ADP in the News | October 28, 2013 Edition

ADP in the News is a compilation of brief updates about American Democracy Project activities at ADP colleges and universities and is a semi-regular news feature on our blog. Below you will find the latest edition of this information.

If you have an ADP event you’d like posted in this format, please email adp@aascu.org.

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UCO Debate Examines Oklahoma’s Closed Primary System

In partnership with the University of Central Oklahoma‘s Department of Political Science and the American Democracy Project, UCO’s award-winning debate team debated open and closed primary voting on Oct. 23. Closed primaries, like Oklahoma’s, require voters to be registered as Democrats or Republicans in order to participate in the party’s primary and do not allow Independents to participate at all. Open primaries allow a registered voter to choose which party’s primary he or she wishes to participate in. Read more here.

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Congress Came to Campus Events

Congress to Campus came to Rhode Island College on Oct. 16 and 17 in this ADP sponsored program. Former U.S. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) and former U.S. Rep. David Minge (D-MN) were in residence at RIC for two days, to participate in a series of events to engage students to become more active in the democratic process. Students could attend five panels about a range of topics. Neighboring high schools sent students to meet the congresspeople. A lunch and class visitations occurred. Read more about this event here, here and here.

Congress to Campus also visited Jacksonville State University (Ala.). Former U.S. Rep. Earl Hutto (D) from Florida and former U.S. Rep. Sue Kelly (R) from New York came to campus as part of the ADP-sponsored program on Sept 16-17. Read more here.

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ADP @FHSU

ACLU Speaker at FHSU: Gary Brunk, executive director at ACLU of Kansas, spoke at an ADP sponsored event at Fort Hays State University (Kan.) about the group’s agenda concerning privacy, marijuana use, same-sex marriage and reproductive freedom. The presentation was aimed at educating the millennial generation, those between the ages of 18 and 30, about how they can revitalize the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Read more here.

Ben Franklin visits FHSU: ADP sponsored programming for 300+ elementary school students in September. Students were introduced to the life and times of Ben Franklin, one of America’s “founding fathers.” FHSU’s campus library houses two original letters written by Ben Franklin and copies of Franklin’s newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette. Read more here.

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State Supreme Court on MTSU Campus

As part of the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students (SCALES) program, the Tennessee State Supreme Court met on the Middle Tennessee State University campus on Oct. 1 to hear three appeals. The session, the first held on campus for MTSU students, was sponsored by the university’s American Democracy Project. The state Supreme Court normally meets in Jackson, Knoxville, and Nashville, as required by the Tennessee Constitution, but a few times a year the court takes its oral arguments on the road as part of the SCALES program. The SCALES project is a Tennessee Supreme Court initiative designed to educate high school and college students about the judicial branch of government by allowing them to hear the oral arguments for an actual Supreme Court case in a local community. Read more about this even here and here.

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NYT Reporter on Government and Social Media

In September, Weber State University‘s (Utah) ADP hosted New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter on campus. Stelter’s topic was social media’s impact on governments past, present and future. “Social media is a megaphone,” said Stelter during his presentation. He cited examples of governors, mayors and other elected officials who used social media, especially Twitter, to encourage transparency with the public. Read more here.

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Room to Read at Brockport

SUNY Brockport‘s ADP collaborates with national not-for-profit Room to Read on international literacy and gender equality in education. Brockport brought John Wood, a former Microsoft employee, to campus to speak about his most recent book in which he describes how he left Microsoft to bring books and schools to less-fortunate areas of the world such as Nepal, rural South Africa, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.  Read more here.

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“Who Stole the American Dream?” at The University of Nebraska at Kearney 

Former NYT reporter Hedrick Smith will give a public lecture on the University of Nebraska at Kearney‘s campus in November entitled “Who Stole the American Dream?”.  More information can be found here.