News

As climate change continues to accelerate, tens of millions of people will become climate migrants, and millions of Americans will be uprooted. This article looks to learn from the Great Migration of African-Americans in the 1920s and the ways that the industrial, social, and economic conditions of the Jim-Crow south led to the gradual reformation of the Democratic political identity as one aligned with racial justice during the 1960s, which is well documented in co-director Shickler's book, Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932–1965. The article...

Earlier this month we brought some of our favorite Forum guests – a poet, a novelist, a sociologist and a musician – who all work with themes of cross-cultural identity for a conversation, and live music and readings, before an audience. We discussed the complexities of racial and ethnic identity and how the hyphens we sometimes use to bridge our identities – Mexican-American, Chinese-American etc – can serve to both connect and divide us. It was all part of Night of Ideas, an annual public event bringing together artists and thinkers at the San Francisco Public Library.

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In his March 15th column, "Polls get it right most of the time. Here’s what to be wary of", LA Times Senior editor David Lauter highlights the value of polling for political enthusiasts and concerned voters, while also calling out the pitfalls behind polling methodology. Namely, Lauter points to research conducted by Pew that shows bogus respondents actively trying to distort the results of polls, while also critiquing the way that journalists sometimes sensationalize poll findings to create attention-grabbing headlines. The Berkeley IGS Poll, which conducts its series of election...

This week the Institute of Governmental Studies will be conducting another of its periodic polls of the California public about major political and public policy issues facing the state. It is a legitimate non-partisan poll sponsored by the University that is carried out by distributing email invitations via Qualtrics to a carefully constructed random sample of the state’s registered voters. Data collection will continue through Tuesday, June 4.

The opinions of all survey participants will remain confidential and not be...