Student Research

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Blessed are the Peacemakers? : Christianity's Perpetuation of Violence against Women of Color
(2020-12-01) Brokaw, Olivia; Hoover, Heather
Violence against women of color takes many forms. These forms include domestic violence, racialized violence, and institution-initiated violence. While Christianity may not be a direct cause of violence against women, it nevertheless perpetuates this violence. This paper attempts to trace Christianity’s perpetuation of violence, which is often traced to theological and cultural perversions of the Bible’s messages of peace, love, and forgiveness. This paper also addresses current examples and facts regarding violence against women of color, along with systemic injustices prevalent within modern society. Finally, the paper proposes actions to mitigate and abolish violence against women of color. These actions include improving theological viewpoints on women and improving dialogue within the Christian church on issues of race and violence.
Engineering a Brighter Future: Increasing the Representation of Women of Color in Engineering
(2020-12-01) Scheffer, Rachel; Hoover, Heather
The engineering field is predominantly composed of white males, with little representation of women or people of color. Women of color are represented even less in the engineering field due to their intersectional identities combining both gender and race. Overall, minority women do not conform to the traditional engineering student or the ideal worker norm, causing challenges for these engineers. The structure of engineering education prevents women of color from receiving the same opportunities as men, women, and men of color because of social pain, stereotypes, and discrimination. Also, the engineering workplace is not welcoming to women of color because of social isolation, implicit bias, and institutional housekeeping. This project will take a closer look at the existing research as well as perform some research of its own through interviews and journal investigations. This project will suggest practical ways for university heads and workplace managers to allow and encourage women of color to pursue a career in engineering. This will include social support networks, diversity workshops, implicit bias training, and equal workload distribution. Using these suggestions, women of color will face fewer challenges and have more representation in both engineering education and engineering careers. Engineering culture will be transformed to involve and welcome diversity and inclusion of women of color.
Milligan's Passivity During the Civil Rights Movement: Its Theological Roots and the Hopeful Movement Towards an Active Approach to Social Justice
(2020-12-01) Wood, Isaac; Edmondson, Todd
Throughout the history of racial injustice, there have been Christian institutions that have refused to side with racial justice. This should be a concern for any person wanting to live as Jesus called us to. During the Civil Rights era, the well known Evangelical movement was led by Billy Graham, who made great steps in the field of evangelizing but is not well known for speaking out against racial injustice. Amidst that broader Christian context was Milligan College, a Christian liberal arts institution of higher education founded upon the ideals of the Stone-Campbell movement. This paper describes Milligan's response to the Civil Rights Movement based upon articles from the school's newspaper, The Stampede. Articles from the late 1960s reveal an institution that decided to enact change on their campus, including integration. However, that resolution came fifteen years after the United States government had made that decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Milligan did not lead the charge for racial justice. From there, the paper will explore the aspects of the Stone-Campbell movement in which we might find the roots of Milligan's response during the Civil Rights era. Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell's responses to slavery during their time will be used to explore the relationship between social reform and the Christian Gospel according to their theologies, with Alexander Stone favoring unity over an outright renunciation of slavery and Barton Stone speaking and living against the institution. With an understanding of the movement's different approaches to slavery, the paper will then explore how Milligan and the Stone-Campbell Movement could move forward towards better participating in the redemptive work of healing racial injustices.
Pregnant and Afraid: Opioid-Using Expectant Mothers Facing Injustices in Rural Appalachia
(2020-11-12) Burns, Aliya; Walker Edin, Kayla
The United States Food and Drug Administration first approved several opioids—oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, etc.—for prescription use in the late 20th century. What started as simple, effective painkillers quickly led to a nationwide addiction epidemic, perhaps creating more problems than it solved. In the case of pregnant women, both mother and unborn child face the effects of addiction. The newborn often suffers from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, a condition frequently associated with motor-disabilities, upon birth. Many pregnant women in rural Appalachia face a myriad of additional problems including, but not limited to, finding available treatment providers, facing charges from the criminal justice system, and receiving care for underlying childhood traumatic experiences. Though the roots of this crisis require action on a national level, I address the injustices facing rural mothers already caught in the cycle of addiction and present solutions for diminishing them. To expand the accessibility and effectiveness of opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for expectant mothers residing in rural Appalachia and improve outcomes for both mother and newborn, rural primary care physicians should become DATA-waivered buprenorphine prescribers, politicians should avoid legislature that criminalizes the mother, and treatment facilities should integrate a trauma-informed care (TIC) environment.
Protecting Posterity: The Effect of Disability and Poverty on Children
(2020-12-01) Dines, Molly; Edmondson, Todd
This paper exposes the adverse effects that poverty and disability have on children in the many aspects of their lives. Among these aspects are home life, education, future prospects, and social life. In researching studies, reviewing articles, and conducting interviews with people in the field, I have found that the intersectionality between disability and poverty can produce much hardship in children’s lives. The effects of poverty and disability are intertwined and often the presence of one can bring the onset of the other. Having both of these hardships in ones’ life can lead to lack of education, social exclusion, difficult home life, poor health, and limited future prospects. This problem is one of great importance to disciplines that interact with children or deal with poverty and disability. Some ways to begin to diminish this problem are to change the way in which society views these problems. In changing the attitude of society toward these children, we allow them to have opportunities which they did not before. We can also do more research to figure out the relationship between disability and poverty and how it affects children. Additionally, the expansion of helpful programs would allow for more children to be reached and assisted. These interventions can aid in improving the lives of children.
The Racial Disproportionality of the Foster Care System
(2020-12-01) Alford, Hannah; Edmondson, Todd
Racial disproportionality has been a factor in the foster care system since 1950 when the American foster system began accepting children of color. Since then children of color have been significantly overrepresented. This disproportionality is primarily seen in African American children. In 2019 the total percentage of African American children in the United States was 14%, however the total percentage of African American children in the foster care system was 23%. No other ethnic group comes close to matching this amount of overrepresentation. This research will examine the primary causes and factors associated with this racial disproportionality. These causes include: the unconscious racial biases and prejudices that have been systematically embedded in the foster care system, systemic racism, the high rates of poverty and single-parent households among African American communities and the locality of these communities, and the effects of abuse, maltreatment, and racism in the removal of children from their homes. This research shows how each of these factors contributes to the overall problem of overrepresentation and it examines how the history of foster care contributed to this racial disproportionality.
Recidivism and Reintegration: Barriers Facing Ex-Offenders of Color in Employment
(2020) Quarton, Bethanie; Dove, Kristal
Studies have found that job placement is a great way to combat recidivism, but for many ex-offenders finding work can be difficult. Despite job training and placement programs, many ex-offenders are rejected by companies because of their criminal record. For ex-offenders of color, this problem is exacerbated by racial discrimination. One study found that companies responded more positively to white applicants with a drug felony than to black applicants with the same charge. The existing policies need to change to further protect ex-offenders and racial minorities. In this paper. I will examine models for legislation and work environments that will give ex-offenders an equal chance in the workplace. This will include current or potential legislation that could be passed, as well as incentives for businesses to hire ex-offenders. I will be investigating current hiring practices that exclude ex-offenders from the workplace and looking at how they can be reformed.
The Systemic Plague: Racism in the American Health Care System
(2020-12-01) Harvey, Tiara; Walker Edin, Kayla
While health care for Blacks in modern America has improved since colonial times, there are still underlying systemic problems of racism in our health care system. In this paper, I discuss how health care for Blacks in America since colonial times form the present health care system and how those very instances shape the quality of health care that Blacks receive in today’s American society. I argue that the quality of health care for men and women not only significantly varies between races, but also according to the location of the hospitals. Many deaths that Black men and women experience are preventable if proper care is taken to preserve their health. The morbidity disparities shown between White and Black women during childbirth, for example, are prevalent even in other aspects of health care, such as with the number of individuals dying from COVID-19 cases in “White” hospitals when compared to those in “Black” hospitals. Black men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 are more likely to die than White men and women between the ages 18 to 55, because of experiencing inadequate care in hospitals due to the systemic racism that has shaped the quality of health care that can be received by Blacks in America.

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Browsing Student Research by Subject "2020 Sophomore Research Conference"

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