Topol Summit brings together nonviolence scholars, practitioners and students
For the sixty scholars, practitioners, and students who gathered for the 2017 Topol Summit on Transforming the Research and Practice of Nonviolent Activism, the day was an opportunity to share ideas and inspiration across fields—and to strategize about how to use their individual perspectives and expertise to find new, creative approaches to conflict resolution.
Linda Tropp testified at a congressional briefing in Washington D.C. on November 5th. Co-sponsored by the Office of Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), NAACP, ACLU, and SAALT (South Asian Americans Leading Together), the briefing was on racial profiling and law enforcement. "Given the cues we regularly encounter and receive about different racial groups in our society, it is likely that most Americans in the United States would exhibit some degree of implicit bias favoring whites,” said Linda Tropp at this forum.
"Behavioral manifestations of anxiety such as less eye contact, shifting away, standing farther back, or maintaining great social distance may be due to racial anxiety, but in actuality, they might be interpreted by the perceiver or the person you're interacting with as racial hostility or rejection" said Linda Tropp in a recent interview regarding racial tensions and perceptions. This interview, "How do we improve dialogue about race relations", was conducted by Charlayne Hunter-Gault on the PBS Network on October 9th, 2015.
Ervin Staub says people react differently to stressful circumstances such as the recent disarming of a shooter on a French train by three American tourists. “Some people are calmer under certain circumstances,” he says. In a tense situation, some people react quickly and are willing to engage while others are slow to respond, while still others just watch, what he calls the bystander effect.
Now that the media and the country pay attention, after shocking instances, almost everyday there are more reports of police officers having used unnecessary force, needlessly harming people. Some of these reports are of new events, which I will discuss later. Others are about events a year or two ago that now receive attention.
Graduate student Daniel Chapman and advisor Brian Lickel's study on climate change and charitable giving was profiled in a Scientific American article.
The study suggests that charities looking for donations after a natural disaster may want to avoid linking the disaster to climate change.
For the sixty scholars, practitioners, and students who gathered for the 2017 Topol Summit on Transforming the Research and Practice of Nonviolent Activism, the day was an opportunity to share ideas and inspiration across fields—and to strategize about how to use their individual perspectives and expertise to find new, creative approaches to conflict resolution.