With celebrities imploring young people to "Rock the Vote," and with youth poised to vote in record numbers this fall, it would be easy to assume that the society is entering a golden age of youth civic engagement. Youth turnout rose in almost every state this primary season, and news networks regularly run segments on the power of the…

Stories of transient students missing deadlines or being misled about their voting rights are nothing new. But this year, the role younger voters played in Barack Obama's win in Iowa's Democratic presidential primary seems to have motivated a wave of college students in other states. Some of those students--and the campaigns courting them--are out…

The 2010 EdSource Forum, held on March 19 in Santa Clara, focused on the obstacles and opportunities in the road ahead for public schools and community colleges. The Forum included four sessions. Two are covered in this report: (1) A sobering discussion of California's fiscal crisis by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor; and (2) A lively Q&A…

As noted in "School Referenda in Indiana", the contributing factors to school referenda outcomes are often subject to the individual communities; while a referendum with a high requested tax rate increase might fail in one community, the same referendum might pass in another. Despite this factor, there often are notable trends and…

The May primary election added seven school district referenda to the total number occurring in Indiana since 2008, three of which passed and four of which were rejected by voters. In the 2011 primary election, there were five General Fund referenda and two construction referenda. Of General Fund referenda, two passed (Crown Point Community School…

This article presents the Louisa County High School Library's annual Thanks-a-Latte Day, an event that introduces the American political process to LCHS seniors in a real way. Thanks-a-Latte Day was born from an idea found in a "School Library Journal" article by Charli O'Dell published in 1999. Her basic idea was to promote the school library by…

It is often a difficult proposition for introductory American government students to comprehend different electoral systems and how the rules of the game affect the representation that results. I have developed a simulation in which different proportional-based electoral systems are compared with a single-member plurality electoral system. In…

Pennsylvania is considered one of the nation's key swing states. But over in Penn State's student union, there wasn't much excitement about the forthcoming election--even though it is the first presidential vote that most undergraduates will cast. A visit last week by "The Chronicle" to Penn State and two other campuses in the central…

Citizenship was not a straightforward concern for Scottish university students between 1884 and 1948 and tended to express itself in multiple and often competing allegiances. Despite students being empowered to elect a Rector, and their role in university governance being accorded statutory recognition through the Students' Representative…

Psychology has neglected the study of variation across cities. An urban psychology is needed that takes seriously such variation and focuses on strengths and assets contributing to the good life as much as on problems of urbanization. To illustrate the value of an urban psychology, we describe studies of character strengths among residents in the…

In his presidential acceptance speech last week, Barack Obama gave a nod to his youngest and most loyal supporters, who, he said, had "rejected the myth of their generation's apathy." Indeed, voters ages 18 to 29 turned out more than they had since 1972, the first presidential election after the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18. They supported…

Supporters of affirmative action may have finally found a way to defeat state ballot measures that would ban such programs: Latch onto an inspirational presidential candidate with piles of cash and an unprecedented voter-turnout machine. Those activists won a narrow victory in Colorado this month, when 50.7 percent of voters made the state the…

This article reports that a state ballot measure to ban affirmative-action programs based on race, gender, and national origin at public colleges and other state agencies was defeated. Colorado voters narrowly rejected such a referendum last week by a razor-thin margin that took two days to become official. Voters in Nebraska, however, took the…

According to the results of LJ's latest annual referenda survey, covering measures held between December 1, 2006, and November 30, 2007, voters approved both operating and building referenda at very high rates. If a library reported a referendum this year, chances are they are in high spirits. Operating referenda, with 69% of measures succeeding,…

In 1878, Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California introduced to the Senate an amendment to the Constitution "Conferring upon Women the Right of Suffrage." Drafted by Susan B. Anthony, this same amendment would be introduced on a near-yearly basis until its final passage by Congress on May 19, 1919. Varying degrees of voting rights presented an…