Illinois College recognized for developing nonpartisan voter participation plan

This year, IC was one of three campuses in Illinois and 93 nationally to be celebrated for their work in building a strategic action plan for civic engagement.

Through IC's Office of Civic Engagement and Student Leadership, students are empowered to develop active citizenship that improves civic learning, encourages voting, and strengthens engagement in the political process. This nonpartisan work led IC to receive the 2024 Highly Established Action Plan Seal.

As part of the requirements, IC developed an affirmation of community responsibility as a guiding ideology for helping students understand their role in active citizenry. The Affirmation focuses on four guiding virtues: commitment, curiosity, clarity, and civility."

With this affirmation in mind, the Office of Civic Engagement and Student Leadership's goal in leading the campus voter and election engagement programming is to instill in students a commitment to democratic principles, the curiosity to pursue quality information, the clarity to engage with compassion and move towards collective justice, and the principle of approaching with civility those who may hold different political perspectives or ideologies.

This action plan works closely with IC Votes, a campus initiative that encourages election engagement within the student body. This nonpartisan initiative educates students on their voting rights, the democratic process, and the importance of engaging in that process. The goal of this initiative is to increase the turnout of Illinois College student voters, some of whom are voting in their first-ever election.

"IC has a long history of civic engagement," as noted in the 2024 civic engagement plan, "Founded by a band of Yale graduates in 1829 in Jacksonville, Illinois, the College took up the cause of abolitionism, with students, faculty, and a small group of local community members participating in the Underground Railroad. The first and second presidents of Illinois College, Edward Beecher and Julian Sturtevant, were active in the local abolitionist movement."

The Campus Democracy Challenge launched in 2016 and has grown to include over 1,000 campuses nationwide. Their primary goal is to improve nonpartisan democratic engagement across higher education institutions, as well as close existing gaps in voting based on age and race. The organization affirms its nonpartisan position by neither supporting or opposing candidates or political parties. They exist to encourage "active and informed participation in American democracy."

To learn more about the Campus Democracy Challenge, visit the website at allinchallenge.org