Middlesex College Is Recognized for Promoting Student Voter Participation and Engagement

Being involved in the greater Middlesex County community is one of the pillars of the Middlesex College mission for students and faculty, especially in an election year where knowledge about the issues and candidates is vital to making an informed decision.

Those efforts garnered national recognition by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a nonpartisan competition that honors campuses for excellence in student voter engagement Middlesex College earned a 34 out of 36 score and the “Highly Established Action Plan” ribbon for online materials, making it one of 123 institutions across the country to receive this recognition.

“This award supports the fact that we have been successful in showing how civically engaged our Middlesex College community has become,” said Charlotte Quigley, the Director of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships at the College. “It’s a measure of what everyone is doing to support the efforts here to sustain an overall connection to our broader community.”

ALL IN is also running a contest in the fall semester where a college or university demonstrates a commitment to civic engagement through Election Day. The institution that shows the deepest engagement will earn the right to have an MTV-sponsored concert on campus.

Reaching students from different economic and social backgrounds at Middlesex College poses different challenges. Through various departments on campus, the College has opportunities for students to register to vote, hold forums to hear about the candidates and process, and learn about how government is intended to work.

Quigley lists multiple ongoing endeavors happening at Middlesex College to promote these goals, including working with the League of Women Voters, the New Jersey Ballot Bowl, Jersey Civic Engage and GivePulse, which connects volunteers with local service projects.

“It was our goal to help our students understand their potential impact on their own community,” said Quigley. “Getting them to register to vote is one thing, but we also want them to understand what it is they are voting for and do so as informed as possible and follow through.”

The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge was created in 2016 to prompt more college students to be involved in the voting process and issues in their community. Since it’s creation, more than 1,000 colleges and nearly 10 million college students have taken advantage of their resources.

For more information, visit ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.