NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.     

CSUSB professor writes on ‘The Real Dividing Line on Abortion’
FiveThirtyEight
May 20, 2022

Meredith Conroy, CSUSB associate professor of political science, co-wrote an article on the complex debate over abortion, titled, “The Real Dividing Line on Abortion.” Conroy and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux wrote, in part, “The dividing lines of the abortion debate aren’t just about the morality of terminating a pregnancy. They’re also about views of power. Who has it? Who doesn’t? And who should? And the influence of those beliefs isn’t limited to abortion — it also spills into other culture wars, particularly about whether men face discrimination.

“Whenever abortion is in the news, a lot of discussion inevitably hinges on how women will respond. Losing access to safe, legal abortion will mean that more women carry unwanted pregnancies. The issue itself is often framed in terms of women’s rights and autonomy. The problem is that not all women think about abortion that way. According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, men and women in the U.S. have exceedingly similar views about abortion’s legality.”

Read the complete article at “The Real Dividing Line on Abortion.”

CSUSB professor helps fact-check news commentator’s statements on ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory
PolitiFact (The Poynter Institute)
May 19, 2022

Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was one of the sources PolitiFact turned to when fact-checking Fox commentator Tucker Carlson after he claimed ignorance of the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory.

"Mr. Carlson is the highest transmitter of the very ‘replacement theory’ bigotry he feigns not knowing," said Levin.

The version of the "great replacement theory" on Carlson’s show has not been as extreme as the more vile and violent forms that exist on fringe forums like 4chan, PolitiFact reported. The Fox News host has repeatedly denounced violence, and there has been no sign the Buffalo shooter who killed 10 people, and allegedly used the conspiracy theory as one of his justifications for the shooting, watched his show. But he has repeatedly used the idea in many of his commentaries.

Read the complete article at “Tucker Carlson feigned ignorance over ‘great replacement theory,’ despite talking about it often.”

Hate incidents motivated by strong political or nationalist sentiments are rare, CSUSB professor says
NBC News
May 19, 2022

Despite an increase in hate and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, attacks within the AAPI community are rare — making it all the more startling that a Southern California mass shooting on May 15 at a Taiwanese church was allegedly carried out by a Taiwanese American gunman. The incident points to hate crimes that are politically motivated or inspired by strong nationalist sentiment.

While FBI hate crime data shows Asian-on-Asian hate incidents represent an infinitesimal percentage of such incidents, “one of the things that we know about nationality-based hate crimes is when things get hot elsewhere, they get hot here” in the U.S., said Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “We do see these [cases], but not a lot,” he says.

Read the complete article at “Calif. church shooting raises questions on nationality-based potential hate crime.”

CSUSB professor comments on diary sent to newspaper by suspect in Orange County church shooting
KCBS Radio San Francisco
May 20, 2022

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was interviewed for a segment about the Orange County church shooting on May 15 that authorities are investigating as a politically motivated hate crime. One person died in the shooting.

The suspect, who authorities said expressed strong sentiment about Taiwan being part of China rather than an independent nation, had mailed a diary to a Chinese-language newspaper outlining his reasons for attacking the church, whose members are Taiwanese. Levin said it was no surprise that the diary was sent. Perpetrators of such acts “not only want to commit the act of violence, but also air their grievances in some way.” It’s a tactic commonly associated with far-right extremists, he said.

Listen to the segment at “03:41 KCBS-AM (Radio).”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”