Cal State LA student-athletes lead the way in registering to vote

Student-athletes at Cal State LA have taken an important step to ensure their voices will be heard in the Nov. 3 General Election.

Every student-athlete who is eligible has registered to vote for the upcoming election.

The Athletics Department and Division of Student Life recently launched a civic engagement initiative to raise awareness about the importance of voting. A key goal was achieving 100% voter registration across the university’s 13 NCAA Division II programs.

Executive Director for Intercollegiate Athletics Daryl Gross lauded the accomplishment as a testament to the character of Golden Eagle student-athletes, as well as their awareness of important civic issues and desire to make their voices heard.

“I hear them express their thoughts on what they believe is right and wrong,” Gross said. “And by registering to vote, it sends a signal that they don’t want to just talk, they want to take action.”

As part of the initiative, student-athletes recorded themselves for short videos in which they talked about why they were voting. The videos are part of a Cal State LA social media campaign to encourage students to participate in the General Election.

“I’m voting because I want to help determine the future of our country,” Janessa Mata, a libero for the volleyball team, says in one of the videos. “My voice matters, your voice matters, so make it heard and vote.”

A political science major, Mata says that teammates and friends have become increasingly interested in the voting process and California propositions as the Nov. 3 election approaches. She researched the ballot measures and compiled information for her friends to use before casting their ballots.

“Our student-athletes are leaders on the fields and courts, as well as in the classroom,” said Vice President for Student Life Nancy Wada-McKee, who oversees intercollegiate athletics. “We are proud of the important example they’ve set with their voter registration initiative.”

Cal State LA has a storied athletic history. The program boasts 7 national championships, 95 individual national champions and 78 conference titles. More than 300 student-athletes have earned All-American honors.

Three Golden Eagle programs last year ranked in the top 10 of NCAA Division II individual titles—men’s track and field (No. 8), women’s indoor track and field (No. 7) and women’s outdoor track and field (No. 9). Sports such as men’s soccer and volleyball have been perennial national competitors in recent years.

The men’s soccer team won the NCAA Division II Super Region 4 Championship in 2019 and was the runner-up that year in the national championship with a 19-1-3 record. The squad had made eight NCAA playoff appearances in the last nine years of competition. The Golden Eagle women’s volleyball team, meanwhile, has recorded 23 straight winning seasons (tied for No. 7 among Division II programs), reaching the NCAA playoffs in the last two years with 20-win seasons.

While achieving success in competition, Cal State LA student-athletes have continued to excel in the classroom, earning a program-record 58 All-Conference All-Academic honors in the 2019-20 academic year. The athletics program has also produced 13 Academic All-Americans, including 2 first-team honorees in 2000 and 2018.

“We're always going to compete and show people how to fight on and off the field, in terms of being successful and attaining great results, and in terms of making society better,” Gross said.

The Golden Eagles’ successful voter registration initiative came as the California Collegiate Athletic Association announced a new bylaw barring competition, practice or participation in countable athletically related activities on Election Day.

“Part of our civic duty as citizens is to make our voices heard by voting,” CCAA Commissioner Mitch Cox said. “By prohibiting any and all athletic activity on Election Day in November, the CCAA schools are making a strong statement in support of our democracy and instilling the notion of civic responsibility in our student-athletes.”

Information on how to develop a vote plan for the 2020 General Election can be found at Cal State LA’s Vote page.