Vote fires up scandal-hit campus
America’s Midterm elections are galvanising university students into voting at one college rocked by a sex scandal, student political activists say.
Four University of Southern California students said apathy had given way to “fired up” students who were still grappling with the scandal in which campus gynaecologist Dr George Tyndall sexually harassed hundreds of women over 30 years.
More than 500 women sued the university after they said it deliberately concealed complaints of sexual molestation against the student health centre doctor since the early 1990s.
Last month the university agreed to pay US$215 million ($322.89m) to settle a federal lawsuit in the case.
USC public policy junior and Trojan Advocates for Political Progress president Alec Vandenberg said the #MeToo movement was a national conversation but one that was felt “very closely at home”.
“We had a gynaecologist who abused hundreds of victims over the course of a few decades and that’s something we’re trying to grapple with as a campus.”
Vandenberg said there had also been incidents at the university where some professors had made insensitive comments about an office dedicated to dealing with sexual harassment.
He said they were working hard to make sure survivors of sexual assault were heard and feeding into that was Emily’s List, the American political action committee that aims to help pro-choice Democratic female candidates to office.
“We’ve seen a lot of strong female candidates with the support of large advocacy organisations such as Emily’s List — they have emerged at the forefront and that’s something we’re very excited about — students are getting a lot more involved in those campaigns.”
He said the question remained about whether or not voters, especially USC voters, were more energised in the Midterms because of the issues defined by the #MeToo movement.
“But it’s definitely a campus concern and something we’re trying to grapple with not only as students, but also administration and the campus culture and family.”
Vandenberg expected up to 40 per cent of students to vote in the Midterms, more than double the 15 per cent who voted in 2016.
College Democrats vice-president Sofia James said social media played a huge role in getting students registered to vote.
“Because calling them and going door-to-door is less effective with young people. They don’t answer the phone and they’re not at home all the time.”
Democratic Party chairwoman of the San Fernando Valley office Shanna Ingalsbee reiterated that point, saying a large number of people who don’t vote are millennials. “They don’t do email any more, it’s too slow for them. They don’t have a landline. They don’t wanna get calls on their cellphone. But they text constantly.”
Ingalsbee and her team of volunteers, who oversee the most successful campaign headquarters in California, use a phone banking system that automatically calls registered voters in the county.
Within the space of a few days the group had called more than 23,000 households in the area.
The calls are about encouraging people to vote. In the United States voting is not enforced.