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Peter Haas, a retired professor of political science and international relations, wrote a guest column on situational ethics in the war between Hamas and Israel. “Rhetoric over the Israel Hamas war is burning red hot. Some narratives blame Israel, some blame Hamas, some focus on the morality of Israeli tactics against the citizens of Gaza.” writes Haas in the article titled “Guest columnist Peter M. Haas: Situational ethics hold sway in Gaza”. (Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/5/23)

Legal Studies Lecturer and practicing attorney Maria Puppolo was recognized last week as one of the Top Women in Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, for the work she does with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, where she assists recently incarcerated individuals with housing and employment programs. Congratulations Professor Puppolo! We are proud that you are part of the Legal Studies Major. 

Leah Wing was awarded the Margaret Maher Award for her work in Belfast, north of Ireland/Northern Ireland and contributions to the Amherst and UMass communities.

A 2022 UMass Poll measuring voters’ belief in the “great replacement” theory is cited in an article laying out former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley’s potential path to the Republican presidential nomination. The poll found that two-thirds of Republicans endorse some form of the tenets of the theory, which claims that the growth in the number of immigrants in the U.S. means the country is in danger of losing its culture and identity. (The Hill, 10/23/23; News Office release)

There is ongoing coverage reporting results of a new UMass Poll that assessed the approval of Massachusetts elected officials and also measured opinions about the housing shortage in Massachusetts and the state of  the MBTA.  Ten months into her term, 58% of all respondents – including over 25% of Trump voters – approve of Gov. Maura Healey’s performance, while more than half say she has not handled the housing shortage well. (NEPM picked up by other regional NPR stations, Boston.comMassLivePatchState House News Service, 10/23/23; WCVB-TV [Boston], WCVB-TV [Boston], The Boston Globe, 10/24/23; News Office release)

“Less than a year into her tenure as Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey has not only inherited her predecessor’s corner office, but she has also taken the mantle as one of the commonwealth’s most popular elected officials, as close to 6-in-10 residents approve of the job that Healey has done ten months into the job,” says Tatishe Nteta , Professor of Political Science and Director of the UMass Poll. Healey’s approval was the highest of all politicians who were evaluated by the poll. Senator Elizabeth Warren had the second-highest approval at 55%. (WCVB [Boston], Politico, 10/23/23; News Office release)

Paul Musgrave, Professor of Political Science, is quoted in an article examining the predicament McDonald’s finds itself in as franchises in the Middle East have weighed in on opposing sides of the Israeli-Hamas conflict, with branches in Muslim countries disavowing a decision by McDonald’s Israel to provide free meals to the Israeli military. “We’re in a post-‘Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention’ world now for sure,” Musgrave says, citing the idea that two countries with McDonalds would never go to war with each other. “Even though Russia and Ukraine both had McDonald’s in 2022, they still went to war. Now, conflicts within the McDonald’s empire mirror the real stresses and passions of the region.” Additionally, he was featured in Vice. Musgrave says, "The risks here could be extreme. During the 1960s, for instance, even powerful brands like Coca-Cola were expelled from countries because of the Arab boycott of Israel and firms conducting business with Israel. That lasted for decades." (Al Jazeera, 10/20/23; Vice, 10/20/23 ) 

A multidisciplinary team led by Seth Goldman, communication, with Tatishe Nteta, political science and UMass Poll, has received a Presidential Authority Award from the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) to expand its research of how people of color respond to narratives of rising diversity. (Read More, 10/12/2023)

Political science doctoral candidate Ricardo Vega León has received the 2023 Fund for Latino Scholarship award from the American Political Science Association. His research interests include the intersections of the history of political thought and political economy, political theory of race and empire, and transnational politics of slavery and abolition.  (Read More, 10/9/2023)

Paul M. Collins, Jr., Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at UMass Amherst, has a new book, Supreme Bias: Gender and Race in U.S. Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings (Stanford University Press). In addition to revealing the disturbing extent to which bias exists even at the highest echelon of U.S. legal power, the book provides concrete suggestions for reducing bias. (Stanford University Press)

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