On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the choice is clear. The Sun endorses Vice President Kamala Harris for President of the United States. She is the only candidate who can guarantee that the rights that protect the very essence of our University as a center of discourse and dissent will survive.
Former President Donald Trump, on the other hand, represents everything Cornell, at its best, stands against. Trump relishes violence against dissenters, endorses racist campaigns of mass deportations and promises to eliminate academic freedom. If re-elected, his second term won’t simply be dangerous — for many of us at Cornell, it will be unlivable.
Simply put, Trump wants to destroy the future of democracy — Harris will bolster it and give young people the opportunity to thrive. And her vision doesn’t just include those wealthy enough to pay the high sticker price of a college degree: The Biden-Harris administration has canceled more than $175 billion in student loan debt for borrowers. If elected, Harris has vowed to redouble those efforts.
Harris also believes in democracy in the workplace: Biden and Harris have run the most pro-labor administration in generations. Harris’s record on labor rights matters for our community, as Cornell Graduate Students United fights for a first contract that will raise labor standards for thousands of students. If re-elected, Trump wants to erase these negotiated gains. His policies all but guarantee the evisceration of the right to organize a union and would further usher in an era of crony corporatism.
On campus protests, Trump’s platform is beyond dangerous. It’s not one view he detests: It’s the very concept of dissent. He’s cheered on as police raided encampments, threatened to deploy the National Guard against domestic opponents and called for “vanquish[ing] the radicals” when referencing pro-Palestinian activists. If elected, Trump’s crackdowns will be a brutally violent suppression of all outside viewpoints. Activists especially should choose a future that invites dissent. Regardless of her position on any one issue, Harris will let your voice be heard. If Trump wins, not everyone will walk away from this election with the same rights, particularly activists on the Left. Withholding your vote as an act of resistance means giving control over your voice to a man who is hostile to your very existence.
Take Trump’s word for it: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
Anything short of a vote for Harris will strangle the right to speech and protest, jeopardizing the very existence of our democracy. The Sun endorses Harris not only because of her policy positions, but importantly because there is simply no other choice. The price of a second Trump term is too steep, not just in academia and for protesters, but for every single democratic institution that too many Americans take for granted. Trump draws on our worst impulses and offers our bleakest possible future. This November, voting for Harris is imperative. Do not stay home on Election Day.