At City College this fall Student Leadership and Development is gearing up to educate students about the upcoming November election and— more specifically—get them involved by registering students to vote.
“It is a big thing this year,” states Anna Fralikhina, talking about the Nov. 6, 2012, election, when voters will decide between reelecting President Barack Obama or sending former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to the White House—and on a number of other propositions and political races directly affecting the state of California and higher education.
Fralikhina, a student personnel assistant for Student Leadership and Development, is heading the voter registration drive taking place over the next fewweeks. Using funds provided by the federal government to register voters, Fralikhina is helping plan events that will get students involved and interested in the swiftly approaching November election.
“It is important for [the students] to be educated in what the government is doing and get interested,” Fralikhina says. “It is important for the students to know the issues because it will affect us in the future.”
With tables on the Quad stocked with election information and voter registration cards, and strategically placed banners throughout campus counting down the days to election, Student Leadership and Development is collaborating with the debate team, honors society and the Student Associated Council to help educate students on the issues and candidates, and hopefully encourage them that their votes matter, according to Fralikhina.
“We want to get students more involved, more excited, more pumped up about using their vote to protect their education,” says communications professor Jared Anderson, who also coaches the forensics team.
Anderson has been working for the past two years to build a campuswide coalition, encouraging faculty, staff and students to come together and vote to make higher education a priority for Congress.
“Education should be a No. 1 priority for Congress, and it isn’t,” says Anderson.
Anderson hopes that students will make the effort to attend the forums, designed to inform students on this year’s propositions. Details are still being determined on when students will be on the Quad explaining propositions.
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However, Monday, Oct. 22, there will be an informational forum in the Student Center at noon where experts on Proposition 30 will be discussing its impact on students and higher education, and will be able to answer any student questions, Anderson says.
“It is important, whether you support it or not, to know their vote will make a difference,” says Anderson.
Oct. 22 is also the postmark deadline for voter registration cards, according to the California Secretary of State website. Anderson hopes to spark voter interest with the information forum and have students rushing the tables to fill out theforms and meet the deadline.
“We will be putting up a link on the student government website so students can register to vote online,” says Student Associated Council President Taylor Valmores, noting that Student Leadership and Development is taking the effort to the Web, publicizing voter registration and election deadlines on its official Facebook page and the City College official Facebook page. According to Fralikhina, Student Leadership and Development will also be emailing all of the City College faculty and staff asking them to encourage
their students to register to vote.
The Student Advisory Council is advocating for increased student participation this year—something Valmores highlighted in his convocation address to City College faculty and staff. SAC members are currently visiting classroomsto encourage students to register to vote and maybe raise student interest in being more involved on campus, according to Valmores.
At the voter registration booth in the Quad on Sept. 17, student volunteers agree with the importance of students making use of their right to vote. This especially rings true for Lincoln Scott, 33, child development major, whose parents cannot vote because they were not born in the United States.
“They made sure I have rights as a citizen,” Scott says, “so it is important to make use of our rights.”
For Anderson, it is not only important for the students to register to vote, but to use that vote to keep higher education widely accessible. The latest round of financial cuts left thousands of students without access to college, Anderson says.
“We need to understand why it is so important for us to fight to keep that [higher education] system viable and accessible to all,” states Anderson. “If we lose community college, there is not a backup.”
