tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/university-of-san-francisco-2073/articlesThe University of San Francisco2023-08-28T12:01:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2118572023-08-28T12:01:32Z2023-08-28T12:01:32ZFDA’s greenlighting of maternal RSV vaccine represents a major step forward in protecting young babies against the virus<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544842/original/file-20230825-28-j8m5d5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=126%2C34%2C7542%2C4276&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Expecting parents and those with infants have new options to consider to protect against RSV.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/doctor-visiting-young-mother-at-home-for-routine-royalty-free-image/1471833049?phrase=respiratory+illness+infant&adppopup=true">martin-dm/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the Food and Drug Administration’s Aug. 21, 2023, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-vaccine-pregnant-individuals-prevent-rsv-infants?ftag=MSF0951a18">approval of the first vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV</a>, for use during late pregnancy, the U.S. will soon have a major new tool at its disposal to protect infants against the highly contagious virus. </p>
<p>RSV is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00478-0">most common cause of lower respiratory infections</a> in young children and can be especially severe for infants under 6 months of age. It is the leading cause of infant hospitalization in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, RSV is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa0804877">half a million emergency room visits</a>, nearly 100,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths in young U.S. children. </p>
<p>The vaccine, sold under the brand name Abrysvo, is approved for use between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy to protect infants from birth through 6 months of age.</p>
<p>The CDC plans to meet in October to set recommendations for the use of Abrysvo. That means this vaccine could become available for use during pregnancy in a matter of months.</p>
<p>In mid-July, the FDA also approved a <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-drug-prevent-rsv-babies-and-toddlers">long-acting, single-dose monoclonal antibody</a>, called nirsevimab, which is sold as Beyfortus, for newborns and young children up to the age of 2 years old.</p>
<p>We are an <a href="https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/annette-regan">infectious disease epidemiologist</a> and <a href="https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/flor-munoz-rivas-27227">pediatric infectious disease physician</a>. We have experienced the frustration of previously limited options available for the prevention of RSV, especially during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rsv-a-pediatric-disease-expert-answers-5-questions-about-the-surging-outbreak-of-respiratory-syncytial-virus-193275">heavier-than-usual RSV season</a> in late 2022. The approval of a maternal vaccine and monoclonal antibody signals a major milestone in the medical profession’s ability to prevent RSV disease in children.</p>
<p>With these two new options soon to be available, parents of young children, along with people who are currently expecting, are likely wondering about the pros and cons of each and which to take to best protect their child from RSV.</p>
<h2>A game-changer in the fight against RSV</h2>
<p>The newly approved protein-based vaccine takes a similar approach as the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/hcp-toolkit/tdap-vaccine-pregnancy.html">Tdap, or whooping cough, vaccine</a>, which is given between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/hcp-toolkit/tdap-vaccine-pregnancy.html">to protect babies against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough)</a>. Abrysvo stimulates the mother’s immune system to produce antibodies that cross the placenta and offer protection to the newborn against RSV illness, starting at birth.</p>
<p>The FDA based its approval on clinical trial data from more than 7,000 participants across 18 countries who either received the RSV vaccine between 24 and 36 weeks of pregnancy or received a placebo shot. In the trial, the maternal RSV vaccine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2216480">prevented 82% of severe lower-respiratory illnesses</a> caused by RSV in infants in the first 3 months of life, and 69.4% through 6 months of age. </p>
<p>While there were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2216480">no vaccine-related safety concerns raised in the trial</a>, including preterm birth, low birth weight, birth defects, developmental delay or death, the vaccine will come with a warning about a less-than-1% increase in preterm birth that was seen in the group that received the RSV vaccination in the clinical trial. There is currently no proof that the vaccine is causally linked with preterm birth, and the 1% increase was not significant.</p>
<p>The FDA also requires the vaccine manufacturer to continue monitoring the safety of the vaccine for use during pregnancy. </p>
<p>Abrysvo <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/31/health/fda-rsv-vaccine-older-adults.html">was also approved by the FDA</a> in May 2023 to prevent RSV illness in adults 60 years and older.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">There are now tools available to protect the most vulnerable members of the population – infants and older Americans – against RSV.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Monoclonal antibodies also provide protection</h2>
<p>For those who are unable to get the RSV vaccine during their pregnancy, there is also an option to provide ready-made antibodies to protect the baby.</p>
<p>Nirsevimab, also known as Beyfortus, is a monoclonal antibody approved for babies up to 8 months of age during the RSV season and children up to 24 months of age who are at high risk of severe RSV. Beyfortus is given as a single shot of laboratory-made human antibodies. These antibodies help protect against lower-respiratory tract disease, including <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bronchiolitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351565#">bronchiolitis</a> and <a href="https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/pneumonia#">pneumonia</a>, caused by RSV. </p>
<p>Clinical trial data <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2110275">from 350 sites across 31 countries</a> showed that Beyfortus was 75% effective against RSV-associated lower respiratory illness and 62% effective against RSV-associated hospitalization in the first 5 months after birth. Mild adverse reactions associated with Beyfortus included rashes and swelling or pain at the place where the injection was made. </p>
<p>There are some children who should not receive Beyfortus or should be cautious about receiving Beyfortus, including those with a history of serious reactions to the ingredients in that medication and children with bleeding disorders.</p>
<h2>Parsing the differences</h2>
<p>Both the maternal vaccine and the monoclonal antibody have been shown to work in reducing the risk of severe RSV disease in young infants, and the efficacy and duration of protection appears to be similar. Clinical trials showed that the vaccine was protective up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2216480">6 months of age</a> and the antibody up to <a href="https://www.beyfortus.com/hcp/?">5 months of age</a>. </p>
<p>While Abrysvo stimulates the production of the mother’s own antibodies that get passed on to the baby, Beyfortus is not actually a vaccine. It instead provides ready-made antibodies given as an injection to protect the child. Beyfortus will go to work immediately after administration, and babies of mothers who are vaccinated during pregnancy will be protected from birth, but Abrysvo takes approximately 14 days after the shot to build up effective antibodies in the mother. The vaccine should be taken at least 14 days before expected delivery – and ideally even before then – in order to adequately protect the baby.</p>
<p>Both the vaccine and the monoclonal antibody target the F-protein of the virus, the protein that helps the virus enter cells and spread infection. However, the vaccine creates antibodies that target all sites on the F-protein, while Beyfortus antibodies target a single site – known as “site zero” – of the F-protein. Both result in passive immunity to the baby, providing protection during a time that babies are most susceptible to severe RSV disease. </p>
<p>When mothers are vaccinated within the specified window and babies are born at term, the protection from Abrysvo is sufficient for the babies. When the mother is not vaccinated in pregnancy, then Beyfortus is available for infants from birth.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Beyfortus can prevent RSV in children up to age 2.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Another big difference between the two products is cost. Pre-prepared antibodies like Beyfortus can be expensive to produce and carry a higher cost compared to the Abrysvo vaccine – about <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/03/health/rsv-infant-nirsevimab-beyfortus-acip/index.html">US$395 to $500</a> per Beyfortus shot compared to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cost-of-vaccines-vary-by-virus-and-health-insurance-status-kff/">$180 to $295</a> per Abrysvo shot. The cost of Abrysvo and how it will be covered by insurance will depend on what the CDC says in October. Regardless, both shots need to be given by a health care professional, which will require a medical visit.</p>
<p>While both provide a substantial opportunity to prevent severe illness associated with RSV in newborns and young infants, most children will not need both. </p>
<p>In special cases, Beyfortus could be offered to an infant of a mother who received the vaccine. For example, this might be appropriate if birth occurs less than 14 days after the administration of the vaccine, or if the baby is born prematurely. In addition, the monoclonal antibody can be given to protect infants with high-risk conditions for RSV, such as immune deficiency and chronic lung or heart disease, through their second year of life. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pregnant mother gazes down at her arm as she receives a shot from a medical provider." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544817/original/file-20230825-17-nt7ejh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The newly approved maternal vaccine can be taken between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/expectant-mother-watches-as-tech-gives-her-vaccine-royalty-free-image/1340094898?phrase=maternal+RSV+vaccine&adppopup=true">SDI ProductionsE+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>The bottom line</h2>
<p>Both products are safe and effective, and it is important to protect young infants and children at risk from RSV. </p>
<p>Until now, effective monoclonal antibodies were only available for the most premature babies. But many of the infants who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00414-3">get RSV are born full term</a>. </p>
<p>Families should discuss their options for RSV prevention with their pregnancy care provider and pediatrician.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211857/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annette Regan receives funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Pan American Health Organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flor M. Munoz is a member of the data safety committee or advisory boards to Pfizer, Sanofi, AztraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, and Meissa vaccines. She receives research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pfizer and Gilead. She is a member of the board of the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases (NFID).</span></em></p>Nearly 100,000 US children under age 5 are hospitalized each year for an RSV infection.Annette Regan, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University of San FranciscoFlor M. Munoz, Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2051112023-05-10T12:29:51Z2023-05-10T12:29:51ZFDA’s approval of the world’s first vaccine against RSV will offer a new tool in an old fight – 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524950/original/file-20230508-244517-v1e63f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5397%2C3595&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The long-awaited vaccine is a necessary tool in the fight against the most common respiratory viruses.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/flu-rsv-and-sars-cov-2-coronavirus-vaccine-vials-in-royalty-free-image/1447210141?phrase=RSV+vaccine&adppopup=true">angelp/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the world’s <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine">first vaccine to prevent the respiratory infection RSV</a>, short for respiratory syncytial virus, on May 3, 2023. The new shot represents six decades of starts and stops in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/10/rsv-vaccine/">hunt for a vaccine</a> to curb one of the most common winter respiratory viruses. RSV leads to around <a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/us-fda-approves-gsk-s-arexvy-the-world-s-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine-for-older-adults/#_RSV3">14,000 deaths in older adults every year</a> and can cause <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(21)00518-0">severe illness in infants</a> <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/infants-young-children.html">and children</a> as well.</em></p>
<p><em>The vaccine, called Arexvy, made by the <a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/us-fda-approves-gsk-s-arexvy-the-world-s-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine-for-older-adults/">biopharmaceutical company GSK</a>, is approved for use in adults ages 60 and over. Now that it is FDA-approved, it must still be endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move that’s expected in summer 2023.</em> </p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Annette Regan, an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pu3L9HkAAAAJ&hl=en">epidemiologist and vaccine specialist</a>, to discuss the significance of the first vaccine against RSV and the other RSV vaccine candidates that are in the pipeline.</em></p>
<h2>1. How does the new vaccine protect against the virus?</h2>
<p>The vaccine targets a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.ade6422">protein known as RSV F glycoprotein</a>, which is found on the surface of the virus. The F protein enables the RSV virus to enter host cells.</p>
<p>By stimulating antibodies against this protein, the vaccine should protect against infection. Clinical trial data suggests this is the case, since Arexvy was 80% effective at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2209604">protecting against RSV-related disease</a> and 94% effective at protecting against severe disease.</p>
<p>The vaccine also includes an adjuvant, a substance that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2013.00114">helps amplify the effect of the vaccine</a> by boosting the immune system’s response.</p>
<h2>2. When and for whom will it be available?</h2>
<p>The RSV vaccine has been developed for and tested in adults age 60 and older. While the FDA has approved the vaccine – which means it has deemed it safe and effective – the shot will not be administered by health care professionals until it is reviewed by an independent expert group coordinated by the CDC called the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/committee/role-vaccine-recommendations.html">Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice</a>, which makes vaccine recommendations to the CDC. </p>
<p>The committee’s recommendations will cover how the vaccine should be used – including the ages at which the vaccine should be given – the number of doses needed, the time between doses and precautions and contraindications.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/us-fda-approves-gsk-s-arexvy-the-world-s-first-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-vaccine-for-older-adults/#">committee is expected to meet in June 2023</a> to make a recommendation on the new RSV vaccine, after which the CDC would officially endorse it. The vaccine could be rolled out to the public as soon as late summer 2023, well before the typical RSV season, which usually starts in the fall and peaks in winter.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say what the committee’s recommendation will be. It could recommend the vaccine for all adults 60 and older, or a subset of older adults. While the clinical trial showed the vaccine was 81% effective among adults ages 60 to 69 and 94% effective among adults ages 70 to 79, it was only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2209604">34% effective among adults 80 and older</a>. Given the lower efficacy for adults ages 80 and older, the committee could place an age cap on the recommendations.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">More than 14,000 older adults die every year following RSV infection.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>3. Why has the first RSV vaccine been so long in coming?</h2>
<p>A vaccine against RSV has been in the works for decades. One problem that has plagued vaccine manufacturers is the difficulty of identifying an antigen – the piece of the virus that the vaccine targets – that doesn’t change, or shape-shift. The F protein of the RSV virus is notorious for changing its shape once it fuses with a host’s cell. </p>
<p>In 2013 and 2014, the National Institutes of Health worked out <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9143">how to “freeze” the F protein</a> into a fixed shape before fusing with a cell so that a vaccine could target it well. This was a game-changer that allowed the development of effective vaccines using this target.</p>
<p>In addition to challenges in identifying a good antigen, there were earlier setbacks. Early attempts to create an inactivated RSV vaccine in the 1960s were stalled after they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/CVI.00609-15">caused an enhanced form of RSV disease</a>. Children who had never had RSV before and received the vaccine experienced very severe illness when they encountered the virus in the community, and two children died. This tragic outcome sidetracked vaccine development for decades, as researchers needed to investigate the cause and ensure that the problem wouldn’t occur again for future vaccines.</p>
<h2>4. What other RSV vaccine candidates are coming down the line?</h2>
<p>In addition to Arexvy, <a href="https://media.path.org/documents/RSV-Snapshot_03JAN2023_HighResolution.pdf">many other promising RSV candidates</a> are under development, some of which are likely to become available later this year or in early 2024. </p>
<p>The next RSV vaccine under review with the FDA is <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2022/08/25/856828/">Pfizer’s RSV vaccine</a>. It is similar to the recently approved vaccine except that it has no adjuvant and is bivalent, meaning that it targets both RSV A and RSV B – the two strains of RSV. This vaccine is meant not only for adults ages 60 and older, but also for pregnant people – with the aim of protecting young infants through maternal antibodies. </p>
<p>Data from a phase 3 clinical trial – the last stage of clinical trials before a company would apply for a license – shows that when given during pregnancy, the Pfizer vaccine was 82% effective in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2216480">protecting infants less than 3 months old against severe RSV infection</a>. The FDA will be making a determination on <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-fda-grants-priority-review-pfizers-rsv-vaccine-2022-12-07/">the Pfizer vaccine for older adults</a> later in May 2023 and <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/us-fda-accepts-biologics-license-application-pfizers">for pregnant people</a> in August 2023. The CDC advisory committee is scheduled to discuss vaccine recommendations in October 2023, making this the likely next possible vaccine available.</p>
<p>A few other biopharmaceutical companies have developed alternative RSV vaccines, some of which are in phase 3 clinical trials. For example, Moderna has an mRNA vaccine against RSV with <a href="https://investors.modernatx.com/news/news-details/2023/Moderna-Announces-mRNA-1345-an-Investigational-Respiratory-Syncytial-Virus-RSV-Vaccine-Has-Met-Primary-Efficacy-Endpoints-in-Phase-3-Trial-in-Older-Adults/default.aspx">promising preliminary results</a>. Regardless of which companies make it to the finish line next, it is clear that in the near future there will be a variety of new tools to help protect against RSV infection.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annette Regan receives funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Pan American Health Organization.</span></em></p>The newly approved RSV vaccine could be rolled out by fall 2023, in time for the typical winter surge in RSV infections.Annette Regan, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983732023-01-24T18:40:32Z2023-01-24T18:40:32ZMonterey Park: A pioneering Asian American suburb shaken by the tragedy of a mass shooting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506119/original/file-20230124-19-5f1ehp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C7309%2C4883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A community in mourning.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mourner-attends-a-candlelight-vigil-for-victims-of-a-mass-news-photo/1459049683?phrase=Monterey%20Park&adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Americans of Asian descent, Monterey Park – a town near Los Angeles, located in the San Gabriel Valley – is a cultural center. </p>
<p>It embodies <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520345850/resisting-change-in-suburbia">the modern Asian American experience</a>; that is, a place where Asians in America can access and practice a diverse array of traditions and cultural pursuits in an environment where they are the norm, as opposed to marginal.</p>
<p>The tragic <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-22/la-me-monterey-park-mass-shooting">mass shooting of Jan. 21, 2023</a>, in which 11 people were killed by a gunman who later took his own life, has put an unwanted spotlight on a site held near and dear to the Asian diaspora in the U.S. As an <a href="https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/james-zarsadiaz">Asian American scholar who has written about the importance</a> of communities like Monterey Park, I know the trauma felt there will ripple across all of Asian America.</p>
<h2>Asian America’s ‘town square’</h2>
<p>Monterey Park is the <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/ethnoburb-the-new-ethnic-community-in-urban-america/">original Asian “ethnoburb”</a> – that is, a suburb featuring a large, palpable concentration of immigrants or refugees and their kin. Businesses and community spaces in the town often reflect the cultural sensibilities and needs of these populations.</p>
<p>In the case of Monterey Park, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and, later, Mainland China and Vietnam have shaped the suburb’s landscapes and lifestyles for decades.</p>
<p>Like other inner-ring <a href="https://calisphere.org/exhibitions/40/california-and-the-postwar-suburban-home/">suburbs of postwar Los Angeles</a>, Monterey Park offered modest, affordable homes. It appealed to white mainly middle-class buyers who wanted to be near, but not in, the city.</p>
<p>In the 1950s and 1960s, a handful of Latino and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-19-ga-1788-story.html">Japanese American families</a> settled in the predominantly white community, making Monterey Park a relatively diverse suburb for the era. That diversity would only grow in the late 1970s when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/20/us/frederic-hsieh-is-dead-at-54-made-asian-american-suburb.html">Frederic Hsieh</a> – a Chinese investor – purchased property in Monterey Park and dubbed it the future “Chinese Beverly Hills.” </p>
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<img alt="A man in dark pants and a light blazer sits on a car in front of a building with 'Mandarin Realty Co. Inc' written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506121/original/file-20230124-20-wyj60f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1124&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Real estate broker Fred Hsieh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FredHsieh/f9f6f4f194bc4b28b9baa876ec6936b8/photo?Query=Monterey%20Park&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:asc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=428&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Wally Fong</a></span>
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<p>Hsieh believed its location was ideal for like-minded immigrants in search of the suburban good life. And his transnational effort in making Monterey Park a magnet for Chinese families worked. During the 1980s, settlers from Hong Kong and Taiwan bought homes. Within a decade, Chinese restaurants, shops, language schools, and community organizations dotted Monterey Park’s hills and boulevards. </p>
<h2>Building a community</h2>
<p>While Asian Americans found a handful of sympathetic allies across racial lines in their efforts to turn Monterey Park into a vibrant immigrant community, they also <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-aug-03-la-me-english-signs-20130804-story.html">encountered critics</a> who claimed they did not “Americanize” enough. Naysayers condemned Chinese-language business signage or Asian-owned properties that transgressed Monterey Park’s aesthetic norms.</p>
<p>Over time, dissatisfied white <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-12-ga-991-story.html">suburbanites left Monterey Park</a>. Those who stayed built multiracial coalitions for the sake of moving forward. Today, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/montereyparkcitycalifornia/PST045222">Monterey Park is two-thirds Asian</a>, with Chinese residents comprising the majority.</p>
<p>With the passage of time and the rapid growth of Asian settlers, Monterey Park became known as the “first suburban Chinatown.” With its overtly Asian strip malls and plazas, Monterey Park’s novelty is its difference – showcasing the diaspora all day, every day, in the most “typical” of American landscapes: the suburbs.</p>
<h2>Ripples of grief</h2>
<p>And now, Monterey Park must contend with what is also an all-too-familiar part of the American landscape: <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/gun-violence-7990">gun violence</a>.</p>
<p>Residents in Monterey Park – and in neighboring ethnoburbs like Alhambra, San Gabriel and Rosemead – have been left shaken. But the news and images from the mass shooting will haunt all Asian Americans because of the location’s familiarity. Monterey Park’s Lunar New Year celebrations were not unlike gatherings throughout the country: house parties with families and friends dressed to the nines, restaurants open long hours to serve the community, and dance halls packed with multigenerational revelers. Those tender moments were ruined in just minutes.</p>
<p>While the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-23/jealousy-possible-motives-in-monterey-park-shooting">motives of the perpetrator</a> are under investigation, the tragedy in America’s “first suburban Chinatown” revealed that there is still much to do in keeping our communities safe. Moreover, for countless Asian Americans, grief has become all too familiar as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-339-percent-nationwide-last-year-repo-rcna14282">anti-Asian hate crimes have risen</a> across the nation – sparking initial concern that the shooting might have been race-related.</p>
<p>Time will tell how Monterey Park recovers, but at least the community there can take comfort in knowing that millions of Asian Americans will be alongside their journey.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198373/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Zarsadiaz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Once seen as the Chinese Beverly Hills, Monterey Park is now seen as Asian America’s ‘town square’ – the impact of a mass shooting there will ripple across the country.James Zarsadiaz, Associate Professor of History, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1957002022-12-16T13:13:41Z2022-12-16T13:13:41ZRSV treatments for young children are lacking, but the record 2022 cold and flu season highlights the urgency for vaccines and other preventive strategies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501170/original/file-20221214-15092-osjj0p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7951%2C5297&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only one antiviral medication is approved by the FDA for RSV treatment, and it is administered through a nebulizer.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/asian-boy-using-inhaler-containing-medicine-to-stop-royalty-free-image/1227487354?phrase=RSV&adppopup=true">BonNontawat/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many parents, respiratory syncytial virus – or RSV – which has been causing <a href="https://theconversation.com/rsv-a-pediatric-disease-expert-answers-5-questions-about-the-surging-outbreak-of-respiratory-syncytial-virus-193275">record numbers of hospitalizations of children</a> during the fall of 2022, may sound like a relatively new and unheard-of threat. But in fact, RSV is a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/pdfs/mm7140a1-H.pdf">common respiratory virus</a> that circulates every fall and winter and is a common cause of lung infections in young children.</p>
<p>RSV can be difficult to distinguish from other respiratory infections since the symptoms are common to other illnesses – runny nose, sneezing, congestion, coughing, fever, decreased appetite and wheezing. In most cases, RSV is mild and will improve at home. However, in certain cases, it can cause severe illness and require hospital treatment. </p>
<p>RSV can cause severe infections and pneumonia in anyone, including <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/older-adults.html">adults 65 years and older</a> and those with chronic lung or heart conditions or weakened immune systems. But it is most commonly severe in young children.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pu3L9HkAAAAJ&hl=en">an epidemiologist</a> and a <a href="https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/flor-munoz-rivas-27227">pediatric infectious disease physician</a> and have seen the effects of RSV on children firsthand. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, although RSV is a very common respiratory threat, treatments for it are relatively limited, and as yet, there is no vaccine against it. However, 2023 is likely to be a pivotal year for RSV prevention strategies and treatments.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How to keep your child safe from RSV.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Treating children for RSV</h2>
<p>Current guidelines <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/about/symptoms.html">recommend supportive</a> care, which essentially means managing symptoms and trying to make children as comfortable as possible until they are well again. This includes offering plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration and using over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen to reduce any fever. </p>
<p>Antibiotics are not useful for treating RSV since they only target bacterial infections and RSV is caused by a virus. But sometimes, children with RSV can also develop secondary bacterial infections in the lungs, in which case antibiotics may be prescribed. </p>
<p>There are a range of medications that have been tried on children with RSV, but for the most part, they’ve shown little benefit. For example, many studies have <a href="https://www.cochrane.org/CD001266/ARI_bronchodilators-for-bronchiolitis-for-infants-with-first-time-wheezing">trialed the use of inhalers</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.158.2.127">corticosteroid medications</a>, but results have shown that neither significantly reduces the severity of RSV. These medications are therefore not routinely recommended for children to treat severe RSV.</p>
<p>The only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat RSV is <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a605018.html">ribavirin</a>, an antiviral medication. It is aerosolized using a special nebulizing machine and needs to be given in the hospital for periods of eight to 24 hours over three to five days. The drug works by trying to stop the virus from replicating in the respiratory tract. </p>
<p>The trials evaluating ribavirin <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000181.pub3">have been small</a>, which means we can’t really be certain of its benefits. Because ribavirin is very expensive and its benefits uncertain, the American Academy of Pediatrics <a href="https://doi.org/10.5863/1551-6776-23.5.372">no longer routinely recommends</a> it for treatment of RSV, except for specific cases in very high-risk patients.</p>
<p>Fortunately, most babies and young children with RSV do not require treatment and recover well with supportive care. But some can become very ill and need substantial care from their doctors, parents and family members. </p>
<p>While RSV can result in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3611">serious disease for any child</a>, children in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/clinical/index.html">high-risk groups</a> face more serious threats from RSV. These include babies less than 6 months old, premature infants, children under 2 years old with chronic lung disease or congenital heart disease, children with suppressed immune systems and children with neuromuscular disorders.</p>
<p>Children may require hospital care if they are having difficulty breathing, have a fever that does not go away after two days, or have lost energy and no longer eat, drink or urinate. This is primarily so they can be monitored and receive intravenous fluids to keep hydrated and ventilators to help with breathing. Approximately <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/clinical/index.html">1%-2% of babies less than 6 months old</a> with RSV will be hospitalized. </p>
<p>It’s important to know that children infected with RSV might take a turn for the worse before they get better. This is because, in addition to severe nasal congestion that interferes with their feeding, the inflammation in their airways and lungs may prevent them from breathing properly and keeping a normal oxygen level in their blood. These are the children who end up in emergency rooms and hospitals during the respiratory virus season.</p>
<h2>The future of RSV treatment is prevention</h2>
<p>Since effective treatments for severe RSV in children are so limited, the primary goal is to prevent the disease from happening in the first place. </p>
<p>One prevention strategy is to treat infants and children who are at high risk of severe disease before they get sick. This includes very preterm infants and those with heart and lung conditions. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006602.pub4">monoclonal antibody called palivizumab</a> can be given as a series of shots and is usually reserved for use during the RSV season. But since RSV has been so variable throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to the early increase in RSV hospitalizations in children this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/interim-guidance-for-use-of-palivizumab-prophylaxis-to-prevent-hospitalization/">updated its guidelines</a> to allow administration of palivizumab whenever RSV is in high circulation.</p>
<p>But to really get ahead of the RSV threat, we believe the health care field needs prevention strategies that can protect all children from the disease from birth.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">RSV, flu and COVID-19 cases continue to fill U.S. hospitals.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The promise of vaccines</h2>
<p>Despite more than five decades of research, there is still no RSV vaccine available for children. This is because developing a vaccine that really works has been tricky. RSV vaccines target the <a href="https://microbiologycommunity.nature.com/posts/53435-rsv-f-protein-an-attractive-target-for-therapeutic-intervention">F protein</a>, the part of the virus that it uses to infect cells, and this protein has different forms before and after infecting the cells. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smim.2013.04.011">RSV vaccines are in development</a> for three groups, including infants 4 to 6 months old, adults 65 years and older, and pregnant people. </p>
<p>RSV vaccination during pregnancy produces RSV-specific antibodies in the mother that can then <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2021.06.015">cross the placenta</a> to protect the baby. These maternal antibodies generally offer protection for the first six months of a baby’s life. A recent clinical trial showed that RSV vaccination during pregnancy <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-positive-top-line-data-phase-3-global">reduced the risk of RSV hospitalization by 82%</a> in infants less than 3 months old. These are very promising results.</p>
<p>Another viable option for the prevention of RSV for all young babies is the use of long-acting RSV-specific antibodies that can be given either at birth or prior to the RSV season. These could provide immunity to infants for several months while RSV is in circulation. A recent clinical trial showed that one of these products, nirsevimab, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2110275">reduced the risk of RSV hospitalization by 62%</a> in children less than 1 year old. </p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>One positive outcome of fall 2022’s record RSV season is that it has raised public awareness of RSV and created renewed urgency around the need to find more effective preventive strategies and RSV treatments.</p>
<p>The success of these tools and strategies will largely depend on their acceptance and utilization by well-informed parents and providers. </p>
<p>Usually, parents become aware of RSV only after having experienced it in their own family. But pediatric providers know all too well from caring for their patients what RSV can do to young bodies. When parents and providers share these stories, it becomes a powerful testament to the need for preventive strategies to fight RSV.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annette Regan receives research funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flor Munoz-Rivas is a member of the Safety Monitoring Board for various vaccines under development with Pfizer, Moderna, Virometix, Meissa, Sanaria and the National Institutes of Health. She also has been part of Advisory Boards for topics related to respiratory pathogens and vaccines for Sanofi, Aztra-Zeneca, Moderna, Merck and GSK. She receives research funding from Pfizer, Gilead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>While RSV can become severe for any child, it poses a particularly serious threat for the youngest babies and for high-risk children.Annette Regan, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of San FranciscoFlor M. Munoz, Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1942422022-11-18T13:33:47Z2022-11-18T13:33:47ZCOVID-19, RSV and the flu are straining health care systems – two epidemiologists explain what the ‘triple threat’ means for children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495979/original/file-20221117-11-mwkz5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=97%2C64%2C5302%2C3497&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pediatric emergency rooms in some states are at or over capacity due to the surging number of respiratory infections. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/toddler-boy-using-nebulizer-to-cure-asthma-or-royalty-free-image/1146454661?phrase=kids%20hospital%20RSV&adppopup=true">GOLFX/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every fall and winter, viral respiratory illnesses like the common cold and seasonal flu keep kids out of school and social activities. But this year, more children than usual are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/04/flu-rsv-covid-cases-surge/">ending up at emergency departments and hospitals</a>. </p>
<p>In California, the Orange County health department declared a state of emergency in early November 2022 due to record numbers of <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/oc-declares-health-emergency-due-to-viral-infections-causing-rise-in-pediatric-hospitalizations/ar-AA13Cs2k">pediatric hospitalizations for respiratory infections</a>. In Maryland, <a href="https://www.wbaltv.com/article/rsv-maryland-hospitals-at-capacity-transfer-patients-out-of-state/41858233">emergency rooms have run out of beds</a> because of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/rsv-a-pediatric-disease-expert-answers-5-questions-about-the-surging-outbreak-of-respiratory-syncytial-virus-193275">unusually high number</a> of severe <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html">respiratory syncytial virus</a>, or RSV, infections. So emergency departments there are having to refer patients across state lines for care. </p>
<p>In the U.S., the winter respiratory virus season started earlier than usual this year. Since peak infections usually occur in late December or January, this uncharacteristic early wave suggests that the situation could get much worse for people of all ages, particularly children.</p>
<p>We are epidemiologists with <a href="https://public-health.tamu.edu/directory/fischer.html">expertise in epidemic analysis</a> for <a href="https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/annette-regan">emerging disease threats</a>, including respiratory infections. We watch patterns in these infections closely, and we pay particular attention when the patterns are unusual. We’ve grown increasingly concerned about the amount of pediatric hospitalizations over the last few months and the pattern that is emerging.</p>
<h2>The ‘triple threat’</h2>
<p>In early November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2022/han00479.asp">issued a health advisory</a> about increased activity in respiratory infections – especially among children. The CDC and other health experts are warning of the so-called “triple threat” of respiratory illness from <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html">RSV</a>, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/keyfacts.htm">influenza</a> – or the seasonal flu – and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/basics-covid-19.html">COVID-19</a>.</p>
<p>The underlying reasons for the convergence of these viruses and the increase in infections so early in the season are not yet clear. But health experts have some clues about contributing factors and what it could mean for the coming months.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">As of mid-November 2022, a children’s hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., had already admitted more than double the number of respiratory syncytial virus patients than in the entire 2019-2020 respiratory season.</span></figcaption>
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<p>When it comes to COVID-19, 2022 is expected to usher in another <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03157-x">winter wave of infections</a>, similar to patterns seen in 2020 <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/22/covid-surge-winter-523109">and 2021</a>. Previous winter surges stemmed from a combination of factors, including the emergence and spread of new viral variants, more people gathering indoors rather than distanced outside, and people coming together for the holidays.</p>
<p>But unlike previous pandemic winters, most COVID-19 precautions – such as using masks in public areas or avoiding group activities – are more relaxed than ever. Together with the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/new-coronavirus-subvariants-surpass-ba5-dominance-rcna57294">looming threat of new variants</a>, it is difficult to predict how big the next COVID-19 wave could be.</p>
<p>And while the seasonal flu has proved somewhat unpredictable during the COVID-19 pandemic, it nearly always hits during late October. Flu season also arrived about a month early and in greater numbers than in recent history. By <a href="https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/FluHospRates.html">our read of the data</a>, pediatric flu hospitalizations are nearing 10 times what has been seen for this time of year for more than a decade. </p>
<p>RSV infections tend to follow a similar seasonal pattern as the flu, peaking in winter months. But this year, there was an unexpected <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/rsv/natl-trend.html">summer wave</a>, well before the start of the typical fall respiratory virus season.</p>
<p>In typical years, RSV garners little media attention. It’s incredibly common and usually causes only mild illness. In fact, most children <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/infants-young-children.html">encounter the virus before age 2</a>. </p>
<p>But RSV can be a formidable respiratory infection with serious <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/index.html">consequences for children</a> under 5, especially infants. It is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00478-0">most common cause of lower respiratory infections</a> in young children, and more severe illnesses can lead to pneumonia and other complications, often requiring hospitalization. </p>
<h2>Why children are particularly at risk</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/keyfacts.htm">Children</a>, especially young children, tend to get <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix1060">sicker from flu</a> and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/high-risk/index.html">RSV</a> than other age groups. But infants younger than 6 months old <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-1255">stand to suffer the most</a>, with nearly double the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00478-0">risk of RSV-related death</a> compared to other children younger than 5. COVID-19 hospitalization rates are also <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#covidnet-hospitalization-network">four to five times higher for infants</a> than older children.</p>
<p>One reason the youngest children are at greater risk is that their immune systems are not yet fully developed and don’t produce the robust immune response seen in most adults. What’s more, infants younger than 6 months – who are most at risk of severe disease – are still too young to be vaccinated against influenza or COVID-19. </p>
<p>These viruses present challenges on their own, but their co-circulation and coinciding surges in infections create a perfect storm for multiple viruses to infect the same person at once. Viruses might even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01242-5">act together</a> to evade immunity and cause damage to the respiratory tract. </p>
<p>Such co-infections are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajem.2016.12.001">typically uncommon</a>. However, the likelihood of co-infection is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcvp.2021.100036">substantially higher for children</a> than adults. Co-infections can be difficult to diagnose and treat, and can ultimately lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00383-X">greater disease severity</a>, complications, hospitalization and death. </p>
<h2>Factors behind the triple threat</h2>
<p>There are a few reasons why the U.S. may be seeing a surge in pediatric respiratory infections. First, COVID-19 protection strategies actually help prevent the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00807-9">transmission of other respiratory pathogens</a>. School and daycare closures likely also minimized exposures children normally have to various respiratory viruses. </p>
<p>These and other efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 seem to have suppressed the broad circulation of other viruses, including influenza and RSV. As a result, the U.S. saw an overall <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7140a1.htm">drop in non-COVID respiratory infections</a> – and an <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season.htm">almost nonexistent flu season</a> in the winter of 2020. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young boy sits on an exam table with his mother soothing him while a doctor puts a Band Aid on his arm after giving him a shot." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495976/original/file-20221117-9929-wnorup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The early surge of respiratory infections underscores the need to get children up to date on flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/little-boy-getting-vaccinated-at-the-pediatricians-royalty-free-image/1266488183?phrase=flu%20shots%20kids&adppopup=true">Geber86/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The decreased viral activity means that children missed out on some exposures to viruses and other pathogens that typically help build immunity, particularly during the first few years of life. The resulting so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00544-8">“immunity debt”</a> may contribute to an excess of pediatric respiratory infections as we continue into this season.</p>
<p>To further complicate the picture, the changing nature of viruses, including the<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-now-tracking-bn-1-the-latest-new-covid-variant-on-the-rise/">emergence of new COVID-19 variants</a> and the natural evolution of seasonal influenza viruses, means that we could be seeing a unique combination of particularly transmissible strains or strains that cause more severe illness.</p>
<h2>Proactive steps people can take</h2>
<p>The early surge in respiratory infections with high rates of hospitalization highlights the importance of prevention. The best tool we have for prevention is vaccination. Vaccines that <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-should-you-get-the-new-covid-19-booster-and-the-flu-shot-now-is-the-right-time-for-both-190826">protect against COVID-19 and influenza</a> are available and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccinations.htm">recommended for everyone over 6 months of age</a>.
They have been shown to be safe and effective, and they can and do save lives. </p>
<p>In particular, most recent data on the newly <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-omicron-specific-booster-shots-be-more-effective-at-combating-covid-19-5-questions-answered-189610">updated bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine</a> suggests that it produces a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2208343">more rigorous antibody response</a> against the current circulating omicron variants than the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/us/politics/moderna-booster.html">original COVID-19 vaccines</a>.</p>
<p>The best way to protect infants younger than 6 months old against flu and COVID-19 is by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pregnancy/index.html">vaccination during pregnancy</a>. When a pregnant mother is vaccinated, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciac793">maternal antibodies</a> cross the placenta to the baby, reducing the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e3.htm?s_cid=mm7107e3_w">risk of COVID-19 hospitalization</a> in young infants by 61%. Vaccination of other caregivers, family and friends can also help protect infants. </p>
<p>Other preventive measures, like hand-washing, covering sneezes and coughs, staying at home and isolating when sick, can help to protect the community from these viruses and others. Paying attention to local public health advisers can also help people to have the most up-to-date information and make informed decisions to keep themselves and others – of all ages – safe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca S.B. Fischer receives funding from the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes for Health and has previously received research funding from the National Institute for Allergy & Infectious Diseases. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annette Regan currently receives funding from the National Institutes for Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has previously received research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, the Wesfarmers Center for Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, and the EuroQol Research Foundation.</span></em></p>Respiratory viruses are hitting young children and infants particularly hard this fall and winter season, and experts don’t yet know exactly why.Rebecca S.B. Fischer, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Texas A&M UniversityAnnette Regan, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1812322022-04-28T12:20:33Z2022-04-28T12:20:33ZDespite $400 boost, Pell Grants fall far short of original goal to make college more affordable for low- and middle-income students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459608/original/file-20220425-2721-y690dm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5081%2C3390&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Pell Grant covers less than 30 percent of the costs to attend a four-year public college. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/graduate-waives-during-the-53rd-commencements-of-the-news-photo/1234897146">Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Back around when the Pell Grant was <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45418#:%7E:text=The%20federal%20Pell%20Grant%20program,have%20been%20awarded%20since%201973.">created by Congress in 1973</a> to help students from low-income families pay for higher education, it <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45418#:%7E:text=The%20federal%20Pell%20Grant%20program,have%20been%20awarded%20since%201973.">covered 80% of the costs</a> of attending a public four-year college or university. And it covered over 40% of the costs of going to a private one.</p>
<p>Today, thanks to <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=76">increases in tuition costs</a> and Pell Grants not keeping pace, they cover less than 30% of the costs at a public university and less than 20% of the costs at private institutions, according an analysis I conducted using College Board data. </p>
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<p>With that history in mind, President Joe Biden’s budget, which <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Biden-Signs-Major-Spending-Bill.aspx">increases the maximum Pell Grant by $400</a> – from $6,495 to $6,895 – for the 2022-2023 school year, should boost the purchasing power of the grant. But it still falls short of restoring that purchasing power to where it was when the Pell Grant was created nearly 50 years ago, a goal for which many in higher education have advocated.</p>
<p>I make this observation as a veteran university administrator and as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ljqkyw4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher</a> who has spent the last 25 years studying what factors enable students to enroll in college and get a degree. </p>
<h2>Pell Grants yesterday and today</h2>
<p>Over $26 million in <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid">Pell Grants</a> were awarded to approximately 6.2 million students in the 2020-2021 school year, with the average recipient receiving just over $4,200. </p>
<p>The grants, originally called <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/finaid/prof/resources/data/pell-historical/beog-eoy-1973-74.pdf">Basic Educational Opportunity Grants</a>, were <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/topics/higher-education-funding-and-financial-aid/federal-student-aid/federal-pell-grants/#:%7E:text=Congress%20established%20the%20Basic%20Educational,Pell%20(D%2DRI).">renamed in 1980</a> after the late U.S. Senator <a href="https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/P000193">Claiborne Pell</a>, a Democrat from Rhode Island and an early champion of the grant.</p>
<p>In line with the goals of the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-765/pdf/COMPS-765.pdf">Higher Education Act</a>, which was originally passed in 1965, the grants were designed to be the foundation of college funding for students from poor- and moderate-income families. They were also meant to be a mechanism to help eliminate the gap in the rates at which these students attend college and graduate in relation to their peers from wealthier families.</p>
<p>The idea was that with a Pell Grant, a student could afford to pay the major components of the cost of attendance at a public four-year institution without having to borrow a lot of money or work a lot of hours at a job, particularly off campus.</p>
<p>For students at private colleges, Pell Grants would cover a substantial amount of their education costs, too, but not to the same extent as public colleges, which typically cost less to attend.</p>
<h2>Losing purchasing power</h2>
<p>As tuition prices have increased, the size of Pell Grants – which are subject to approval from Congress – has not kept pace, causing their purchasing power to decline.</p>
<p>This erosion of the value of a Pell Grant has affected college access in a number of ways. Poorer students have become <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/rising-student-debt-harming-us-economy?gclid=Cj0KCQjw06OTBhC_ARIsAAU1yOUU0cMFbIWA0_EZS1C4Zgf4iUWrSKgoHL6lBT2x60AZlI9Q6lL-wDUaArU0EALw_wcB">more reliant on loans</a> to finance their education, as Pell covers less of the costs. </p>
<p>These poorer students are also more likely to be <a href="https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021_HSBenchmarksCovidReport.pdf">enrolled in a community college</a> because of the lower prices in two-year colleges. The post-graduation job prospects of a student with a community college degree are <a href="https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/labor-market-returns-sub-baccalaureate-college-review.pdf">not as good</a> as they are for one who graduates with a bachelor’s degree, studies have shown.
And the labor market returns to a community college degree are <a href="https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/labor-market-returns-sub-baccalaureate-college-review.pdf">lower</a> than those of bachelor’s degrees.</p>
<p>Pell Grants have helped close the college access gap. While low-income students <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_302.30.asp">almost doubled the rate</a> at which they enrolled in college after graduating from high school – from 35% in 1975 to 67% in 2016 – high-income students also increased their college-going rate.</p>
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<p>While the poorest students have achieved parity with their middle-income peers, both groups still lag behind the college attendance rates of students from wealthier families. So while Pell Grants have helped close some of the gap, students from higher-income families still attend college at a rate <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_302.30.asp">16 percentage points</a> more than poor students. </p>
<h2>Increasing the Pell Grant’s power</h2>
<p>The $400 increase in the Pell Grant maximum is the largest since the <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid">$619 increase in 2009</a>. However, with the price of college continuing to grow, this increase will bring the purchasing power of Pell to just over <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing">30%</a> of the cost of attending college. This is a small step in the right direction, but not nearly enough to help students from moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Many higher education organizations, including the <a href="https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Statement-Call-to-Congress-Double-Pell.aspx">American Council on Education</a>, the <a href="https://www.nasfaa.org/double_pell#:%7E:text=NASFAA%20Advocacy&text=NASFAA%20in%20June%202021%2C%20published,struggling%20to%20meet%20college%20cost">National Association of Student Financial Aid Administators</a> and the <a href="https://www.naicu.edu/issues-advocacy/doublepell/making-the-case">National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities</a>, have called for doubling the Pell Grant. This would be an important step toward having Pell Grants cover as much for today’s students as they did a generation or two ago.</p>
<p><a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends">Data from The College Board</a> demonstrates that a $13,000 Pell Grant – roughly double this year’s maximum of $6,495 – would provide 57% of the college costs at a public institution. However, this is still well below what it covered in the 1970s. Without increased support, poorer students will continue to lag their wealthier peers in achieving the American dream of a college education.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has received funding for his research in the past from governmental and non-governmental organizations. None of that funding has influenced this article.</span></em></p>The Pell Grant would have to be doubled in order for its purchasing power to be anywhere near what it used to be, a scholar observes.Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1567312021-04-15T12:40:57Z2021-04-15T12:40:57ZWhat former foster children went through when the COVID-19 pandemic closed college campuses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394590/original/file-20210412-19-uawo90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=210%2C154%2C1609%2C1087&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some college students have no home to return to.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-at-massachusetts-bay-community-college-who-now-news-photo/1092060620">Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>In the first two months of the pandemic, more than half of former foster children lost their jobs and nearly 40% experienced precarious living situations or homelessless, according to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105836">survey of 127 former foster children</a> between the ages of 18 and 26 that we conducted in May and June of 2020.</p>
<p>They were among the estimated <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/afcars">20,000 people in foster care</a> who are “<a href="https://www.findlaw.com/family/foster-care/aging-out-of-foster-care.html">emancipated</a>” each year when they age out of the system, beginning as young as 18. These young adults typically <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/faq/foster-care7">lose most of the support the government provides foster children</a> – such as caseworker support and access to health care and housing. </p>
<p>Most of the people we surveyed were college students. Like most former foster youth going to college in the spring of 2020, they <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/01/25/colleges-should-do-much-more-support-students-who-have-been-foster-care-opinion">did not have a stable living situation</a> or family to go home to when campuses across the country shut down. Many described how the resilience they developed in foster care made it easier to withstand these new challenges.</p>
<p>“Being in foster care taught me how to survive, which makes living through a pandemic a little easier,” one told us.</p>
<p>Others shared concerns that underscored how challenges facing former foster children go far beyond what’s going on during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>“I wish that there was more support for us older foster children who want to do more with our lives, who truly want to break the stigma around being in foster care,” one participant told us. “At the same time, we are never truly given the [help] we need to make all of that possible.” </p>
<p>We also heard concerns about children who remain in the problem-prone <a href="https://theconversation.com/children-in-foster-care-face-deeper-jeopardy-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-141263">foster care system</a>: “I can’t stop thinking/worrying about the kids that are stuck in foster homes they do not like/are unfit,” one survey participant wrote.</p>
<p>Others shared concerns about children and teens still in foster care becoming less likely to be reunited with their relatives, and more likely to lose contact with them, due to travel restrictions and social distancing. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Even when the economy is strong and there’s no global calamity, these young adults experience financial hardships. They <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025118791776">need to support themselves</a> earlier than their peers, which can result in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.016">housing and food insecurity</a> and interfere with <a href="https://www.casey.org/supporting-success/">their schooling</a>. Only <a href="https://youthtoday.org/2019/03/as-more-colleges-states-aid-youth-in-foster-care-data-on-results-is-needed-researchers-say/">4% of former foster children graduate from college</a>, compared with more than one-third of their peers. </p>
<p>And when the pandemic struck, it made things a lot worse for former foster children. </p>
<p>Millions of students will return to <a href="https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/college-campuses-covid-19-guidelines-fall/">college campuses in the fall of 2021</a> for the first time in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/03/962820314/colleges-add-more-in-person-classes-for-spring-amid-high-risk-of-coronavirus-spr">about 18 months</a>. Among them will be many former foster children, including some who are not ready to resume in-person instruction after a tumultuous time in their lives. Although often resilient, we believe these young people will require support from their colleges and universities. </p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are digging deeper into this data to learn more about the experiences of the college students who completed this survey to see what kinds of aid and support were the most helpful for young people left in the lurch during lockdowns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even when the economy is strong, these young adults face economic hardship.Saralyn Ruff, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of San FranciscoDeanna Linville, Associate Professor & Research Scientist of Mental Health, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1449592020-08-30T08:33:36Z2020-08-30T08:33:36ZHow power shaped the ‘success story’ of genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354829/original/file-20200826-7319-18i0k99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The West African nation of Burkina Faso was once the poster child for genetically modified (GM) crop advocates. Its <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/146499341001100104">2008 adoption</a> of GM cotton for smallholder farmers was hailed as an example of how these technologies could alleviate poverty and food insecurity by protecting crops from pests and increasing yields.</p>
<p>But this much celebrated success story came to an abrupt halt <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291354687_BRIEFING_BURKINA_FASO'S_REVERSAL_ON_GENETICALLY_MODIFIED_COTTON_AND_THE_IMPLICATIONS_FOR_AFRICA_Downloaded_from">in 2016</a>, when the Burkina Faso government and cotton companies decided to abandon GM cotton. </p>
<p>What happened? </p>
<p>Burkina Faso was the first African country where a GM crop was principally grown <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-to-be-learnt-from-burkina-fasos-decision-to-drop-gm-cotton-53906">by smallholder farmers</a>. The crop was an insect resistant cotton variety, developed through a partnership with the US-based agri-business company Monsanto (now Bayer Crop Science). At its height <a href="https://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/49/download/isaaa-brief-49-2014.pdf">nearly 150,000</a> Burkinabè households grew GM cotton.</p>
<p>Supporters quickly <a href="http://africenter.isaaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Burkina-Faso-Bt-cotton-progress-2013.pdf">broadcast study findings</a> demonstrating increased average yields and incomes. This developed into a prominent narrative of success.</p>
<p>Observers were shocked when only eight years later <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-to-be-learnt-from-burkina-fasos-decision-to-drop-gm-cotton-53906">Burkina Faso abandoned genetically modified cotton</a>. The reason: it had shorter-fibre lint and ginning machines extracted proportionally less lint from harvested cotton bolls. This led to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-burkina-monsanto/burkina-faso-settles-dispute-with-monsanto-over-gm-cotton-idUSKBN16F1N3">US$76 million in losses</a> for cotton companies.</p>
<p>Other problems also surfaced. New evidence showed that GM cotton yields were less than half of early projections. And there were significant variations among farmers. Many farmers <a href="https://agritrop.cirad.fr/594426/">lost money</a>.</p>
<p>How could such a prominent success story turn so quickly to failure? </p>
<p><a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1bb3p,6yxDEM3C">Our new research</a>, which draws on over 250 interviews and in-depth research in Burkina Faso spanning over a decade, traces what happened. We found that rather than an abrupt turnaround, these problems were known by cotton sector officials as early as 2006 – ten years before Burkina Faso abandoned GM cotton. </p>
<p>The puzzle we unravel is how a success narrative could be built when problems were readily apparent. </p>
<p>In short, the story has a lot to do with power.</p>
<h2>Silences and omissions</h2>
<p>Burkina Faso’s cotton success narrative was built on a series of studies with significant methodological problems. Studies contained <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/38/special-articles/constructing-facts.html">well-documented issues in data collection</a>, failing to sufficiently control for differences between comparison groups. In most cases, they also failed to provide sufficient evidence to evaluate how data were collected.</p>
<p>These faulty evaluation studies reported yield and income results in averages, which advocates quickly circulated as evidence of success. These same studies often showed large variability in yields and profits for farmers, but didn’t highlight these findings.</p>
<p>Significant conflicts of interest shaped the collection and reporting of findings. Monsanto provided funding for the evaluation studies in a contract with the <a href="http://www.cnrst.bf/index.php/inera/">Burkina Faso Institute for Environment and Agricultural Research</a>. This meant that Monsanto had ultimate control over research findings – and a strong interest in projecting success. </p>
<p>The institute depended on Monsanto funding that accompanied the adoption of GM cotton. Highly skilled Burkinabè researchers also jockeyed for limited jobs with Monsanto.</p>
<p>In our interviews, which included Monsanto representatives, participants said it was difficult to challenge the success narrative. Concerns they raised were often silenced or left unexamined. At times, their expertise was dismissed. </p>
<h2>Ignoring local dynamics</h2>
<p>Evaluation studies had additional problems, particularly with regard to the differential impacts of GM cotton. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2013.824425">Previous research</a> in Burkina Faso has detailed how local dynamics can determine the extent to which a farmer profits from cotton production. These dynamics weren’t included in the evaluation studies that built the success narrative.</p>
<p>Our research, which paid close attention to local-level dynamics, revealed that these missing pieces were critical factors shaping farmers’ experiences with GM cotton.</p>
<p>Poorer farmers faced additional challenges: they used less fertiliser, which compounded yield issues in GM cotton, and they were often burdened by having to pay for replacement seeds in cases when their first planting didn’t germinate. This additional seed cost resulted from complex relationships between farmers and cotton company employees who often <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03066150.2018.1499623?journalCode=fjps20">belittled</a> small-scale farmers. These dynamics and additional costs were invisible to overly narrow evaluation studies.</p>
<p>As a result, the success narrative gave a false impression that even farmers with few resources were achieving “average” yield gains.</p>
<h2>Profiting from an exaggerated success narrative</h2>
<p>The power to shape a narrative – based on faulty studies that overlooked important realities – turned out to be good for Monsanto’s bottom line. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718513000456">The final royalty contract</a> signed by Monsanto and Burkinabè partners ostensibly gave 28% of the “added value” of GM cotton to Monsanto, and the rest for farmers and cotton companies. But Monsanto received far more than this.</p>
<p>The royalty contract used an inflated yield estimate (30%) to establish the amount of added value from GM cotton. Even in the best years, actual cotton yields didn’t approach this estimate. </p>
<p>Monsanto also received this inflated payment irrespective of the actual performance of the technology, since it was paid according to the number of hectares planted. Monsanto profited more than was agreed to in the contract, and assumed none of the risk shouldered by <a href="https://www.cahiersagricultures.fr/articles/cagri/full_html/2016/03/cagri160010/cagri160010.html">cotton companies and farmers</a>. </p>
<p>Monsanto also benefited from a reliable GM crop success story. This narrative <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/analysis/ideas/Burkina-Faso-cotton-production-dip/4259414-5106640-arhei5z/index.html">is still used</a> to advance other ventures in Africa.</p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>Anthropologist Glenn Stone <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/38/special-articles/constructing-facts.html">has argued</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are naïve in swallowing empirical claims without a careful consideration of how vested interests affect the creation of facts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As this case shows, vested interests played a significant role in shaping a success narrative despite apparent problems.</p>
<p>Moving forward, it will be important to learn from the Burkinabè case, not just about what happened, but about how knowledge was produced. An examination of vested interests is one such take away. This is particularly important now as <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/africa-s-gene-revolution-products-9780773559042.php">multiple African nations consider</a> a wide array of GM crops for commercialisation. </p>
<p>Many GM crops under consideration in Africa are not the domain of a big agri-business company like Monsanto. This does not mean, however, that vested interests will not still shape how knowledge about these crops gets produced.</p>
<p>Evaluation studies will need to be independent, transparent, rigorous, and methodologically diverse, to accurately reflect the realities of these crops. Studies must anticipate challenges and shortcomings. This is particularly true to understand whether and how genetically modified crops aid resource-poor, women, and marginalised farmers. </p>
<p>For too long agricultural technologies like GM crops have been evaluated as if they exist in a social and political vacuum. Understanding how GM crops perform for farmers needs close attention to local-level dynamics and context. The role that power plays in that context must be a part of how we understand GM crops moving forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessie Luna has received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Fulbright Student Program, the American Association for University Women, and the University of Colorado Boulder.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian Dowd-Uribe has eceived funding from the National Science Foundation, the Center for Tropical Research in Ecology, Agriculture and Development (CenTREAD), the Henry Luce Foundation, UC Santa Cruz’s Graduate Division, and the Environmental Studies Department at UC Santa Cruz.</span></em></p>Burkina Faso’s genetically modified cotton success narrative was built on studies with methodological problems.Jessie Luna, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Colorado State UniversityBrian Dowd-Uribe, Associate Professor, International Studies Department, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1430162020-08-18T14:23:13Z2020-08-18T14:23:13ZWhy do people participate in election violence? Insights from Kenya’s 2007 elections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/353117/original/file-20200817-18-1ejh2i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenya's Daily Nation headline condemning the 2007 post-election violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle Shephard/Toronto Star via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Conversations in Kenya have started around the upcoming 2022 presidential elections. Elections in Kenya <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/siasa/2020-07-25-kenya-has-always-been-a-violent-country-one-silently-at-war-with-itself/">tend to be</a> highly contentious and there is often concern that, in some places, violence may erupt. </p>
<p>Political violence has a long history in Kenya. It extends back to the British <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521113822/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">colonial state’s use of violence</a> to control people, expropriate land, and suppress dissent. </p>
<p>In independent Kenya, the regimes of Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kenya-History-Independence-Charles-Hornsby/dp/1780765010">continued to use violence</a> as a way to control land and intimidate political rivals. </p>
<p>With the reintroduction of multi-party elections in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/1993/11/01/divide-and-rule-state-sponsored-ethnic-violence-kenya">1992</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/1993/11/01/divide-and-rule-state-sponsored-ethnic-violence-kenya">politicians used violence</a> to shape electoral outcomes. In the 1992 presidential elections, around 1,200 people were killed and 300,000 people were displaced from their homes. Following the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0010414011407465">1997</a> elections, between 300 and 1,000 people were killed and about 10,000 were displaced. And in the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/kenya0308/">2007 general elections</a>, Kenya experienced its most violent election to date: around 1,500 people were killed and another 600,000 displaced.</p>
<p>Studies of political violence tend to focus on how the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43821581?casa_token=qMpNogikwBUAAAAA%3AxEvJQJvU8FNrQxwyD0dEjbZld67b40_Fyn0_t5CnfZnEFRhBcsJP2xz1Wjn-e7WuSrRriHpasW-ZMC-XLmEGvZVV0dAivAju3dzb8sx5fgVU_CofCJPO&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">electoral incentives of political leaders</a> shape the use of violence. But the occurrence of violence is often a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3688707?casa_token=cCdELYv3vAMAAAAA%3AYRtIyb4ISxwYtBgQn-zdnw0AkHVbdVYIGYiKtHk7z2kURJIwfpiQ0o3sGJQ3C6Xna9PxnJgmdkLpoQYeSMp75Z0DHUj8YiyGLY9mhzeyPMgb7_a9aXY-&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">joint production</a> between political elites and ordinary citizens.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=tjrc-gov">participation of ordinary citizens</a> was <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=tjrc-gov">particularly stark</a> after Kenya’s 2007 general elections. People set fire to homes and farms, burned tyres in the roads, and in some cases, killed and raped. </p>
<p>Violence escalated when the incumbent candidate, Mwai Kibaki, was announced as the president reelect. The main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), disputed the results and party leaders <a href="https://www.nation.co.ke/kenya/news/politics/when-a-peaceful-vote-returned-violent-results--749546">encouraged members to mobilise</a>. Protests quickly turned violent and escalated across the country. </p>
<p>Importantly, however, there was significant local variation in the sites and scale of violence. This raised questions that are central to my new book, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/political-violence-in-kenya/1A2E896FFD8E6B225E02C8263A86FBC6">“Political Violence in Kenya: Land, Elections, and Claim-Making”</a>. Specifically, I ask: how do leaders organise political violence, and more so, why do ordinary citizens participate?</p>
<p>I carried out several years of fieldwork for the book. This included hundreds of interviews and a household survey with residents across the Rift Valley and Coast regions. I found that electoral violence is most likely to escalate where there is: </p>
<p>1) Moderate (rather than significant) inequality in land rights between two nearby and ethnically distinct groups. </p>
<p>2) Salient and contentious narratives around land between these two groups.</p>
<p>3) A strong leader who can use these land narratives to convince or compel ordinary citizens to participate in violence. </p>
<p>Election violence tended to happen where a group believed that their participation in violence would advance their personal interests, or those of their community.</p>
<p>The book highlights the importance of land tenure reform as a key policy tool to mitigate and prevent violent conflict in Kenya. It can also help to explain or anticipate patterns of election violence based on local inequalities, for instance over land, jobs, or other resources.</p>
<h2>It’s about land</h2>
<p>In Kenya, and many other agrarian-based economies, control and ownership over land shapes identity, livelihood, and power. Yet land tenure institutions are often weak and highly politicised. This can give rise to certain narratives that elites and citizens can use to coordinate the use of violence. </p>
<p>In Kenya, for example, the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/article/111/445/576/47210">belief that “outsiders” have invaded the ancestral land of “insiders”</a> has justified violent evictions, often during elections.</p>
<p>I compared areas where ethnically-distinct farming communities border one another. I selected several cases from Nakuru County, in the central Rift Valley, where predominantly Kalenjin farming communities bordered Kikuyu communities. Political leaders have long <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00083968.2001.10751230?casa_token=Z15XLCHNQtcAAAAA:F2ZFS8hR9VNaQtfCdQ9izzd7zpJFrHOJ2anRSbNgAklHLBFUY6w82N5v_4b2Mtiv7Ct39L2_NVg3">pitted these communities</a> against one another in struggles over access to land and political representation. </p>
<p>Many Kalenjin have come to view the Rift Valley as their ancestral land and see Kikuyu as ethnic outsiders. Many Kikuyu, meanwhile, argue that because they have purchased the land and hold title deeds, they are the rightful claimants. </p>
<p>For instance, after the results of the 2007 elections were announced, violence erupted when Kalenjin residents from Mauche crossed into the neighbouring area of Likia and burned property belonging to Kikuyu residents. </p>
<p>However, a short distance away in Ogilgei, where Kalenjin residents border the mostly Kikuyu community of Kerma, violence never escalated. </p>
<p>A key difference between these two cases is the degree of land tenure security, and specifically, what I describe as “moderate land inequality”. </p>
<p>Residents in Likia and Mauche are small-scale farmers. But in 2007, most Kikuyu residents in Likia held title deeds while most Kalenjin farmers in Mauche did not. For many Mauche farmers, this lack of tenure security shaped a defensive logic: “evict them before they can evict us”. </p>
<p>By contrast in Ogilgei, both Kalenjin and Kikuyu residents held title deeds. Neither side linked the election outcome with their tenure security, and thus had few reasons to engage in violence. </p>
<h2>Coastal dynamics</h2>
<p>In another example, I ask why many communities in the coastal counties of Kwale and Kilifi experienced far less violence than those in the Rift Valley.</p>
<p>I find that a key mitigating factor was the significant land inequality between a small, but powerful group of “landlords”, alongside a large population of landless “squatters”. </p>
<p>Landlords tend to be of <a href="http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:271584/FULLTEXT01">Arab, Indian, or European descent</a>, while most landless identify as <em>Mijikenda</em>. The main cleavage line tends to be class, rather than ethnicity. </p>
<p>Though the <em>Mijikenda</em> are the electoral majority, such significant land inequality means that their own local leaders tend to remain beholden to the interests of the landed elite, rather than their land-poor constituents. </p>
<p>Hence, while there are contentious land narratives, many citizens tend to see their elected leaders as weak: unwilling or unable to alter land rights in their favour. </p>
<p>This means that elections are far less high-stake than in the Rift Valley where many believe that the outcome determines who gets evicted and who can remain. </p>
<h2>Broader implications</h2>
<p>While the dynamics of violence that I describe in the book draw specifically from the case of Kenya, there are a number of broader implications. The book can help explain or anticipate patterns of election violence. This dynamic has played out in countries such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14662041003672502?casa_token=b_kv3B_d8mcAAAAA%3Arh8lnw3_7lIfHYHrE-TYCjZmmOVwVAuIXCknCrhLszgIjeJtlE4v-KZevFxuBjCkLLmnl0_YVXWPwg">Zimbabwe</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022343315580145">Cote d’Ivoire</a>, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19362200802285807?casa_token=fvQkJPIZmNEAAAAA%3AYY9PbQrNRwnYhV0nLvFz6QUGK6UgxtQ8dZT9UIuOdSWEJDINdM9kX94DI7qweU9vqTwWb_xdzF0gwg">Democratic Republic of Congo</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2014.1003811?tab=permissions&scroll=top">Indonesia</a>, and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/04/29/democracy-crossfire/opposition-violence-and-government-abuses-2014-pre-and-post">Bangladesh</a>. </p>
<p>It also highlights the importance of strengthening land tenure institutions so that a citizen’s access to land does not hinge on a particular electoral outcome. </p>
<p>Finally, it provides insights into how political elites use particular appeals to divide populations, consolidate political support, and in some cases, incite violence. </p>
<p>In order to prevent or mitigate violence, there needs to be a better understanding of how and why particular narratives – built around identity, rights, and citizenship – gain resonance compared to others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Klaus has received funding for this research from the United States Institute of Peace, National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. </span></em></p>The occurrence of violence in Kenya is a joint production between political elites and ordinary citizens.Kathleen Klaus, Assistant Professor, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1385072020-05-14T12:03:18Z2020-05-14T12:03:18ZMasks help stop the spread of coronavirus – the science is simple and I’m one of 100 experts urging governors to require public mask-wearing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334836/original/file-20200513-156665-65xuab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Evidence is growing that when masks are worn by nearly everyone, it can slow coronavirus transmission.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Utah/f9d15295f92845e68b31c0e5df09bb98/36/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m a <a href="https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/jeremy-howard">data scientist</a> at the University of San Francisco and teach courses online in machine learning for <a href="https://www.fast.ai/">fast.ai</a>. In late March, I decided to use public mask-wearing as a case study to show my students how to combine and analyze diverse types of data and evidence.</p>
<p>Much to my surprise, I discovered that the evidence for wearing masks in public was very strong. It appeared that universal mask-wearing could be one of the most important tools in tackling the spread of COVID-19. Yet the people around me weren’t wearing masks and health organizations in the U.S. weren’t recommending their use. </p>
<p>I, along with 18 other experts from a variety of disciplines, conducted a review of the research on public mask-wearing as a tool to slow the spread SARS-CoV-2. We published a preprint of <a href="https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202004.0203.v2">our paper</a> on April 12 and it is now awaiting peer review at the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. </p>
<p>Since then, there have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/resp.13834">many</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa056">more</a> reviews that support mask-wearing.</p>
<p>On May 14, I and 100 of the world’s top academics released an <a href="https://masks4all.co/letter-over-100-prominent-health-experts-call-for-cloth-mask-requirements/">open letter</a> to all U.S. governors asking that “officials <em>require</em> cloth masks to be worn in all public places, such as stores, transportation systems, and public buildings.” </p>
<p>Currently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone wears a mask – as do the governments covering 90% of the world’s population – but, so far, only 12 states in the U.S. require it. In the majority of the remaining states, the CDC recommendation has not been enough: Most people <a href="http://www.kateto.net/COVID19%20CONSORTIUM%20REPORT%20April%202020.pdf">do not currently wear masks</a>. However, things are changing fast. Every week more and more jurisdictions require mask use in public. As I write this, there are now <a href="https://airtable.com/shreZdkFaYZqfpEqU/tbl5o6qUd54BL9wkw">94 countries</a> that have made this move.</p>
<p>So what is this evidence that has led myself and so many scientists to believe so strongly in masks?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334823/original/file-20200513-156675-1cpet7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Droplets ejected from people’s mouths during coughing or talking are likely the most significant source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/man-exhaling-vapor-side-view-close-up-night-royalty-free-image/200340020-002?adppopup=true">Thomas Jackson/Stone via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The evidence</h2>
<p>The research that first convinced me was a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2007800">laser light-scattering experiment</a>. Researchers from the <a href="https://www.nih.gov/">National Institutes of Health</a> used lasers to illuminate and count how many droplets of saliva were flung into the air by a person talking with and without a face mask. The paper was only recently published officially, but I saw a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OSz5Gr7gG0">YouTube video</a> showing the experiment in early March. The results are shockingly obvious in the video. When the researcher used a simple cloth face cover, nearly all the droplets were blocked.</p>
<p>This evidence is only relevant if COVID-19 is transmitted by droplets from a person’s mouth. <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2020/05/09/evidence-shows-covid-19-is-almost-exclusively-spread-by-droplets.html">It is</a>. There are many documented super-spreading cases connected with activities – like <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm">singing in enclosed spaces</a> – that create a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006874117">lot of droplets</a>. </p>
<p>The light-scattering experiment cannot see “micro-droplets” that are smaller than 5 microns and could contain some viral particles. But experts don’t think that these are <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-causing-covid-19-implications-for-ipc-precaution-recommendations">responsible for much COVID-19 transmission</a>. </p>
<p>While just how much of a role these small particles play in transmission remains to be seen, recent research suggests that cloth masks are also effective at reducing the spread of these smaller particles. In a paper that has not yet been peer-reviewed, researchers found that micro-droplets fell out of the air within <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.03444">1.5 meters of the person who was wearing a mask</a>, versus 5 meters for those not wearing masks. When combined with social distancing, this suggests that masks can effectively reduce transmission via micro-droplets.</p>
<p>Another recent study showed that unfitted surgical masks were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0843-2">100% effective in blocking seasonal coronavirus</a> in droplets ejected during breathing.</p>
<p>If only people with symptoms infected others, then only people with symptoms would need to wear masks. But experts have shown that people without symptoms <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2196-x">pose a risk of infecting others</a>. In fact, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0869-5">four</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3709942">recent</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.05.20031815">studies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.17.20053157">show</a> that nearly half of patients are infected by people who do not themselves have symptoms.</p>
<p>This evidence seems, to me, clear and simple: COVID-19 is spread by droplets. We can see directly that a piece of cloth blocks those droplets and the virus those droplets contain. People without symptoms who don’t even know they are sick are responsible for around half of the transmission of the virus. </p>
<p>We should all wear masks.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334828/original/file-20200513-156629-1rkbpbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asking the wrong questions led to a misunderstanding of the medical literature around masks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Texas/37762ea5a41245c5a36b98f1b029ccfa/12/0">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Against the tide</h2>
<p>After going through all of this strong evidence in late March and early April, I wondered why mask-wearing was controversial amongst health organizations in the Western world. The U.S. and European CDCs did not recommend masks, and neither did nearly any western government except for Slovakia and Czechia, which both required masks in late March.</p>
<p>I think there were three key problems. </p>
<p>The first was that most researchers were looking at the wrong question – how well a mask protects the wearer from infection and not how well a mask prevents an infected person from spreading the virus. Masks function very differently as personal protective equipment (PPE) versus source control. </p>
<p>Masks are very good at blocking larger droplets and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7108646/">not nearly as good</a> at blocking tiny particles. When a person expels droplets into the air, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a118097">quickly evaporate</a> and shrink to become tiny airborne particles called droplet nuclei. These are <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2Fs0022172400019288">extremely hard to remove from the air</a>. However, in the moist atmosphere between a person’s mouth and their mask, it takes nearly <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Aerosol+Technology%3A+Properties%2C+Behavior%2C+and+Measurement+of+Airborne+Particles%2C+2nd+Edition-p-9780471194101">a hundred times as long</a> for a droplet to evaporate and shrink into a droplet nuclei.</p>
<p>This means that nearly any kind of simple cloth mask is great for source control. The mask creates humidity, this humidity prevents virus-containing droplets from turning into droplet nuclei, and this allows the fabric of the mask to block the droplets. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, nearly all of the research that was available at the start of this pandemic focused on mask efficacy as PPE. This measure is very important for protecting health care workers, but does not capture their value as source control. On Feb. 29, the U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/surgeon_general/status/1233725785283932160">surgeon general tweeted</a> that masks “are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.” This missed the key point: They are extremely effective at preventing its spread, as our review of the literature showed.</p>
<p>The second problem was that most medical researchers are used to judging interventions on the basis of <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/How-to-Read-a-Paper%3A-The-Basics-of-Evidence-Based-Greenhalgh/f7aa35eb0acea813682527bec5b8929b76e908ba#paper-header">randomized controlled trials</a>. These are the foundation of evidence based medicine. However, it is impossible and unethical to test mask-wearing, hand-washing or social distancing during a pandemic.</p>
<p>Experts like Trisha Greenhalgh, the author of the best-selling textbook “How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence Based Healthcare,” are <a href="https://twitter.com/trishgreenhalgh/status/1257713121692712961">now asking</a>, “Is Covid-19 evidence-based medicine’s nemesis?” She and others <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1435">are suggesting</a> that when a simple experiment finds evidence to support an intervention and that intervention has a limited downside, policymakers should act before a randomized trial is done. </p>
<p>The third problem is that there is a shortage of medical masks around the world. Many policymakers were concerned that recommending face coverings for the public would lead to people hoarding medical masks. This led to seemingly contradictory guidance where the CDC said there was no reason for the public to wear masks but that masks needed to be saved for medical workers. The CDC has now clarified its stance and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html">recommends the public use of homemade masks</a> while saving higher-grade masks for medical professionals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334819/original/file-20200513-156625-p2hmnv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many countries were quick to adopt public mask-wearing while others, including the U.S., still haven’t enacted nationwide rules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-China/14a4a3b74f56472fa05c9689adc99e85/1/0">AP Photo/Andy Wong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Results of mask-wearing</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.13553">numerous</a> <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.07353">studies</a> that suggest if 80% of people wear a mask in public, then COVID-19 transmission could be halted. Until a vaccine or a cure for COVID-19 is discovered, cloth face masks might be the most important tool we currently have to fight the pandemic.</p>
<p>Given all of the laboratory and epidemiological evidence, the low cost of wearing masks – which can be made at home with no tools – and the potential to slow COVID-19 transmission with widescale use, policymakers should ensure that everyone wears a mask in public.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeremy Howard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recommendations around mask usage are confusing. The science isn’t. Evidence shows that masks are extremely effective to slow the coronavirus and may be the best tool available right now to fight it.Jeremy Howard, Distinguished Research Scientist, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1376912020-05-11T11:50:40Z2020-05-11T11:50:40ZFor parents of color, schooling at home can be an act of resistance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332067/original/file-20200501-42918-1qa6knh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5109%2C2777&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Educating your children at home brings the power to choose what they learn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/son-reading-to-dad-royalty-free-image/638761855?adppopup=true">MoMo Productions/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>My 6-year-old hates the British. To be more specific, the British Empire that ruled over up to <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/history/93820/british-empire-how-big-was-it-and-why-did-it-collapse">a quarter of the world’s land</a> by the early 1900s. Hates that one of the biggest diamonds in the world, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-koh-i-noor-diamondand-why-british-wont-give-it-back-180964660/">found in India</a> over 1,000 years ago, now sits in the queen’s set of crown jewels. Hates that they <a href="http://origins.osu.edu/milestones/december-2017-india-pakistan-partition">drew up borders quickly</a> and exited South Asia in the 1940s, resulting in the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">death of millions</a>, and making his grandfather and great-grandparents refugees in the newly formed nation of India.</p>
<p>How does my 6-year-old know all about this? Well, because we talk about it and have a lot of books at home. We have always read <a href="http://www.niahouse.org/blog-fulton/2018/10/19/45-childrens-books-about-south-asian-history-and-culturenbsp">books about South Asian culture and history</a>. And now that we have more flexible schedules since we have to work at home – and the kiddo has to do school at home – we have even more time together. He naturally gravitates to the books with characters that look like him.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332054/original/file-20200501-42923-qk085k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sampling of books at the author’s home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monisha Bajaj</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LwU2EpEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of multicultural education</a>, I know that children are able to understand complex issues, like <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716700866/talking-race-with-young-children">racism</a>, if they are broken down and explained in a way that they can grasp. So, when books talk about subjects like segregation, slavery, colonialism or sexism, my partner and I explain those terms as best we can.</p>
<h2>A different worldview</h2>
<p>Conversations about world history in our home go a little like this: </p>
<p>Parent: “People from Europe really liked the spices and cloth from South Asia, so they wanted to go there to buy stuff.” </p>
<p>Kiddo: “Even Christopher Columbus was lost and trying to find India, right?” </p>
<p>Parent: “Right! Europeans went to South Asia, first to trade and buy things. But then they wanted more power, and the British decided to take over and bully people around.”</p>
<p>Kiddo: “How did they bully them?”</p>
<p>Parent: “They made people give them money (land-taxes), didn’t let them make their own clothes to wear, and didn’t even let them make salt out of the water in the sea next to where they lived!”</p>
<p>Books like “<a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/elizabeth-cody-kimmel/a-taste-of-freedom/">A Taste of Freedom</a>,” which recounts Gandhi’s famed <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/india/salt-march">Salt March</a> to protest British rule, and resources like the website and podcast “<a href="https://parentingforliberation.org/">Parenting for Liberation</a>,” certainly help with these conversations.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has brought on a lot of hardship and heartache to families everywhere, and it has also made it easier for parents like us to spend more time with our children. For parents of color, this means a chance to educate our children as we see fit. We have an opportunity to offer counter-stories that focus on people who look like us, as opposed to having our children forced to learn from narratives written from a European or white perspective.</p>
<p>Our family traces our origins to different parts of South Asia, and we are using this time at home to read about anti-colonial and anti-caste activists like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bhimrao-Ramji-Ambedkar">B.R. Ambedkar</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/elm-2019/dakshayini-velayudhan-d53a91ca9f1d">Dakshayani Velayudhan</a>, people my son wouldn’t ever encounter in his school curriculum. </p>
<h2>Racism in schools and society</h2>
<p>There’s no shortage of examples of inaccurate textbooks like the one in Texas that made headlines a few years ago for referring to enslaved people as immigrant “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/10/23/450826208/why-calling-slaves-workers-is-more-than-an-editing-error">workers from Africa</a>.”</p>
<p>There is also a cultural mismatch between America’s teachers and students – <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/08/15/the-nations-teaching-force-is-still-mostly.html">80% of America’s teachers are white</a>, but <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cge.pdf">more than half</a> of the nation’s students are children of color. And this mismatch matters: <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2018-11-23/black-teachers-improve-outcomes-for-black-students">Studies show</a> that black students are more likely to graduate from high school if they have an African American teacher in elementary school.</p>
<p>No matter the teacher’s ethnic identity, research shows that students are <a href="https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/culturally-responsive-teaching/understanding-culturally-responsive-teaching/">more interested in school and do better</a> when they feel like they can relate to what’s being taught and when the lessons reflect their own heritage and history. This is where schooling your children at home can make a difference. That is, parents can select lessons on historical or contemporary issues that do reflect their children’s history and heritage.</p>
<h2>Hard histories</h2>
<p>No doubt, some social justice education can get to be too much and provide too early an exposure to graphic images of violence and suffering. For example, a friend’s son at age 5 watched a video at a neighbor’s house that showed the targeting of an African American boy by the police – something that is part of a larger <a href="http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/PoliceUseOfForceAfrosUSA.pdf">documented issue of police violence against black Americans in the U.S.</a> Afterward, the child would get quiet and scared whenever he saw a police officer.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/332070/original/file-20200501-42913-srsmqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t let children watch disturbing scenes on their own.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/parents-looking-at-a-laptop-computer-at-home-with-royalty-free-image/1189239933?adppopup=true">davidf/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/8/12401792/police-black-parents-the-talk">The talk</a>,” or discussions African American parents have with their children about the police, is both necessary and real. But, all forms of racial justice education have to be done with nuance and from a <a href="https://parentingforliberation.org/">place of liberation</a> rather than fear. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, when my son and I read a book about abolitionist and Civil War hero Harriet Tubman, we listened to some songs on YouTube from the movie “<a href="https://www.focusfeatures.com/harriet">Harriet</a>,” but I didn’t let him see the video. Studies show that early exposure to graphic violence can <a href="https://dartcenter.org/content/children-and-media-coverage-trauma">cause trauma and distress</a>, so home-based social justice education has to be delivered with care and attention. That means carefully preselecting videos and clips to watch with children to screen for excessive violence, and taking time to explain tough concepts and issues.</p>
<h2>In search of liberation</h2>
<p>In reading and discussions in our family, we focus on movements and activists. Educator and TV legend <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mister-rogers-faith-shaped-his-idea-of-childrens-television-123313">Fred Rogers</a> famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/13/mr-fred-rogers-find-helpers-quote-coronavirus-how-help-neighbors-kindness/5041005002/">Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping</a>.’” I would modify that Mister Rogers quote slightly for parents of color to say “When you see injustice, look for the people who are resisting. You will always find people who are resisting.” </p>
<p>While my kiddo still hates “the British,” he also knows about the <a href="http://frederickdouglassinbritain.com/">British abolitionists</a> who helped former slave, activist and author <a href="https://theconversation.com/frederick-douglass-july-4th-and-remembering-babylon-in-america-79246">Frederick Douglass</a> fight for an end to slavery in the 1800s. </p>
<p>Schooling at home provides a unique chance for children of color to build up their knowledge of their histories and larger struggles for social and racial justice locally and globally. Perhaps this moment can be an opportunity, a place of possibility within the overwhelming and daunting task of parenting during the pandemic.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Monisha Bajaj does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of multicultural education says the COVID-19 pandemic gives parents of color the chance to choose what their children learn at home.Monisha Bajaj, Professor of International and Multicultural Education, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328082020-03-24T14:09:41Z2020-03-24T14:09:41ZHow the people of Sudan pulled off an improbable revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318607/original/file-20200304-66056-47rhqe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman flashes the V for victory sign as Sudanese protesters demonstrate in Khartoum on July 25, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the turbulent and often tragic history of the past decade in North Africa is written, the 2019 <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sudans-protesters-upped-the-ante-and-forced-al-bashir-from-power-115306">pro-democracy revolution in Sudan</a> will likely be considered one of the few bright spots. One of the world’s most brutal dictatorships —- in power for over 30 years —- was overthrown in a massive nonviolent civil insurrection involving millions of Sudanese. In its place is a liberal technocratic <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190808073257/https:/www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/sudan-military-council-opposition-reach-power-sharing-agreement-190705013332385.html">civilian administration</a>.</p>
<p>Whether civilian democratic rule will survive the serious challenges still facing the country remains to be seen. But for now a key question is: how did they do it?</p>
<p>Conditions in Sudan were not auspicious for a successful pro-democracy civil resistance movement. The regime was oppressive, entrenched, and had been successful in its divide and rule tactics when it came to the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/sudan-population/">large and ethnically heterogeneous nation</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, three decades of repressive military rule had largely decimated civil society institutions like labour unions and human rights organisations and the reactionary Islamic leadership had put severe <a href="https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-one-of-worst-countries-for-women-s-rights-survey">restrictions on women</a>. Over <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=dxoqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=sudan+exiles+five+million&source=bl&ots=W1eX-FP-Pm&sig=ACfU3U0WauwEVWfIQWrFafR8t9ZUztC8WQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjnyMDl9a7oAhWFGDQIHSliBj0Q6AEwAHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=sudan%20exiles%20five%20million&f=false">five million Sudanese</a>, including many of the country’s most educated people, had emigrated.</p>
<p>Lastly, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-protests/saudi-arabia-uae-to-send-3-billion-in-aid-to-sudan-idUSKCN1RX0DG">helping to prop up</a> the military regime. And most of the West had seemingly written off Sudan as a hopeless case.</p>
<p>Yet, starting in December 2018, a movement emerged which eventually brought millions of Sudanese onto the streets. By April 2019, General Omar al-Bashir was overthrown by fellow military officers. Protests continued and, despite hundreds of additional deaths, by August the military stepped down in favour of a civilian-led transitional government.</p>
<p>There are numerous reasons for the success of this uprising. The key ones range from the regime’s incompetence and the fact that the economy was in a mess, to the way in which the opposition forces organised themselves into a broad-based movement. Another major factor in their success was that they chose to use nonviolent tactics such as sit-ins and demonstrations.</p>
<h2>Ingredients of success</h2>
<p>A number of factors contributed to the success of the uprising. These included the regime’s weaknesses, as well as the tactics used by the opposition forces.</p>
<p>As far as the regime was concerned, there were at least four factors working against it. These included:</p>
<p><strong>Divisions:</strong> To the opposition’s advantage, some of the main elements of the repressive apparatus of the regime — the police, intelligence, military, and special forces — <a href="https://pachodo.org/latest-news-articles/news-from-various-sources/18878-rival-security-forces-clash-in-sudan-amid-anti-government-protests">were divided</a>. The opposition did an excellent job of exacerbating those divisions and using them to its own advantage, offering sanctuary for deserting troops, shaming families of the hardline forces, and winning over some junior officers.</p>
<p><strong>Incompetence:</strong> The state was in many respects weak and incompetent. <a href="https://www.bic-rhr.com/research/sudan-economy-and-military-fall-bashir">The economy</a> was in a shambles. This became particularly marked after the country lost access to oil reserves in the south after South Sudan became independent in 2011. Education, transport, health care, agriculture and other basic infrastructure had <a href="https://fanack.com/sudan/economy/">deteriorated significantly</a> during its three decades in power.</p>
<p><strong>Sanctions:</strong> international sanctions added to chronic corruption and mismanagement in weakening the economy.</p>
<p><strong>Disaffected youth:</strong> Young Sudanese had had enough. They felt they had no future and they had nothing more to lose. Interviews with young people during my visit in January revealed a sense of sheer desperation, a sense that “enough is enough”.</p>
<p>When it came to the movement itself, a number of factors contributed to strengthening its efforts, and making them more effective. Among them were:</p>
<p><strong>Scope and scale:</strong> While some civil insurrections have largely taken place in the capital with mostly middle class support, the Sudanese revolution took place all over country, in all regions, with diverse class and ethnic participation. Another key component was the fact that popular resistance committees were active in even the poorest neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>This was in conjunction with the role played by the Sudanese Professionals Association, an alliance of professional trade unions, which played a key leadership role.</p>
<p>Building such a broad coalition of forces was vitally important, given the size and complexity of the country.</p>
<p><strong>National unity:</strong> For decades, the regime had tried to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/2182870/omar-al-bashir-exploited-sudans-ethnic-division-decades-now-people">divide Sudanese</a> by North and South, Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim. The pro-democracy protesters recognised that national unity was critical and consciously resisted efforts at divide-and-rule.</p>
<p>One example was the regime’s efforts at the beginning of the uprising to try and blame the uprising in Khartoum on Furs, the people indigenous to the Darfur region. In response, the largely-Arab but multi-ethnic protesters began chanting <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/01/12/sudans-genocidal-regime-is-under-siege">“We are all Darfur!”</a>. In solidarity, protesters in Al Fashir, the Darfur capital, started chanting “We are all Khartoum!”</p>
<p><strong>The role of women:</strong> strong leadership from women helped increase the numbers of protesters by encouraging women to join the protests. It also lent credibility to the protests and better popular perception of the movement and its goals by challenging notions that they were violent and dangerous.</p>
<p><strong>Nonviolent action:</strong> In my view, the single most important factor was possibly the decision to stress nonviolent action.</p>
<p>The Sudanese opposition had, on previous occasions, engaged in violent struggles. For example, in 1993 an armed guerrilla movement operating out of bases in Eritrea was launched. But it failed to provoke a more widespread popular uprising and was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4007063?seq=1">formally disbanded in 2006</a>. Similarly, protesters turned violent during <a href="https://sudanreeves.org/2013/09/29/uprising-in-sudan-what-we-know-now-september-28-2013/">the civil insurrection of 2013</a>. The uprising was crushed within days after scores of civilian deaths.</p>
<p>The choice of peaceful protests, sit-ins and strikes made it difficult for the regime to depict the movement in a negative light. And nonviolence meant that the movement attracted sympathy it would have lost through violent tactics. This swelled the number of people coming out onto the streets.</p>
<h2>What still needs to be done</h2>
<p>There is still much to do to consolidate democracy and civilian rule in Sudan. Though civilians dominate the transitional government, the military and other elements of the old guard are still part of the system.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-aus-role-in-brokering-sudan-deal-offers-lessons-for-the-future-121822">The AU's role in brokering Sudan deal offers lessons for the future</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But the accomplishment of toppling Omar al-Bashir can be a lesson to those struggling for greater political freedom and social justice through the greater Middle East – and beyond.</p>
<p><em>A version of this article first appeared in <a href="https://insidearabia.com/sudans-democratic-revolution-how-they-did-it/">Inside Arabia</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author wishes to thank the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict for supporting his research.</span></em></p>Remaining nonviolent despite enormous provocation made it difficult for the regime to depict the movement in a negative lightStephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1251162019-10-17T11:40:57Z2019-10-17T11:40:57ZPell Grants are getting their due in the 2020 campaign<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297242/original/file-20191015-98661-75cjsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A proposal to increase the Pell Grant award amount could help restore the grant's original purchasing power when it was created in 1972.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Baruch-College-Commencement/03959c68c7f14515acf23a23d5bf74de/109/0">AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just as it did in the 2016 election, college affordability has become a critical issue in the 2020 election.</p>
<p>One key difference, however, is unlike in the 2016 election, which was largely <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-college-to-be-affordable-start-with-pell-grants-63034">devoid of any talk about increasing Pell Grants</a> for students from low- and moderate-income families to pay for college, this time around Pell Grants are part of the discussion.</p>
<p>Leading Democratic candidates – Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and, most recently, Joe Biden – have floated their own <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/where-the-2020-candidates-stand-on-student-debt-and-college-affordability-2019-02-20">proposals</a>. Biden’s plan – released in October 2019 – <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/10/09/big-new-spending-pell-grants-catches-moderate-presidential-hopefuls">distinguishes itself</a> from those of his competitors, however, by recognizing the important role that Pell Grants do and should play in paying for higher education.</p>
<p>Biden has proposed to double <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/10/09/big-new-spending-pell-grants-catches-moderate-presidential-hopefuls">the maximum Pell Grant award</a> from its current level of US$6,195 per year to $13,000 annually. This would be an important first step and a well-targeted approach to addressing the college financing needs of low- and moderate-income students. It is also a much more effective approach, in my view, than those proposed by his competitors of simply making college free for everyone – a step that would waste billions by forcing taxpayers to subsidize the college education of students from wealthy families.</p>
<h2>What are Pell Grants?</h2>
<p>Pell Grants were <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/pell_final_website_may_2015.pdf">created</a> in the 1972 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This academic year they provide grant aid of <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#how-much-money">up to $6,195</a> to students from the neediest families. These grants, which used to cover almost the entire cost of a college education for poor students, today cover <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/trends-college-pricing-2018-full-report.pdf">less than a third</a>.</p>
<p>In the 2017-2018 academic year, <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-total-expenditures-maximum-and-average-grant-and-number-recipients-over-time">7 million</a> undergraduates, or about one in every three undergraduates across the nation, received a total of about $28 billion in Pell Grants. </p>
<p>For most students, the funding they receive from the Pell program outstrips what they receive in aid from either their state or the institution they attend. </p>
<p>Using <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/default.aspx">data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education, I calculated that the average Pell Grant recipient received an amount from that program that was approximately three and a half times greater than what they received in state grant aid and twice the amount of scholarship assistance received from the institution attended.</p>
<p><iframe id="vnxal" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/vnxal/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Without Pell Grants, in other words, many low- and moderate-income students would not be able to attend college, or would not be able to attend full-time and make steady progress toward earning their degree. </p>
<h2>Pell Grant value declines</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/states-and-public-higher-education-policy">book</a> I edited in 2011, I demonstrated that back in the 1970s, a student attending a public, four-year university and receiving the maximum Pell Grant would have approximately 80% of the price of her college education – tuition, room and board – covered by the grant. </p>
<p>If the student had no resources of her own to contribute, the remaining 20% of the cost was often made up through state grants, scholarships from the university, work-study earnings and perhaps a small amount of student loans.</p>
<p>Today the maximum that a Pell Grant covers is only about <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/01469-061-trends-saf20af20bf21af21b.pdf">29%</a> of the price of attending college for that same student. The erosion in the value of the grant is due to two reasons: 1) the <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/college-pricing/highlights">rising price of college attendance</a> and 2) a drop in the real value of Pell Grants.</p>
<p>Over the last 30 years, average tuition prices at public, four-year colleges and universities have more than <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/01469-061-trendscpf3t2.pdf">tripled</a> after adjusting for inflation. Prices at private four-year colleges and community colleges did not rise at quite as high a rate, but prices in these two sectors still more than doubled during the same period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297241/original/file-20191015-98678-4nx1n8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students at Jackson State University listen as Larry Sykes, center, a Jackson State University senior majoring in business administration, expresses his displeasure with the College Board raising tuition at all of the state’s public universities for fall of 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/College-Tuition-Mississippi/6c66a876f45a4a239cc39f6059cf804c/1/0">AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pell Grants, in contrast, have grown much less rapidly. The maximum grant increased only <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-recipients-maximum-pell-and-average-pell">31%</a> in inflation-adjusted dollars during this same period.</p>
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<p>In the latter half of the 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Congress and the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton did not maintain the purchasing power of Pell Grants when they funded them at levels that did not keep up with the rise in college prices.</p>
<p>The maximum Pell Grant actually dropped <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-recipients-maximum-pell-and-average-pell">19%</a> in real dollars between 1985 and 1996. While federal funding over the last two decades has allowed it to regain some of its value, the maximum Pell Grant today is still at about the 1975 level in inflation-adjusted dollars, while college prices have continued to rise.</p>
<p>Eligibility for Pell Grants has roughly stayed the same since the program was created over 45 years ago. The grants are highly targeted at students with incomes below the median in the country, about <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/tables/time-series/historical-income-households/h06ar.xls">$63,000</a> today, with the poorest students generally receiving the largest grants.</p>
<h2>Prospects for Pell increases</h2>
<p>It is fairly certain that tuition prices will rise in the coming years. This will cause the value of the Pell Grant to erode even further unless Congress and the next administration take proactive steps to return its purchasing power to its level of four decades ago.</p>
<p>Biden’s plan does not specify over what period he would double Pell Grants, but let’s assume he is able to accomplish this during the first term of his administration if he is elected. This would require that funding for the maximum Pell Grant increase about 19% a year, an amount that is certainly well beyond the increases enjoyed over the program’s recent history. However, this is not an unreasonable sum if he can get support from Congress for this goal, and would roughly double the cost of the program from about <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/xlsx/01469061trendssat2.xlsx">$28 billion</a> today to $56 billion.</p>
<p>Assuming college prices in public four-year institutions increase 3.4% per year (the rate of increase over the last 10 years in this sector), a $13,000 Pell Grant would have a purchasing power of 50% of tuition, room and board in 2024, based on my calculations. It’s not nearly at the level of the 1970s but an important step forward.</p>
<p>While free college tuition for all may be popular in a campaign stump speech, the reality is that it would be extraordinarily expensive and still would not address the college financing demands of the nation’s neediest students. Meanwhile, it would funnel <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Elizabeth-Warren-s-free-college-13820087.php">billions</a> of taxpayer dollars to wealthy families. Focusing additional funding on Pell Grant recipients would be much more efficient and enable more students to earn college degrees.</p>
<p>[ <em>You respect facts and expertise. So do The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=yourespect">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125116/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I currently have one programmatic grant from the Mellon Foundation, thorugh my employer the University of San Francisco. In the past I have received research grants from:
National Science Foundation,
Penn State University,
Pennsylvania Department of Education,
Harvard University,
University of Michigan,
Lumina Foundation,
Association for Institutional Research.</span></em></p>A proposal to double the value of Pell Grants for college students could finally start to restore their value to what they were when they were created back in 1972.Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1153512019-09-10T12:32:35Z2019-09-10T12:32:35ZHow giving legal rights to nature could help reduce toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290569/original/file-20190902-175682-1eka9l7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A severe blue-green algae bloom spreads across western Lake Erie on July 30, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145453/eerie-blooms-in-lake-erie">NASA Earth Observatory</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>August and September are <a href="https://www.wemu.org/post/issues-environment-2019-algae-bloom-lake-erie-massive">peak months</a> for harmful blooms of algae in western Lake Erie. This year’s outbreak covered <a href="https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-08-16-lake-erie-algal-bloom-space">more than 620 square miles</a> by mid-August. These blooms, which can <a href="https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/harmful-algal-blooms">kill fish</a> and <a href="https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2019/08/18/no-joke-your-pet-you-stay-away-from-algal-toxins-algae-dogs/stories/20190815194">pets</a> and <a href="https://www.michiganradio.org/post/toledo-works-restore-trust-its-water-after-2014-microcystin-scare">threaten public health</a>, are driven <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-diet-contributes-to-nutrient-pollution-and-dead-zones-in-lakes-and-bays-118902">mainly by agricultural pollution</a> and increasingly warm waters due to climate change.</p>
<p>Advocates are looking for new ways to combat this problem. On February 26, 2019, Toledo citizens passed the <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ohnd.251736/gov.uscourts.ohnd.251736.1.1.pdf">Lake Erie Bill of Rights</a>, which gives the lake the right to “<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ohnd.251736/gov.uscourts.ohnd.251736.1.1.pdf">exist, flourish, and naturally evolve</a>” and awards citizens the right to a “clean and healthy environment.” They join a <a href="https://celdf.org/rights/rights-of-nature/rights-nature-timeline/">growing movement</a> – referred to as “Rights of Nature” – providing legal personhood to natural entities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290565/original/file-20190902-175682-hwcvu4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lake Erie harmful algal bloom forecasts since 2002.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/noaa-partners-predict-large-summer-harmful-algal-bloom-for-western-lake-erie">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In theory, this action could make it possible to hold corporations and governments liable for polluting the lake. But while the concept is finding support abroad, it faces hurdles in the U.S. The Lake Erie law was immediately <a href="https://nbc24.com/news/local/local-farmer-files-lawsuit-against-lake-erie-bill-of-rights">challenged in court</a> by an Ohio farm and <a href="https://www.farmanddairy.com/news/federal-judge-issues-injunction-on-lake-erie-bill-of-rights/543571.html">has yet to take effect</a>. </p>
<p>My work focuses on international and comparative law related to <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QvxrJ8cAAAAJ&hl=en">environmental justice and human rights</a>. I recently <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/premium/news/article.cfm?c_id=1504669&objectid=12224880">spent time</a> in New Zealand researching the impacts of a 2017 law giving the Whanganui River <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/0007/latest/whole.html">its own legal identity</a>. What I saw there convinced me that providing legal standing to a natural entity is a viable method of environmental protection. In my view, however, the processes that advocates use to enact Rights of Nature law critically influence whether these efforts will succeed. </p>
<h2>A new conservation strategy</h2>
<p>Rights of Nature laws generally are designed to improve environmental protection and encourage people to rethink their relationship to the environment. Instead of viewing nature as a commodity that exists for humans to use, and abuse, these statutes consider nature as important for its own sake. </p>
<p>Measures awarding legal status to nature have been adopted in Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, New Zealand and Bangladesh, and by several Native American nations, including the Ho Chunk and White Earth. <a href="https://celdf.org/2019/04/grant-township-owes-100k/">Other efforts</a> are underway across the country, including in <a href="http://indigenousagain.com/first-tribe-u-s-recognizes-rights-nature-law/">Oklahoma</a> and <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/yurok-nation-just-established-rights-klamath-river">Oregon</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290577/original/file-20190902-175705-7j8wxi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maumee Bay Brewing Co. in Toledo, Ohio is making green, murky beer to draw attention to Lake Erie’s algae problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Clean-Water-Breweries/b73e96902c804ea2bfd7c59332fff712/1/0">AP Photo/John Seewer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is the latest phase of citizen-led efforts to address <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/03/science/earth/lake-erie.html">chronic nutrient pollution</a> and the resulting dangerous algae blooms. In 2018 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ToledoansForSafeWater/">Toledoans for Safe Water</a> collected enough signatures for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights to appear on the ballot. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2018/12/20/lake-erie-bill-of-rights-headed-to-february-ballot/stories/20181220139">Local politicians</a> and farmers opposed the measure, but it passed with 61% of the vote, although <a href="https://radio.wosu.org/post/toledo-voters-approve-lake-erie-bill-rights">only 8.9% of eligible voters participated</a>. A day later, Drewes Farm Partnership of Ohio <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/14573310/drewes-farms-partnership-v-city-of-toledo-ohio/">filed a lawsuit</a> arguing that it was unconstitutional. While the city of Toledo has taken up defense of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the state of Ohio is <a href="https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/12513-toledo-seeks-to-squash-state-involvement-in-lake-erie-lawsuit">siding with Drewes Farm</a>.</p>
<h2>Learning from Te Awa Tupua</h2>
<p>How effective are Rights of Nature laws elsewhere? One of the most detailed examples is the 2017 <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11818858">Whanganui River Settlement Agreement</a>, which resulted from years of negotiations between the Maori and New Zealand’s government. Known by its Maori name, Te Awa Tupua, it recognizes legal personhood for the Whanganui, the country’s third-longest river. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/290566/original/file-20190902-175673-14dtu7a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Whanganui is a major river on the North Island of New Zealand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dana Zartner</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Whanganui has been an important source of food and transportation for centuries, and has great spiritual importance for the Maori, who view it as a <a href="http://www.ngatangatatiaki.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DocumentLibrary_WhanganuiRiverROU.pdf">living being</a>. Te Awa Tupua recognizes that the river possesses all the “rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.” The Whanganui is represented by two Guardians, known as Te Pou Tupua, who are jointly appointed by the national government and local Maori.</p>
<p>Under the law, any activity that might affect the river must go through a consultation process and receive approval from Te Pou Tupua. One early test occurred in March 2019, when construction of a new bike bridge over the river was halted so that the <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/climate-change/news/article.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=12212620">required consultations could take place</a>. Bigger issues will arise in the future, particularly in regards to renewal of concessions for energy companies diverting portions of the river for power generation. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQZxRSzxhLI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The local Maori tribe of Whanganui fought for recognition of their river as an ancestor for 140 years.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lake Erie and the law</h2>
<p>Unlike Te Awa Tupua, the Lake Erie law does not include much detail regarding its requirements or specific mechanisms to guide implementation. Ultimately courts may strike the measure down based on these omissions and potential conflicts with state and federal regulations.</p>
<p>Lake Erie is governed by <a href="https://www.ijc.org/en/boundary-waters-treaty-1909">treaty law</a> between the U.S. and Canada, so the Drewes Farm lawsuit asserts that the Bill of Rights infringes upon U.S. government authority. Similarly, because the lake touches four U.S. states, the lawsuit argues that any new law related to Lake Erie should be adopted by states, not individual cities. </p>
<p>Drewes Farm also claims that the Bill of Rights violates its 14th Amendment <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DrewesErie.pdf">rights to equal protection</a>, since the law mentions only corporations and governments, and conflicts with Fifth Amendment prohibitions on <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/vagueness_doctrine">law that is too vague</a>.</p>
<p>On July 22, 2019, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed a budget bill which includes a provision stating that “<a href="https://celdf.org/2019/07/lake-erie-advocates-media-statement-ohio-legislature-attacks-rights-of-nature-protects-polluters-in-budget-bill/">Nature or any ecosystem does not have standing</a> to participate in or bring an action in any court.” The bill creates a new fund called <a href="http://h2.ohio.gov/">H2Ohio</a>, purportedly to provide US$172 million to address pollution in Lake Erie, but critics <a href="https://nbc24.com/news/local/new-state-budget-may-end-lake-erie-bill-of-rights">want more proactive measures</a>.</p>
<h2>Making Rights of Nature work</h2>
<p>In my view, challenges to the Lake Erie Bill of Rights are not surprising. Within the U.S. environmental regulatory framework, which vests authority mainly with federal and state agencies and is affected by the influence that corporate interests assert in the American political system, protecting the environment by awarding legal personhood to nature will be an uphill battle.</p>
<p>But I believe that it is still worth trying, and that passage of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights is significant, even if it is ultimately struck down. <a href="http://www.cc.com/video-clips/dh6i82/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-the-fight-to-turn-lake-erie-into-a-person">Widespread coverage of the issue</a> has already increased awareness of the idea of legal personhood for nature in the U.S. </p>
<p>I see learning from the negotiation and implementation of more developed Rights of Nature laws like Te Awa Tupua as the next step. As measures like this become more common, a new view of our relationship to nature may develop. I expect that recognizing the legal standing of natural entities will become a significant legal tool in the fight for better environmental protections, including addressing toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Zartner has volunteered for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, an organization which, among other things, does work on rights of nature issues, including in the case of Lake Erie. The volunteering has been limited to writing legal memos for the organization summarizing other countries' legal systems. None of the work has pertained to rights of nature campaigns in the U.S.</span></em></p>Should lakes, rivers and other resources have legal rights? New Zealand, Ecuador and other countries have taken this step. Now Toledo, Ohio is a US test case.Dana Zartner, Associate Professor, International Studies Department; Adjunct Professor, School of Law, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1146252019-04-02T13:21:44Z2019-04-02T13:21:44ZHow everyday politics shapes the way African cities are run<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266792/original/file-20190401-177199-qj2opq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Korle Gono beach in Accra covered in plastic bottles and other items washed ashore following weeks of heavy flooding in 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Christian Thompson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cyclone Idai tore through Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique and devastated local communities. Hundreds were <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2019/03/29/mozambique-malawi-zimbabwe-braced-for-cyclone-idai/#Echobox=1553645248">killed</a> and more than a million people were displaced.</p>
<p>Much of this devastation occurred in southern Africa’s rapidly growing coastal cities. The city of <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2019-03-22-00-cyclone-idai-after-the-floods-the-famine-and-then-more-of-the-same">Beira in Mozambique</a>, which faces rising sea water, was nearly wiped out entirely. </p>
<p>How do African cities grow and develop in a sustainable way to confront climate change?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2019/03/23/africa-in-the-news-cyclone-idai-47-billion-for-climate-finance-and-power-shortages-in-south-africa/">international community</a> and African governments are aware of the emerging challenges of climate change. Beira, for example, <a href="https://apnews.com/b95c3aa3521e45f196574d949b585931">invested $120 million </a> in a drainage and water detention project to deal with rising seawater. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/28/mozambique-mayor-cyclone-deaths-negligence-idai-rural">mismanagement</a> and booming population growth continues to place pressure on cities’ poor infrastructure. Therefore, people in Africa who live in urban areas are often forced to confront climate change <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2019/03/africans-are-largely-on-their-own-facing-climate-change?fbclid=IwAR0FB5_D5cDVMDvpCEl9DmG9_TetjiKFhPTdvtTlg2fh03Y0pON36Zb8GM0">on their own</a>.</p>
<p>My new book <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/democracy-in-ghana/20E72D3CCE54A8636AC900430C9F2C47">Democracy in Ghana: Everyday Politics in Urban Africa</a> suggests that people in Africa who live in urban areas confront these challenges in a contentious political environment. The distribution of resources and the building of infrastructure take place in a political struggle over control of the city. In particular, informal settlement and claims to urban space continue to structure everyday politics in Africa’s cities.</p>
<p>During my fieldwork, I found that urban development is shaped by relationships between those who claim they’re from a particular place – or indigeneity – and the rest. Groups native to a territory hold special rights and entitlements. The relationship between the hosts and migrants often dictate the politics of neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>These forms of everyday politics boil over into multi-party politics and municipal governance. Focusing on everyday politics can help explain why public policies are enacted, but also why powerful interest groups undermine policies that might improve the public good.</p>
<h2>The case of Accra</h2>
<p>In my view the everyday politics of urban neighbourhoods can help explain why the capture of public goods for private gain, and sustained ethnic politics continue to undermine urban development. Sustainable urban development, therefore, is not just a technical endeavour. It requires local political solutions.</p>
<p>Take Accra, Ghana, where I conducted my fieldwork. Like Beira, Accra faces <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/policy/news/rising-sea-levels-threaten-ghana-s-coastal-communities-1.html">rising sea levels</a>. It also faces a <a href="https://unhabitat.org/books/ghana-accra-urban-profile/">growing population living in substandard conditions</a>, and <a href="http://floodlist.com/africa/ghana-floods-accra-june-2018">annual flooding</a> that displaces residents and often kills several people. </p>
<p>Accra’s squatter settlement Old Fadama – called Sodom and Gomorrah by locals – is often <a href="https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/june-27th/blaming-june-3-floods-on-old-fadama-residents-reckless-irresponsible-pratt.php">blamed for the floods</a>. Residents in the neighbourhood have settled in what authorities deem an uninhabitable, marshy swampland. They are accused of disposing their waste in the surrounding Korle Lagoon, which some blame for drainage problems across the entire city.</p>
<p>But the <a href="http://www.currenthistory.com/Paller-CH_May_2017.pdf">scapegoating of Old Fadama is political</a>. </p>
<p>Accra Metropolitan Assembly officials appointed by the President are responsible for managing the city for all residents. But many have close ties to powerful local chiefs who want to reclaim the “invaded land” from migrant squatters. </p>
<p>Powerful indigenous families rally support from neighbouring citizens, especially those in the oldest quarters of the city who see incoming migrants as a threat to their control of the city. Politicians magnify this dispute in Parliament, hoping to score cheap political points. </p>
<p>The most problematic <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/EPoverty/Ghana/AmnestyInternational.docx">consequence</a> is the undermining of collective decision-making and cross-ethnic interactions in the neighbourhoods themselves. Leaders and residents are forced to <a href="https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/state-of-slum/forthcoming/">govern themselves in the absence of the state</a>. And they are able to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02723638.2016.1191792">mobilise residents in the event of a demolition or eviction threat</a>. But the development of long-term, pro-poor, decision-making pathways are compromised for short-term solutions and personalistic politics.</p>
<h2>The case of Ashaiman</h2>
<p>It does not have to be this way. The case of Ashaiman, a rapidly growing city outside Tema, a port city near Accra, provides an example of what can happen when leaders from diverse ethnic groups come together to govern themselves.</p>
<p>Ashaiman started as a squatter settlement in the 1960s. Indigenous landowners and migrant leaders agreed on land distribution at the early stages of urban development. This partnership has been tested throughout Ashaiman’s history, but residents constantly negotiate and renegotiate these agreements.</p>
<p>Today, while Ashaiman’s leaders certainly have their political differences, they are on the same side in their demand for improvements to the city. And they are on the same side of the <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/155825/2012-08-10_Vol11_N01_Political_Accountability_in_Ghanaian_Slums_Evidence_from_the_Grassroots.pdf">fight for more local autonomy</a>. This collective strength is an important ingredient in local communities’ ability to confront challenges like climate change in the future.</p>
<h2>Community engagement</h2>
<p><a href="http://daldrich.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/5/0/15507740/aldrich_et_al-2018-journal_of_contingencies_and_crisis_management.pdf">Evidence from other parts of the world</a> shows that social capital and community engagement is central to building resilient cities and combating climate change. </p>
<p>Even in Cyclone Idai, some communities with <a href="http://atavist.mg.co.za/the-malawian-villages-that-took-on-the-floods-and-survived">strong, proactive leaders and collective action capacity</a> prepared for the floods and were able to thwart disaster.</p>
<p>The international community, central governments, and municipal authorities must support sustainable development policies. But their success depends on the implementation and management by residents in the very neighbourhoods most affected by climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114625/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey W Paller received funding from the National Science Foundation and Social Science Research Council.</span></em></p>Focusing on everyday politics can help explain why powerful interest groups undermine policies that might improve the public good.Jeffrey W Paller, Assistant professor, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1132452019-03-27T22:52:17Z2019-03-27T22:52:17ZIs #MeToo casting a shadow on sexual pleasure?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263719/original/file-20190313-123522-l7uelj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It turns out that sexuality research has little interest in … sex ... or the pleasure associated with sex.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What has happened to sex — to the body and its pleasures — in the era of #MeToo?</p>
<p>Bodies and sexual pleasures have always been entangled in public, moralizing discourses. #MeToo, in its articulation of the very real sexual harassment and violence that too often accompanies the pleasure of some at the expense of others, takes shape in and through an intensified and hypermediatized morality that reconfigures bodies and pleasures as matters of contract and law, appearing in the contemporary media landscape in language that speaks nothing of desire. Mass media discourse speaks of sexual “contracts” and personal “responsibility”; we read about denunciations (or “cancellations”) on social media platforms such as Twitter, threats of prosecution and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). </p>
<p>How has this social climate influenced the ways in which individuals express, experience, communicate and embody their sexual desires and pleasures? Has there been a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/03/29/share-americans-not-having-sex-has-reached-record-high/">“record high” decline in people having sex</a>?</p>
<h2>“Free speech”?</h2>
<p>Just over a year ago, more than 100 French women, including actress Catherine Deneuve, signed an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/europe/catherine-deneuve-france-letter-metoo-intl/index.html">open letter</a> condemning the #MeToo movement for its “hatred of men and of sexuality” and to “defend” men’s “<em>liberté d’importuner</em>” — men’s freedom to importune, to press or to make advances toward women.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catherine Deneuve shocked many people by signing an open letter denouncing the ‘excesses’ of the #MeToo movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Their letter characterizes #MeToo as a “<em>vague purificatoire</em>” — a “purifactory wave” — and as a “liberation of speech” that unfairly targets men and sexuality, if not pleasure itself.</p>
<p>For these women, “free speech” had gone too far with #MeToo because its speech impinges on men’s “freedom” to make advances toward women, which they suggest is a man’s primordial right. In their “defence” of men and in the name of women’s pleasure, it was time, they claimed, for women to liberate “another speech” (<em>une autre parole</em>).</p>
<p>But what is this “other speech”? And does it concede or advance the possibility of sexual pleasure, and if so, for whom? In the wake of the #MeToo movement, our interdisciplinary team of researchers is interested in contemporary discourses on sex, its pleasures and their ethical dimensions.</p>
<h2>The rhetorics of “risk” and moral panic</h2>
<p>The prevailing social context is marked by an increased social awareness of sexual abuse and violence, high-profile court cases, burgeoning institutional and educational programs around sexual consent, victimization and the use of broad definitions of sexual violence. In contemporary culture, we tend to treat desire as if it were something that must be expressed in and through law, without understanding how desiring bodies and pleasures frustrate legal discourse and can be expressed in other ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sexual harassment in the workplace is a key battleground for the #MeToo movement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile — and by contrast — popular mass media, including social media and pornography, incite pleasure and convey countless “practical” tips to optimize sexual performance and satisfaction.</p>
<p>What should we understand from all this? We are bombarded with many statements about sex that are often contradictory or incommensurable. One side emphasizes the diverse “risks” and “dangers” that lie in wait; it gestures to the powers — both formal and informal — that should oversee and regulate the expression of sexuality. The other would revel in and celebrate sexual pleasure as such.</p>
<p>In the contemporary context, then, cultural anxiety surrounds sexuality as a new form of moral panic. Sex is politicized anew, the subject of increasing media surveillance and suspicion. The invocation of “free speech” notwithstanding, bodies and their pleasures seem to be shrouded by a certain silence; desires and pleasures seem almost deviant and unspeakable.</p>
<h2>Research on sexuality is not much interested in … sex</h2>
<p>Most research on sex and sexuality tends to have a medical or psychiatric focus and is studied exclusively on pathological terms. Ironically, research on sexuality tends to ignore sex and very little is devoted to the study of pleasure, desire and excitement in a manner that is realistic, concrete and anchored in people’s experiences.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professionals and researchers examine sexuality from the perspective of pathology and STIs, resulting in a discourse that medicalizes sex and its pleasures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460718760210">Research by sociologist Angela Jones</a> demonstrates, for example, that most published articles “medicalize” sex and presume a deficiency or a failure; others tend to focus on risks and sexual victimization. And an essay on sexuality and embodiment published <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4311512">by psychologist Deborah Tolman and her colleagues in 2014</a> reports that, in fact, little is known about the embodied aspects of sexual pleasure: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Ironically, research on sexuality has little interest in sex, which is what people do, think and feel when they express a sexual feeling or use their bodies in a sexual way.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So this raises the question of how we determine the conditions of possibility for experiencing “<a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/9515fba41a98a4a6c64bead24a76035b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=33400">great sex</a>,” described <a href="https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/1229">by University of Ottawa psychologist Peggy Kleinplatz</a> as a type of sexuality that goes beyond the functional, the good and the satisfying — a sexuality that provides a deep sense of pleasure and accomplishment that is lived and experienced as profound, memorable and extraordinary.</p>
<h2>An “other speech”: the opening of a discursive space?</h2>
<p>To be clear, we are neither for nor against the #MeToo movement or other social movements. Nor do we question the value of free speech, despite its many faces. Rather, we suggest that these phenomena represent an occasion, or a “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">rhetorical situation</a>,” that calls for further study. What is the embodied experience of “great sex,” of pleasure, and how is this expressed today?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266920/original/file-20190401-177167-v1wobp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The #MeToo movement represents an occasion for renewed discourse on sexual pleasure.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Is this not found in the experience of connection, authenticity, vulnerability, and moreover, communication — in and as the self’s intimate relation with the other? Our research focuses on the ways in which individuals create a sense of agency in their relations, and how they interpret and navigate social norms and injunctions in order to express, to live and to share their bodies and pleasures.</p>
<p>Between the aversion to moralizing discourses and the injunction to optimize sexual pleasure and performance, our research opens onto another “speech” that recognizes the ways that sexuality is both ethical and embodied.</p>
<p>This “other speech” is not quite the one imagined by Catherine Deneuve and the other French feminists who signed the open letter. Rather, this speech is productive and takes place in bed (or on the sofa or elsewhere); it speaks about bodies and their pleasures between intimates that invite, rather than “importune” or take liberties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113245/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>How do you express, feel, communicate, and embody your sexual desires and pleasures in the prevailing social climate?Stuart J. Murray, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Rhetoric and Ethics | Professeur titulaire et Chaire de recherche du Canada en rhétorique et éthique, Carleton UniversityDenise Medico, Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Sarah Burgess, Associate professor, University of San FranciscoSimon Corneau, Associate professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1129372019-03-05T19:11:03Z2019-03-05T19:11:03ZÀ l’ombre de #MeToo, où est passé le plaisir sexuel ?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262186/original/file-20190305-48420-1cjro0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Qu’en est-il du sexe et de ses plaisirs à l'ère du #MeToo ? </p>
<p>Ces deux notions semblent fortement engluées par le lexique moral qui domine dans les médias, sociaux ou autres : « contrats » socio-sexuels, responsabilisation, menace de poursuites, prévention des infections transmises sexuellement, dénonciations sur Twitter et mises au pilori. </p>
<p>Quels sont les effets du climat social ambiant sur la manière dont les individus expriment, ressentent, communiquent et incarnent leurs désirs et plaisirs sexuels ?</p>
<h2>Une « autre parole » ?</h2>
<p>Il y a plus d’un an, une centaine de Françaises, dont Catherine Deneuve, ont signé <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2018/01/09/nous-defendons-une-liberte-d-importuner-indispensable-a-la-liberte-sexuelle_5239134_3232.html">une lettre ouverte</a> dénonçant le mouvement #MeToo pour sa « haine des hommes et de la sexualité » et pour « défendre » la « liberté d’importuner » des hommes.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262192/original/file-20190305-48435-8z2fzc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Catherine Deneuve en a choqué plus d'un -et plus d'une- en signant une lettre ouverte dénonçant les « dérives » du mouvement #MeToo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ces femmes ont qualifié #MeToo de « vague purificatoire » et une « libération de la parole » dont la cible, selon elles, est l’homme et la sexualité, sinon le plaisir lui-même.</p>
<p>Pour ces femmes, la libération de la parole est allée trop loin avec #MeToo, et son discours empiète sur la « liberté d’importuner » des hommes — imaginée dans leur texte comme un droit primordial. Il était temps, selon elles, que les femmes libèrent « une autre parole ».</p>
<p>Mais quelle est cette autre parole ? Laisse-t-elle poindre la possibilité du plaisir sexuel ?</p>
<h2>Rhétorique de « danger » et panique morale</h2>
<p>Dans le contexte actuel, c’est-à-dire dans la foulée du mouvement #MeToo, notre équipe interdisciplinaire s’intéresse aux discours sur le sexe et ses plaisirs. </p>
<p>Le contexte social ambiant est marqué par une conscience sociale accrue des abus et des violences sexuels, par des cas judiciaires hautement médiatisés, par l’accroissement des programmes institutionnels et éducatifs autour du consentement et de la victimisation sexuelle et par l’usage de définitions vastes et larges de la violence sexuelle.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262190/original/file-20190305-48438-s7wmzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le fléau du harcèlement sexuel au travail fait partie des batailles du mouvement #MeToo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>D’un autre côté, les discours médiatiques, incluant les médias sociaux, véhiculent une série de trucs pratiques et de discours qui encouragent et encensent le plaisir et la performance sexuelle. </p>
<p>Quoi comprendre de tout ça ? Nous sommes en présence de nombreuses paroles à la fois concomitantes et contradictoires sur le sexe ; l’une qui met l’accent sur les divers « dangers » qui guettent, surveillent et encadrent l’expression de la sexualité ; l’autre qui célèbre le plaisir.</p>
<h2>Les recherches sur la sexualité s'intéressent peu… au sexe</h2>
<p>Dans ce contexte où le sexe est hautement politisé et surveillé, on semble faire silence sur le corps et ses plaisirs : ils sont suspects. L’anxiété culturelle entoure la sexualité d’une nouvelle forme de panique morale. Le désir et le plaisir sont formatés, presque déviants.</p>
<p>Dans les discours et pratiques des « professionnels » et chercheurs, la sexualité est étudiée presque exclusivement sous l’angle de la pathologie et de ses conséquences négatives. C’est donc surprenant que les recherches sur la sexualité s’intéressent peu au sexe et qu’il y en ait peu qui traitent du plaisir, du désir et de l’excitation de manière réaliste, concrète et ancrée dans le vécu des gens. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262187/original/file-20190305-48423-1664017.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professionnels et chercheurs étudient la sexualité sous l’angle de la pathologie et des ITS. Le discours est essentiellement médical.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1363460718760210">Jones</a> (2018) constate, par exemple, qu’une grande majorité des articles publiés sur la sexualité s’inscrivent dans une vision déficitaire, médicalisante et axée sur les risques et la victimisation sexuelle. <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/4311512">Tolman et ses collaborateurs</a> (2014), qui documentent la notion de corporéité en lien avec la sexualité, rapportent qu’en fait, nous en connaissons très peu sur les aspects incarnés du plaisir sexuel : « ironiquement, les recherches sur la sexualité s’intéressent peu au sexe, soit ce que les gens font, pensent et ressentent lorsqu’ils expriment un ressenti sexuel ou utilisent leurs corps de façon sexuelle ». </p>
<p>Quelles sont donc les conditions et possibilités d’expérience du « <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/9515fba41a98a4a6c64bead24a76035b/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=33400"><em>great sex</em></a> », décrit par la chercheure <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_J._Kleinplatz">Peggy Kleinplatz</a> comme une sexualité qui va au-delà du fonctionnel, du bon et du satisfaisant ? Une sexualité qui procure un profond sentiment de plaisir et d’accomplissement et qui est vécue et perçue comme profonde, mémorable et extraordinaire.</p>
<h2>Une autre parole : la possibilité d’un espace discursif ?</h2>
<p>Nous nous positionnons nullement en faveur ou en défaveur du mouvement #MeToo ou d’autres mouvements sociaux récents, ni ne contestons la valeur de la liberté de parole. Ces phénomènes représentent plutôt une occasion, ou une « <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40236733">situation rhétorique</a> » fertile. À quoi tient l’expérience du « <em>great sex</em> », du plaisir ?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262188/original/file-20190305-48441-19ybw62.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le mouvement #MeToo représente une occasion fertile pour libérer la parole.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>N’est-elle pas dans la connexion, l’authenticité, la vulnérabilité et, surtout, la communication, l’épreuve de soi dans la relation à l’autre ? Nos recherches s’intéressent à la manière dont les individus produisent des agencements nouveaux pour tenter de se départir des normes et injonctions contradictoires. Sur la manière dont ils expriment leurs possibilités de plaisirs, les vivent, les partagent.</p>
<p>Entre le ressenti et le ressentiment, vécu dans le quotidien humain, nous ouvrons sur une « autre parole » intime, et une sexualité avec des composantes charnelles ainsi que morales.</p>
<p>Cette « autre parole » n’est pas celle imaginée par Catherine Deneuve et les autres féministes françaises. Cette parole est productive et prend place dans le lit (ou sur le divan, ou ailleurs) ; elle parle des corps et ses plaisirs entre intimes qui invitent, plutôt qu’importunent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112937/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Comment exprimer, ressentir, communiquer et incarner ses désirs et plaisirs sexuels dans le climat social ambiant, teinté de moral, prévention des ITS et menaces de poursuites ?Stuart J. Murray, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Rhetoric and Ethics | Professeur titulaire et Chaire de recherche du Canada en rhétorique et éthique, Carleton UniversityDenise Medico, Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Sarah Burgess, Associate professor, University of San FranciscoSimon Corneau, Associate professor, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/630342016-08-01T03:08:39Z2016-08-01T03:08:39ZWant college to be affordable? Start with Pell Grants<p>In her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/live-coverage-of-the-democratic-national-convention-day-4/493385/">talked about</a> free college and student debt relief. </p>
<p>Convention speeches are not normally known for providing details of policy proposals, and keeping with tradition, Clinton offered few details of her own. Now that we are past the conventions and into the campaign, presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are likely to speak in more detail about their specific policies.</p>
<p>What is missing in the debate about free college, however, is a discussion of the role of Pell Grants, the centerpiece of the federal government’s student aid programs. These grants, which used to cover almost the entire cost of a college education for poor students, today cover less than a third. The current Republican budget proposal would erode it even further, threatening the ability of students from poor and moderate-income families to attend and graduate from college. </p>
<p>From my perspective as a researcher who has studied questions of college access for two decades, any discussion of free college has to include the role of Pell Grants in college affordability.</p>
<h2>What are Pell Grants and why are they important?</h2>
<p>Pell Grants were <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/pell_final_website_may_2015.pdf">created</a> in the 1972 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This coming academic year they will provide grant aid of up to <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell#how-much-money">US$5,815</a> to students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Last year, over <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-total-expenditures-maximum-and-average-grant-and-number-recipients-over-time">eight million</a> undergraduates across the nation received a total of about US$30 billion in Pell Grants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132513/original/image-20160729-25643-134ilq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2011-12, 41 percent of undergraduates received a Pell Grant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=Sb4jucmFppq674Fuw-LyQA&searchterm=student%20debt&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=241241671">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Data from the U.S. Department of Education show that in the 2011-12 school year (the most recent data available), <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/datalab/tableslibrary/viewtable.aspx?tableid=10356">41 percent</a> of all undergraduate students received a Pell Grant, almost double the 22 percent of students who received them in 1999. </p>
<p>For most students, the funding they receive from the Pell program outstrips what they receive in aid from either their state or the institution they attend. </p>
<p>Using <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/default.aspx">data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education, I calculated that the average Pell Grant recipient received an amount from that program that was five times greater than what they received in state grant aid and 2.6 times greater than the amount of scholarship assistance received from the institution attended.</p>
<p>Without Pell Grants, in other words, many low-income students would not be able to attend college, or would not be able to attend full time and make good progress toward earning their degree.</p>
<h2>Pell Grant value dips, tuition increases</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/states-and-public-higher-education-policy">book</a> I edited a few years ago, I demonstrated that back in the 1970s, a student attending a public, four-year university and receiving the maximum Pell Grant would have approximately 80 percent of the price of her college education – tuition, housing, food, books and miscellaneous costs – covered by the grant. </p>
<p>If the student had no resources of her own to contribute, the remaining 20 percent of the cost was often made up through state grants, scholarships from the university, work study and perhaps a small amount of student loans.</p>
<p>Today the maximum that a Pell Grant covers is only about <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/trends-student-aid-web-final-508-2.pdf">30 percent</a> of the price of attending college for that same student. The erosion in the value of the grant is due to two reasons: 1) the rising price of college attendance and 2) a drop in the real value of Pell Grants.</p>
<p>Since 1985, average tuition prices at public, four-year colleges and universities have increased <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing/figures-tables/published-tuition-and-fees-relative-1985-86-sector">222 percent</a> after adjusting for inflation. The situation at private four-year colleges and community colleges is only slightly better – average prices in the two sectors have increased more than 130 percent in real terms during the same three decade period.</p>
<p>Pell Grants, in contrast, have grown much less rapidly. The average grant increased only <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">30 percent</a> in inflation-adjusted dollars during this same period.</p>
<p>In the latter half of the 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Congress and a series of presidents – Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – allowed the purchasing value of Pell Grants to decline even further. </p>
<p>The maximum Pell Grant actually dropped <a href="https://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/federal-pell-award-current-constant-dollars-over-time">19 percent</a> in real dollars between 1985 and 1996. While federal funding over the last two decades has allowed it to regain some of its value, the maximum Pell Grant today is still below the 1975 level in inflation-adjusted dollars.</p>
<h2>Impact of GOP proposal</h2>
<p>As bad as this situation is, it could get much worse. The current <a href="http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy16budget.pdf">Republican spending plan</a> in the House of Representatives proposes to place a cap on the maximum Pell Grant. What this means is that it would stay at its 2015-16 level for the next 10 years. </p>
<p>While it is hard to predict for sure what will happen to tuition prices over the next decade, it is fairly certain that prices will continue to rise. This will cause the value of the Pell Grant to erode even further during this period.</p>
<p>For example, again, based on my calculations, if college prices increase 3 percent per year over the next decade, and Pell Grants are held at their current level, its purchasing power at public four-year institutions would drop from 30 percent of total college costs today to only 21 percent in 2026. </p>
<p>At private four-year institutions, the Pell value would drop from 17 percent of costs today to only 12 percent 10 years from now. </p>
<p>The Republican proposal, if enacted, would undoubtedly have an impact on the college access and success of students from low- and moderate-income families. Constraining the grant aid available to them from the federal financial aid programs could force more students to drop out of college. Or, students could take longer to earn their degrees, or could afford to attend only a community college rather than a four-year institution. </p>
<p>The impact on college access for these students would be detrimental to the nation as a whole. As President Obama noted in his first <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-barack-obama-address-joint-session-congress">address</a> to Congress in 2009, the future growth of our economy will depend on having more workers with post-secondary credentials. Without a Pell Grant program that keeps pace with college costs, we will be unable to attain this goal. </p>
<p>Clinton and Trump should be talking about the issue of college affordability on the campaign trail. But they need to address all of the policies that help make college affordable for students and their families.</p>
<p>Funding for the Pell Grant program is a critical component of that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63034/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has in the past received funding from U.S. public agencies, non-profit organizations, and foundations for his research. He currently is not receiving external funding for his work.</span></em></p>Pell Grants, the federal aid program for low-income students, are down to covering only 30 percent of tuition, from 80 percent in the 1970s.Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599262016-05-26T01:24:03Z2016-05-26T01:24:03ZTrump’s higher ed proposals could leave poor students out of college<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123850/original/image-20160524-25213-1vnpqrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What will Trump's higher ed plan mean for students?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5440990018/in/photolist-9hNuLJ-9hHrVT-9hKraP-9hKpmZ-9hKoVK-9hLwdw-9hKpTt-9v62wo-eULu15-e47mhL-e41GKR-e41EUk-e47k59-e47jUm-e47hqo-e41ELr-e47i8s-e41GhK-e47hS1-e47hxW-e47kUu-e47mPN-e47jAC-9hNvKd-e41Jw8-sc2gdA-segL58-rWJfw5-cJjFP-e47hHh-rWKnwC-kNDYwa-9VQfNH-kNFjPw-g25GLQ-5nrmkz-dpHmsu-g1XPzf-g25NZH-c8zKr7-9hgBjx-9CtYNw-e7BGMN-9nkVU5-c8cbaC-rpJw2x-d5X6uS-6mtZaz-aSA4wt-emNEdj">Gage Skidmore</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What is happening, or what should be happening, on college campuses has rarely, if ever, been a topic of the remarks of Donald J. Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican Party.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/issues">“Issues”</a> section of his website has only this related to education: “I will end common core. It’s a disaster.” And this is accompanied by a 51-second video expanding on this theme. </p>
<p>However, recently, Trump’s campaign co-chair and policy director, Sam Clovis, gave an interview to an education website, Inside Higher Ed, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/13/trumps-campaign-co-chair-describes-higher-education-policies-being-developed">that outlined</a> what a Trump presidency could mean for the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_317.30.asp">nation’s 6,000 colleges</a> and universities, and its <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_303.10.asp">over 20 million</a> post-secondary students. Clovis is a <a href="http://webs.morningside.edu/business/facultypages/clovis.html">professor of economics at Morningside College</a>, a small private institution in Iowa, who is currently on leave in order to work for the campaign.</p>
<p>The major theme that emerged from the information he provided was that as president, Trump would improve student success by reforming the federal student loan program in two ways: 1) change the student loan program so as to provide more incentives for colleges and universities to enroll students who will be successful and earn enough money upon graduation to pay back their loans; and 2) to return the federal loan program to its pre-Obama status by having the loans come from private lenders, rather than the federal government.</p>
<p>I am a provost and a researcher of education economics. And here’s what some unintended consequences of these proposals would look like.</p>
<h2>Incentivizing colleges to enroll successful students</h2>
<p>First, let’s look at the proposal to change the student loan program so that rather than the federal government being the sole guarantor of publicly provided and guaranteed loans, the higher education institutions themselves would share in the costs if a student defaulted. </p>
<p>This idea has been floated fairly widely recently, most notably by <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/06/12/elizabeth_warren_and_student_loan_risk_sharing_should_colleges_pay_a_fine.html">Senator Elizabeth Warren</a>, a politician most people would expect to have little in common with Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The logic behind this idea is that if colleges were at least in part responsible for making good on a defaulted student loan, they will be better incentivized to enroll only those students (or at least those carrying federally guaranteed loans) who are likely to graduate from the institution and get a job that will provide a high enough salary to enable them to pay back the loans. </p>
<p>While this may seem good in concept, in practice it would be very difficult to implement. And here is why:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123852/original/image-20160524-25236-1cblizq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can colleges predict who will succeed?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jirka_matousek/8468745497/in/photolist-dUmwZp-dQZnke-az8Zy7-dUqX47-pVzkT1-4eorj6-brUftj-cdtiF3-brU99y-5oGQ6t-cdtiGw-dR5U2j-rwdnPm-oKMmoR-dQV9Cg-9Kpwwj-dj1C31-dUmq72-iiUd8i-hShXaJ-e4hhNr-dRLHNd-fqsd1h-isqBd1-5v3gqp-8H6wDG-dQWsnH-dRLFqd-fqcN7g-dR4kbG-nCMWpy-dewUp8-dQWAqX-bsi9on-iiTUuy-5v7B7G-nhubJQ-oNsGaD-dRPrs2-4msxSN-bw86is-onGX6-dRMdk7-dRY1Kd-dUssDo-efWWyn-9VAPa4-e6Cmp6-nKHFLJ-cdtged">Jirka Matousek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The challenge is that it is extremely difficult for colleges to know, or even predict with much certainty, which students will achieve this level of success. </p>
<p>For the most part, we are talking about 17- and 18-year-olds, and it can be very difficult to know which of them will graduate and earn enough money to pay back their loans, even when universities have information about their academic background.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_303.45.asp">most recent data</a> from the U.S. Department of Education show that 69 percent of all undergraduates in 2013 were 24 or younger. And the great majority of students applying to college for the first time are coming directly out of high school.</p>
<p>An unintended consequence of such a requirement would be that institutions would be more likely to shy away from enrolling students from disadvantaged families, and those whose academic preparation was weaker. <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/student-aid/figures-tables/grants#Pell%20Grants">Over a third of all undergraduates</a> receive Pell Grants, the federal assistance program for students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Such a move would exacerbate the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d15/tables/dt15_302.30.asp">large gaps in college enrollment</a> and degree attainment that already exist in this country. It would lead to <a href="https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/inequality/index.html">even higher rates of income inequality</a> across income and racial groups. </p>
<p>Every year, thousands of students graduate from college and go on to successful careers who, at first glance when they were graduating from high school, may have looked like risky investments. </p>
<p>Another impact of this proposal is that it could lead to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/education/as-interest-fades-in-the-humanities-colleges-worry.html">further deterioration</a> of liberal arts education, as colleges may deemphasize majors that are seen as not having strong labor market prospects. Some politicians, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/12/rick-scott-anthropology-major-daughter-jobs_n_1007900.html">including Governor Rick Scott</a> of Florida and even President Obama, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/31/obama-becomes-latest-politician-criticize-liberal-arts-discipline">have questioned</a> whether liberal arts degrees are worth the investment. </p>
<p>But data from the Association of American Colleges and Universities have demonstrated that over the long run liberal arts graduates <a href="https://www.aacu.org/press/press-releases/new-report-documents-liberal-arts-disciplines-prepare-graduates-long-term">earn as much</a> as many with more technical degrees.</p>
<h2>History of student loans</h2>
<p>Now let’s turn to the issue of loans through private lenders. Since the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which first authorized widespread student loan program, banks have played a key role in the system.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123851/original/image-20160524-25213-z55pjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Who will be left behind if loans are given by private lenders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&searchterm=student%20loan&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=410840608">Dollar image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Banks originally provided all the capital, and because the loans were guaranteed by the federal government, it became a lucrative business for them. But in 1993, during the first Clinton administration, a <a href="http://atlas.newamerica.org/federal-student-loan-programs-history">federally originated student loan program</a> was created. This was done as an attempt to lower the cost of borrowing to students by removing some of the banks’ profits.</p>
<p>Between 1993 and 2010, bank-originated and federally originated student loans coexisted, with the federal share <a href="http://atlas.newamerica.org/federal-student-loan-programs-history">no more than one-third of the volume</a>. During President Obama’s first term, however, he signed legislation that removed banks from the federal student loan program entirely, shifting all of the loan origination to the federal government.</p>
<p>The rationale behind this legislation, signed in 2010, was to take away the profits earned by banks, and instead reinvest them in the federal Pell Grant program, which provides direct assistance to college students from low- and middle-income families.</p>
<h2>What about disadvantaged students?</h2>
<p>Trump’s proposal is certainly consistent with his business-based, free-market approach to government. As Clovis said in his interview, “We think it should be marketplace and market driven.” </p>
<p>While the question of whether the banks or the government should provide student loans may be a political one, there are large fiscal implications of shifting back to a bank-based system. </p>
<p>At the time the 2010 legislation passed, the Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the federal government would <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/A-Year-After-Bank-Based/126927">save almost US$10 billion per year</a> that had been going to banks in the form of loan subsidies and fees. </p>
<p>That money came to be invested in funding for the Pell Grant program rather than going to bank profits.</p>
<p>A return to a bank lending system for student loans could potentially reduce levels of Pell Grant funding, unless Congress (along with the next president) is willing to appropriate more money. </p>
<p>Any reduction in Pell Grant funding would have a similar effect as Trump’s proposal: it would reduce college access and graduation rates for poorer, African-
American, Latino and Native American students. And that would lead to increased gaps in educational attainment between these groups and students from more advantaged families. </p>
<h2>A complex system</h2>
<p>The truth is that higher education policy is not quite as simple as it may appear to an outsider. </p>
<p>The interaction of federal and state policies, along with the actions of the thousands of colleges and universities that are funded by governments as well as students, creates a complex system in which it is often difficult to encourage some behaviors without creating other problems.</p>
<p>The high cost of college along with the high volume of student debt have received much attention from both groups in recent years. There has been an absence of detailed proposals in this arena from Trump’s campaign up until now. His slogan of “Make America Great Again” implies returning to some bygone era. </p>
<p>But for higher education, a return to that era would mean that fewer students are able to go to college, and poorer and racial minority students have fewer educational opportunities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What will a Trump presidency mean for America’s 6,000 colleges and universities, as well as its over 20 million postsecondary students?Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/556752016-03-03T11:19:38Z2016-03-03T11:19:38ZShould wealthier students get subsidized college education?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113593/original/image-20160302-25891-1e2tqpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should college be free for all?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/editor/1252393940/in/photolist-2UER5Y-8Kg5gC-epeWK6-6qQpsy-rKn3Y-epeYDv-5Dy8en-epf3w4-eqbdhE-eqbgj1-epf1vk-epeQsx-g7c5rR-fhvYG-2PJJS7-eqbcjA-5fHXC-73tDHU-eqbh8b-ju1QXw-epf3Ni-8Fozko-eqbe7E-eqb9yN-epeVV4-2PEhia-73pDov-epeQYH-epeSSR-epf1Qr-epeZoV-hfQ3Bw-epf2cD-eqbaym-epeUDn-eqbeo5-dUEdM7-epeTfF-8CVxjb-66zgNY-5uGfrA-fiB1MX-4rKaxc-7vYcoz-5ZkjCD-baEjSv-8CSswk-66zgtA-dQoaUW-7Acf9f">Bart Everson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last summer, as the presidential campaign was just getting rolling in earnest, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton <a href="http://theconversation.com/clintons-debt-free-college-comes-with-a-price-tag-46378" title=") "[New College Compact](https://www.hillaryclinton.com/briefing/factsheets/2015/08/10/college-compact/ "">announced</a>,“ a proposal designed to provide relief for the rapidly rising sticker price of college. </p>
<p>Subsequently, Senator Bernie Sanders took Secretary Clinton’s proposal for debt-free college and doubled down on the idea by proposing to <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">eliminate college tuition entirely</a> in public universities and community colleges.</p>
<p>From my perspective, as a researcher of college access and finance over the last two decades, the reality is that free college makes little sense in today’s political and economic environment.</p>
<h2>Rising costs, Clinton’s plans</h2>
<p>Data from the <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">Trends in Student Pricing</a> report show that in the decade 2005-06 to 2015-16, the average sticker (nondiscounted) price at public, four-year universities rose 40 percent in real dollars, that is, after discounting for inflation. </p>
<p>Prices at private four-year universities rose slightly less rapidly, 26 percent, but still greatly in excess of inflation. At community colleges they rose 29 percent.</p>
<p>The centerpiece of Clinton’s program is to invest US$350 billion over 10 years to help control the growth of college prices. As she states on her campaign website:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Students should never have to borrow to pay for tuition, books, and fees to attend a four-year public college in their state under the New College Compact. The additional support they receive will reduce all costs, including living expenses, by thousands of dollars. Students at community college will receive free tuition. Students will have to do their part by contributing their earnings from working 10 hours a week.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, in return for a modest amount of work, students would not have to borrow at all to pay the educational costs of attending a four-year public college (though they still may need to borrow for room and board). And students attending community colleges would not pay any tuition at all. </p>
<p>This amount would represent a doubling of the current federal investment in<a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/grants-scholarships/pell"> Pell Grants</a>, by far the largest federal scholarship program for students from low- and moderate-income families.</p>
<p>Clinton’s plan would also provide grants directly to states to encourage them to slow the growth rate of prices in public colleges and universities.</p>
<h2>Sanders, Rubio, Cruz, Trump</h2>
<p>Senator Bernie Sanders took Secretary Clinton’s proposal for debt-free college even further by proposing to <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">eliminate college tuition entirely</a> in public universities and community colleges.</p>
<p>At a cost of $75 billion per year, or more than twice that of Clinton’s plan, Sanders’ proposal is targeted at young voters who are strapped to pay for college, or pay back the student loans they had taken out for college. </p>
<p>How are they going to pay for their free college plans? Both candidates have suggested similar strategies, Clinton by limiting tax credits and deductions for high-income Americans, and <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/its-time-to-make-college-tuition-free-and-debt-free/">Sanders</a> by imposing a tax on "Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy seven years ago.” </p>
<p>In comparison to their Democratic counterparts, the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have focused little on higher education.</p>
<p>Senator Marco Rubio is the only one of the GOP front-runners to talk about it in any detail. He <a href="https://marcorubio.com/issues-2/marco-rubio-position-higher-education-policy-college/">does not propose</a> any new federal investment in financial aid to help students cope with the growth of college prices. He focuses instead on encouraging innovation as a mechanism to bring prices down, by encouraging new providers in the higher education market and alternative delivery mechanisms that are perceived to be more efficient. </p>
<p>Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump – whose Super Tuesday performance has propelled him far ahead of his rivals – have been largely silent with respect to how they would lessen the burden of paying for college.</p>
<h2>Who needs free college?</h2>
<p>While the idea of free college has gained much traction in the media, the reality is that free college makes little sense in today’s political and economic environment. </p>
<p>All of the data point to the fact that <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6186/843.full">college is still a good investment</a> on average, even with prices as high as they are. </p>
<p>While it is equally true that many students, especially those from poorer families, are <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/is-college-unaffordable">discouraged</a> from attending college by the high price, the reality is that net college prices – or what students actually pay after subtracting the scholarships they receive from the sticker prices – are <a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">rising less quickly</a> than are sticker prices. </p>
<p>For example, average net prices in four-year private universities increased only 1.3 percent over the last decade in real dollars, while prices at community colleges actually decreased. Only in public four-year universities have net prices tracked closer to sticker prices, largely because of the large state disinvestment in public higher education during the recession.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113600/original/image-20160302-25866-jmgnib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Do all students need free education?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/fleshmanpix/8260830860/in/photolist-dzYVdh-64rPAo-5zd2cK-5AxiFe-5sfurc-so7APc-dkk864-7DxQw-nqez7k-bFmfvK-aMJ5rV-nqeh3n-5zjWKK-2zrBdL-aYmH8V-5sfuwD-nqerS3-qNMtEP-dzTr1T-dzTrwr-5zd2CH-dzTrFD-nqerCW-9qyfMw-dzTrz6-2zrBRN-apemzB-nJvgTP-dzYV8b-anbmFG-dzYVaG-b3Hzjc-dzYV3E-9weSom-avi2XE-8y32yB-nEFdJE-nGqVTr-nGqW7x-5zEzJi-dzTqqt-dzYURW-nqerDC-nGHRKX-bUH7WQ-nqerqS-nqezKK-5zjpeR-dzYVfu-nJvgTt">Michael Fleshman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://trends.collegeboard.org/college-pricing">Another reality</a> is that students from upper-income families are attending college in record numbers and having little difficulty in paying for it. </p>
<p>So the question is: how can the expenditure of funds be better targeted?</p>
<p>In Clinton’s case, her $35 billion per year would better be spent, in my view, by doubling expenditures in the Pell Grant program, keeping the money focused on students from the bottom half of the income distribution. </p>
<p>Rather than giving subsidies to wealthier students who have demonstrated the ability and willingness to pay for college, current Pell recipients – whose grants are capped at $5,775 this year – could receive a Pell Grant in excess of $11,000. </p>
<p>If the same logic was applied to what Sanders proposes to spend, these same students could see their grants rise to almost $15,000.</p>
<h2>Giving money where it is needed</h2>
<p>The fact is broad subsidies end up benefiting many students who do not need the support of public funds to attend college. </p>
<p>So, an even better use of the additional funds proposed by the two Democratic candidates would be to split the money between increasing Pell Grants and providing more academic and social support to poorer and first-generation students both before and while they are enrolled in college. </p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/trio/index.html">federal TRIO programs</a> provide exactly this kind of assistance by offering academic support, mentoring and study skills services to first-generation students. The approximately $1 billion currently budgeted for these programs by the federal government, however, allows them to serve only about 10 percent of eligible students annually.</p>
<p>Expanding such programs, along with increasing targeted Pell Grant aid, would likely have a much broader impact on increasing the proportion of Americans attending college and earning degrees.</p>
<p>Whoever goes on to capture the White House in November can best tackle the problem of rising college prices by focusing any additional spending on students who truly need more support from the federal government.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald E. Heller has received funding for his research on college access and finance in the past from federal agencies and private foundations.</span></em></p>Presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have proposed a debt-free or a free college education. Is this feasible? Should wealthier students get such subsidies?Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.