THE HELLER SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
December 30, 2015
(Additional Readings may be assigned as administrative policies develop or evolve.)
Social Justice and the Obama Administration
Spring 2016
Instructor: Anita F. Hill
Office: Room 374 Heller-Brown Building
Phone: 781-736-3896
E-mail address:
Office Hours: Mondays, 1-3 and by appointment
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is to examine, through a social justice lens, policies introduced by President Barack Obama. Students are expected to engage in critical thinking, dialogue, and debate about contemporary issues that have class, race and gender implications and to evaluate contemporary policy responses to them. This term we will focus on signature policies offered by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Housing and Urban Development and Justice Departments.
Class requirements:
1. (20% of your grade) Active class participation. Students are expected to attend all classes. I will call on students to summarize and comment on the required reading for the day. More than three unexcused absences during the semester will result in a lower grade. Students are required to email to a paragraph of 300 words or less commenting on one of the week’s readings each week by 6:00 PM the evening before that set of readings is discussed. Students are required to read these postings before each class session. Following each speaker, students will be expected to write a short paragraph response of 200 words or less to the speakers. This will help us all to focus our discussion. Please do not exceed 200 words. Responses to speakers must be submitted no later than 9:00 PM on the Monday before the next class.
Unless I ask you to specifically address a particular issue or set of questions, please consider the following in your memo.
1) Insight/Idea: What did you see as the most important insight or idea from the readings or book?
2) Reaction: What are your critical reactions to the speaker’s proposal/readings (strengths and weaknesses), including how the speaker’s/writer’s perspective may shape her thinking? Are you convinced of the conclusions? If not, why?
3) Alternative Responses: What are your own or others’ alternative ideas for policy that would address the issues raised by the speakers/readings? What different perspective does your alternative bring to the solution?
4) Class Discussion: What questions would you particularly like to discuss in class?
2. (40% of your grade) Two class group presentations (45-55 minutes) on at least two of the sources that we are discussing in class and at least two sources that you have found doing your own research. During Week 2 of the class, Professor Hill will assign students to one of the following groups: Education, Labor/Employment, Health and Human Services, Housing, and Judicial/Rights. Presentations are to be based on your group’s analysis of a text or issue. Prior to each presentation, the group must provide a one page summary of the presentation, such as a PowerPoint that will be used during the presentation or a study guide with references to resource you plan to discuss. The summary must be posted on LATTE by 8:00 PM on the Monday prior to a Wednesday presentation.
3. (40% of your grade) One final paper (15-20 pages [not counting endnotes], 12-pitch font, 1 inch margins). For this paper, select at least two of the primary sources discussed in class. You can choose to analyze a single policy or analyze how two or more policies intersect with each other. If you want Professor Hill to review an outline of your paper, you must turn it in by email to no later than April 4 at 5:00pm. The final paper is due at 9:00am on May 9.
Also, please note that a series of events celebrating the 100th year anniversary of Justice Brandeis’s appointment to the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin on Thursday, January 28, 2016. The final program is scheduled for Monday, April 18, 2016. http://www.brandeis.edu/ldb-100/events/index.html Students are not required to attend these programs. However, I highly recommend attendance for information related to the topics we discuss in the class. Of special note is the first program (January 28) which will feature a keynote by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Students with Disabilities:
If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have an accommodation made for you in this class, please see me immediately.
Policy on Sexual and Racial Harassment:
As a means of preventing sexual and racial harassment, I invite students to comment on the following question in the final student evaluation forms: "Has the instructor sexually or racially harassed you during the semester?" I do this to give students an anonymous means of reporting such behavior and to make public my commitment not to engage in it. Beyond this, I hope that you will feel free to tell me about any problems in the sexual or racial dynamics of the course so that I can address them–to the best of my ability.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is central to the mission of educational excellence at Brandeis University. Each student is expected to turn in work completed independently, except when assignments specifically authorize collaborative effort. It is not acceptable to use the words or ideas of another person without proper acknowledgement of that source. This means that footnotes and quotation marks must be used to indicate the sources of any phrases, sentences, paragraphs or ideas found in published volumes, on the internet, or created by another student. Violations of university policies on academic integrity, described in Section 3 of Rights and Responsibilities, may result in failure in the course or on the assignment, and could end in suspension from the University. If you are in doubt about the instructions for any assignment in this course, you must ask for clarification.
Policy on Incompletes and Late Papers:
Planning ahead can mean that you are better able to cope with the crises that will arise during the semester. Please be aware that I do not normally grant incompletes. Only a very major emergency can result in an incomplete. Please also be aware that late papers will receive lower grades. These policies exist out of fairness to all of the students who, in the face of similar crises and overloads, nevertheless complete their work on time. If you have any special needs or concerns with respect to this class, be sure to discuss these with me during the first two weeks of class.
Textbook & Readings
Paul Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, (paperback edition 2009) New York, Norton
Required Readings: In addition to the assignments from the Krugman book, students are responsible for reading articles and reports as listed for each class session. All assigned readings are available on Latte and/or the internet. (For each class, check Latte as well as the syllabus for internet links to make sure that you have completed all of the readings for that session.)
Week 1—January 13
Introduction: The Growing Divide-What is the relevance of social justice? What does social justice mean to President Obama?
1. Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, 2008, Chapters 1 & 2
2. Malveaux, What Trumped? Race, Class, Gender, Generation, the Economy, and the 2008 Elections
3. Kloppenberg, THE EDUCATION OF BARACK OBAMA, pp 1-6
4. President Obama: University of Massachusetts Commencement Address: http://obamaspeeches.com/074-University-of-Massachusetts-at-Boston-Commencement-Address-Obama-Speech.htm
5. President Obama: Top 10 Things from 2015: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/12/19/weekly-address-top-10-things-happened-2015
Week 2— January 27
What is social justice? How is it measured? How is it reflected in government policy and practices? The class will work together to develop a working definition of the concept. The goal is to establish guidelines and objectives as opposed to a bright line definition so that we can work with the same understanding throughout the term and for each of the subject areas. Also we will identify the tools the administration has at its disposal to implement social justice policies.
1. Krugman, The Conscience of a Liberal, 2009, Chapters 3 & 4
2. Robert F. Durant, Getting Dirty-Minded: Implementing Presidential Policy Agendas Administratively
3. Gowher Rizvi, Bringing Back Social Justice to the Discourse on Reinventing Government
4. RON HASKINS and GREG MARGOLIS, So Far, So Good, from Show Me the Evidence Book Subtitle: Obama's Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy
5. Renee Romano, From Legal Justice to Social Justice
Week 3—February 3
The Role of the Law in Social Justice in Theory and in Practice
In this session we explore the relationship of the law to social justice in legal reasoning as well as in terms of what happens before a decision is reached by the court and after a decision is implemented. How well does the law do in promoting social justice? What are the philosophical and practical limitations of litigation as a springboard for social justice initiatives?
1. Plyler v. Doe
2. Muller v. Oregon
3. San Antonio v. Rodriguez
4. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
5. Miguel A. Guajardo, Francisco J. Guajardo, The Impact of Brown on the Brown of South Texas: A Micropolitical Perspective on the Education of Mexican Americans in a South Texas Community The Impact of Brown on the Brown of South Texas: A Micropolitical Perspective on the Education of Mexican Americans in a South Texas Community, American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 41, No. 3, Accountability and Equity (Autumn, 2004), pp. 501-526
Weeks 4, 5, 6, & 7—February 10, February 17 (no class-spring break), February 24, & March 2
Speakers Series In these sessions we will hear from administrative officials in Departments of Labor, Housing, Education and Health and Human Services and Justice to learn how they see their agencies’ social justice impact. If possible agency officials will present to the class or we will draw on videos of speeches that they have given. Additional readings may be assigned to prepare students to ask questions of live speakers and to discuss the presentations with the class following the talk.
Week 7—March 2
First Presentation Justice/Rights Group
Week 8— March 9
Education Reform: Education Reform—Equitable Financing and Enhanced Outcomes: What, if any, are the relationships between school financing, teaching and student performance? Do improved schools help distressed neighborhoods?
Race to the Top, the Obama Administration’s top education initiative, was proposed by the President in 2009. Its $4.35 billion cost is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (otherwise known as the stimulus bill). How well does it address the structural impediments to equal access to education? What community purposes does it address or fail to address? What role does education play in promoting social justice?
1. Anita F. Hill, Choice, Social Structure, Educational Policy, and the Failure to Achieve Educational Equality
2. Roger L. Geiger, Does Higher Education Cause Inequality?
3. Krugman, Chapters 5 and 6
4. Sperling, et al, Glass Half Full: There Has Been Real Progress, But A Girls’ Education Crisis Remains Book Title: What Works in Girls' Education
First Presentation Education Group
Week 9—March 16
Labor Policy—In 2013, the Department of Labor extended the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime protections to home health care providers. According to the Department this coverage gave “nearly 2 million workers the same basic protections already provided to most U.S. workers… [and] ensure[d] that home care consumers have access to high quality care from a stable and increasingly professional workforce.” From a social justice perspective, how successful has this effort been? What about other labor reform that did or did not occur under President Obama’s leadership?
1. DAVID WEIL, Fixing Broken Windows, from, The Fissured Workplace
2. Anne Marie Lofaso, PROMISES, PROMISES: Assessing the Obama Administration's Record on Labor Reform
First Presentation Labor/Employment Group
Week 10— March 23
Mapping the impact of the Economic Downturn on Homes, Communities and Cities In 2012 the Justice Department and several state attorneys general brokered a landmark $25 billion joint federal-state settlement with lending institutions for abuses during the mortgage crisis. Nevertheless the impact of the housing market collapse continues to be felt in terms of lost assets and home displacement. In this session we focus on mapping the impact of the Economic Downturn on Homes, Communities and Cities.
How effective are government resources at measuring the needs of the displaced? Who’s at Risk in the Wake of the Housing Crisis? What measures is the administration taking to address the issues? What defines social justice in the community context? How effective are civil rights laws in achieving social justice for cities and states impacted by the collapse of the housing market?
1. Ronald E. Wilson & Derek J. Paulsen, Foreclosures and Crime: A Geographical Perspective
2. Sharkey, Patrick. 2012. "Residential Mobility and the Reproduction of Unequal Neighborhoods."
3. R. Alan Walks, The urban in fragile, uncertain, neoliberal times: towards new geographies of social justice?
4. Diana Becker Cutts, US Housing Insecurity and the Health of Very Young Children http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3134514/
5. Ingrid Gould Ellen and Sherry Glied, Housing, Neighborhoods, and Children's Health
First Presentation Housing Group
Week 11—March 30
The Affordable Care Act is perhaps the Obama Administration’s signature legislative accomplishment. Yet, implementation challenges and questions about coverage details have an effect on the laws ability to provide care for Americans. In addition the Justice Department has had to respond to many state challenges to the laws content and administration. The full effectiveness of the law will be determined by Health and Human Services as the agency begins to develop regulations to implement the Affordable Care Act’s mandates. What regulations can best effect the protections against gender discrimination and to expand coverage and to reform insurance practices.
1.DAVID M. CRAIG, Health Care as a Private Benefit or Private Choice, from Health Care as a Social Good: Religious Values and American Democracy
2. B.J. Bryson, The Promise of Obama: Public Policy, HIV/AIDS, and African American Women
3. Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol, Hard-Fought Legacy: Obama, Congressional Democrats, and the Struggle for Comprehensive Health Care Reform from, Reaching for a New Deal: Ambitious Governance, Economic Meltdown, and Polarized Politics in Obama's First Two Years
First Presentation Health Group
Week 12—April 6
Second Group Presentations
Justice/Rights
Education
Week 13—April 13
Second Group Presentations
Labor/Employment
Housing
Week 14—April 20
Second Group Presentation
Health
Review
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