On the morning of November 4, following the United States presidential election, all students, faculty and staff participated in a fascinating all-School civics program. During the virtual event, a bi-partisan panel of speakers discussed the election, the nation's electoral system, evolving ideology across both major political parties, and the importance of informed media consumption. After discussing a series of planned topics, panelists addressed questions submitted by the audience. The full replay is available below. 

The panel included:

Charley Cooper ’90, who leads external affairs globally for R3, the premier enterprise software firm driving the development of distributed ledger and blockchain solutions for business. In this capacity, he oversees all regulatory affairs and government policy, public relations and communications efforts, and sits on the firm’s executive committee. Most recently, Charley worked as the Chief Operating Officer of State Street Global Markets' division of Trading and Clearing, before which he served as the Global Head of Legal Operations in the risk management division of Deutsche Bank AG. Charley spent more than two years as the Chief of Staff /Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and served as Senior Advisor to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at the Pentagon. In recognition of his service, Mr. Cooper was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in May 2005. He holds a B.A. (Government) and a J.D. from Georgetown University.

Katie Fleishman, who joined the Hotchkiss faculty in 2019 after earning her Ph.D. in English and Film Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a B.A. in English and Italian from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. in English from University College London. Dr. Fleishman has taught at UC Berkeley, The Archer School for Girls (Los Angeles), and The Pennington School (New Jersey), and her essays have appeared in Contemporaries/Post45, JumpCut, and MAKE Literary Magazine. She coaches water polo and lives in Tinker with her husband Jeff, also a Hotchkiss English teacher, and their daughter Isabel.

Adam Sharp ’96, who has forged a distinctive career of more than twenty years at the intersection of media, politics and technology. He currently serves as the President and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, overseeing the annual presentation of the coveted Emmy® Awards for Daytime, Sports, and News & Documentary television, as well as achievements in television Technology & Engineering. From 2010 through 2016, Mr. Sharp was Head of News, Government and Elections at Twitter, advising journalists, news organizations, candidates and government officials in more than 20 nations. He appears regularly as a noted expert and speaker on digital communications and marketing, political affairs and strategy, and issues related to “fake news” and misinformation.

Tom Drake, who served as host, joined the Hotchkiss faculty in 1982 and has filled a number of roles during his tenure, including interim dean of faculty. Currently, he teaches in the department of history and social sciences and directs the Center for Global Understanding and Independent Thinking. He earned a B.A. from Lawrence University and an M.A. from Brown University. Mr. Drake’s primary interests focus around the transformation of nation-states and global migration. He lives on campus with his wife, Verena Drake.