TwitterFacebookLinkedInEmail

Published April 27, 2021

An injustice that haunts a NATO partner after more than a century. Recent barbarities from which America is still reeling. And a dangerous pattern found deep in the male psyche. Is there a way through these moral and intellectual labyrinths? Rutgers experts offer guidance in news stories every day, avoiding easy answers while confronting some of the most difficult questions of our time.

In applying the term “genocide” to the mass deportation and killing of Armenians during World War I, President Biden is almost certain to further strain the U.S.-Turkey relationship. Nevertheless, this is a major step forward in confronting such atrocities on the global stage, says Alex Hinton, director of Rutgers’ Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. “Hopefully this will serve as a catalyst for other countries,” says Hinton in a PBS NewsHour interview. “Anyone who has a commitment to democracy and human rights needs to acknowledge a massive human rights violation—[in this case] one of the first to take place at the beginning of the 20th century.”

PBS NewsHour | Why Biden declared mass killings of Armenians a genocide

President Jonathan Holloway appears on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about the guilty verdict for Derek Chauvin and Rutgers’ vaccination requirement for students returning in the fall. Holloway emphasizes the importance of using our university’s resources to provide better ideas for difficult issues. “There is an importance of coming together as a community, one in which we are not necessarily all agreeing with one another, but that we have the respect for each other where we can tolerate and engage with one another on our differences,” Holloway tells Lehrer.

WNYC | Rutgers Pres. Holloway on the Chauvin verdict — and vaccine mandates

A Bergen County, New Jersey, man is challenging a U.S. ban on individuals selling their organs, saying that the ban infringes on his right to do what he wants with his body. But Daniel Hausman, a research professor at Rutgers’ Center for Population-Level Bioethics, says that allowing such transactions could further deepen the inequities between our country’s “haves” and “have-nots.” “People who are rich would be those who have two kidneys,” Hausman tells The Record. “Those who have only one kidney, having donated it, would be among the poor. Do we really want to have an inequality like that?”

northjersey.com | Should you have the right to sell your organs? A Bergen man challenges a longtime U.S. ban

Fewer men than women in America are getting a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a New York Times article. Kristen W. Springer, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, has studied men’s reluctance to seek medical help. “This avoidance has been linked to…ideals of men being strong, invincible,” Springer says. “It will be interesting to watch male-female differences in vaccine uptake, because these will more likely reflect social and cultural ideas about gender and health, such as the cultural idea that ‘real men’ don’t need preventive health care.”

The New York Times | What do women Want? For men to get covid vaccines.

Mental health experts report an increase in the number of people seeking help for anxiety and depression across New Jersey. Frank Ghinassi, president and CEO of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, says that the call volume at his hospital network’s crisis and support lines has substantially increased. “This pandemic has not been the same for everybody,” Ghinassi tells The Record, “For other groups of people, like those living in poverty or facing homelessness or racial discrimination, the frustrations of the pandemic have pushed them closer to the edge.”

northjersey.com | COVID didn’t just kill in NJ, it challenged our mental health: There’s help though

What lies ahead for urban charter schools—or any historically underfunded school, for that matter—in post-pandemic America? Gloria Bonilla-Santiago SSW’78 addresses the question in a Star-Ledger op-ed. Drawing on her expertise as founder of the LEAP Academy University Charter School in Camden and as a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Public Policy at Rutgers University–Camden, Bonilla-Santiago observes that “an urban school is set up for success when it considers the entire family unit and serves as a community hub.” She also describes how COVID-19 prompted LEAP to “integrate technology into academics in ways we never thought possible” and to recognize that “some elements of virtual learning…can be incorporated into post-pandemic teaching strategies.”

nj.com | The impact of COVID will be felt by urban schools for years

Make a Difference

Find an area to support that you care about: access to college, health care, innovative research, arts, sciences, and more.