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Burr and Burton Election News - Perspectives from Campus

The 2020 Presidential election is underway, and the Burr and Burton community is steadfast in its commitment to civic engagement and responsibility.  Moving around campus early this week, there are some common refrains among students, faculty, staff and administrators: Engage in the process, and respect differences among us.

In the weekly assembly video, Co-dean of Students Cory Herrington looked to history, “The United States has held 58 Presidential elections; Burr and Burton has been around for 47 of those elections . . . and we will be here for many more elections.”  

Faculty in the Social Studies Department have been working in meaningful curricular ties to this landmark election for weeks. Social Studies Department Chair John Graf said that students in AP Government and AP Psychology courses have been working on a polling project that explored connections between social psychology and politics.

Graf also said that three Burr and Burton students, Erin Norton, Ellis Glaizer, Ellery Stahler, will be participating in live election night coverage on GNAT TV.  You can find the live coverage here.
 
A group of students, including Mary Mendez, Teddy Mirenda, Sophie Jager, Henry Putney and others have been involved in a get-out-the-vote effort that included encouraging student voters with emails, posters, registration drives, and videos.  Over the weekend, a short video that Putney created was picked up by film director Ron Howard, and tweeted to 2.5 million followers. Check out the video here.

Balancing humor with seriousness, Headmaster Mark Tashjian offered to students: “If you are 18, vote. If you are happy with the direction the country is headed, vote. If you are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, vote.  If you’re too young to vote, don’t vote!”

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Headmaster Tashjian said, “Whether or not my candidate wins or loses, whether or not the election is resolved on Tuesday or takes weeks or months, there is one thing I know I will do on Wednesday: I will continue to come in here and do everything I can to serve the BBA community—and I ask you to do the same.”
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