Politics never sleeps: ONU fellows examine civic, public policies

The school year may be over, but the student fellows at the Institute for Civics and Public Policy at Ohio Northern University — in essence a political think tank comprised of undergraduates — plan to stay busy through the summer in their mission to get their peers, and people of all ages, engaged in discussing politics and civics. After all, politics "never sleeps," said Robert Alexander, Ph.D., a political science professor and the institute's director. Recently, ICAPP published a paper in their "Critical Questions" series that explores the consequences of the gender wage gap. The student authors — Kennedy Aikey, Kennedy Cook and Hailey Trimpey — note that a woman is paid 83 cents for every dollar a man makes to perform the same job. And, they note, Black and Hispanic women see the greatest difference in pay. While the gap narrowed between 1979 and 1990, "in recent years, this progress has stalled," the paper states. "Due to the gender-wage gap, the average woman worker will lose more than $530,000 in her lifetime," the paper states. "College educated women will lose even more money throughout their lifetime, losing an average of $800,000. ... College educated women will have a harder time paying off their student loans when compared to their male colleagues, because their salaries are less than their male coworkers. ... Being paid less results in lower social security payments and fewer opportunities to save for retirement." And they note that if the wage gap closed, around 2.5 million children would be able to come out of poverty due to their mothers' increased income. Alexander said alum Scott Miller, who helped shape the direction of ICAPP, had suggested that students write this series of short, nonpartisan papers. They were able to create seven Critical Questions papers this year — more than Alexander expected. The gender wage gap paper was one of those, which students chose with "no prompting from me," Alexander said. Trimpey said Cook was the one who came up with the idea, but it seemed natural as ICAPP is full of "pretty powerful women" — four of the five student fellows are female. Aikey said she was surprised to learn that the wage gap is not really getting significantly better. Her research included looking into the lasting impact, such as how it affects women's mental health and "ingrains into women that they're not good enough." Alexander said his job is to "get them thinking" about issues, to "help them become analysts," while remaining nonpartisan and letting the facts speak for themselves. He said with the gender wage gap paper the students pointed out some aspects people might not think about — such as the hidden costs for college graduates, who might have more debt and take longer to pay it off. Aikey said the students plan to spend the summer continuing to work on the podcast they're creating, with the goal to launch it at the start of the school year. She said they hope to reach a younger audience, as well as give lawmakers a chance to hear college students' perspectives on politics. She said alumni from all over the country have been keeping up with the Critical Questions series. Trimpey said it has been interesting, as part of ICAPP, to see what it takes to get different types of students engaged. The pandemic made it hard to get the word out about ICAPP, which is relatively new, but there is now starting to be a "buzz" around it on campus, Alexander said. He has been having conversations with colleagues in other departments at ONU that may not seem directly related to politics, but, he pointed out, it's hard to avoid public policy. And he said ICAPP has created partnerships with some other organizations in Allen County. Alexander hopes to connect with people in Hancock County, too, who are interested in engagement and leadership. He said ICAPP wants to be a place where people can engage with difficult issues in a civil fashion and "we're ready to work with anybody." Arthurs: 419-427-8494