By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC ’19) In October 2018, Pomona College became entangled in a social and legal controversy over the creation of student-made lists that barred particular individuals from entering college-funded events. Sigma Tau, a fraternity at Pomona College, is one of the groups that employed a list to prohibit perpetrators of sexual assault from attending their gatherings. On the...
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) “A government of the people, for the people, and by the people” emblemizes American democracy, and indeed many other democracies around the world today. The United States’ government draws its legitimacy from its citizens, holding a duty first and foremost to the population that constitutes it. Popular sovereignty, however, can sometimes come apart from the government which...
By Katya Pollock (PO ’21) In 2014, the Chinese State Council announced that it would begin pursuing the establishment of an ambitious national credit scoring program. The “Social Credit System” aims to amalgamate previously fragmented data held by governmental agencies and private firms to establish a standardized credit score for individuals, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and...
By James Dail (CMC ’20) If a company voluntarily raises its minimum wage to $15 per hour, will its workers be better off because of it? At first, this might seem like a ridiculous question. Any criticism of minimum wage increases usually relates to workers getting laid off because companies cannot afford the added expenses. If a company raises its wages voluntarily, then it can be assumed...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The right to vote forms the bedrock of democracy, but even the foundational principle of enfranchisement remains a topic of contention. The 2018 midterm elections have resurfaced the debate on voting rights along mostly partisan lines, with Republicans advocating for ballot integrity and Democrats pushing for accessibility, especially for marginalized groups. A...
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) In light of the caravan of migrants, thousands in number, traveling from Central America toward the United States, President Trump has released a new series of startling anti-immigration policy Tweets, including the idea of banning asylum seekers. The administration has already taken steps over the past few years to reduce the number of asylum cases, which it sees as...
By Katya Pollock (PO ’21) The New York University School of Medicine recently announced that it would offer full-tuition scholarships to all current and future students, regardless of need or merit. The school’s associate dean of admissions and financial aid presented the new tuition plan as a move to improve the school’s economic accessibility: “what we want to do is level the playing...
By James Dail (CMC ’21) One of the most persistent problems that the U.S. has faced over the past several decades is the persistent lack of wage growth. Adjusting for inflation, most U.S. workers have not received a raise since the 1970s. Though this has been a long-term phenomenon, this trend is especially puzzling at this particular economic moment: whenever an economy has a low...
By Ciara Chow (PO ’22) Beto O’Rourke, the Texan Democratic candidate running against Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate, has unexpectedly reached widespread fame in the state. Beto raised a record-breaking $38.1 million in the third quarter compared to Cruz’s $12 million over the same period of time. Moreover, Beto raised three times as much as Cruz in the months before the...
By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC ’19) Problem-solving courts, also called collaborative courts, are interdisciplinary state courts that aim to reach meaningful resolutions through the participation of special experts. Problem-solving courts are procedurally very different from traditional courts. They take many forms, including community courts, drug courts, homeless courts, and mental health courts...
