L&C in the Media

When the good folks at OPB, Portland’s NPR station, began wondering about the impact of AI on college students, they invited Lewis & Clark seniors Evelyn Gore (double majoring in the Theater and Biochemistry/Molecular Biology), Fiona Eilers (majoring in Political Science), and Elie Al Khoury ( majoring Biochemistry/Molecular Biology), along with L&C Professor Sarah Warren, on air to reflect on why the education L&C students get is more relevant and powerful than ever.

Travel writer Latria Graham journeyed nearly 5,000 miles over 50 days along the route taken by the Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery. One highlight was stopping in Portland to see York: Terra Incognita, a sculpture created by renowned American artist Alison Saar, a centerpiece of Lewis & Clark’s undergraduate campus in Portland.

Lewis & Clark professor Kyle Lascurettes explains how democratic backsliding and authoritarian resilience are impacting the United Nations and other international institutions.

People convicted of crimes are expected to serve out their sentences. But increasingly, people are facing deportation after they’ve served those sentences, even if they are lawful permanent residents. As Lewis & Clark Professor Juliet Stumpf, whose research centers on what she terms as ‘crimmigration,’ explains, this adds an additional and severe layer of penalty, one to which lawful permanent residents are the most vulnerable.

Marta Escalante Perez, an Oregon mother of two, was illegally seized by DHS agents during an infamous mass detention of agricultural workers. Lewis & Clark Law School students learned how to file habeas corpus petitions for people who have been wrongfully detained by the federal government, in a course taught by L&C Law alumnus Stephen Manning, JD ’01. When a judge reviewed the petition they drafted and filed on Escalante Perez’s behalf, she was ordered released, returning her to her family and her community.

Mississippi has the highest incarceration rate in the country – and one of the highest in the world, locking up a larger percentage of its population than any independent democratic country on earth. Often people incarcerated in the state are forced to serve far longer sentences than they should. “Parole isn’t a bonus or ‘early’ release. It is part of a person’s sentence, carried out under state supervision,” explains Lewis & Clark Professor Reiko Hillyer. “Yet in Mississippi, parole increasingly functions as extended punishment.” 

A $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation will support co-creation of courses, programs, and creative work by residents of Albina (Portland’s historically Black neighborhood) and Lewis & Clark faculty and students, to address racial justice, environmental justice, and cultural preservation. “One of the most courageous things that anyone can do is commit to learning with other people, because it requires building trust,” notes Winta Yohannes, the executive director of Albina Vision Trust. “The real opportunity is that the history, the storytelling, and the culture of the Albina district will be used to make sense of where we are today and where we want to go together.”

Ancient and resilient, moss are flowerless, non-vascular plants that have survived for more than 450 million years, through different climactic conditions. Studying and celebrating these tiny habits brings “joy and discovery and awe and wonder,” explains Lewis & Clark Professor Margaret Metz, as we look closely to learn more about how ecosystems can flourish.