The Harward Center sponsors and co-sponsors diverse public programs designed to equip participants for civically engaged lives. Links to some of those programs may be found below.
2023
What’s on my ballot?
Announcing the Bates Votes Guide to the 2023 Elections
Maine has 8 statewide referendum questions on the ballot, along with municipal races for Mayor, City Council, and School Committee. Many of these races are consequential about whether our local government will invest in affordable housing, educational equity, public safety, and more! Take a look at the 2023 Bates Votes Guide to the Elections and the Bates Student Voter Guide. It’s a great nonpartisan resource to consider when you’d like to learn more about your candidates.
2023 Election Forum Recordings:
Last week, the Harward Center sponsored two informational forums about the 2023 Elections. Please check out the videos from the event to learn more.
What’s on the Ballot? Making Sense of Maine’s Referendum Questions
Monday, October 30, 2023 – Muskie Archives
View Recording Here: https://youtu.be/blcURkJO46Q
Join us for a panel discussion with Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, Steve Mistler, Chief Political Correspondent from Maine Public, and Kate Cough, Energy & Environment Reporter with The Maine Monitor. Moderated by Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, we’ll learn about the referendum questions – from banning campaign spending by foreign governments in elections, to create a nonprofit, consumer-owned utility company, to automotive “right to repair”, to requiring the state of Maine to publish all provisions of the Maine Constitution, including its obligations toward Wabanaki Tribes.
Who’s on My Ballot? Meet the Lewiston Candidates for Mayor, Council, and School Committee
Thursday, November 2 – 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Bates College Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.
School Committee & City Council Candidates: https://youtu.be/LuxTsQB2Spg
Mayoral Candidates: https://youtu.be/TcFisKiozAc
Do you know that there are 16 races on the Lewiston ballot? Join us on Wednesday, November 1 at Muskie Archives for a youth-led community forum with candidates running for Lewiston Mayor, City Council, and School Committee. Learn more about where your local candidates stand on issues such as education, housing, and more.
Event is open to the public. Chai & cookies, and local foods will be available.
Sponsored by Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Community Organizing Alliance, Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, and Maine Students Vote.
2022
Wednesday, October 5: Bates Voter Registration Day!
Did you know that every time a student moves, they need to re-register to vote? On October 5, stop by the tables outside Commons to register or learn how to request an absentee ballot in your home state. Additionally, voter registration cards and drop-off boxes will be located at the Ladd Library and Post & Print.
Call for Submissions – Bates “I Voted” Design Contest
Bates Votes, a nonpartisan voter engagement initiative, is excited to bring students, faculty, and staff a limited edition “I Voted” sticker to engage the campus community in the electoral process. The winning design will be distributed in late October through Election Day to Bates voters.
Submissions are open to Bates students with the final design selected by the campus community: https://bit.ly/I-Voted-Bates-Contest.
October 13 – Defending Democracy: The State of Free & Fair Elections in Maine and the U.S.A Talk with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows & Professor John Baughman
Thursday, October 13 – 7:30pm – 9pm
Fireplace Lounge, Commons
Register here: https://bit.ly/Bates-Votes-Oct13
Voting is the cornerstone of American democracy, but our election system is challenged by persistent barriers to voting and unprecedented new threats. Learn from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows about election integrity, threats to free and fair elections in Maine and across the country. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State, sworn into her two-year position on January 4, 2021. Currently, Secretary Bellows is serving on the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections and Cybersecurity Committee. A social activist, non-profit leader, and politician, she has led campaigns to protect same-day voter registration, worked on ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and championed legislation to expand voting rights during her time in the Maine State Senate.
2021
Maine League of Women Voters
On 3/16/21, the Maine League of Women Voters offered a presentation on the National Popular Vote Legislation at Bates. Click here to watch a recording on YouTube.
Organizing for Change: Labor as a Key to Social and Environmental Justice Panel Presentation
On 4/21/21, an esteemed panel of guests reflected on the PRO Act – legislation to support a strong labor movement as central to other progressive causes such as climate change and racial justice.
Featuring: Matt Schlobohm, Bates graduate and Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO; Professor Michael Hillard, labor historian at the University of Southern Maine; State Senator Chloe Maxmin, champion of Maine’s Green New Deal; Michaela Flint, Portland Museum of Art worker; Chelsea Farrell, UAW2110 organizer; Professor Francis Eanes, moderator
Click here to watch a recording on YouTube.
A Conversation with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows
On 3/9/21, Bates students engaged in a conversation with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows over Zoom. Click here to watch a recording on YouTube.
2018
On 3/28/18, Mariam Jalabi, Representative of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces at the UN, delivered a talk entitled, “The Struggle for Human Rights from Syria to Maine.” Born in Damascus, Syria and raised in the Golan Heights, Mariam Jalabi ran a fashion company until the Syrian Civil War began in 2011. She has been actively involved in democratic advocacy since the war began and is a passionate advocate for women’s inclusion in the Syrian peace process. She was recently promoted to Representative of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces’ New York Office at the United Nations. She had served as Director since 2013. She is also a founding member of the Syrian Non-Violence Movement, a founding member of the Syrian National Council, a member of the Syrian Opposition High Negotiation Committee’s Women’s Advisory Committee, and works with the Syrian Women’s Network and the Syrian Feminist Lobby. She holds degrees from McGill University and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Click here to watch video of this talk.
On 3/14/18, Joel Clement, former director of the Office of Policy Analysis and top climate change policy official at the U.S. Department of the Interior, delivered a talk entitled, “The Trump Administration’s War on Climate Policy: A View from a Whistleblower Who is Speaking Out.” Clement was demoted along with other climate policy experts, and was also a whistleblower on the Trump administration’s policy of reassigning employees to encourage them to leave government.
Click here to watch video of this talk.
Click here to listen to audio of this talk on Maine Public Radio’s website.
On 3/6/18, Dr. Shauna Shames, Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University – Camden, visited the Bates campus to meet with faculty and students to discuss the research in her book entitled, “Out of the Running: Why Millennials Reject Political Careers and Why It Matters.”
Click here to listen to audio of the talk she delivered on 3/5/18 at the Bangor Public Library on Maine Public Radio’s website.
On 2/28/18, Matthew Dunlap, Maine Secretary of State, spoke on his work as a member of President Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission, which the President disbanded after Dunlap sued the Commission for allegedly violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
Click here to watch video of this talk.
2015
Click here for video of the 11/16/15 Civic Forum lecture, “Harness the Sun: America’s Quest for a Solar-Powered Future” by lawyer, former Conservation Law Foundation president and author Phil Warburg.
Click here for video of the 11/12/15 Civic Forum lecture, “Burning Desire: Our Longing for Justice and Hope for Healing” by Becca Stevens, internationally acclaimed speaker, writer, and social entrepreneur, and founder of Thistle Farms, a social enterprise run by women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction, and life on the streets.
Click here for video of the 10/26/15 Civic Forum lecture, “Preserving the Cuban Revolution During ‘Normalization'” by Cuban popular educator and writer Ariel Dacal Díaz.
Click here for audio of the 10/14/15 Civic Forum lecture, “”How Washington Works (Or Doesn’t)” by Maine’s United States Senator, Angus King.
2014
Click here for video of the 10/1/2014 Civic Forum presentation by Passamaquoddy members Denise Altvater and Esther Attean on the history, necessity and process of the historic Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission created to address the harm done to native children who were taken from their families by the State and forced to assimilate into the dominant culture. The presentation includes an introduction by famed artist, Robert Shetterly, creator of the nationally acclaimed series, “Americans Who Tell the Truth.”
On 10/20/14 the Hon. James Tierney, Columbia Law School faculty and former Attorney General for the State of Maine, delivered a major address on the impact of immigrants on Maine’s economic future.
Click here to watch the video file for that address.
Click here to download a copy of an expanded text version of that address in PDF format.
Click here to read the text version of another address that Tierney delivered on April 22, 2002 at The University of Maine, entitled “Diversity in Maine: An Opportunity.”
Click here for video of the 11/3/2014 Civic Forum discussion by the iDebate Rwanda team on the emergence of the younger Rwandan generation’s voice in creating their own sense of identity and leadership aims. They discussed how they are using debate to overcome the consequences and legacy of genocide to provide a new path for their nation; and and how they deal with those consequences in the representation of memory in debate, literature and other artistic forms.
2013
Video of the 10/24/13 Civic Forum lecture, “Ubuntu: An African Contribution to the Universality of Human Rights” by South African Justice Albert Sachs
Click here to watch a video interview with Manal al-Sharif by Bates College Television.
Click here to watch Manal al-Sharif’s TED talk.
Click here to watch Manal al-Sharif’s talk at the Oslo Freedom Forum.
2012
Click here to watch a video of the 9/11/12 Civic Forum lecture, “Will There Be an Occupy 2.0?” by Todd Gitlin.
Video of the 9/29/12 Civic Forum panel, “The Path from Activism to Leadership: Through the Alumni Lens of Engagement”:
Click here to watch a video of the 10/1/12 Civic Forum panel, “The History and Future of the Clean Water Act in Maine.”
Video of the 10/10/12 Civic Forum lecture, “Frances Perkins: New Deal Legacy and Lessons for Today” by Laura Fortman:
Click here to watch a video of the 11/14/12 Bertha May Bell Andrews Lecture, “Leading Change: Story, Strategy, Action” by Marshall Ganz.
Click here to watch an audio slideshow of Victoria Lowe ’12, a double major in dance and American cultural studies, as she discusses her Short Term experience with “Tour, Teach, Perform” and her goal of advancing arts education in the schools.
Click here to watch a video of Savoring Androscoggin County, a performative meal and the culmination of student research activities for the course “Food, Performance + Community,” taught by Professor Myron M. Beasley and supported by a Harward Center Grant for Publicly-Engaged Academic Projects.
2011
Click here to visit the Androscoggin River Portal, created by students in ES417 during the 2011 fall semester.
Who’s on My Ballot? Meet the Lewiston Candidates for Mayor, Council, and School Committee
Thursday, November 2 – 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Bates College Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.
School Committee & City Council Candidates: https://youtu.be/LuxTsQB2Spg
Mayoral Candidates: https://youtu.be/TcFisKiozAc
Do you know that there are 16 races on the Lewiston ballot? Join us on Wednesday, November 1 at Muskie Archives for a youth-led community forum with candidates running for Lewiston Mayor, City Council, and School Committee. Learn more about where your local candidates stand on issues such as education, housing, and more.
Event is open to the public. Chai & cookies, and local foods will be available.
Sponsored by Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Community Organizing Alliance, Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, and Maine Students Vote.
Wednesday, October 5: Bates Voter Registration Day!
Did you know that every time a student moves, they need to re-register to vote? On October 5, stop by the tables outside Commons to register or learn how to request an absentee ballot in your home state. Additionally, voter registration cards and drop-off boxes will be located at the Ladd Library and Post & Print.
Call for Submissions – Bates “I Voted” Design Contest
Bates Votes, a nonpartisan voter engagement initiative, is excited to bring students, faculty, and staff a limited edition “I Voted” sticker to engage the campus community in the electoral process. The winning design will be distributed in late October through Election Day to Bates voters.
Submissions are open to Bates students with the final design selected by the campus community: https://bit.ly/I-Voted-Bates-Contest.
October 13 – Defending Democracy: The State of Free & Fair Elections in Maine and the U.S.
A Talk with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows & Professor John Baughman
Thursday, October 13 – 7:30pm – 9pm
Fireplace Lounge, Commons
Register here: https://bit.ly/Bates-Votes-Oct13
Voting is the cornerstone of American democracy, but our election system is challenged by persistent barriers to voting and unprecedented new threats. Learn from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows about election integrity, threats to free and fair elections in Maine and across the country. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State, sworn into her two-year position on January 4, 2021. Currently, Secretary Bellows is serving on the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections and Cybersecurity Committee. A social activist, non-profit leader, and politician, she has led campaigns to protect same-day voter registration, worked on ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and championed legislation to expand voting rights during her time in the Maine State Senate.
Who’s on My Ballot? Meet the Lewiston Candidates for Mayor, Council, and School Committee
Thursday, November 2 – 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Bates College Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.
School Committee & City Council Candidates: https://youtu.be/LuxTsQB2Spg
Mayoral Candidates: https://youtu.be/TcFisKiozAc
Do you know that there are 16 races on the Lewiston ballot? Join us on Wednesday, November 1 at Muskie Archives for a youth-led community forum with candidates running for Lewiston Mayor, City Council, and School Committee. Learn more about where your local candidates stand on issues such as education, housing, and more.
Event is open to the public. Chai & cookies, and local foods will be available.
Sponsored by Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Community Organizing Alliance, Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, and Maine Students Vote.
Wednesday, October 5: Bates Voter Registration Day!
Did you know that every time a student moves, they need to re-register to vote? On October 5, stop by the tables outside Commons to register or learn how to request an absentee ballot in your home state. Additionally, voter registration cards and drop-off boxes will be located at the Ladd Library and Post & Print.
Call for Submissions – Bates “I Voted” Design Contest
Bates Votes, a nonpartisan voter engagement initiative, is excited to bring students, faculty, and staff a limited edition “I Voted” sticker to engage the campus community in the electoral process. The winning design will be distributed in late October through Election Day to Bates voters.
Submissions are open to Bates students with the final design selected by the campus community: https://bit.ly/I-Voted-Bates-Contest.
October 13 – Defending Democracy: The State of Free & Fair Elections in Maine and the U.S.
A Talk with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows & Professor John Baughman
Thursday, October 13 – 7:30pm – 9pm
Fireplace Lounge, Commons
Register here: https://bit.ly/Bates-Votes-Oct13
Voting is the cornerstone of American democracy, but our election system is challenged by persistent barriers to voting and unprecedented new threats. Learn from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows about election integrity, threats to free and fair elections in Maine and across the country. Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is Maine’s first female Secretary of State, sworn into her two-year position on January 4, 2021. Currently, Secretary Bellows is serving on the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections and Cybersecurity Committee. A social activist, non-profit leader, and politician, she has led campaigns to protect same-day voter registration, worked on ballot campaigns to pass marriage equality in Maine, and championed legislation to expand voting rights during her time in the Maine State Senate.