TALKING ABOUT THE MIDTERMS: A TOWN HALL with CSI FACULTY
Join CSI Faculty Members for a discussion of the state of American politics and the upcoming midterm elections.
Thursday, November 1st
2:30 to 3:30 (Club Hours)
Center for the Performing Arts, Building 1P
Lecture Hall (first floor)
Reception to Follow
Faculty Panelists:
Jane Marcus-Delgadois Associate Professor of Political Science. She works in interdisciplinary Latin American Studies and directs CSI’s International Studies program. She has lived, worked, and studied in Latin America and other parts of the world. She is a strong advocate of international education who works closely with the College’s Center for Global Engagement.
Jonathan R. Petersis a Professor of Finance in the Business Department at CSI. He has previously published in The Journal of Applied Finance, Transportation Quarterly and most recently in Public Works Management & Policy. He currently conducts research in the areas of regional planning, road and mass transit financing, corporate and public sector performance metrics, capital costs and performance management.
Peter Simpsonis a Professor of Philosophy at CSI. He is also a Professor of Philosophy and Classics at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has taught at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC; University College, Dublin, Ireland; and Manchester Polytechnic, United Kingdom.
Each faculty member will present for 7 to 10 minutes. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
This event is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Humanities and Social Science
Professor Paris,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share my reaction the Town Hall Meeting.
The current situation isn’t that different than that of a university in Germany in 1933 having to include a faculty member to represent the Nazi Party to cater to their torch wielding followers in the community.
I don’t think it’s that different having one professor represent Trump’s point of view to demonstrate to the Staten Island Community that CSI is not a liberal establishment, because Trump’s politics are anti-democratic, nihilistic and not a legitimate part of an intelligent rational political discussion.
In present day Germany the Nazi Party is outlawed for this reason.
Peter Simpson’s presentation was based on a lot of pithy falsehoods. Here are two that I remember.
1. Bernie Sanders won the 2016 primary in Staten Island. See below from the Staten Island Advance
11:23 p.m. 100 percent of Island vote tallied
With 100 percent of the 289 Election Districts reporting on Staten Island, here's the breakdown:
Democratic primary (30,467 votes)
Clinton -- 16,127 votes, 52.9 percent
Sanders -- 14,340 votes, 47.1 percent
2. When Trump went before the UN General Assembly most news reports and from my own observations showed they were laughing at him. Any applause was pro forma; a rote response.
I also thought it was dishonest not to fully acknowledge the larger truth of the black student’s point because he was not correct about Peter Simpson being rich and white; The fact is that regardless what Simpson considers himself, he is free of ever having to cope with the ugly reality of being racially stereotyped because of being black that is so deeply ingrained in our society.
It is no laughing matter to me and many others that the future of democracy may be decided by the results of this coming election.
Steve Sullam