NCC Receives Bronze Seal For Excellence In Student Voter Engagement

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BETHLEHEM, PA (03/21/2018) At the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, held October 19, to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Northampton Community College received a bronze seal for achieving a student rate between 50% and 59%. A full list of seal awardees can be viewed here.

"We host debates from outside candidates, hold many voter registration drives and have candidates from all parties come to campus to talk to students. These are great opportunities for our students who want to engage with the community. Kudos to our faculty and staff who have also been instrumental in getting us to this percentage. I'd love to raise the rate further in coming years," says Deb Bohr, director, Center for Civic and Community Engagement.

Student participation in elections has increased in the past few years. A recent report, "Democracy Counts: A Report on U.S. College and University Student Voting" from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University's Institute for Democracy in Higher Education, shows that between the 2012 presidential election, and the 2016 presidential election, student voting went from 45.1% of eligible voters in 2012 to 48.3% in 2016 - a 7% improvement. Northampton Community College data reveals a 52% student voting rate in 2016, a 8.6% increase from the 2012 presidential election season.

"I am proud to honor Northampton Community College with an ALL IN Challenge Bronze seal in recognition of their dedication, hard work, and achievement," said Zaneeta E. Daver, director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. "NCC is not only ensuring that a more representative population participates in our nation's democracy, but is educating students to be civic-minded. They are an example to be emulated."

The All IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program. 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. By joining the Challenge, campuses commit to:

Convening a campus-wide committee that includes members from academic affairs, student affairs, and the student body, as well as any other relevant stakeholders;

Developing and implementing an action plan to improve democratic engagement;

Participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) in order to measure student voting rates; and

Sharing their campus' action plan and NSLVE results in order to be eligible for a recognition seal and/or awards.

More than 300 campuses, enrolling more than 4 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.