Category: What We’re Reading

After a brief hiatus, here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

More Ways to Pay – A trove of data released by the Education Department on Monday shows a continuing trend of people enrolling in the government’s generous student loan repayment plans as well as people struggling to pay their debt. Americans have a wealth of options for repaying their student loans, because of the Obama administration’s expansion of programs that cap monthly payments to a percentage of earnings, known as income-based repayment plans. Few people initially knew of the plans, but direct outreach and marketing campaigns have quadrupled enrollment in the past four years. Read more at The Washington Post.

Not That Important – A college’s ranking is the least important of 16 factors for evaluating the success of a college president, according to presidents themselves. Just 3% of U.S. college presidents say university ranking scores are an “extremely important” factor. Read what is important at Gallup. 

Power to the People – The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Tuesday that graduate students at private universities have the right to form unions and bargain collectively. The decision doesn’t affect grad students at public universities. Those grad students are public employees of their states (and therefore governed by state laws about public sector unions). This is the third time in 16 years the NLRB has ruled on this question: It ruled in favor of graduate students in 2000 (with board members appointed by Bill Clinton), then against them in 2004 (after board appointments from George W. Bush). Read more at The Wall Street Journal and NPR. 

Judicial Activism – Disagreement over the legality of the 2011 guidance that spurred the U.S. Education Department’s toughened enforcement of campus sexual assault has been building in recent months, with many college officials, Republican members of Congress and others questioning the legitimacy of the federal guidelines and dozens of legal and advocacy groups defending the guidance. Now a federal judge has weighed in — sort of — with a ruling that several legal experts say could have significant implications for the Obama administration’s attempts to regulate education issues, including sexual violence. Read more in Inside Higher Education. 

MINE, Not Yours – As a new school year gets underway, the Common Core remains a partisan flashpoint, while Americans overall have serious concerns about the direction of our public education system, but Americans seem to like their schools…just not your schools. Read more at NPR.

Flip the Script –  Odds are that very soon, the Supreme Court will become something it hasn’t been in nearly 50 years: made up of a majority of Democratic-appointed justices. Ever since Abe Fortas’s resignation in 1969, the Court has either been split down the middle or, more often, made up primarily of Republican appointees. Some of those Republican appointees nonetheless turned out to be liberals, but even taking that into account, the Court hasn’t been majority liberal since 1971, when William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell joined. Now, with the empty seat left by Judge Scalia and the high likelihood of Clinton winning, that could very well change. Read more in Vox.

1,000 Year Flood – Louisiana is entering recovery mode after devastating flooding killed 13 people and damaged at least 60,000 homes across 20 parishes and disaster recovery is expected to cost over $30 million.  Read more in NPR. 

Retake the Citadel – Democrats are currently on track to retake the Senate, according to the latest polls —though they don’t have much room for error. If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, her party would need a net gain of four seats to take over control of the chamber. And just a few months ago, the party had a clear advantage in polls of just two contests. But the combination of Donald Trump’s nomination and a strong recruitment effort has bolstered Democrats’ chances. Read more in Vox. 

Nah, Man – The Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience published a study from the University of British Columbia (of course) on the effects of marijuana on a rat’s willingness to exert cognitive effort. Rats that only ingested CBD, the non-psychoactive compound of marijuana known for its medicinal benefits, were just as alert and functioning as ever. But those lab rats that took bong rips of THC, marijuana’s main active ingredient, had no interest in doing their tasks and just wanted to watch cartoons all day. Read more in The Guardian.

Debbie Downers – Those dang millennials. They’re having less sex, saving more money, not buying homes and now they’re refusing to take vacation. Increased work pressures and a 24/7 always-on attitude have caused many Americans to increasingly abandon their vacation days. It’s estimated that 55% of working Americans didn’t use all of their vacation days in 2015, leaving behind 658 million days of unused PTO. Read more in Travel + Leisure. 

Post Olympic Slump – Despite widespread fears that the Rio would be unprepared, or that crime and disorganization might turn the Olympics into a national embarrassment, many Brazilians came to view the Games as a triumph and a much-needed distraction from the country’s economic malaise and political upheaval. Read more in The New York Times. 

100th Anniversary – The National Park Service is celebrating its centennial this week. On August 26, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act putting 35 parks and monuments nationwide —including Yellowstone and Yosemite — under the new federal agency. According to the Park Service, it faces a maintenance backlog of $12 billion and half of that is to repair and upgrade park roads. Read more in Marketplace. 

2020 – The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals will be made from old mobile phones. Read more in Quartz.

Gimme A Reason – Five types of web searches where you should use a search engine other than Google (aka, math). Read more in Gizmodo.

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

How Did We Get Here? – The conventions are over, and official nominees are now in the running, but it was 9% of Americans that picked Clinton and Trump. Read more in The New York Times.

Male Bias – Universities across the nation have faced federal scrutiny over their handling of sexual-assault complaints against male students. At the urging of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, campuses have revamped their sexual-misconduct policies with promises of swifter and tougher responses to allegations of abuse. A ruling by a federal appeals court potentially turns the table on legal liability under Title IX, the federal educational-equity law. Read more in the WSJ. 

Birth Certificate Version 2.0 – The racy photos of the Melania Trump, published in the New York Post on Sunday and Monday, inadvertently highlight inconsistencies in the various accounts of her immigration to to the US she has provided over the years, and, pose a slim chance legal problems for her today. Read more at Politico. 

Ancient Concept – In 1473, Alexander Hardynge, who had finished his bachelor’s degree at Oxford nearly two years previous, borrowed money through an educational loan service. The loan came with a one year repayment deadline. With some of that money, he rented a room at Exeter College and offered tutoring services to college students. He soon repaid that loan. In 1475, Hardynge took out a second loan – again, in part to rent teaching space, but the first student loan was taken out in 1240. Read more in Time. 

Down Ballot Politics – This election cycle Democrats are losing to Republicans at the state and local level and these down ballot elections are being heavily influenced by three groups, all funded by two people. Read more at Vox.  

Lead Astray – Political idealism or visions of political perfection are bound to lead us astray and our commitment or a complete fidelity to those ideals can lead us to make things worse rather than better. Read more at Vox.

Numbers – KKK leader David Duke has more African American support than Trump according to a new poll. Read more in the Washington Post. 

Berned – Senator Bernie Sanders a slowly and begrudgingly getting behind Hillary, throwing support to the Green Party candidate, or have just decided to not vote at all. However the willingness of Sanders supporters to shout down one of the most iconic figures in modern civil rights, Rep. Elijah Cummings, at the recent Democratic convention raises a question: Just what revolution are they talking about? And for whom? Read more in Politico.

Pois não? – The Olympics are here! Here’s a schedule of when to watch, and here’s the official site. But the Games are having some serious issues, and questions and not just Zika, (the USA Basketball team is staying on a cruise ship which…of course). Read more at NBC News. 

Whither Rio? – Meanwhile, the Rio that won the Olympic bid is a very different place than today. Read more at Vox. 

Why Simone Biles is a world-class gymnast, courtesy of The New York Times. Her signature move is the double layout with a half twist and a blind landing.

Here’s a selection of articles Federal Relations is enjoying this week.

Clinton’s Free Tuition Promise – It’s directed not at older Americans, like Social Security and Medicare, but for once, at young Americans. Read more on NPR

How Women Are Harassed Out of Science – The discrimination women endure makes America’s need for STEM workers even greater. Read more on The Atlantic

Harvey Milk’s Navy Legacy – The Navy is planning to name one of it’s new oil tankers after the pioneering gay rights activist who served as a diving officer during the Korean War. Read more on The Huffington Post

Higher Ed at the DNC – Speech after speech discusses student debt — and praises the Clinton plan (based in part on Sanders plan) for college affordability. Read more on Inside Higher Ed

Trump to Russia: Send Emails ASAP – Donald Trump pleaded directly with the Russian government to meddle in the U.S. presidential election by finding and releasing Hillary Clinton’s private emails, but don’t worry because he was just kidding! Read more on the Washington Post

Do Governors Make Better VPs? – Governors are rarely VPs, and yet both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump selected one for this increasingly powerful office. Read more on Governing

Here’s a selection of articles Federal Relations is enjoying this week.

I Accept – Donald John Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night with an unusually vehement appeal to Americans who feel that their country is spiraling out of control and yearn for a leader who will take aggressive, even extreme, actions to protect them. Read more in the New York Times. 

All in the Family – Most of the decisions for the Trump campaign, as well as some of the strongest surrogates, are Trump’s children. Read more in Roll Call. 

Open Seat – KKK Leader David Duke is running for Senate in Louisiana. He previously ran for Governor in 1991. Read more in Roll Call.

Pondering Pence – Trump picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his running mate, but who is this guy exactly? Read about him in Pacific Standard. 

Seven Biggest Challenges – Science is in big trouble. In the past several years, many scientists have become afflicted with a serious case of doubt — doubt in the very institution of science. Read more at Vox. 

Everyone’s At Risk – Education Department’s proposed rule for student debt forgiveness could threaten traditional colleges as well as for-profits, particularly over its broad view of what counts as misrepresentation. Read more at Inside Higher Ed. 

Yeah, Kinda Exactly the Same Thing – Big news earlier in the week was Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican convention coincidentally sounded a lot like another first lady’s speech. Read more in The New York Times.

AI Is the Next Big Thing – Move over, social media and mobility: Silicon Valley has a next big thing and it’s A.I. and robots. It is useful to think of them as part of the same thing, since many robots are autonomous machines programmed for decision making based on A.I. Read more in The New York Times. 

How He Won – Donald Trump’s unexpected transformation from reality television star to Republican Party presidential nominee has been analyzed endlessly over the past few months. Most of that analysis, mostly appropriately, has focused on the deep structural factors that powered his popularity. But Trump polled well in the GOP field a year ago when almost nobody thought he would win. Read more at Vox. 

RNC KFC Special – The buttons at the RNC Convention are pretty bad. See them at The Cut.

Truly Crucial Information – Here’s what you need to do if Pokemon freeze while you’re in the middle of battling someone. Read about it at Mic.

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

Most Likely to be Number 2 Banana – Trump is closing in on a vice presidential pick, with the vetting process in full swing. Trump will make the announcement sometime between now and the end of the Republican National Convention on July 21. Read the about the most likely picks in The Hill. 

Prisons > College – Since 1990, state and local spending on prisons and jails has risen more than three times faster than spending on schools, and in some states the spending disparities are far greater. Read more in The Washington Post. 

Pull the Plug – A showdown over Planned Parenthood has moved to the center of the battle over funding to battle the Zika virus. Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Zika funding bill put forward by Republicans, objecting to a range of measures, including most prominently limits on funding for Planned Parenthood. The bill allows Zika funding for community health centers and other providers but not Planned Parenthood. Read more in The Hill. 

Adequate? – Researchers are concerned that the U.S. government is not properly funding scientific research. Read more in The Atlantic.  

Different Triggers – The fatal shootings this week of the African-American men Alton Sterling and Philando Castile have stirred a public outcry and debate about the role race plays in the decision by police officers to use deadly force. Such debate is nothing new. Scholarly discourse and research on the tumultuous connections between race and policing dates back decades. Read more in the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

After Jupiter – This week, NASA  is celebrating Juno‘s arrival at Jupiter, but in less than two years, Juno will be gone — it’s slated to plunge into the gas giant and burn up. The Cassini spacecraft, now orbiting Saturn, will meet the same fate next year. What’s next for NASA? Not much. Read more at NPR.

Crazyness! – Every political convention is full of ups and downs, and the conventions at the end of the month show hold the promise of a national convention with the prospect that something unexpected might actually happen. Read more in Politico. 

Mind Games – How restaurants get you to order more expensive things or things with the largest margin. Read more at New York Magazine. 

Being Pro-Cop & Pro-Black Lives Matter. Thank you Trevor Noah. See the video via Esquire.