Today's Events | Persson Hall, 27 Auditorium- Ground Floor
Mar. 6th- 12-1pm in 27 Persson AuditoriumAnnie Ben (POSC)Assistant Professor in Political ScienceTitle: Participatory Unilateralism: Understanding Congress's Role in Presidential Unilateral PolicymakingDescription: Executive orders signed by the president receive significant media attention, and give the impression that presidents can "go it alone" to move policy according to their own preferences. Political science scholarship on the topic of executive orders has traditionally shared a similar perspective, investigating the president's use of such directives as a function of his alignment with Congress, his popularity, or other macro-political variables. Recent scholarship, however, highlights that executive orders are not truly ‘unilateral’ at all, but rather require cooperation from bureaucratic agencies for implementation. I argue that this need for cooperation creates a previously under-appreciated opportunity for Congress to respond to presidential directives. Because executive orders are generally acts of delegation to agencies, Congressional committees can exercise oversight to shape agency implementation of them. I demonstrate this dynamic using two datasets: a sample of executive orders that have been coded using measures of executive-branch delegation and discretion, and a collection of Congressional hearings focusing on an executive order or its implementation. I find that Congress engages in more oversight activity when an order delegates more authority and a wider discretionary window to agencies. This relationship is generally not conditioned by partisan division, but rather persists during periods of both unified and divided government. This finding supports the theory that Congress is able to participate in unilateral policymaking by shaping agency implementation, recasting our understanding of the inter-branch politics of executive unilateralism.

Today's Events | Case-Geyer Library, 560 Batza Room
This session will help individuals build, maintain, and restore trust in the workplace, leading to improved collaboration, faster decision-making, and an enhanced workplace environment.Register for the event

Today's Events | Case-Geyer Library, Flex Room (5th floor)
Phil Haynes (b. June 15, 1961, OR) is a 25 year veteran New York based artist now teaching at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University. Haynes is featured on some 90 LP and CD releases by numerous American and European record labels. The international media have compared his drumming to masters Jack DeJohnette, Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones, and his compositions to Duke Ellington, Charles Ives, Charles Mingus and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. His recording credentials include many of the seminal musicians of this generation: saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Ellery Eskelin, and David Liebman; trumpeters Dave Douglas, Herb Robertson, and Paul Smoker; bassists Mark Dresser, Ken Filiano, and Drew Gress; keyboard artists David Kikoski, Denman Maroney, and Michelle Rosewoman; guitarists Ben Monder, Steve Salerno, and Jim Yanda; vocalists Theo Bleckman, Nicholas Horner, and Hank Roberts; violinist Mark Feldman, and the composers collective Joint Venture. Current Haynes touring ensembles include his: definitive saxophone trio, No Fast Food, featuring NEA jazz master David Liebman; romantic Americana string band, Free Country, featuring vocalist/cellist Hank Roberts; Double Bill, w/trumpeters Thomas Heberer & Herb Robertson with bassist Ken Filiano; plus the romantic piano trio, Day Dream, a cooperative with Yamaha artist Steve Rudolph and Drew Gress.Peyton Pleninger (b. April 7, 1996, PA) studied in High School with Anthony Tidd through the Kimmel Center Creative Music Program. During this time he also began studies with Steve Coleman. Upon his arrival in New York City in 2015, Pleninger formed the first iteration of his band Biotonic, performing throughout NYC at such venues as The 55 Bar, The Jazz Gallery, and Seeds Brooklyn, while releasing Heartbeat Music (2017), extro (2016), and alive (2019). Pleninger worked as a mentee of Milford Graves, from spring 2019 until Graves’ passing in early 2021, helping Graves prepare artwork and archival materials for his retrospective exhibit Milford Graves: A Mind Body Deal at the ICA Philadelphia, Heart Harmonics: Sound, Energy and Natural Healing Phenomena at the Fridman Gallery, and Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency at Artist's Space. Plenninger also performed with Henry Threadgill’s "One" and "The Other One", as well as working with John Benitez’ Latin-Bop, Roy Ben Yosef's Moringa trio, Colin Hinton’s Glassbath, Michel Maurer’s Meridian, Quinn Bachand’s Brishen, among many. Highlight performances include the Toronto Jazz Festival, Montreal International Jazz Festival, and CBC Canada.Hilliard Greene (b. February 26, 1958, IA) originally studied at the Berklee College of Music and at the University of Northern Iowa, including privately with trumpeter Paul Smoker and bassist Ron Rohovit. As a young professional, Hill worked as musical director for singer Jimmy Scott for more than 20 years. With Cecil Taylor, he served as concertmaster for the ensemble Phtongos and played in the trio with pianist Don Pullen. He has also appeared on notable recordings by Charles Gayle, Billy Bang, Dave Douglas, Marc Edwards, William Hooker, Klaus Kugel, Jameel Moondoc, Perry Robinson, and Patrick Brennan. Under his own name, Hill recorded three albums with The Jazz Expressions. He also recorded with Steve Swell & Gebhard Ullmann’s quartet featuring Barry Altschul. In 2003, Hill released his solo album Alone. Besides a richly diverse international touring schedule, Hill currently works as a music instructor at the Bass Collective in New York City, where he presents master classes and gives private lessons in double bass and bass guitar.

Today's Events | Persson Hall, 27
How does U.S. public policy reduce poverty, and how can we better leverage policy to improve opportunity? [Despite what you may have read in Poverty, by America] Findings from the Dismal Science are optimistic about our collective ability to build a more inclusive economy. Join the Econ Dept for a lecture and discussion with Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, professor at Northwestern University and former Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings

Today's Events | Golden Auditorium, 105
Vocal Pleasure in Silent Cinema: It may seem counterintuitive, but American silent films frequently thematize voice and vocality. Characters sang, shouted, and whispered secrets. Their vocal utterances catalyzed romances, inspired terror, served as clues that cracked criminal cases, and disguised and revealed true identities.In this talk, Mary Simonson examines how silent cinema invited its audiences both to take pleasure in the process of imagining these implied voices and to “hear” them as marked by gender, race, and ethnicity, all while exploring the act of listening, sensory perception, and the possibilities and limits of film.

Today's Events | Little Hall, Golden Auditorium
Since 2012, the BlackStar Film Festival has celebrated the visual and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora and global Indigenous communities, showcasing films by Black and Brown people from around the world. Lauded as a “Black Sundance” by Ebony magazine, the four-day event has become a highly visible platform for introducing independent filmmakers creating aesthetically challenging and genre-defying work to new audiences. This special program, focusing on altered states, the occult, liminal worlds and liminal beings, features five films: Happy Thanksgiving (dir. ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby, 2024); The Flacalta Effect (dir. Rochée Jeffrey, 2024); Enmity Djinn (dir. Mohamed Echkouna, 2024); The Dawn (dir. Alicia Mendy, 2024); To Exist Under Permanent Suspicion (dir. Valentin Noujaïm, 2024).Co-sponsored by Africana and Latin American Studies, and Native American Studies.