U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, is set to appear on campus Oct. 3 for a town hall.
Speier will discuss her time in Congress, the future of American politics and will take additional questions from the audience in the hour-long town hall.
During her time in office, Speier advocated for women’s rights and was recently arrested alongside other House members for protesting in front of the Supreme Court Building when Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court this summer.
Speier represents most of San Mateo County, East Palo Alto and the Southern part of San Francisco, which includes SF State in California’s 14th congressional district.
Speier is set to retire this year after her term ends. Democratic Reps. Kevin Mullin and David Canepa are the candidates to replace her spot in the House in the recently redrawn District 15.
Political Science professor Amanda Roberti will be taking her Women in American Politics class to the event as many of her students are eager to hear what Speier has to say.
“They want to hear from a woman politician and it’s even better that she is a representative of the district in which their school is in,” Roberti said. “So that’s even more of a personal connection for them.”
Roberti hopes Speier will discuss ways for young women to get into the political atmosphere.
“It’s a remarkable career to have witnessed that,” Roberti said. “To have been such a strong proponent for gender equity that entire time, even when perhaps the institutions didn’t lend themselves that much to it.”
