Recently Appointed Bard College Acting President Jonathan Becker Publishes Youth Voting Essay in Liberal Education

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College Executive Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Jonathan Becker, who has been appointed Bard’s acting president beginning July 1, published “Give Them Ballots,” an article on student voting rights in the spring 2026 volume of Liberal Education Magazine, the award-winning flagship quarterly of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Yael Bromberg, who is a Senior Fellow at Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement, and with whom Becker coedited Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses, also published a companion article, “A Detour for Democracy,” in the same issue. Taken together, the articles reflect on the history of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment and of higher education in the United States, and act as a lens through which to examine current obstacles to youth voting.

Becker’s essay, “Give Them Ballots,” focuses on the civic purpose of higher education and reflects on recent attacks by the Department of Education on the nation’s foremost nonpartisan study of student voting, along with recent federal proposals such as the so-called SAVE America Act, which threatens the voting rights of women, youth, and other vulnerable populations. Becker writes that higher education institutions must “clearly state the importance of electoral participation in the educational process . . . It means working to protect students’ right to vote. It means committing institutional resources to build a durable voting infrastructure that involves both students and campus leadership.”

Bromberg’s article, “A Detour for Democracy,” details her legal scholarship on the Twenty-Sixth Amendment’s protections of on-campus polling sites and quantitative and qualitative analysis of how restrictions suppress youth voting rates and influence election outcomes. Bromberg concludes in her piece: “The consequences of removing or restricting polling sites on campuses are measurable and significant. . . Taken together, both history and these more recent events underscore that safeguarding on-campus polling sites is not peripheral to democracy but part of defending the franchise for a rising generation of voters.”

In their articles, Bromberg and Becker each offer concrete steps that colleges and universities can take to protect youth voting rights.  The articles are informed by their continued efforts, including recent publication of an open-source academic book, Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses (De Gruyter 2026).

On June 23rd, Bromberg and Becker, along with Bard Vice President for Civic Education Erin Cannan, are launching an innovative summer course entitled “Student Voting, Civil Rights and the Practice of Democracy,” which is a part of a course and certificate program called “Realizing Democracy.” This course uses the Twenty-Sixth Amendment as a prism to examine the fight for voting rights in the United States today, and offers civics skills training. The course, which is non-partisan, will engage more than 50 college and advanced high school students from leading student voting and civic engagement organizations, including The Andrew Goodman Foundation, ALLIN Campus Democracy Challenge, Campus Compact, Citizen University, New Voters, the Civic Center, the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition, and the United Negro College Fund. In all, more than 15 leading democracy organizations are contributing to the course and trainings, which run from June 23 through July 28. 

“American colleges and universities should not be neutral when it comes to student voting and democracy. The goal of our articles in Liberal Education and this course is to highlight ways in which college communities can facilitate civic participation and help students exercise the most foundational or democratic rights, the right to vote. The course comes at a critical time, when voting rights, including youth voting rights, are under assault nationally and youth voter participation remains low. We hope to give students the tools to empower them to be their own best advocates and to help realize the promise of the 26^th Amendment in the 250^th year of our constitution.” Jonathan Becker, Acting President (effective July 1) and Professor of Political Studies, Bard College.

“I am thrilled to partner with Bard College to innovate and launch this first-of-its-kind academic course on evolution of the right to vote, coupled with critical skills training to put learning into practice. This summer, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, and the 55th of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, we will equip new voters from across the country with the knowledge and tools to fulfill the Amendment’s promise.” Professor Yael Bromberg, Esq., constitutional rights litigator, legal scholar of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, election law professor, and coeditor, Youth Voting Rights (De Gruyter, 2026).

“Voting is a practical mechanism that often acts as a young person’s first interaction with a formal democratic process. This course helps students understand the system, the challenges and barriers to participation along with the tools to address those challenges. We are activating student agency by building their confidence which can help them as lifelong participants in democracy.” Erin Cannan, author, chapter 8, Youth Voting Rights (De Gruyter, 2026)
 

This event was last updated on 06-22-2026

Back to Top