The Chronicle, No. 669, January 2016

22 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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.