Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female member of Congress, whose decades of activism have shaped policy from gun safety to issues related to torture and terrorism in the post-9/11 world; he died this week. Feinstein, a Democrat, was 90 and the oldest member of Congress. She was in poor health in the months before her death, but continued to serve the remainder of her term in the Senate.
Northeastern's School of Political Science notes that Feinstein will be remembered as a staunch defender of human rights, a staunch advocate of gun reform and a trailblazer who blazed a trail for women in politics for generations to come. “I find that 'trailblazer' is definitely an accurate description of her,” says Daniel Aldrich, a Northeastern professor, director of the university's Security and Resilience Program and co-director of the Global Resilience Institute.
