This past summer, I had the honor to write for the Institute of Youth in Policy through their publishing fellowship. During my time I wrote three articles on Social and National policy. My first article was in regards to the Texas Special Session and the impact the potential passage of voter suppression bill SB 7 would have on the Texas voting electorate. This article highlighted my ability to be able to research, summarize, and evaluate a potential bill and identify what the predicted outcome could be.

The link to Article can be found here. Below is an excerpt from the piece.

Unsurprisingly, this voting fraud alarm and the supposed need to limit voting rights is not new to the American experience. Since the founding of our Republic, white men in power have worked relentlessly to prevent various groups of people who they perceive as threats from voting. Today, the Republican Party has a predominantly white, male, and uneducated coalition that feels threatened by inexorable racial and demographic changes happening in our country. The rising voting threat of the youth vote, people of color, and women gaining political control concerns them as these groups do not value white power. Thus, the Republican Party’s perpetuation of the voting fraud lie is an effort to secure specific electoral outcomes that preserves their power during their long descent into demographic minority status.

 

My second article analyzed President Biden’s inaction in terms of supporting the passage of expansive voting rights legislation. The article goes on to target not only why, but how his direct lack of inaction is a threat to our democracy and directly cripples the power of minority voting blocks. Writing this article was very exciting for me because, during my research phase, I actually had the honor to interview former Presidential and Senate candidate Beto O’Rorurke and former HUD Secretary and Presidential Candidate Julian Castro.

The link to Article can be found here. Below is an excerpt from the piece.

“I would argue that most of the weight of saving America’s voting rights falls on President Biden’s shoulders. His long Senate history and his connections in the Senate imbued him with the unique experience and skillset to gain the support of reluctant Senators, such as Democratic holdouts Sinema and Manchin, for a voting rights bill. President Biden’s lack of public pressure on the two Senators is frustrating to many as his support could influence their reelection chances. Senators must be forced to publicly choose between preserving Senate power customs, like the filibuster, and the very essence of American democracy. Although those seats are crucial to maintaining the Democratic Party’s majority in the Senate, without the passage of a sweeping voter expansion bill, there may never again be a Democratic Party majority in Washington, DC. Therefore, Biden must find a way to ‘carrot and stick’ these Senators to disband the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation that will ensure the voting rights of all Americans.”

 

Finally, my last article took a turn away from voting rights and onto an issue, I am just as passionate about. In the article titled “Fiji, University of Lincoln – Nebraska, and Sexual Assaults’ on College Campuses: What Can be Done?”, I discussed the issues surrounding not only Fiji at the University of Lincon – Nebraska but also the issue of sexual assault on college campuses nationwide. The article took direct aim at Greek Life and the consistent failure of not only schools but the national organizations who fail to hold sexual predators accountable.

The link to Article can be found here. Below is an excerpt from the piece.

“Sexual assault is a problem that has plagued every generation of young women in history—when will we finally stand up and say enough is enough? It is unacceptable that our society treats educational institutions differently than other organizations and sectors (such as corporations or workplaces) in terms of responsibility in enabling sexual assault. Young women are the most vulnerable during the time they spend on educational campuses. This is because most women on such campuses are young and tend to be powerless. Therefore, due to the inexcusable inaction by universities, colleges, and high schools, this epidemic will continue to disproportionately affect younger generations of women. However, in order to see a change in this trend, sexual assault victims must do their part to change the status quo by taking action. Specifically, it is time for Congress and state legislatures nationwide to do more to hold schools accountable for failing to report sexual assaults to the police in a timely manner. Furthermore, governmental action is needed to motivate, if not require, schools to do more—within the confines of respecting legitimate rights of perpetrators—to identify, and remove all sexual predators from campuses. It is also time for laws to be passed that clarify and render uniform, public reporting procedures so that all students can be informed of the incidences of sexual assaults on every school campus across the nation.”