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Features June 22, 2017
Politics & Polls #49: Democracy, Gerrymandering, Federalism & More
America’s experienced a blitz of political twists and turns in the past few months, which may cloak some of the deep-rooted challenges still facing the nation. Still looming large in the background are issues related to the political process — like democracy, gerrymandering, voting laws and federalism.In this episode, the focus turns toward the structure of politics with special guest Heather Gerken, one of the country’s leading experts on constitutional law and election law.Gerken is the J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School and founder of the “nationalist school” of federalism; her work focuses on federalism, diversity, and dissent…
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Features June 16, 2017
Wilson School Hosts 10th Annual Summer Policy Academy for Indigenous Students
This year marks the 10th annual Santa Fe Indian School Leadership Institute’s Summer Policy Academy (SPA), hosted at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International affairs. Fifteen rising juniors, seniors and recent high school graduates from a diverse group of indigenous tribes in New Mexico arrived in Princeton, New Jersey, on June 11 for a rigorous weeklong program focusing on current challenges and federal policies affecting Native American communities.Launched in 2008, the SPA program is co-sponsored and co-directed by Regis Pecos ‘77, former chief of staff to the speaker of the New Mexico House of Representatives and…
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Features June 16, 2017
Addressing Global Conflict through Policy
The Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC) held their 7th Annual Meeting on May 18 and 19, drawing experts and policymakers from across the globe to gather at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C., to discuss issues surrounding global conflict.The conference featured nearly 100 academics and policymakers focused on addressing persistent conflict. The event was co-sponsored by the USIP and The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.“Our goal for the conference was to promote more effective policymaking by creating conversations around cutting-edge research across agencies and communities,” said Jacob N…
Features June 15, 2017
Politics & Polls #48: Wake Up to Politics with Gabe Fleisher
One of the ongoing challenges in American politics is appealing to younger demographics - not simply through elections and voter turn-out but engaging young people with the political process. Today’s young people - and even some adults – find politics difficult to digest and unappealing, presenting challenges in the ways that Americans learn, interpret and analyze politics.Gabe Fleisher, a 15-year-old student in St. Louis, is looking to change that with his newsletter “Wake Up to Politics,” which is sent to 36,000 readers every morning. Our youngest guest to date, Fleisher discusses his newsletter and how to make politics appealing in this episode of…
Features June 15, 2017
Deaton Testifies Before U.S. Senate on America’s Deadly Opioid Epidemic
Testifying before a Joint Economic Committee hearing in the U.S. Senate on June 8, Sir Angus Deaton, Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of International Affairs, Emeritus and senior scholar at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, warned of an opioid epidemic that is contributing to an unprecedented increase in overall mortality and morbidity in midlife. These “deaths of despair” — defined as suicides, deaths from alcoholic liver disease and deaths from illegal and legal drug overdoses — cannot be explained by the Great Recession or current unemployment rates, Deaton told committee members. Instead, the deaths…
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Features June 07, 2017
96 Graduate with Advanced Degrees from the Woodrow Wilson School
The Woodrow Wilson School awarded 96 graduate students (Woody Woos!) with degrees at its June 6 Commencement and throughout the 2016-17 academic year. We congratulate the five Ph.D. students, 69 Master in Public Affairs (MPA) students and 22 Master in Public Policy (MPP) students who graduated this year and welcome them to the Woo alumni family.At the annual Hooding Ceremony held June 5 at the Wilson School, Dean Cecilia Rouse addressed the graduates and their families. Click here for a photo album from the ceremony.“You are graduating at a tumultuous time – we have levels of inequality that have not been seen since the times of the Robber Barons over…
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Features June 07, 2017
105 Wilson School Seniors Graduate in Princeton’s Class of 2017
On Tuesday, June 6, 105 seniors who majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs graduated as part of Princeton University’s Class of 2017. Among their ranks included members of Ivy League Championship teams in women’s lacrosse, football, and track and field; class officers; college-theater and residential college council members; volunteers from the Pace Center for Civic Engagement; and Orange Key tour guides.Addressing seniors and their family and friends at Class Day exercises on June 5, Dean Cecilia Rouse said, “Wherever the future takes you, I hope you will take a bit of the spirit of public service with you. But…
Features June 07, 2017
Politics & Polls #47: Race Relations in America
Race remains a potent political force in America, as evidenced by the 2016 presidential election. Despite the progress that’s been made, race continues to infiltrate many areas of public policy from health care to education to employment.Professor Eddie Glaude from Princeton University joins this episode of Politics & Polls to discuss current race relations in America. Glaude, chair of the Department of African American Studies and William S. Todd Professor of Religion and African Studies at Princeton.Glaude is author of several books including “Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America," "In a Shade of Blue:…
Features June 01, 2017
Politics & Polls #46: Trump’s 'Gaslighting of America' with Teen Vogue’s Lauren Duca
President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media persist while journalists continue to grapple with how to cover such a tumultuous presidency. Amidst the clamor, new voices in journalism have risen to the top, positioning themselves as political power players in a media-saturated world.Among these voices is Lauren Duca, an award-winning journalist at Teen Vogue. In December 2016, Duca penned an essay, “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America,” which argued that Trump relies on deceit to undermine the truth so his critics question their own judgment. The essay quickly went viral, generating more than one million views to date.Duca joins this episode of…
Features May 25, 2017
U.S. Nuclear Regulators Greatly Underestimate Potential for Nuclear Disaster
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relied on faulty analysis to justify its refusal to adopt a critical measure for protecting Americans from the occurrence of a catastrophic nuclear-waste fire at any one of dozens of reactor sites around the country, according to an article in the May 26 issue of Science magazine. Fallout from such a fire could be considerably larger than the radioactive emissions from the 2011 Fukushima accident in Japan.Published by researchers from Princeton University and the Union of Concerned Scientists, the article argues that NRC inaction leaves the public at high risk from fires in spent-nuclear-fuel cooling pools…
Features May 24, 2017
WWS Reacts: President Trump’s Visit to the Middle East
President Donald Trump recently made a trip to the Middle East, with stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestine, where he met with top officials and visited sacred spaces. His visit to Israel included a visit to Jerusalem, where he announced his personal commitment to achieving a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. We discussed Trump’s Middle East visit — and what it means symbolically and politically — with Amb. (Ret.) Daniel C. Kurtzer, lecturer and S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Kurtzer served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt from…
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Features May 24, 2017
Social and Emotional Learning Essential for Children’s Educational Success
The Trump administration hopes to slash $10.6 billion from current education initiatives, channeling part of the money to expanding charter schools and providing vouchers for private and religious schools, recent reports indicate.Expected to be released soon, the first detailed education budget is an attempt by President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos to shrink the role of the federal government in education and give parents the freedom to choose their children’s schools.Under the new plan, money currently used for mental health and other services could be cut. One potential target could be services to improve social and emotional…
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Features May 18, 2017
'A Bee, a Tree, What’s In It For Me?' Class Examines Environmental Policy
On a morning in March, Professor Michael Oppenheimer pointed to a photograph he took while flying over the North Pole.A mosaic of fragmented ice stretched across the projection screen. The blue-green sea of the central Arctic Ocean flowed to the surface, visible between small and large pieces of ice. Once a thick, solid ice sheet, the expansive ice was fractured thanks to rising global temperatures.“How do we know humans are responsible for these changes?” Oppenheimer, one of the world’s foremost experts on climate change, asked a class of 140 undergraduate students at Princeton University with interests in science, public policy and law.In the spring…
Features May 18, 2017
Politics & Polls #44: A Disastrous Week in Washington
Washington has been hit with a trifecta of catastrophic events in the past week.First, President Donald Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, justifying his decision by pointing toward Comey’s mishandling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails. Trump later changed course, admitting he fired Comey for continuing the investigation about Russia’s role in disrupting the 2016 election.Just days later, news broke that Trump shared classified information about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) with Russian diplomats in the Oval Office — a decision defended by Trump and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Trump’s national…
Features May 17, 2017
Politics & Polls #45: Inside Hillary Clinton’s ‘Doomed’ Campaign
More than 100 insider sources helped journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes lift the veil on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the many avoidable missteps that turned a winnable election into a stunning defeat.Allen and Parnes’ new book, “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” digs deeper to illuminate a flawed campaign that resulted in a defeat that shocked the world.In this episode, professor Julian Zelizer interviews Allen and Parnes about their #1 New York Times best-seller. This interview also aired May 15 on Facebook Live.Allen is the head of content at Sidewire, a columnist at Roll Call, and an adjunct professor at Northwestern…