The Conversation

Flood-prone Houston faces hard choices for handling too much water

Written by Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

A roadside assistance vehicle is swamped by floodwaters on a Houston highway in 2024.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Eight years after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston in 2017, flooding hundreds of thousands of homes, the city still awaits a comprehensive flood protection system. The local flood control district estimates that at least one major flood...

Conventional anti-corruption tools often fail to address root causes – but loss of US leadership could still spell trouble for efforts abroad

Written by Diana Chigas, Professor of the Practice in International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders on Feb. 10, 2025, including an order relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

For nearly half a century, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has made it illegal for U.S. citizens and companies to bribe foreign officials. Since 1998, that has been the case for...

Many US states are rethinking how students use cellphones − but digital tech still has a place in the classroom

Written by Kui Xie, Dean of College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri-Columbia

States including Michigan and Colorado are restricting the ways students can use digital devices in school.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Across the United States, more schools are implementing policies restricting cellphones as concerns about digital distraction, mental health and academic performance rise.

The scale of the issue is significant....

From ‘Frankenstein’ to ‘Dracula,’ exploring the dark world of death and the undead offers a reminder of our mortality

Written by Molly Ryder Granatino, Teaching Assistant Professor, English department, University of Tennessee

Students consider their own mortality in a literature course on death and dying. iStock/Getty Images Plus

Spooky decorations of ghosts and skeletons will soon be returning to people’s doorsteps ahead of Halloween – but year-round, I am thinking about literary representations of death and dying.

I am not alone. For centuries, death has...

Cellphones in schools – more states are taking action to reduce student distraction without eliminating tech access

Written by Kui Xie, Dean of College of Education and Human Development, University of Missouri-Columbia

States including Michigan and Colorado are restricting the ways students can use digital devices in school.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Across the United States, more schools are implementing policies restricting cellphones as concerns about digital distraction, mental health and academic performance rise.

The scale of the issue is significant....

Censorship campaigns can have a way of backfiring – look no further than the fate of America’s most prolific censor

Written by Amy Werbel, Professor of the History of Art, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)

The vast majority of Americans support the right to free speech.Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, his administration has made many attempts to suppress speech it disfavors – at universities, on the airwaves, in public school classrooms, in museums, at protests an...

McCarthyism’s shadow looms over controversial firing of Texas professor who taught about gender identity

Written by Laura Gail Miller, Ed.D. Candidate in Educational Organizational Learning and Leadership, Seattle University

A Texas A&M free speech case raises questions about academic freedom that have featured before in American society and courts, including during the 1950s. Westend61

Texas A&M University announced the resignation of its president, Mark A. Welsh III, on Sept. 18, 2025, following a controversial decision earlier in the month to fire a...

‘Whisper networks’ don’t work as well online as off − here’s why women are better able to look out for each other in person

Written by Carrie Ann Johnson, Assistant Teaching Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Iowa State University

Would you trust sensitive information from someone you know more than from an anonymous online poster?kali9/E+ via Getty Images

Whisper networks are informal channels that women use to warn each other about sexual harassment, abuse or assault. The reason they work isn’t because they are secret – they work because they are contextual.

The...

‘Warrior ethos’ mistakes military might for true security − and ignores the wisdom of Eisenhower

Written by Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Hundreds of generals and admirals converged on Quantico, Virginia, on Sept. 30, 2025, after being summoned from across the globe by their boss, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, for a session that, as expected, covered what Hegseth often describes as the “warrior ethos.”

Listening quietly, they heard Hegseth promise to make the military &ldq...

Arab American students and parents see US schools very differently − political tensions are widening the gap

Written by Hind Haddad, PhD Student in Higher Education and Student Affairs, The Ohio State University

A mom in Ypsilanti, Mich., consoles her son after a defeat in basketball. Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Sixty-four percent of Arab American students say their parents don’t fully understand the U.S. school system.

That finding, from my recent nationwide survey of 411 Arab American students and parents – distributed...