As our nation and state grieve the devastating attack on two Minnesota lawmakers and their families on June 14, we reflect on the urgent, ongoing work of building a more just future—work the Humphrey School of Public Affairs has deepened since the murder of George Floyd five years ago at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
These moments are turning points for our country. The outrage sparked by Floyd’s death was a call to address long-standing inequities in our institutions and communities. The assassinations of State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the attempted assassinations of State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife have brought renewed attention to the divisive and volatile political environment in the United States.
Aligned with the School's Mission
In response to these ongoing challenges, the Humphrey School launched a new initiative last year called Constructive Dialogue, which is designed to train students, faculty, and staff to bridge divides and work collaboratively across differences. The School also plans to offer the training to the public.
Faculty experts have also built on their existing work on racial equity; it's not only a subject of academic inquiry, but a central pillar of the School’s mission to promote leadership, service, and inclusive engagement.
“As a School rooted in public purpose and civic leadership, the Humphrey School continues to respond to these critical moments—not with passive reflection, but with committed action,” said Dean Nisha Botchwey. “Across disciplines and focus areas, our faculty teach, research, and serve with clarity and courage. Their work lives at the intersection of policy and people, data and justice, community and governance. Together, they help shape the future of our democracy and our shared civic life.”
Through a range of research initiatives, community-engaged scholarship, and teaching, Humphrey School faculty are examining the structural roots of racial disparities across policing, housing, health, and governance. Here’s a summary of some of their work.
Professor Samuel Myers Jr.
Focus on systemic racism:
- As director of the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice, co-hosted the Sixth World Conference on Remedies to Racial and Social Inequality in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2024. The conference brought together academic, policy, and community leaders from around the world to share insights and formulate solutions to eliminating racial and social inequality. The next World Conference will be held at the University of Minnesota.
- Working on a book about the Minnesota Paradox: the wealth gap between white and nonwhite residents in spite of the state’s prosperity, which he has studied extensively.
- Received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study racial disparities in drowning deaths, specifically focusing on which public policies designed to reduce drowning deaths and injuries are successful and why.
- Received funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota to study the impacts of COVID and the death of George Floyd on racial health disparities in Minnesota
- Received funding from the Minnesota Cannabis Research Center to explore and quantify any racial disparities in the awarding of cannabis business licenses in the state.
Professor Kathy Quick
Focus on policing, race, and public management:
- Published "(De)Centering Whiteness through community dialogues about safety problems and solutions," a case study of community dialogues about policing, safety, race, and white privilege after Philando Castile was killed by a police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
- Co-chaired the University’s MSafe Implementation Committee, a task force created by then-President Joan Gabel to consider the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) role on the Twin Cities campus and its engagement with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). This was a direct response to George Floyd's murder and President Gabel's subsequent decision to re-set UMPD-MPD relationships.
- Cofounded and is cochairing an international study group on the intersections of public management and policing.
- Working with UMN graduate students on two projects: One is focused on barriers to accessing emergency services (willingness to call 911 and trust/distrust in police, firefighters, and EMT). The second is on the effect of police violence on segregation in U.S. counties from 2010 to 2020.
Associate Dean/Professor Ryan Allen
Focus on urban planning/design:
- In discussions with Paul Bauknight, founder and president of the Center for Transformative Urban Design, about the Reimagining the Civic Commons initiative that he leads in the Twin Cities. Bauknight is working with the Minneapolis Office of Public Safety, and proposing a participatory process around redesigning the Fourth Precinct police station in Minneapolis. Discussed possible Humphrey School involvement in that process, potentially with a student capstone team or with faculty members.
Professor Joe Soss
Focus on inequities in criminal justice:
- Wrote a book with Joshua Page from UMN’s Sociology Department (due to be published this summer), Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice. The book is a study of how, since the 1980s, a growing number of criminal legal practices have been turned into tools for extracting resources from marginalized and vulnerable communities (disproportionately low-income communities of color) and turned them into revenue streams for governments and corporations. These issues have been central to the Black Lives Matter movement from its inception, through the George Floyd uprising, and to the present day. The authors have worked with community organizations and policy advocacy campaigns throughout the process of writing this book, and plan to pursue this work more intensively over the next few years.
Professor Angie Fertig
Focus on structural racism and health:
- Received funding from NIH for a study of structural racism and its impact on health: "Multi-level predictors of structural racism and discrimination and associations with health and well-being across the life course in diverse families." This research is ongoing.
- Published a paper examining the association between incarceration rates and mental health of marginalized communities: “Community and Household-level Incarceration and Its Association with Mental Health in a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample of Families.”
- Working on several other papers addressing structural racism in public schools and neighborhoods, and the impact on physical and mental health. This research is ongoing.
"These moments demand more than reflection—they demand action," said Botchwey. "I’m proud of the way our School is responding with the kind of rigorous, community-centered work that public institutions must lead if we are serious about achieving justice and equity in public life."
