The Conversation

Why the humble city bus is the key to improving US public transit

Written by Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College

Indianapolis debuted a bus rapid transit system with 60-foot articulated electric buses in 2019.Momoneymoproblemz/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

Public transit in the U.S. is in a sorry state – aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying...

The brief but shining life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet who gave dignity to the Black experience

Written by Minnita Daniel-Cox, Associate Professor of Music, University of Dayton

A 1902 portrait of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Paul Laurence Dunbar was only 33 years old when he died in 1906.

In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was the first Black American to make a living as a...

Overclassification overkill: The US government is drowning in a sea of secrets

Written by David Cuillier, Associate Professor, School of Journalism, University of Arizona

Nearly 2,000 workers process tens of millions of classified documents every year in the U.S.wragg/E+/Getty images

The U.S. faces far more threats to its national security than from spy balloons or classified documents discovered in former and current presidents’ homes.

About 50 million more threats every year. That’s the estimated...

Poland’s hospitality is helping many Ukrainian refugees thrive – 5 takeaways

Written by Patrice McMahon, Professor of Political Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

These Ukrainians arrived in Poland from Kyiv by train in December 2022.Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

More than 8 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. About 1.5 million of them have remained in the central European country rather than moving on to other places or returning home...

At a small liberal arts college, Black students learned to become 'bicultural' to succeed and get jobs – but stress followed

Written by Elizabeth Aries, Professor of Psychology, Amherst College

Black students reported stress as a result of trying to downplay their cultural identities. Halfpoint Images

In her forthcoming book, “The Impact of College Diversity: Struggles and Successes at Age 30,” Amherst College psychology professor Elizabeth Aries discovered a disturbing dual reality for Black students going to the small,...

Why can't Americans agree on, well, nearly anything? Philosophy has some answers

Written by James Steiner-Dillon, Associate Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Social media has made yelling past each other all the easier.We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Does wearing a mask stop the spread of COVID-19? Is climate change driven primarily by human-made emissions? With these kinds of issues dividing the public, it sometimes feels as if Americans are losing our ability to agree about basic facts of the...

The cautionary tale of 'Dilbert'

Written by Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, Indiana University

What Adams writes and draws rarely attracts scrutiny – it's what he says that has gotten him in hot water.Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

Dilbert, the put-upon chronicler of office life, has been given the pink slip.

On Feb. 26, 2023, Andrews McMeel Universal announced that it would no longer distribute the popular comic strip after its creator,...

Understanding mass incarceration in the US is the first step to reducing a swollen prison population

Written by Jeffrey Bellin, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, William & Mary Law School

People incarcerated at a county jail in North Dakota gather together. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The incarceration rate in the United States fell in 2021 to its lowest levels since 1995 – but the U.S. continues to imprison a higher percentage of its population than almost every other country.

The U.S. incarcerates 530 people for every 100,000...

I've spent 5 years researching the heroic life of Black musician Graham Jackson, but teaching his story could be illegal under laws in Florida and North Dakota

Written by David Cason, Associate Professor in Honors, University of North Dakota

Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson mourns the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 13, 1945. Edward Clark/Life Magazine

The story of Graham Jackson is a timeless tale of American ingenuity, hard work and the cream rising to the top.

It’s also a tale of economic inequality, overt racism and America’s Jim Crow caste system.

As one of...

Sibling aggression and abuse go beyond rivalry – bullying within a family can have lifelong repercussions

Written by Corinna Jenkins Tucker, Senior Project Director, Sibling Aggression and Abuse Research and Advocacy Initiative (SAARA) at the Crimes Against Children Center, University of New Hampshire

Hurting a sibling is not the same thing as healthy rivalry.Glasshouse Images/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Nearly 80% of U.S. children grow up with a sibling. For many, brothers and sisters are life companions, close confidants and sharers of memories. But siblings also are natural competitors for parents’ attention. When brothers and...