Linfield University has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) as a 2024 ALL IN Most Engaged Campus for College Student Voting.
The ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting recognizes colleges and universities for outstanding efforts to increase nonpartisan student voter participation. Linfield University joins a group of 471 colleges and universities recognized by ALL IN for completing four core actions:
- Participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge
- Sharing 2022 NSLVE Reports with campus voting data with ALL IN
- Developing and submitting a 2024 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN
- Having a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation.
“The quality of U.S. democracy hinges upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health,” said Pat Cottrell, professor of political science and founder of the LEAD honors program, designed to foster leadership across a geographically and ideologically diverse cohort of students.
“As John Dewey once said, ‘Democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience,’” Cottrell said. “I’m delighted that so many of our students are engaging in this type of experience, not just by voting, but by engaging in respectful, substantive civic discourse on campus as part of our ‘Democracy in Divided Times’ series and beyond.”
Cottrell’s sentiments were echoed by ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge leadership.
“The research is clear: colleges and universities that make intentional efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement have higher campus voter registration and voter turnout rates. This year we saw more colleges than ever before step up their efforts to ensure that their students were registered and ready to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” said Jennifer Domagal-Goldman, Executive Director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “These Most Engaged Campuses are setting the standard for nonpartisan civic engagement work for colleges and universities across the country.”
“Too often, partisan politics exhibit an inability to have a fruitful interchange of ideas, an unwillingness to consider competing views respectfully, and a sense that it is not even worth listening to the other side,” Cottrell said. “We need people at all levels of society who are capable of reintroducing complexity to the issues, navigating human differences, listening and observing carefully, mindful of ethical considerations and the importance of media literacy. Those are the types of conversations I’ve witnessed on campus and it gives me hope that so many of our students are demonstrating civic responsibility.”
