No facet of war or governance is comparable to the influential power of voice. Society’s progression is often marked by those who courageously speak out for the extensive line of people that share in their oppression. Hofstra’s inclusion of the Day of Dialogue on Oct. 26 gave students and various professionals the chance to express their worldly concerns – and their voices were certainly heard.
In a roundtable discussion for “The Campaign that Never Ends: Mental and Sexual Health in LGBTQIA Community,” a series of student panelists engaged in a discussion with the audience about the effects that LGBTQ+ discrimination has on their mental health. 

The speakers first voiced their opinions on the effects the presidential election has had on the LGBTQ+ community, specifically those in the community who support Donald Trump and Mike Pence – candidates that have repeatedly been accused of supporting anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

“Being gay or being trans doesn’t take away your agency to have different political opinions,” Shenoa Erny, one of the panelists, said. “I don’t think it’s possible or okay to remove someone’s gay card for supporting Donald Trump. Regardless of your political association, you still deserve the support of your community. 

Another speaker, James Factora, noted Caitlyn Jenner’s role in the transgender community as a conservative Republican.

“We pride ourselves on being a community that is all inclusive,” Factora said. “This echoes everything that came out with Caitlyn Jenner. She could have come out more for the transgender community but that doesn’t devalue her identity.”

Despite this support and open-mindedness to all opinions, Factora fears that Trump winning the election would spark rearward movement of the progression that the LGBTQ+ community has achieved since the 20th century.

“It’s going to affect my life and all of our lives,” Factora said. “We’ve come really far in this country to walk back.”

The discussion soon shifted to the Hofstra’s policies regarding gender-neutral bathrooms. 

“The invalidation is really severe when we’re forced to use a bathroom that doesn’t reflect our identity,” said the moderator of the discussion, Adam Gustafson.

The speakers then responded to claims that enabling people to use the bathroom of their preference will lead to increased sexual assaults. One speaker, Anthony Minerva, mentioned that sexual predators are not concerned with the bathrooms they are technically allowed to enter, they will find ways around this regardless. The problem at hand is that a person thinks it is okay to sexually assault another person, not what enables the easiest route in doing so.

In a lecture titled, “Caught Between a Rock and a Hot Place: Coral Reefs and Climate Change,” assistant biology professor Dr. Jessica Santangelo recounted her background studying coral reefs all over the world.

Through a colorful PowerPoint filled with photos of beautiful underwater landscapes, she detailed the considerable effects of global warming on oceanic life and how one can go about preventing them.

However, as her lecture carried on, the lively photos of coral reefs became colorless and cold; Santangelo explained that due to a phenomenon caused by global warming called “coral bleaching,” many species of coral are suffering.

As the climate heats up and water temperatures rise, corals become stressed and expel all of the pigmented algae living within their pores, causing them to turn completely white and in many cases – lacking the nutrients provided by the algae – die.

Coral reefs are home to a broad variety of aquatic organisms, and are incredibly important in protecting the biodiversity of the ocean. Due to recent climate changes and the greenhouse effect, coral reefs are slowly dying and the entire ecosystem may face impending shifts.

Santangelo emphasizes that there are many small ways in which anyone can help combat these issues.

“Bring your own bag to the grocery store and don’t dump weed killer down the storm drain,” Santangelo said. “But most importantly, vote. Make sure that the right people have the power to make big decisions about global warming. There’s a lot of different ways to have an impact, to make your voice heard locally, but you can make your voice heard internationally just by voting.”

In another event held on the Day of Dialogue, panelists from South Africa, Spain and Columbia came together to speak about the lack of democracy facing our world in the seminar, “Democracy in the Year of Bernie, (Br)Exit and Trump.” Panelists in this seminar highlighted the struggles their countries face in coming together as unified, despite their government’s weaknesses in listening to the people and failing to take responsibility for civic affairs.

Together, the panelists aimed to bring awareness to the troubles in their countries, which they said the people of the U.S fail to see. 

Dr. Lubna Nadvi focused on South Africa’s economic struggle. Across South Africa, students are outraged and protesting the cost of college.

The issue of government further progressed as Professor Alicia Gil-Torres spoke of Spain’s lack of government due to the Spanish government being divided into multiple parties. Columbia’s government was also brought to attention, due to the government’s involvement in tactics aimed to scare citizens away from participating in democracy.

Although the three countries are absent of a strong, fulfilling democracy, the three also want to focus on the democracy within our own nation. Throughout the presentation, the panelists encouraged students to act and participate in the politics taking place in the U.S.

“Your country is the most important in the world, and everything you do affects us. You are the leader and we follow you. Trump in control takes away our chances for our countries to come hand in hand and show what a democracy can be,” Gil-Torres said.

Participants in the panel entitled, “Has democracy lost its way? Ancient and modern perspectives” debated whether or not U.S. democracy is in crisis. Members of the panel were associate professor of philosophy Amy Baehr, assistant professor of history James Tan, and sophomore Lola Solís, a triple major in women’s studies, history and political science 

Democracy was discussed from all angles and the audience got involved via a question and answer session after the panelist’s commentary.

“I think we agreed that some people think there is a kind of crisis in democracy going on right now. How exactly to describe that crisis, you can describe it from the left or from the right,” said Baehr, who gave a philosophical account of democracy and its function.

Solís provided her description of this democratic crisis from the left. “From the perspective of a person of color, I don’t think democracy is in crisis because like I said during the panel, it never included us. What people don’t understand is that all these racist remarks that Donald Trump and other politicians have been saying is nothing new to us. It’s just getting a lot of attention right now because of the election, but we have always been persecuted since the birth of this country… I think we are going backwards rather than forwards.”

The argument continued, and many members of the crowd offered their opinions of the alleged crisis, including freshman journalism major James Yeary. He argued that our government doesn’t allow for democracy to be in crisis due to the distribution of power through checks and balances within the different branches.