Americans made their voices heard on election night, and more voters chose Hillary Clinton than any other candidate – Clinton is now on track to win more votes than any other presidential candidate in history except President Obama. Even though Clinton is expected to win approximately 2 MILLION more popular votes (and counting!), the Electoral College allowed Trump to win. This is the fifth time in American history, and only 16 years since voters chose Al Gore but got George W. Bush instead, that the Electoral College overruled the will of the American people. It’s an affront to our democracy and a sign that the system is broken. We believe every vote should count equally, regardless of where you live in the United States – EVERY vote in EVERY state should matter in EVERY presidential election. But thanks to the Electoral College, our presidential elections are based on state winner-take-all laws that award all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes inside each separate state. This winner-take-all system means presidential candidates have no reason to pay attention to voters in states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind. Instead, candidates focus on “swing states” while largely ignoring the rest of the country. But there’s a realistic path to restoring our democracy and overruling the Electoral College by 2020, and we don’t have to go through the Trump-led, Republican-controlled Congress. If we can get enough states to sign onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, our presidents will be elected by the national popular vote, not the outdated Electoral College. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact would require states to award all their electoral votes to whichever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote. And we already have momentum to getting this enacted nationally: Right now, ten states and the District of Columbia have joined the compact, possessing 165 electoral votes altogether. If states and territories totaling at least 270 electoral votes pass laws joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, then the people’s choice won’t be overruled by the Electoral College in the next presidential election. That means we're only 105 electoral votes away from making sure we don’t have another 2016 in 2020! Tell State Legislators: Please join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, and end the Electoral College's power to overturn the will of the voters. Thanks for standing with us.

Once again, Donald Trump has made it clear that his administration will embrace policies that pose serious threats to millions of Americans. We need to help make sure Congress holds the line. Trump's appointment of Bannon has been heralded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, as well as the chairman of the American Nazi Party and other ultra right-wing pundits who believe Bannon will be able to fulfill Trump's most bigoted campaign promises. Trump has said recently that he would attempt to be a president for all Americans. Yet by choosing Bannon as a top advisor in one of his first big post-election moves, Trump continues to demonstrate that he's far more interested in peddling a dangerous and divisive agenda than in working toward real solutions to our country's challenges. We need to build the collective force necessary to put members of Congress on notice that we expect them to vehemently oppose Bannon's appointment, using all the tools at their disposal, including holds on all further Trump appointments.

The media is failing to report the truth about Trump, his closest advisors, and their plans for the country that are dangerous for our democracy. Trump just appointed Steve Bannon, an unabashed leader of the white nationalist movement and a domestic abuser, as his chief strategist, but you wouldn't know that from the headlines. USA Today called him a "loyalist." Wall Street Journal and Washington Post said he's an "outsider." CBS described him as a "former Goldman Sachs executive." It's irresponsible reporting like this that led to the election of a racist, serial sexual predator in the first place. In fact, these news outlets largely ignored women who came forward about being assaulted by Trump in the last weeks of the election. America needs a free, open, and truthful press now more than ever. Major news outlets need to do their job and stop covering up the truth about Trump.

Over the past months, we have watched a campaign in which a candidate and his supporters issued insults, slurs, and outright threats against many of those who constitute our CUNY community: women, people of color, Jews, members of the LGBTQ community, those with disabilities, and in particular, Muslims and immigrants (more specifically, undocumented immigrants), who have been directly targeted by President-elect Trump’s policy proposals. The broader public discussion around the election has involved a number of gross and insulting generalizations about other members of our community, specifically “non-college educated voters” and “working- class voters,” to which we object in the strongest possible terms. We represent many different political positions, and our concern here is not to make a partisan statement about who should or should not have won the Presidential election. Our concern is to teach and support every member of our community to the best of our abilities. But we recognize that given the outcome of this election, many members of the CUNY community, especially those who belong to any of the groups that have been targeted during the campaign, may be feeling a mixture of emotions: fear, rage, anxiety, hopelessness, fury, vulnerability. Indeed, we fear that many of our students may have woken up the day after the election feeling directly, bodily threatened by the result.

Now that Donald J. Trump is the President Elect, he should be required to release his tax returns. We are trusting him with the fate of country. We need to know his personal wealth is not tied to foreign interests.

In the wake of this election we have seen an increase in acts of discrimination, hate, and violence, especially in our schools. At a time like this it is more important than ever for our country to come together and denounce hatred. Donald Trump, now is the time for you to set the tone of your presidency, earn respect of all parties, and bring Americans together. As we know, a country divided will almost certainly fail. What do you want your legacy to be?

A DONALD TRUMP GOVERNMENT CAN AND SHOULD BE PREVENTED AND IT COULD BE DONE LEGALLY. It’s a very long shot but under the dire circumstances it should at least be tried. Here’s why: It is now clear to everyone except Trump that he will not be able to get the nightmare cabinet he is in the processes of putting together approved by the Senate when he be comes president on January 20th or for months and months afterward because the Republicans in the Senate, even if they are all united in favor, will not have the votes to break a Democrat filibuster. The United States will not have a functional government. This would be a revolution through chaos. Here’s how: Although no elector is required by federal law to honor their pledge, there have been very few occasions when an elector voted contrary to a pledge. Meaning it has happened. Meaning it can happen. Meaning that it is constitutional. Meaning that it is legal. Meaning that at least in theory it can be done. The Electorial College votes on the Monday after the second Wednesday in December and votes separately for President and Vice President. That is the deadline for convincing enough electors to save the United States from disaster by voting for Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump. The political argument: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote not Trump. Almost anyone who did not vote for Trump including perhaps millions who didn’t vote because they couldn’t bear voting for Clinton is now disgusted, outraged, and terrified at the outcome, as well they should be. What this means is that a Trump government will not be recognized as legitimate by a quite clear majority of the American people. Nor will it be able to function. This would be an impossible situation. It could not last. The result would have to be some kind of revolution, political, legal, or violent, impossible to predict. What to do: Spread this proposal far and wide. Viralize it. And quickly. The deadline is in December. Just a shot away.

We the People must object to the unprecedented Senate blockage of President Obama's nominee for appointment to the Supreme Court from being given a hearing. President Obama must use his power to appoint Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court during the Congressional recess. Petition him to act without hesitation!!

There are too many potential issues of conflict of interest, bribery, manipulation of foreign policy and undermining of military interests to allow non-disclosure of business interests to Congress. In addition, family members of Trump (or any president's family) should be exempt from consideration for access to classified materials, just as they are prohibited from holding formal positions in the administration.

In the wake of the 2016 election, one thing has become increasingly clear: there is a huge problem with the news that tens of millions of Americans get from Facebook. According to a recent Pew poll, 62% of Americans now get news on social media, with Facebook overwhelmingly being the most popular platform. And yet too often it was not news that Americans found on Facebook, but rather fake stories dressed up as the news. Evidence shows that Facebook is riddled with lies. One report even found that teenagers in Macedonia were able to game Facebook and get their Trump propaganda posts shared into the news feeds of millions. Earlier this year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sat down with conservatives who complained that right-wing news was suppressed on Facebook. It was after that meeting that Facebook fired their human editors and replaced them all with algorithms. This decision further unleashed fake news on Facebook. A new bombshell report revealed that Facebook knew about the fake news problem and had the ability to do something about it, but declined to fix the issue out of fear that the right-wing would complain. If we have learned anything from the past two decades, it is that it is crucial not to cave to right-wing bullying and manipulations. Despite overwhelming data and insider reporters, Mark Zuckerberg refuses to even acknowledge the problem publicly. (Which is odd given that he was willing to sit down with discredited right-wing misinformers over totally unsubstantiated cries of bias) Join us in asking Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook to take two concrete steps: 1) Acknowledge the problem of the proliferation of fake news on Facebook. 2) Commit to taking action to fix the problem. It’s high time that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook fix their fake news problem and address the fever swamp/cesspool of misinformation that Facebook has become. If that hurts liberals, so be it. If that hurts conservatives, so be it. If that hurts teenagers publishing fake news in Macedonia, so be it. Let the chips fall where they may. It’s time for the truth to have its day. That’s all we’re asking for.

We have the opportunity to raise up like a Phoenix, or continue to do the same things that got us into this mess. America has voted for change. They wanted Bernie. He is the most popular politician in America. Let the people have Bernie!

Inaccuracy of public information is a misrepresentation of useful crime data, essential to identify and remedy our county's most pressing socio-economic challenges. It is imperative that our leaders have access to precise statistical data reflective of our county's multicultural diversity in order to make the best decisions that impact our society and community. We respectfully demand that an ethnicity column be included within county crime statistics and police affidavits.