Democrats

Columbia and Barnard are both known for being politically active campuses. With the primaries in full swing and the presidential election right around the corner, you might be looking for how to get involved with political organizations on campus. Let Spectrum’s list guide you!

Unlike some other Columbia students, I have no prestigious Wall Street or Silicon Valley summer internship to boast about, and I have no intention of getting one. To the contrary, I spent this past summer witnessing how corporate interests have waged a class war against the most vulnerable Americans.

With less than a day until President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, students at Columbia and Barnard are mobilizing to protest as part of Women's Marches in both New York and Washington, D.C. in opposition to the new president.

Every fall break, the Columbia University Democrats bus out across the country, from Virginia to Ohio, on an annual campaign trip. In years past, we have helped elect governors and helped reelect presidents. But this year, we will take to the porches and street corners of Maine, not to support a candidate for election, but in the hopes of attaining an ideal—campaign finance reform.

Sunday morning, New York Times readers across the country faced a front-page profile of one female student's horrific experience with sexual assault at Columbia. Sexual assault has been in the spotlight since February, when the Blue and White published a story about Columbia's failure to properly adjudicate a repeat sexual assault offender. Two patterns have emerged in the dialogue since then. First: There is lack of accountability in the University's response to complaints. Second: There are flaws in student culture around consent. Perpetrators, the direct cause of sexual assault, are products of our very own Columbia community and culture. Columbians can and should hold University administrators accountable for their failures, but we also must take ownership of Columbia's culture around consent and support for survivors.

The four candidates for Manhattan borough president discussed their platforms with Upper West Siders at a meeting of the Three Parks Independent Democrats Wednesday evening, touching on local issues including a controversial plan to build market-rate housing in affordable housing projects.

The forum, which filled the ballroom of the American Youth Hostel at Amsterdam Avenue and 104th Street, featured City Council members Gale Brewer, Robert Jackson, and Jessica Lappin, and former Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin, CC '89. Incumbent Scott Stringer is running for comptroller.

While the four candidates, all Democrats, share similar policy positions, they outlined different areas of focus as well as a range of diverse experiences.

Brewer, who currently represents the Upper West Side, said her long-term track record in local politics makes her uniquely qualified for the job, adding that she would continue to support small business, work to prevent "mallization," increase availability of permanent affordable housing, bolster a commitment to recycling and environmental awareness, and emphasize access to quality education and senior care.

Brewer also said that given her political experience, she knows the effort required to make lasting changes.

"They do not happen overnight," Brewer said.

Menin said that 9/11 "turned my life upside down," adding that a key aspect of her role as CB1 chair involved helping downtown recover from the disaster. One of her most prominent actions was to pass a resolution supporting the planned Islamic mosque and cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero.

Menin said that the most important issues for the next borough president to focus on are reforming the current land use process, combating school overcrowding and the ongoing shortage of affordable housing, and reducing obesity and hunger rates in the city—especially in East Harlem.

Jackson, who represents Morningside Heights, Hamilton Heights, and part of Washington Heights, cited his experience in education policy as a central asset in his campaign.

"Education was my salvation," he said, recalling what he called a life-changing moment when his high school track coach gave him a scholarship application.

Jackson cited his lawsuit against the state for its school funding distribution, an anti-hydrofracking resolution, and his role in securing funding for the Sugar Hill housing project and Boys & Girls club as his major accomplishments.

Lappin, who represents the Upper East Side, said that keeping Manhattan affordable for the middle class is a key concern of hers. She said being raised in New York City by a single mother devoted to advocacy influenced her decision to "dedicate my life to public service."

"I believe in the power of government to help people," she said.

Lappin pointed to her achievements on the council—including pushing through laws regulating crisis pregnancy centers, improving train safety, and introducing a textile recycling program—and to the opening of several public schools.

"I'm a public-school graduate and a public-school mom," she said.

The forum, one of the first leading to the September primary, comes as the campaign is heating up.

Brewer, who signaled that she would run last year but only filed for the office in January and barely campaigned until earlier this month, is behind in fundraising and racing to catch up. According to returns filed Friday, she has only raised $48,000, compared to Jackson's $329,000, Lappin's $703,000, and Menin's $1,017,000.

Despite her fundraising disadvantage, the vote-rich Upper West Side will be a major prize in the race, potentially giving Brewer a boost.

"I think Gale's entering into the race changes the dynamic, because the West Side was up for grabs until she got in the game," State Democratic Committee member Daniel Marks Cohen, who attended the forum, said. "The question is whether she can make up for the lost time, because some of her opponents have been running for six months or a year."

"By the time voters are paying attention, hopefully she will be in a—at least in a stronger position than she is today," Cohen said.

Menin, who has been crisscrossing the borough campaigning for months, is notably ahead in fundraising and organization. She has received the lion's share of endorsements so far—even from some community leaders in Brewer, Jackson, and Lappin's home bases.

Meanwhile, Jackson's status as the only man in the race and the only person of color could give him a demographic advantage.

One of the most pressing issues discussed at the meeting was affordable housing, especially in light of the city housing authority's controversial plan to build market-rate housing in eight affordable housing complexes citywide. One of those complexes is the Upper West Side's Frederick Douglass Houses, just a few blocks away from where the candidate spoke to the Three Park Democrats.

The candidates all voiced concerns about the plan and the lack of resident input that went into the housing authority's plan. Brewer said residents and tenant leaders need legal aid for negotiations.

"These are very complicated negotiations," she said, adding that she hopes the plans would be "be changed dramatically."

Menin also objected to the proposed developments' potential encroachment on playground and park space at the developments, and developers' plans to place the entrances of the market-rate developments facing away from the affordable housing.

"What kind of message is that sending?" Menin asked.

Judy Wood, a Three Parks Democrats member who attended the forum, said she believes that Brewer is likely get the group's endorsement, given that "this neighborhood is very familiar" with and fond of her.

"We love her," Wood said.

avantika.kumar@columbiaspectator.com | @avantikaku

University President Lee Bollinger announced the creation of a new executive vice president for student affairs position in an email to students on Monday.

Incumbents Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, CC '69, earned the Broadway Democrats club's endorsements Thursday night. For Rangel, it's a sign that there is still strong support in the neighborhood for the 83-year-old, 22-term congressman.

Rep. Charles Rangel picked up another Upper West Side political club endorsement Wednesday night, as the Three Parks Independent Democrats voted to support his re-election by a wide margin.

The endorsement means club members will petition for Rangel, helping him collect the 958 signatures needed by April 16. It comes a week after the Broadway Democrats, a Morningside Heights club, also voted overwhelmingly to endorse him.

Rangel got 59 percent of the vote, with 41 votes to 10 for challenger Joyce Johnson, 10 for State Senator Adriano Espaillat, and 9 for no endorsement.

Although he has not officially entered the race, Espaillat said last week that he would decide on whether to run in "a week or two." If elected, Espaillat would become the first Dominican-American in Congress.

Three Parks members voted just two days after documents were released by the Federal Election Commission detailing a $23,000 fine that Rangel will pay for illegally using a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office.

But several Three Parks members said the fine—the latest in a string of ethical violations—didn't make a big impact on their impression of the congressman, who has held his seat for 41 years.

"If that's the worst thing they could find in all his years in Congress—well, everybody's done something wrong, you and me, too," said Rangel supporter Stephanie Tegnazian.

"Well, I'm a pragmatist and I know he's not perfect, but he's served us well," Jock Davenport said. "His heart's in the right place in terms of the broad picture. The other candidates are going to have to wait their turn—he's not immortal."

Daniele Gerard, president of the club, said that Rangel's local connections helped him.

"A lot of people in our club have long-standing ties to Charlie," Gerard said. "He helped get drugs out of the [Frederick] Douglass Houses," just down the block from the youth hostel where the vote was held, on Amsterdam Avenue between 103rd and 104th streets. "People have long memories."

Many of those ties on the Upper West Side may not prove helpful come election time after a federal magistrate redrew the state's congressional district lines last week. The West Side, from 122nd Street south, will now be represented by the seat held by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, CC '69.

Other club members said they would be happy to see Rangel move on. Janet Harvilchuck, who voted to not endorse any of the candidates, said that she has "not been very moved" by any of Rangel's challengers.

"I don't think there's a great candidate quite yet," Harvilchuck said. "I feel that Rangel has shown he's really not worthy of continuing as our representative."

"I think it's time for a fresh start with someone who doesn't have any ethical improprieties in their background," Betsy Malcolm said. An Espaillat supporter, she said that the state senator from Upper Manhattan has done a good job so far. "I don't think any of the other challengers are sufficiently qualified for the job," she added.

Alex Colgan, who lives in Hamilton Heights, compared the primary to the election in 1970 that transferred the seat from Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who had served 26 years in the House, to Rangel.

"What's happening now is quite similar, but now it's Espaillat" in Rangel's old role, Colgan said.

He added that Rangel's health problems—the Congressman spent much of February away from the House, his longest absence since 2002, according to the Wall Street Journal—may be an issue for voters to consider in the primary on June 26.

"Rangel has had his day and he's been in the hospital for a number of weeks," Colgan said. "That could be more serious than a bad back."

news@columbiaspectator.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Alex Colgan as Alan Colgan. Spectator regrets the error.

Sometimes I feel like the object of some sort of campus-wide "Show and Tell." As one of the few conservatives on campus willing to bear my colors publicly, I tend to attract the same mixture of curiosity, disgust, and apprehension that some sort of strange animal might receive during "Show and Tell" time in a third-grade classroom. People are interested and approach cautiously, wary of some unknown threat that the beast poses. After taking a good look, they prefer to limit further interaction—lest they contract a foreign malady from whatever freakish land the beast comes. moreDespite this strange and compulsory publicity that my beliefs elicit, I try not to run out of the metaphorical shoebox that is my diorama/display case. Instead, I bear my alien curiosities of conviction for every uneasy observer to question, criticize, and (hopefully) contemplate. Though this sometimes results in rather unpleasant ends, like a salamander gasping for breath after too much handling, it all proves worthwhile because I know that I am not the only one. That's right—there are more of us. It may come as a shock to some Columbians, but there is a rather large population of conservatives in our midst. The only problem is that they're "closeted." I can't tell you how many times a fellow student has come up to me after I revealed my beliefs, and told me, in hushed tones, that he/she is in fact a conservative. Once, a stranger from the College Democrats intimated to me that she was, despite the appearances, a fiscal conservative. So that's why I'm writing today. Not as a unique specimen to prod and examine, but as a representative of one of the most censored student populations on campus. I may not always do them justice, but I will try to present conservative ideals in a thoughtful light for Columbians to critique and consider. To the conservatives out there: Hang tight. We may not have a voice yet, but we will someday. Until then, feel free to join me—there's enough room in this shoebox for all of us.