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Volume 41 • Number 3 • March/April 2013 Looking forward to the 2013 ASA Annual Meeting inside New York: A City Transformed by Immigration Nancy Foner, Hunter College and the and their children Graduate Center of the City University of also have been Political Science Under 3 New York changing the Attack fter nearly half sights, sounds, A recent Senate amendment a century of and tastes of the severely restricts funding A massive inflows, city and influenc- of the NSF Political Science New York is a truly ing a wide range Program. immigrant city. of institutions and About one out of communities. 4 Postdocs in Sociology three New Yorkers is now foreign New York What is the role of born. Adding the U.S.-born second owes its extraor- dinary diversity postdoctorate training in the generation, the figure is more than over half (Dominicans, Chinese, to immigration, attracting large discipline? one out of two or about 4.5 million Mexicans, Jamaicans, Guyanese, numbers from Asia, the Caribbean, people. Ecuadorians, Haitians, Trinidadians, Latin America, and European coun- Given the numbers, it is not sur- Indians, and Russians, in descend- Start Planning for tries as well. Not one, two, three, 5 prising that immigration has had an ing order). New York or even four groups dominate. In impact on virtually every aspect of The new demographic realities Book your hotel and decide 2010, the top three groups made up New York life. Not only is it a major have affected the city’s racial and which attractions you will factor fueling population growth, under a third of all immigrant New hit first. but the millions of new New Yorkers Yorkers—even the top 10 were just Continued on page 12 6 Election Time Be an informed voter in the 2013 ASA elections. Rob Warren to Edit Enhancing Teaching 9 What Does a Retired Sociology of Education and Learning for Sociologist Do? f Sociology of Education is to presented in a clear and compelling Active-Duty Military Golf? A cruise? Or join a be widely read and have broad manner. With this grounding, how- human rights delegation to “I Students impact, a printed journal ever, the new communica- Colombia? and old-fashioned website tion media can help elevate by Darlene Smucny and Merrily Stover, University of Maryland-University are no longer enough.” So the impact of sociological College 11 Statistics Is Cool says John Robert “Rob” research by drawing imme- From data to politics to Warren, the incoming diate attention to timely ilitary students represent a grow- sports, the discipline is editor of Sociology of and important findings. Ming group of “nontraditional” finding a greater popularity. Education (SOE), whose Rob Warren is profes- students today due to the passage term begins in January sor of sociology at the of the recently expanded GI Bill, 2014. “Like it or not, University of Minnesota- which provides additional support From the Executive Officer .................2 Rob Warren Twitter and Facebook are Twin Cities, where he for higher education to veterans and Science Policy .........................................3 becoming prominent communica- has taught since 2002. Prior to active-duty personnel (Jones 2010; Announcements ................................. 14 tion media for younger scholars.” moving to Minnesota, he taught Moon and Schwa 2011). Although With these words, Warren will at the University of Washington- military students may attend classes usher this 86-year-old journal into Seattle from 1998 through 2002. on traditional campus, these students the era of fast-paced, short-stream He received his PhD from the (particularly active-duty personnel) communication to extend its reach University of Wisconsin-Madison are prominently served by distance and enhance its relevance and vis- in 1998. In taking on the editorship, education formats (both onsite ibility to a broader audience. he succeeds the University of Iowa’s classes on military installations and Of course, nothing will shake the David Bills, who has served as edi- online classes). journal from its long-established tor since 2009. Teaching active-duty military tradition of publishing high-quality students using distance education A Team Effort sociological scholarship on educa- formats may present both challenges tion that is theoretically moti- An important aspect of Warren’s and opportunities for instructors. In vated, empirically grounded, and editorship will be the involvement Continued on page 14 Continued on page 8 footnotes • March/April 2013 To view the online version, visit <www.asanet.org/footnotes/marchapril13/index.html> 1 American Sociological Association footnotes.asanet.org from the executive officer Speaking for Science: ASA Submits an Amicus Brief to the U.S. Supreme Court he Council of the American Act (DOMA), which denies federal TSociological Association is recognition of same-sex marriages elected by the member- already legalized under the ship (we have the highest law of several states. voting participation of any As ASA President scholarly association we Ridgeway indicated, “At know of!) to conduct the issue at the heart of these policy work of the Association in cases is whether family composi- addition to its other duties. In 2001, tion, per se, affects the well-being Council established guidelines for of children and thus, provides a making public statements on behalf justification for limiting the right of the Association. They include to marry. This core question is an Council drawing upon the research empirical one and is the subject expertise of members to review and of a broad range of social science assess the scholarly literature on the research. As a scientific body, ASA basis of which Council could act. has a duty to provide the court with a systematic and balanced review The Results Are Clear The U.S. Supreme Court of the evidence to assess what the Last month the ASA weighed consensus of scholarly research has led ASA’s examination of the social in on two gay marriage cases shown.” literature in this still emerging area before the U.S. Supreme Court, science evidence at the request of of state and federal law. That is a filing an amicus brief outlining The Opposition Council. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & considerable contribution! The dis- social science research that shows In their briefs to the U.S. Hamilton LLP of New York City cipline has made and will continue overwhelmingly that “children fare Supreme Court, the Bipartisan served as pro bono counsel to the to make an important contribution just as well” Legal Advisory ASA on the brief. to the issue of gay marriage. This means that any future attempts when raised Group of the Good Social Science by same-sex or U.S. House of to misconstrue the state of social When the social science There are many who have not heterosexual Representatives, science research on this issue in the reviewed the social science literature parents. “The evidence is exhaustively which is courts will have to face the challenge who would like to contest this results of our examined—which the ASA has defending of refuting the science in the ASA conclusion. Likewise, many of the review are DOMA, the amicus brief. done—the facts demonstrate that amicus briefs filed in these cases clear,” said Hollingsworth children fare just as well when present inaccurate interpretations ASA President Petitioners, or applications of good research, Cecilia raised by same-sex parents which are Sally T. Hillsman is “apples and oranges” comparisons, Ridgeway defending the Executive Officer and a variety of other obvious errors in the press Proposition of ASA. She can be in support of their position that release accompanying the ASA’s 8, and their respective supporters reached by email at same-sex marriage is detrimental submission to the court. “There assert that children fare better with executive.office@ to the well-being of children. We is no evidence that children with opposite-sex parents than with asanet.org. hope that the justices (and oth- parents in stable same-sex or same-sex parents. ers) will recognize that, whatever opposite-sex relationships differ “When the social science evi- they decide about whether DOMA in terms of well-being. Indeed, the dence is exhaustively examined— or state laws against gay marriage greater stability offered by marriage which the ASA has done—the violate constitutional principles, the Renew for same-sex as well as opposite-sex facts demonstrate that children ASA amicus brief demonstrates that parents may be an asset for child fare just as well when raised by good social science does not sup- well-being.” same-sex parents,” states the ASA Today! port concern about the well-being On March 26, 2013, the U.S. amicus brief. “Unsubstantiated fears of children when raised by gay or Supreme Court heard oral argu- regarding same-sex child rearing In order to continue to lesbian parents. ments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, do not overcome these facts and receive your journals, While it is entirely likely that the challenging the decision of the do not justify upholding DOMA U.S. Supreme Court will not make ASA correspondence, California Supreme Court overturn- and Proposition 8.” Wendy Diane sweeping decisions, especially in ing Proposition 8 that revoked the Manning, Professor of Sociology, and other member ben- Hollingsworth v. Perry (Prop 8), right of same-sex couples to marry Director of the Center for Family leaving the matter of same-sex mar- efits, renew today online in California. On March 27, the & Demographic Research, and riage an open issue in some states,