Upstate Films Hosts Youth Voting Rights Book Launch and Documentary Screening on November 18
Introduced by Bard College President Leon Botstein, Event Features Conversation with Bard College Vice President Jonathan Becker, Alum Seamus Heady ’22, and Constitutional Rights Attorney Yael Bromberg
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—On November 18 at 5 pm, Upstate Films at the Starr Theater in Rhinebeck is hosting a special multi-media presentation of a book and four short documentaries focusing on the fight for voting rights on US college campuses. The event will feature a reading and conversation with book editors, Jonathan Becker and Yael Bromberg, and with documentary producer Seamus Heady. It will be introduced by Bard College President Leon Botstein. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets can be secured here.
The book, Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses, coedited by Becker and Bromberg, uses the history of the 26th Amendment and the ongoing fight to promote and defend youth voting rights as a prism through which to teach the history of the struggle for the fundamental right to vote in the United States.
The book and the documentaries focus on case studies of four institutions – Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Bard College. These cases, which emerged from a joint course that united faculty and students from all four institutions, offer unique insights into the role of college communities in the fight for suffrage, and their contributions to the evolution of the right to vote.
Bard College President Leon Botstein says: “This remarkable and inspiring book and the accompanying documentaries tell us about the struggle for voting rights at Bard and at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Readers will learn how college communities can and must promote core democratic freedoms, rights and practices. The authors’ achievement testifies to the indispensable link between higher education and democracy.”
The book is coedited and includes chapters by Jonathan Becker, professor of political studies, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, and Yael Bromberg, Esq., a constitutional rights litigator, leading legal scholar of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and election law professor at American University Washington College of Law.
Jonathan Becker says: “The book and film, A Poll to Call Our Own, have particular resonance in Dutchess County, where the fight for Bard and Vassar students to vote locally and have polling places on college campuses campus took place over nearly a quarter century. The lessons of the book are particularly important today, as we see the shadow of authoritarianism creeping across the country.”
Yael Bromberg says: “It is fitting that we are launching this book release in Dutchess County. What started as successful litigations to secure an on-campus polling site at Bard College, then motivated a state mandate to secure the mechanism on campuses across the state. These efforts evolved from litigation and advocacy into an ongoing national academic partnership and resulting book, which examines evolution of the right to vote from the perspective of college communities. We look forward to sharing these lessons in the midst of this moment of constitutional crisis.”
The films were directed by Seamus Heady ’22 and Mariia Pankova MA ’24 in Human Rights and the Arts. Heady says: “As a lifelong resident of Dutchess County, I was shocked and disheartened to learn of the barriers local students have faced in casting their ballots. The multi-campus collaboration allowed us not only to situate Bard's story in a national context, but to draw on the rich activist history of all four campuses. When you start making these connections across geography and history, the authoritarian playbook is really laid bare, and we get to see what strategies have prevailed in resisting that.”
For free tickets, go here. Books will be for sale courtesy of Oblong Books.
Further information on the event can be found here. More information on the book can be found at: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/youth-voting-rights-book/
The book, Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses, coedited by Becker and Bromberg, uses the history of the 26th Amendment and the ongoing fight to promote and defend youth voting rights as a prism through which to teach the history of the struggle for the fundamental right to vote in the United States.
The book and the documentaries focus on case studies of four institutions – Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Bard College. These cases, which emerged from a joint course that united faculty and students from all four institutions, offer unique insights into the role of college communities in the fight for suffrage, and their contributions to the evolution of the right to vote.
Bard College President Leon Botstein says: “This remarkable and inspiring book and the accompanying documentaries tell us about the struggle for voting rights at Bard and at three Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Readers will learn how college communities can and must promote core democratic freedoms, rights and practices. The authors’ achievement testifies to the indispensable link between higher education and democracy.”
The book is coedited and includes chapters by Jonathan Becker, professor of political studies, vice president for academic affairs and director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College, and Yael Bromberg, Esq., a constitutional rights litigator, leading legal scholar of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and election law professor at American University Washington College of Law.
Jonathan Becker says: “The book and film, A Poll to Call Our Own, have particular resonance in Dutchess County, where the fight for Bard and Vassar students to vote locally and have polling places on college campuses campus took place over nearly a quarter century. The lessons of the book are particularly important today, as we see the shadow of authoritarianism creeping across the country.”
Yael Bromberg says: “It is fitting that we are launching this book release in Dutchess County. What started as successful litigations to secure an on-campus polling site at Bard College, then motivated a state mandate to secure the mechanism on campuses across the state. These efforts evolved from litigation and advocacy into an ongoing national academic partnership and resulting book, which examines evolution of the right to vote from the perspective of college communities. We look forward to sharing these lessons in the midst of this moment of constitutional crisis.”
The films were directed by Seamus Heady ’22 and Mariia Pankova MA ’24 in Human Rights and the Arts. Heady says: “As a lifelong resident of Dutchess County, I was shocked and disheartened to learn of the barriers local students have faced in casting their ballots. The multi-campus collaboration allowed us not only to situate Bard's story in a national context, but to draw on the rich activist history of all four campuses. When you start making these connections across geography and history, the authoritarian playbook is really laid bare, and we get to see what strategies have prevailed in resisting that.”
For free tickets, go here. Books will be for sale courtesy of Oblong Books.
Further information on the event can be found here. More information on the book can be found at: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/youth-voting-rights-book/
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More on the book Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses (pub date November 17, 2025)
“Generations of young Americans, from Freedom Summer in 1964 to the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971 to the college campus struggles happening today during the Trump period, have been on the front lines of the fight to vote. This book is a stirring analysis of this important history and a powerful call to action.”
– Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary and author, We the Students: Supreme Court Decisions for and about Students
“At a moment of democratic peril, this desperately needed book arrives on the eve of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding—with promising insight and powerful analysis of young voters and the youth vote. If America is to celebrate future anniversaries as a democracy, it will be because we heed the rich scholarship, practical lessons, trenchant case studies, and inspired wisdom inscribed on these pages."
– Cornell William Brooks, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School, 18th President & CEO, NAACP
“This book is an essential look at the hard-fought and hard-won voting rights victories of young Americans. College students and young people have always been at the forefront of change in America. It's no wonder anti-democratic forces are cracking down on university campuses — where organizing, protest, and youth-led movements are born.”
– David Hogg, President, Leaders We Deserve; Co-founder, March For Our Lives
“The struggle to secure the right to vote for college students and young people did not end with the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971. Youth Voting Rights shows with passion and detail that community organizing, savvy legal strategy, and perseverance are necessary to secure the promise of equal voting for young and old and for black, brown, and white.”
– Richard L. Hasen, UCLA Professor and author, A Real Right to Vote
“This is an exceptionally important book on the too-often dismissed problem of voter suppression laws aimed at young voters. I highly recommend.”
– Marc E. Elias, Partner, Elias Law Group LLP and Founder, Democracy Docket
For further information or for review copies, please contact Jonathan Becker: [email protected] or go to: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/youth-voting-rights-book/ and visit: https://www.upstatefilms.org/youth-voting-rights
“Generations of young Americans, from Freedom Summer in 1964 to the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971 to the college campus struggles happening today during the Trump period, have been on the front lines of the fight to vote. This book is a stirring analysis of this important history and a powerful call to action.”
– Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary and author, We the Students: Supreme Court Decisions for and about Students
“At a moment of democratic peril, this desperately needed book arrives on the eve of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding—with promising insight and powerful analysis of young voters and the youth vote. If America is to celebrate future anniversaries as a democracy, it will be because we heed the rich scholarship, practical lessons, trenchant case studies, and inspired wisdom inscribed on these pages."
– Cornell William Brooks, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School, 18th President & CEO, NAACP
“This book is an essential look at the hard-fought and hard-won voting rights victories of young Americans. College students and young people have always been at the forefront of change in America. It's no wonder anti-democratic forces are cracking down on university campuses — where organizing, protest, and youth-led movements are born.”
– David Hogg, President, Leaders We Deserve; Co-founder, March For Our Lives
“The struggle to secure the right to vote for college students and young people did not end with the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971. Youth Voting Rights shows with passion and detail that community organizing, savvy legal strategy, and perseverance are necessary to secure the promise of equal voting for young and old and for black, brown, and white.”
– Richard L. Hasen, UCLA Professor and author, A Real Right to Vote
“This is an exceptionally important book on the too-often dismissed problem of voter suppression laws aimed at young voters. I highly recommend.”
– Marc E. Elias, Partner, Elias Law Group LLP and Founder, Democracy Docket
For further information or for review copies, please contact Jonathan Becker: [email protected] or go to: https://cce.bard.edu/get-involved/election/youth-voting-rights-book/ and visit: https://www.upstatefilms.org/youth-voting-rights
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About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place and Massena properties, Bard’s campus consists of more than 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; advanced degrees through 13 graduate programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 165-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at the main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place and Massena properties, Bard’s campus consists of more than 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; advanced degrees through 13 graduate programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 165-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at the main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.
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(11/05/25)
Website: https://www.upstatefilms.org/youth-voting-rights
This event was last updated on 11-05-2025
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