Whovotesincollege?Studentvoterturnoutandimplicationsfor

highereducation'sroleinstrengtheningdemocracy

IngerBergomAdamGismondiNancyThomas

InstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducationTisch CollegeofCivicLife

TuftsUniversityMedford,MA

We study and work to improve …College student voting

Campus conditions for political learningStudent political agency, discourse and equity

Classroom teaching for democracy

Service tocollegesanduniversitiesinterestedinlearningabouttheirstudents’votinghabits

Nationaldatabaseforresearch oncollegestudentpoliticallearningandengagementindemocracy

WhatisNSLVE?

Whycareaboutcollegestudentvoting?

Highereducationhasbeenwidelyviewedasnotonlyvocationaltrainingbutpreparationfor“citizenry,”including“votingandparticipationintheformulationofpublicpolicy.”(Miller,1988)

Votinganindicationofhowwellhighereducationisdoingtopreparecitizensforlivinginademocracy

IPEDS

Catalist(publicvotingrecords)

NationalStudentClearinghouse

• 2012,2014,2016U.S.generalelections

• ~10millionstudentrecordsperelectionyear

• 1000+institutions• All50states

+3 +1.6

REGISTRATION

Acloserlookatturnoutratesby…GenderAgeRaceandethnicityFieldofstudy

+3+3

Gendergapstayedsame:womenvotedmoreby+7pointsinBOTHelections

Firsttimeeligibletovoteinpresidential

election

Interestedinmoredata?

FullnationalreportavailableonIDHEwebsite:https://idhe.tufts.edu/nslve/2016

NSLVEinteractivedataportalhttps://idhe.tufts.edu/nslve/nslve-data-portal

CustomizedInstitutionalReports

Seeusafterthissessiontosignupyourcampus(it’sfree)

Why are some institutions more (or less) politically and electorally engaged?

Campus Climate Research

Positiveoutlier

Negativeoutlier

Sample:Outliervotingrates

Whatareweseeingonthesecampuses?

@TuftsIDHE

Politics365:Campusclimatesforpoliticallearningand

engagementatoutliercampuses

ü Student well-being, strong interpersonal relationships, particularly student-faculty

ü A sense of shared responsibility among students for each other and for the institution

ü Compositional diversity used as an educational asset; cohesion across social and ideological diversity

©TheInstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducation,2017

Strong social cohesion among diverse student populations

ü Discussion-based teaching, political discussions across campus

ü Prepared faculty and students

ü Balanced free expression and inclusion; academic freedom is a “given”

©TheInstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducation,2017

Pervasive political discussions

ü Students with positional authority

ü Students respected for their views, with or without positional authority

ü Strong student government association

©TheInstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducation,2017

Student agency, power, and shared responsibility

ü Traditional political participation, election season “buzz”

ü Issue activism and organizing, with or w/o government

ü Nimble institutions, supportive faculty©TheInstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducation,2017

Active political engagement

ü Social cohesion, strong student faculty relations

ü Diversity and equity as intentional practice

ü Pervasive political discussions

ü Student voice and agency, institutional decision-making

ü Student activism and electoral engagement

©TheInstituteforDemocracyandHigherEducation,2017

Politics 365

WhatcanNSLVEdoforus?

• Wakeupcalltoimprovestudentpoliticallearningandengagement

• Toolforcatalyzingchange

Questions to Consider:

• HowcanNSLVE-basedresearchbeusedto:• Increasevoting?• Increaselearning?

• Whatarethechallengesandopportunitiesuniquetoyourcampus?

idhe.tufts.edu/nslve/join

2016 NSLVE National Report

Using Your NSLVE Reports

Talking Politics: Guide for Campus Conversations about your Voting Reports

IDHE Resources on Free Speech & Academic Freedom

Other resources

Where do I find a report on the campus climate studies? Here.

Is my campus participating in NSLVE? Look here.

How do I obtain a copy of my campus report? Go here.

Where do I go for other resources? Go here.

To sign up for our newsletter, go here.

For other questions please contact:idhe@tufts.edu

@TuftsIDHE