Brazile and Steele Launch 2024 Road to White House Series
Former Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele kicked off Colgate’s Road to the White House series on Sept. 4. The Q&A session in Memorial Chapel, moderated by President Brian W. Casey, gave audience members a look at the election process, the 2024 presidential campaign, and the challenges facing America — all from the perspective of political party leadership.
On replacing the nominee
Brazile reminded the audience that, when the rest of the Democratic Party fled President Joe Biden’s side following his debate with Donald Trump on June 27, Vice President Kamala Harris was the only one publicly supporting the president’s campaign. Why? “[Biden’s delegates] represented 14 million Americans who voted in the primary,” she says. “Number two, the president had amended his [Federal Election Commission] reports to say Biden/Harris.”
This is a highly unusual practice — presidential and vice-presidential candidates typically hold separate accounts. It was a strong signal that Biden was hearing rumblings within his own party against his second-term candidacy as far back as September 2023, the point at which he made the changes. Very few took notice.
“I just wish these conversations had been taken seriously in my party,” Steele says. “It would be a different race today if you had Nikki Haley at the top of the ticket versus Donald Trump.”
Who’s at the party?
Nearly half of Americans are not affiliated with a political party, and Trump has made a particular kind of headway by pulling from the margins. “This is not a red or blue thing,” Steele says. “This is an American thing. This is how Americans are viewing themselves. There are far more people on the outskirts of hope that we walk by politically, that we ignore politically.”
According to survey data, those voters are typified by the white, female, suburban mom of two, divorced and living in New Hampshire, who, when asked why she likes Donald Trump, responds, “Because he is just like me.” And that voter is not abandoning Trump, because, as far as she is concerned, he has done what he said he would do, Steele says.
Of course, candidate Trump cannot necessarily be held to what he says on the stump. In a second Trump administration, “there will be an effort made to put in place a national ban on abortion, regardless of what anyone thinks or says,” Steele says. “What you’re seeing Trump do now — he’s testing some things to see how you’re going to react to it.”
Rocking the vote
Brazile and Steele lead the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Election Legitimacy Initiative. They use public education campaigns to help voters understand their rights, identify misinformation, register to vote and cast ballots, and make sure votes are accurately counted. The former party chairs made their case to the Colgate community from the chapel stage: We the people have the power. Don’t give it to the political parties.
“There are forces that are making it harder to register to vote,” Brazile says. “If you give the politicians and the parties power, they will use it against you.”
Brazile continued to explain that the primary process is not in the constitution and can be changed to widen the field of candidates. Furthermore, Kamala Harris’ candidacy has proven that a president can be selected in three months and a two-year campaign cycle is unnecessary. The country could adopt ranked voting. Election Day could be in spring rather than the dreary end of fall. It could be a national holiday. The ability to make these choices was given to the people by the founding fathers, who feared entrenched factionalism.
Steele suggested that the audience simply Google “Georgia voting” if they needed proof of the processes in play. “What is more galling to me is listening to and watching elected officials within my party target largely communities of color while, at the same time, they say, ‘Oh, we are the greatest party for black people.’ When I see what you did in Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia in the last cycle, don’t hand me that. And you shouldn’t take it.”
A call to the next generation
Steele and Brazile spoke directly to the students in the audience, calling on them to bring the power of their numbers to the ballot box and to be engaged citizens. “It is hard to say someone cheated when that number is big,” Steele says. “Our system is designed in an ironic and interesting way. It is hard to cheat the system. It has reinforced itself against fraud.”
Brazile remembered her own days as an activist, fighting alongside other college students to end South African apartheid and to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday. These advances took place during the conservative Reagan administration because, according to Brazile, the young people of America were galvanized and organized and the two political parties had strong relationships across the aisle.
“You have to understand the process, and then you have to work within it, and you can put pressure on it to make things happen,” Brazile says.
And that all starts now, with an election that is 60 days away. In spite of the party politics, voter suppression, and vitriol, “it’s still about us — it’s still about our hope and dreams,” Brazile says. “This is not Donald Trump’s country; it’s our country. This is not Kamala’s country; it’s our country. We have to take ownership of our citizenship and we have to learn how to believe in each other.”
The Road to the White House, Colgate’s 2024 Lecture Series, is presented by the Office of the President and Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs. Read more.
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- Chenango Nursery School Expands Thanks to Partnership With Hamilton Central SchoolsChenango Nursery School Expands Thanks to Partnership With Hamilton Central Schools ddevries@colgate.edu A new agreement between the Chenango Nursery School (CNS), the Hamilton Central School District (HCS), with help from Colgate University, will provide for 32 additional childcare slots at the nursery school this fall. A Hamilton institution since 1948, CNS has long provided childcare services to the local community, including for many Colgate faculty and staff. The University has played a role in assisting CNS through the years, including funding a $1.3 million physical expansion in 2013. According to Joanne Borfitz, AVP of Community Affairs, “CNS is an important community anchor providing necessary childcare services. In 2013 the University funded an expansion at its current location and we began talking about another addition but the partnership with HCS makes so much more sense. This is a great example of partners coming together to solve community challenges. The University is incredibly thankful to Hamilton Central for making this a reality.” CNS has long maintained a lengthy wait list for childcare, and Director Christina Buyea says the new agreement, which was approved by the Hamilton Central School Board on August 15, will provide the nursery school with access to five additional classrooms in the district’s building directly adjacent to the nursery school. These additional classrooms will ultimately enable CNS to increase its capacity to about 150 students, which includes an after-school program for approximately 40 children. “We’ve had a long waitlist for the last few years,” Buyea said, “This is something we talked about before COVID hit. Now, I’m happy to say that we do not have a waitlist and there are openings for new students. This might be the first time that CNS has ever had openings in the fall.” The new agreement benefits all parties involved, as school district officials say they have seen regular student enrollment decline at Hamilton Central by about 20% in the past 20 years. As a result, HCS has classrooms that are not being utilized. The classrooms are all move-in ready, and the only infrastructure investment needed for the partnership was the installation of new door locks and swipe cards for security purposes. “While this is a new expansion, our relationship with Chenango Nursery School has been a long-term partnership,” said HCS Superintendent Bill Dowsland. “We actually had discussions about expanding before COVID-19. When the pandemic struck, we needed the space for social distancing. This year, we revisited those conversations and are really excited to see this come together. It’s a great example of community partners working together to provide a much-needed service to our community. I’m thrilled we were able to make this happen. It will benefit all parties involved and is great for our entire community." HCS Business Director Matt Crumb said that in addition to filling a need within the community, the collaboration will also play a role in helping to acclimate local children to the district’s school setting. “We hope this is something that families see as a great benefit,” Crumb said. “It’s another piece attracting people to this community and ultimately we see it as helping to stabilize or increase our enrollment.” Families looking for more information about childcare at CNS can email director@
chenangonurseryschool.org, or call 315-824-1810.Institutional News News and Updates Faculty & Staff Chenango Nursery School in its additional space at Hamilton Central School (Photo by Bernie Freytag) - Colgate University Introduces Narcan (Naloxone) Access and Training to Campus CommunityColgate University Introduces Narcan (Naloxone) Access and Training to Campus Community rdowning@colgate.edu Colgate University’s Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAD) is working to address the dangers of the national opioid epidemic through a new initiative that provides education, training, and the installation of emergency naloxone stations at several locations across campus. Naloxone is the generic name for Narcan, the widely used drug designed to treat accidental opioid exposure or overdoses in emergency situations. Despite a significant increase in fentanyl-related overdose deaths among young people, a study published in May in the journal JAMA Pediatrics found that fewer than 15 percent of U.S. college students are able to administer the life-saving medication to someone experiencing an overdose. Colgate’s new initiative is now offering training on administering naloxone, distributing free naloxone kits, and educating students about the dangers of opioid overdose. “We must do everything possible to educate students about accidental exposure to fentanyl and fatal opioid-related overdoses; however, education alone will not save a student’s life,” said Paul J. McLoughlin II, vice president and dean of the college. “While Campus Safety officers have Narcan available for emergencies, the national epidemic of overdose fatalities led CAD to make naloxone more readily available to students on campus. I am happy to support and recognize their efforts with this new initiative to protect our students.” A campus-wide coalition of staff, faculty, and students, CAD is charged by the dean of the college with overseeing Colgate’s approach to addressing high-risk behavior and misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Formed in 2023, CAD focuses on the education, prevention, and response to problematic consumption of substances. Naloxone training has been added to the educational sessions required of student organizations in order to host social events. Similar workshops are being offered to the student body at large as well as staff and faculty members. The 60-minute presentation includes information on the dangers of opioids, how to recognize an overdose, the use of naloxone to reverse an opioid overdose, and additional support resources. Participants receive a naloxone kit to have on hand. The kits contain a set of gloves, two doses of naloxone, a face shield, rescue strips, a resource card, and fentanyl testing strips. Community members can sign up for an upcoming training or contact the Shaw Wellness Institute at wellness@colgate.edu for more information. Later this month, purple access stations will be installed in five locations on campus to provide free naloxone kits to members of the community. The stations look similar to a newspaper stand and display information on how to recognize an overdose; how to administer the nasal spray; a warning about counterfeit drugs that contain fentanyl; the station locations on campus; contact information in case of overdose emergency; and contacts for health and wellness resources both on and off campus. The naloxone access station locations will include:Shaw Wellness Center foyer (accessible 24/7) Case-Geyer Library fifth floor (accessible 24/7) Frank Dining Hall O’Connor Campus Center Trudy Fitness Center “Naloxone is a life-saving tool, but its effectiveness depends on both the medication’s availability at the right moment and someone who knows how to use it” said Dr. Ellen Larson ’94, director of Colgate’s Student Health Services. “By making Naloxone kits accessible to students and the campus community, we aim to ensure that the medication is available in the spaces where it is needed, when it is needed.” Colgate is actively partnering with BRiDGES, the Madison County Council on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse, which has provided support in multiple ways, including partial funding for the Narcan access stations, training sessions, and kits for distribution. “Being able to partner with Colgate has helped open doors in other areas across Madison County,” said Amanda Mullenax, community opioid outreach coordinator at BRiDGES. “Colgate’s openness and receptiveness to actions that reduce the stigma of substance use disorder help pave the way for future harm reduction measures. This program gives everyone the power and encouragement and tools to save a life.” “Our two-pronged approach of prevention and harm reduction is about kindness and respect, at the intersection of compassion and community,” said Stephen Elfenbein, alcohol and drug services counselor/coordinator and CAD co-chair. Of the initiative’s origins, he said, “Back in Spring 2023, Shaw Wellness Ambassador Ellie Marotta ’25 did incredible research on the opioid epidemic and how it has impacted college campuses.” A chemistry major from Brick, N.J., Marotta identified successful initiatives such as awareness campaigns, and her work led to the development of a presentation on fentanyl reduction practices. “At this point in our lives, it’s important to be informed and make smart, educated decisions,” said Marotta. “We are still growing and developing as people and it’s important for students at Colgate to have that knowledge and prevention strategies in their toolbox in case they find themselves in a situation where it’s critically needed.” Educational programming began with Train The Trainers for the Shaw Wellness Ambassadors. “Our Shaw Wellness Ambassadors are critical to the success of this work,” said Rachel Evans, director of wellness promotion and CAD co-chair. “We are fortunate to have several of our ambassadors involved directly on the Council for Alcohol and Other Drugs, and a number of others who are involved in outreach and education pieces such as social media and poster campaigns.” The Narcan awareness initiative is just one aspect of CAD’s work, which broadly focuses on educating students — should they choose not to abstain — on the importance of knowing what they are consuming and the dangers of mixing substances. The council also seeks to underscore the importance of Colgate’s Good Samaritan and medical amnesty policies, which help students to seek medical care for themselves and their peers in situations where consumption of alcohol or other drugs leads to a medical or life-threatening emergency. “We are very appreciative to work in a community that works together to take these proactive steps,” said Dawn LaFrance, assistant vice president of wellness. “Education and harm reduction strategies are our keys to success in keeping our campus safe.” Learn More: Alcohol and Other Drugs Services at ColgateWellness Faculty & Staff Student
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Chief Mark Tayac, Piscataway Indian Nation, and Rebecca Mendelsohn, co-director of Colgate University Museums and curator of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, sign repatriation transfer paperwork. Photo by Mark DiOrio During the ceremony, held at the end of the spring semester, Chief Tayac noted that his people were given original instructions by the Creator. “The last instruction is to return to Mother Earth,” Tayac said. “Today, we are helping this Ancestor fulfill that original instruction and to rest in peace. If your grandparents died, you would be sad, and you want them to rest in peace. That is what we want, too.” Provost Cushing described the ceremony as “tremendously moving. It was an honor to have been invited to this momentous event, to meet and learn from Chief Tayac and his delegation, and to participate in the solemn ceremony of return,” she said. “I am grateful to work with colleagues in our museums at Colgate who pursue their work with such care, sensitivity, and thoughtfulness, and who are committed to redressing historical wrongs in our collections practices.” The Ancestor was brought to the University — for inclusion in Colgate’s teaching collection — by sociology and anthropology professor Frederick Hulse, through a transfer from T.D. Stewart, curator of the physical anthropology department at the U.S. National Museum (now the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). While NAGPRA requires the return of Ancestors to Bands, Nations, and Tribes recognized by the U.S. Government, this particular individual was identified as a member of the Piscataway peoples. The Piscataway Indian Nations and Choptico Band of Indians of the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe were recognized by the State of Maryland in 2012. Colgate first reported knowledge of the Ancestor to National NAGPRA in 2004, but efforts to return them to their people began in earnest in 2021, more than seven decades after their arrival. Co-director of University Museums and Curator of the Longyear Museum of Anthropology Rebecca Mendelsohn and former Curatorial Assistant and NAGPRA Coordinator Kaytlynn Lynch sent initial letters inviting consultation with state and federally recognized Nations near St. Mary’s County, Md. That year, Rico Newman, elder of the Choptico Band of Indians of the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe, responded with a proposal for the respectful disposition of the Ancestral remains in coordination with other Piscataway tribes. Anticipating forward movement, Repatriation Manager Kelsey Olney-Wall, Community Liaison Lisa Latocha (Oneida Indian Nation), with the support of Curatorial Assistant Summer Frazier (Onondaga Nation), began the necessary research required to support a return, including historical site information, land claims, and inventories. That work, carried out in 2022, was rewarded in early 2023, when the team received replies from Chief Tayac and, subsequently, Tribal Administrator Reggie Tupponce of the federally recognized Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe in Virginia. Administrator Tupponce supported the return under NAGPRA guidelines, while the Piscataway were represented by Tayac and Newman. Community Liaison Lisa Latocha of the Oneida Indian Nation and Chief Mark Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation share a moment at the Oneida rock at Colgate University. Photo by Mark DiOrio “As hard as this work is — when it seems impossible — it’s not. Even if you have little to no information, even if it seems like it’s not going to work, you have to keep going. You have to make sure that all Ancestors are returned home,” says Olney-Wall. “That’s where they should have been all along. We never should have had any Ancestors to begin with. To me, it’s a privilege to be able to work with these Nations, to not have their Ancestors be in boxes on shelves, to return them to their families, to return them to rest.” Staff submitted their research and supporting documents to National NAGPRA in November of 2023, and an announcement was published in the Federal Register in January of 2024 to declare the Ancestor’s cultural affiliation and solicit comment. These official acts and consistent outreach to tribal representatives culminated in the April 30 ceremony — “a historic moment,” in the words of Chief Tayac. Landeros underscored the importance of this return for everyone involved in the complex process. “When it comes to the burial of our Ancestors, that is their final resting place. That is where they remain so that they can walk with their Ancestors. To be removed brings them back to this world. They are stuck here, in this realm of human beings. Imagine being at rest for hundreds of years, then being ripped back. Our Ancestors have to go back into the ground — this allows them to rest. Our Ancestors are not your objects.”News and Updates Faculty & Staff museums and galleries Longyear Museum picker art gallery
- 2024 Constitution Day Debate on Sept. 12 Takes on Campus Free Speech and Academic Freedom2024 Constitution Day Debate on Sept. 12 Takes on Campus Free Speech and Academic Freedom sdevries@colgate.edu Free speech on campus will be the focus of this fall’s 2024 Constitution Day Debate: “‘Snowflakes,’ Truth, and the Future of Academic Freedom,” featuring Keith Whittington of Yale Law School, author of Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech, and Ulrich Baer of New York University, author of What Snowflakes Get Right: Free Speech, Truth, and Equality on Campus. The annual debate will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Sept. 12 in Love Auditorium and is sponsored by the Forum on Constitutional Government and the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization. Zoom information will be available before the event, and additional fall 2024 event information for the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization will be available later in August. Debate moderator and Professor of Political Science Stanley Brubaker: “It’s been a challenging time for higher education. War in the Middle East has found its echo in campus demonstrations, occupations, counter demonstrations, and charges of anti-semitism. Progressives have called for boycotts. Conservatives bemoan political correctness and the lack of intellectual diversity. Legislators in many states threaten to ban the training and teaching of what they call ‘divisive concepts.’ Donors ask whether their funds are being properly used. Parents question whether a college education is worth its price. Caught in the crosscurrents, presidents of several Ivy League schools have been forced to step down. “At the heart of these controversies is the issue of the mission of higher education, and within that, the question of the proper character and scope of academic freedom. For the modern academy, no question is more pressing or more fundamental. With Keith Whittington and Ulrich Baer, we are fortunate to bring to campus two of the leading voices on these issues.” Colgate celebrates Constitution Day each year by bringing to campus seasoned experts in their fields to debate topics facing the nation and encourage informed discourse among students. Since 2005, Colgate has hosted a debate on campus focused on a variety of constitutional issues, including the constitutionality of the administrative state, abortion, affirmative action in college admissions, NSA surveillance, and free speech vs. hate speech. There will be a limited number of books from each speaker available for guests, and a book signing will follow the debate. Keith E. Whittington is the David Boies Professor of law at Yale Law School. In addition to You Can't Teach That!, he is the author of Repugnant Laws: Judicial Review of Acts of Congress from the Founding to the Present (which won the Thomas M. Cooley Book Prize), Speak Freely: Why Universities Must Defend Free Speech (which won the PROSE Award for best book in education and the Heterodox Academy Award for Exceptional Scholarship), Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy (which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award for best book in law and courts as well as the J. David Greenstone Award for best book in politics and history), and several other works on constitutional theory and law and politics. Whittington has spent most of his career at Princeton University, where he served as the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of politics from 2006 to 2024. He has also held visiting appointments at Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard Law School, and the University of Texas School of Law. He is the founding chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance’s Academic Committee and has served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. A graduate of Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin, Whittington has written extensively for a general audience. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Reason, and Lawfare. He blogs at the Volokh Conspiracy and hosts the Academic Freedom podcast. Ulrich Baer is university professor at New York University, where he teaches literature and photography and serves as director of NYU’s Center for the Humanities. A recipient of Getty, Humboldt, and Guggenheim fellowships, he has twice been honored with NYU’s student-nominated Golden Dozen Teaching Award. His analysis of free speech in the 21st century university in What Snowflakes Get Right deepens his widely debated defense of the university’s obligation to use free speech as a tool to create knowledge by the greatest number of participants first made in 2017 in the New York Times. As a writer, translator, and scholar, Baer believes passionately in the transformative power of ideas and books and that real conversations play a key role in our evolution as conscious, responsible, and compassionate people — hence, his publications, including single-authored and edited books, his commitment to higher education, and his podcasts. Baer’s published oeuvre includes books on a range of topics, including poetry, photography, free speech, September 11, Holocaust testimonies, as well as a dystopian novel (We Are But a Moment, 2017), and a collection of stories (Beggar’s Chicken: Stories from Shanghai, 2012). Baer was born in Germany, moved to the United States as a teenager, and attended college at Berkeley and Harvard (where he reports concentrating in varsity crew). He received his MPhil and PhD in comparative literature from Yale. He is the father of two children, an avid urban gardener, and an eternal beginner in Shaolin kung fu.Academics Centers and Institutes People News and Updates Faculty & Staff