WashU Experts

American Pharoah captured America’s collective heart at the Belmont Stakes this weekend, galloping his way to the first Triple Crown in 37 years. With the June 6 victory, his value is estimated at $30 million. But the winning doesn’t stop there. Patrick Rishe, PhD, director of the Sports Business Program in the Olin Business School, breaks down the future earning potential of the thoroughbred.

Caitlyn Jenner’s first public appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair has sparked quite a stir. The Twitter account for Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, reached 1 million followers in just over four hours. Her story reminds us that even the most personal decisions are linked to broader social conditions, says an expert on later-in-life gender transitions at Washington University in St. Louis.

Several key provisions of the Patriot Act ended this week, after the Senate let them expire. As a result, the National Security Agency has, at least temporarily, halted the bulk data collection program used to amass phone data for millions of Americans. Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and one of the country’s foremost academic experts on privacy law, said the fact that expiration of these powers hasn’t provoked mass outrage shows Americans deeply value privacy.

This week, a federal appeals court panel decided against allowing President Barack Obama’s controversial immigration plan to go into effect immediately, pending a review of the merits of the plan in July. While the court’s decision is a temporary setback, it’s still possible that the government could win the overall appeal, said Washington University in St. Louis immigration expert Stephen H. Legomsky.

​​As the international sporting world reacts to allegations of criminal misconduct by top officials of FIFA, the international soccer governing body, a flood of questions are surfacing about potential, long-term ramifications for what is arguably the world’s most popular sport. Patrick Rishe, PhD, director of the Sports Business Program in the Olin Business School, believes the United States could ultimately benefit from the outcome of the investigation.​

For 25 years, Mark Smith, JD, associate vice chancellor and director of the Career Center at Washington University in St. Louis, has been helping new graduates – and their parents – cope with the stress of finding that first job. Smith shares his seven top tips for graduates and their parents.

Bruce Jenner, former Olympic gold medalist and patriarch of reality television’s Kardashian clan, is bringing national attention to issues of gender transition ahead of his April 24 interview with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. One reason is that Jenner may finally have found a way to let go of pressures to conform, said Vanessa Fabbre of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, an expert on later-in-life gender transitions.

While measles and the human papillomavirus (HPV) are vastly different diseases, failing to get vaccinated against them can have equally serious consequences, suggests Bradley Stoner, PhD, a medical anthropologist who studies infectious disease transmission at Washington University in St. Louis.

Given past voter backlashes against natural disaster responses that were considered to be inept, it’s no surprise that New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and other politicians took aggressive measures to prepare for the megastorm now lashing the East Coast, suggests Andrew Reeves, PhD, an expert on the politics of disaster relief at Washington University in St. Louis.

A commitment to free speech doesn’t justify us in lashing out at innocent people, says Greg Magarian, JD, professor of law and a First Amendment expert at Washington University in St. Louis, in the wake of the terrorist attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France.