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ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE
Tom Kenyon
Tom Kenyon has been active in political issues
for over 50 years. His experience includes
advising the White House, US federal
agencies and congressional committees
on issues including education, housing,
children’s welfare, poverty and employment
opportunities. Sixth Former Will Phillips
(
Tower House
, pictured) reports on the talk
he gave to pupils in November.
With the 2016 American
primaries and caucuses
approaching, the Woodstock
Group and Sixth Form Politics
students had the valuable
opportunity to listen to Tom
Kenyon speak about some of
the intricacies of the American
presidential electoral process.
Kenyon talked us through
the different stages involved in the election
of the American president, from the often
unrepresentative nature of the primaries
and the caucuses, to the final election of
the president via the electoral college votes.
Whilst explaining this journey to the White
House, Kenyon gave an insightful look into
some of the idiosyncrasies of the American
electoral system. This included the
significant influence the first caucus (Iowa)
has on the rest of the primary and caucus
stage, despite the fact that the population of
Iowa is unrepresentative of the population
of the USA.
Another moment of particular
interest was when Kenyon explained how
gerrymandering (the manipulation of
constituency boundaries) had been used
by political parties in USA to give them
an advantage in the elections. This was
particularly thought-provoking given the
recent discussion surrounding the changes
to electoral registration in the UK.
After Kenyon had
completed his talk, he took
a number of questions
from the audience. A
range of questions were
asked, including one on
the judiciary’s influence
over the Constitution,
and a question regarding
the changing nature of the
American right wing compared with the
changing nature of the British left wing.
However, the most memorable answer
of the evening came when Kenyon
was asked to give his views regarding
the recent success of Hillary Clinton.
Kenyon said that he believed
the success of Clinton lay in the
effectiveness of her campaign,
rather than the credibility and
appeal of her policies - a view
which will be fascinating to test as
the presidential campaign steps up
a gear in the coming months.
Hearing Tom Kenyon speak on such a
prominent element of American politics
was extremely engaging for all those in
attendance, and the event was of great
value given Kenyon’s knowledge and
first-hand experience of the presidential
electoral system.
Fifth Form and Upper Sixth jewellery design pupils on a visit to
Tate Britain in September to see the Barbara Hepworth exhibition.
Afterwards, they visited the Jewellery Gallery at the V&A.
Aaron Gruen (
Munich International
) became the
proud owner of
The OxfordTextbook of Medicine
,
his prize for winning last term’s Medical Essay
Competition, judged by Professor Stephen
Kennedy, Head of the Nuffield Department of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University
of Oxford.