Campbell Institute News

"White women have to disabuse themselves en masse of the notion that they are inherently good. They have to put themselves in harm’s way, disrupt the status quo of their own complicity in white supremacy and defer to those who are more vulnerable than themselves," writes Jenn Jackson, assistant professor of political science.

Under Biden, New York state could find itself having a much more responsive federal government, and a number of Democrats, not just Cuomo, could be among the beneficiaries, says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

"She writes in a way that makes her readers better thinkers, more reflective and self-aware, and she does so by showing the development of her own thinking—who her influences are, the sources from which she draws her wisdom, and how philosophy informs her understanding of herself, the culture, and the world in which she lives," reads a review of Professor Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn's book, "Ars Vitae: The Fate of Inwardness and the Return of the Ancient Arts of Living."

University Professor Sean O'Keefe recently participated in a study by the National Academy of Public Administration on which agency was best to handle civil space traffic management. O’Keefe believes the Office of Space Commerce is best suited for the task.

"These baseless accusations of electoral fraud do a lot of damage to the public’s belief in the electoral system and in democracy itself," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science. "And that is extremely damaging to our democracy."

Assistant Professor of Political Science Steven White notes, "If Democrats win the two Senate races in Georgia, their odds of being able to pass the legislation in their platform [go] up dramatically."

"It may be the Democrats have yet to find the balance they need between the left wing of their party and the rest of it," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. "Biden struggled to balance these two camps. Republicans beat expectations, and with a more ‘presidential’ candidate at the top of the ticket, they could be well positioned in 2024."

"If you are someone who already trusts the president and you trust him to handle the crisis, then you are both not as concerned as Democrats are and you're more willing to trust that he is the person who can keep you safe and keep the country safe from COVID," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

The Cortland County flood map "might show a reasonable flood risk today, but since we don’t make those investment decisions with ramifications far into the future, the maps don’t really help us plan for a different climate," says Sarah Pralle, associate professor of political science. "When we look at flood maps now, the conversations are about the insurance cost," Pralle says. Instead, "we have to get to the point where we talk about these things as risks and how to mitigate these things as well." Read more in the Cortland Standard article, "What Cortland County’s flood map does, and doesn’t, show." 

Professor Emeritus David Bennett expresses concern that Americans view President Trump as a president who has "taken a pickax to the tent poles of democratic institutions." According to Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science, one of the ways the President's strategy has been ineffective "is telling people not to be worried about something that is in fact worrisome."

"In a threatening environment, Americans reward candidates and parties perceived to hold hawkish positions" and "punish candidates perceived to be dovish," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"I think the main thing for Biden at this point is to simply show up and get through the event without a major breakdown of some kind," says Grant Reeher, professor of political science. Most viewers are already locked in with their preferred candidate, he adds.

In an increasingly polarized political climate, Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says the "friends and neighbors" effect of politics hasn't been so effective in recent cycles, and that it's unclear how strongly that message can sway voters in 2020. 

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, says that Trump could be looking to recover after being largely criticized for his performance in the first presidential debate last month, where the candidates traded insults and crosstalk clogged much of the conversation. "I think there's more pressure on (Trump) to remedy that in terms of the way he comes across in this event," he says.

Professor of Political Science Grant Reeher says that "Joe Biden is so old, that he may not finish out his term, and Donald Trump is also almost as old as Biden, but also has these health issues now that we don't know where they are going to go, and how severe they are going to be."

University Professor Sean O’Keefe reflects that working in both the legislative and executive branches "are both rewarding in their own different ways, as long as you don't confuse that bright line of distinction between policy formulation and program implementation. It typically works very successfully."