By Leonora Willett (CM ’25) Nearly 50 years on, the landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade is far from settled. With the support of anti-abortion groups, state legislatures are passing newer and more restrictive laws counter to Roe v. Wade. With the changing composition of the Supreme Court, women’s Constitutional rights to an abortion are in question. With the support of Texas Alliance...
Despite the United States making efforts for the past half a century to combat gender discrimination, sex-based prejudice still runs rampant in American society. The government and its courts have disseminated a sex-based slant on rights and freedoms that in reality, protect men far more than women. This bias has resulted in the federal government allowing various forms of gender discrimination...
By Jon Burkart (PO ‘24) In 2008, the Great Recession struck. And in its wake, upwards of 20 states cut public spending: Ohio was one of them. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. And while the future remains uncertain, one thing is clear: austerity is returning. In some states, it has already made a return. On May 6, 2020, just months into the pandemic, Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine...
Camryn Fujita (SCR ‘21) In June of 2020, a week-long series of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement across the state of Hawaii culminated in a march to the Hawaii State Capitol that drew an estimated crowd of about 10,000 to 20,000 people. These protests sparked a long overdue conversation over how people in Hawaii think about race, anti-Black racism, and criminal justice. In...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) On February 23rd 2021, Akquile Pollard, better known as Bobby Shmurda, was released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Pollard, a 26-year-old New York rapper who gained esteem for his hit single “Hot Boy,” was released after serving 6 years for criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy to murder. In the years following Pollard’s arrest, fans and...
Andy Liu (HMC ‘23) The lights first went out three weeks ago, but Texas has suffered from mass utility failure ever since the winter storms of February 10th, 2021. The outages have had a tremendous impact on Texans, leaving five million without power and twelve million without water at their peak. In the political wake of the disaster, local politicians initially blamed the halting of renewable...
Andy Liu, Mudd ‘23 Despite opposition from organized labor groups, the most expensive ballot measure in California history won by a comfortable margin last Tuesday, with voters approving Prop 22 by a 58-42 margin. Prop 22 classified rideshare and delivery drivers as contractors rather than employees. This exempted corporations such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, who spent over two hundred million...
Jon Burkart (PO ’24) If the past 6 months have proved anything, it’s that nothing is wholly immune to COVID-19. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are certainly no exception. On October 15th, National Student Clearinghouse reported that average undergraduate enrollment for the fall 2020 semester is down 4%, and overall enrollment is down 3% compared to last year. This trend has hit four...
Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) After months of campaigning and punditry, Tuesday’s election brought a record breaking turn-out of nearly 160 million Americans. While much of the focus of this election season has been on the presidential race between incumbent Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, several citizen led ballot-initiatives made history this week. From education policy to...
Scotland Carter (SC ’24) The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938 in response to the growing number of workplace abuses during the Great Depression. Before 1938, the federal government had not regulated workplace conditions for employees in either the public or private sectors: there was no minimum wage, overtime pay, or working protections for minors. That said, the...
