Immigration Detention, Elie Wiesel, Value of a Consumer

Immigration Law at the Border Guests: Kif Augustine-Adams, JD, Charles E. Jones Professor of Law at the BYU Law School; Carolina Nunez, JD, Professor at the BYU Law School A town of 4,000 people in South Texas holds a key spot in the national debate over who belongs in America, and what should be done with those who don’t. There, in late 2014, the US Department of Homeland Security opened a massive detention center designed to hold more than two-thousand women and children who’d come across the border, fleeing violence and poverty in South and Central America. There are ongoing questions about the legality of detaining children and treating them like criminals. There have been allegations of human rights abuses at the South Texas detention center. For more information about volunteering at the South Texas Family Residential Center see caraprobono.org. Elie Weisel on the Power of Hope and Individual Action After a week filled with such anger and anguish in the United States – at a time of instability, violence and fear globally – let’s take solace in the words of Elie, who died on July 2. He was a survivor of the Jewish Holocaust and a powerful witness to its atrocities. In 1986, Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for speaking out against violence, repression and racism. Three years later, in 1989, he gave a commencement speech at Brigham Young University. A quarter of a century later, those words still resonate. Benefits of Friending a Grown-up Online Guest: Andrea Forte, PhD, Assistant Professor in the College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University We’ve all experienced the awkwardness of our different social circles colliding on our social media feed. For teenagers, there’s a particular horror at the thought of mom or a high school teacher seeing everything you post on Facebook. But some new research out of Drexel University suggests teenagers stand to gain a lot from interacting with adults online. The researchers even say schools should rethink social media policies that prevent teachers and students from mixing. Calculating the Lifelong Value of a Consumer Guest: Rajkumar Vankatesan, PhD, Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia What’s a customer worth to a company? Is it the money you spend that they care about most? Or is it your data? Maybe the scope of your influence on other people who might turn into customers? The answer today is ALL OF THE ABOVE – and it’s thanks largely to the power of the internet. Companies aren’t just looking for a one-time purchase anymore. They want a lifetime consumer – think Netflix or Amazon – or even your local grocery store that rewards your loyalty with discounts on stuff you buy regularly. Why Politicians Sometimes Ignore Their Constituents Guest: Adam Dynes, PhD, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University and Co-author of the paper “How Politicians Discount the Opinions of Constituents with Whom They Disagree” The Presidential Election is dominating news headlines, but across the country, there are thousands of people running in city, county and state races that will have an ever greater impact on our daily lives. Politicians who manage to get re-elected year after year do it, in large part, by keeping pace with what the people they represent want. When polls show the people in a district have shifted in their views on an issue, a wise politician shifts along with them. But we all know cases where our local officials did not vote in line with our views. So what’s going on there? Why do politicians, elected to represent the will of the people, sometimes flatly ignore the voice of the people? Worlds Awaiting: Encouraging Kids to Make and Share Digital Media Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host of “Worlds Awaiting” on BYUradio Rachel Wadham joins us in studio to talk media literacy and about creating media. You can hear “Worlds Awaiting” on Saturdays at 1:30 pm ET.