The Conversation

For black celebrities like Oprah, it's impossible to be apolitical

Written by Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff, Associate Professor of History, University of South Carolina

Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey appear during a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Dec. 8, 2007.AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Oprah Winfrey’s rousing Golden Globe speech has many speculating whether the media mogul will become a presidential candidate in 2020, with some pundits questioning the merits of another “celebrity” president.

But to...

The 'greatest pandemic in history' was 100 years ago – but many of us still get the basic facts wrong

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas in 1918.AP Photo/National Museum of Health

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Between 50 and 100 million people are thought to have died, representing as much as 5 percent of the world’s population. Half a billion people were...

When sexual assault victims speak out, their institutions often betray them

Written by Jennifer J. Freyd, Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon

Institutional betrayal can lead to real psychological and physical harm.Aimorn1992/shutterstock.com

A 27-year-old medical resident in general surgery is sexually harassed by two men – the chief resident and a staff physician at the hospital. She feels trapped. When one of the men’s actions escalates to assault, she struggles to find the...

Targeting hidden roots of workplace harassment is key to fulfilling Oprah's promise to girls

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

The #MeToo movement was on full display at this year’s Golden Globes, where stars wore black to show solidarity. Among them was Oprah Winfrey, who, in accepting a lifetime achievement award, paid tribute to the women who dared tell their truth, assuring “all the girls watching” that “a new day is on the horizon.”

While...

More colleges than ever have test-optional admissions policies — and that's a good thing

Written by Joseph Soares, Professor of Sociology, Wake Forest University

The number of colleges and universities with test-optional admissions policies recently topped 1,000 -- a milestone that one expert says is a welcome trend.Shutterstock.com

Back in the 1980s, Bates College and Bowdoin College were nearly the only liberal arts colleges not to require applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores.

On Jan. 10, FairTest,...

MLK's vision of love as a moral imperative still matters

Written by Joshua F.J. Inwood, Associate Professor of Geography Senior Research Associate in the Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University

2017 was a year of increased conflict in the United States. Many diverse communities were forced to confront a range of challenges related to anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and anti-immigrant feelings. These challenges strike at the heart of what it means to live in a multicultural, democratic society.

Yet, it is not the first time America has...

Defanged regulations have big media licking their chops

Written by Amanda Lotz, Fellow at the Peabody Media Center and Professor of Media Studies, University of Michigan

Consolidation is happening at a rapid pace. But who will bear the brunt of the costs?Khakimullin Aleksandr/Shutterstock.com

The year 2017 ended with a flurry of news affecting all aspects of the media industry. A shift in net neutrality policy and Disney’s planned purchase of several Fox assets capped a year that also witnessed the pending...

Rejection of subsidies for coal and nuclear power is a win for fact-based policymaking

Written by Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Senior Economist and Interim Associate Director of Social Science and Policy, University of Michigan Energy Institute, University of Michigan

Coal stockpile at Valley Power Plant, Milwaukee, Wis.Michael Pereckas, CC BY

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has repeatedly expressed concern over the past year about the reliability of our national electric power grid. On Sept. 28, 2017, Perry ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revise wholesale electricity market rules to help ensure...

Why is El Salvador so dangerous? 4 essential reads

Written by Catesby Holmes, Global Affairs Editor, The Conversation US

Editor’s note: This is a roundup of material from The Conversation archive.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that it will eliminate the Temporary Protected Status that gave provisional U.S. residency to Salvadoran migrants after a 2001 earthquake. Some 200,000 Salvadorans now have until Sept. 9, 2019, to leave the United...

How California's megachurches changed Christian culture

Written by Richard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The popular view of California is of a liberal, godless region, a land of possibilities that is open to experimentation in all things. As novelist Wallace Stegner wrote in 1967, the California motto is:

“Why not? It might work.”

This is true even in an otherwise conventional field as religion, with perhaps the most illustrative example...