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Tag: university of pennsylvania
Rejecting Trump, Americans Show Decline In Racial Prejudice

Rejecting Trump, Americans Show Decline In Racial Prejudice

The Washington Post reported on Friday that a new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found decreases in racism among white Americans since the 2016 election, and it might be because of Trump.

“It’s quite conceivable that Trump has simultaneously galvanized a small number of highly prejudiced white Americans while also pushing millions more to affirm that they are not as prejudiced,” political scientist Daniel J. Hopkins told the Post.

The study tracked anti-black prejudice over a 12-year period and found what the Post called “an especially marked drop” between November of 2016 and November 2018, the end of Trump’s first year as president. The study also showed prejudice against Hispanic people saw “a similar decline between Trump’s election and the fall of 2018,” specifically driven by Democrats.

The drops in racism since Trump took office show he may have “pushed public opinion in the opposite direction” of his racist positions, the study said.

Over the entire course of his presidency, Trump has never had the support of a majority of Americans. It’s likely that at least some of that can be attributed to Americans rejecting his toxic brand of bigotry.

Trump has a long history of racism, including calling Mexicans rapists, pushing to execute the completely exonerated Central Park Five, and spreading the racist anti-Obama “birther” conspiracy theory.

Now, it looks like Americans are turning the page on his racist ideas in droves.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

IMAGE: William Frantz Elementary School, New Orleans, 1960. “After a Federal court ordered the desegregation of schools in the South, U.S. Marshals escorted a young Black girl, Ruby Bridges, to school.” Note: Photo appears to show Bridges and the Marshals leaving the school. She was escorted both to and from the school while segregationist protests continued. Public domain via WikiCommons.

PA Governor Won’t Appeal Decision To Overturn Ban On Gay Marriage

PA Governor Won’t Appeal Decision To Overturn Ban On Gay Marriage

By Amy Worden and Angela Couloumbis, The Philadelphia Inquirer

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Wednesday that he would not appeal the federal court decision overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, making Pennsylvania the 19th state to recognize such marriages.

Corbett’s announcement, coming one day after the landmark ruling by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III, eliminated the prospect that a higher court could reinstate the ban.

“Given the high legal threshold set forth by Judge Jones in this case, the case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal,” the governor said in a statement.

He said that as a Roman Catholic, his decision went against his lifelong religious beliefs.

“I continue to maintain the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman,” Corbett said. But, he added, “my duties as governor require that I follow the laws as interpreted by the courts, and make a judgment as to the likelihood of a successful appeal.”

In a 39-page opinion Tuesday, Jones struck down the state’s 1996 law banning gay marriage, calling it unconstitutional because it failed to give gay and lesbian couples the same protections and recognition as heterosexual couples.

“We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them onto the ash heap of history,” Jones wrote.

Corbett’s decision was widely praised by the civil rights and civil liberties groups that support gay marriage and had feared a dragged-out appeal process.

“We applaud the governor for letting the constitutional principles of freedom and equality ring throughout Pennsylvania by allowing loving same-sex couples to marry,” said a statement from attorneys for the ACLU, the Philadelphia law firm of Hangley Aronchick, and University of Pennsylvania law professor Seth Kreimer — who together represented the 23 plaintiffs who brought the case in July.

Conservative groups and others opposed to nonheterosexual unions roundly criticized him.

Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said the governor had been critical of state Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane, a Democrat, when she announced last year that she would not defend the same-sex marriage ban.

“Now the governor is refusing to defend marriage,” said Wenger. “Until the Supreme Court rules definitively on the issue, it’s premature to say these cases are not worth fighting for.”

The state had hired outside counsel — the West Chester company Lamb McErlane — to defend the law, which has cost taxpayers nearly $600,000, according to the state treasurer’s office.

But the odds of succeeding may not have been in Corbett’s favor. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in two historic marriage cases last summer, no state marriage ban has survived a court challenge, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group.

The governor’s decision is also likely to have political implications among grass-roots Republicans, particularly as he faces a tough re-election battle this fall.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party on Tuesday blasted Jones’ decision, calling it an example of “judicial fiat” by an “activist judiciary.”

GOP state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, one of the legislature’s most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage, said Corbett “failed to finish the fight.”

Metcalfe said the decision on legalizing same-sex marriage should be left to the voters through a constitutional amendment — not made by “an activist judge.”

“The appropriate forum to debate and discuss this important issue is the legislature,” said Metcalfe, “not the disconnected judiciary.”

Ted Martin, executive director of Equality PA, an LGBT advocacy group, lauded Corbett’s move and thanked him for “letting love win.”

Among others issuing a vote of support Wednesday for Corbett was the last elected Republican governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge.

“While it may not be a universally popular decision within our party, it’s the right decision at the right time. That’s what strong leaders do,” Ridge said. “Gov. Corbett is proving yet again to be a pragmatic leader who at all times shows respect for those on either side of difficult social issues.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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Students, Faculty Decry Penn Plan To Cut Math And Science Libraries

Students, Faculty Decry Penn Plan To Cut Math And Science Libraries

By Susan Snyder, The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA — A plan by the University of Pennsylvania to cut back on two of its branch libraries — one for engineering and the other for math, physics, and astronomy — has yielded an outcry from students and professors who say the books are critical to their studies and research.

Both libraries are housed within the same campus buildings as their departments, and are heavily used by undergraduates and graduate students alike. Mathematics students, in particular, said many of the books and materials they need are not available electronically, and they must browse the library to find what they need.

“We think they’ve grossly underestimated how valuable of a resource this is,” said Brett Frankel, a graduate student in mathematics who signed a petition against the move. “Our subject has a very long memory, and that I think is a big part of why we are so heavily dependent on print sources. I have a book checked out right now that is more than 50 years old.”

The university, however, cites a pressing need for classroom space and, in the case of the engineering library, offices as well. Each library is about 5,000 square feet and houses between 35,000 and 40,000 volumes. The engineering library would be closed under the plan, though it would still have an office for its director, and the math, physics and astronomy library would be reduced by more than a third. The changes, the university said, would not result in layoffs.

“Those of us who grew up with a veneration for the printed word and who still collect and cherish books will be pained by this transition,” Eduardo D. Glandt, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, said last week in an email to faculty. “We all understand, however, that we are going through an irreversible sea change. The book or journal printed on cellulose is becoming a collector’s item, a wonderful artifact to be saved and preserved. Just not in the Towne Building.”

That refrain has become a familiar one at universities around the country as they move to digitize libraries and find space for other uses.

“It’s a trend, and it’s unfortunate, really,” said Steven Bell, past president of the Association of College and Research Libraries and associate librarian at Temple University. “They say the library is the heart of the university. They’re cutting a little piece of the heart out now.”

Temple in 2006 closed most of its branch libraries in areas such as education, social work, math, physics, chemistry and biology, he said. The sting hasn’t entirely faded.

“I still run into faculty who will say, ‘I really liked it when we had our own library in our building,'” Bell said.

At Penn on Monday, students turned in a petition with about 500 signatures to the provost’s office, opposing the change in the math, physics, and astronomy library. A second online petition against changes at both libraries has garnered more than 400 signatures to date, students said.

David Harbater, a professor of mathematics and chair of the graduate students, signed on.

“There’s a perception in the public and among administrators that people under 30 or 40 don’t believe in anything on paper, that they believe that books are obsolete,” Harbater said. “But in fact, it turns out that’s not true. People actually care about things that are print. They care about libraries.”

Under Penn’s plan, the library books would be stored in a New Jersey warehouse. Students could request them, but would have to wait several days to receive them, Frankel said.

“A lot of times you’re reading something and you realize you need something else,” said Neel Patel, a mathematics graduate student from South Brunswick, N.J. “If you’ve waited four or five days for that first book, now you realize you need another book, you have to wait another four or five days for that. It’s impossible to get any kind of research done that way. This is sort of sending the wrong message.”

Nisha Sosale, a graduate student in chemical engineering, said she was shocked to hear the engineering library was closing.

“It’s pretty much the only room in this building where you can study,” said Sosale, who was working on her thesis there on Monday.

Andrew Binns, Penn’s vice provost for education, said the university was still reviewing plans for the math library.

“We have lots of different priorities that we have to consider,” he said. “We’re trying to find the right mix of collections, study space and classrooms to meet the needs of the entire community.”

The university, he explained, is moving away from the traditional lecture structure in the engineering and science fields to more “active learning,” and needs flexible spaces where groups of students can sit and work together. Plans call for an “active learning” classroom in what is now the math library.

The university is exploring the possibility of storing the library books at a location closer than the warehouse, possibly in the main library, Binns said.

Access is critical, said Caitlin Beecham, a sophomore math major.

“At any one time, I have three books checked out that I’m reading,” she said. “It’s really important to have the library here.”

Photo via Wikimedia Commons