2011 Rappaport Fellows

Environmental budget cuts: Passing the financial burden to future generations

By Mathew Todaro.  On July 11, 2011, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the 2012 state budget.  Included in the budget were significant cuts to environmental programs; so what, you may ask, is the big deal?  By making such cuts, policy makers succumbed to the temptation of a short-term solution—one that ultimately will cost Massachusetts tax-payers dramatically more in the long-run.

As lawmakers strip short-term funding, they run the risk that environmental agencies will become unable to uphold even the most rudimentary protections of public health and the environment.  If Massachusetts cannot sustain a healthy environment, health-related costs will rise, corporations will struggle to attract and retain a well-educated work force, farming and fishing industries will decline and the state’s $14 billion tourism industry will be jeopardized. Continue reading »

Adapting Massachusetts’ “housing first” policy for family homelessness

By David Linhart.   The administration of Governor Deval Patrick is midway into a five-year campaign to end homelessness in Massachusetts. On July 11, 2011, Patrick signed a law intended to move families into permanent housing quickly, rather than offering temporary shelter first. No one really knows what will help families who receive assistance to stay housed for the long haul, but encouraging supportive relationships with other assisted families is certainly a step in the right direction. Continue reading »

Do we need criminal penalties for false claims of military honors?

By Brett Walker.  Earlier this year, the Stolen Valor Act, which criminalized the false claim of military honors, was ruled unenforceable by a federal court of appeals in the case of U.S. v Alvarez. The decision was intended to preserve the right to free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution, as reprehensible and vile as that speech might be. It was a fair and fitting decision, taking into account the U.S. military’s charge of defending the Constitution, but the manner in which the ruling was penned invited future attempts at similar legislation: an invitation as enticing as it is repugnant to our national values and cultural character. Continue reading »

Removing barriers to college education for disabled veterans

By Felicia Cote.  Veterans returning home with disabilities from the wars in Iraqi and Afghanistan often face long delays in getting the educational services their country promised them. There are several reasons for this: backlogs in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paperwork, discrepancies in defining the term “disabled,” and lack of advocacy for veterans.  Campus disability service offices must remove these barriers.