Columbus State’s commitment to advancing student democratic engagement earns Voter Friendly Campus recognition

Update | Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Columbus State Community College is now one of more than 235 higher education institutions in the nation designated as a “Voter Friendly Campus.” It’s an initiative led by two nonpartisan organizations: the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (also known as NASPA). The two groups hold participating institutions accountable for planning and implementing ongoing practices encouraging students to register and vote. 

The Voter Friendly Campus designation helps bolster institutional efforts that assist students overcome barriers to participate in the political process: Columbus State was evaluated based on our plan to register, educate, and turnout student voters in 2020.

Led by the College’s Student Democratic Engagement Committee, the College last year joined the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) initiative through the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University. Joining the initiative was an important step to learn more about students’ voting registration and participation rates. According to a past NSLVE report, students at two-year institutions have lower voting rates than students at other higher learning institutions. 

The Student Democratic Engagement Committee is co-chaired by Jonathan Kreger, associate professor of Political Science, and Diana Wisse, senior director of Student Affairs. 

With membership in NSLVE and the new designation as a Voter Friendly Campus, Columbus State plans to continue expanding its efforts to motivate students to register to vote and take part in the political process at the local, state, and federal levels. 

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