October Message from the Executive Director

Dear Colleagues:

Well, here we are in the final stretch before our November national election, one that surely will be listed in the history books as among the most contentious. This is not new for our country. The election between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was dubbed the Revolution of 1800. In 1860 the election of Abraham Lincoln over George McClellan actually tore the country apart. Fast forward to 2000 when the Supreme Court decided the outcome of Al Gore vs. George W. Bush.

There are other contentious elections in our past, but 2020 is our time in history to participate, speak up, speak out, listen, and vote. And, higher education has a significant role to play. There are examples on every campus in Kentucky of voter registration initiatives, get-out-the-vote campaigns, phone banks, webinars, and creating/sharing websites that have nonpartisan information on candidates. These efforts have reached hundreds of thousands of students, faculty, staff, and community members and truly make a difference. Thank you to all of you for doing this important work!

And…don’t stop with the election. Regardless of the outcome, this will be a time to continue to talk with and listen to one another to help strengthen our democracy. There are resources listed in this newsletter for post-election projects that might be helpful to you. We also invite you to share your ideas with us so that we can post them for the network. Together we can continue the work for a strong democracy! #GoVote #ForDemocracy

-Gayle Hilleke