U.S. Senator Susan Collins

U.S. Senator Susan Collins will discuss what it is like to facilitate bipartisanship and the other challenges she faces as a key leader in Congress during a special presentation Monday, April 21, at California State University, Northridge.

Collins, a Republican serving her third term representing Maine in the Senate, is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the University Student Union, located on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Collins has built a record as a key player in forging bipartisan compromises, including being the lead Republican in the U.S. Senate effort to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2010, said Lawrence Becker, chair and the Eugene Price Professor in CSUN’s Department of Political Science, which is sponsoring the event.

More recently, Becker noted, Collins was one of a bipartisan group of 14 senators who helped broker an end to the 16-day shutdown of the federal government last fall.

“In a U.S. Senate that is more and more ideologically polarized, Sen. Collins plays an increasingly important role as the ‘pivot’ in brokering virtually every compromise that is made,” Becker said.

Collins is known for her work on health care as the ranking member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and is co-chair of the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer’s disease. Collins also is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence and is a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Her speech is free and open to the public. Parking at the university is $6 per vehicle. Parking permits may be purchased at the information booth at the Prairie Street and Zelzah Avenue.

For more information about the event, call CSUN’s Department of Political Science at (818) 677-3488.

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Congress