The College of New Jersey Joins Campuses Nationwide in Effort to be “Voter Friendly”
Ewing, NJ – On March 20th, The College of New Jersey, was listed as one of 83 campuses in 23 states designated as a “Voter-Friendly Campus.” The initiative, led by national nonpartisan organizations Campus Vote Project (CVP) and NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, held participating institutions accountable for planning and implementing practices that encourage their students to register and vote in the 2016 general election and in the coming years.
The mission of the Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster efforts that help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process. Our campus was evaluated based on a campus plan about how we would engage student voters in the fall of 2016, how we facilitated voter engagement efforts on our campus, and a final analysis of our efforts. The designation is valid through December 2018.
As part of our effort to be designated a voter friendly campus, The College of New Jersey along with The Center for Community Engaged Research and Learning organized voter registration drives, held bi-weekly discussion forums related to voter education, hosted “walk to the polls” on election day, created the TCNJ Votes app, and offered support to assist students to understand the surprising presidential election outcomes, as well as several other initiatives.
The College of New Jersey has made a strong statement about the civic mission of higher education to prepare students to be engaged participants in our democracy and is excited to continue engaging students through 2017, 2018, and beyond.The institutions designated Voter Friendly Campuses represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses, with a total enrollment of nearly 1.4 million students.
NASPA is the leading association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs profession. Our work provides high-quality professional development, advocacy, and research for 15,000 members in all 50 states, 25 countries, and 8 U.S. territories.
The Fair Elections Legal Network (FELN) is a national, nonpartisan election reform organization working to remove barriers to registration and voting for traditionally underrepresented constituencies and improve election administration. FELN’s Campus Vote Project (CVP) works with universities, community colleges, faculty, students and election officials to reduce barriers to student voting and helps campuses institutionalize reforms that empower students with the information they need to register and vote