Building upon the school’s impressive track record of robust student voter participation, Gustavus has been recognized as one of 394 colleges nationwide recognized for its efforts to increase nonpartisan democratic engagement in the 2022 elections.
The national ALL IN Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting campaign helps colleges and universities make intentional efforts to increase student voter participation through actions such as:
- Participating in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
- Sharing 2020 NSLVE Reports about campus voting data with ALL IN. (The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement is a national study conducted by the Institute of Democracy and Higher Education, and colleges must opt in to participate.)
- Developing and submitting a 2022 democratic engagement action plan with ALL IN.
- Having a current signatory to ALL IN’s Higher Education Presidents’ Commitment to Full Student Voter Participation.
To achieve this honor, the Gustavus Voter Engagement Team spent the past year satisfying all these requirements. (Although 394 recognized colleges may sound like quite a few, they represent only about 9 percent of all higher ed institutions in the U.S.) Led by Amy Pehrson, director of the Community Engagement Center, and assistant vice president for Student Life Megan Ruble, Gusties spread the word about the 2022 elections by creating advertising, merchandise, posters, and giving informational presentations. They also sponsored and hosted an event on campus for the two candidates for Nicollet County Sheriff to debate each other and speak with students, and on Election Day, they worked with the Student Senate to secure a bus that drove students to the polling places.
“It is super cool and such a great honor that we accomplished this,” said Katherine Allard ’23, who worked on the efforts. “Getting this recognition was one of our goals, because we believe that every student should be able to vote, and we wanted to make sure everyone had access to the polls on Election Day.”
The ALL IN challenge is merely the latest example of how enthusiastic our students are about exercising their right to vote. Student voter participation in the 2020 Presidential Election far exceeded national averages, and Gusties maintained that momentum this year. “I’m pleased, but not surprised, that Gustavus students have been recognized for their voter participation and engagement,” President Rebecca Bergman said. “The school has long been known for programs which ensure that our students understand how to register to vote and get informed about the electoral process, and which help get them to the polls when it’s time to vote. We’re proud to have been cited among the most democratically involved colleges in the U.S., and we’ll build upon these efforts in future elections.”