Maxwell School News and Commentary

“The situation is still highly fluid, but with clear signs that the Russian command and control of responding units is still coming together, with all-important unity of command not yet achieved,” says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

“There is a quite substantial lag between addition of atmospheric carbon due to wildfire and the eventual removal of at least some of it by the regrowing forest. So, over the course of those decades, the net impact of the fires is a contribution to climate warming,” says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment. 

Though this fire is nearly contained, in general, fire burns hotter when the weather is hotter, says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment. He adds that drought contributes to dangerous fire seasons, but paradoxically, wetter years can too.

“The war in Ukraine is central to his current political project, and I don’t see anything to suggest that that will change. And that affects everything else,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science and director of the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs.

“If I were a Democratic consultant or strategist, I would be taking a huge grain of salt before I base my playbook on this election,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science and director of the Campbell Public Affairs Institute.

“Good news. Good news. Good news,” says Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology and O'Hanley Faculty Scholar. “They got the message that we need to engage.”

“There is a big thumb on the scale in favor of the president’s interpretation of whether the order is lawful,” says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs. “You’d have a really big row to hoe and you would have a big fuss inside the military if you chose not to follow a presidential order.”

The bureau has spent time, money and energy trying to improve counts of racial and ethnic minorities who have been historically undercounted, but the statistical agency seems willing to adapt questions that will shortchange the numbers of people with disabilities, says Scott Landes, associate professor of sociology.

Jenn M. Jackson, assistant professor of political science, says that this episode reveals a mismatch between what funders in 2020 said they wanted to do, which was to end racist policies in the U.S., and the way they went about it, which was to give millions to a new research center at a university.