JOURNALISMS

COVID Lockdowns – Was It Worth It? Why Nobody Will Ever Agree
HEALTH & WELLNESS, JOURNALISMS

COVID Lockdowns – Was It Worth It? Why Nobody Will Ever Agree

James D. Long, University of Washington; Mark A. Smith, University of Washington, and Victor Menaldo, University of Washington As an increasingly vaccinated world emerges from lockdowns, lots of people are talking about whether the fight against the pandemic was too strong or too weak. Some people argue restrictions did not go far enough; others maintain the attempted cures have been worse than the disease. One reason for these conflicting views is that the answer depends on both facts and values. Relevant facts include features of the virus like transmission rates and deaths. Government policies were often guided by scientific findings to reduce the spread of the virus and the resulting illnesses and deaths. Relevant values include health and longevity, but also prosperity, opportunit...
Astrology: It’s Only Accurate If You Do This
JOURNALISMS, THE TRENDS

Astrology: It’s Only Accurate If You Do This

The majority of people roll their eyes at the topic of astrology. Here's an example: "I don't believe in astrology. It's a lot of crap. I just think that's another thing you should throw out the window. Mysticism. Cheap. It's amazing that people still hang on to that after all these years." Mick Jagger Well, we don't believe in the type of astrology you've likely been exposed to either, Mick. What Mick and many others don't realize is that astrology is like mathematics; you need to know where and when to use the many different factors and protocols (well beyond the mere Sun sign or horoscopes) for consistent accuracy. Unfortunately, the Age of Reason in the 17th and 18th centuries contributed to the corruption of the ancient science of astrology, as did the commercialization of it st...
At Catholic Colleges Students Leave With Less Positive Attitudes Toward Gay People Than Their Peers – But That’s Not The Whole Story
JOURNALISMS

At Catholic Colleges Students Leave With Less Positive Attitudes Toward Gay People Than Their Peers – But That’s Not The Whole Story

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Students at Catholic colleges and universities begin their studies with more positive attitudes toward gay, lesbian and bisexual people than their peers at evangelical colleges and universities, our survey found. But that’s no longer the case by the time they graduate. Multidisciplinary research teams at Ohio State University, North Carolina State University and Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit, surveyed 3,486 students attending 122 institutions of various types, sizes and affiliations. Our study, the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey, polled the students three times over their time in college – in the fall of 2015, the spring of 2016 and the spring of 2019. W...
Giving Back Money That Doesn’t Belong To You – What Are The Ethics?
JOURNALISMS, MONEY

Giving Back Money That Doesn’t Belong To You – What Are The Ethics?

In Monopoly, a player who draws the card that says “BANK ERROR IN YOUR FAVOR. COLLECT $200” gets to keep the money. But what happens when such a mistake occurs in real life? Kelyn Spadoni, a 911 dispatcher, recently received quite a bit more than the US$80 she was expecting when financial brokerage firm Charles Schwab mistakenly transferred more than $1.2 million to her account, apparently because of a software glitch. When she discovered the extra money, she promptly transferred those funds to her other accounts and bought a new car and house, among other purchases. One could ask whether it was unethical for her to keep the money instead of trying to return it. As a scholar who studies the ethics of debt and finance, I believe the answer is more complex than a simple “yes” or “no.” Y...
Police Body Cameras Can Invade People’s Privacy But Help Monitor Police
CULTURE, JOURNALISMS, VIDEO REELS

Police Body Cameras Can Invade People’s Privacy But Help Monitor Police

In the course of their work, police officers encounter people who are intoxicated, distressed, injured or abused. The officers routinely ask for key identifying information like addresses, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers, and they frequently enter people’s homes and other private spaces. Police see some difficult scenes; body cameras can record those and make them public. Tony Webster via Flickr, CC BY-SA With the advent of police body cameras, this information is often captured in police video recordings – which some states’ open-records laws make available to the public. Starting in the summer of 2014, as part of research on police adoption of body-worn cameras within two agencies in Washington state, I spent hours riding in patrol vehicles, hanging out at police stations, ...
The Discomfort We Have Over Hearing Our Voices
CULTURE, JOURNALISMS

The Discomfort We Have Over Hearing Our Voices

As a surgeon who specializes in treating patients with voice problems, I routinely record my patients speaking. For me, these recordings are incredibly valuable. They allow me to track slight changes in their voices from visit to visit, and it helps confirm whether surgery or voice therapy led to improvements. Yet I’m surprised by how difficult these sessions can be for my patients. Many become visibly uncomfortable upon hearing their voice played back to them. “Do I really sound like that?” they wonder, wincing. (Yes, you do.) Some become so unsettled they refuse outright to listen to the recording – much less go over the subtle changes I want to highlight. The discomfort we have over hearing our voices in audio recordings is probably due to a mix of physiology and psychology. For o...
The Stories Of New Teachers That Face Complex Cultural Challenges – 3 Latina Teachers In Their Toughest Moments
JOURNALISMS

The Stories Of New Teachers That Face Complex Cultural Challenges – 3 Latina Teachers In Their Toughest Moments

Gun control. Hallway decorations. Hairstyles. Those aren’t the things I expected to be stumbling blocks for three Latina educators that I helped prepare to become schoolteachers in recent years. But each situation came up in their classroom or in the course of their jobs at various elementary and middle schools in the state of Indiana, where I teach. Their situations are indicative of a time in our society when we are called to more closely pay attention to issues of racism and social justice. I’m tracking these former students – along with three others – as part of a study I am doing on the first-year experiences of Latina teachers. As an educator who helps prepare future school teachers, I believe these experiences help shine light on some of the expectations that students, parents and...
State Laws Are Beginning To Recognize That Domestic Violence Isn’t About Just Physical Violence
JOURNALISMS, SEX & RELATIONSHIPS

State Laws Are Beginning To Recognize That Domestic Violence Isn’t About Just Physical Violence

Three or more U.S. women are murdered every day by their current or former intimate partner. That may in part be due to a failure of state laws to capture the full range of behavior that constitutes domestic abuse. The law continues to treat intimate partner violence like a bar fight – considering only what happened in a given incident and not all the prior abuse history, such as intimidation and entrapment. Research shows, however, that domestic abuse is not about arguments, short tempers and violent tendencies. It’s about domination and control. Men who kill their female partners usually dominate them first – sometimes without physical violence. Indeed, for 28% to 33% of victims, the homicide or attempted homicide was the first act of physical violence in the relationship. Most state...
New Research Shows – Police Academies Dedicate Only 3.21% Of Training Hours To Ethics And Other Public Service Topics
JOURNALISMS

New Research Shows – Police Academies Dedicate Only 3.21% Of Training Hours To Ethics And Other Public Service Topics

Police academies provide little training in the kinds of skills necessary to meet officers’ growing public service role, according to my research. Highly publicized cases of police violence – such as the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri – often raise questions about police training, and whether officers are prepared to do the job that is expected of them. As a public administration researcher who conducts leadership training for law enforcement supervisors across the country, I set out to investigate what future police officers learn in basic training – specifically, whether they are taught the kind of public service skills that many people expect them to display on the job. How police are trained Police officers, like ...