main content L&C in the Media
The voices of Lewis & Clark community members regularly appear in the national, regional, and local news media. Check out these noteworthy stories.
The Administrative Procedure Act may sound innocuous or uninteresting. But as Lewis & Clark Professor Emeritus William Funk, co-author of multiple administrative law casebooks, explains, efforts by the current federal administration to weaken the act may endanger the jobs of 50,000 public servants.
Lewis & Clark is one of more than 200 colleges and universities joining in a unified response to the barrage of federal policy changes that might impede teaching and research. Noting the value that educational institutions like L&C bring to Portland, to Oregon, and to the nation, President Robin Holmes-Sullivan observed, “As a collaborative leader, I know it is especially important that institutions join together as we work to ensure we can continue to serve students and communities.”
Lewis & Clark Professor Elliott Young explains that the Tren de Aragua gang may be criminal, it is not a terrorist organization. Intentionally blurring the line between terrorism and any criminal behavior creates confusion and sows a culture of fear, with chilling effects for democratic rights.
The Albina Vision Trust, a groundbreaking nonprofit, is partnering with Lewis & Clark and with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers to revitalize the 94-acre neighborhood that was the historic hub of Portland’s Black community. L&C will collaborate to infuse education and economic empowerment throughout the Albina neighborhood.
Is a college degree worth it? That’s what students and families experiencing “sticker shock” (a term originally applied to shopping for cars) over the potential cost of a college education might wonder. But, as Lewis & Clark President Robin Holmes-Sullivan explains, comparing earning a college degree to purchasing a car reveals the real cost, and the real value, of pursuing higher education.
Most states rely on taxes on gasoline to fund roads, bridges, and other infrastructure for motor vehicles, which is resulting in a funding crisis with increased use of electric vehicles. “We want to address fuel use and drive down reliance on gases and internal combustion engines,” notes Carra Sahler, director of Lewis & Clark’s Green Energy Institute. “But we need the funds to operate our roads that EVs need to use as well.”
How do presidential executive orders penalizing three law firms that represented the president’s political opponents threaten the constitutional structure of the U.S. government? Lewis & Clark Law School Dean Emeritus James Huffington explains the recent findings of a U.S. district judge, analyzing how the executive orders appear to involve actions “explicitly prohibited by the Constitution.”
Members of the public may be finding it hard to track all the policies and orders being issued by the new federal administration, and to understand what the implications will be. In this interview, L&C Professor Ben Gaskins explains some of the key actions to date, and gives an outlook for the months ahead.