News Archive 2020

		The Necessity of Pivoting: Interviews in the Future of Our Field As a soon-to-be graduate with an MFA in costume design, I thought I would be riding high this year—hustling and making moves to launch myself into a decades-long lucrative career in design. Lofty, yes, but that’s truly how I felt things were going to go—I had been kicking butt. It all came to a screeching halt in the short span of four days in the middle of March. All at once my prospects were cancelled. My summer plans were gone, and my upcoming production was eliminated the same day I was let go from my assistant job at a regional theatre. I found myself at a bar on a Friday evening trying not to cry while Celine Dion blasted over the speakers. FORMER PUBLIC SERVICE FELLOW JANICE RABIAN \| HOWLROUND THEATRE COMMONS \| 11/16/2020
		Politicians have flouted COVID-19 rules they imposed. The hypocrisy has made it harder to enforce them. To the public’s chagrin, some of America’s political leaders have been caught preaching one thing on the coronavirus and practicing another. Sure, politicians have long been called out for hypocrisy. But during a pandemic that’s forced millions into seclusion and left many without paychecks, such actions can feel like a personal insult — reinforcing the idea “that some people just don’t have to follow the rules while the rest of us do,” says Rita Kirk, a professor of communications at Southern Methodist University. DR. RITA KIRK IN USA TODAY \| 12/16/2020
		Why Ethics Education is Vital Today In educational institutions today, students must grapple with real life-and-death decisions, writes Rita Kirk. DR. RITA KIRK \| INSIDE HIGHER ED \| 10/28/2020
		Students Set Direction for SMU Ethics Center Social distancing and self-isolation, “requires discipline, mental toughness, and courage; not traits I particularly associated with myself.” This was an early realization shared by Southern Methodist University junior Rylee Bailey in her March, 2020 pandemic blog. Bailey, a student staff member at SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics & Public Responsibility, began writing and sharing the blog on social media when the campus shutdown. DR. RITA KIRK, CANDY CRESPO, AND RYLEE BAILEY FEATURED IN THE NATIONAL ETHICS PROJECT'S OCTOBER SPOTLIGHT \| 10/10/20
		Rylee Bailey and the Ethics of Politics in 2020 In this episode, Rylee Bailey joins the conversation to talk about politics in the frame of ethics and her experiences as a college student at SMU during her first-ever Presidential Election. RYLEE BAILEY ON THE POLITICAL PRINCIPLE PODCAST \| 10/2020
		In Kenosha, Biden Tries to thread the needle on protests and violence Former Vice President Joe Biden took a strong stance this week against protest-related violence in cities from Portland, Oregon, to Kenosha, Wisconsin – where he paid a visit Thursday, two days after President Donald Trump came to survey the damage and express his support for law enforcement. DR. RITA KIRK FEATURED IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR \| 9/3/2020
		New Poll Shows More Texans Disapprove of President Trump's Handling of Pandemic President Donald Trump is making changes in how he’s handling coronavirus publicly amid declining polls nationally and in Texas. DR. RITA KIRK ON CBS 11\| 7/24/2020

		The Necessity of Pivoting: Interviews in the Future of Our Field As a soon-to-be graduate with an MFA in costume design, I thought I would be riding high this year—hustling and making moves to launch myself into a decades-long lucrative career in design. Lofty, yes, but that’s truly how I felt things were going to go—I had been kicking butt. It all came to a screeching halt in the short span of four days in the middle of March. All at once my prospects were cancelled. My summer plans were gone, and my upcoming production was eliminated the same day I was let go from my assistant job at a regional theatre. I found myself at a bar on a Friday evening trying not to cry while Celine Dion blasted over the speakers. FORMER PUBLIC SERVICE FELLOW JANICE RABIAN \| HOWLROUND THEATRE COMMONS \| 11/16/2020
		Politicians have flouted COVID-19 rules they imposed. The hypocrisy has made it harder to enforce them. To the public’s chagrin, some of America’s political leaders have been caught preaching one thing on the coronavirus and practicing another. Sure, politicians have long been called out for hypocrisy. But during a pandemic that’s forced millions into seclusion and left many without paychecks, such actions can feel like a personal insult — reinforcing the idea “that some people just don’t have to follow the rules while the rest of us do,” says Rita Kirk, a professor of communications at Southern Methodist University. DR. RITA KIRK IN USA TODAY \| 12/16/2020
		Why Ethics Education is Vital Today In educational institutions today, students must grapple with real life-and-death decisions, writes Rita Kirk. DR. RITA KIRK \| INSIDE HIGHER ED \| 10/28/2020
		Students Set Direction for SMU Ethics Center Social distancing and self-isolation, “requires discipline, mental toughness, and courage; not traits I particularly associated with myself.” This was an early realization shared by Southern Methodist University junior Rylee Bailey in her March, 2020 pandemic blog. Bailey, a student staff member at SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics & Public Responsibility, began writing and sharing the blog on social media when the campus shutdown. DR. RITA KIRK, CANDY CRESPO, AND RYLEE BAILEY FEATURED IN THE NATIONAL ETHICS PROJECT'S OCTOBER SPOTLIGHT \| 10/10/20
		Rylee Bailey and the Ethics of Politics in 2020 In this episode, Rylee Bailey joins the conversation to talk about politics in the frame of ethics and her experiences as a college student at SMU during her first-ever Presidential Election. RYLEE BAILEY ON THE POLITICAL PRINCIPLE PODCAST \| 10/2020
		In Kenosha, Biden Tries to thread the needle on protests and violence Former Vice President Joe Biden took a strong stance this week against protest-related violence in cities from Portland, Oregon, to Kenosha, Wisconsin – where he paid a visit Thursday, two days after President Donald Trump came to survey the damage and express his support for law enforcement. DR. RITA KIRK FEATURED IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR \| 9/3/2020
		New Poll Shows More Texans Disapprove of President Trump's Handling of Pandemic President Donald Trump is making changes in how he’s handling coronavirus publicly amid declining polls nationally and in Texas. DR. RITA KIRK ON CBS 11\| 7/24/2020