Columns

GUEST ROOM | Why We Hosted Michael Johns

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On Tuesday evening, the Cornell Political Union hosted Michael Johns, Sr., a conservative political activist and Tea Party leader, to speak to the body about President Trump’s ideology and his perspectives on American populism. He spoke mostly to explain, not to defend, and attempted to offer his perspective and confer an understanding of this brand of politics. We considered this talk valuable and necessary, and are proud that we hosted it. We also believe Mr. Johns was wrong — at the end of our event, we voted to reject Mr. Johns’ ideology on a vote of 40-14. When we first announced this event, it was met with a great deal of interest and excitement from the Cornell community.

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Dems and Republicans Debate Implications of Current Media

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The Cornell Democrats and The College Republicans found common ground in Rockefeller Hall last night during a debate concerning media bias and its effect on civic education. The debate was sponsored by the newly founded Freedom and Free Societies. The sponsors of the debate defined civic education as education enabling citizens to make informed decisions concerning public policy and elected officials.
“Bias is inevitable,” said Prof. Barry Strauss, history, one of the judges of the debate. “You have to force yourself to look at different points of view regularly and accept [that] media bias is real.”
While both republicans and democrats agreed that bias exists within the media and results in the decline of civic education, they disagreed on why and how the bias is elicited.

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N.Y. Registration: Reducing Vote’s Impact?

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The voter registration tables provided by the Cornell Democrats and College Republicans are a familiar sight to most Cornellians, and many feel that students helping other students “get out the vote” is a positive service to the campus community. But when out-of-state students register to vote in Tompkins County, are they potentially diminishing their political power? Are they affecting campaign strategies and election outcomes?
Elizabeth W. Kree, co-commissioner of the Tompkins County Board of Elections, explained that New York State law has given college students the right to register to vote using their college addresses since the mid-1980s. However, to the politically active on campus, the decision of out-of-staters to vote in-state has a strategic motive.

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Campus Republicans, Dems Debate Terrorism, Iraq War

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Rockefeller Hall may be far from Washington, but it played host to a decidedly political event last night as the Cornell Democrats and College Republicans met to debate the War on Terror. In their first debate of the year, panelists from each side discussed Iraq, multilateralism and the nature of terrorism.
Each club had three panelists. Tim Krueger ’08, Randy Lariar ’08 and Ethan Felder ’09 represented the Democrats while David Goochee ’09, John Farragut ’11 and Brian Wolfel ’10 spoke for the Republicans. Each side was given three minutes for opening statements.