SOUND POLITICKS The Official Undergraduate Journal of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania IN THIS ISSUE: COLLEGE ADMISSIONS AND CRIMINAL RECORDS: BANNING THE BOX AGAIN By: Rebecca Heilweil FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE SUPREME COURT: THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY, ORIGINALISM, AND THE CONSERVATIVE LEGAL REVOLUTION By: Sean Foley DEGREES OF THE “RESOURCE CURSE”: THE CASES OF NORWAY AND SAUDI ARABIA By: Jillian Moely THE SPECTRE OF SYRIZA: THE EUROPEAN UNION DEBT CRISIS AND THE RADICAL LEFT By: Natasha Kadlec AN INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR JESSICA STANTON By: Jordan Dannenberg “MAY THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF SOUND POLITICKS BE FIX’D IN THE MINDS OF YOUTH” – BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1749) VOLUME XXI SPRING 2016 2 | SOUND POLITICKS SPRING 2016 | 3 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The theme of the 2015-2016 academic year at the University of Penn- EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: sylvania was discovery. As we embraced the opportunity to explore, in great- Jordan Dannenberg er depth, one another’s academic endeavors, we developed a greater appre- ciation for shared intellectual experience. As the academic year draws to a EDITORIAL BOARD: close, this journal provides one more opportunity to engage with the robust Sarah Baldinger intellectual life at Penn. It refects the passion of the members of Penn’s polit- Nicholas Buchta Iman Charania ical science community and their commitment to contributing to the intel- Sarah Engell lectual life that Benjamin Franklin sought to inspire. In the spirit of this year’s Yasmeen Kaboud academic theme, I invite you to discover the contributions within Sound Pol- Casey Lipton iticks. Edgar Palomino The articles in this year’s issue address diverse topics and fall within sev- Brooke Reczka eral subfelds of the political science discipline. The frst article, by Rebecca Jordan Rosman Heilweil, examines the connections between criminal records, race, and col- lege admission. Her research is timely and comprehensive. The second article, LAYOUT EDITOR: by Jillian Moely, takes a comparative look at the “resource curse,” studying Ilana Wurman the diferent economic conditions in Saudi Arabia and Norway. Together, INTERVIEW EDITOR: the fnal two articles of the issue consider the evolution and functioning of Yasmeen Kaboud political spectrums at home and abroad. Sean Foley’s piece provides a nu- anced examination of the conservative legal revolution in the United States, FACULTY ADVISOR: while Natasha Kadlec’s article traces the recent rise of Europe’s radical left. Professor Eileen Doherty-Sil The following articles are laudable pieces of research by undergraduates here at Penn. I hope they challenge your assumptions and provoke discus- THANK YOU TO OUR sion. May you fnd pleasure in the process of discovery. SPONSORS: Political Science Department Sincerely, Pi Sigma Alpha Fox Leadership Program AND A SPECIAL THANKS TO: Jordan Dannenberg Professor Jessica Stanton SOUND POLITICKS is the ofcial undergraduate journal of political science at the All inquiries should be addressed to: University of Pennsylvania. It is published annually and covers a wide range of polit- [email protected]. ical topics. Applications for positions on the editorial Sound Politicks accepts submissions year-round from undergraduates of any class or board are available. major. Articles must include footnote citations and be approximately 4,000 words in length. Each year, the author of the best article receives a $100 prize. 4 | SOUND POLITICKS TABLE OF CONTENTS COLLEGE ADMISSIONS AND CRIMINAL RECORDS: BANNING 4 THE BOX AGAIN* By: Rebecca Heilweil FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE SUPREME COURT: THE FEDERAL- 20 IST SOCIETY, ORIGINALISM, AND THE CONSERVATIVE LEGAL REVOLUTION By: Sean Foley DEGREES OF THE “RESOURCE CURSE”: THE CASES OF NORWAY 38 AND SAUDI ARABIA By: Jillian Moely THE SPECTRE OF SYRIZA: THE EUROPEAN UNION DEBT CRISIS 52 AND THE RADICAL LEFT By: Natasha Kadlec AN INTERVIEW WITH 62 PROFESSOR JESSICA STANTON By: Jordan Dannenberg SOUND POLITICKS VOLUME XXI * Winner of the 2016 Undergraduate Journal Spring 2016 Sound Politicks best of Political Science article prize SPRING 2016 | 5 COLLEGE ADMISSIONS AND CRIMINAL RECORDS BANNING THE BOX AGAIN BY REBECCA HEILWEIL (C’18) MAJORS: POLITICAL SCIENCE & HISTORY ABSTRACT nal record when he applied in December 2005, nor This paper explores the implications of college when he met with them after his acceptance.”1 When application questions regarding criminal records. the mother of his victim discovered his attendance at More specifcally, it examines how class and race are Penn, Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. suspended Mit- implicated through asking such questions, as well man’s participation in the Bucks County academ- the historical justifcations for why numerous rele- ic-release program. vant problematic policies remain in place. First, the While the criminal justice system’s procedure paper explores how the American education system’s was clear, Penn’s response was almost indiscernible. structural challenges and inequities can afect the Penn spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman told the Daily likelihood that a student receives a criminal record Free Press that, “If [Mitman] asked to re-enroll, we in high school. Second, the paper looks at how crim- would consider it, but it would be dependent on him inal record questions can manifest on college appli- maintaining certain conditions.”2 Like many univer- cations, and their efect on both student application sities, Penn’s approach to student criminal records is deterrence and admissions policies. Finally, the paper murky and context-oriented; there are no policies re- concludes by addressing potential policies to increase garding particular crimes. “Everybody is individually college applications among students with criminal evaluated,” she said. By 2014, Mitman had earned records, more fairly approach these records, and how a PhD in Economics from Penn, ten years after his to better represent criminal record application ques- initial charge.3 Penn’s policy regarding disclosure of tions. criminal records on its application remains vague. In 2007, Ohio State’s student newspaper, The INTRODUCTION Lantern, reported that the university had admitted In 2007, the University of Pennsylvania dis- covered that a twenty-fve-year-old sex ofender had been attending graduate courses while serving 1 Jeff Price, “Molester went from jail to Penn Until last week, the college didn’t know that grad student Kurt E. Mitman time for a felony sentence. Kurt E. Mitman, who had was a sex offender, held in a Bucks prison.” Philadelphia Inquir- won a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford, was er, January 18, 2007. charged in 2004 with sexual assault of a minor after 2 David Brand and Jessica Li, “Penn weighs readmitting having sex with a fourteen-year-old boy. According sex offender,” Daily Free Press, October 3, 2007. to Jef Price of the Philadelphia Inquirer, “Mitman 3 Kurt Mitman CV. Accessed December 12, 2015, at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n70h6f2jivp3iz2/KurtMitmanCV. testifed he had not told Penn ofcials of his crimi- pdf?dl=0 6 | SOUND POLITICKS three sex ofenders charged with downloading and the year 2020.6 It is important to understand, there- creating child pornography and sexual battery. A fore, how a criminal background afects the like- subsequent investigation revealed that fve under- lihood of college admissions. Also, the impact of a graduates were also registered sex ofenders, whose criminal record on the likelihood of admissions may charges included “importuning, gross sexual impo- be changing. In a new world of “holistic admissions,” sition, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, sex- in which ofcers take into account personal qualities ual battery, and attempted sexual conduct with a and qualitative talents, criminal records can take on minor.” 4 The college scrambled to respond; it was a new role.7 legally unclear whether the students had done any- Examining the infuence of criminal records thing wrong in failing to report their past mistakes. on the college admissions process may also provide While signifcant research has been done on further insight into the state of discrimination in the required criminal background checks for job appli- United States. While a more inclusive and dynamic cants, the same is not true for college applicants. Ad- admissions process potentially allows students with missions committees are notoriously secretive, and criminal records to overcome their pasts and demon- collecting aggregate data on students applying to strate personal growth, admissions committees may multiple schools, often from across the country, is in- place greater value on an applicant’s future com- credibly difcult. munity participa- This research, “While significant research has tion, disposition, nonetheless, is and personality; very important. been done on required crim- this preference First, given on- may results in a going discussions inal background checks for bias against those about the over- with criminal re- criminalization job applicants, the same is not cords. And, while of minorities, the employment dis- school-to-pris- true for college applicants.” crimination is of- on pipeline, and ten studied, reg- mass incarceration, it may be illustrative to exam- ulated, and investigated by the Equal Employment ine the essentially ignored phenomenon of student Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal gov- criminal background checks. Next, a comprehensive ernment has invested little, if any, resources into in- understanding of how criminal backgrounds afect vestigating inequities