"The problem is not the Electoral College, but us.”

William Josephson (AB '52) will provide a continuation lecture from his 2007 presentation on the Electoral College and Gore vs. Bush in the context of the 2016 Presidential election.

EVENT DATE:

Wednesday, May 17 2017 at 6-9 p.m.

LOCATION:

3 West Club

3 W 51st

New York, NY 10019

Cost: $25 (includes lecture and light refreshements)

Register via this link.

Prominent lawyer and Electoral College historian Bill Josephson (AB '52) will give a follow up to his 2007 talk about the Electoral College. Josephson will address many of the flaws of the Electoral College while discussing the challenges facing plans to use the popular vote to select the President.

Josephson will consider the

-        Flaws behind the National Popular Vote plan, which has the support of the New York Times and 165 Electoral Votes worth of states.

-        Attempts to eliminate winner-take-all voting by electors in each state.

-        Awful possibility that the House of Representatives will elect the President, if the Electoral College does not, and/or if the Senate’s effort to elect a Vice President is filibustered.

-        Gerrymandering;

-        Issues raised by so called faithless electors; and,

-        Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.

To get a perspective of his authority on the subject of the Electoral College, please access this New York Times article: For Expert on Electoral College, Calls Never Stop.

Beginning with his joining Fried, Frank in 1966, Mr. Josephson served as counsel to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay's Human Resources Study Group and thereafter worked on a number of Lindsay Administration initiatives, including the Community School District System and Neighborhood Government.

Mr. Josephson worked with Sargent Shriver at the Peace Corps until 1966, holding positions as Special Assistant to the Director and then General Counsel. In 1972, Mr. Josephson was a director of Sargent Shriver's campaign for Vice President on the McGovern/Shriver ticket.

His expertise in tax-exempt organizations led him to become the Assistant Attorney General-in-Charge of the Charities Bureau in the New York State Department of Law from 1999 to 2004 under former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. 

Mr. Josephson, resident in the New York office, is now a retired partner of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP., a senior advisor to the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago and Senior Advisor to the Sargent Shiver Peace Institute (SSPI).  He teaches College undergraduates at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.

Register here today

In a first for the Club and University-wide Alumni Association, we are collaborating with AlumniU, a free online learning community exclusively for UChicago alumni, to allow for an enriched and interactive event that will start right ahead of Mr. Josephson's presentation. 

With your CNET Logon, access the AlumniU webpage for this event and:

• Vote on the current alternatives to the Electoral College
• Pose a question you may have on this topic to Mr. Josephson
• Read up on some back ground material ahead of the lecture

Forgot your CNetID or having trouble logging in? Explore CNetID Help or email alumniu@uchicago.edu.

Questions on this event?  Please contact UChicagoNYC@gmail.com.