Pace University News

Leslie Y. Garfield Tenzer, a law professor at Pace University, said there is a “gray area” between public officials being able to block people and stop harassment and the rights of others to view online posts. She said the legal protection social media companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which allows the companies to be immune from certain lawsuits over content posted by third parties, should be amended to prevent any online harassment. “If public officials want to stop allowing harassing information, I think they must address it by amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is a difficult, if not impossible task,” Ms. Tenzer said. “I also think as a mother, and a social media scholar, that publishing anti-hate rhetoric or posts that teach others to kill should never be permitted. But as long as section 230 exists, I think it is hard to hold social media companies accountable.”

Dyson Professor Melvin Williams speaks with USA Today about why the viral 'Harry Potter' meme is taking over TikTok feeds.

"Our engagement in the 'Harry Potter' TikTok trends exhibits how audiences are no longer passively waiting for media conglomerates to supply content for their consumption needs, but instead are actively creating what they desire to see using familiar pop culture figures, symbolism and the autonomy that has always been at the hands of media consumers," says Melvin Williams, associate professor of communication and media studies at Pace University.

Dyson Professor Jared Manasek and several NY education experts provide historical insights and context to LoHud/Gannett for a story about viewing the Israel-Hamas conflict through a historical and education lens.

Such arguments are “nonsensical,” Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon. “Every person, including Trump, has the right to engage in ‘forceful political advocacy,’” he said. “But Trump and his co-conspirators went far beyond advocacy. Trump and his cohorts engaged in a criminal conspiracy to subvert the results of a lawful election by illegal means. To endorse this argument would be to sanction any action taken under the guise of political advocacy, including violence and even political assassination.”

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Professor Bennett Gershman speaks with Salon about how former Trump lawyers could face “disbarment” and “possibly be jailed” over court stunts.

“Trump’s lawyers are perilously close to being sanctioned once again and more heavily by Judge Engoron for their misconduct,” Bennett Gershman, a former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University, told Salon. “They are behaving in manifest bad faith by intentionally delaying and obstructing the proceedings and deliberately creating a spectacle to promote Trump's fundraising. Lawyers in any legal proceeding foresee an appeal if they lose and try to make a complete and proper record for appellate review.”

In a geometric sense, plating in odd numbers creates a line that the eye feels drawn to follow. One study by Terence Hines of Pace University found that odd numbers are literally more thought-provoking than even numbers. Hines displayed two numbers on a screen and asked participants to press a button only when the numbers were either both even, or both odd. On average, it took participants 20% longer to press the button when both numbers were odd, as it took the brain longer to process them.