Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Advocate, March 2009, Vol. [20], No. [6], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: Give it Back!: Getting New York’s Wealthiest to Pay Their Fair Share (p. 2)

Guest Editorial: The General’s Labyrinth Revealed, Patrick Inglis (p. 3)

Adjuncting: Naming the Problem, Renee McGarry (p. 4)

CUNY Edu-Factory (p. 5)

Political Analysis: Supply, Demand, and the Mexican Drug War, Andrew Bast (p. 6)

CUNY News in Brief (p. 7)

Hampshire College and the Politics of Divestment, Advocate Staff (p. 8)

Academic Labor Under Siege: Towards a Politically Engaged Professionalism, Henry A. Giroux (p. 10)

Book Review: Two or Three Things I Know About Him, Matt Lau (p. …

Nonknowledge: The Bibliographical Organization Of Ignorance, Stupidity, Error, And Unreason: Part One, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Starting with the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom paradigm in information science it is possible to derive a model of the opposite of knowledge having hierarchical qualities. A range of counterpoints to concepts in the knowledge hierarchy can be identified and ascribed the overall term “nonknowledge.” This model creates a conceptual framework for understanding the connections between topics such as error, ignorance, stupidity, folly, popular misconceptions, and unreason by locating them as levels or phases of nonknowledge. The concept of nonknowledge links heretofore disconnected discourses on these individual topics by philosophers, psychologists, historians, sociologists, satirists, and others. Subject headings provide access to the categories …

Building Communities With Justice: Overcoming The Tyranny Of The Funnel. Keynote Address At The Marquette Law School On February 20, 2009 In Milwaukee, Wi., Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Lacuny Executive Council Meeting Minutes, February 2009, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Lacuny Executive Council Minutes Minutes, February 2009, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Using The Lure Of Gang Life To Teach Interpersonal And Group Attraction, Gordon Alley-Young

Publications and Research

Course: Small Group Communication

Objective: Students will apply group and interpersonal attraction theories to discover the factors impacting a young man's small group membership choices in The Lure of Gang Life; this short story illustrates the forces that attract individuals to different small groups across their lives.

Advocate, February 2009, Vol. [20], No. [5], Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

From the Editor's Desk: Putting Away Childish Things (p. 2)

An Open Letter to President Jennifer Raab, Hunter College, CUNY (p. 3)

In Memoriam: John Patrick Diggins (1935-2009) (p. 4)

Framing Shape: War Crimes and Paralysis, Alan Koenig (p. 6)

Adjuncting: Free Choice and Adjunct Equity, Renee McGarry (p. 8)

Afghanistan: The Use and Abuse of a Buffer State (Part 2), Christian Parenti (p. 9)

Gaza Forum: The War of Punishment and Frustration, Adel Safty (p. 12)

The Dark Days: Fortress Israel’s Final Stand, Naji Ali (p. 13)

Book Review: The Crisis of Labor, Carl Lindskoog (p. …

Lacuny Junior Faculty Research Roundtable Meeting Minutes, January 2009, Lacuny

Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Unexpected Events In Interstate Wars, Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

This is the data for unexpected events on interstate wars associated with Is This a Private Fight or Can Anybody Join? The Spread of Interstate War. Please see that work for a description of the coding and please cite that work when using this data.

Exploring The Potential Of Twitter As A Research Tool, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

The article reviews the web site Twitter, and discusses its research applications, including the concept of hashtags as subject headings to organize Twitter content.

Academic Libraries In Poland University Of Warsaw Library As An Example Of Library Transformation In Post-Communist Poland, Ewa Dzurak

Publications and Research

This article examines the complex changes that have occurred in Polish academic libraries, especially the University of Warsaw Library (UWL), after the fall of communism in 1989.Shortly afterwards, thanks to grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, an accelerated transformation in all library practices began. In preparation for automation, the authority file was created, introducing the process of applying international standards in bibliographic description in a new climate of interlibrary cooperation. The Library of Congress classification and access to open stacks were introduced for the first time in Poland in a newly constructed UWL building. A crowning achievement of the …

Rule And Meaning In The Teaching Of Grammar, Joseph C. M. Davis

Publications and Research

While the construct of rule as a manipulation of purely formal properties of language has been widely abandoned in both formal and functional linguistics, it persists, though with diminished importance, in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). This is true even in Form-Focused Instruction (FFI), including Focus-on-Form (FonF), which emphasizes meaning as both classroom focus and element of language structure. This paper illustrates the meaningfulness of grammar, even where treatment has often appealed to such rules; identifies areas of overlap between what is identified by the term rule and what is identified by the terms meaning (semantics) and form …

School-Based Screening To Identify At-Risk Students Not Already Known To School Professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen, Michelle A. Scott, Holly C. Wilcox, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Mark Davies, Roger C. Hicks, J. Blake Turner, David Shaffer

Publications and Research

Objectives.Wesought todeterminethedegreeofoverlapbetweenstudents identified through school-based suicide screening and those thought to be at risk by school administrative and clinical professionals. Methods. Students from7 high schools in theNewYorkmetropolitan area completed the Columbia Suicide Screen; 489 of the 1729 students screened had positive results. The clinical status of 641 students (73% of those who had screened positive and 23%of thosewho had screened negative) was assessedwithmodules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. School professionals nominated by their principal and unaware of students’ screening and diagnostic status were asked to indicate whether they were concerned about the emotional well-being of each participating student. …

The Fourth Level Of Social Structure In A Multi-Level Society: Ecological & Social Functions Of Clans In Hamadryas Baboons, Amy Schreier, Larissa Swedell

Publications and Research

Hamadryas baboons are known for their complex, multi-level social structure consisting of troops, bands, and one-male units (OMUs) [Kummer, 1968]. Abegglen [1984] observed a 4^th level of social structure comprising several OMUs that rested near one another on sleeping cliffs, traveled most closely together during daily foraging, and sometimes traveled as subgroups independently from the rest of the band. Abegglen called these associations “clans” and suggested that they consisted of related males. Here we confirm the existence of clans in a second wild hamadryas population, a band of about 200 baboons at the Filoha site in lowland Ethiopia. During …

Male Aggression Towards Females In Hamadryas Baboons: Conditioning, Coercion And Control, Larissa Swedell, Amy Schreier

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Gatekeeping Behind Meritocracy: Voices Of Nyc High School Students, Arlene Melody Garcia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Survey and focus group sampling of students in high achieving schools compared to lower achieving schools were used to examine why there are fewer black men graduating from high schools in New York City as well as high schools around the country compared to other groups of students. Race is disaggregated in order to look at the difference in achievement rates for African American, black Hispanic, African, and Afro-Caribbean men. The findings support the contention that foreign-born blacks do better academically than native blacks.

Focus groups consist of black males, females, and staff at six of the 12 schools; field …

Are Sisters Doing It (All) For Themselves? Elderly Black Women And Healthcare Decision Making, Carlene Buchanan Turner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the effects of health values on the decisions made by elderly Black women to use self-care methods and homecare services. The research is grounded in the healthicization or wellness promotion paradigm, which prescribes behavioral or lifestyle changes for previously biomedically defined events.

The dissertation consists of both quantitative and qualitative research. The quantitative component focuses on a sample of Black women over 70 years old (N= 642) from the 2000 NHI Second Longitudinal Study on Aging dataset. The qualitative component analyzes ten in-depth interviews with respondents from Southern Maryland used to supplement the quantitative findings.

Although the …

Trust In The Balance: Asymmetric Information, Commitment Problems And Balancing Behavior, Zachary Shirkey, Ivan Savic

Publications and Research

Realists argue that balancing occurs in response to changes to the balance of power. Recent informational approaches have focused primarily on informational asymmetries or commitment problems. The paper combines these two approaches and builds on them by incorporating characteristics of the revisionist state and the potential balancer, as well as the specific challenge to the balance of power. The model confirms that informational asymmetries often lead to commitment problems and that they are a necessary condition for balancing. However, whether or not informational asymmetries create commitment problems depends on both the nature of the challenger’s move and the relative power …

Environmental Politics In Paradise: Resistance To The Selling Of Vieques, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

The most notable instance of a massive and successful social protest in Puerto Rico in recent years has been on the island of Vieques between 1999 and 2003. This was a rare case in which Puerto Ricans were able to overcome their partisan divisions to end the U.S. Navy's 60 years of training on this small, 51- square-mile island off the main island's east coast. Part of the reason for the Vieques victory, including gaining support from some influential U.S. politicians, was that leaders framed the protest in terms of human rights, public health and environmental degradation rather than Yanqui …

A Reflective Teaching Journal: An Instructional Improvement Tool For Academic Librarians, Elizabeth K. Tompkins

Publications and Research

This paper explores the practice of keeping a reflective teaching journal to improve classroom instruction. Reflective practice and journaling have a rich tradition in the teacher education field. Accordingly, the teacher education literature provides the starting point for this case study of keeping a reflective teaching journal for library sessions given to first semester freshmen enrolled in a learning community. The journaling process proved useful by helping to improve instruction while also providing a mechanism to link theory with practice.

Making Up The Difference: Ecuadorian Women Engaged In Direct Selling, Erynn Masi Casanova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As economic globalization progresses, employment is becoming more flexible and informalized in many parts of the world. In some developing countries, direct sales (selling branded products from person to person) is an increasingly attractive type of work, especially for women. Direct sales organizations benefit from cultural norms and structural forces that steer women away from full-time jobs in the formal economy, and also from the material conditions that lead to women's need to earn an income. This study examines the work experiences and social worlds of women affiliated with Ecuador's most successful direct sales company, Yanbal, with a focus on …

Accessri, Sean Almonte, Mark Anders, Kenneth Comia, Matthew Coogan, Jeff Gerlach, Aileen Gorsuch, Michael Porto, Mary Rocco, James Shaw, Michael Wallin, Laxmi Ramasubramanian

Publications and Research

AccessRI, a studio team comprised of ten graduate students in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College, was commissioned by New York State Senator José M. Serrano to identify and provide strategies to address residents’ concerns regarding the quality of life on Roosevelt Island. Roosevelt Island, located between Manhattan and Queens in the East River, is an exceptional place within the varied fabric of New York City. The island provides its residents with an existence apart from the typical hassles associated with urban life, yet its proximity to the rest of the city allows residents to partake …

Raising Children The American Way: Court-Mandated Parenting Education In Alameda, California, Nicole D. Laborde

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on ethnographic research in Alameda County, California, this dissertation examines the parenting practices and knowledge that are taught in court-mandated parenting classes along with those of parents enrolled in these classes. In California, two of the primary reasons that parents would be mandated to take classes are because of involvement with Child and Family Services (CFS) or in a custody dispute that reaches the courts. I argue that the different forms of knowledge and the practices advanced in the classes, at times consistent with, at times in conflict with those of the parents, reflect the demands and social responsibility …

"Reconnecting To Resilience" A Historical Study Of Slave Narratives With Implications For Social Work Practice With African American Youth From High Risk Environments, Barbara E. Milton Ii

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The often times high risk environment of African American youth negatively impacts their psychological well being, their family relations and community connections. Many African American youth today are experiencing the vestiges of historical trauma that took root in America in the 17th Century when the first Africans came to America. As a result of generational transmission of historical trauma, many youths today are disproportionately underachieving in education, disproportionately poor, disproportionately monitored by police and incarcerated and disproportionately disrespected by the society at large. In order to reduce the disparity of contemporary problems effecting African American youth, social scientists need to …

The Rise Of Private Equity Media Ownership In The United States: A Public Interest Perspective, Matthew Crain

Publications and Research

This article examines the logic, scope, and implications of the influx of private equity takeovers in the United States media sector in the last decade. The strategies and aims of private equity firms are explained in the context of the financial landscape that has allowed them to flourish; their aggressive expansion into media ownership is outlined in detail. Particular attention is paid to the public interest concerns raised by private equity media ownership relating to the frenzied nature of the buyout market, profit maximization strategies, and the heavy debt burdens imposed on acquired firms. The article concludes with discussion of …

Essays On The Impacts Of The Great Moderation On Business Cycle Modeling, Andre R. Neveu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The research presented here is a comprehensive analysis of research on the "Great Moderation" and its impact on business cycle modeling. In the presence of a less volatile aggregate economy, the methods of modeling business cycles have fundamentally changed along with the ability to detect turning points in the business cycle using standard algorithms. Chapter One lays out the historical case for modeling the business cycle in a manner placing importance on the ability of a model to replicate features observed in actual GDP data, such as the depth and length of recessions, or the average height of expansions. Chapter …

Alexander In The Himalayas: Competing Imperial Legacies In Medieval Islamic History And Literature, Anna Akasoy

Publications and Research

In 1888, Rudyard Kipling published a collection of stories in a volume with the title The Phantom Rickshaw and Other Tales. The collection includes the short story The Man Who Would be King, in which Kipling's alter ego, a British journalist in India, makes the acquaintance of a pair of adventurers, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan, who demand his help as a fellow Mason. The two shady characters have set out to take advantage of divisions among the natives and are determined to install themselves as kings in Kafiristan, a remote region inhabited by pagans in the north of the …

The Social Construction Of Racial And Ethnic Identity Among Women Of Color From Mixed Ancestry: Psychological Freedoms And Sociological Constraints, Laura Quiros

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the context of the 21st century, when an increasing number of people cannot be classified by an archaic system based on race, an awareness of the complexities of ethnic and racial identity is more important than ever. This study assists in the development of a critical understanding of the complexity of racial and ethnic identity by exploring the construction of racial and ethnic identity among women of color from mixed ancestry. These women are the offspring of parents from multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds. As a result, their identities—both internally and externally constructed—belie traditional racial and ethnic categories. This …

Using Blackboard To Create Library Research Skills Assessment, Maura A. Smale, Mariana Regalado

Publications and Research

Like other college and university departments, academic libraries are increasingly expected to assess their services and facilities. This article describes an initial step in the development of a comprehensive assessment program for library instruction in the Brooklyn College Library. A pre- and post-quiz were developed based on the curriculum for a required library session in an introductory English composition course. The quizzes were designed to establish a baseline for student knowledge of information literacy as well as measure the effect of library instruction on student learning. We also sought to evaluate the suitability of the Blackboard learning management system for …

La Expresión Escrita En La Clase De Ele, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

En esta ponencia se presentará una definición de la expresión escrita y se tratará de reflexionar sobre los objetivos que persigue su uso y la valoración social de esta destreza, así como sobre la evolución de su tratamiento en la metodología de la enseñanza de lenguas. Se discutirán conceptos fundamentales en la composición del discurso escrito, tales como la planificación, textualización y revisión, a partir de los parámetros formales de cohesión, coherencia, adecuación y corrección gramatical. En su vertiente práctica, se presentará una tipología de actividades de expresión escrita y de estrategias que se ponen en práctica en esta destreza, …