Roosevelt @ Michigan State University

Catalonia and the EU’s Responsibility to Help

Catalonia, currently an autonomous community within Spain, has its own culture, language, and history - including a long tradition of separatism. Its most recent attempt at independence came in the form of a referendum earlier this month. The Spanish government banned the referendum, arguing that it was unconstitutional. 📊 Resultats del Referèndum de #1OCT pic.twitter.com/2jGFL1xLz1 … Continue reading Catalonia and the EU’s Responsibility to Help

Education

We the People: Inclusive Curricula and Social Change

I have a dream that one day White students will learn about racism because as current curriculums stand, we do not do enough to teach our children about the reality of race relations past, present, and future in this country. I have a dream that little girls will one day have plenty of strong role … Continue reading We the People: Inclusive Curricula and Social Change

economics, technology

Garbage In, Garbage Out

In the past five years or so, our devices have gotten really smart. We all have phones in our pockets capable of responding to our commands (at least in theory), and a wide selection of tubes we can put into our homes to translate our spoken words into action. The intelligence these devices display is … Continue reading Garbage In, Garbage Out

featured, foreign policy

A Renewed Case for Diplomacy with North Korea: Missile Defense Is Not Yet Reliable

North Korean ballistic missile tests over the past eight months have been a significant cause of concern in the United States and around the world. Recently, the U.S. has taken an increasingly aggressive posture, culminating in Donald Trump’s speech to the UN General Assembly, during which he threatened to "totally destroy North Korea” in defense … Continue reading A Renewed Case for Diplomacy with North Korea: Missile Defense Is Not Yet Reliable

Human Rights

No Human is Illegal: Why We Should Protect Dreamers

DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is a program started by the Obama administration in 2012 that allows illegal immigrants who came to the United States as minors to apply for 2-year renewable deferred action (delayed deportation) and work visas. As of 2017, 800,000 Dreamers (named after the DREAM Act) were enrolled in DACA. The … Continue reading No Human is Illegal: Why We Should Protect Dreamers

foreign policy

Russia Looks West, and the US Should be Wary

On Thursday, September 14th, Belarus will see an influx of Russian troops participating in joint exercises with the Belarusian army in the largest Russian military exercises since the end of cold war. These exercises will cover a vast amount of land, from Western Russia, to throughout Belarus, to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the … Continue reading Russia Looks West, and the US Should be Wary

Announcements

What We Write About

Last week, we took some time to talk about what Roosevelt @ MSU does as a broader organization, covering our research and writing efforts as well as our advocacy work. This week, we wanted to take some time to talk about our blog. Our blog started last year as part of a broader effort to expand … Continue reading What We Write About

Announcements

What We Do at Roosevelt

Last year, we published a post introducing ourselves, fittingly titled We Are Roosevelt @ MSU. That piece focused on our philosophy as an organization, and we still think it's worth a read. However, we wanted to take some time at the beginning of this year to focus on what exactly Roosevelt @ MSU does. What we … Continue reading What We Do at Roosevelt

economics

Broadband as a Public Good

At this point, it has become something of a cliché to talk about how internet access is increasingly intertwined in our everyday lives. Pundits opine our addiction to social media, and despair our use of technology in places where it was previously unthinkable. However, these stories tend to gloss over the ways in which the internet … Continue reading Broadband as a Public Good

foreign policy, Human Rights

Preventing Ethnic Cleansing: Alternative Strategies for Myanmar

In February 2017, the United Nations accused Myanmar security forces of engaging in crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in the Rakhine province. Myanmar is not a war zone. In fact, Myanmar is a newly established democracy as of 2015, and their de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a nobel laureate. The population … Continue reading Preventing Ethnic Cleansing: Alternative Strategies for Myanmar