American Politics Commons^™

“Handicap Removed”: An Alternative Path To The Social Model, Craig M. Rustici

Journal of Gender, Ethnic, and Cross-Cultural Studies

This article identifies an expression of a social model of disability in a 1966 film promoting Hofstra University’s Program for the Higher Education of the Handicapped and traces that model back to books published by the pioneering rehabilitation physician Henry H. Kessler in 1935 and 1947, decades before the UPIAS (Union of the Physically Impaired against Segregation) Fundamental Principles of Disability (1976). In light of Kessler’s articulation of social and minority models, identification of contrasting religious, charity and medical models, and discussion of disability stigma, this article reassesses Ruth O’Brien’s critique, in Crippled Justice (2001), of Kessler and the twentieth-century …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

Conservative And Cultural Clashes With Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Bryan Z. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis analyzes the multifaceted debate over the use of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in United States public schools, while also emphasizing the ways in which withholding CSE is a strategy to uphold the white supremacist patriarchy. The work begins by historically framing the evolution of sexuality education through the United States’ history. This leads to the current discourse around CSE and the ways in which it is the optimal support for American youth today. After setting this foundation, the thesis looks at conservative figures and groups who are seeking to prevent public school adoption of CSE standards, as well …

Learning The Legislative Process With A Board Game, Michael Posadny

Honors Projects

Standard methods of teaching classroom material can generally work effectively for educating the majority of a class’s students, but some students may still struggle to find the information to be comprehensive, enjoyable to learn, or even necessary. Alternative methods of instruction can be used to educate students in different ways, and this study looks into the educational merit that a board game can provide to learning new material. Previous research has shown the effectiveness of board games on various elements of education, and this project addresses the findings of previous works to predict the effects that a game will have …

Reforming Illinois K-12 Public Education Through A Four-Pronged Approach, Seth Brooks

Senior Honors Theses

Public education in the United States has produced lackluster results in the past decades. Various forms of school choice have emerged in recent years to combat the poor results seen in the public education system, but these private schools are financially unattainable for many Americans. Bureaucratic overload, city corruption, inequities in funding, and frequent teachers’ strikes have certainly contributed to the destitute state of Illinois’ public education. In this thesis, the attainability of fiscal relief for Illinois families who choose alternative education and the necessity of the state in permitting such alternatives is discussed.

Current school choice policies in the …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Strict Photo Id Laws On Election Turnout: Do They Discriminate Against Minority Voters?, Josh Gromowsky

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Over the last 20 years, states across the nation have passed photo ID laws requiring potential voters to provide a form of identification before they can cast their ballots. These laws have generated great controversy, with opponents of the laws accusing them of being racially discriminatory. Studies attempting to analyze their effects on turnout have resulted in differing results due to different methodologies, and no consensus has been reached in the academic literature regarding this topic. Recognizing that laws do not exist in isolation and that people can react to their implementation in different ways, this paper examines the effects …

You Have The Right To Remain Uneducated: The Role Of Lobbying In Subverting Anti-Racist Curricula, Liam Martin

Washington Semester Program

This research paper seeks to explore the relationship between professional political actors and the subject of racism in primary education curricula, specifically in areas with prominent anti-CRT movements. Synthesizing these ideas together, the fully formed research question guiding the development of this paper reads as follows: how does the lobbying industry impact the development of primary education curricula in the United States on the subjects of race and racism, specifically in reference to anti-CRT activism? The extant literature on topics of racism, the institution of lobbying, and primary education in America, led to the development of the following thesis …

Physiological Response To Political Messaging, Kelsey Wright

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The overall goal of this study was to understand if individuals who politically identify as Democrats or Republicans have a statistically significant difference in their emotional response to congruent and incongruent political media clips. I used physiological measures of arousal, valence, and emotional control to understand threat response while participants watched congruent and incongruent political media clips. There was no significant difference between the response to congruent and incongruent media in individuals who identify as Democratic or Republican. There was no significant difference in physiological measures when individuals viewed congruent media clips than viewing incongruent media clips. However, there was …

Re: Beyond Fake News, Nate Floyd, Jaclyn Spraetz

Journal of Media Literacy Education

A student success librarian with a Ph.D. in mass communication and an information literacy librarian with an M.A. in secondary English education describe their efforts to innovate in the field of news literacy by incorporating the media effects research tradition. By highlighting the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive elements of information processing, the authors hope to show students how professional norms, institutional and market pressures shape the news while their own predispositions influence how they interpret the news they consume. The authors emphasize agenda-setting and framing, two fundamental media effects paradigms, and report on their effort to develop news literacy classes …

Just Choices? Judicial Selection, Ideology, And Partisanship In The Ohio Supreme Court, Margo D'Agostino

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

This thesis joins the conversation on judicial selection and impacts on judicial ideology. This is a multifaceted question that engages with the history of judicial selection, differences between states, growing polarization and partisanship, and an influx in campaign spending that can all influence Justices’ behavior while on the bench. While other theorists have used more quantitative or statistical analytics, more research is still needed on the nuanced and qualitative questions surrounding the judiciary in the United States, especially on the state level. I look at three Ohio Supreme Court Justices—Maureen O’Connor, Jennifer Brunner, and Sharon Kennedy—and decisions they have penned …

The 1776 Report And The Historical Establishment: A Review, Joseph E. Esparza

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The Trump Administration’s 1776 Final Report was instantly condemned by nearly all professional historical organizations in the United States upon its public release. This review of the 1776 Final Report seeks to understand why the historical establishment so quickly dismissed it as irrelevant and dangerous. It sheds light on the academic context behind the report, and comments on the state of the historical establishment in the United States. This article also gives an honest review of the final report from an historical perspective. This review demonstrates that the 1776 Report was never intended as a comprehensive narrative of American history …

Nebraska Politics And The Environment: Framing Political Communication In The State Of Nebraska In Comparison To National Level Discourse, Samuel Taylor

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Environmental public policy has seen little change on the national level in recent decades due to Congressional gridlock. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have entrenched their opposing viewpoints, and their communication on the topic utilizes issue frames to help sway the public to see their side. On the Republican side, these issue frames take the form of the “scientific uncertainty” and “economic consequences” frames. This study, based on issue framing, surveys the communication of Nebraska’s Republican State Senators to determine if they utilize the same issue frames or if they diverge from their national counterparts. By analyzing recent …

The Age-Less Citizen: Cultivating A Civically Engaged K-12 Community Through The Use Of Service Learning, Chelsia I. Douglas Mpa

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The Age-less Citizen will analyze evidence-based civic education studies and explore proactive student engagement strategies to build an individualized nonpartisan action plan for each school represented. From sending election reminders home by a kindergartener, to including local school board meetings on school newsletter and calendars, attendees will take away practical tips and tools to restore faith in the younger generation's ability to improve our democracy.

With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance states “with liberty and justice for all”. However, not everyone has access to this liberty and justice. Liberty and justice can be bought in this country for a price, and those who can’t afford to pay it are often left in the hands of those who can. One of the most prominent ways to see this is by analyzing the criminal justice system. Despite clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment and court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) establishing and upholding that the poor are entitled to equal treatment within the criminal justice …

Public Distrust, Political Participation, And The Role Of Student Government, Christine Trinh

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The turn of the 21st century presented a government led by public distrust. More and more people are growing skeptical of the government due to its previous actions, as well as overall longstanding disdain and misinformation, passed on through generations. Like many other fields, political participation is expected to be heavily influenced by rising public distrust in the government. However, there is hope in mitigating public distrust to increase political participation. Previous studies have proven civic engagement, specifically in student government at the collegiate level, leads to creating higher public trust and a wealth of political understanding and knowledge. We …

A Multiple-Choice Study: The Impact Of Transparent Question Design On Student Performance, John Lejeune

Perspectives In Learning

This university classroom study seeks to better understand how, and to what extent, designing more transparent (or TiLTed) multiple-choice questions would impact student performance. Ninety-two students in an introductory American Government class were randomly assigned “TiLTed” and “unTiLTed” versions of thirty-five test questions. Questions were “TiLTed” and “unTiLTed” in one of three ways—involving either (a) adding or eliminating unnecessarily difficult vocabulary from the stem; (b) adding or eliminating “all-of-the-above” and “none-of-the-above” answer options; or (c) adding or omitting additional cues or context. Statistical analysis showed that TiLTing questions generally increased student scores, with twelve questions showing positive statistical significance at …

Middle Savannah River: An A/R/Tographic Ecopedagogical Ethnography Experimenting With Rhizomatic Perspectives, Lisa Augustine-Chizmar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research is an experiment in perspective. Using the four commonplaces (Schwab, 1978), I practiced letting the Savannah River teach me what there is to know about the water, the land, the people, and the other entities that depend on ki through artistic, ethnographic, and ecopedagogical lenses. The ethnographic findings describe the social actors that depend on ki and give a voice to the River. The a/r/tographic findings display the River on a canvas map through two hundred years using paint, clay, photography, video, abstract acrylics, and fabric. Together, these methods contribute to a unique ecopedagogical journey. This word cloud …

Political Polarization In College Students, David Franks

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Political engagement in the United States has been increasing over the last several years and with it a seeming rise in political polarization. Specifically, recent research supports that there has been a significant increase in affective polarization, which is characterized by strong negative emotions and impressions of one’s political opponents. Political science surveys have found that individuals rate their political opponents as being less intelligent and more selfish in recent years and individuals open to inter-party marriages have drastically declined in recent years compared to decades past. This study explored the relationship of personality, as understood in the Big Five …

The Fight For Equality: Black Lives Matter, Success, & Social Media, Metyia K. Phillips

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis strives to assess how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. By conducting a survey between September 30th, 2022 - October 12th, 2022, respondents were asked questions to gauge their attitudes about the Black Lives Matter movement, social media usage, and the success of the movement. The results of the survey (n=571) in conjunction with a 2016 Pew Research Center survey (n=2,144) were used to evaluate how social media has impacted the success of the Black Lives Matter movement. The survey was taken by a nonrandom group of respondents because I distributed the …

The Impact Of Political Beliefs On Ethical Framework In Adults

Journal of Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research

This study aimed to examine the differences between major political philosophies in the United States and whether these beliefs influence a person’s ethical views. This research was a non-experimental correlation design, using a survey methodology with adult participants. The participants were asked to complete the 39-item The Impact of Political Beliefs on Ethical Frameworks in Adults Survey. A Pearson’s r was conducted to determine the relationship between political beliefs and ethical frameworks. The results showed a slightly positive correlation that was statistically significant [r(166) = .28, p = .000]. Therefore, there was sufficient evidence to support the research hypothesis: there …

Interview With Joan Davison, Joan Davison, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Joan Davison (nee Doverspike) received her doctorate in Government and International Affairs from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 where she served as a University Fellow. Her research focused upon US – Soviet relations and US Foreign Policy. Previously she earned a BA summa cum laude from Wheeling University. While at Wheeling, the College awarded her an athletics scholarship – its first ever to a female student. In 1978, she received the Alumni Scholar-Athlete Award, again the first female recipient. In 1987 she was inducted into the Wheeling Athletics Hall of Fame as a Charter Member. In 2012, she …

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2022, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• General Joseph Smith and His Candidacy for the Presidency of the United States
• Leadership Lessons from the Life of Dallin H. Oaks
• Flunking the Founding
• Seven Lessons from the Life of Rex Lee

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works: Abstracts, Emma Aggeler, Elena Arroway, Daisy T. Booker, Justin Bravo, Kyle Bucholtz, Megan Burnham, Nicole Choi, Spencer Cockerell, Rosie Contino, Jackson Garske, Kaitlyn Glover, Caroline Hamilton, Haley Hartmann, Madalyne Heiken, Colin Holter, Leah Huzjak, Alyssa Jeng, Cole Jernigan, Chad Kashiwa, Adelaide Kerenick, Emily King, Abigail Langeberg, Maddie Leake, Meredith Lemons, Alec Mackay, Greer Mckinley, Ori Miller, Guy Milliman, Katherine Miromonti, Audrey Mitchell, Lauren Moak, Megan Morrell, Gelella Nebiyu, Zdenek Otruba, Toni V. Panzera, Kassidy Patarino, Sneha Patil, Alexandra Penney, Kevin Persky, Caitlin Pham, Gabriela Recinos, Mary Ringgenberg, Chase Routt, Olivia Schneider, Roman Shrestha, Arlo Simmerman, Alec Smith, Tessa Smith, Nhi-Lac Thai, Kyle Thurmann, Casey Tindall, Amelia Trembath, Maria Trubetskaya, Zachary Vangelisti, Peter Vo, Abby Walker, David Winter, Grayden Wolfe, Leah York

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Showcase.

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants, English learners (ELs), and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)students often lag behind their White, monolingual peers in academic achievement and English language proficiency. While there are policy solutions to improve academic and linguistic opportunities and outcomes for immigrant/EL/CLD students, such as implementing bilingual instructional models and increasing teacher diversity, these pro-immigrant policies can be hard to come by in some legislative contexts due to unfavorable economic, social, or political determinants. This qualitative case study analyzed the multifaceted political work that contributed to the passage of two pro-immigrant education policies in the Arkansas 93rd General Assembly: a bill for bilingual …

Inspiring Active Citizenship In The Community From Within The Classroom, Nathan A. Halm

Honors Projects

This project presents an alternative to contemporary civic education courses and methods in an attempt to inspire students to become Active Citizens. Fighting against common sentiments surrounding contemporary politics such as divisiveness, polarization, apathy, and disenfranchisement, this project provides a framework for students to engage at the local level in an effective and genuine way.

For Our Future: Why Suffrage Must Be Extended To Disenfranchised Youth, Nolan Mchugh

Honors Projects

Is our democracy truly representative if large portions of our population consistently fail to make their voices heard at the polls? 18-24 year olds consistently turn out to vote at the lowest levels of any age group, and yet these are the voters who will live the longest with the policy decisions being made today: how can we improve voter turnout and civic engagement in the next generation to ensure our democracy is truly "by the people and for the people?" To answer this question, we must turn to another group whose voices are not heard at the ballot box, …

Introductory Essay: Ejournal Of Public Affairs, Volume 11, Issue 1, Carah L. Ong Whaley

eJournal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

The Public’S Preferences In Supreme Court Rationale, William Svob

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Public approval of the Supreme Court has been decreasing in recent years. Given the literature’s consensus that Supreme Court rulings coincide with popular opinion more often than not, the decrease in popularity cannot be explained away by assuming the justices have made a series of widely despised rulings. This raises questions about what exactly the public wants the Supreme Court to do. There is an abundance of research covering the many factors that influence a justice to rule in a particular manner, but there is little written about what the average American believes should influence the Court. This study is …

Legislative Bill 519: Creating And Lobbying For Original Legislation, Brooklyn Terrill

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This project reflects the process of writing and attempting to pass state legislation, Legislative Bill 519, as a college student. LB 519 is an immunity policy for certain drug and alcohol charges that would be potentially prohibitive to a survivor or witness of sexual assault reporting the crime. The first several sections cover the process of developing and introducing legislation. These sections cover the process of developing the idea for LB 519 and the thought process behind the language and structure of the bill. It then covers the advocacy portion of passing a bill which includes testifying and lobbying for …

Boston Discusses The Massacre, Jean C. O'Connor

The Montana English Journal

Teachers may use this chapter from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution as a short story for grades 7 – 12., to explore themes of interpersonal conflict, conflict resolution, and the value of law.

The chapter “Boston Discusses the Massacre” is taken from The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press, 2020), and used with permission. James Lovell, teacher at the Boston Latin School, discusses the pivotal events of March 5, 1770. As the conflicts that become the American Revolution begin a group of …