SUU Pledges to be Voter Friendly for Students

Published: August 12, 2016 | Author: Cami Mathews | Read Time: 2 minutes

Today, the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service at Southern Utah University announced that it has pledged to spend the next year working to be a “Voter Friendly Campus”. The initiative, led by national groups Campus Vote Project (CVP) and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, holds participating schools accountable for planning and implementing practices that encourage their students to register and vote. 

The mission of the Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster efforts that help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process. The Leavitt Center will participate in trainings to develop and implement strategic plans for how to foster a culture of democratic engagement among students. Institutions that complete the program will be evaluated in early 2017 and awarded the Voter Friendly Campus designation through December 2018.

Nearly 100 campuses are committed to the program and by participating in this program, Southern Utah University is making a strong statement about the civic mission of higher education to prepare students to be engaged participants in the nation’s democracy. 

The Leavitt Center has stepped up to gain this title for the campus because its central focus is to help students and the community better themselves in the four pillars of the Center: leadership, research, service, and citizenship. The Center, who hosts a Voter Registration event every Fall Semester, has worked to gain this title to accentuate the citizenship pillar mentioned above. Donna Law, the center’s Executive Director, pushed for this designation because she knows that voting is an important right and responsibility for citizens across the state and nation.

“Registration is a vital step in taking advantage of the right to vote,” said Law. “As students have questions, we can help answer them and/or take them to the Leavitt Center where we can research with them issues and concerns that may help them determine which party, if any, most aligns with their values.”

To help the University achieve this designation, the Leavitt Center is planning multiple events during this election season to get students registered and excited to go out and vote. There will be Pizza & Politics discussions to teach students about the latest news, a Voter Registration Drive September 12-15, and other events within the walls of the Leavitt Center focused on educating the community on local and state elections, as well as the national election.

The institutions undertaking the designation process this year represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses, with a total enrollment of nearly 1.5 million students. The Leavitt Center and Southern Utah University look forward to taking steps toward a Voter Friendly Campus, looking forward to the positive implications of such a title.

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