Political Science

Paul Bayer

National Urban Policies of President John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush and Their Effects on America Today

National urban policies have significantly changed from the 1960s to today. The President of the United States has a major impact on shaping those policy dimensions and historically those policies continue to shape urban policy today. Learn how those policies have been shaped through time based on the various presidents' urban agendas, and how those policies still impact society today.

Session A - 9 a.m. - Room 304.

Christopher James Clippert

The Impact of Specialty Courts: Michigan and Beyond

Modern trends in society demand a new way to deliver justice that focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Specialty courts like drug courts, domestic violence courts and teen courts seek to meet this demand. Utilizing current studies and interviews of local court officials, this study provides an impact analysis of specialty courts in Michigan and throughout the U.S.

Session B - 11 a.m. - Room 301.

Christopher A. Gates

Can We Be of Assistance? -- Research Services of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts

I intend to examine the research services provided by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. My objective is to determine how this agency influences judicial behavior through service, administration and educating the judiciary.

Session A - 9:15 a.m. - Room 304.

Ellen Gutman

Political Consensus: Ability of Government Students to Make Political Decisions

Throughout simulations designed to emulate Congress in an American government class, students were expected to create legislation and gain support for their views on political issues. However, students often seemed to conform to the attitudes of their friends instead of promoting their own beliefs. While students believed by term's end that they were more capable of making political decisions, and likely were, they were actually more likely to be influenced by the students around them.

Session C - 11:45 a.m. - Room 302.

Angela Hoxie

Differences in Gender Learning: Females in Political Science

Society has depicted women as intellectually inferior to men, and this belief still affects the present day learning styles of females within political science classrooms. I will present four different focus areas concerning females within the classroom -- abandoning beliefs, apathy, ignorance, and alienation, and show how these focus areas affect female learning. These focus areas help us to achieve a system that allows female students to benefit from a positive learning environment.

Session A - 8:45 a.m. - Auditorium.

Bradley Kalinowski

A College Education: Increasingly Out of Reach

Why is college so expensive? Why do tuition rates keep rising? How does the United States compare to the rest of the world with regard to college enrollment? This paper analyzes all of these questions and more in an attempt to determine just why college is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and then takes a look at some of the policy solutions that are being proposed at the very highest levels of government.

Session A - 8:30 a.m. - Room 301.

Steven Landis

Testing Conventional Wisdom: Has 9/11 Changed the Rules of the Game?

Following the Sept.11th terrorist attacks, conventional wisdom suggests that the rules for international intervention have changed. Today's analysts generally claim U.S. intervention policy now places greater emphasis on indirect security and ideological challenges, such as state support for terrorism and state breakdown, rather than on the potential for direct interstate conflict as seen in the Cold War. Is this true? This presentation will outline trends and changes in U.S. intervention since 2001 and pose questions for future consideration.

Session C - Noon - Room 304.

Robin Miller

Social Capital and Group Dynamics: From Facebook.com to Facing Political Issues

In a world of iPods, cell phones and facebook.com, college students are inundated with technology. While students' technological networks may be growing with every additional text message or facebook.com friend request, their face-to-face interactions are lessening. My presentation examines the concepts of social capital (value gained from the social networks of an individual) and group dynamics (how individuals interact in small groups) to understand student learning and participation in an American government classroom.

Session B - 10:15 a.m. - Room 330.

Derek Moss

Practical Steps to Increase Black Americans in the Republican Party

Blacks in the United States of American can be easily categorized as social and economic conservatives, but when blacks go to the ballot box they often vote for liberal candidates and issues. The purpose of this project is to give a practical approach for Republican Party leaders to increase participation of the black American community in their party. This project will examine why blacks refuse to vote Republican.

Session C - Noon - Room 350.

Joshua Jay Murray

Structural Violence and American Policy: A Look at Structured Inequalities

Unfortunately, it has been estimated that 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion individuals live on less than $2 a day (World Bank). This is over 2/3rds of our world's population living in substandard conditions. Parts of American policy, whether it is domestic or foreign, create unfair social and economic advantages for some while literally constructing a living hell for others.

Session A - 8:30 a.m. - Kiva.

Emily Marie Vincent

Defining Liberty: An Empirical and Normative Analysis of the Supreme Court's Appropriate Role in a Democracy

Words like liberty provide Supreme Court justices with considerable interpretation latitude. Noting this, my paper begins with an historical analysis of substantive due process and its evolution from a tool to overturn the adoption of progressive employment regulations like minimum wage and hour laws to protecting the right to an abortion. Next, using various interpretive approaches, I ask should the U.S. Supreme Court use substantive due process to overturn democratically enacted laws.

Session A - 9:30 a.m. - Room 304.

Charles E. Williams, II

Social Change Tactics of the 21st Century

Many of us have watched the march on Washington D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech. In the 21st century we have seen no comparison of marches nor have we seen the energy of social awareness and activism. The purpose of this study takes an in depth look at the contribution of the academy, religious institutions and community organizations and differences between the 20th and the 21st century in social activism.

Session C - 12:30 p.m. - Room 350.

Danielle Renae Young

Granting Writs of Certiorari: An Analysis of First Amendment Agendas in the U.S. Supreme Court

This project analyzes lower court first amendment cases in which litigants seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. By looking at both quantitative and qualitative variables, I determine the case selection factors the court considers when it chooses what cases it will decide. I find that the court uses an aggregation of political and legal factors when picking the cases it will use to develop its evolving first amendment doctrine.

Session B - 10 a.m. - Room 301.