Trump has announced that Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s Attorney General, is his choice to direct the Environmental Protection Agency. Déjà vu. I remember all too well when Ronald Reagan nominated James Watt as Secretary of the Interior. At the time, I was genuinely confused as to his nomination. How could someone opposed to environmentalism hold such a position? In my naivete, I believed...

 Source: Wbaron, Wikimedia Commons

Since Trump’s victory I have had countless conversations with devastated liberals, progressives, and leftists. While there is anger, fear, and shock, there is also immense pain. One source of hurt is the intense hostility directed towards those who were targeted by Trump’s campaign and now face expulsions, restrictions, and other attacks. It hurts a...

Source: Ben Alexander, Wikimedia Commons

“To all the Republicans, and Democrats, and Independents. I say to you, it is time to come together as one united people.” So goes Donald Trump’s initial effort at reconciliation after one of the most extraordinary, bitter and divisive campaigns in memory. His attempt at unification is equally extraordinary in its arrogance and utter disregard...

An earlier shift in the racial formation, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1959

Source: John Bledsoe, Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons

At last week’s Republican National Convention, a Texas delegate proclaimed, “We don’t want a race war in this country.” Many are understandably distressed about recent confrontations between police and activists and the escalating violence. Indeed, the Mil...

It’s official: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) process has become absurd. Last week Julian Assange announced a plan to offer a $100,000 reward to anyone willing to share the document. Unfortunately, the reality of the TPP is anything but funny. To date, most of the debate has centered on jobs, with only cursory attention to the environmental implications. Of course, any serious...

Being a professor at USC certainly has its perks, but working in an institution dedicated to meaningful shared governance is not one of them. On this blog I will document some of the ongoing struggles that USC faculty encounter as well as post documents that may be of interest to USC faculty (and others).

One of my biggest concerns about USC is what I see as a capricious tenure proce...