BROOKLYN COLLEGE–On March 29, the climate-crisis-based student activist group,TREEage, hosted a student mayoral town hall. Held in the NY Society for Ethical Culture, the event was for NYC students and alumni to meet and listen to a few of the candidates running for mayor.
According to their website, TREEage is a “grassroots student-led climate advocacy organization dedicated to winning tangible, transformative climate action in New York.” They host several events relating to student social justice and activism, including a recent trip to Albany for a “youth day of action.”
This town hall was organized with the goal of getting students more involved in local elections and politics.
“Students should care about this election cycle because there’s so many things happening in our city that are affecting us,” said Idrees Ilahi, the CUNY director of TREEage.
State Senator Jessica Ramos, State Senator Zellnor Myrie, State Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake, NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, and Whitney Tilson were all in attendance for this town hall. Each candidate was given roughly two minutes to state their name and give an introduction to their platform. After their introductory speeches, the structure of the event was introduced to both the candidates and the audience as a “school day,” where each “class” would present the candidates with different forms of questioning.
