With governments rushing to put in place policies and guidelines to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, it’s important to look to the past to inform the present. And we don’t have to look far. Just 5 years ago, the world was concerned with a completely different outbreak: ebola. Professor Lily Tsai and Dr. Ben Morse examine how governments at the epicenter of the ebola outbreak responded to the spread of the disease, what the role of trust is in ensuring that people comply with government recommendations, and how leaders can build trust and buy-in both during and before a crisis.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Tsai and Morse’s SSN brief, Why Citizen Trust in Government Matters — Especially when Crises Strike
• Read a ScienceDaily article about their research

Around the United States, schools are shutting down due to coronavirus. For some Americans, this means setting up a home office and learning to work with children underfoot. But others are facing a far more serious crisis: with school cafeterias closed indefinitely and employment increasingly precarious, how will they manage to put food on the table? Professor Daphne Hernandez lays out the problem of food insecurity in America, how coronavirus is affecting the situation, and what policymakers can do to help families in need -- now and in the future.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Hernandez’s OpEd on what coronavirus means for food insecurity in The Hill
• Listen to our previous episodes on food insecurity and hunger among college students

Money. Power. Knowledge. Health. Education. When you look around the world, when it comes to resources and opportunities, there are massive imbalances between countries and even inside countries. In the name of making the world a better place, people and institutions with great wealth often donate some of their money around the world through philanthropy. Rakesh Rajani shares stories and lessons learned from years of work in global philanthropy and outlines what changes are needed to make this work more effective and meaningful.

For more on this topic:

• Check out Co-Impact and The Ford Foundation
• Read Rakesh’s interview with CNN on his work in Tanzania

With the 2020 primary in full swing, college campuses are full of conversations about politics, policy, and the future of American democracy. But many of these college students don’t turn out when it actually matters, on Election Day. In fact, in the last presidential election, only around half of all young voters came out to the polls. In this archive episode, Dr. Nancy Thomas explores what gets students to vote and how college administrators, faculty members, and students can improve voting rates on their campuses.

This episode originally aired on October 11, 2018.

For more on this topic:

• Check out the report co-authored by Thomas, Election Imperatives
• Read her interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Here’s How Colleges Can Get More Involved in Elections -- and Not Just the Midterms
• Visit the website for the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts University

Check out a Washington Post story about their 2018 midterm election report showing that rates among college students doubled

Social media has permeated countless aspects of our daily lives. But perhaps no platform has influenced the media like Twitter, shaping not only what many journalists cover, but also how they cover it. Professor Shannon McGregor dives into the role of Twitter in today’s media environment, why the platform is an imperfect measure of public opinion, and how social media can become a better tool for journalists working with limited resources at their disposal. 

For More on this Topic:

• Check out the book McGregor co-edited with Dr. Talia Stroud, Digital Discussions: How Big Data Informs Political Communication
• Read her opinion piece in The Washington Post, Conservatives Say Google and Facebook are Censoring Them. Here’s the Real Background.

Over the last couple of years, states have passed increasingly restrictive laws in an effort to reduce access to abortion. And this year, the Supreme Court is deciding on new cases that could validate some of the harshest laws, potentially opening the door for an end to Roe v. Wade. But at the forefront of this fight over abortion access are providers few people know about: independent abortion clinics. PhD candidate Amy Alterman explains what exactly these independent clinics are, how they are affected by anti-abortion stigma, and how comedians are helping to lift up and support their work.

For More on this Topic:

• Check out Abortion Access Front, the comedy group mentioned in the episode
• Find your independent abortion clinic at the Abortion Care Network
• Find your local abortion fund at the National Network of Abortion Funds

In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African American president in this country’s history after a momentous election. But for many in this country, that election was anything but joyous. Soon after, a movement that became known as the Tea Party took shape on the right in opposition to this president and his policies. Fast forward 8 years and a very familiar story seemed to play out, but this time on the left. It became known as The Resistance. PhD candidate Leah Gose explains what similarities and differences exist between these two groups and what we can learn by looking at the two of them together.

• Check out the Upending American Politics book
• Read the SSN brief by Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, Making Sense of the Tea Party

Over the last few decades, minority enrollment at America’s colleges and universities has increased exponentially. These institutions, many predominantly white, like to tout enrollment rates as evidence of their commitment to racial diversity. But do these numbers tell the whole story? Professor Bedelia Richards details how black students still frequently experience discrimination on campus, what this means for their education and wellbeing, and how universities can make change to help create more inclusive campuses.

For More on this Topic:

• Read Richards’ brief, How to Create Inclusive Environments for Black Students on Predominantly White College Campuses
• Check out her post for Inside Higher Ed, Is Your University Racist?

America is getting more diverse, and that means more children of color are students in our schools. But teachers are still overwhelmingly white, so many of these students rarely see teachers who look like them. Professor Michèle Foster tells the little-known story of why America lost many of its black teachers, what that means for students, and what can be done to change things.

For More on this Topic:

• Read Foster’s brief, Why America Needs More African-American Teachers and How to Recruit and Retain Them
• Check out her feature in an episode of Revisionist History on black teachers after Brown v. Board of Education.

This episode originally aired on June 14, 2018.

We are living in the midst of an epidemic. Over the past 15 years, the number of Americans dying from opioid-related overdoses has skyrocketed by more than 200%. Facing a mounting death toll, policymakers have proposed solutions from needle exchanges to reducing the availability of prescription opioids. But the crisis seems to rage on. Professor Keith Humphreys digs into how we got here, what we know about which policy responses actually work, and what might be next in the never ending fight against addiction.

For more on this topic:

• Check out his SSN brief, How America Can Effectively Fight the Opioid Crisis
• Read his opinion pieces for The Washington Post
• Find the Vox article mentioned in the episode on the rise of meth and cocaine overdoses