McKendree is Recognized for Excellence in Student Voter Engagement

Awarded Silver Seal from ALL IN Challenge

(LEBANON, Ill., November 12, 2019) — At the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony held to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, McKendree University received a silver seal for achieving a student rate between 30 and 39 percent.

“Our institution is proud to receive this national recognition for our efforts,” said Dr. James Dennis, McKendree University president. “Our faculty, staff, administrators and students are committed to working together to reduce apathy, increase engagement, and graduate civic-minded students prepared to solve the country, and the world’s, most pressing challenges.”

Student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. According to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points, from 19 percent to 40 percent. McKendree University data reveals that its student voter rate has continued to grow steadily, increasing to 36.2 percent in the 2018 election from 25.1 percent in the 2014 election.

Dr. Ann Collins, professor of political science, and Paula Martin, director of Holman Library, lead the ALL In Democracy Challenge and nonpartisan voter engagement activities on campus.

“We are excited to honor McKendree University with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of its intentional efforts to increase democratic engagement and full voter participation,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, executive director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “More institutions like McKendree are changing culture on campus by institutionalizing nonpartisan democratic engagement efforts that are resulting in the incredible student voter turnout rates that we’ve seen across the country.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a nonpartisan, national initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement and full student voter participation. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus.

More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

 

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