For an estimated 8.3 members of Gen Z, it will be the first general election in which they are eligible to vote. And Fordham is doing its part to help get them to the polls, said Lesley A. Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations. 

In addition to partnering with the organizers of National Voter Registration Day, her office will be announcing initiatives in the coming weeks to help people register and—most importantly—exercise their right to vote.

“As Fordham people for others, we have a responsibility to be citizens engaged in the civic life of our local, state, and national communities,” she said. 

“For students who have not yet registered to vote, we can help provide the start of their lifelong engagement.”

Here are a few things you should know to fulfill your civic duty.

When is the next general election?

Tuesday, Nov. 5

What races will be on the ballot?

In addition to the president and vice president, Americans will choose who will hold all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. Thirteen state and territorial governorships and numerous other state and local elections will also be up for grabs.

Who can vote?

You can vote if you:

—are a United States citizen (either by birth or naturalization)

—meet your state’s residency requirements

—are at least 18 years old. Some states allow 17-year-olds to pre-register if they will be 18 before the general election; however, you must be 18 to vote.

When is the last day to register to vote?

In some states, the deadline is as early as Oct. 4. In New York state, the registration deadline is Oct. 26 for both online and paper applications. A full list of deadlines for registering can be found here.

I am a student at Fordham. Can I vote in New York?

Yes! If you are interested in political issues that affect the state, you can register using your current New York state address. Detailed instructions on how to do so can be found here. 

How can I get an absentee ballot to vote in my home state? 

Rules vary by state, but in general, you can apply for an absentee ballot and vote in your home state. Visit Vote.org for information.

Who should I vote for? 

We can’t tell you that, but there are several great nonpartisan voter information sites that offer information on candidates, including their biographies, voting records, positions on issues, and campaign contributors. Visit Vote Smart, Vote 411, or Ballot Ready for more.

“Students taking classes across the broad range of our undergraduate curriculum—from music, theater, and media to political science, theology, and more—saw their coursework come to life through the Met’s world-renowned productions,” said Laura Auricchio, Ph.D., dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center. 

First-Timers at the Opera 

Most recently, nearly 200 students attended X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, a musical interpretation of the life of the iconic civil rights leader. Among the students was Cambria Martinez, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who studies communications and culture. The Nov. 14 performance was her first time at an opera. 

“The closest I’ve ever gotten is listening to one song from The Phantom of the Opera,” she said, chuckling. 

Martinez attended the performance as part of the course Photography, Identity, Power. “It’s about visuals and how we can use specific artistic mediums to tell a deeper, more powerful story,” she said. “[In X] I think of the scene … an empty stage with just the chair that had fallen, and we all knew that was a symbol of [Malcolm’s] anger, his rage. … How does that simple visual mean something greater to the rest of us?” 

For Allison Anwalimhobor, a junior at Fordham College at Lincoln Center who majors in political science and minors in music, the event was an opportunity to experience not only her first opera, but one that pushed the boundaries of the art form.

“Musically, it was very different because the opera wasn’t very traditional, from what I understand,” said Anwalimhobor, who attended the opera as part of a classical vocal instruction course. “It was nice to get acquainted with a new genre and style of music.”

A Longstanding Relationship

Fordham has long held ties to the Met Opera. Ever since the famed opera house opened its doors at Lincoln Center in 1966, scores of students and staff have attended its shows, including the men’s basketball team. Others have participated in conversations surrounding the performances, including President Tania Tetlow, who recently welcomed members of the Met’s Dead Man Walking to a poignant discussion about the opera, art, and faith. In addition, former members of the Fordham community have worked with the opera house, including Tony Award winner Clint Ramos, dancer Erin Moore, FCLC ’05, director Michael Mayer, and Bronx Arts Ensemble founder William Scribner.

Through a new initiative, hundreds of members of the Fordham community were able to  experience the grandeur of the Met Opera this year. Using funds from Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s endowment from the Mellon Foundation, the FCLC Office of the Dean, Center on Religion and Culture, and the Office of Government Relations and Urban Affairs worked together to purchase group tickets for four productions, including Dialogues de Carmélites and Champion, and distribute them to courses whose curriculum intersects with the opera. 

This fall, for example, students saw a dress rehearsal of Dead Man Walking, which is based on a bestselling memoir written by a nun who tries to save the soul of a condemned murderer. The tickets were given to courses that touch on the topic of capital punishment or faith. Students were also given copies of the original bestselling book by Sister Helen Prejean. 

Encouraging Students to ‘Embrace the Arts’ 

For Samuel Scriven, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, attending the Met Opera was nothing new. (He had already attended the Met twice.) What was different this time around was the contemporary nature of X—the avant-garde musical choices, jazz elements, and political commentary—and the groundbreaking nature of the performance itself, he said. 

“Now we have the Met making intentional choices to put the work of Black composers on stage. That hadn’t happened in Met history until 2021,” said Scriven, a music major who attended X through the course Music in the Modernist Age. 

“I was really glad that [Fordham] wanted to take advantage of the fact that the opera is right next door to us—and arguably one of the best performance stages in the world for this kind of thing,” Scriven said. “I’m glad to know that they want to encourage us students to embrace the arts.”

Please find the participating offices, programs, and partners below:

Fordham Westchester
Constitutions will be available at the security desk in the lobby.

Fordham students welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to New York City when she arrived at LaGuardia Airport on Air Force Two on April 14.

The vice president was in town to attend the National Action Network’s 2023 Convention. Two days prior to her arrival, her office reached out to Fordham to invite students to meet her.

Claudia Dabie, a Fordham College at Rose Hill student and a member of Fordham’s Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP) program, said the moment when Air Force Two landed was “so majestic.” Then the vice president approached the Fordham group.

“She started walking towards us, and she started saying hi. And she was smiling and she’s so nice,” said Dabie. “It was amazing. I loved it.”

Lesley A. Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations at Fordham, said that when the invitation was extended, she jumped at the chance to recruit as many Fordham students as possible.

By reaching out to CSTEP, as well as Fordham’s Higher Education Opportunity Program, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, the Office of Student Involvement, and several members of the Fordham faculty, she was able to send a list of interested students and arrange for transportation from both campuses with the generous support of the office of Fordham President Tania Tetlow.

Massiah-Arthur submitted the names of 135 students and around 70 received invitations from The White House. She said that officials in Harris’ office were so impressed with Fordham’s quick and enthusiastic response, they will be inviting the students who did not receive an invitation to this event to a future event when the vice president returns to New York City.

The invitation is a testament to the University’s standing, she said.

“I still remember to this day the first opportunities that I had to engage with elected officials, and I think it’s important that students get those opportunities,” she said.

“So when this opportunity came up, I didn’t think that it was something we could pass up. Regardless of your political affiliations or your beliefs, there should still be a fundamental belief that engaging in a political dynamic and engaging in democracy is the best way of affirming change. By participating in this opportunity, we’ve taken one more step in doing that.”

—Video by Hector Martinez

As she waited for other community members to arrive, she caught up with an old friend, Pat Ryan. Ryan is a long-time resident who has served as president of the Resident Association for Amsterdam Addition. Though she stepped down some time ago, many residents see her as the “mayor” and go to her with a range of issues.

The two were meeting with other community leaders because Massiah-Arthur was unable to attend the 75th-anniversary celebration of the Amsterdam Community Collective this past summer. She wanted to congratulate them and simply touch base. The celebration was a standout among the many efforts the community sponsors and Fordham supports.

As Massiah-Arthur helped Ryan decipher the winnings from her lottery scratch-off tickets, the two reminisced about the time Ryan testified before the City Planning Commission in support of a new law school and residence hall at the Lincoln Center campus. She was one of many in the community that stepped up to help Fordham at that meeting.

“I said a lot that day,” Ryan said, recalling her key testimony before the commission in 2009.

All Politics Are Local

When people think of the Office of Government Relations and Urban Affairs, and Massiah-Arthur’s work in particular, they often conjure an image of her working the halls of the State Capitol or City Hall to secure state funds for the new McShane Student Center arcade or teaming with city agencies to secure funding for the Mentoring Latinas program and the Bronx African-American History Project. But all politics are local, and the locals have a long memory, said Massiah-Arthur.

She added that without the support of Ryan, the development of the Law School building and McKeon Hall would have had a much harder time getting past the City Planning Commission. At the time, Ryan told the community-focused Commissioner Amanda Burden that seeing a university on their block would be a source of inspiration for young people who live there.

This wasn’t the way that Massiah-Arthur was told it would play out. Naysayers warned her that she wouldn’t be able to get community support from the housing projects.

“That was a lie. This has been the easiest relationship I’ve ever had,” said Massiah-Arthur, who credited not only the work of her office, but also that of students volunteers from Fordham Football and the men’s basketball team, the CSTEP Program, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, and the Graduate School of Social Service for fostering and maintaining good will over the years. From handing out back-to-school backpacks to providing funds for turkey giveaways at Thanksgiving and participating in the annual Family Day, Massiah-Arthur said that Fordham students, faculty, and staff have helped whenever they could.

Sometimes requests, like one for a  generator after a storm knocked out the lights, could not be met for insurance reasons. But Massiah-Arthur said the University did accommodate residents’ request for security cameras. They had been promised by elected officials but were never delivered. Fordham had them installed, which in turn prompted legislators to provide funds for additional cameras.

Ryan agreed that the relationship with Fordham has been strong over the years, and credited the University’s continued support, such as donations to a fund that the collective taps into to award scholarships. Massiah-Arthur’s honesty plays a part as well, she said.

“That’s because Lesley is the truth. Okay? Because she’s a lady of her word,” said Ryan. “And when she says something, it happens. If she could do it, she does it. If she can’t, then she can’t.”

An Unexpected Meeting

But the relationship isn’t just about trading favors. Sometimes it’s just about listening, said Massiah-Arthur. In time, Massiah-Arthur came to realize that others in power needed to listen to the residents too.  So she arranged a meeting between the University and the general manager of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and brought the residents with her to discuss all the items on their to-do list.

“They were people who by definition should not have been able to have gotten a meeting, but needed a meeting,” said Massiah-Arthur.

The bait-and-switch meeting got results; residents got extra dumpsters, the generator, and other needs met. The important thing for Massiah-Arthur was that the residents spoke for themselves.

“They could pull it together on their own. For me, it was important to do it because when I saw the men and women who walked into that room, they reminded me of my great aunts, they reminded me of my grandmother,” said Massiah-Arthur. “These are women who didn’t need anybody to speak for them. If you just ask them what they wanted, they’ll tell you.”

“Mm-hmm,” responded Ryan, knowingly nodding in agreement.

On March 15, the American Council on Education announced that Massiah-Arthur and 45 others had been named ACE Fellows for the 2022-2023 academic year. The highly competitive program, which attracts applicants from institutions from across the nation, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in U.S. higher education by preparing faculty and staff for senior positions in college and university administration. About 2,500 higher ed leaders have participated in the program.

As part of the fellowship, Massiah-Arthur will join the leadership team of another higher education institution that she will choose this spring. In the fall, she will visit her host institution periodically to observe and work with the president and other senior officers, attend decision-making meetings, and focus on issues of interest. She will also conduct a project of pressing concern to the host institution and seek to implement her findings upon completion of the fellowship placement.

Massiah-Arthur said she’s particularly interested in learning more about how institutions set priorities in moments of crisis, and ultimately, who is responsible for making those decisions? In other words, where exactly does the buck stop?

“If you’ve been at an institution for a certain amount of time, it becomes easy for you to become ingrained in how it works and functions,” she said.

“That’s a good thing because it’s important to know what the mission of the institution is. But by the same token, you might not be able to look at processes for leadership or decision-making in an objective way, because you’ve been ingrained in those thought processes.”

Massiah-Arthur is the first Fordham employee to become an ACE fellow. She said she’s excited to share the knowledge she’s gained from her time at Fordham with the administrators of her host institution and to bring fresh perspectives back when she completes the fellowship.

“I really want to thank Father McShane for his support and for putting forth my nomination. It really means a lot to me that he values not only what I’ve done but that he values the potential of what I can do,” she said.

Fordham’s Collegiate Science Technology and Entry Program (CSTEP), a program that prepares minority and economically disadvantaged students for careers in fields in which they are underrepresented, has helped her find an academic and social home on campus.

So when administrators asked her to participate in early February in a meeting with New York state legislators who will determine how much funding the program receives from the state, she jumped at the chance.

“Anything they need, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,’” said Rosario, a psychology major who commutes to campus from the Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx.

“I feel like I owe them everything.”

Rosario described Fordham’s CSTEP office as a locus of serendipity, part of her daily routine, where she connects with students she might not otherwise meet and chats with them about internships and research opportunities, among other topics.

“In a cliché way, we are like a community. We’re there for each other, no questions asked,” she said.

An Annual New York State Tradition

Fordham has participated in Advocacy Day, an annual event held over two days in Albany, for the better part of two decades, said Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations. In the past, that meant busing 40 or so students to the capital; since 2021, however, the meetings have been held via Zoom. On Feb 1 and 2, 60 Fordham students took part in 45 meetings, including one attended by New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins.

This year, Fordham requested an increase of $1.4 million for student aid and academic pipeline programs. For Fordham CSTEP, this would increase state funding to $17.3 million; for STEP, which serves junior high and high school students, it would increase state funding to $22.8 million. Fordham is currently home to 300 CSTEP students enrolled at Rose Hill, and 590 STEP students are enrolled at both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses.

The request also includes funding for the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), the Liberty Partnership Program (LLP), Direct Institutional Aid (Bundy Aid), and the Enhancing Supports and Services for Students with Disabilities for Postsecondary Success Program (SWDPS). Students and staff from HEOP and LLP also participated in the meetings. There are 394 HEOP students attending the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill Campus programs.

Massiah-Arthur said students are a crucial part of the funding process.

“When students are involved, there’s an entirely new energy that goes into the advocacy process. It’s one thing for me or the program director to talk about the importance of these programs. It’s another thing when students and parents participate, and elected officials can hear firsthand the importance of state funding,” she said.

In years past, they’ve had to make a case against cuts to STEP and CSTEP, which receive 40% of their funding from Fordham, but Massiah-Arthur said the good news is that lawmakers now understand the value of programs such as CSTEP, so they’re no longer routinely put on the chopping block. The decision on funding levels will be revealed in the final state budget in April.

“The objective now is to get legislators and the governor’s office to understand that it’s not just sufficient to hold the level, because with rising costs, staying at the same level is the equivalent of a cut,” she said.

“Unfortunately, what has not changed is the perception that private universities are institutions with wealthier students or higher endowments, and as a result of that, the need to invest in our sector is not weighed as important as investments in the state and city university systems.”

Promoting Civic Engagement

Advocacy Day is more than just an annual exercise in asking for financial support, said Fordham CSTEP and STEP director Michael Molina. It introduces students to a broader effort involving the Association of Professional Administrators of CSTEP and STEP (which Molina serves as president), and the New York Student Aid Alliance. It also promotes civic engagement, preparing students to become leaders in their communities.

“When we ask our students and their families to participate in these advocacy efforts, a big part of what we say is, you can make a difference,” he said.

“The last several years have made people feel that government is estranged from them and doesn’t address their needs. What we say is, at this level, these legislators have to be accountable to you, and they are.”

For Isaac Mullings, a second-year student from Ghana on the pre-med track who commutes from the Mount Eden neighborhood in the Bronx, Advocacy Day was a chance to share just how much of a lifeline CSTEP has been to his whole family. When both of his parents were laid off from their jobs as home health aides last year, he took a job at a local fast-food restaurant and juggled a 35-hour workweek and 16 credits of remote-learning classes. He now works in the CSTEP office, where like Rosario, he finds a wealth of resources to support his studies. He also tutors high school students enrolled in STEP.

“It’s been a blessing to give back to the community,” he said.

Giovanni Owens, a second-year student who commutes from Spanish Harlem, said that working with STEP students for his work-study program has increased his knowledge in his own major, computer science. This past summer, he served as an adviser for a STEP class on robotics.

“Although it’s for high school students, I find myself learning things through teaching them, through tutoring, and then just sitting in class taking notes,” he said.

When it was his turn to talk to legislators, he said he emphasized the strength of Fordham’s CSTEP community and how it will help him become the first person in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree.

“In the CSTEP office, I talk very openly about my intended entrepreneurial projects and things I want to do, and just having people there who will listen and say, ‘That’s a great idea,’ or ‘You should talk to this professor, or you should talk to this person,’ is amazing.”

On March 16, Fordham received a helping hand from the State of New York, which awarded the University a $5 million matching capital grant from the Higher Education Capital Match Program (HECap).

The grant, which is administered by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), will pay for construction of the glass-covered arcade, or passageway, that will connect the new 71,000-square-foot, four-level addition to a renovated McGinley Center, the Rose Hill Gym, and the Lombardi Center. The addition is set to open this fall. 

A Partnership with State Government

For every dollar in state matching funds, private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in New York must provide $3 in support of their projects. The projected timeline of the campus center’s Phase II renovation is expected to be 14 months.

Fordham was one of 35 colleges and universities to receive the grant this year. Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations, whose office secured the grant, said she was thrilled that Fordham received the maximum amount possible. A major part of the application process centered around demonstrating that the project will generate jobs and benefit the community at large, she said.

“What this investment allows us to do is not only expand the University’s resources for our students but to expand community access to the University,” she said, noting that Fordham allows community nonprofits to hold meetings on campus, free of charge.

Contributing to the Economy

At $5 million, the grant is the largest in a series of grants totaling $14.75 million that Fordham has secured from the state over the last five years. Last year, a $2.5 million State and Municipal Facilities Grant was awarded for lab renovations at John Mulcahy Hall. In 2018, the University received a $3.75 million HECap grant for a steam boiler replacement in Thebaud Hall. And in 2019, Massiah-Arthur’s office secured a $1 million HECap grant for renovating the façade and creating an open green space at Lincoln Center.

Massiah-Arthur said the funds showed that leaders in Albany appreciate the value that private colleges and universities bring to the state’s economy. According to a 2017 report by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, Fordham’s total economic impact on the New York City region is $1.5 billion.

The project will also generate approximately 250 union jobs, ranging from laborers to engineers, over the course of the contract.

“The fact that independent universities have a capital program [HECap] that’s specific to us demonstrates that our capital construction is very important, especially when you consider that as a sector, our institutions contribute about $88 billion to the New York state economy,” she said.

“This just goes to show that a partnership between the state and our sector can be a benefit not just for the institution but the state, the regions, and communities we’re in.”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, who recently served as chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, said he was gratified that New York’s leaders see institutions like Fordham as partners worthy of support.

“The new center will be at the heart of the campus experience and therefore at the heart of the University’s mission,” Father McShane said.

“It will bring together all students, faculty, and staff under one roof, in a space that maximizes opportunities for shared meals, shared learning, and shared recreation. We are grateful that the Dormitory Authority recognized both Fordham’s need and our contribution to the state’s intellectual, cultural, and financial health.”

A Unique, Light-Filled Space

The arcade and the new entrance to the center promise to be the most dramatic of all the elements of the new campus center. Marco Valera, vice president for administration, said that the only other building that currently features a large indoor space bathed in natural light from above is the Platt Court atrium at the Lincoln Center Campus.

In addition to joining the original McGinley Center with the addition, the new arcade will stretch to the east and north to envelop the space separating those two buildings from the Rose Hill Gym and the Lombardi Center.

It is also arguably the trickiest part of the construction, Valera said, as it requires demolition, rehabilitation, and construction in close proximity to spaces that will continue to be occupied.

“The uniqueness of this particular space is that it joins the new building with the old stonework of the gym, so you’ve got a little flavor of the kind of gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they join old buildings to new buildings,” he said.

Dear Members of the Fordham Community,

As citizens of the United States, we are justly proud of our nation’s democratic practices and we support the promotion of democracy elsewhere in the world. At the heart of the democratic sprit is the belief in self-determination, which means the right to vote is not just a civil right but an important human right. With rights, however, come responsibilities.

With Election Day approaching on November 3, we encourage you to be citizens engaged in the civic life of our local, state, and national communities.

Early Voting

Sometimes, personal or professional conflicts make it hard or impossible for you to vote on Election Day. However, your state may let registered voters vote on specified dates before Election Day. This early voting chart lists time frames for states that offer early voting. Please note that the rules change from state to state. The best place to check is your state or territorial election office website. Check under “absentee voting” if you do not see information listed under “voting in person” or “early voting.”

If you are registered to vote in New York state, early voting has already started and runs until November 1, 2020. You can find the times and places where you can vote early at the New York State Board of Elections. Voters living in the five boroughs of New York City must vote at their assigned early voting site. To locate your assigned site, please visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc. If you are registered to vote in Westchester County, you may vote at any polling station located within the county.

The early voting sites and hours for the University’s Rose Hill, Lincoln Center, and Westchester campuses are as follows:

Absentee Voting

Each state has mail-in voting but some allow you to take part only in certain circumstances:

• Some states require an excuse for voting by mail. Due to COVID-19, some states are giving all voters an excuse to vote by mail for certain elections.
• Because of COVID-19, your state may automatically send you an absentee ballot or a form to fill out to request one.

Please check your state election office for the specific rules for your state.

Making an Informed Choice

Finally, it can be difficult to determine the positions of each candidate running for office. Please feel free to visit nonpartisan voter information sites such as votesmart.org, vote411.org, and isidewith.com for more information on candidates, including their biographies, their voting records, their positions on issues, and contributions to their campaigns.

Participating in the democratic process is a privilege and responsibility we all share. Exercising your right to vote on Election Day is an important duty, too important to ignore or neglect. Please be sure to exercise your privilege and vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3.

Lesley Massiah-Arthur
Associate Vice President for Government Relations and Urban Affairs

Fifty-five percent of eligible black women voted in the Nov. 2018 midterm elections, compared with a national average turnout of 53.4%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Christina Greer, Ph.D., associate professor of political science and Lesley Massiah-Arthur, GSAS ’12, ’13, associate vice president and special assistant to the president for government relations, spoke about the role of black women in the Democratic Party and the 2020 presidential election in a lecture at the Fordham Law School on Oct. 10. In attendance were faculty, administrators, and students—many of whom are now eligible to vote. 

The hour-and-a-half-long lecture was sponsored by the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer. It was among the inaugural events of the Women of Color Initiative at Fordham launched last year, which encourages women of color to be in conversation with one another. 

What Black Women Want to See in Politics 

It wasn’t until 1920 that women in the U.S. were given the right to vote. But even then, there were obstacles for black women: the rise of Jim Crow laws, literacy tests, and even lynching, said Greer. 

“It’s not until 1965 [with the passage of the Voting Rights Act]  really that black women are actually active members of the political process,” Greer said. “When you think about African Americans as a whole, we actually haven’t been voting in this country for much more than 50 years, realistically.”

Since then, roughly 60 African Americans have run for president in the U.S., said Greer. Approximately 20 of them were women, including Charlene Mitchell and Shirley Chisholm—the first African American woman to be elected to U.S. Congress, said Greer. 

What black women want to see in their 2020 presidential election candidates, said Massiah-Arthur, is a commitment to three things: gun reform, better health care, and the safety of their families. 

“Being able to go into a church and kill people is now a reality. And when you consider the fact that the African-American political experience is one that is based in the black church, and that black women have always been most influential in that church … you’ve now come into someone’s home,” she said. 

Black women also hold significant power in the voting process—perhaps surprisingly so, Greer said. 

“Black women vote for the Democrats. They vote for the Democrats so much more than everyone else [from other races]that it looks like all women vote for Democrats. And it’s actually not true,” Greer said. 

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 94% of black women voters supported Hillary Clinton, compared to 82% of black men and 42% of white women, said Greer. 

Why Stacey Abrams Is Ruining Kamala Harris’ Shot at the Presidency

There is one woman of color among the current 2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Kamala Harris, senator and former attorney general of California. According to The New York Times’ latest analysis, Harris is one of the underdogs. 

If not for the actions of Stacey Abrams, former Georgia House Democratic Leader—another woman of color—Harris might be doing better, said Greer.

The two women are very similar. They both attended historically black colleges and graduated from Yale Law School. But the similarities stop there, said Greer. 

“Stacey decides to go to Georgia and organize poor people and help voters work on voter registration … [she goes]to the nether regions of the state of Georgia, where there’s barely any electricity or running water in multiple parts, and actually mobilize poor white people, poor black people, undocumented folks from Central America and Asia … She rises through the ranks and becomes the minority leader of the Democrats [in the Georgia statehouse],” Greer said. “Kamala, on the other hand, becomes the DA—which is a prosecutor—and then she becomes the attorney general for the state. One of her signature policies was to incarcerate parents if their children were truant … Her defense is no parents ever went to prison for this. That doesn’t matter. Someone taking off one day of work could’ve changed their lives forever, especially if you’re working an hourly wage job.” 

If it wasn’t for Abrams’ success, said Greer, more people would be more lenient toward Harris.

“If we didn’t know that this career path could exist for black women, I think people could understand. You make concessions. That’s sort of how you get ahead,” Greer said. “But we’ve seen a different path. And I think that’s what’s making Kamala’s road so complicated and difficult, especially among black women of a certain age.”

Getting Ready for Nov. 3, 2020 

At the end of the event, Greer advised the audience on how they could prepare for the 2020 presidential election: 

Donate what you can: “I developed this concept called political tithing. I give money to candidates across the United States who I think—on local, state, and national levels—are contributing to a positive discourse in this country. For so many small races, small amounts of money actually can make a difference.”  

Primaries matter: “Most people, especially young people, aren’t taught what primaries are. They think, I can just show up on Nov. 3. And then when they show up, they’re disappointed with the selections. The primaries are actually when you get to choose.” 

Pay attention to statehouses: “That’s where the action is. There’s billions upon billions of dollars that pass through statehouses. People are deciding education policy, reproductive policy, environmental policy, whether or not public schools get funded properly.” 

Do your own research. “Spend five minutes a day on your democracy because five minutes a day can help inform you about so many issues. You realize there’s certain candidates that may say something, and then once you scratch the surface, you realize that they may not necessarily be the candidate for you.”

One of the biggest ways people can make a difference, said Massiah-Arthur, is within their immediate reach. By posting photos and thoughts online, people have the power to change the narrative of the political game. 

“You live in an age where you actually get to be your own media,” she said, specifically addressing the students, who made up the majority of the audience. “Every time I turn around, there’s a ding, there’s an Instagram, there’s a Twitter. You guys will tweet about the most stupid things,” Massiah-Arthur said, to laughter. “But by the same token, you also have the capacity of sharing your views, as people of a certain age.” 

“In a few minutes, I will sign the most aggressive climate law in the United States of America,” Governor Cuomo said to raucous cheers and applause from an audience filled with assembly members and activists.

The law requires statewide greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 85% below 1990 levels by 2050 and offset the remaining 15% with measures such as planting forests and capturing carbon for storage underground.

Regulations will also ensure that a minimum of 35% of investments from newly created energy efficiency funds will be reinvested in disadvantaged communities. Representatives from environmental justice communities and state government will help identify communities for investment. Vice President Gore noted that many suffering the effects of pollutants that accelerate climate change are disproportionately found in communities of color. He said he found it startling that the number of African-American children who die from asthma is 10 times greater than the number of white children.

“This is unacceptable and that is only one of the statistics that illustrate why we have got to do better on environmental and climate justice,” he said.

The bill also establishes a council to outline recommendations for reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions, with the goal being net-zero emissions in all sectors of the economy. All state agencies would consider the impact of attaining the statewide greenhouse gas emission limits when issuing permits, licenses, or other administrative approvals.

“We are almost literally watching the world melting right now, and the federal government has chosen to turn a blind eye to this to retreat from action,” said Basil Seggos, the commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, in his introduction of the governor. “It’s really falling to the states to lead.”

The law would require 70% of the electric generation to be produced by renewable energy systems by 2030. Additionally, the law requires that the statewide electrical demand system will be zero emissions by 2040. The measure would spur the procurement of at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind electric generation by 2035, six gigawatts of distributed photovoltaic solar generation by 2025, three gigawatts of statewide energy storage capacity by 2030, and 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings below the 2025 energy use forecast.

The governor called the law “the most consequential” of his administration that would “determine the future, or lack thereof.” He left little room for naysayers of climate change.

“A complicating factor is that these pressing issues must be addressed at a time in which emotion and partisanship rule this nation over logic and fact,” said the governor. “But even in this chaos of political pandering and hyperbole, there is still facts, data, and evidence. And climate change is an undeniable scientific fact, period. To deny climate change is to deny reality. All credible scientists agree.”

He then delved further into details about the project, including two offshore wind power fields, a wind power training program run by the State University of New York, and several port upgrades that will be necessary to accommodate the massive infrastructure required for wind power. The new green jobs will be substantial, and they’ll be union, he said. Those projects are expected to be completed by 2024.

Vice President Gore concurred that that sustainability revolution means more jobs for Americans. He cited a recent paper from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that reported solar jobs are the fastest-growing jobs in the United States, growing six times faster than the average job.

He said that thanks to efforts like New York’s, the green movement is gaining momentum, though perhaps not fast enough.

“We’re gaining momentum, but the truth is some damage has already been done, and more will be, but we still have a chance,” he said, his voice rising.

“We still have it within our power to grab hold of this crisis and save the future.”

The bill signing was sponsored by the Office of Government Relations and Urban Affairs.

“I thought the event was an excellent opportunity to be part of a historical event with a governor who is also a Fordham alumnus,” said Lesley Massiah-Arthur, associate vice president for government relations and urban affairs. “The fact that Fordham was chosen for this event aligns with what the University offers academically and socially, whether it’s our own environmental policies, our environmental law offerings, or the research at the Louis Calder Center.”

Dennis C. Jacobs, Ph.D., Fordham’s new provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, concurred.

“Fordham University was honored to host Governor Cuomo and Vice President Gore for this momentous bill signing. Given Fordham’s longstanding commitment to promote environmental sustainability and pursue research that addresses climate change, we were thrilled to celebrate New York’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition the state toward a green economy.”