Associate Professor of Politics and Government Lamont Colucci published an opinion piece March 28 in The Washington Times titled “How North Korea flouts international sanctions.” In the article, Colucci highlights key findings from a not-yet-released U.N. Security Council report dated March 1, 2018, which explains in detail how North Korea and other rogue nations are […]
“Coming Full Circle on Teaching Trump,” a commentary piece by President Zach Messitte, was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education Feb. 6, 2018. He writes, “In the heat of the 2016 presidential campaign I did a risky thing for a college president, particularly one whose office is two blocks away from the birthplace of […]
Brian Smith, professor of religion, presented the talk “Nourishing the Mind” at Ripon College’s Baccalaureate program May 13, 2017. Following is the text of his presentation: This year, the theme for Commencement is “Wisconsin Food and Entrepreneurship.” We recognize the commitment to food that contributes to the state’s distinctive identity. The College will be bestowing […]
An opinion piece by President Zach Messitte was published March 24 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Where have you gone, Elliot Richardson?” addresses Messitte’s views on politicians doing the right thing. “Congressional committees, FBI investigations and leaked intelligence information into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the example of Elliot Richardson’s five months […]
The following message was released by the Office of the President to the Ripon College campus community Tuesday, January 31, 2017, in response to President Trump’s executive order on immigration. Dear Ripon College Community, On Friday, January 27, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order that bans anyone with passports from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, […]
An opinion piece by President Zach Messitte was published Jan. 17 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The inauguration speech Trump won’t make” addresses Messitte’s views of issues and statements Trump might apologize for and how this could make the country better. “We have important work to do together to continue to make America great,” Messitte […]
President Zach Messitte contributed to an opinion piece that was published Friday, Dec. 16, in The Baltimore Sun. “Look to Agnew for insight to Trump” compares some of the current president-elect’s reactions with those of Spiro Agnew, President Richard Nixon’s vice president, who resigned the position in 1973. The three authors, who are researching a […]
President Zach Messitte had an opinion piece published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Oct. 29. “Clinton’s Appomattox moment” discusses how Hillary Clinton, should she be elected president Nov. 8, should remind us with clear action that we all are Americans and need to work together to make our country more perfect. “After a brutal campaign […]
How we as a nation can restore empathy post-election was the question posed Sunday, Nov. 6, by Professor of Religion Brian Smith at Open Circle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Fond du Lac. “The current election campaign has frayed the deeper bonds of unity among us as citizens since we are losing the capacity to feel […]
In a recent opinion editorial published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Brian Smith, professor of religion at Ripon College, says moral and religious leaders have a crucial role to play before and immediately after the elections to speak to our “better angels” and help us come together. “Will 40% of the electorate whose candidate loses […]
An opinion piece written by President Zach Messitte appeared in the Saturday, Oct. 8, issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It is based on Donald Trump using the phrase “your president.” “If Americans begin to accept that you have your president and I have mine, then the rule of law that binds us together will […]
Brian Smith, professor of religion; Charles and Joan Van Zoeren Chair in Religion, Ethics and Values; chair of the department; and co-director of the Center for Politics and the People, had an opinion piece published Friday in the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Wisconsin. “Who Would Jesus Vote For?” looks at the current presidential race. […]
An opinion piece by President Zach Messitte, who also is a professor in the Department of Politics and Government, was published Thursday in The Washington Post. The piece was titled: “Here’s how I’ll teach Trump to my college students this fall: Calling out the candidate’s bigotry without alienating his supporters.” “While professors and administrators need […]
Brian Smith, professor of religion; Charles and Joan Van Zoeren Chair in Religion, Ethics and Values and chair of the department; and co-director of the Center for Politics and the People, had an opinion piece published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper Saturday. “Muhammad Ali and the Greater Jihad” links Ali’s death to the beginning […]
Brian Smith, professor of religion and chair of the department, wrote an opinion piece about the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. It was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper and can be read here. “The reactions to the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage have been ones of elation and concern,” Smith […]
President Zach Messitte was one of the authors of an opinion piece published in The Baltimore Sun. “Channelling Spiro Agnew in the Baltimore riots” addresses the fact that the current situation in Baltimore echoes a time when Agnew was a newly elected Republican governor of Maryland with little previous political experience that hailed from the […]
President Zach Messitte co-authored an op-ed with Charles Holden, professor of History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, on “Ben Bradlee, Spiro Agnew and the ‘Gray-Haired Grandmother Defense’” for The Baltimore Sun. In the article, Messitte and Holden pay tribute to Bradlee, the former Washington Post editor, for the critical role he played in the […]
In an opinion editorial published in the Chicago Sun-Times titled “Going after the CIA’s new family jewels,” Ripon College President Zach Messitte argues for a fundamental shift in intelligence oversight “that better informs the public and conforms U.S. policy to U.S. values.” The op-ed, co-authored by DC lawyer David Halperin, is in response to public […]
Ripon College President Zach Messitte had an opinion piece appear in the February 6, 2014 edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Messitte’s piece, “College’s Rising Returns,” addresses the real value of a college education as well as the real costs. “A four-year degree is worth the money,” writes Messitte, “because there is a basic return […]