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TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2016
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CAMPAIGN CRITIQUES photos courtesy of THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOTER IDEOLOGIES The votes of an angry electorate voicing support for the anti-establishment go toward candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, mass communication and political science professor Martin Johnson said. Despite representing opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, he said Trump’s and Sanders’ messages resonate among supporters far more than those of their more moderate opponents. “There’s this underlying similarity of frustration, and it plays out on a lot of different issues,” Johnson said. Though “people don’t elect moderates,” communication studies professor James Honeycutt said the ultimate irony is that, in order to govern, one has to have the ability to compromise. On the other side, he said Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz represent ideological governance. Even though people criticize Trump for his lack of legislative leadership experience, Honeycutt said, Rubio and Cruz have only served one term each in the U.S. Senate. Additionally, he said Trump’s lack of political experience is not unprecedented — Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower were all generals who became president without any legislative record. While the anti-establishment vote has always existed, Honeycutt said it has changed its face over time. He said Trump’s businessman image has replaced the “general” image of election years past. LEGAL CONTROVERSIES Political science assistant professor Matthew Hitt, who studies decision-making strategies in the American court system, said Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia’s death
University experts evaluate election season controversies, hot topics BY CAITIE BURKES | @caitie1221
should make for an interesting election cycle discussion. The new vacancy on the bench has the potential to “shift the median of the Supreme Court in a dramatic direction,” he said. As for issues regarding constitutionality, Hitt said he is surprised the question of Cruz’s eligibility to participate in the race has not escalated. According to the Constitution, he said, natural-born citizens are able to run for president. Since Cruz was born in Canada, not on American soil, Hitt said it is a point that has “never been litigated.” “We don’t have a precedent from the Supreme Court,” Hitt said.
“There’s this underlying similarity of frustration, and it plays out on a lot of different issues.” MARTIN JOHNSON political science professor
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Center for Energy Studies executive director and professor David Dismukes said his concerns relate to environmental issues. Despite Republican candidates reducing environmental regulations and Democratic candidates working to transition to a green economy, he said there has not been much discussion concerning nature in the race. Dismukes said he expects the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions to become a more controversial policy issue, with conservatives attempting to wind down regulations imposed by the Obama administration and
liberals aiming to strengthen them. However, he said most environmental issues are better handled at the state level, and he hopes the federal government leaves issues of regulation to the individual states. SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT Also failing to rise to the surface of election conversation is the STEM field, said College of the Coast and Environment dean Chris D’Elia. In a tumultuous election cycle, D’Elia said the public focuses more on “incendiary” topics than science as a conversation piece. He said he is looking for a candidate who is staunchly on the side of science, which is “critically important to the future of our country.” “Science is one of those things that’s worked so well for the United States for so long,” D’Elia said. “I think people tend to take it for granted.” HIGHER EDUCATION School of Education associate professor Roland Mitchell said debates involving college affordability have piqued his interest. Mitchell said most of the candidates do not actually have fully developed higher education platforms. But all candidates, in some regard, seem to agree that college needs to be more affordable, he said. Though the price to participate in higher education has increased, Mitchell said that, on a national scale, people’s salaries have not. There is also a recognition that for people to participate in the job market, a higher level of education is required, he said. “More people have to figure out how to participate, and we have less public funding going in it,” Mitchell said.
Volume 121 · No. 41
GET B U DHIGHER EDUCATION CUTS
Unresolved fiscal issues likely to hurt higher ed BY SAMUEL CARTER KARLIN @samkarlin Talk of another special session and the shortcomings of a gridlocked legislature permeated the House chamber Monday as Gov. John Bel Edwards delivered a sobering “state of the state” address before the 2016 regular session of the Louisiana Legislature. The focus for the remainder of the three-month conclave will be how to reconcile the state’s budget shortfall for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, estimated at $800 million, without raising any more taxes, which by law it cannot do in the regular session of an even year. That will likely mean deep cuts to higher education and healthcare, the two areas with the least protection by law. University Executive Director of Policy and External Affairs Jason Droddy said the failure of legislators to find common ground to raise enough revenue in the first special session has affected conversation among higher education administrators. “How certain should we feel that they will come up with a different result that will mitigate the budget cuts? Their nerves are already raw from the past special session, and now they go into a regular session in which there will be tons of fights [over] the budget,” Droddy said. Another special session, likely in June, following the regular session’s end, is also a near certainty. There is also shortfall of up to $57 million for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. These imbalances will not be known for certain until the Revenue Estimating Conference produces its latest projections on Wednesday. Edwards lays the
see SESSION, page 2