Students Take Civic Action: Voter Registration, Census and Political Dialogue
On Feb. 22, several University of Scranton students representing Student Government attended the first annual Eastern Pennsylvania Student Voting Summit at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.During the spring 2020 semester, University students have been encouraging voter registration ahead of the 2020 Presidential elections, raising awareness of the 2020 Census, and participating in political dialogues. These activities comprise a variety of non-partisan civic engagement student activities.
Voter Registration: On Feb. 22, several University of Scranton students representing Student Government attended the first annual Eastern Pennsylvania Student Voting Summit at The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, coordinated by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge and other partners. The purpose of the event was to gather campus leaders and partner organizations to discuss nonpartisan democratic engagement strategies with a focus on student voting on college campuses across the country leading up to the 2020 election. Scranton students will be taking best practices back to Scranton, to further inform campus efforts.
Census Ambassadors: At Scranton City Hall on Feb. 29, several University students attended the Mayor’s Day of Action to learn how to be Census Ambassadors for the Scranton community and about the importance of having a complete count. Participants canvassed Scranton neighborhoods and small businesses to spread information and educational materials about the census. On-campus resident students will be counted via institutional collaboration with the Census Bureau; off-campus students will be counted through City efforts. Stay tuned for updates in the coming month.
Political Dialogues: On Feb. 18, students took part in the first of three political dialogues this semester. Through structured dialogue sessions students discussed impeachment and the 2020 election. The dialogues seek to engage students with each other’s experiences and views to build understanding and find areas of common ground. The University has worked with national non-profit Essential Partners on the Political Dialogue initiative; the collaboration was recently profiled here.
Students are invited to take part in the two remaining “Bursting our Political Bubbles” dialogues this semester:
March 11 - America’s Role in the World
April 27 - Climate Change
The dialogues will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Kane Forum in Leahy Hall. Registration is required and refreshments will be provided. For more information, visit Scranton.edu/dialogues or click here.
