The Roundup Top Ten for February 10, 2023
The Blindness of Colorblindness: Revisiting "When Affirmative Action was White"by Ira KatznelsonThe author of a key work on the way racial discrimination was built into the New Deal and postwar American social policy addresses objections to his book two decades later, and concludes that white supremacy and the influence of southern conservatives over legislation are still powerful explanations. |
Rosa Parks: Radicalby Jeanne TheoharisAt the 110th anniversary of her birth, it's important to remember the civil rights icon as a militant organizer and career activist, writes the author of a new biography. |
Femicides are Increasing in America; History Says we Shouldn't be Surprisedby Kimberly A. HamlinThe term "femicide" is rarely used to describe the killing of women by men (often intimate partners), but it's an apt description for the way that gendered and sexual violence have been part of the fabric of the nation's history and constitute a systemic, not a personal, danger to women. |
Did DeSantis Claim More Credit than he Deserves for the College Board's Retreat?by Adam LaatsThe College Board faced immense public criticism for its revised standards for the AP US History exam in 2014, and caved to the demands of conservative Southerners. If Florida's governor deserves credit (or blame) it's for predicting they'd cave again. |
Yes, DEI Can Conflict with Academic Freedom—and Academic Freedom Should Winby Amna Khalid and Jeffrey Aaron SnyderMany scholars have crafted careful rationales for why free inquiry and formal policies on inclusion can coexist peacefully. The Hamline University incident shows that, in a moment of crisis, administrators won't deliberate, but will follow a policy script in ways that disempower faculty, infantilize students, and become blunt instruments for reactionaries. |
If Affirmative Action is Banned, Colleges Need to Do Wealth-Based Admissions Rightby Peter Dreier, Richard D. Kahlenberg and Melvin L. OliverOmitting family wealth from admissions decisions harms educational equity twice over, because wealth is so influential over opportunity and because it correlates so strongly with race. |
The Classified Info Uproar Shows Americans' Distrust of Secrecyby Katlyn Marie Carter"This suspicion of secrecy is why the way in which we handle classified material matters — especially if American leaders want to maintain trust in our democracy." |
Florida is Working to Roll Back a Century of Academic Freedom Protectionsby Glenn C. Altschuler and David WippmanAlthough Florida's "STOP Woke" and "Don't Say Gay" legislation has drawn attention, a far more radical claim is hiding in the state's court cases in defense of the laws: that there is no intellectual freedom for state university professors, whose speech is identical to the policies of the state. |
Pride in the South is a Story of Resistance and Resilienceby La Shonda MimsIn the urban south, LGBTQ residents are drawing on a half century of claiming public space through pride celebrations in the face of efforts to label them a threat to society. |
What Happens if We Read Jay Gatsby as "Passing"?by Alonzo VereenA high school literature teacher found his students were better able to engage with the classic if they stopped assuming that it's title character was a white man. |