Hartwick College

ABSTRACT Objectives This study explores public opinion toward global pop star Taylor Swift as a focal point gaining insights into contemporary political and social dynamics in the United States. Methods Drawing on national survey data, we investigate the intersection of partisanship, age, gender attitudes, and perceptions of Taylor Swift, a highly visible and successful woman. Results Our study reaches three important conclusions: First, views on Taylor Swift, like so much else in our society, are highly polarized by party and play an independent role in reinforcing partisan identities. Second, one of the sharpest divides on Taylor Swift is between Gen Z women and men, reflecting the pronounced gender divide among young voters that played a pivotal role in the 2024 presidential election. Finally, other than partisanship, the largest determinant of attitudes toward Taylor Swift is hostile sexism, wherein advances by women are seen as a threat. This effect manifests primarily among men, especially Republican men. Conclusion Like a “Mirrorball,” Swift has become a reflection of our society's deepest social and political fault lines and offers warning signs for the future of American politics.

Abstract‘Avalon’ (Reg. no. CV‐383, PI 700308) is the first two‐row, winter malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar developed by the Virginia Agricultural Experimental Station. Avalon was released in May 2020. Prior to being named, Avalon was tested under the experimental designation VA16M‐81. Avalon was evaluated from 2018 to 2023 in the Eastern Malt Barley Trials (EMBT) at one to three locations in three states and in the Winter Malt Barley Trial (WMBT) from 2020 to 2023 in six to 15 states. In the EMBT in Virginia, mean grain yield (5604 kg ha−1) of Avalon was higher to cultivar ‘Violetta’, but lower than those of ‘Flavia’, ‘Calypso’, and ‘Thoroughbred’. Average grain volume weight of Avalon (64.9 kg hL−1) was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher than the check cultivars, except Violetta. Head emergence of Avalon was 3 days earlier than Flavia and Calypso and 1 to 2 days later than Violetta and Thoroughbred, respectively. Avalon was developed primarily as a malt barley cultivar. On the basis of malting evaluations, Avalon has acceptable quality profiles with specific quality traits including high extract, low protein content, and low beta‐glucan for the years tested. Avalon provides malt barley producers and end users in the eastern United States with excellent malt quality and a unique and distinct flavor profile having good to moderate resistance to all diseases prevalent in the eastern United States. It is moderately susceptible to Fusarium head blight but has moderately low deoxynivalenol accumulation in the grain.

Abstract Violence as a foundational element of police work is continuously reaffirmed and justified through police labour as ‘violence workers’ (Seigel, 2018). Hiring more female police officers has recently been seen as a way to reduce police violence. However, would employing more female officers change the relationship between policing and violence? Arguments in favour of more female police tend to rely on stereotypical understandings of gender, emphasising that women are naturally less aggressive and more likely to be caring and compassionate, often obscuring the violence enacted by female police officers in doing so. Female officers may be more likely to engage in violence out of necessity due to police culture and occupational norms around the use of force. Examining female police across countries such as the United States, Nigeria and Slovenia, this chapter establishes female police violence as a broader pattern, reflects on how female officers participate in police violence and addresses the extent to which masculinised police culture structures the expression of police violence. This chapter concludes with a discussion of why hiring more female police officers is not an adequate solution for reducing police violence, as police officers enact and are complicit in violence, regardless of gender.