TwitterFacebookLinkedInEmail

Published June 15, 2022

Photo by Reubx on Unsplash

What can be done, policy-wise, to prevent school shootings? How might the collapse of abortion rights in America affect other issues? Rutgers experts and community members explore those questions—followed by a Sheryl Lee Ralph profile.

Paul Boxer, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University–Newark, writes an op-ed for YES! about five policy changes that can reduce the risk of school shootings in the future, with an emphasis on limiting gun access. “Gun regulation matters,” writes Boxer. “When my colleagues and I looked at gun regulations on a state-by-state basis, we found that more restrictive gun laws are associated with lower rates of homicides by guns.”

Yes! Magazine | How to reduce school shootings

How severely would reversing Roe v. Wade affect women in the workforce? Yana Rodgers, a professor in Rutgers’ School of Management and Labor Relations, says that this reversal would economically set women back by five decades. “If we were to restrict women’s access to abortion, that means going back…to when we saw sharp declines in women’s labor force participation after giving birth to children,” Rodgers tells Fortune. “This could mean a step back by 50 years and diminishing all the progress women have made since they’ve had access to safe abortion services on a national level, starting in 1973.”

Fortune | The Great Resignation resulted in women leaving the workforce in droves. Denying them abortion care could dent the labor market

Rick Kavin, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science in Rutgers University–New Brunswick’s School of Arts and Sciences, warns that the leaked Supreme Court opinion on abortion rights has the potential to impact laws that affect the LGBTQ+ community. “It definitely brings back the states’ rights argument,” Kavin tells My Central Jersey. “You could foresee individual states doing different things with marriage, for instance.”

My Central Jersey | A defiant Pride Month, in the shadow of the Supreme Court draft opinion leak

ELLE profiles stage and screen artist Sheryl Lee Ralph RC’75, the youngest woman ever to graduate from Rutgers University. Ralph starred in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls and is currently featured on ABC’s newest hit TV show, Abbott Elementary. “Creating a bond with the cast…lights, microphone, and your talent,” says Ralph as she describes her passion for acting and storytelling. “There’s nothing like that, and like hearing the audience respond differently depending on where you are with the performance or how they’re thinking.”

Elle | From Dreamgirls to Abbott Elementary: A timeline of Sheryl Lee Ralph’s incredible career

Make a Difference

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