William Banks, professor of public administration and international affairs. “It creates a dilemma that is difficult to resolve.”

Elizabeth Cohen, professor of political science, says it won't be easy for Trump to withhold money from sanctuary cities as there are numerous conditions, privacy laws and civil rights protections he will need to navigate.

Given how nasty and intractable the conflicts in our society can be, Keith Bybee, professor of political science, argues that it is naïve to imagine we can somehow transcend our clashing sets of values and miraculously agree on what counts as acceptable behavior and tolerable opinion.

University Professor Sean O'Keefe notes that there will always be tensions that accompany presidential transitions.