In 2004 Catholic voters did what not long before would have been considered political heresy: They supported a Republican for president over a Democrat, and an evangelical Protestant, no less, over the first Catholic presidential nominee since John F. Kennedy in 1960. Moreover, Catholics’ preference for George W. Bush over John Kerry – 52 percent to 47 percent — was bigger in key electoral states, such as Florida and Ohio, which have large Catholic populations and provided the Electoral College margin for Bush’s victory.

To many, the 2004 election signaled a fundamental realignment in national politics. But now, Catholics appear to be swinging back to their traditional home in the Democratic Party. A Gallup Poll in June 2006 showed Catholics backing Democrats by an 11-point margin, reinforcing the view of Catholics as the ultimate “swing vote” among American religious blocs.

Experts say that is an ominous sign for the GOP. With the nation closely divided and control of Congress in the balance, pundits say the results of the November 2006 elections could hinge on which way the Catholic vote swings. Here’s why Catholics are worth watching more than ever:
• With nearly 70 million baptized members, American Catholics are the largest denomination in the United States and the largest religious voting bloc, at 27 percent of the electorate.
• Catholics vote at a higher rate than most other religious groups and a slightly higher rate (by 4 percentage points) than Protestants, according to the late William B. Prendergast, author of The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith (Georgetown University Press, 1999).
• Catholics are concentrated in the states with the most electoral votes – California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan, for example. That gives them political clout in Congress and in presidential politics.
• American Catholicism is hardly monolithic, with the most significant fault line between the Europe-based ethnic communities that have long predominated – the Irish and Italians and Eastern Europeans, for example – and the Latinos, who are becoming the church’s leading demographic. But when both those groups move in the same direction — as experts say they may do in 2006, though often for different reasons – then the Catholic vote becomes especially powerful.

Why it matters

Control of the 110th Congress will go a long way toward determining the nation’s course on Iraq, judicial appointments, the war on terror, abortion rights and a host of other issues that have sharply divided the country. Moreover, experts say control of Congress will be a critical factor in the 2008 presidential campaign. If Democrats gain a majority in one or both houses, they will be able to counter some of Bush’s agenda while proposing their own. But they will also be held responsible by the public for their record. If the GOP retains control of Congress, however, the Republican Party’s track record would be held up for intense scrutiny. Either scenario would have an impact on the presidential fortunes of the eventual nominees in each party, experts say.

Issues to watch

Political experts say that Catholic voters have assimilated to the point that they tend to be governed in their voting preferences by the same pocketbook and security issues that affect all voters. But there are at least two hot-button issues that can have a larger impact on Catholic opinions than they would on other religious communities: immigration and abortion. (A ban on gay marriage, which the Catholic bishops also strongly back, is likely to have less impact as an issue, experts say.)

Jump to background

View a complete index to ReligionLink tips on covering the 2006 elections

IMMIGRATION

The debate over illegal immigration, which sparked massive street demonstrations earlier in the year, led by the predominantly Catholic Latino community, is a minefield for Republicans. Experts say the GOP, which has set the legislative agenda in both houses of Congress, has tended to focus on the law-and-order aspects of the issue. Catholic leaders have emphasized humanitarian concerns and offering illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens or guest workers. Some bishops have vowed civil disobedience if some of the stricter Republican proposals become law.

With Latinos making up a large and growing segment of the Catholic community, immigration is considered a linchpin issue for the Catholic vote. See this ReligionLink edition, “Religion informs immigration debate,” updated as of May 2006.

ABORTION

Abortion is always a contentious political issue, but it is especially so for Catholic politicians who support the right to an abortion, which church leaders strongly oppose. The split between some Catholic pols and prelates became a showdown during the 2004 campaign, with several bishops threatening to withhold communion from Catholic elected officials who support abortion rights. While the majority of the hierarchy did not take such a hard-line stance, the so-called “wafer war” did prompt developments that will likely have an impact:
• The Democratic Party, along with religious progressives, has consciously sought to burnish its image as a “faith-friendly” party. Democratic leaders hope to show voters that Republicans do not have a monopoly on religious values, and they have gone so far as to back several Democratic candidates who favor limiting abortion rights. Most notable among these is Robert Casey Jr., who is mounting a strong challenge in the Pennsylvania Senate race to fellow Catholic and incumbent Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.
• In February 2006, a coalition of 55 Catholic Democrats in the House, most of them abortion rights supporters, released a “Catholic Statement of Principles” that lays out how their faith informs their political choices. They argued that those choices conform to Catholic social teachings.
• On March 10, 2006, Catholic leaders responded with a “Statement on Responsibilities of Catholics in Public Life” that welcomed the Democrats’ document but set forth challenges to the Democrats’ positions on abortion and related moral issues. The bishops also referred the Catholic politicians to an earlier statement from the hierarchy, titled “Catholics in Political Life,” which the bishops adopted in June 2004 at the height of the Kerry-Bush campaign.
• In June 2006 in Los Angeles, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, now retired as archbishop of Washington but then head of the task force, gave a report on the progress of the Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians, the ad hoc bishops committee that produced the 2004 statement on “Catholics in Political Life.” Because the controversy continued after the 2004 vote, the task force continued to produce initiatives to try to make its views known with the public and politicians. At the bishops meeting, McCarrick detailed his views in subsequent reports and in this Catholic News Service story.
• The South Dakota Legislature in February 2006 acted to make it a felony to perform an abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. (Read a Feb. 23, 2006, Washington Post article about the legislation). The only exception was to save the life of the mother. The law is the most far-reaching ban ever enacted by a state legislature and was designed as a direct challenge to the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Some abortion opponents worry, though, that the ban is so sweeping that a court challenge of it might actually result in the Supreme Court, even with two new conservative Catholic justices on the bench, reiterating the right to an abortion? Experts say the coming court challenge has jumbled the long-standing political dynamic of abortion politics and has also focused public attention on the importance of judicial nominations.

Several previous editions of ReligionLink may be helpful in exploring these and related issues:
• See this Oct. 24, 2005, ReligionLink “Guide to covering abortion issues” for an overview and resources.
• See this May 1, 2006, ReligionLink edition about the resurgent “Religious Left.”
• See this May 3, 2004, ReligionLink edition, “Kerry, Catholics and the White House,” for more background on the history of Catholics in national politics.

National sources

• John J. DiIulio Jr. is the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion and Civil Society in the political science department at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Catholic and longtime Democrat who directed the Bush administration’s faith-based program in 2001. He writes and comments extensively on Catholics in political life. Contact 215-746-7121.
• Jim Towey is a Catholic who succeeded DiIulio as head of the White House’s faith-based program, serving as director until he left that post to become the president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., in July 2006. Contact through the office of the president at 724-532-2271. On Aug. 3, 2006, President Bush appointed Jay Hein, president of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research in Indianapolis, as Towey’s successor
• Timothy P. Muldoon is director of The Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College, which has hosted a number of seminars on Catholics in public life. Contact 617-552-8258, muldoont@bc.edu.
• John K. White is a political science professor and fellow at the Life Cycle Institute at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has argued that the most important indicator in voting preferences is the frequency of church attendance, rather than denominational affiliation. Contact 202-319-5999, white@cua.edu.
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese is a Jesuit priest and former editor of America magazine who writes and comments widely on Catholics and politics. Reese has advanced degrees in political science and used to lobby Congress on tax reform issues. As of July 2006 he returned to the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. Contact 202-687-3532, TR89@georgetown.edu.
• David Leege is an emeritus professor of political science at Notre Dame University and spends much of the year in Arizona. Leege is a leading expert on Catholic voting patterns. Contact 520-399-9874, David.C.Leege.1@nd.edu.
• John Green is a professor of political science and director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. He is also a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Green is one of the foremost experts on religion and politics. Contact 330-972-5182, green@uakron.edu.
• Mary Jo Weaver is an emeritus professor of religious studies at Indiana University, Bloomington. She has written on American Catholics in the 20th century, with a focus on the conservative strain among American Catholics. Contact 812-855-2011, weaverm@indiana.edu.
• J. Matthew Wilson is a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who specializes in Catholics and politics. Contact 214-768-4054, jmwilson@mail.smu.edu.
• Michele Dillon is a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. She has written on the issue of abortion and Catholics, and on the connection between Catholic identity and behavior. She wrote Catholic Identity: Balancing Reason, Faith and Power (Cambridge University Press, 1999). Contact 603-862-2925, michele.dillon@unh.edu.
• Michael Horan is a theologian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who can relate Catholic beliefs to Catholic practice, particularly in the political realm. Horan believes hard-line tactics by bishops to deny communion to abortion rights politicians can backfire. Contact 310-338-2755, mhoran@lmu.edu.
• David J. O’Brien is a professor of Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He has written and commented widely about Catholics and politics. Contact 508-793-2775, dobrien@holycross.edu.
• Mary C. Segers is a professor of political science at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. She is active in lay Catholic circles and is widely quoted on issues of feminism and abortion. Contact 973-353-5591, segers@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
• Robert P. George is a professor of politics and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University in New Jersey. He is a widely cited voice for orthodox Catholicism and co-authored a Jan. 29, 2004, National Review article in support of St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke’s announcement that year that Catholic politicians who back abortion rights should be denied communion. Contact 609-258-3270, rgeorge@princeton.edu.
• Clyde Wilcox is a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He specializes in electoral behavior and public opinion and can comment on the Catholic vote. Contact 202-687-5273, wilcoxc@georgetown.edu.
• William V. D’Antonio is an adjunct professor of sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington. He is a leading analyst of the changing roles of Catholic laity in society and politics. D’Antonio is the co-author of Laity: American and Catholic, Transforming the Church (Sheed and Ward, 1996). Contact 202-319-5911, dantonio@cua.edu.

POLITICAL PARTIES

REPUBLICANS
• The GOP has made a strong push to draw Catholic voters. The Republican National Committee has a “Catholic Team” designed to recruit Catholics voters. The mission statement of the GOP Catholic Team says: “The Republican Party makes it possible for Catholics to uphold both the culture of life and social justice in a way that the Democrat platform does not.” The RNC point man for the Catholic Team is Martin Gillespie. Contact 202-863-8600, catholics@gop.com. Many state and local Republican Party organizations have similar Catholic outreach programs.
• In 2004, political conservatives launched another Republican-backed initiative to attract Catholics: a National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, designed as an alternative to the traditional National Prayer Breakfast, which has a largely evangelical Protestant character. The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast has become a premier event for Republican leaders, and President Bush addressed the gathering on April 7, 2006.

DEMOCRATS
• Democrats have tried to counter the GOP’s tactics in an effort to close the so-called “God gap,” an explanation given for the fact that religiously committed voters are more frequently aligned with the Republican Party. The Democratic National Committee has tried to present the party as friendly to a range of faiths and has been planning a specific outreach to Catholic voters, a community the Democrats could once take for granted. In the meantime, in September 2006, former Democratic Party Chairman David Wilhelm launched an effort called Faithful Democrats, billed as “an online community of Christian Democrats.” A story in USA Today described the site, which is not formally affiliated with the DNC, as “a collection of blogs, theological essays and candidate features” that is “designed to rally Christian Democrats and attract socially moderate evangelicals.” Currently, the DNC has a program specifically designed to reach out to religious communities. Leslie Brown is coordinator of the national committee’s “faith in action” effort. Contact through Amaya Smith, the DNC press liaison for religious outreach, at 202-863-8110 or 202-863-8000.

Background

POLLS AND SURVEYS
• Read the Pew Hispanic Center’s 2006 National Survey of Latinos, released July 13.
• Read a July 6, 2006, backgrounder from the Pew Research Center titled “Do the Democrats Have a ‘God Problem’? How Public Perceptions May Spell Trouble for the Party.” The backgrounder makes use of material from a number of Pew surveys. Contact one of the report’s authors, Gregory A. Smith of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, at 202-419-4550, gsmith@pewforum.org.
• A Gallup Poll analysis from June 21, 2006, (subscription required) shows Catholic voters trending toward Democrats in the midterm elections by about 11 points over Republicans, the same gap as the national average. A May 12, 2006, poll also showed that about three in 10 Americans hold an unfavorable view of Catholicism.
• A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll conducted in late June 2006 about voter views on the religious affiliations of possible presidential candidates showed that 10 percent of respondents would not vote for a candidate who was Roman Catholic. Yet that figure is much lower than the 21 percent who said they would not vote for an evangelical Protestant, or the 37 percent who would not vote for a Mormon. Experts say that indicates the anti-Catholic bias that was once widespread has diminished sharply.
• An August 2005 Pew Forum poll, “Religion a Strength and Weakness for Both Parties,” examines the attitudes of various religious groups, including Catholics, toward politics and salient issues.
• The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington conducts an annual poll of U.S. Catholics that includes questions on politics. CARA analysts examined the 2004 Catholic vote in this PDF file. An April 2004 analysis (also in a PDF format) shows that 30.5 percent of Catholics said they usually think of themselves as Republicans, 38.5 percent as Democrats and 21.8 percent as independents. See also an accompanying news release for an overview. CARA also has a breakdown of Catholic voting patterns in every presidential vote since 1952. Contact CARA research associate Paul M. Perl, pmp2@georgetown.edu, or Mark M. Gray, 202-687-1365, mmg34@georgetown.edu.
• See a chart of 2004 exit polls at the CNN web site that shows the Catholic vote results for each candidate and can be broken down by state.
• See a Nov. 9, 2004, Catholic News Service story, “End of ‘Catholic vote’? Other categories may predict election better,” which argues that the rate of church attendance may be a better predictor of voting preferences than a voter’s denomination. CNS also has an online archive of stories related to Catholics and the 2004 campaign.

ARTICLES
• Read “States probe limits of abortion policy,” a June 22, 2006, analysis of the South Dakota law and other developments from Stateline.org.
• Read two stories on Catholics and politics from the June 2006 edition of Sojourners magazine. One is “Who Owns The ‘Catholic Vote’?” by Maurice Timothy Reidy, an associate editor for the Catholic periodical Commonweal. The other is “A Thorn in Both Their Sides” by Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr.
• Read “Democrats seek to woo Catholics back to the fold,” a June 16, 2006, story from the National Catholic Reporter by Washington correspondent Joe Feuerherd.
• Read “U.S. bishops issue strong retort to Catholic Democrats’ conscience statement,” a March 26, 2006, story in the popular Catholic weekly, Our Sunday Visitor.
• Read a March 24, 2006, Commonweal article, “The Catholic Voter: A Description with Recommendations,” by John J. DiIulio Jr. DiIulio is a former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and now teaches in the political science department at the University of Pennsylvania. He has also served on the domestic policy steering committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This essay was adapted from a more detailed report available at the web site of the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society.

OTHER RESOURCES
• See a transcript of “Religion, Moral Values and the Democratic Party,” a May 22, 2006, event sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. White Catholics may be key for Democrats, according to William A. Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
• View the proceedings of a Feb. 27, 2006, panel at Boston College titled “Catholic Politicians in the U.S.: Their Faith and Public Policy.” The panel was convened under the auspices of the college’s Church in the 21st Century Center program and featured Tim Russert, managing editor and moderator of Meet the Press and political analyst for NBC Nightly News and the Today show; James Carville, CNN political commentator and former senior political adviser to President Clinton; E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post columnist and senior fellow at The Brookings Institution; Edward W. Gillespie, founder and co-chairman of Quinn Gillespie & Associates and chairman of the 2004 Republican National Committee and Peggy Noonan, best-selling political author and contributing editor to The Wall Street Journal.
• Americans for Religious Liberty is an interest group in Silver Spring, Md., that monitors issues of the separation of church and state. Albert J. Menendez, the ARL research director, has analyzed the religious makeup of each Congress since 1972. Catholics have long been the largest denominational bloc, but Menendez’s tally lists 154 Catholics in the current Congress, an all-time high. Also, while Democrats still hold an 87-67 edge over Republicans among Catholic representatives, the GOP has been gaining in recent years. Whereas Catholic representatives, like voters, were once predominantly Democrats, today about one-quarter of Republican members are Catholic, compared with about one-third of Democrats. See a PDF file of the religious affiliations of the current Congress. Contact Menendez at 301-260-2988, info@arlinc.org.
• Read the three-part Catholic Voter Project, which explores the mind of the Catholic voters and their votes in America. It was commissioned by Crisis Magazine and done by QEV Analytics, a Washington polling group. Crisis Magazine is representative of a politically conservative wing of Catholicism.
• Read stories and analysis at Catholicvote.net, sponsored by Catholics for a Free Choice, an abortion rights group. Catholicvote.net is representative of a politically liberal wing of Catholicism.
• For Latino Catholic views, experts caution that it is important to separate out the opinions of Catholics of European ancestry from those of Latinos, a growing bloc that may account for one in five of the nation’s Catholic community. Latinos tend to be conservative on social issues, but more liberal than their Anglo counterparts on other ones. Read a 2003 report from the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life Project at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, which examines the impact of religion on political and civic engagement in the Hispanic community and includes information on political party identification and religious beliefs.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST
• The Rev. David Hollenbach, SJ, is a professor of theology at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass. He specializes in Christian ethics and can speak about how Catholics translate their beliefs into political action. Contact 617-552-8855, hollenb@bc.edu.
• Sister Mary Johnson is an associate professor of sociology and religious studies at Emmanuel College in Boston. She follows trends related to Catholic life and co-authored the book Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice (University of Notre Dame Press, 2001). The book is a national study of the religious and spiritual beliefs and practices of Catholics ages 20 to 39. Contact 617-735-9830, johnsmb@emmanuel.edu.

IN THE EAST
Sister Mary E. Bendyna is executive director and senior research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She is an expert on the Catholic Church and religion and politics. Contact 202-687-8080, bendynam@georgetown.edu.
• The Rev. Thomas O’Hara is a political science professor and president at King’s College, a Catholic school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He can comment on issues of Catholics and politics, especially in old-line Catholic communities in keystone states such as Pennsylvania. Contact 570-208-5899, tjohara@kings.edu.
• Elizabeth McKeown is a professor of theology at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. McKeown focuses on American studies. She is co-editor of Public Voices: Catholics in the American Context (Orbis Books, 1999). Contact 202-687-4516, mck34@georgetown.edu.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• David Yamane is an assistant professor of sociology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and an expert on Catholics in the postwar years. He wrote The Catholic Church in State Politics: Negotiating Prophetic Demands and Political Realities (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005), a study of the role of Conferences of Catholic Bishops in state legislative politics. Contact 336-758-3260, yamaned@wfu.edu.
• Michael J. Perry is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University in Atlanta and specializes in the role of religion in politics. Contact 404-712-2086, mperry@law.emory.edu.
• James Guth is a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives and can discuss the relationship between Catholics and evangelicals in key Southern states. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• John M. Bruce is an associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi. He specializes in politics and religion. Contact 662-915-7218, jbruce@olemiss.edu.
• Paul J. Weber is a political science professor at the University of Louisville, Ky., and is an expert on religion and politics. He argues that Catholics are swing voters who can determine the winner of the election. Contact 502-852-3305, paulweber@louisville.edu.
• Penny Long Marler is an associate professor of religion at Samford University, Birmingham, Ala. She has tracked contemporary trends in religious behavior and has written about the attitudes of young adult Catholics. Contact 205-726-2869, plmarler@samford.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• James D. Davidson is a sociology professor at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. Davidson can comment on the trends shaping political attitudes and beliefs of American Catholics. Contact 765-494-4688, davidsonj@soc.purdue.edu.
• The Rev. John Putka is a Marianist priest and lecturer in political science at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Putka specializes in analyzing Catholic voting patterns and believes abortion is a key issue influencing the Catholic vote. Contact 937-229-3626, John.Putka@notes.udayton.edu.
• The Rev. Charles E. Bouchard, O.P., is a moral theologian and president of the Aquinas Institute of Theology, a Dominican graduate school in St. Louis. In an article in the Feb. 12, 2001, edition of the Jesuit weekly America, he called for Catholics to “abandon the all-or-nothing strategy” in the abortion debate in order to reduce abortions. Contact 314-977-3882, bouchard@ai.edu.
• David Campbell is a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame who has written widely on religion and politics and what motivates voters to go to the polls. Contact 574-631-7809, Dave_Campbell@nd.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Gerard Wegemer is a professor of literature at the University of Dallas and founding director of the Center for Thomas More Studies at the Catholic college. He is the author of several books on Thomas More, the 16th-century English statesman who was executed by Henry VIII for refusing to assent to his break with the papacy over Henry’s divorce. More has been cited by many as a role model for Catholics in public life. Wegemer’s books include Thomas More on Statesmanship (Catholic University of America Press, 1996) and Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage (Scepter Publishers, 1995). He has highlighted the lessons he believes contemporary Catholic public figures should draw from More. Contact 972-721-5327, wegemer@udallas.edu.
• Mark Chaves is head of the sociology department at the University of Arizona and an expert on religion in American politics. He was also the principal investigator for the 1998 National Congregations Study of 1,236 congregations. Contact 520-626-2560, mchaves@u.arizona.edu.
• The Rev. Andrew Greeley is an adjunct professor of sociology at the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago. A Roman Catholic priest, his studies focus on a range of issues facing the Catholic Church. He can talk about whether Catholics are shifting from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. Contact 520-621-3531 or 773-256-6280, agreel@aol.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Gaston Espinosa is an assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. He has written and lectured widely on Latinos and politics, and how their religious faith – Catholic or Protestant – affects their political choices. Espinosa is on sabbatical but can be reached through the philosophy and religious studies department at 909-607-8019 or at gaston.espinosa@claremontmckenna.edu.
• The Rev. Thomas P. Rausch, S.J., is a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He can comment on various aspects of Catholic political life, including efforts to forge bonds with Christian conservatives. He is the editor of Catholics and Evangelicals: Do They Share a Common Future? (InterVarsity Press/Paulist Press, 2000). Contact 310-338-7670, trausch@lmu.edu.
• Ted G. Jelen is a political science professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He studies the role of the Catholic Church in American politics. Contact 702-895-3355, jelent.@nevada.edu.
• Gerard Heather is a political science professor at San Francisco State University and an expert on religion and politics. Contact 415-338-1019, gh@sfsu.edu.