Dr.  Adrienne Jones moderates a discussion on voting with State Election Board member Sara Ghazal and Howard Franklin '01, president and CEO of Ohio River South. 

Crown Forum is a communal tradition that is mandatory for all students and that extends from the 19th century founding of the School to the 21st-century Institution of today. The spiritual core of Crown Forum provides a grounding space where students are connected to and develop their dynamic humanity.

There is special attention given to the articulation of and exposure to social justice across Crown Forum sessions. Accordingly, the radical interdependent community of students is prompted explicitly within the dimensions of justice, identity, action, and diversity. And there is the demand of students to understand their responsibility with respect to servant leadership and a global citizenry.

Dr. Adrienne Jones is an assistant professor at Morehouse College. Dr. Jones holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the City University of New York Graduate Center, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the history and politics of black Americans and on public policy issues related to the black experience. Her doctoral dissertation, The Voting Rights Act Under Siege: The Development of the Influence of Colorblind Conservatism on the Federal Government and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, is currently being excerpted for journal publication. Her first article, When Yes Means No: GOP Congressional Strategy and the Reauthorization of the VRA in 2006, is published in the July 2018 edition of The Forum. Her second article, about the U.S. presidential, “counter-enforcement,” of the VRA has been accepted for publication by thePolitical Science Quarterly, and she is currently at work on an article that focuses on the Supreme Court and the development of the VRA jurisprudence. During the 2019 primary election season, Dr. Jones interviewed Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Dr. Jones is an expert witness on issues of voter suppression and U.S. voting history and regularly speaks about voting rights and suppression with national and international news outlets. Jones’ expertise provides a unique perspective to discussions about the VRA, voting, black politics, history, and public policy.

Splitting time between state capitals and the campaign trail, Howard Franklin has worked across two dozen states to advance the careers and policies of the South’s leading lawmakers. After running a nonprofit for former Mayor Maynard Jackson, Howard served three years in the administration of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. He spent another five years with DeKalb, Fulton and Jefferson County governments.

Sara Ghazal sits on the State Election Board. Previously, working for the Democratic Party of Georgia, Sara built the most comprehensive voter protection operation in the country, spearheading groundbreaking work to defend and advance voting rights across Georgia in 2018 and 2019. In February 2018, Sara became the first year-round, full-time Voter Protection Director in the nation who was dedicated to protecting the integrity of a state elections system. Over her tenure, Sara and her team’s program emerged as a national model to protect the vote across the country.

Before taking the role as Voter Protection Director, Sara worked for more than a decade for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Her years at The Carter Center were spent supporting peace efforts in countries such as Syria and Rwanda, promoting free and fair elections globally, and strengthening democracy in Liberia and beyond.