Structure and Function of African Floodplains

Volume: 8

On “And Vulnerable : Catholic Social Thought and the Social Challenges of Cognitive Disability

In light of the ongoing social challenges facing individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in our time, I want to highlight some underappreciated aspects of Catholic Social Teaching that we would do well to recall. The discussion proceeds in four parts. First, I identify several key contemporary social challenges that continue to face individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Second, I trace the root of those particular challenges to the social forces of industrialization, urbanization, and social Darwinism in the second half of the nineteenth century. Third, on the basis of that historical framework, I argue that the contemporary Catholic response to the various social challenges of disabled persons has much to gain from serious consideration of Catholic Social Thought’s response to the suffering of the working class. Finally, I conclude with a proposal on how this application of the tradition might further be developed and promoted

Healthcare Reparations in California

The Reparations Task Force has recommended several key areas in which the state of California can offer reparations for its systemic abuse of African Americans. The Interim Report issued by the Task Force highlights the discrepancy in health outcomes for White Californians versus Black Californians and attributes the difference not just to inequitable access, but also to a special compounding effect of physical and mental stress suffered solely by Black Californians as a result of systemic and personal environmental racial discrimination. This Essay discusses the unique aspects of “weathering” and the insidious effect of racial bias in research meant to study and treat it. The solution must address the physical ramifications of the intergenerational impacts of slavery and racial discrimination on today’s Californians as recompense for the state’s perpetuation of the atrocities. However, effective treatment for weathering cannot proceed without dramatic and immediate changes to the way it is studied. A lack of objectivity has hidden a defect in medical science that precludes effective study. The solution posed here takes into account the need to not only compensate individuals for present-day physical and mental harm but to change the foundational structure that creates and maintains healthcare inequity for Black Californians. This foundational change will not only increase access to healthcare, but it will also yield exponentially beneficial clinical data gathered using race-conscious techniques from which a newly formed leadership can direct process improvement in diagnosis and treatment

Increasing Engagement through Oral Exams

The author discusses the teaching methods he uses in an undergraduate religious studies course, focusing on how oral exams can be used to increase student engagement. He comments on how class discussions can improve through such exams and goes on to explore the benefits over assigning written exams or essays

The Two Types of Grades and Why They Matter to Ethics Education

In-course marks and final grades each have their own nature and purpose and conflating the two does a disservice to both. Final grades represent a fixed and final statement about how a student did in the course in the end. They are a communication between the professor and anyone who will pick up that student’s transcript someday. In-course marks, by contrast, are a communication between the professor and student alone, and ought to be representative of an ongoing conversation about how the student is currently doing in the course. They are subject to change with each lecture, assessment, and conversation, and should embody that dynamism and potential for progress. Building upon the pedagogical concepts of differentiated learning, growth mindset, and backward course design, this paper will examine the advantages of differentiating between the two types of grades and present three grading models that incorporate the distinction

From The Ashes: Jus Post Bellum And The Emergence Of Kosovo

In many parts ofthe world today, when the subject of war arises, the conversation inevitably turns to the continuing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As these two conflicts rage into their fifth and seventh years respectively and the situation on the ground seems to be deteriorating, the United States national conversation seenlS primarily concemed with a timeline for exit. The just war tradition is not immune to this conversation. In direct response to these conflicts, scholars have, for the first time, developed criteria for justly ending and exiting a war. Unfortunately, the application ofthese criteria has thus far been limited to Iraq and Afghanistan. While these two conflicts have served as a catalyst for this advancement in just war theory, and elected officials should be mindful of exiting these wars justly, the complex and ongoing nature ofthese conflicts makes them difficult test cases for jus post beiium criteria. For a more straightforward and developed case, I hlffi to the conflict in the former Yugoslavian province of Kosovo and the nine years ofreconstruction that have followed. Building on the work ofthe trailblazers ofthis field, I will show how jus post beiium principles have been employed with tangible results in the real life construction of a lasting peace in Kosovo

Avoiding war and creating peace in Kosovo

The article presents the author\u27s comments on peace negotiations and the possibility of war regarding the independence of Kosovo from Serbia. According to the author, the Albanians of Kosovo will not refrain from war to free themselves from Serbian rule. He comments that with the ethnic division between the Serbs and the Albanians it is hard to predict whether independence will spark violence or ensure Kosovo\u27s economic growth

Toward an Inclusive Faculty Community

Today nearly three quarters of all college professors work off of the tenure-track, and thus exist in a university structure that was not constructed with them in mind, does not take them seriously, and, ultimately, offers them little more than the most tenuous and temporary of connections. This is hardly the model of a Christian community that the Catholic university aspires to be. Thus, this paper first seeks to unpack the historical legacy of the past four decades of contingent faculty growth, and then, offers a response by drawing upon Catholic Social Teaching and Christian scripture to inform a new model of faculty community that is inclusive and just to all faculty members

University Ethics: The Status of the FieldMatthew Gaudet

This paper’s task is to provide a summary of this nascent field at its current state of development. First, I trace Keenan’s work to germinate university ethics as a new field worthy of study. Second, I examine several precursors to university ethics and how these precursors continue to provide fertile soil for the field from which this new field may continue to grow. Next, I survey the current state of the field, identifying where the field has already begun to bloom and bear fruit. Finally, I look to the future of the field, identifying issues that are either already plaguing the university or on the near term horizon, which will both demand and benefit from a university ethics approach

Reflections on the Contingent Workforce at Catholic Colleges

Contingent or “adjunct” professors are highly educated and often excellent educators, yet they are suffering from a nationwide epidemic of low wages, a lack of benefits, poor working conditions, short and sporadic contracts, and—to make ends meet—long commutes that often involve two, three, or even more institutions. This story of contingency on American campuses is fast becoming a well-tread narrative, not only in periodicals that focus on academic life (e.g. the Chronicle of Higher Education, Vitae, Insidehighered.com), but also more recently, in mainstream news outlets as wide spanning as the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, Forbes, The Atlantic, and Salon. Gawker.com even did an 8-part series on the struggles of contingent faculty. Like an ancient myth that gets told and retold throughout the centuries, the setting and the names may change but the story always retains certain core elements: the lack of benefits, the shabby pay, and, of course, the “administration” cast as the villain. The moral also remains consistent: if we want to help the contingent professor, we need to support unionization of contingent faculty and collective bargaining in order to gain leverage against the (evil) administrators. This story is told about Catholic universities just as often as it is any other university, and aptly so, since Catholic universities employ roughly the same percentage of contingent faculty as the national average. Furthermore, the solution of unionization fits neatly with a cursory reading of Catholic social teaching, which, from its inception in the wake of the industrial revolution, has been pro-union. But does unionization suffice to offer a truly Catholic response to the contingency epidemic in the American academy? In this essay, I will argue that while unionization is a fine first step, it ought not be the whole of a Catholic response to the contingency crisis. It is incumbent upon Catholic colleges, which espouse to be communities inspired by the Catholic vision for the common social life, to actively work to be more inclusive of contingent faculty