Student Union
- By Tom Collier
A British Perspective: Is the American Democratic System All it's Cracked Up to Be?
I got to America just in time for campaign season to begin, and just in time to catch a moment that set the tone for the election as I have experienced it since.
When I arrived, Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin was just about to tell a TV station in Missouri that during “a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” arguing abortion shouldn't be allowed in cases of rape. I was shocked to hear a candidate say something that was not only scientifically untrue but also such a seemingly extreme point of view. In Britain, this comment would almost certainly have resulted in the candidate stepping down and the campaign of the party being seriously damaged.
While many Republicans did condemn Akin’s statement, and Akin eventually apologized, the outrage was hardly as universal and decisive as I would have expected back home. Akin is still campaigning to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, and even has a chance at winning, running in a state where nearly 40% of voters are evangelical Christians. In fact, the comments were treated as a political gaffe (albeit a major one); something for the Democratic party to seize upon as “worrisome” and “extreme” in arguing the case for their own party and candidates.
Divisions, Real and Contrived
As I've found, candidates can and do run on some very divisive issues, playing to the more extreme parts of their parties to solidify support from the “base.” Meanwhile, each party also goes after the middle ground, exploiting gaffes made by the competition in order to paint them as the immoderate ones.
In fact, the Republican National Convention was themed around a comment President Obama made during a campaign speech, in which he said, “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that.” The Republican convention trumpeted “We Built It” in response to what they hoped to suggest was Obama’s callous attitude towards private business owners and preference for government welfare programs.
It took me a while to understand why that comment was considered a gaffe actually, especially since in its full context it seems clear that's not what Obama intended. But one of the things I’ve learned in my American history class this semester is that this country has a proud ethic of individualism, and people believe that with hard work and determination they can achieve anything.
The Republicans evidently knew the comment could strike a sour note with many Americans, particularly the small business owners who are a key target for both parties, and played up its importance.
A Bitter Election
I gather from the Americans I have spoken to here that they view this as an incredibly important election in terms of the path America will take for its people and how it chooses to present itself in the eyes of the world. Perhaps as a result, they tell me this is one of the most bitterly divided campaigns they can remember in a long time – if ever.
Polling shows that if the rest of the world were voting for America’s president, we would choose Obama, and it’s difficult for us to understand how the election could be so close. As with the "you didn't build that" gaffe, there are many issues at play in the election that are uniquely American, not least of which is the political system itself. Their electoral process and governmental design contrive to split the population into two rival factions, each of which stays competitive (in voting power and in spirit) with the other.
In the U.K. we have a multi-party parliamentary system, so I’m used to people being able to vote with parties and politicians who represent many different points of view. Even though, realistically, only two of the parties have a chance of winning an outright majority, the smaller parties still maintain some influence and representation in parliament.
The two-party system, by contrast, seems to encourage more extreme partisanship - the varying opinion that everything is either great or terrible, positive or detrimental, patriotic or un-American. There is no nuance, and no real attempt to create it.
Inundated with Ads
It’s in the campaign advertising where you can really see the extent to which party divisions exist. Campaign ads have taken over television in the past few months, and it’s been impossible not to notice the bitterness and the drama.
One ad for Governor Romney stated, "Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China." An Obama ad countered, "He's [Romney's] still pushing tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. It's just what you expect from a guy who had a Swiss Bank Account."
Many of the ads pounce on comments taken out of context, or cite their own facts that contradict with those cited by the other side.
This is something we simply don't have in Britain. When a judge upheld the U.K. ban on political advertising in 2008, he said that impartiality is “not achieved if political parties can buy unlimited opportunities to advertise in the most effective media, so that elections become little more than an auction.”
After two and a half months of being in the U.S., I have found myself becoming immune to the political ads I see. I often wonder how people can possibly be expected to make an informed decision based on these commercials, or why they even accept the repetition of political advertising as a logical use of resources.
Debates as Theater
After all this, I was very much looking forward to the presidential debates, which I hoped would shed a different light on the candidates and their positions (televised debates were introduced for the first time in the 2010 election in the U.K., so the idea of debates being an important part of the election process is still relatively novel).
But I was a bit disappointed. Like in the ads, I felt that both candidates made claims without any real fact-checking, making it difficult to compare their policies against each other.
The general consensus was that Romney won the first debate, seemingly based on his body language, confidence and assertiveness. Obama himself conceded that if you haven’t got the energy, then the points you make won’t be appreciated.
I think the debates should be about presenting the facts and the proposed policies, to provide the American people with a fair representation of what each candidate believes in or is proposing. It doesn’t feel to me like people have a lot of opportunity to judge either candidate on what they actually say or believe.
What's it All For?
Nor does it feel like anyone is decrying that fact. It seems Americans simply accept that this is how an election goes - campaign ads that say nothing or make bogus claims, debates that favor style over substance, cutthroat competition between two parties.
This makes me wonder – is it all worthwhile?
It’s a hard question to answer. Every democracy has its problems, including the British system. The simple fact of letting people choose their leaders means that politics sometimes devolves into bitterness and childish antics, and sometimes plays to the lowest common denominator.
This year in America feels particularly bad (not that I have a precedent to judge against), and the Americans I know seem to recognize that, without concluding that that means their system doesn’t work properly. I’m still not sure whether I reach the same conclusion, though I fully recognize that as an outsider here who doesn’t understand the American ethos I’m not entirely qualified to judge.
But it was a British politician, Winston Churchill, who might have had the answer when he said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
See all News Updates of the Day
Pro-Palestinian protests spread on US university campuses
U.S. university campuses are seeing pro-Palestinian protests daily. Students are demonstrating against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and demanding that humanitarian aid be allowed to flow into the territory. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
US police clash with students who demand colleges cut financial ties to Israel
Police tangled with student demonstrators in the U.S. states of Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
At the University of Texas at Austin, hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — clashed with protesters, pushing them off the campus lawn and at one point sending some tumbling into the street. At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody at the request of university officials and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was arrested after being caught in a push-and-pull between law enforcement and students, the station confirmed. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff who bandaged his head.
At the University of Southern California, police got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents, removing several before falling back. At the northern end of California, students were barricaded inside a building for a third day at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn't stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday following a rally against the university's suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier in the day. The situation there remained tense, with campus officials saying it would continue talks with protesters for another 48 hours.
On a visit to campus, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign "if she cannot bring order to this chaos."
"If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard," he said.
Shafik had set a midnight Tuesday deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making "important progress."
On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. "Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will," said Ben Chang, Columbia's vice president for communications.
Columbia graduate student Omer Lubaton Granot, who put up pictures of Israeli hostages near the encampment, said he wanted to remind people that there were more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.
"I see all the people behind me advocating for human rights," he said. "I don't think they have one word to say about the fact that people their age, that were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are held by a terror organization."
Harvard law student Tala Alfoqaha, who is Palestinian, said she and other protesters want more transparency from the university.
"My hope is that the Harvard administration listens to what its students have been asking for all year, which is divestment, disclosure and dropping any sort of charges against students," she said.
Columbia encampment inspires others
Police first tried to clear the encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. The move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.
On Wednesday about 60 tents remained at the Columbia encampment, which appeared calm. Security remained tight around campus, with identification required and police setting up metal barricades.
Columbia said it had agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain at the encampment and they would make it welcoming, banning discriminatory or harassing language.
On the University of Minnesota campus, a few dozen students rallied a day after nine protesters were arrested when police took down an encampment in front of the library. U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was among the demonstrators arrested at Columbia last week, attended a protest later in the day.
A group of more than 80 professors and assistant professors signed a letter Wednesday calling on the university's president and other administrators to drop any charges and to allow future encampments without what they described as police retaliation.
They wrote that they were "horrified that the administration would permit such a clear violation of our students' rights to freely speak out against genocide and ongoing occupation of Palestine."
Netanyahu encourages police response
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses in a video statement released Wednesday, saying the response of several university presidents has been "shameful" and calling on state, local and federal officials to intervene.
Students at some protests were hiding their identities and declined to identify themselves to reporters, saying they feared retribution. At an encampment of about 40 tents at the heart of the University of Michigan's campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student wore a mask, which was handed to them when they entered.
The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated the protests, but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety concerns.
At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges. More than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
Columbia University demonstrators in talks with administration officials
Officials at Columbia University were continuing talks Wednesday with student demonstrators from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment as the protest reaches a full week.
At 9:41 p.m. Tuesday, university President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik sent an email to the Columbia community setting a midnight deadline for an agreement to be reached about dismantling the encampment and dispersing the protesters.
“I very much hope these discussions are successful,” she wrote. “If they are not, we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
As midnight passed, Columbia University Apartheid Divest posted a statement on X saying, “We refuse to concede to cowardly threats and blatant intimidation by university administration. We will continue to peacefully protest.”
The statement also said the university had threatened to call the National Guard. But after visiting the university earlier in the week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday she had no plans to deploy the National Guard.
As midnight approached on Tuesday, a student organizer announced that the deadline had been extended to 8 a.m. Wednesday.
At 4:09 a.m., the Office of the President sent an email saying the discussion deadline would be extended for 48 hours, given the constructive dialogue, and the university would report back on progress.
The email announced that leaders of the student encampment had agreed to remove a significant number of tents, get non-Columbia affiliates to leave the encampment and comply with New York Fire Department requirements. They also agreed to ensure that the encampment is “welcome to all” and to prohibit “discriminatory or harassing language.”
This development comes nearly a week after more than 100 students were arrested at the school on April 18, after Shafik authorized police to clear away protesters. Some of the students received suspension notices from the school.
Columbia’s action prompted an onslaught of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at other universities and responses from faculty and politicians.
Students at other campuses, such as Yale, Stanford and New York University, have also rallied around the Palestinian cause, calling for their universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel and for a cease-fire in Gaza. Many also have put up tent encampments on their campuses. About 150 students and faculty were arrested at New York University Monday night.
Columbia also announced Tuesday morning that classes on the Morningside main campus, where the protests are taking place, will be offered in a hybrid format for the remainder of the spring semester. The last day of classes is April 29.
- By VOA News
Paper: International students faced extra pandemic challenges
Astrobites, which describes itself as "a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy since 2010," focuses on the challenges international students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It examines a paper published in the Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education entitled The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on International Students in a Public University in the United States: Academic and Non-academic Challenges.
Read the Astrobites article here. (April 2024)
- By VOA News
15 cheapest US universities for international students
Yahoo!Finance has compiled a list of the 15 cheapest U.S. universities for international students.
Among them: Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Michigan State University.
Read the list here. (March 2024)
