L&C in the Media

Most people dread paying taxes. But according to Sarah Lora, director of Lewis & Clark’s low-income-taxpayer clinic, the undocumented immigrants she has assisted with returns display “almost a reverence for the tax system.” Complying with tax law can help in immigration cases, as undocumented taxpayers defend against deportation and seek paths to citizenship.

Physicians and nurses at one of Oregon’s largest healthcare systems are on strike. Carolyn Zook, associate director of Lewis & Clark’s Center for Community and Global Health, explains the long-simmering issues at stake, and what the impact is for patient care.

Nearly 12% of current Lewis & Clark undergraduates may be impacted by the fires in Southern California. OPB reports on how L&C staff in Student Life, Admissions, and Financial Aid are supporting students and their families, now and for the semester to come.

With 5,000 physicians and nurses employed by one of Oregon’s largest healthcare networks set to strike, Oregonians are wondering what the impacts will be. Lewis & Clark Professor Keith Cunningham-Parmeter offers insights into the labor negotiations, and Dr. Carolyn Zook, associate director of L&C’s Center for Community and Global Health, provides tips for patients whose access to care might be affected.

Lewis & Clark’s Great Expectations Mentorship (GEM) is a national model in student well being and success. This peer-led program supports first-year students of color with an initial off-campus retreat followed by weekly gatherings that include mentoring, workshop, and social events throughout the academic year.

In the last decade, high school students have experienced a 40% increase in mental, emotional, developmental, and behavioral disorders – just as a national shortage of school psychologists means many young people have no access to mental health care. Lewis & Clark Professors Elena Diamond and Jennifer Twyford explain how L&C is using $1.1 million from the US Dept. of Education to train school psychologists to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse students in rural Oregon.

When The New York Times wanted to understand how Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia and the 10th wealthiest person in the US, is avoiding paying billions of dollars in taxes, they turned to L&C Professor Jack Bogdanski. “You have an army of well-trained, brilliant people who sit there all day long, charging $1,000 an hour, thinking up ways to beat this tax,” Bogdanski explained, citing how the wealthiest Americans have the resources to find and exploit loopholes in estate and tax law.

Inflation. Housing. Taxes. Tariffs. American voters overwhelmingly cite factors like these to explain how they voted in the November 2024 elections. But, argues Professor Aine Seitz McCarthy, those voters need to take Econ 101, so they can understand whether a politician’s campaign promises will actually improve the economic well being of middle-class and working-class Americans.