On Independence Day, we celebrate the shared American experiences and reflect upon the noble ideals of individual freedom to which we aspire. Yet, this Fourth of July finds these values in peril. In the coming weeks, Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins must help ensure the Supreme Court functions as a check against the degradation of freedom. […]
Flynn Ross, University of Southern Maine. Originally posted in the Bangor Daily News June 19, 2018 and updated on June 20, 2018. Government by the people, for the people is characterized by transparency, accountability, participation and inclusion. In Maine, we have a strong legacy of town halls, relatively high voter participation rates and publicly accessible […]
Luisa Deprez, University of Southern Maine, and Lisa Dodson, Brandeis University. Originally posted in the Bangor Daily News June 5, 2018. Maine has the third highest rate of people in the nation who routinely don’t get enough to eat. It is a ranking that tells us that tens of thousands of low-income Mainers suffer from […]
Olivia Bogucki, University of Maine. Originally posted in the Bangor Daily News May 22, 2018. Late-life depression is an important public health concern in Maine. Over 15 percent of senior citizens in Maine have depression. Unfortunately, myths and misconceptions about late-life depression make it more challenging for older adults struggling with this debilitating disorder to […]
Amy Blackstone, University of Maine. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News May 9, 2018. In recent months, we’ve seen extraordinary public attention focused on workplace sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women. There is good reason for the attention. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission task force on sexual harassment reports that “anywhere from […]
Jennifer Wriggins, University of Maine School of Law. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News May 9, 2018. Vice President Mike Pence recently said that Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, was a “tireless champion of … the rule of law,” but the real champions of the rule of law are millions of […]
Robert Glover and Cleo Baker, University of Maine. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News April 11, 2018. It feels strange to say that Maine has an employment “crisis” at a time when unemployment is at its lowest rate in decades. Yet, Maine’s low unemployment rates mean that employers are struggling to find workers, particularly in […]
Flynn Ross, University of Southern Maine. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News March 28, 2018. The promise of proficiency-based learning is that all students will meet expectations set forth in standards and achieve proficiency. This is a noble goal that no society in the history of the world has ever achieved. For most of human […]
Lynne Miller and Emily Talmadge, University of Southern Maine. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News March 14, 2018. In 2012, the Maine Legislature passed LD 1422, mandating a “proficiency diploma” as a requirement for high school graduation. The diploma was meant to guarantee that all students would graduate from high school with consistent levels of […]
Shauna Shames, Rutgers University-Camden. Originally posted in Bangor Daily News February 28, 2018. The U.S. is a country of astonishing diversity, but its political leaders continue to be disproportionately older white men. Following the defeat of our nation’s first viable female presidential candidate, and with new movements — for gun control and against sexual harassment […]
