Saint Rose designated a Voter Friendly Campus

The College of Saint Rose has been named a Voter Friendly Campus, one of 258 campuses in 38 states and the District of Columbia by the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project and NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. The nonpartisan initiative recognizes institutions that have planned and implemented practices that encourage their students to register and vote in the 2022 elections and in coming years.

The mission of the 2023 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. Saint Rose was evaluated based on a written plan for how it planned to register, educate, and turnout student voters in 2022, how it facilitated voter engagement efforts on campus, and a final analysis of the efforts.

“I view our designation as a Voter Friendly Campus as evidence of Saint Rose’s continued efforts to develop engaged citizens,” said Dr. Ryane Straus, professor of American politics and leader of the Saint Rose Voter Friendly Campus designation effort. “I think our founding sisters, as well as the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet who marched with Dr. King, would be proud to see our students’ continued engagement in the political community.”

The Political Engagement Project (PEP) at Saint Rose worked to draft a plan with political engagement tactics, such as multiple voter registration drive efforts, including tabling at move-in day in August.

The PEP committee included Karen Haag from Athletics, Rebecca Robinson from the Neil Hellman Library, Alan Martell from the Counseling Center, Sister Honora Kinney, CSJ, also from the library, Chenique Rowe from the social work faculty, Whitney Edwards from Athletics, and Aleecea Denton from Residence Life.

Saint Rose has made a strong statement about our civic mission to prepare students to be engaged participants in our democracy and is eager to continue engaging students through 2023, 2024, and beyond.

The institutions designated Voter Friendly Campuses represent a wide range of two-year, four-year, public, private, rural, and urban campuses, collectively serving over 3.5 million students. Notably, the list of designated institutions includes 49 Minority Serving Institutions and 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as 41 community colleges.