Alex Koroknay-Palicz

Infobox Person
name = Alex Koroknay-Palicz


imagesize = 150px
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1981|7|2
birth_place = Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Executive Director, NYRA
website = [http://www.oneandfour.org www.oneandfour.org]
footnotes =

Alex Koroknay-Palicz (born July 2, 1981) is an American activist in Washington, D.C. He is currently the executive director of the National Youth Rights Association. [ [http://www.youthrights.org/staff.php "Corporate officers and staff"] , National Youth Rights Association. Retrieved 9/8/08.]

Biography

Koroknay-Palicz was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and grew up in Holland, Michigan. By high school, he began to articulate that inequality in terms of ageism and wrote articles for his school newspaper on the subject. Senior year at Holland High School, Koroknay-Palicz discovered several local businesses with policies limiting the number of students allowed inside at any one time. Recognizing these policies as ageism, he decided to do something about it. After much research he learned these policies were illegal under Michigan's Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act. Koroknay-Palicz demanded the city to enforce this law at a speech before a Holland city council meeting. The matter was referred to Al Serrano in the city's Human Rights Department, who succeeded in overturning the policies at all the stores in question. [Weeks, L. (2007) [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602238.html "Age Is Just a Number: Youth Rights Advocate Tries to Break Down Barriers to Adulthood"] , "Washington Post." November 27. Retrieved 9/7/08.]

In 1999 Koroknay-Palicz began attending American University in Washington, D.C.. After three years he left to begin his youth rights career. He quickly became involved in the youth rights movement, and has worked as the executive director of the National Youth Rights Association since 2000. Koroknay-Palicz has become a major figure in all aspects of the youth rights movement and has made fighting ageism his chief purpose. [Weeks, L. (2007) [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602238.html "Age Is Just a Number: Youth Rights Advocate Tries to Break Down Barriers to Adulthood"] , "Washington Post." November 27. Retrieved 9/7/08.] Koroknay-Palicz serves on the board of advisors for the Freechild Project, and is currently working on a Youth Rights book with Adam Fletcher. His writing appears in several publications and websites. In 2007 Koroknay-Palicz joined the Board of Directors of CAFETY. [ [http://cafety.org/index.php?Itemid=134&id=540&option=com_content&task=view "Board of Directors and Advisors"] , Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth. Retrieved 9/8/08.]

Publicity

As spokesman for the National Youth Rights Association, Koroknay-Palicz first major media citation dates to 2001 when Slate.com interviewed him. [Noah, T. (2000) [http://www.slate.com/id/1006439/ "Should the Voting Age Be Lowered?"] Slate.com. November 7. Retrieved 9/7/08.] Since then he has appeared on several television and radio networks, including two appearances on CNN [Blitzer, W. (2007) [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/09/sitroom.01.html "Michigan Primary Dropouts; Fight Over Kids' Health Care; Terrorists Tipped Off"] , "The Situation Room" on CNN.com. October 9. Retrieved 9/7/08] [Frazier, S. (2001) [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0107/29/sun.08.html "Should the U.S. Drinking Age be Lowered?"] , CNN.com. July 29. Retrieved 9/7/08.] and Fox News [(2008) [http://www.foxnews.com/video/?maven_playerId=videolandingpage&maven_singleClipReferralObject=89ab0c83-7cb4-4105-be32-3d1eb18f02c8&maven_referrer=copylink "Drinking age debate: Seven states now considering lowering the voting age"] , Fox News. April 3. Retrieved 9/7/08.] [Bernhart, M. (2005) [http://origin.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160027,00.html "Is 16 Too Young to Get a Driver's License?"] , Fox News. June 19. Retrieved 8/7/08.]

Koroknay-Palicz has been quoted several nationally-recognized publications on a variety of topics related to youth rights. They include the subject of student rights in the "Christian Science Monitor" [Jonnson, P. (2003) [http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0304/p21s01-lepr.html "Before you suspend me, can I call a lawyer?"] "Christian Science Monitor." March 04. Retrieved 9/7/08.] ; youth suffrage in the "Boston Globe" [Calvan, B.C. (2004) [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/04/25/californians_consider_granting_14_year_olds_the_right_to_vote/ "Californians consider granting 14-year-olds the right to vote"] , "Boston Globe." April 25, 2004. Retrieved 9/7/08.] and the "Los Angeles Times" [Bailey, E. (2004) [http://articles.latimes.com/2004/mar/09/local/me-voteage9 "Giving New Meaning to 'Youth Vote'"] , "Los Angeles Times." March 9. Retrieved 9/7/08.] ; the legal drinking age in "The New York Times" [Belluck, P. and Zezima, K. (2005) [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/13/national/13drink.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin "Vermont Considers Lowering Drinking Age to 18."] "New York Times." April 13. Page 13, Column 1. Retrieved 9/7/08.] ; internet censorship in the "Chicago Tribune" [Wang, A.L. (2006) "District takes aim at teens' web posts: Schools Say MySpace Within Their Space Too "] , "Chicago Tribune". 26 May.] ; curfews in the "Jackson Free Press" [Ladd, D. (2002) [http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/comments.php?id=354_0_9_0_C Dogging Youth: Is Metrocenter Mall's New Policy Good for Business?"] , "Jackson Free Press." November 2. Retrieved 9/7/08.] , and; the minimum driving age in "USA Today" [O'Donnell, J. (2006) [http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2006-07-02-teen-driving-usat_x.htm?loc=interstitialskip "Restrictions cut teen driving deaths"] , "USA Today". July 2. Retrieved 9/7/08.] and the Associated Press. [Hill, M. (2008) [http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=773&sid=1454950 "Driving limits are roadmap to teen frustration"] , Associated Press. August 6. Retrieved 9/7/08.] He has also been cited in international publications such as "The Guardian". [Capriccioso, R. (2007) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/28/onlyifmotherapproves "Leave the kids alone"] , "The Guardian (UK)". August 28. Retrieved 9/7/08.]

He has also been cited on the topics of ageism in the Olympics, [Cohen, A.R. (2008) [http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/2008/aug/26/gold-medal-injustice/ "Gold medal injustice: Minimum ages are wrong in the Olympics and in the rest of life"] , "Cavalier Daily". August 26. Retrieved 9/7/08.] graduated driver licensing, [Hill, M. (2008) [http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=773&sid=1454950 "Driving limits are roadmap to teen frustration"] , Associated Press. August 6. Retrieved 9/7/08.] civics education [Maher, S. (2008) [http://www.civicsurvey.org/Oakland_trib_poor_civics_030508.pdf "Report: Poor civics education hurts youth: Lower-income schools' students less likely to vote, researcher finds"] , "Oakland Tribune. March 5. Retrieved 9/7/08.] public schools, [McCluskey, N. (2007) [http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa587.pdf "Why We Fight: How Public Schools Cause Social Conflict."] "Policy Analysis." 587. Retrieved 9/7/08.] the Bong Hits 4 Jesus trial, [Kita, P. (2007) [http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/21734/ Supreme Court Takes on 'Bong Hits' Case] . "infoZine." March 20. Retrieved 9/7/08.] youth criminalization, [Komp, C. (2007) [http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3886 "GPS Surveillance Creeps into Daily Life"] , "The New Standard". April 28. Retrieved 9/7/08.] and several other issues. [Reynolds, D. (2006) [http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1995856&page=1 "Detention for a High School Blog Entry? School District Votes to Discipline Teens for Bad Behavior on the Web"] , ABC News. May 23. Retrieved 9/7/08.] [Newitz, A. (2001) [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2001/08/30/kids.DTL "The Kids Are Alright: Regulating Minors' Access to the Internet Can Backfire"] , "San Francisco Chronicle". August 30. Retrieved 9/7/08.]

He has also been noted for his opposition to the policies of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the preeminent national advocacy organization. [Beckerman, M. (2008) [http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/04/madd-troops-drinking-age-soldiers.php "Sound and Fury: MADD Founder Hates Troops Almost As Much As She Hates Alcohol"] , Fresh Intelligence. April 10. Retrieved 9/7/08.] [Ury, F. and Segal, A. (2007) [http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=64545 "Groups spar over lowering the drinking age"] , "Medill Reports." October 9. Retrieved 9/7/08.] [(2005) [http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/1504700.shtml "Drinking age should stay a 'respectful' 21"] , "Kennebeck Journal." April 4. Retrieved 9/7/08.] [Rooney, K. (2004) [http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2004/03/01/MetroNews/Students.Protest.Drinking.Age-622393.shtml "Students protest drinking age"] , "GW Hatchet." March 1. Retrieved 9/7/08.]

Bibliography

* Koroknay-Palicz, A. (2003) [http://www.wiretapmag.org/stories/15979/ "Youth Demand a Voice and a Vote"] , "Wiretap Magazine."
* Koroknay-Palicz, A. "Youth Rights," in Beale, S. and Abdalla, A. (2003) "Millennial Manifesto". InstantPublisher.

ee also

*National Youth Rights Association
*Youth rights

References

External links

* [http://www.oneandfour.org One and Four] Alex Koroknay-Palicz's blog
* [http://www.youthrights.org National Youth Rights Association] website