Dorm Storming
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
With the Olympics complete, all eyes are now turning to the politics game. As the political conventions are in full-swing in the United States, the interest will only rise and college campuses can become active sites of debate and campaigning.
How important a role will college students play in the upcoming presidential election? A study by the Center for Information and Research Civic Learning and Education (CIRCLE) explains that 79 percent of the youth in the 2008 Super Tuesday primaries on February 5 had attended college. It also noted that one in four eligible young voters with college experience voted on that day, compared to only one in 14 eligible individuals with no college experience. Fortunately, there are a number of initiatives working to engage students to be productive partners in the process.
The National Campus Voter Registration Project is making news with its Your Vote Your Voice program. The informative Web site offers practical and applicable information regarding election laws and policies as well as guidelines on how to organize campus voter registration drives.
The Campus Compact Web site has details on its Campus Vote Initiative, designed to encourage higher institutions to educate and empower students to stay engaged throughout the election. Author Paul Loeb — who many of you may remember from his presentation at the 2007 ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition in Seattle — has also taken on the cause of engaging students in the electoral process and has created his own starter’s guide to organizing a non-partisan voter registration drive.
And, as a bona fide Generation Xer, I would be completely remiss if I didn’t include Rock the Vote.
Finally, NASPA has made a number of voting resources available on its Web site including details about discovering whether or not your campus is in compliance with the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, in which it was mandated all colleges and universities participating in federal student aid programs must make a good-faith effort to distribute voter registration forms to students.
Will it be a hot campaign season on your campus? Do you have plans and programs in mind for voter registration? Share your thoughts and check back as we highlight some stand-out programs we’ve heard of.