Financial Aid & Sequestration
At some point in nearly every student’s college search, one question inevitably arises: how will I afford to attend this institution? While the attainment of a postsecondary degree has arguably become more of an expectation than an advantage in the job market, college tuition is steepening across the nation. Financial...
Same-Sex Success?
Same-sex marriage rights have a pivotal couple of months ahead. From multiple states passing favorable amendments to President Obama’s statement of support, same-sex advocates have had much to cheer for recently. However, the real battle is coming soon. On March 26th and 27th, the Supreme Court will hear cases over...
Anticipating Failure
As the Gang of Eight prepares their immigration reform bill, the President and state legislatures have also taken measures to address the U.S. immigration issue. Sen. McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Menendez (D-NJ), Sen. Graham (R-SC), Sen. Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Flake (R-AZ), and Sen. Bennet (D-CO)...
Droning on about Drones
When Americans think of drones, many likely imagine equipment used by the American military for targeting terrorists in the desolate corners of Afghanistan and Pakistan; however, more uses for drones exist than the media would have the public believe. In recent months, the halls of Washington and state legislatures have...
Armed With More Than Knowledge: Firearms in the Classroom
Recent mass shootings, most notably the devastating school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have brought debates involving gun ownership and use to the fore. While some legislators are calling for stricter gun control laws, others are moving in the opposite direction by pushing legislation that would...
Interview: Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss
This month, VPR had the opportunity to sit down with David Maraniss, an associate editor at The Washington Post. In addition to Barack Obama: The Story, Maraniss is the author of five critically acclaimed and bestselling books. Maraniss is a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the Pulitzer for national...
The Politics of Labels
Prof. Dr. Schavan, former German education minister, was forced to resign from her post last Saturday after the explosion of a plagiarism scandal that reached back more than thirty years. In addition to her expulsion from the German political elite, Dr. Schavan’s doctorate was revoked from Heinrich Heine University upon...
Obama’s Minimum Wage: Good Politics, Contested Policy
President Obama placed the focus of his 2013 State of the Union Address squarely on the U.S. economy, and nothing does more to illustrate the tenor of Obama’s fiscal agenda than his call to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 by 2015, as well as indexing the minimum...
Blood Donor Eligibility: Safety or Discrimination?
In 1983, the FDA enacted a law that any man who has had sexual activity with another man, even once, since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in 1977 is ineligible to donate blood for life . In 1983, the logic behind the blanket ban was reasonable: statistically, men who...
We the People Demand…
Every fourth grader in America knows that he lives in a democracy. He learns from an early age that democracy means, “Rule by the people,” and that he cannot use his first amendment right to insult his teacher. He learns that the United States broke away from Great Britain because...