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HISTORY AND POLITICS OF VOTING TO BE EXPLORED BY DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR FRANCES FOX PIVEN ON SEPTEMBER 17 AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY IN WAYNE
—Lecture by Piven is presented in observance of Constitution Day
William Paterson University in Wayne will observe Constitution Day on Wednesday, September 17 with a lecture by Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, titled “Why Your Vote Didn’t Matter…Until Now? The History and Politics of Voting in the U.S.” The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 12:30 p.m. in the David and Lorraine Cheng Library Auditorium on campus.
Federal legislation signed in December 2004 requires all educational institutions that receive federal funds to implement an educational program on September 17 each year that provides students with increased awareness and appreciation of the U.S. Constitution, which was signed September 17, 1787.
The program is sponsored by the American Democracy Project (ADP) at William Paterson University, part of a nationwide initiative coordinated by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) that seeks to increase civic engagement levels of U.S. students attending public colleges and universities in the 21st century. The event will serve as the kick-off of ADP’s Youth Vote Campaign, a University-wide effort to register new voters and encourage them to vote on Election Day.
Piven’s research on voter registration and participation patterns resulted in the 1983 founding of the HumanSERVE (Human Service Employees Registration and Voter Education) Campaign. The campaign's registration reform effort culminated in the 1994 passage of the National Voter Registration Act, or the “Motor-Voter” bill, designed to increase voter registration, especially among low-income groups. Widely recognized as one of the country’s most thoughtful and provocative commentators on America’s social welfare system, Piven has worked with welfare-rights groups to expand benefits. She is the author or co-author of numerous books, including Keeping Down the Black Vote: The Politics of Election Administration in America; Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America, and Why Americans Still Don’t Vote. Piven also has served as president of the American Sociological Association (2006-07).
For additional information, contact the American Democracy Project at William Paterson University at 973-720-3921.
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September 8 , 2008
www.wpunj.edu
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