Sophie Hayssen

My Work

Teen Vogue •

UVA Tried To Shut Down Its Historical Tours Discussing Slavery. These Students Resisted.

Stay up-to-date with the politics team. Sign up for the Teen Vogue TakeFor decades, the University of Virginia relied on the student-run group, University Guide Services (UGS), to lead admissions and historical tours on campus. That changed earlier this year when the university ended the group's special status designation. UGS leaders saw the move as part of a larger crackdown on history and truth-telling that is happening across the nation. Now, with the support of the student body, student gui...
Prism •

Universities used pro-Palestine protests to expand surveillance

In the aftermath of pro-Palestinian encampments last year, colleges across the country announced new policies that effectively ban many forms of protest. In addition to chilling dissent, the new university rules also allow for campus surveillance and overreach by law enforcement. 


As part of the new policies, some universities outright ban encampments, while others place restrictions on the time, place, and shape protests can take. In some cases, schools made it more difficult for students to...
Mother Jones •

These Clergy Abuse Survivors Had a Chance to Find Justice. Then Their Diocese Filed for Bankruptcy.

When Teresa Lancaster was a teenager in the 1970s, she was raped by a chaplain at her Catholic high school in Baltimore. But when she and another survivor, Jean Wehner, sued the chaplain and the diocese decades later, the court rejected their case, saying too much time had passed under Maryland law. Lancaster, by then in her mid-40s, enrolled in law school with one goal: to lift the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits.

“It was crushing,” she said about losing the lawsuit. “I...
Mother Jones •

A new documentary goes behind the scenes of Christian nationalism

The new documentary Bad Faith, directed by Stephen Ujlaki and Christopher Jacob Jones, begins with footage familiar to many Americans: an army of insurrectionists adorned in stars, stripes, and military gear storming the Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. It was a watershed moment that left many Americans wondering how we got here. Bad Faith seeks to help answer that question by looking at a crucial reason why American democracy ended up at a precipice: the rise of C...
Mother Jones •

These Child Sex Abuse Victims Had an Opportunity to Get Justice. The Louisiana Supreme Court Took It Away.

As a teen in the 1990s, Zack was routinely abused by an older man affiliated with his Louisiana church. Zack, who asked that his real name not be used to protect his privacy, said his abuser often made him feel as though he was responsible for the molestation, despite the fact that he was a minor. When the abuse came to light, his church did nothing to dispel this feeling: His attacker was asked to leave the church for a year before being allowed to return. In the years that followed, Zack saw r...
Mother Jones •

United Methodist Church repeals ban on LGBTQ clergy

On Wednesday, the United Methodist Church repealed its 1984 ban on LGBTQ clergy with an overwhelming 692–51 vote by church leaders at its general conference. The conference, which ends on May 3, has also resulted in the church rolling back several other anti-LGBTQ policies, including bans on performing gay marriage and funding queer-friendly ministries.

The passage of these measures heralded a new era for the church. At the convention in 2019, delegates, made up of both clergy and laypeople, vo...
Mother Jones •

How former fundamentalists are finding healing on Reddit

Millie isn’t always comfortable talking to her friends about her childhood. She grew up Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB), a strict branch of the Baptist faith in which pastors have unquestioned authority over their flock. Each summer, Millie was homeschooled by a woman from her church to counteract the “liberal brainwashing” her parents believed she was receiving at her Pentecostal school. (She recalls one of her summer readings arguing that enslaved people enjoyed their servitude.) But Mil...
Teen Vogue •

Every Trump Indictment, Explained

Over the last year, details about Donald Trump’s indictments and trial updates have flooded the news cycle. And if you’ve lost track of where his cases stand, no one can blame you. It’s a lot. So here's every Trump indictment, explained.Initially, the 2024 Republican presidential candidate faced 91 indictments across four cases. In late May, Trump was found guilty on all 34 charges in a New York case concerning hush money payments he made during his presidential campaign. Trump still has 54 outs...
Mother Jones •

The Lizzo lawsuit shows you can't have representation without labor rights

On Tuesday, Lizzo was hit with a lawsuit from three of her former dancers, who allege that they faced a hostile work environment while employed by the singer. The suit, which also names Lizzo’s production company and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley, includes numerous complaints about sexual, racial, religious, and disability harassment, as well as assault.

The news is particularly disappointing for fans of Lizzo, given her purported commitment to social justice issues and to empowering plus-...
Teen Vogue •

Child Labor Is Still Common in the United States

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.While most kids looked forward to summer break, José Velázquez Castellano did not. An undocumented immigrant and the son of a single mother who had immigrated to the US from Mexico at age 17, Castellano spent his summers working in the scorching-hot fields of North Carolina. When he was eight, he took a job picking blueberries. By his teens, Castellano had moved on to picking tobacco...
Teen Vogue •

The Union-Busting Roots of the Oscars

The story of the Academy Awards starts with Louis B. Mayer’s beach house. In 1926, Mayer was working as West Coast chief for the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a position vested with extreme wealth and power. As film critic and historian David Thompson wrote in Vanity Fair, Mayer wanted to build his family a relaxing getaway, and to do so quickly. Conventional laborers would be too slow, he thought, so he decided to use studio construction workers, who he knew could work fast. Previously, thea...
Teen Vogue •

This Supreme Court Case Is ‘an Assault’ on Native Children

At age nine, tragedy struck Autumn Adams’ life. Her father passed away and her mother was deemed unfit to care for her, leaving Adams with an uncertain future. Adams, who is a member of the Yakama Nation, a federally recognized Native tribe, recalls overhearing officers from Child Protective Services discuss the possibility of moving her to a non-Native home if they couldn’t soon find a Native family to place her with. The idea terrified her. “At that point in my life, I had everything I recogni...
Teen Vogue •

This Conservative Organization Has a Huge Say on Who Is on the Supreme Court

Just days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, a crowd of protesters swarmed the entrance to the University Club in midtown Manhattan. The exclusive New York social club was hosting a meeting of the Federalist Society, a self-described “group of conservatives and libertarians interested in the current state of the legal order.” Society members waded through a sea of protesters from the NYC Democratic Socialists of America and NYC for Abortion Rights to chants of “Shame on you!” and middle fingers w...
Teen Vogue •

The Inside History of ‘Disorientation’ Guides for College Students

Weeks into my freshman year at Wesleyan University, I stumbled across a booklet on one of the marble benches inside the echoing halls of Olin Library. Peeking out from among other campus literature, copies of Wesleyan’s student newspaper, and flyers advertising school events, the booklet’s cover caught my eye. The word “disorientation” was written several times in wobbly, black and white letters on the front.In that fall of 2015, I had just concluded the long admissions process filled with nerve...
Teen Vogue •

What’s Wrong With the Nonprofit Industrial Complex?

Amid persistent upheaval, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade and mass protests over police brutality, donating to nonprofits has become a go-to response to crises. But with the influx of giving, debates have surfaced about which nonprofits deserve the public’s hard-earned cash.David Hammack, a history professor at Case Western Reserve University, defines nonprofits as formal, self-governing, voluntary, private organizations that don’t distribute profits and provide a public benefit. This d...
Teen Vogue •

These Midterm Races Will Determine Control of Congress

The stakes are high for the 2022 midterms. President Biden’s approval rating has dropped and Democrats are preparing to fight a potential red wave. With Democratic control of the House and Senate in the balance, Biden’s ability to continue to push his agenda is at risk. Currently, Democrats hold a 12-seat majority in the House and have a tie-breaking vote in Vice President Kamala Harris in the Senate. These thin majorities mean every race counts.The general election is in November and primaries...
Teen Vogue •

10 Great Recently Banned Books to Check Out

Teen Vogue compiled a list of some of the contemporary books being challenged that touch on sexuality, gender identity, abuse, death, racism, and other sensitive subjects that affect the everyday lives of teens.Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evinson, has been challenged at schools in several states, including Minnesota, Texas, and North Carolina. According to its publisher, Lawn Boy tells the story of “a young man determined to achieve the American dream of happiness and prosperity — who just so happens...
Teen Vogue •

How A 19th-Century Law Is Influencing Debates on Sex Ed

America’s relationship with sex feels particularly fraught these days, from attacks on contraception to the criminalization of abortion and protests against LGBTQ-inclusive sex ed. The intensity of these political fights may seem shocking or even unprecedented. But the tactics and messages of modern conservative activists can be traced all the way back to the crusading 19th-century anti-vice activist Anthony Comstock.Comstock, a bitter opponent of abortion and contraception, helped spearhead the...
Teen Vogue •

This Supreme Court Case Secured Students’ Right to Protest

This article is part of In Session: The Teen Vogue Lesson Plan. Find the full lesson plan here.Thirteen-year-old Mary Beth Tinker didn’t know she was making history when she went to junior high school on December 16, 1965, wearing a black armband in protest of the Vietnam War. After being called into the principal’s office and suspended for her statement, she thought that was the end of the whole ordeal. But, with help from the ACLU, this small act of defiance by a self-described “goody-goody” a...
Teen Vogue •

What It’s Like to Be From an Unrecognized Tribe

The Winnemem Wintu tribe of California say they are on the verge of an “ethnocide.” A plan to raise the nearby Shasta Dam would flood the few sacred sites they have left, and drastically impact the local salmon population, which, as a keystone species, is responsible for maintaining the region’s ecology.The salmon population was already hurt by the Shasta Dam’s creation in the 1940s. Winnemem cultural preservation officer Michael Preston explains to Teen Vogue that in Winnemem mythology, salmon...
Teen Vogue •

What Young West Virginians Want Joe Manchin To Know

Over the past 20 years, West Virginia’s politics have undergone a radical transformation. George W. Bush won the state in the 2000 presidential election, which was once considered solidly blue. Since then the state has trended in a steeply conservative direction. Republicans have controlled every level of state government since 2018, and in 2020, Donald Trump won the state by almost 40 points. Now, West Virginia and its politics can be found at the center of the struggle to maintain American dem...
Teen Vogue •

How McCarthy’s Anti-Communist ‘Red Scare’ Is Still Relevant Today

During a 1950 speech to the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joe McCarthy made a bold accusation: Communists, he said, waving a piece of paper in his hand, had infiltrated the U.S. State Department.“I have here in my hand a list of 205 — a list of names that were made known to the secretary of state as being members of the Communist Party, and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department,” he said.No one in the Republican Party had expe...
Teen Vogue •

How Students Have Been Advocating for Laid-Off Campus Workers

LaTonya Chamberliss Borden spent nine years working as a dining hall cashier at the College of William & Mary. Her favorite part of the job, she said, was getting to know the students.“I feel like I have a bunch of different hats on when I’m at work,” she told Teen Vogue. “A lot of us have friendships with the students. We’re the person they can come and talk to when they’re going through something and need some advice or encouragement, so we’re not just dining workers.”In March 2020, Borden los...
Teen Vogue •

Union Activity Is Ramping Up on College Campuses

In the final days of her 2020 summer break, rising junior Melissa Francois headed to Martha’s Vineyard for a vacation before her scheduled return as a resident assistant (RA) at UMass Amherst. An out-of-state student from New York, Francois brought along her belongings so she could head directly to school after vacation. When UMass switched to remote learning in the spring, she had been fortunate to keep her job; but on her last day in Martha’s Vineyard, she received an email that said she would...
Load More