New Blog Posts

  • The Promise of Free Community College and What States Deliver

    The Promise of Free Community College and What States Deliver

    Caitlyn Valadez, MPA Staff Writer, Brief Policy Perspectives  Mamie Voight of the Institute for Higher Education Policy once noted that ”free is a message that works.” The phrase “free community college” is often used to describe and promote scholarship programs that cover tuition costs for community college students.  This policy approach to making college more…

  • Safeguarding Voting Rights: Learning From the Past and Looking to the Future

    Safeguarding Voting Rights: Learning From the Past and Looking to the Future

    Maya Pendleton, MPP Staff Writer, Brief Policy Perspectives  While the right to vote is fundamental to American democracy, it has needed the protection of the Constitution as well as legislation to be fully realized. The 15th and 19th Amendments extended voting rights to Black Americans and women, but organized violence and policies such as literacy tests…

  • Protecting Bald Eagles from Lead Poisoning: State-Level Policy Solutions

    Protecting Bald Eagles from Lead Poisoning: State-Level Policy Solutions

    Reeve Jacobus, MPP Staff Writer, Brief Policy Perspectives  Although the bald eagle was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2007, it is nevertheless illegal to hunt the national bird of the United States. Bald eagles are protected under the 1940 Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which imposes a $5,000 fine or one-year prison sentence for killing…

  • Transgender and Incarcerated: Revised Bureau of Prisons Guidance Could Compromise Safety of Transgender Inmates

    Transgender and Incarcerated: Revised Bureau of Prisons Guidance Could Compromise Safety of Transgender Inmates

    Kaid Ray-Tipton, MPA Staff Writer, Brief Policy Perspectives  In the last few days of the Obama administration, former Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Acting Director Thomas R. Kane released the Transgender Offender Manual which was developed to ensure that the BOP “properly identifies, tracks, and provides services to the transgender population.” Over a year later, this…

  • GW WonkCast S4E4: Below the Fold: The Role of Civilians in Military Decision-making and Taxing Online Purchases

    GW WonkCast S4E4: Below the Fold: The Role of Civilians in Military Decision-making and Taxing Online Purchases

    Join co-hosts Nathalie Grogan and Erik LaDue for our last Below the Fold segment of the semester! Contact us at wonkcast@gmail.com or on Facebook. Subscribe in iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play to #staywonky. The views expressed herein are those of the co-hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of Policy Perspectives or the Trachtenberg school.