Kaylee Liu
Contributing Writer
The Stieglitz Memorial Lecture is an annual talk hosted by the department of sociology and anthropology, made possible by Dr. and Mrs. Lewis N. Stieglitz of Concord, N.H. This year, the speaker, Patrick Carr, professor of sociology at Rutgers University and current director of the Program in Criminal Justice at Rutgers, New Brunswick, presented his speech titled “Billy Clubs and Terry Stops: Minority Youth Experiences of Police.”
Carr has a long history of brilliant research. Anne Nurse, professor of sociology and anthropology at Wooster, first met him 20 years ago as a seminar leader. She described him as “brilliant” and passionate about “solid sociological research.” Carr has an impressive track record of academic credentials — his bachelors and masters are from University College Dublin, and his Ph.D. is from the University of Chicago. His publication record, however, blows that further out of the water. Not only has he authored an article in the American Journal of Sociology — “the flagship journal of the discipline” about informal social control, but he has also published on “crime control, victimology, and youth violence.”
Carr is passionate not only about justice but also about justice in relation to the youth of today, especially in how that limits “their life chances.” His work has a humanistic bend to it, and utilizes “rigorous scholarship to make a compelling case for change to public policies that impact our nation’s children and adolescents.”
One of the attendees, Megan Tuennerman ’22, calls the Stieglitz Memorial Lecture “the best lecture [she has] attended on campus.” For Tuennerman, its importance spans “beyond the realm of sociology,” given how it pertains to social issues that regularly have an impact on all of us now.
The discussion of how youths, especially minority youths, interact with the police is of interest to any college student, especially given college culture itself. Carr made sure “to end on a note of hope” despite “highlighting the significant issues and problems that occur,” giving a good balance of realism mixed with positivity in his talk. The majority of individuals who spoke to Carr as described in his talk “said that there was still a scenario they could imagine calling the police for help,” showing how public trust in the police has not been completely eroded, giving us the opportunity to mend the tumultuous relationship civilians often have with law enforcement.
For Tuennerman, the lecture was “powerful,” and she fully expects that the stories Carr “described during the lecture will stick with [her] for some time.” She was “especially impressed” with Carr as he was “very aware of who he was speaking to” and even focused a bit on the specific role that academia has in the solution to these issues.”
Tuennerman said, “It is not enough for scholars to research the issues at hand, but they (and soon to be us as students) must work to ensure that the research that we do actually gets used.”
A common critique of academia is that it’s an elitist ivory tower disconnected from the real world, but sociological research like Carr’s helps to prove that false. Research for the sake of research is important, but its importance also lies in how it can improve the lives of the people it studies.
The Stieglitz Memorial lecture is a valuable learning experience for anyone, not just those in the department of sociology. If you missed this year’s lecture, consider marking the date for the next on your calendar.