Featured Faculty News from our Fall 2020 department newsletter, Homo Politicus. Access the newsletter archive here.

Professor George Andreopoulos published “’Whole-of-Nation’ Approach to Counterinsurgency and the Closing of Civic Space in the Philippines” in global-e. In June, he delivered a paper on “Human Rights during the COVID Pandemic: Challenges and Responses” at the International Congress of Human Rights organized by the School of Judges of Tocantins and the Federal University of Tocantins in Brazil.

Professor Enrique Desmond Arias published “Violence and Territorial Orders in Caracas, Venezuela,” in Political Geography, and “How Criminals Govern,” in Current History. 

Professor Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner was named the Global South Caucus’ Distinguished Scholar for 2020-21. Professor Braveboy-Wagner was also interviewed for the Oral History Archive of the “Women and the History of International Thought Project” conducted by the University of Sussex (U.K.), sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, and hosted by Oxford University Press. 

Professor Susan Buck-Morss published Year 1: A Philosophical Recounting (MIT Press 2020)

Professor Mitchell Cohen published “Beyond the Virus” in Dissent Magazine and “Is Socialism Coming to America?” in The New York Times. 

Professor Forrest D. Colburn published “Nicaragua’s Surprising Response to COVID-19,” in the Journal of Global Health.

Professors Alyson Cole, Charles Tien, and Robyn Marasco were named the new editors-in-chief of Polity.

Professor Michael Fortner was appointed senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, where he published “Reconstructing Justice: Race, Generational Divides, and the Fight Over ‘Defund the Police.’” Professor Fortner also published “The Backstory: Comparing the uprisings of 1968 and 2020,” in Politico and was quoted in “Trump Doesn’t Know Why Crime Rises or Falls. Neither Does Biden. Or Any Other Politician” in Five Thirty Eight.

Professor Julie George was awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State and US Embassy in Georgia for the University Research Program for Georgian Ph.D. Professors.

Professor Stephanie Golob was named Director of the new Initiative for the Study of Latin America (ISLA) at Baruch’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences (WSAS), which launched this fall. 

Professor Janet Gornick moderated a public event co-hosted by Graduate Center Public Programs and the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality titled “Reducing Inequality Now” and featuring Darrick Hamilton, Eduardo Porter, and Paul Krugman on June 18. Professor Gornick also worked with her colleagues at the Stone Center to convert the Center’s annual inequality workshop to video. The Center’s sixth annual weeklong summer workshop on inequality research and methods – “Inequality by the Numbers” – was scheduled for June 2020 but had to be canceled. The live workshop was replaced by a set of 14 lectures recorded on video. The whole set is available for viewing on the Stone Center website. 

Professor Carol Gould published “Motivating Solidarity with Distant Others: Empathic Politics, Responsibility, and the Problem of Global Justice” in the Oxford Handbook of Global Justice (Oxford 2020), as well as “Labor Rights as Human Rights: Issues of Foundation and Application” in Why Human Rights Still Matter in Contemporary World Affairs (Routledge 2020). 

Professor Thomas Halper published “William O. Douglas and the Assault on Objectivity,” in the British Journal of American Legal Studies.

Professor John Krinsky received a CUNY Research in the Classroom grant for his undergraduate classes to research networks of activism in New York City, and how these were changed by COVID-19. He also published “New York City’s movement networks: resilience, reworking, and resistance in a time of distancing and brutality,” in Open Democracy. The Community Change Studies program that Krinksy directs received a grant from the Oak Foundation for operational support and to introduce a Grassroots Leader Fellowship, which brings in leaders from community organizations around the city to our community organizing courses for college credit and a small stipend.

Professor Keena Lipsitz published “Where are people less likely to obey coronavirus restrictions? Republican counties,” in The Washington Post.

Professor Frances Fox Piven was interviewed by Jacobin Magazine to discuss why disruption must be central to protests, the questions of violence and property destruction, and how organizers should and should not see their role in the streets. Professor Piven and Richard Cloward spoke with the New Book in Political Science podcast about their relationship as long-time collaborators. She was also quoted in the Rolling Stone Magazine article “Protesters Reject De Blasio’s NYPD Budget, Continue to Occupy City Hall.”

Professor Emeritus Peter Ranis published “Worker Cooperatives: The Default Alternative to Predatory United States Capitalism” in Socialism and Democracy. He also chaired a panel in June 2019 on “From Employee Participation to Workers’ Self Management” at the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics at The New School.

Professor Stanley Renshon published The Real Psychology of the Trump Presidency (Palgrave 2020) and The Trump Doctrine and the Emerging International System (Palgrave 2020).

Professor Corey Robin published “Freedom Now,” in Polity, and “The Pandemic Is the Time to Resurrect the Public University,” in The New Yorker.

Professor Peter Romaniuk contributed a short retrospective to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the UN and introduce a special issue on that topic in Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations.  

Professor Helena Rosenblatt published “No, there isn’t a constitutional right to not wear masks,” in Newsday.

 Professor Sanford Schram co-authored Hard White: The Mainstreaming of Racism in America (Oxford University Press 2020).

Professor Jillian Schwedler was elected to the APSA Council, the chief governing body of APSA, for a three-year term starting September 2020.

Professor Julie Suk published “Op-Ed: Now, as in the 1970s, it’s men, not women, who will defeat the Equal Rights Amendment,” in the Los Angeles Times.

Professor Charles Tien edited the PS: Political Science & Politics “2020 Presidential Election Forecasting symposium” and also published “The Political Economy Model: A Blue Wave Forecast For 2020” in the same issue.

Professor John Wallach published “Plato” in the Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (Springer 2020).

Professor Till Weber published “Discreet Inequality: How Party Agendas Embrace Privileged Interests,” in Comparative Political Studies.

Presidential Professor Thomas G. Weiss participated in a seminar for government and corporate officials organized by Omani Diwan on “The Future of International Organizations and Global Governance.” He also organized an authors’ conference with the J. Paul Getty Trust to discuss outlines for some 30 chapters in a forthcoming book, Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities: Human and Security Costs. Professor Weiss published “A Plea for Multilateralism From the Windy City” in Pass Blue and “‘Wartime’ leadership? Donald Trump is no FDR” in The Chicago Tribune.

Professor Ming Xia published The Right to Be Elected (Boston Review 2020) and “Quadruple Fears: In the Perfect Global Storm,” in CUNY Forum 8 for Corona Conversations: East & West.

IN MEMORIAM:

Burton Zwiebach

Professor Emerita Burton Zwiebach passed away on April 3rd, 2020 in the presence of his family. As a beloved member of our community, many colleagues and alum shared heartfelt tributes. Below is one from his close friend and colleague, Professor Emerita Irving Leonard Markovitz.

When Burt’s wife Sally called to tell me he had died, I was not surprised but I was shocked. Our lives followed parallel planes, in a sense. Not totally similar, but intersecting. We started our careers at Queens College in the mid-sixties, wearing the same Harris Tweed jackets, with tie and shirt, smoking pipes and cigarettes. We were both demanding teachers, tough with our students, serious in our intellectual interests, and intent on our scholarship.

During the time that his children were growing up, he wrote what has become a major work in political theory, Civility and Disobedience (Cambridge 1975). A few years later, to the cry of his son Peter, “Watch out Lord, Dad is getting ready for a new book!”, Burt produced The Common Life: Ambiguity, Agreement, and the Structure of Morals (Temple 1988). No political theorist could make as strong and thorough an argument as Burt. That was his forte: stating a clear proposition that flouted a broad consensus, and then elaborating and defending that contention — in endless detail — remorselessly, and with chutzpah. He was indefatigable.

Burt was a good friend whom I miss greatly.

Lenny Markovitz

Melvin Richter

Professor Emerita Melvin Richter passed away on March 14th, 2020, shortly before his 99th birthday. He died peacefully at home after a long life, rich in ideas, shared generously through his teaching, writings, and intellectual enterprise. As a beloved member of our community, many colleagues and alum shared heartfelt tributes. Below are some from his closest colleagues.

“When I arrived for my interview dinner late from Laguardia Airport, I sat down next to Mel who promptly started talking to me in Chinese. He was a trained linguist in the military during WWII. He also advised me to sign up for the Welfare Fund’s Legal Aid benefit, which I have used numerous times!” – Professor Charles Tien

“It was always a pleasure to have Mel stop by my office (next door to his), knock, and chat for a bit about his classes, his writing, and political theory. He always was full of knowledge about what’s current and important to read.” – Professor John Wallach

“To me, Mel was a gem of a colleague and a distinguished scholar to be admired. When I arrived at Hunter, he was warm and welcoming. I always thought of Mel as a scholar’s scholar, appropriately appointed twice to the Institute for Advanced Study, deeply committed to his research projects, but at the same time generous and curious about the work of his colleagues. My condolences to all of the Richters.” – Professor Cynthia Roberts

“Besides being a very productive scholar, Mel carried deeply about his students. A number of them commented to me over the years how much they appreciated his interest in their work.” -Professor Andy Polsky