Public opinion

Broward Community College was founded in 1959 as a
part of the public two-year community college system
of the State of Florida. Since its inception, no survey
of public opinion toward the College had ever been undertaken. The purpose of the present study was to find
out whether registered voters served by the College were
aware of its activities, and to learn of their opinions
of its philosophies, policies and programs.
A questionnaire was sent out to a stratified random
sampling of the registered voters of Broward County,
Florida. It was revealed that among the respondents, those in higher income brackets and those with a higher
level of education knew more about Broward Community
College than did those with lower incomes or less
education. Respondents with considerable knowledge of the
College offered more opinions and agreed more with the
philosophies, policies and programs of the institution
than did those who knew very little about the College.
The results showed that:
1. A majority of the respondents were able to
identify Broward Community College as the local
public two-year community college.
2. The respondents were generally aware of the
College's philosophies, policies and programs.
3. The respondents were in general agreement
with the College's philosophies, policies and
programs.
4. The respondents were in general agreement
that the College is fulfilling its goals through
its various parallel, occupational and community service
programs.

Recently, empirical attention has been directed toward understanding public opinion about gun control laws. Despite this focus, three gaps are evident in extant scholarship. First, few current examinations have relied on recently collected, national data to explore predictors of public attitudes. Second, relatively little work systematically investigates whether type of weapon bans (e.g. handgun versus semi-automatic weapon) affects public support for a given gun control initiative. Third, and importantly, the general focus in prediction support for gun control measures has been on social and demographic factors. Little is known from a theoretical perspective about how other variables - such as knowledge of Constitutinal issues or perceptions of the U.S. Supreme Court - affect public attitudes toward gun control. Using national poll data collected in 2011 by Time magazine, this study addresses these research gaps by estimating several logistic regression analyses. Research and policy implications are discussed.

The Roma people, often referred to by the derogatory misnomer of "gypsy," are an ethnic group plagued by (mis)representation in popular culture. Roma representations in cinema, literature, journalism, and other forms of popular culture have perpetuated a long history of Roma exclusion. This thesis aims to identify not only the many manifestations of Roma (mis)representation, but also apply anthropological theory as a means of analyzing the ramifications of such (mis)representations on the Roma people. This paper concludes with suggestions for an anthropologically informed methodology of representation, and hopes to challenge long standing stereotypes and misinformation about the Romani culture.

Women have recurrently faced the adaptive problem of rape over evolutionary history. Little research has investigated the potential evolved psychological mechanisms for rape avoidance that women may possess. Here I review evolutionary perspectives on rape avoidance. I follow this review with the results of two studies conducted to design a measure of women's rape avoidance, known as the Rape Avoidance Inventory (RAI). Study 1A included 99 women who self-reported acts they do or might do specifically to avoid being raped. Study 1B included 144 women who filled out a preliminary inventory of rape avoidance behaviors. I used their responses to construct the RAI. In Study 3, I develop and test a number of hypotheses derived from evolutionary psychological theory, using data derived from the sample of women in Study 1B. I conclude by discussing limitations and possible future directions for rape avoidance research.

The surge in granting equal rights to gays and lesbians in the United States is remarkable. Yet with this surge comes a conflict : the civil rights of gays and lesbians against the rights of religious individuals, predominantly Christians, refusing to tolerate a behavior they think immoral. My thesis focuses on two hypothetical situations : a county clerk refusing to issue a marriage license to an engaged lesbian couple and an inn owner refusing a night's stay to a gay couple. In both cases, the clerk and inn owner refuse service for religious reasons. Normatively, I argue that we must move beyond a framework of toleration to a system of equal respect and understanding of our fellow human beings. Legally, I argue that the rights of religious expression and exercise should not trump the civil rights of gays and lesbians in the public sphere.