By Kirstyn BrendlenSTAFF WRITER
Hofstra University’s Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency hosted a panel titled “How Do Millennials Engage in Public Service and Public Policy?” on Thursday Oct. 15. Moderated by Meena Bose, the director for the Kalikow center, and a professor of political science at Hofstra, the panels aimed to encourage millennials to participate. Senior presidential fellows Edward J. Rollins, Howard B. Dean III, who is also a former member of the Democratic National Committee, Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty, a Uniondale-based company, and Christopher Norton, vice chairman for the Board of Directors at the Washington Center were the panel speakers. The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, provides students with internships and seminars exploring government and the American presidency. The panel focused on the participation of members of the millennial generation, which the panel participants described as people born from 1983-2003, in voting and government policy. Rosanna Perotti, chair of Hofstra’s political science department, said that the panel was important to encourage students to vote in this election year, both in primaries and in the 2016 presidential election. Though young people are likely to be politically active in other ways – raising money and awareness, they vote far less frequently than older generations. “You can’t just descend into government when you graduate and say ‘I’m an adult, I can participate,’” Perotti said. “Most of us don’t take note of municipal meetings, but you have to go, you have to be there to understand what’s happening. Democracy is not a spectator sport.” She said that the school feels it is important to encourage students to participate early on in their college careers. Bose asked the first question of the panel. She posed to the panelists, “Why were millennials so engaged seven years ago and what has happened since then? Are we likely to see a return of that engagement?” The panelists spoke about how much change has happened between now and then. Dean said, “We used to march around the Capitol, it took us seven years to end the Vietnam War … you don’t have to do that, you go on the internet and find 100,000 people who agree with you and go to Change.org to do something about it.” “The amount of political power you have without going through the institutional power of politics is enormous,” said Dean. Most of the discussion, which was lead by questions from Bose, focused on how and why millennials vote, and what their opinions are of the U.S. government. One student, Stevens Martinez, a freshman finance major, attended the panel and felt that the information would benefit his future goals. “I’ve always had a passion in getting involved in local politics, and I’m from Glen Cove, which is one of the only cities on Long Island, and they actually have their own local government. So hopefully someday I’ll be involved in the Glen Cove local government,” said Martinez. Several questions at the end of the panel were asked by Hofstra juniors and seniors who had been selected to participate in the Washington Center’s “Inside Washington” seminar. Those students asked about student loan debt and the effectiveness of federal and local governments. The panel experienced technical difficulties that prevented many attendees from hearing panelists’ answers for much of the discussion. Many students, and even some of the speakers, were dissatisfied by this. Dean commented on the lack of success that the microphones had. “Boy, this is really a problem here. Could we get a generous donation to Hofstra to get a working mic?” Dean said as he adjusted a microphone handed to him after a mostly inaudible answer from Edward Rollins. Martinez also added his disappointment for the audience’s inability to hear the speakers properly. He said, “I actually really enjoyed the panel, I just wish that the technical difficulties had been resolved earlier, that kind of made me lose focus throughout the entire discussion.”
In the printed version of this article, Stevens Martinez is wrongly referred to using the wrong pronouns. The correct changes were made to this online version. The Chronicle apologizes to Martinez, and regrets this mistake.