Melissa Ziobron and Norm Needleman are the candidates for State Senate District 33

Responses from Norm Needleman

Harassment

There are ongoing issues of discrimination and harassment in the STEM fields (e.g.: Faculty with a history of misconduct honored at Yale - https://goo.gl/RdBTLF and https://goo.gl/Pvvnwb). Recent findings from the National Academies (https://goo.gl/B6jd2d) suggests that harassment of women in academia is second only to the rates experienced by women in the US military. Connecticut boasts a number of large, prominent universities, including Yale and UConn, as well as high profile military bases, including the Coast Guard Academy and Naval Submarine Base New London.

What have you done or plan to do to address these issues should you be elected?

I will work in the State Senate to insure that protections from harassment and sexual abuse are in place throughout the state, including in workplaces and academic institutions. The outrage of harassments in academia and everywhere else is only amplified when the abusers go unpunished. I have supported “no means no” legislation protection for college students, and would extend that legislation to every workplace in the state, including making the process for reporting offenders more clearly defined and insulated from employer or institutional retaliation. I also favor making penalties for abuse and harassment more severe.

How have you or will you ensure that CT women have the protections in place that they need, as well as an avenue for reporting and prosecuting offenders?

Inclusivity

Numerous studies show the benefits gained from organizations building equity and inclusion in their workforce (https://goo.gl/YEMyeK). Lack of inclusivity and equity is an issue particularly in STEM fields and in politics. Connecticut can be considered less inclusive than other states, especially when it comes to education, where many minority students attend largely homogenous schools (https://goo.gl/TYF4bA).

What have you done or what do you plan to do to address this issue?

What have you done or plan to do to attract a more inclusive workforce to Connecticut?

Central to my upbringing and my practice in adult life has been the belief that every individual should have an equal opportunity to pursue his or her educational, occupational, and personal goals. I put that belief to work in my business, where I actively recruit minorities for my workforce (150 employees in Connecticut.) Our state should be seen as a leader in providing equal opportunity in education and in the workplace. I will work to achieve that goal by actively proposing and supporting measures that make workplace and education access open, fair, and equal.

What have you done or plan to do to break down the barriers faced by people of color to pursue higher education and access fair wage positions?

Environmental Stewardship

Connecticut is prone to numerous environmental disasters including pollution, coastal flooding, blizzards, etc. These are predicted to be worsened by the impacts of shifts in Earth's climate patterns (https://goo.gl/PvZQik and https://goo.gl/AEtLb5). Connecticut was also ranked as having the worst air quality of states east of the Mississippi - Fairfield County was ranked the 19th most ozone polluted county in the nation and Hartford-West Hartford the most ozone polluted city - by the American Lung Association's 2018 State of the Air report.

What policies and actions will you take if you enter office to help safeguard our state?

What climate and energy policies do you support?

What have you done or plan to do to improve the air quality of our state?

The air quality facts you cite in your question are appalling. They represent a health issue, a quality of life issue, and an economic issue. I have been a committed advocate for environmental protections for our air, water and open space, and The League Of Conservation Voters has endorsed my candidacy. In the state senate, I will actively support measures to enhance protections for the environment, and will encourage more aggressive action relative to air quality and water quality. In my view, there is no excuse for allowing air quality to deteriorate to the point where our state ranks among the lowest in the nation in clean air measurement. As I have for many years, I will work to insure that we find ways to protect the vital assets and treasures of our state’s environment.

Immigration/Family Separations

We were particularly pained over the past months by the heart-wrenching situation of migrant children being separated from their parents with some of the children reportedly detained in our state. Some of our members are mothers of young children, and as scientists we are aware of an extensive body of research (https://goo.gl/yQrXNg) on how separating children from their parents can cause toxic stress and impair mental and physical development. 500 Women Scientists views this issue as representative of a larger immigration problem. Additionally, many Connecticut scientists are immigrants and have made significant contributions to U.S. excellence in research and development, and current immigration policies put this excellence and the well-being of immigrants at risk.

Tell us about steps you’ve taken or plan to take to reform our immigration system and guarantee human rights are protected.

What have you done or will you do to ensure protections for immigrants seeking visas to study and work in STEM fields in CT?

I am one of the few legislators in Connecticut who has a degree in a STEM-related field (Mathematics). I am fully aware of the extraordinary contributions made in my field and in other STEM related fields by immigrants to this country. I will work in the state senate to insure that opportunities are not denied to qualified students in STEM fields. As importantly, I will use my close relationships to our state’s US Senate and US House of Representatives officials to make certain that educational opportunities are not denied to those who seek them, and to make certain that their rights are protected.

Dreamers

Today, there's a generation of immigrants who have lived in the United States since childhood and only know this country as home, yet they do not have the opportunity to become U.S. citizens and fully join society. Through the DACA program, thousands of Dreamers were able to pursue studies in STEM and succeed in these fields.

What have you done or plan to do to provide a permanent solution for Dreamers?

Dreamers are here because they want to succeed…we should help them do that. They should be afforded the rights of every citizen, and should have access to higher education funds, without discrimination. I also believe that local governments should not be made to enforce federal immigration laws, nor should the president have the power to financially penalize cities and localities for declaring sanctuary status. Like most rational people, I abhor the forced separation of families that characterizes our current federal immigration policy. Those policies relative to dreamers, sanctuary cities, and immigration in general are not consistent with American values or basic human values, and must be reversed.

What are your thoughts concerning proposed H.B. No. 6709, proposed S.B. No. 591, and proposed H.B. No. 7000 submitted in 2017 concerning sanctuary state status, establishing an immigrant bill of rights, and access to higher education funds for Dreamers?

Scientific Integrity

Politicians are disputing settled science and firing government scientists for political reasons.

How will you foster a culture that respects scientific evidence and protects scientists?

Can we count on your commitment to support stronger oversight of any efforts to cut science out of public protections and to oppose similar attempts?

The science-deniers that populate our federal and state governments persist in their block-headed views of issues related to basic science. The exodus of qualified scientists from government positions creates a logic and reality vacuum that is damaging to almost every policy area central to the quality of life in our country. It is nothing short of horrifying to witness scientific fact being denigrated and/or ignored, and the voices of reason silenced. I will absolutely support measures that increase and enhance oversight of efforts to exclude scientific fact in policy discussions.