Inside the Ivy: Calls to Political Action

In the News:

Brown alum is throwing his hat in the presidential ring

Two decades after graduating Brown and founding his own organization—Venture for America—Andrew Yang ’96 has decided to run for President of the United States.
The Brown Daily Herald reports, “An economics and political science concentrator, Yang used his two areas of study to develop the core tenet of his campaign — universal basic income. If elected, the 2020 Democratic candidate promises to allocate $1,000 per month to every American between the ages of 18 and 64, which he calls a ‘Freedom Dividend,’ according to his campaign website.”
Yang also has ideas for creating jobs, especially for recent graduates, which is the main focus of his organization.

Harvard student is pushing for gun control

In 2016, Reed Shafer-Ray ’18 childhood friend Joseph Ostas committed suicide by shooting himself with a gun he legally obtained, despite being mentally unhealthy.

The Harvard Crimson reports, “In the wake of Ostas’s death, Shafer-Ray, a Social Studies concentrator, decided to take legal action to ensure something similar would never happen again. After reaching out to legislators, Shafer-Ray began pushing for two separate bills in Massachusetts meant to improve gun safety for individuals like Ostas.”
The first bill would make it more difficult for those at risk of self-harm to obtain guns by allowing family members or law enforcement to create a petition to revoke those individuals access to firearms. The second bill allows Massachusetts residents to voluntarily put themselves on a “no-sell” list. Both bills are currently running through various Massachusetts House committees.

Randoms:

Eating like a pro on the go: UPenn style
Harvard’s into the California wine business

Quote of the Week:

“If you care about immigration, you care about jobs, you care about criminal justice reform, you care about gender equity, you can’t be on the sidelines right now.”
– Michael Blake, vice chair of the Democratic National Convention at Cornell

Tweet of the Week:

Sure you may go to an Ivy League but does your school have a guy who rides around on a bike with a boombox attached bumping trap music

— jh (@Cracker_Jack93) April 11, 2018