Fall 2022
Briefly noted
Short reviews of books by Washington State University alumni and faculty » More ...
Political Science
Summer 2021
American democracy: An inflection point
Fixing our national divisions is crucial for democracy. » More ...
Spring 2019
Briefly noted
Brief reviews of books by WSU alumni, faculty, and the WSU Press, including "Governing the Evergreen State: Political Life in Washington," "Sponge Cake: A Mostly Made Up Story About A Completely Insane Town," "What’s in the Fridge?" and "52 Seattle Adventures With Kids: A four-season guide" » More ...
Fall 2018
Ask Caroline Heldman ’93
A leading voice on sexual harassment, Caroline Heldman ’93 has had a busy year. She coauthored the 2018 book Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election, and the 2017 book Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States. And the associate professor of politics—who specializes in the presidency, media, gender, and race at Occidental College in Los Angeles—frequently appears in documentaries and on news programs to speak about the #MeToo movement and harassment—partly because of her own experience.
Heldman, who had been a regular guest of host Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor, alleged in 2017 that … » More …
Fall 2018
Videos and more from Caroline Heldman
Caroline Heldman ’93 appears in several documentaries, writes, and presents on media and gender. She has emerged as a strong voice about the #MeToo movement and harassment, partly because of her own experience. Watch parts of documentaries and learn more about Heldman’s work below. You can also read about her in “Ask Caroline Heldman,” Fall 2018.
Miss Representation, a 2011 documentary
The Mask You Live In, 2015
Books
Sex and Gender in the 2016 Presidential Election, 2018
The New Campus Anti-Rape Movement: Internet Activism for Social Justice, 2018, … » More …
Fall 2017
Privacy, Surveillance, and the New Media You
Edward Lee Lamoureux ’80 MA Speech Comm.
Peter Lang: 2017
You open your browser to your favorite news site, and there on top is an ad for Cougar logo socks. “Wait a minute,” you might ask yourself. “How did they know I just looked at a tweet about Coug socks?” Or you might not even think about it.
That slightly creepy sensation of losing one’s privacy, and … » More …
Fall 2016
Get out the tweet
Social media’s effect on political participation and civility
In the nonstop flow of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media, it’s hard to avoid comments and news about politics, especially in a presidential election year. Many worry the geyser of political rhetoric and uncivil comments might discourage some from participating.
That’s not always the case, says Porismita Borah, an assistant professor in the Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University since 2012. As a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin and at WSU, she researches emerging technology and how it affects politics. She coauthored a study in 2008 that found young people became … » More …
Spring 2016
Just Mercy
Dozens of witnesses, including a police officer, saw Walter McMillian at a church fish fry when a young woman was killed in nearby Monroeville, Alabama in 1986.
Police later arrested the self-employed African-American tree trimmer anyway. A nearly all-white jury convicted him and a judge sent him to death row. That’s where Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard-educated lawyer, met McMillian.
Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, battled a hostile criminal justice system to uncover improperly concealed evidence that led to McMillian’s exoneration in 1993.
But the frightening way McMillian was so quickly condemned raises broader questions about America’s criminal justice system, which incarcerates more … » More …
Winter 2015
The lasting impact of Tom Foley
Thomas S. Foley was a political gentleman. The Speaker of the House lived and worked from principles that defined his political career: civility, honesty, and integrity. Even though he lost his seat in Congress, Foley’s legacy continues to encourage many others to follow his path, through his namesake institute at Washington State University.
No one on the reelection team was emotionally prepared for Foley’s defeat in 1994. A sitting Speaker had not been defeated since the Civil War era. John Pierce remembers Foley as “sad, stunned about the election results, but not vindictive.” Pierce had been a congressional fellow with Foley before beginning a 24-year … » More …
Winter 2015
Three portraits of Foley Institute alumni
The Foley path to public service through internships
“In a cynical age, I still believe that we must summon people to a vision of public service. For, in the end, this ethic determines more than anything else whether we will have citizens and leaders of honor, judgment, wisdom, and heart. These are the qualities this institute will nurture and advance, helping this nation become what it has always been destined to be, the best hope of a free people to live in an open and just society.”
—The Honorable Thomas S. Foley
Former LeLoup Intern, John Culton ’11 remembers the day … » More …