Elections are unique opportunities to improve campus conditions for student political learning, discourse, inclusion, and participation across departments and activities. They’re also a time to double down on truth; advance student well-being and shared responsibility; nurture diversity in perspective; improve modes of inquiry and discussion; cultivate student activism, leadership, and organizing skills; take a stand for free and fair elections; close equity gaps in voting; exercise academic freedom; and tackle disillusionment and disengagement.
2024 will offer a “teachable moment.” Don’t wait for election season; start now by building diverse coalitions across campus, designing courses and activities, and studying the local and regional environment to identify necessary interventions.
This resource provides ideas for preparing for and managing “the morning after” on college campuses—the days and weeks following Election Day. We present seven topics for consideration, each followed by links to relevant examples and resources.
Election Imperatives
This edition of Election Imperatives offers an equity checklist for everyone in higher education and recommendations for senior leaders, professors and academic affairs, and student-centered offices and teams.
Election Imperatives
This edition of Election Imperatives offers research-based recommendations to increase student voting and to improve campus conditions for political learning, discourse, and agency during the election season and beyond.
Journal Article
Sayil Camacho describes a study by Vanderbilt University on the context for using elections to inform student political learning policies and practices year-round.
Reflection
Throughout the 2018 election season, NASPA talked with administrators, faculty, and students about the opportunities and challenges it presented, and developed this set of reflection questions.
Guide
Prepared by Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, this guide offers colleges and universities a roadmap to leading conversations about student voting and political engagement more broadly.
Brief
This Scholars Strategy Network “Key Findings” brief examines student registration and voting rates, factors that inhibit and encourage student voting, and what colleges and universities can do to remove barriers to voting.
Tool
Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement offers a free and easy way to measure your students’ voting rates.
Liberal Education Magazine
This edition of “Research Corner,” published in Liberal Education magazine, presents data from the 2020 elections with a view to learning how colleges and universities can prepare for future elections.
Whether virtually or in person, IDHE can visit your campus to lead a workshop on facilitating politically charged discussions, join a classroom or coalition discussion of ideas for change, or help assess your campus climate for political learning and participation. Contact us at [email protected] and let us know how we can help.