The Structural Inadequacy of Public Schools for Stigmatized Minorities: The Need for Institutional Remedies

This Article challenges the failure of courts and advocates considering remedies in school cases to assess whether public schools, as currently constituted, are institutionally aligned with stigmatized minorities\u27 particular educational needs. Numerous legal scholars have written about the longstanding failure of public schools to effectively educate racial minorities, but they have overlooked the relationship of public schools\u27 institutional context to the educational consequences of racial stigma. This Article does so, claiming, first, that stigma attacks the capacities enabling effective education, and that educational services therefore must specifically account for stigma\u27s noxious effects on racial minorities\u27 educability. Stigma, I contend, uniquely impedes minorities\u27 education both collectively and individually. As a group, the challenge posed by stigma necessarily affects only the stigmatized; and individually, children have different levels of access to resources contradicting stigma and also cope variably with stigma. To address these consequences, schools need the flexibility to respond not only to the unique class-wide harms engendered by stigma but also its particular manifestations in individual children. Despite this need for flexibility, traditional public schools are highly bureaucratic and rule-bound, preempting the flexibility stigmatized minorities require. This disposition toward uniformity, in addition, is not coincidental but is central to political accountability, especially in urban districts disproportionately serving racial minorities. Moreover, because stigmatized minorities are minorities, relatively poor, and stigmatized, they cannot politically achieve bureaucratic rules consistently responsive to their educational needs

BOYS IN A BOX: A MIXED METHODS STUDY EXAMINING THE MASCULINITY OF BOYS IN A PRIVATE SCHOOL

My name is Shavar Bernier, and the title of my thesis is Boys in a box: mixed methods study examining boys\u27 masculinity in a private boarding school. I wrote the paper with guidance from my advisors and readers at Dartmouth, Mary Turco, Andrew Garrod, and Douglas Moody. This mixed-methods study examined masculinity and how it was displayed at a private boarding school in Watertown, Connecticut. The purpose of the study was to use the experiences of students and teaching faculty to understand how masculinity was evident on Taft’s campus. The study participants consisted of 15 former students and forty-five teaching faculty, both past and present. Two primary research tools were used in this study. The first was a 21-question, semi-structured audio interview with the student volunteers. The second was a seven-question electronic survey completed by 45 faculty members. The student interviews focused on each student’s unique experience at Taft. The primary purpose of the interview was to have male-identifying students discuss masculinity at Taft and how they believe masculinity is displayed on campus. During the interview, each student reflected on societal pressures and norms that could impact their behavior at Taft. The faculty survey focused on the classroom experience for all students but explicitly gathered insights about the education of male-identifying students concerning masculinity(ies). The student interview findings showed that there exists a toxic form of masculinity on campus and that it is ingrained in mainstream culture. Furthermore, the students are interested in learning more about masculinity as they believe education would encourage a healthy and positive expression of masculinity within school culture. From the faculty perspective, the findings show that many teachers have experienced and witnessed displays of toxic masculinity in the classroom, the dorms, and other areas of campus. While this faculty sentiment was not unanimous, most agreed that negative expressions of masculinity cause harm to the larger community. Faculty do not formally educate students on masculinity through curriculum or workshops, despite many believing it would benefit the entire community

Identification of a Thymic Epithelial Cell Subset Sharing Expression of the Class Ib HLA-G Molecule with Fetal Trophoblasts

HLA-G is the only class I determinant of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expressed by the trophoblasts, the fetal cells invading the maternal decidua during pregnancy. A unique feature of this nonclassical HLA molecule is its low polymorphism, a property that has been postulated to play an important role in preventing local activation of maternal alloreactive T and natural killer cells against the fetus. Yet, the mechanisms by which fetal HLA-G can be recognized as a self-MHC molecule by the maternal immune system remain unclear. Here we report the novel observation that HLA-G is expressed in the human thymus. Expression is targeted to the cell surface of thymic medullary and subcapsular epithelium. Thymic epithelial cell lines were generated and shown to express three alternatively spliced HLA-G transcripts, previously identified in human trophoblasts. Sequencing of HLA-G1 transcripts revealed a few nucleotide changes resulting in amino acid substitutions, all clustered within exon 3 of HLA-G, encoding for the α2 domain of the molecule. Our findings raise the possibility that maternal unresponsiveness to HLA-G–expressing fetal tissues may be shaped in the thymus by a previously unrecognized central presentation of this MHC molecule on the medullary epithelium

Searches for Ultra-High-Energy Photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, which is the largest air-shower experiment in the world, offers unprecedented exposure to neutral particles at the highest energies. Since the start of data collection more than 18 years ago, various searches for ultra-high-energy (UHE, E greater than or similar to 10^(17) eV) photons have been performed, either for a diffuse flux of UHE photons, for point sources of UHE photons or for UHE photons associated with transient events such as gravitational wave events. In the present paper, we summarize these searches and review the current results obtained using the wealth of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory

Search for photons above 10 19 eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

We use the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to search for air showers initiated by photons with an energy above 10$^{19}$ eV. Photons in the zenith angle range from 30∘ to 60∘ can be identified in the overwhelming background of showers initiated by charged cosmic rays through the broader time structure of the signals induced in the water-Cherenkov detectors of the array and the steeper lateral distribution of shower particles reaching ground. Applying the search method to data collected between January 2004 and June 2020, upper limits at 95% CL are set to an E$^{-2}$ diffuse flux of ultra-high energy photons above 10$^{19}$ eV, 2 × 10$^{19}$ eV and 4 × 10$^{19}$ eV amounting to 2.11 × 10$^{-3}$, 3.12 × 10$^{-4}$ and 1.72 × 10$^{-4}$ km$^{-2}$ sr$^{-1}$ yr$^{-1}$, respectively. While the sensitivity of the present search around 2 × 10$^{19}$ eV approaches expectations of cosmogenic photon fluxes in the case of a pure-proton composition, it is one order of magnitude above those from more realistic mixed-composition models. The inferred limits have also implications for the search of super-heavy dark matter that are discussed and illustrated

Searches for Ultra-High-Energy Photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, being the largest air-shower experiment in the world, offers an unprecedented exposure to neutral particles at the highest energies. Since the start of data taking more than 18 years ago, various searches for ultra-high-energy (UHE, $E\gtrsim10^{17}\,\text{eV}$) photons have been performed: either for a diffuse flux of UHE photons, for point sources of UHE photons or for UHE photons associated with transient events like gravitational wave events. In the present paper, we summarize these searches and review the current results obtained using the wealth of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Review article accepted for publication in Universe (special issue on ultra-high energy photons

A Catalog of the Highest-energy Cosmic Rays Recorded during Phase I of Operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory

A catalog containing details of the highest-energy cosmic rays recorded through the detection of extensive air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory is presented with the aim of opening the data to detailed examination. Descriptions of the 100 showers created by the highest-energy particles recorded between 2004 January 1 and 2020 December 31 are given for cosmic rays that have energies in the range 78–166 EeV. Details are also given on a further nine very energetic events that have been used in the calibration procedure adopted to determine the energy of each primary. A sky plot of the arrival directions of the most energetic particles is shown. No interpretations of the data are offered