The DC Sociological Society has signed on in support of two recent statements supporting academic freedom in the face of ongoing attacks against education and science by the current Trump Administration.

The first, organized by the American Sociological Association, is an “Open Letter in Support of Academia: How Sociology Benefits Universities and Society.” The 14 organizational signatories “stand firmly in opposition to recent federal policy that seeks to stifle universities and academic inquiry.” The letter states further that “[t]hese attempts to silence and discredit [social institutions] do a massive disservice to society at large that will have far-reaching, adverse impacts.” It concludes by calling on “university leaders to resist efforts to stifle scientific discovery and to challenge the attempts to silence academics working in universities and other settings. We call on universities to support sociology departments, students, and faculty and reject efforts to restrict the teaching of sociology at their institutions. Now more than ever, it is critical that leaders—at universities, in private industry, and in the public sector—state plainly that academia benefits society and that sociology is an essential way that it does so.”

The “Declaration To Defend Research Against U.S. Government Censorship,” which has been signed by more than 4,400 individuals and organizations as of this date, is a call for “members of the worldwide scholarly communication community … to publicly condemn and resist the censorship of academic research.” The Declaration argues that “[s]cholarly/scientific research generates globally shared knowledge that serves humanity. The integrity and advancement of this knowledge requires that scholars can freely conduct, collaborate on, and share their research, and are freely able to examine and discuss the work of their peers. Government censorship and restrictions on terminology, research topics, or methods fundamentally compromise these scholarly endeavors and their integrity.”

Signatories to the Declaration commit to at least one of four recommended actions: “(1) Support instances of resistance to U.S. government censorship. (2) Promote venues for scholars to share, safeguard, and preserve their work, beyond the reach of censorship. (3) Participate in efforts to track and record instances of U.S. government censorship. (4) Share this Declaration broadly and encourage individuals and organizations in your communities to sign and support it.”

In addition to these two statements, our page on “Resources for Tracking Trump Administration Actions” includes numerous statements responding to specific prior actions, and has been reorganized to include a new section on “Statements and Calls for Collective Action.”

[Update, Apr. 11] A group of faculty members at universities on the March 10 list have issued a call to action, "We Must Leverage the Strength of Our Institutions and Stand Together." (New URL) It states in part, "These measures are not principally about protecting students and combating discrimination; they are about political control. ... the federal government is using the language of civil rights enforcement as a cover for authoritarian overreach and encroachment, dictating what can be said, studied, and debated in our institutions. These measures represent a direct assault on the mission of the university as a space for independent thought, free speech, and democratic engagement. ... We ask all sixty institutions under government threat to unite in a coordinated, proactive defense." More than 4,500 faculty members at these 60 institutions and others have signed the call to action, which remains open for signature as of this date.

[Original, Mar. 15] The US Department of Education announced March 10 that it "sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus...." (See also the report from Inside Higher Ed on March 11.)

The list includes American University, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Virginia.

At the same time, the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University released an action-resource guide: Student Speech, Education Policy, and College Campuses Today. (PDF) "This guide provides an accessible introduction to historical and ongoing policy debates on students’ freedom of expression around Palestine, Gaza, Israel, and anti-Zionism. It is intended to inform and empower students, faculty, administrators, and free speech advocates working in this area."

Johns Hopkins University also "is planning for staff layoffs after the Trump administration canceled $800 million in U.S. Agency for International Development grants...."

See additional news and resources related to the actions of the Trump Administration on our "Resources" page.

Dr. Nicol Turner Lee is the recipient of the 2025 Morris Rosenberg Award for Outstanding Sociological Achievement from the DC Sociological Society.

Sociology has had limited engagement with structural studies of media and technology, although this has shifted in recent years. By contrast, Dr. Turner Lee has focused on these subfields for many years through her applied work. In her most recent roles, she has amplified sociological perspectives regarding inequality and social justice within technology policy circles, and she often speaks publicly on these topics in a clear and approachable manner.

In 2024, Dr. Turner Lee published Digitally Invisible: How the Internet Is Creating the New Underclass. The book offers a robust view of the digital inequities experienced by multiple communities in the United States. It engages with the sociological imagination and the always present tension of structure and agency. For example, although she calls out the ways that the digitally invisible are “trapped by their demography, geography, and circumstance,” Dr. Turner Lee centers efforts led by local mobilizers to balance policy debates with local community needs in addressing digital inequity — “[people] who are steadfast within their institutions and communities even when everything else is shuttering around them…”

Nicol Turner Lee is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, the director of the Center for Technology Innovation, and serves as co-editor-in-chief of the TechTank blog and the TechTank Podcast. She graduated from Colgate University magna cum laude and has an M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University.

DCSS will present Dr. Turner Lee with the Rosenberg Award at the 2025 awards celebration on April 30. We encourage all DCSS members and supporters to attend!

The DC Sociological Society honors Mosaic Theater Company with the 2025 Anna Julia Cooper Award for Public Sociology by a Community Organization.

Founded in December 2014, Mosaic Theater Company’s first leadership team (Ari Roth from Theater J, Serge Seiden from The Studio Theater, and Jennifer L. Nelson from the African Continuum Theatre Company) began building a mission-driven theater focused on intercultural narratives, social justice issues and civic discourse. In 2016, Mosaic became a resident partner at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, an H Street NE venue on a corridor connecting “East of the River” neighborhoods and Maryland counties to downtown DC. In 2021, as Mosaic welcomed audiences back to the theater, DC-based director, producer and new play advocate, Reginald Douglas, was appointed Mosaic’s Artistic Director.

Mosaic asserts a mission to “produce bold, culturally diverse theater that illuminates critical issues, elevates fresh voices, and sparks connection among communities throughout our region and beyond.” The company articulates values grounded in the pursuit of shared goals and recognition of shared humanity in the process of inquiry into social issues, and engages this sociology-informed process in making art against oppressive systems—art infused by the different backgrounds and experiences among artists and audiences in a space that honors marginalized voices.

Two recent productions (among many possibilities) illustrate Mosaic’s movement toward sociological understanding of and challenges to systemic oppression: The Till Trilogy has at its core the racist violence that has long been inflicted on Black bodies. cullud wattah illuminates the structural embeddedness of racist violence.

In fall 2022, The Till Trilogy (by Ifa Bayeza and directed by Talvin Wilks) contemplated the life, death, and legacy of Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 remains a pivotal moment in American history. Three plays (The Ballad of Emmett Till, Benevolence, and That Summer in Sumner) present ten actors performing in rotating repertory. With music, poetry, and sociological imagination, the trilogy portrays the ongoing fight for racial justice and offers audiences of all ages an opportunity for collective reckoning.

The current production cullud wattah (by Erika Dickerson-Despenza and directed by Danielle A. Drakes) centers the Flint water crisis. Set in 2016, it has been 936 days since Flint, Michigan, has had clean water. Third-generation General Motors employee Marion is on the verge of a promotion when her sister begins participating in social protests accusing the company of poisoning the water. The situation pushes the tight-knit family to confront their past and weigh their options for the future.

DCSS is pleased to honor Mosaic Theater Company with the 2025 Cooper Award acknowledging the company’s mission and values; the crucial social problems they seek to confront by deepening their sociological understanding of systemic oppression through engagement with social movement analysis; and their compelling productions coupled with sociology-informed programs of public engagement. Artistic Director Reginald Douglas will accept the award at the 2025 awards celebration on April 30. We encourage all DCSS members and supporters to attend!

From RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

"Inequality in America: Beliefs, Attitudes, and Actions"

Societal inequality refers to the unequal distribution of economic resources, political power, social identities, and legal status. A widely shared value holds that inequality is undesirable, yet researchers continue to debate exactly how inequality-related beliefs are affected by inequalities of various kinds, as well as by changes in inequality across space and time. An important area of research also considers how inequality itself partially reflects what people believe about social groups, the economy, and political institutions, and how they process cognate information. The connection between inequality and behavioral outcomes therefore often depends on people's beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, values, motivations, emotions, and other measurable mental processes. In short, there are fundamental and multi-faceted relationships between inequality and psychology.

In this issue, we invite original research contributions pertaining to the relationships between societal inequalities and individuals' psychology in the United States. Proposals should include a clearly stated research question, details on data and some initial analysis, and a timeline that describes how and when the project will be completed by. While proposals should engage with some aspect of psychology, we welcome proposals from any and all social science disciplines.

Read the full call on the RSF website.

Prospective contributors should submit a CV and an abstract (up to two pages in length, single or double spaced) of their study along with up to two pages of supporting material (e.g., tables, figures, pictures, etc.) no later than 5 PM ET on June 4, 2025.

The Irene B. Taeuber Graduate Student Paper Awards competition is open to all graduate students enrolled in Virginia, Maryland, and District of Columbia colleges and universities. The winning authors each receive a $200 cash award and will be recognized at the annual DCSS award event.

The deadline to submit graduate student papers for consideration is March 31.

See complete details and a link to past award recipients on the Awards page.

Call for Papers for "The Demographic Transition: Policy Implications of Fertility and Aging Trends" conference in Vilnius, 23-24 May, 2025.

The conference is organized by the International Network for Social Policy Teaching and Research; the University of California Berkeley Center for Comparative Welfare State Research; the University of Maryland School of Public Policy; and the Social Policy Department at Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy.

See complete details and a link to submit an abstract in this PDF

The District of Columbia Office of Revenue Analysis in the Office of Chief Financial Officer publishes monthly Economic and Revenue Trends reports. The reports "help track DC and national economic indicators that have a bearing on the tax base of the District of Columbia. [They] include analysis of revenues and of economic forecasts for the current and upcoming fiscal years. Each month, a brief note is included which takes a special look at one or more topics of current interest." The January 2025 report includes data on housing, employment, wages and income, and population.

From Democracy Forward:

"The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), AFT-MD, and the American Sociological Association have filed a lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s “Dear Colleague Letter,” which is a new policy that threatens to withhold federal funding for any education institutions that do not comply by February 28 with its unprecedented weaponization and undermining of civil rights laws. In addition to withholding funds, the letter also threatens educators and schools with potential investigations and prosecutions.

"The suit, filed in federal court in Maryland, is brought by the AFT, AFT-MD, and the American Sociological Association. The complaint challenges a “Dear Colleague Letter” published by the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on February 14, 2025, which threatened that federal funding would be withheld from education institutions that teach accurate history and lessons about slavery, diversity and inclusion, among other efforts. The complaint argues that the “Dear Colleague Letter” will do a disservice to students and ultimately the nation by weakening schools as portals to opportunity and incubators for creative, innovative, and critical thinking."

See the press release and full complaint on the Democracy Forward website.

See additional context on the "Dear Colleague" letter on our "Resources for Tracking Trump Administration Actions" page

The Social Science Research Council announces:

"The Policy Impacts team at MIT has developed a standardized metric, the Marginal Value of Public Funds (MVPF), that reports the net social benefit produced by each additional dollar of public funds spent on a given policy. Yet we currently lack MVPF estimates for many policy alternatives, including most criminal justice policies.

"The Policy ROI Project, made possible by the support of Arnold Ventures, aims to close this knowledge gap for criminal justice policies. The Policy ROI Project will produce MVPF estimates of the net social returns to alternative criminal justice investments, including summer youth employment and cognitive behavioral therapy programs. The project team will work closely with practitioners to ensure that these estimates help policymakers make better informed decisions about how to achieve more public safety with fewer taxpayer dollars."

See also a related postdoctoral fellowship.