ECU receives Silver Seal for excellence in student voter engagement
East Carolina University received the Silver Seal at the 2019 ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony for its voting rate in the 2018 midterm elections. The Silver Seal is awarded to schools for achieving a student voting rate between 30% and 39%.
According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, student participation in elections has increased from the 2014 midterm election to the recent 2018 midterm election. Voter turnout at the more than 1,000 institutions participating in the study increased by 21 points from 19% to 40%. ECU’s data reveals a 13-point increase from 17% to 30%.
“This is a product of a team effort – from community partners like the Pitt County Board of Elections to our student democracy leaders to our professional staff and senior campus leaders,” said Dr. Dennis McCunney, director of ECU Intercultural Affairs. “At ECU, our entire campus community is deeply committed to working together to strengthen our democracy and remembers that we have a shared future.”
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national nonpartisan initiative recognizing and supporting campuses as they work to increase 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 to make democratic participation a core value on their campus.
“We are excited to honor ECU 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 East Carolina University 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.”
More than 560 campuses, enrolling more than 6.2 million students, have joined the challenge since its launch in summer 2016. To view the complete list of seal awardees visit https://www.allinchallenge.org/awards-ceremony/.
For additional information, contact McCunney at 252-328-2802 or mccunneyw@ecu.edu.
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ECU News Services
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Phone: 252-328-6481
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Contact: Dr. Dennis McCunney, director of Intercultural Affairs, mccunneyw@ecu.edu
Telephone: 252-328-2802