The Loudest Voices in the Room: Understanding Student Government Advocacy During a Tense Political Climate

The university campus is often highlighted as an important location for individuals to freely engage in political discourse. Recently, university students across the nation have taken initiative to host protests to demand institutional reform on issues such as campus safety protocols, LGBTQ rights, and Title IX policies. As a result, a divide is created between the student body and the university administration. This qualitative study uses ethnographic methods to understand the role of university student government as a political entity meant to advocate for student demands, while working with the administration that is often considered the source of political tensions. The organizational culture theory is used as a framework to understand how cultural values are reinforced through specific behaviors and rhetorical devices. This study found that the complexity of advocacy was discovered through competing motivators and the strife that comes with seeking collaboration. Additionally, political rhetorical tools including dissociation and abstract language reinforce the values of the culture by creating an “us vs. them” narrative

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on vascular registries and clinical trials.

Quality improvement programs and clinical trial research experienced disruption due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Vascular registries showed an immediate impact with significant declines in second-quarter vascular procedure volumes witnessed across Europe and the United States. To better understand the magnitude and impact of the pandemic, organizations and study groups sent grass roots surveys to vascular specialists for needs assessment. Several vascular registries responded quickly by insertion of COVID-19 variables into their data collection forms. More than 80% of clinical trials have been reported delayed or not started due to factors that included loss of enrollment from patient concerns or mandated institutional shutdowns, weighing the risk of trial participation on patient safety. Preliminary data of patients undergoing vascular surgery with active COVID-19 infection show inferior outcomes (morbidity) and increased mortality. Disease-specific vascular surgery study collaboratives about COVID-19 were created for the desire to study the disease in a more focused manner than possible through registry outcomes. This review describes the pandemic effect on multiple VASCUNET registries including Germany (GermanVasc), Sweden (SwedVasc), United Kingdom (UK National Vascular Registry), Australia and New Zealand (bi-national Australasian Vascular Audit), as well as the United States (Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Quality Initiative). We will highlight the continued collaboration of VASCUNET with the Vascular Quality Initiative in the International Consortium of Vascular Registries as part of the Medical Device Epidemiology Network coordinated registry network. Vascular registries must remain flexible and responsive to new and future real-world problems affecting vascular patients