Paul Gary Wyckoff, Associate Professor of Government and Director of Hamilton's Public Policy Program, has long felt that outstanding student work has all too often ended up on some professor's dusty shelf, never to be read again. His belief that work of this quality deserves to be part of the scholarly discussion in the social sciences, to be read, discussed, lauded, and critiqued, led him to create Insights. His goal is that Insights will publish the best in undergraduate social science research, in print form and via the Internet. Insights is both written and edited by undergraduate students. Professor Wyckoff solicited papers from both professors and students, and hashed out guidelines to help referees sort out the papers that were merely good from those which were exceptional.
According to Wyckoff, the inaugural issue of Insights takes the reader on a Cook's tour of pressing social issues around the world. In the US, Elizabeth Conway examines the controversy over rising medical malpractice insurance costs, and empirically tests the reform proposals of the 2004 Presidential candidates. Then Philip Holdredge posits a new explanation for suicide terrorism, including the attacks in the troubled Mideast, based on the work of Emile Durkheim. From there, Yejun Qian takes us to Taizhou City, China, to examine the environmental consequences of the growing practice of electronic recycling. Next, Jessica Tepper invites us to Cape Town, South Africa, where changes in post-apartheid society have been reflected in that city's landscape. We then return to the US, where Drew Thomases visits some Hindu temples in Queens, New York, to find out how Hindu traditions have been altered to fit the cultural landscape of the US. Finally, Luke Forster takes us to Eastern Europe, and asks whether the democratic reform that swept through Ukraine could also transform Belarus.
