Voting Across the Globe

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This year, half the world’s population — in more than 75 countries — are casting their votes in critical national elections. As reporter Koh Ewe wrote in Time magazine, “2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year.” At press time, nearly 800 million voters in countries from Taiwan and Iran to France and Rwanda have already gone to the polls, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. To help students and the greater Barnard community understand this consequential political moment, the Office of the Provost is hosting a yearlong event series that will draw on the research and expertise of Barnard’s faculty to examine some of the key issues shaping elections.

“We hope to facilitate dialogues on difficult and sensitive topics, including reproductive rights and migration, that currently fuel heated debates and political polarization across the world, not just in the U.S.,” says Alexander Cooley, the Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost for Research and Academic Centers. “Our engaged faculty and staff are eager to share their expertise with the Barnard community both within and outside of the classroom.”

Through panels, roundtable discussions, and exhibitions, the Barnard community is invited to engage with current events in real time, including “A Post-Election Community Forum,” led by Michael G. Miller, associate professor of political science, and other Barnard faculty experts to help contextualize the status of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. (See this issue’s Q&A with Professor Miller on how he teaches the election.)

The series — which kicked off in October with the installation Trigger Planting 2.0 (see page 71), by professor of practice in architecture Kadambari Baxi and colleagues, and a panel conversation at the LeFrak Theatre on reproductive rights — will continue through the spring semester with additional programming organized around climate change, immigration and migration, and digital transformation.