Professor Waters Talks About US-Africa Relations

Professor Robert Waters of the HPJ Department gave a talk for Phi Beta Delta on US-Africa Relations to students and faculty on Monday March 16th. Water's book on the same subject is currently being published by the Scarecrow Press website:

Water's began his talk by discussing current hot-spots on the continent, which include Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and the Darfur region of Somalia, as well as Southern Africa, which may be politically stable, but where AIDS is epidemic.

He then proceeded to give an overview of Presidential efforts to help African nations. To most American presidents, Africa has not been a priority, unless other national interests, such as the Cold War or the War on Terror have caused them to notice the continent. Most US efforts have fallen under the heading of "Trade - Not Aid," that was originally articulated by the Eisenhower Administration in the late 50s. Waters argued that George W. Bush has probably been the US President who has payed the most attention to the beleaguered continent, by providing millions to combat the AIDS epidemic there.

Political Science Conduct Survey of Presidential Electors

Dr, Robert Alexander and his political science students are conducting their third survey of presidential electors this quarter.

Surveys that collect data regarding electors' demographic data, along with their thoughts on the Electoral College, the political process, and the current state of party politics are being sent to all 538 electors around the nation.

The first survey garnered a great deal of national attention, including a panel discussion that was broadcast on CSPAN during election night 2004, and Dr Alexander, along with then ONU students David Brown and Jason Kaseman also published an article, Pinning a "Face on the Electoral College" on the findings in PS: Political Science and Politics in 2004 (read article). Brown is now a lawyer in Cleveland and Kaseman is in the PhD program at Georgetown.

The survey, which has been done after each presidential election since 2000, has received outstanding response rates from electors. In 2000, 63% of electors responded, and in 2004 67% returned the surveys. One of the most interesting results of the surveys so far is that many more electors have considered becoming "faithless electors" and changing their votes than most would think possible.

Dr. Alexander has recently submitted a chapter on the Electoral College entitled Lobbying the Electoral College - the Potential for Chaos to a forthcoming compilation entitled Electoral College Reform: Challenges and Possibilities, edited by Gary Bugh, and is currently working on his own book on the institution.

Student pictured above studding surveys in envelopes are (L-R) Jesse Longbrake, Shaili Patel, Kelly Morman, and Doug Chapel.

Student Present at OCSS Annual Meeting

On Friday March 27, six ONU students and Professor Russ Crawford attended the Ohio Council for the Social Studies Annual Convention in Worthington. Along with Crawford, Matt Fox (SR Social Studies Cardington, OH), Brian Hoefel )SR Social Studies Akron, OH), and Aaron Stiger (SR Social Studies Wapakoneta, OH) presented a session on Using Sport to Teach the Social Studies to the secondary teachers gathered there. Also attending were Katherine Gualtiere (SR Social Studies Parma, OH), Rick Ingold (SR Social Studies Newark, OH), and Jennifer Sherman (Jr. Social Studies North Olmstead, OH).

After Crawford gave an overview of how sport could be used to teach the National Council on the Social Studies Ten Themes, Hoefel presented his lesson plan for using the 1980 U.S. Hockey team victory over the Soviets to understand the latter phase of the Cold War. Matt Fox then presented hi lesson plan International Sporting Events as Sites for Political Engagement to describe how the Olympics are often sites for political protest as well as athletic achievement. Aaron Stiger followed with a multiage lesson plan for teaching Civic Ideals and Practices using sport.

Among the audience was Tom Rutan, the Associate Director in the Office of Curriculum and Instruction at the Ohio Department of Education, who asked what we would say to a principal who wondered why we were wasting time talking about sport when we should be getting students ready for the Ohio Graduation Test. Stiger answered immediately that sport is an important way to reach many students who wouldn’t otherwise care about the social studies, and student interest increases their comprehension of the subject.

All of the student presenters did a fine job delivering their part of the talk, and all students had the chance to listen to professional educators tell about their fields of expertise. They also had the chance to network with other educators and to talk with sales representatives from various textbook and other educational companies, not to mention gathering bags full of complimentary materials.

Mock Trial Concludes Successful Year

The ONU Mock Trial Program finished strong by sending a team to Nationals for the second year in a row. During the 2008-2009 school year, ONU competed in five invitational tournaments, including competitions at Ohio State University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of St. Francis (IL), and Case Western Reserve. In addition to its competition on the road, ONU also competed at home in the Second Annual ONU Mock Trial Invitational Tournament.

The three ONU teams also competed at the Joliet Regional Qualifying Tournament and the Cincinnati Regional Qualifying Tournament, before sending one team to the Hamilton National Mock Trial Tournament held during the weekend of March 21st in Des Moines, IA.

Team 448, which included Hannah Allsup, Daniel Arant, Alexandra Habbouche, Dan Jones, Steve Keslar, Brad King, Jesse Longbrake, Sheila Willamowski, Matt Wiseman, and Lara Wood struggled at Nationals, but did well all year long.

Among the awards earned during the year were:

Alex McGregor - Outstanding Witness at Eastern Kentucky

Kevin Cieplowski - Outstanding Attorney at Case Western Reserve

Victoria Dickman - Outstanding Witness at University of St. Francis

Katie Elsass - Outstanding Witness at the ONU tournament

Alex McGregor - Outstanding Attorney at the Cincinnati Regional Qualifying Tournament

Team 450 won the Spirit of AMTA Award at Case Western Reserve

Students Present at Phi Alpha Theta Conference

Ten students from the History Politics and Justice Department presented papers on Saturday at the Phi Alpha Theta Ohio Regional Conference in Dayton. ONU sent the largest delegation by far to this annual conference that offers students the chance to share their research with their peers.

Andrew Adamus (SR History, Erie PA) presented his paper on “Andrew Jackson, Nicolas Biddle, and the Demise of the Second Bank of the United States,” Matthew Allen (SR History, Chicora PA) presented “The Death of a Dream: The Disappearance of the Campus Antiwar Movement in 1970,” Jason Bauer (JR History, Edon, OH) presented “The Irreconcilables and Senate Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles,” Ashlee Bell (SR Criminal Justice Clarence, NY) presented “The Path to Present Practice: The American Jury System,” Lydia Bottoni (JR Literature Maumee, OH) presented “Cool but Correct – and Covert: U.S. Destabilization of the Allende Regime,” Brian Hoefel (SR Social Studies Akron, OH) presented “A Divided House: The Lincoln Douglas Debates and the Election of 1860,” Samantha Lewis (SR History Berea, OH) presented “Perry vs. Elliot: The Battle over the Battle of Lake Erie,” Patti Stiger (SR Political Science Bradner, OH) presented “William Henry Harrison: Friend of Government,” Carol Wilson (JR Professional Writing Royal Oak, MI) presented The Lies of Aaron Burr and the demise of his Western Dreams,” and Benjamin Wollet (SR History Strongsville, OH) presented “Bias in German- and English Language Newspapers in Ohio, 1916-1917.”

All of the presenters did a fine job of delivering their papers and garnered many favorable comments from the panel moderators. Events such as this one are valuable experiences for students, who have the chance to present before mixed audiences of students and professional historians.

Carol Wilson earned accolades for presenting one of the top papers at the conference. Professor John Lomax, who along with Professor Russ Crawford led the delegation, commented that, “It (Wilson’s paper) is one truly fine piece of scholarship, and the panel of external judges who chose it plainly saw its quality.”

Pictured are from left front row (foreground to back) Samantha, Jason, 2^nd row Andrew (light blue shirt), 3^rd row Ashlee, Patti, Matt, back row – second student in white shirt is Ben, Brian, fourth student in next row is Carol, and Lydia.

Phi Beta Delta hosts talk on Economic Crisis

Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics David McClough gave a talk to students and faculty in the Dicke Forum Monday night on the current economic crisis.

In his talk, The Current Economic Meltdown, Recession, and Globalization, McClough presented data that indicates the current economic difficulties are global in scope. He pointed out that Japan recently revised its Gross Domestic Product numbers to show that their economy was stronger than previously thought, in that GDP dropped only 12.1% instead of 12.8%. He also told the audience that China’s economy was still growing, but only at 3.8% and they need at least 10% growth to keep up with population growth. The European Union has passed, minor, stimulus programs, as has New Zealand. The only area relatively untouched is Africa, largely because they are already so poor.

McClough then showed graphic images of U.S. recessions since 1946, making the point that our recessions have been relatively mild and widely spaced in time. While positive that there have been few recessions, their infrequency makes the impact of slowdowns in the economy frightening when they do occur. He also went through data that indicated GDP, consumption, and investment were all falling in the U.S. economy, and that personal savings were growing, meaning that people are not spending money, which is what will bring us out of the recession.

He concluded his talk by looking at the future, seeing China continuing to grow in strength, and arguing that, in the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the U.S. lacks the political will to end the crisis and reform.

McClough presented a gloomy picture of the current economy, but tempered his remarks with a great deal of humor, at one point asking the students why they were listening to him instead of going out and spending money. He also compared the current economic woes to his former college roommate who drank more than he needed and then had to suffer from the resulting hangover.

ONU Mock Trial Team Qualifies for National Tournament

ONU’s Mock Trial Team 448 qualified for the National Mock Trial Tournament last weekend, when they finished in a tie for seventh place at the Cincinnati Regional Qualifying Tournament. Members of the team are: Dan Arant (SO HIST Lima, OH), Alexandra Habbouche (SO Political Science Oregon, OH), Dan Jones (SR PLSC Ashland, OH), Jesse Longbrake (SR PLSC New Carlisle, OH), Steve Kesslar (JR Journalism New Kensington, PA), Brad King (SR Literature Perrysburg, OH), Sheila Willamowski (JR PLSC Lima, OH), and Matt Wiseman (JR History Findlay, OH). Team 448 will travel to Hamilton, OH to compete in the first round of nationals that takes place March 20-22. Six teams will advance from this round to the final competition held in Des Moines, IA in April. ONU will be competing against other top flight teams in Hamilton, including Case Western, Notre Dame, Pennsylvania, and St. John’s. The team will be arguing the case, Walton v. Blitz News Network. This is a civil case, in which the plaintiff Walton, a politician who ran on an anti-gun control platform, was linked to a gun suicide by BNN. Walton subsequently lost the election, and is suing the news network for defamation of character.