The Park Center for Independent Media is hosting a panel discussion following the results of election 2020 on Wednesday, November 18, at 7–8:30 p.m. This election yielded record turnout and confirmed the deep polarization among American voters. Our panelists will discuss voting trends, narrow margins in many states, and if the impacts of COVID-19, racial injustice, and the economic downturn affected electoral behavior. The evening will explore what lies ahead, from the January transition of power to key issues facing the American public.

Our panel will feature Jeff Cohen, M. Horsley, RahK Lash, Thomas Shevory, and Peyi Soyinka-Airewele. The discussion will be moderated by Raza Rumi

Register on Zoom to view, and join the Facebook event

Speaker bios: 

Jeff Cohen, journalist, lecturer, and critic, was Founding Director of PCIM and endowed chair/associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College. He founded Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) in 1986. Cohen co-founded the online activism group RootsAction.org, and authored or co-authored five books, including Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media (2006).

 

M. Nicole Horsley is Assistant Professor of the Center for Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity at Ithaca College. Specializing in African American and African Diaspora Studies, Black Feminism, Black Queer Theory, and more, Horsley uses visual and sonic culture as tools of empowerment for Black girls and women. The driving force behind her research is social justice and Black liberation.

 

RahK Lash is Director of the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Social Change (IDEAS) at Ithaca College. As Director, Lash works collaboratively with a dynamic team and campus partners to help all students understand the difference between their experience of the world and its experience of them. He has published several articles, including at A Call To Men.org.

 

Tom Shevory is Professor and Legal Studies Program Coordinator of the Department of Politics at Ithaca College. He has published six books and numerous scholarly articles on issues related to law, public policy, and popular culture, with special attention to health and environment. Shevory’s work on legal history has investigated the political meanings of early constitutionalism.

 

Peyi Soyinka-Airewele is Professor of African and Comparative/International Politics at Ithaca College, and visiting professor at Covenant University, Nigeria. Her research and speaking engagements have explored critical issues of memory, identity and other post-conflict dilemmas in the postcolony. Among her works is Socio-Political Scaffolding and the Construction of Change (2008).

 

Raza Ahmad Rumi is Director of the Park Center for Independent Media, and he teaches in the Department of Journalism at Ithaca College. He is a Pakistani policy analyst, journalist and an author. Rumi has been a fellow at the New America Foundation, United States Institute of Peace and the National Endowment for Democracy. His journalism is affiliated with several Pakistani and U.S. news outlets.