Claremont, California, Nov. 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative (RJI) at Pitzer College will host a panel discussion on the surprising results of the 2022 U.S. midterms and the future of America’s electorate on November 29, 2022, at 6 p.m.
Pitzer Professor of Political Studies and Chicano Studies Adrian D. Pantoja will be joined by USC's Ange-Marie Hancock and UCLA’s Gary M. Segura for a discussion about the Democrats’ unexpected success, the impact of multiracial coalitions, and the changing U.S. electorate.
The public is invited to attend this event, which will be held in person in Benson Auditorium on the Pitzer College campus.
“The red wave failed to materialize in 2022,” said Pantoja, who serves as chair of the RJI. “How did Democrats defy history and outperform the Republican Party? As the electorate becomes more diverse, how do the political parties and candidates change their political strategies?”
To answer these and other questions, Pantoja, Hancock, and Segura will engage in an hour-long panel conversation followed by questions from the audience.
Diversity, Politics, and the Future
“As part of the RJI, the 2022 Midterm Elections panel provides us with an important way to bring expert scholars to Pitzer to discuss the nexus between racial justice and U.S. elections,” Pantoja said.
The author of numerous publications and policy reports and an associate dean of faculty at Pitzer, Pantoja conducts research on the Latino electorate, U.S. immigration policy, and American politics. He has worked with the polling firm Latino Decisions, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and more.
Hancock serves as dean’s professor and chair of the department of political science and international relations at USC. She is a scholar of intersectionality theory, the leading analytical framework for analyzing and resolving inequality.
Her works include the award-winning The Politics of Disgust and the Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,” Solidarity Politics for Millennials: A Guide to Ending the Oppression Olympics, and Intersectionality: An Intellectual History.
Segura is the dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA. His work focuses on political representation and social cleavages, the domestic politics of wartime public opinion, and the politics of America’s growing Latino minority.
His publications include Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation with Matt Barreto; The Future is Ours: Minority Politics, Political Behavior, and the Multiracial Era of American Politics with Shaun Bowler; and Latino Lives in America: Making It Home with the Latino National Survey team.
About the Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative
Former Pitzer President Melvin L. Oliver launched the RJI in 2020 to deepen student, staff, and faculty knowledge and action around racialized violence.
After Oliver announced that he would retire in June 2022, the RJI was renamed the Melvin L. Oliver Racial Justice Initiative to honor his tenure as the sixth president of the College, his fight for equity and against injustice, and his 45-year career in higher education and philanthropy.
Pitzer also established an endowed fund for the initiative to create an ongoing revenue stream and support the RJI in perpetuity.
“The Racial Justice Initiative seeks to place Pitzer College as a leader in dialogue and analysis on racial justice in America,” said Pantoja.
Interested in attending the event? Find more information here.
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About Pitzer College: Founded in 1963, Pitzer College is a top-ranked liberal arts and sciences college. The College emphasizes environmental and interdisciplinary studies, the arts, humanities and social, behavioral and natural sciences. With approximately 1,000 students, Pitzer College is part of The Claremont Colleges, a unique group of five undergraduate colleges and two graduate institutions. The contiguous campuses share numerous programs and facilities. At Pitzer, students have access to all the resources of a major university while enjoying the benefits of a liberal arts college experience and its personalized approach to education. Learn more about Pitzer College.
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