Voting Rates Increase Among Students at SUNY New Paltz

By Mike Patterson, Director of Student Activities and Shala Mills, Assistant Vice President for Graduate and Extended Learning (and ADP Steering Committee Member), SUNY New Paltz

The State University of New York at New Paltz received some good news in the 2012 and 2016 NSLVE Report-State University of New York at New Paltz. The data from Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) showed an 8.2% increase in the voting rate among students at the university between 2012 and 2016.  Voter registration rates for SUNY New Paltz students rose from 77.5% to 83.6% in that time frame, and 2/3 of those registered voters reported voting.  The 2016 voting rate for SUNY New Paltz students was 56%, nearly 6% higher than the voting rate for all institutions.

This was welcome news on a campus where student involvement in civic life has long been a core value.  In 1985 the university, in partnership with the Student Association, secured a polling site on campus.  Despite some local challenges to student voting in 2000, the campus polling site has remained on campus, facilitating the ability of students to exercise the right to vote.  But it takes more than a polling place to get students engaged in the electoral process.   The college informs students of their voter registration options at orientation programs, sends campus wide announcements every semester, and hosts voter appreciation events.

The New Paltz Student Association funds a coordinator for the local chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).  Coordinator, Eric Wood, also coordinates voter registration efforts on campus, setting up tables in the student union, speaking to classes about the value of voter registration, and collecting voter registration cards and delivering them to the county board of elections.  The League of Women Voters also leads voter registration efforts on campus, as do some other external organizations.  Candidate forums and other programs offered by political parties and the board of elections help to increase student knowledge about local, state, and national issues and candidates.  The student newspaper, The Oracle, runs articles and sometimes hosts forums.  Over the years, some SUNY New Paltz students have, themselves, run for and even been elected to public office.

More than a decade after AASCU’s ADP released its best practices guide, “Electoral Voices:  Engaging College Students in Elections,” campuses continue to work toward increased voter registration and voting rates among individuals in this unique and important segment of the population.  Increases in voting rates are always cause for celebration.

What We’re Reading–Rethinking Preparation for Work: A Civic-Enriched Liberal Education

Rethinking Preparation for Work: A Civic-Enriched Liberal Education
Peer Review Summer 2015, Vol. 17, No. 3In a world where college graduates spend the majority of their public lives engaged in work, this issue of AAC&U’s Peer Review, sponsored by the Kettering Foundation, focuses on how colleges might reconceive preparation for work in addition to preparation for citizenship. Instead of making the case for civic learning  only by noting that civic education skills also are useful in getting a job, this issue explores whether there is a more expansive and civic notion of work to which higher education might contribute. The table of contents for the Peer Review issue is below, with links to full online articles.Rethinking Preparation for Work is what we’re reading. Note the contributions by TDC’s co-founder Bernie Ronan and by ADP’s Seth Pollack and Byron White.

From the Editor
Shelley Johnson Carey

ANALYSIS

Civic-Rich Preparation for Work
Caryn McTighe Musil, AAC&U

For a Good Life: Integrating Liberal and Civic Arts Education with Work
Elizabeth Minnich, AAC&U

Civic Virtues for Work and Action
Bernie Ronan, Maricopa Community Colleges, and Derek W. M. Barker, Kettering Foundation

PRACTICE

Be the Change: Academics as Civic Professionals
Amy Koritz, Drew University, and Paul Schadewald, Macalester College

Weaving Together Career and Civic Commitments for Social Change
José Zapata Calderón, Pitzer College, and Seth S. Pollack, California State University–Monterey Bay

Developing Lifelong Civic Habits at Widener University
James Harris, the University of San Diego and Widener University

Science, Curriculum, and Public Controversies
Kyle Powys Whyte, Michigan State University, Byron P. White, Cleveland State University, and Darlyne Menscer, Carolinas Health Care System

Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries with Civic Literacy
Mary Gowan, James Madison University, and Margaret Salazar-Porzio, Smithsonian Institution

RESEARCH

What Does It Mean to Be an Educated Person Today?
Jean Johnson, National Issues Forums Institute

REALITY CHECK

Reconstituting Civic Engagement for Tomorrow’s Students
David J. Maurrasse, Marga Incorporated and Columbia University