Philip K. Howard is a lawyer, civic leader, and writer whose work addresses the effects of an overly complex legal code on our governing system and daily lives. In The Rule of Nobody, he argues that the American government is paralyzed by detailed, outmoded laws, and advocates for a radically simplified system where officials and citizens are free to be practical — to ask,…
Center for the Study of Public Life
Allbritton Talks: Unpaid Internships
Are unpaid internships exploitative, or is free labor a fair trade for a learning experience? Why do businesses and organizations hire unpaid interns, and should students accept these positions? Who wins and loses in a society where unpaid internships are permitted? We will consider these questions and more over pizza on Friday, January 30 at…
Community Building and Systems Change: An Update from CSPL 210
Students in Professor Joy Anderson’s Money and Social Change course have been hard at work all semester developing their Theories of Change and deciding which local non-profits would receive a portion of their Learning by Giving grant. The recipients will be announced at the 2014 Grantee Party on Monday, December 1 from 5:00 to 7:30 PM. Details to…
Post-Wes Journeys: A Panel Discussion on Careers for the Common Good
Wesleyan prides itself in raising “practical idealists” who are eager to work for social change after graduation. The goal is not just to do well but to do good and to build careers around the causes they care about. Four alumni with the common good at heart will return to campus on the evening of Wednesday,…
Marathon Grant Making: An Update from CSPL 210
Sam Rispaud ’15 writes in with another update from Money and Social Change, a service-learning course taught by Professor Joy Anderson this fall: Today was an exciting week for the Money & Social Change class. By partnering with the Learning By Giving Foundation our class is given $10,000 to give to four non-profits in Middlesex county. This Saturday, the class…
Learning by Giving: An Update from CSPL 210
Money and Social Change isn’t your typical college course. In an exciting shift from theory to practice, participants learn about different approaches to philanthropy and impact investment and then put their money where their mouth is by doling it out to local organizations. The students are eager to share their experiences with the rest of the world,…
Ebola: Understanding the Public Health Response (10/23)
Wesleyan World Wednesdays, the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, and Academic Affairs present a panel discussion with Wesleyan alum and CT State Epidemiologist Dr. Matthew Cartter, Prof. Anna Geltzer and Prof. David Constantine, on the public health response to Ebola.
Commemorate Freedom Summer 1964
In the summer of 1964, over 1,000 volunteers from across the United States – many of them college students – traveled to the Deep South as a part of Freedom Summer, or the Mississippi Summer Project, to assist local civil rights workers in getting black Mississippians to the voting polls. Despite intimidation and violence from the…
CSPL210: Money and Social Change (Fall 2014)
Have you ever felt like you could make real social change happen if you just had enough money to give? Leveraging funds for social and environmental good, it turns out, is far more complex than throwing money at problems. In a unique course being taught this fall by Criterion Institute president Joy Anderson, students will learn…