STAC Justice Studies Institute Invitation to Panel Discussion

St. Thomas Aquinas College’s Justice Studies Institute (JSI) and a panel of experts will lead a discussion about voting rights and [non] representation using the case of the East Ramapo School Districts as an example on March 23, 2021 via Zoom at 6:00 PM. This event is free and open to the public.

For more than a decade, controversy has engulfed the East Ramapo School District. Finally, in January, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling declaring that the school board elections violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by marginalizing the voting power of Black and Latino residents.

As part of an ongoing JSI series: “Racial Justice in the Hudson Valley,” academics, policymakers, and community leaders will come together to discuss and call attention to justice struggles in Rockland County and the broader Hudson Valley. Local voting rights, school governance, representation, and racial justice in education access—and what is being done to battle the racial inequities in East Ramapo schools.

Tom Zambito, Reporter for the Journal News in the Rockland and Westchester area, will host the event, and Carolyn Fraker, Interim-Director of the Justice Studies Institute at St. Thomas Aquinas College, will moderate.

Panelists will include:

• Donna Lieberman, Executive Director, NY Civil Liberties Union
• Perry Grossman, Voting Rights Project Attorney, NY Civil Liberties Union
• Willie Trotman, President, Spring Valley NAACP
• Oscar Cohen, Education Co-Chair, Spring Valley, NAACP
• Carole Anderson, former member of the East Ramapo School Board

To register for “Voting Rights and [Non] Representation” please visit:
www.stac.edu/VotingRights

Email JSI@STAC.edu with questions.