MCC Joins Campuses Nationwide in Effort to be ‘Voter Friendly’

Middlesex Community College has been designated a Voter Friendly Campus.

The Voter Friendly Campus initiative encouraged participating institutions to plan and implement practices to encourage their students to register and vote in the 2018 elections – and in coming years. It was led by the Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project, a national nonpartisan organization, and NASPA/Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

“This Voter Friendly Campus designation highlights MCC’s efforts to develop meaningful civic-engagement opportunities for our students,” said Middlesex President James C. Mabry. “Our civic programming is designed to help students engage in the democratic process, explore their political beliefs, and establish participatory habits to last beyond their college experience. This designation shows that these efforts are having a positive impact on our students.”

The mission of the Voter Friendly Campus designation is to bolster efforts that help students overcome barriers to participating in the political process. Middlesex was evaluated based on a campus plan about how to engage student voters in 2018, and how it facilitated democratic-engagement efforts on campus. The designation is valid through December 2020.

According to Patrick Kenney, MCC’s Coordinator of Civic & Service-Learning, the college organized a series of voter-engagement activities that began in the fall of 2018 and continued through election day and beyond, including:

• Voter-registration opportunities, including National Voter Registration Day events on the Bedford and Lowell campuses.
• Voter-education initiatives such as Every Vote Matters events and Make a Choice, Raise Your Voice!
• Democratic-engagement opportunities offered before and after election day 2018, such as Constitution & Citizenship Day celebrations, a conversation with student activist David Hogg, monthly community-service opportunities, and a workshop on How to Write to Your Legislator.

For more information about MCC’s designation as a Voter Friendly Campus, contact Patrick Kenney, Coordinator of Civic & Service-Learning, at kenneyp@middlesex.mass.edu or 978-656-3159.

To learn more about NASPA, visit: https://www.naspa.org. For further information about the Fair Elections Center, visit: https://www.fairelectionscenter.org

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