Columbia College Chicago

04/04/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/05/2025 02:28

Columbia Designated a Voter-Friendly Campus

Columbia Designated a Voter-Friendly Campus

The Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project and NASPA recognizes Columbia for encouraging students to register and vote.

Columbia College Chicago was named a Voter Friendly Campus, one of 272 campuses in 39 states and the District of Columbia by Fair Elections Center's Campus Vote Project and NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The initiative recognizes institutions that have planned and implemented practices that encourage their students to register and vote.

The institutions designated Voter Friendly Campuses represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses, collectively serving over four million students. Notably, the list of designated institutions includes 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as 47 Community Colleges.

The mission of the 2025 Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster colleges and universities' efforts to help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process - every year, not just during years featuring federal elections. Columbia was evaluated based on a written plan for how we planned to register, educate, and turnout student voters in 2024, how we facilitated voter engagement efforts on our campus, and a final analysis of our efforts.

Columbia's success in becoming a voter friendly campus is due to the efforts of Columbia Votes!, which was started by School of Communication and Culture Professor Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin in 2019 to help students learn about the electoral process, assist them with registering, and increase student voting. This student group has led intensive efforts to educate themselves and inform peers of their civic duty and prepare them to be engaged participants in our democracy.

Columbia looks forward to the continued success of Columbia Votes! as it engages students through 2025 and beyond.