Gatekeepers: What Stands Between Gen Z and Political Participation?

Gen Z is now old enough to vote, to organize, and to hold office even as it is largely absent from the institutions that make political decisions. The median age in Congress is over 60 and on the federal bench it is 68. This panel takes up the practical questions behind those figures: what makes a political organization feel open or closed to someone in their early twenties, what stands between a first-time Gen Z candidate and a place on the ballot, and how the structure of American institutions shapes both answers. 

Join us on Sept. 30 at Columbia University for a conversation with Samuel Moyn, Professor of Law and History at Yale and author of Gerontocracy in America, and Daniel HoSang, Professor of American Studies and Political Science at Yale and author of "Inside the Rise of the Multiracial Right." They will examine the age division in American politics, barriers to youth representation, and opportunities to widen participation. Suzanne Goldberg, Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, will moderate. 

Panelists

• Samuel Moyn, Kent Professor of Law and History, Yale University
• Daniel HoSang, Professor of American Studies and Political Science, Yale University

Moderator

• Suzanne Goldberg, Herbert and Doris Wechsler Clinical Professor of Law, Columbia Law School