• Register To Vote    |
Search
Civic Influencers
Search
  • About
    • About
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • 2020 Annual Report
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Contact Us
  • Tipping Point Campuses
  • Mobilizing the Margins
  • 2022 Civic Influencers
  • Voter Registration
    • Youth Voter Suppression Heat Maps
    • Host a Voting Conversation
    • Effective Tabling
    • Student Newspapers
  • Civic Influencers Funding
    • Civic Influencers Application: Students
    • Civic Influencers Application: Non-Students
    • Alumni Association
  • DONATE
  • Get Out The Vote
    • Georgia Run-off Election DAY 2022
    • Register to Vote with Motivote
    • Study Abroad and Voting Overseas
    • Vote Plan
  • Jobs
  • Newsletter Sign Up
CEEP Michigan Fellows describe the difficulty of creating community on campus and getting out the vote in the COVID age.

Empowering Students, Building Community: The Importance of Faculty Involvement in Student Voting Efforts

Brenna Limbrick2020-10-05T20:16:14+00:00
Uncategorized Classroom, Faculty 0 Comments

One of my biggest takeaways from being a graduate student and employee during the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of human connection across campus roles. I have struggled in taking all of my classes and work meetings from my dining room, but I know that everyone I meet with (from my college dean to a student I supervise) is going through similar daily negotiations of space, social distancing, and being present on campus from afar. Many faculty members open class by asking how we are all doing, and I now look forward to it as an opportunity for us to connect as people in a time that has been largely isolating and lonely. 

And so I am left to think about how, in times chaotic and calm, faculty bring students together. This has been true since before this year, of course, but 2020 has made it more abundantly clear. Faculty facilitate connections, serve as mentors to many, and are a source of consistency in times of change and transformation. What better time to harness that energy than during a high-energy election season? Alongside student affairs professionals and other campus officials, faculty can reassert engaging in voting efforts—as ability and capacity allow—as an opportunity for learning communities to connect and engage. Broadly speaking, voting efforts and all parts of life that they address transcend campus roles, departmental boundaries, even academic disciplines, leaving faculty members of any and all kinds very well positioned to connect with students over voting efforts. 

Faculty involving themselves in voting efforts reinforces that people in all walks of life can be involved in voting efforts. Students seeing trusted professionals in their fields of interest engage with voting efforts is powerful. Involvement does not have to be time-consuming or labor-intensive. Faculty do not have to lead long conversations* to make a significant impact. Having already established a relationship with their students, faculty are uniquely positioned to discuss important voter registration deadlines, remind students of the polling places assigned to their campus communities and provide reliable nonpartisan resources for students seeking more information about what will be on their ballot. 

Faculty members looking for resources themselves can find support in CEEP’s faculty resources page. Some are fit for all audiences, such as the Vote by Mail Toolkit + Video Series, while others like our guide reviewing Difficult Classroom Conversations About Political Issues are faculty-specific. Faculty are uniquely positioned to make connections between higher education and voting in regards to students’ investing in their own futures, and CEEP is dedicated to supporting them in this pivotal work. 

I know I am not the only student to have had so many of my life plans challenged and changed in 2020, and I am certainly not the only one wanting to connect with others to explore how I can use my voice and my vote. I am so fortunate to have faculty members who talk to me about those things, even very briefly, both as faculty and as fellow community members. Knowing how much that has meant to me, how much it continues to empower me, I very strongly encourage anyone who is in a position to be that for other students to at least try.  

 

Erika Tai

About the author: Erika Tai, MPP is a second-year doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her current research focuses on the impact of dialogue on undergraduate students’ understandings of meaning making and belonging. Erika began working with CEEP as a Faculty Resource Intern in June of 2020.

Share this post

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google + Email

Author

Brenna Limbrick

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Related Posts

Americans with Disabilities Month!

The entire month of August you’ve been hearing from members across the Civic Influencers community as we celebrate Americans with... read more

Highlighting CEEP’s HR.1. Bill Resource

How, as a democracy, should the United States conduct our elections? Who decides access to the ballot box? Should large... read more

Civic Influencers™ Press Briefing, Featuring: Maxim Thorne, CEO, Tableau Foundation, and other technology industry leaders

Civic Influencers™ is hosting a Town Hall on October 21st at 12:00 pm EST to announce its laser focused data... read more

Paul Loeb, CEEP founder, speaks at National Press Club roundtable on student disenfranchisement.

Barriers to Student Voting—National Press Club Discussion Rebroadcast on C-SPAN

Campus Election Engagement Project’s Paul Loeb and Thurgood Marshall Jr. discussed overcoming disenfranchisement of the younger electorate this November (Washington, DC)––Earlier... read more

Join the Faculty Network for Student Voting Rights

Are you a faculty member who is interested in the student voting space? Are you wanting to talk with other... read more

Op-Ed by Maxim Thorne: Don’t count out young voters today

In a campaign season that confounds many veteran political analysts, younger voters’ potentially decisive role is an underappreciated storyline as... read more

Happy National Military Appreciation Month

Military Appreciation Month takes place every year throughout the entire month of May. It was officially designated by Congress in... read more

Kamala Harris at the inauguratin of Joe Biden

Coats, Mittens, Earrings, and Other Important Conversations: The 2021 Presidential Inauguration

©The Guardian “Senator Sanders, who are you wearing?” “The mittens are Jen Ellis” Senator Bernie Sanders’ (VT) mittens were certainly among the... read more

Civic Influencers Joins Lawsuit to Sue Ohio’s Secretary of State over New Youth Suppression Law

COLUMBUS, OH — Civic Influencers today announced that it has joined a lawsuit over Ohio’s new voter suppression law for... read more

Campus Election Engagement Project’s Response to Chauvin Trial Verdict

Tuesday’s guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin represents an important milestone in the fight for racial justice in... read more

Recent Posts

  • Civic Influencers Joins Lawsuit to Sue Ohio’s Secretary of State over New Youth Suppression Law
  • What does Civic Influencer Bobby care about? Sustainability ♻️
  • Op-Ed by Maxim Thorne: Don’t count out young voters today
  • Read the Recent PBS Article: “Civic Influencers hope to turbocharge student voters”
  • Civic Influencers In Newsweek!

Archives

  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • May 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • August 2017

Categories

  • Civic Engagement
  • Events
  • Fellows
  • Get Out the Vote
  • News
  • Podcast
  • Uncategorized
  • Voter Education
  • Voter Registration

CIVIC INFLUENCERS™

Please be advised that CI does not use third party fund raising agents. The only way to donate is directly to us on this website or as listed on our
donor page, here.

To make a donation, please contact stakeholders@civicinfluencers.org
PHONE: (302) 644-5757

For all other mail: 16192 Coastal Highway, Lewes, DE 19958

 

Civic Influencers © Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
    • About
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Who We Are
    • Our Team
    • 2020 Annual Report
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Contact Us
  • Tipping Point Campuses
  • Mobilizing the Margins
  • 2022 Civic Influencers
  • Voter Registration
    • Youth Voter Suppression Heat Maps
    • Host a Voting Conversation
    • Effective Tabling
    • Student Newspapers
  • Civic Influencers Funding
    • Civic Influencers Application: Students
    • Civic Influencers Application: Non-Students
    • Alumni Association
  • DONATE
  • Get Out The Vote
    • Georgia Run-off Election DAY 2022
    • Register to Vote with Motivote
    • Study Abroad and Voting Overseas
    • Vote Plan
  • Jobs
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Register To Vote    |