Amidst a polarized election year, Rollins College is making it easy for students to understand what they are voting on and how to vote. In September, the Center for Leadership and Community Engagement (CLCE) released their Civic Engagement Plan for the 2024-2025 academic year. From voter registration drives to dunking professors and faculty, Rollins College offers students a variety of ways to get involved in the democratic process.
“The idea of the civic engagement plan is to make sure that we’re letting students know that they can be involved in democracy, and not just in their local community, but the country, and even internationally, in terms of just being involved in ‘how can I be a good citizen’ or a participant in making this a better place where we can work towards common goals,” says Cailey Cassity-Ness, Program Assistant with the CLCE.
The plan involves learning outcomes to help students become informed citizens, be politically active, and engage in civic dialogue and deliberation.
Voter registration has been one significant priority for the college up to Florida’s October 7 deadline, through hosting drives and sending emails to students about their options for where to register.
Rollins College is partnered with TurboVote to serve as a resource guide. Students can check their registration status, find out more information about their polling sites based on where they are registered to vote, see what is on the ballot, and request a mail-in ballot. The deadline to request your mail-in ballot for Florida is October 24.
Previously, much of the civic engagement work on campus has been through the Democracy Project, with them being responsible for hosting all the voter registration drives prior to the deadline.
“The Democracy Project is a nonpartisan group of students who work to increase civic engagement here at Rollins,” says Gabriela Tirado (‘25), Democracy Project Student Ambassador. “We’ve hosted voter registration drives, held watch parties for debates during the election, and invited elected officials to campus. Our goal is to make students more active and educated citizens in our democracy.”
While voter registration has ended, the Democracy Project is hosting several events leading up to the election, and more year-round. On the third Thursday of every month, the organization hosts Politics on Tap, an event dedicated to educating students about political topics that are relevant to them.
Although the October date was rescheduled due to Hurricane Milton, students can attend the Democracy Project’s Understanding Florida’s Legislative Bills session on October 29 from 6-7:30 p.m. The event will provide an in-depth look into the six amendments that are on Florida’s ballot.
October 29 is a busy day for civic engagement on campus as it is also National Vote Early Day, one of the many civic holidays celebrated by the college.
In addition to the Understanding Florida’s Legislative Bills session, the CLCE will be hosting a Dunk for Democracy event during common hour from 12-2 p.m. in the Warren parking lot. The event will allow students to dunk faculty and staff by correctly answering voting-related questions.
Outside of the CLCE, WPRK has been involved in increasing student participation in democracy. WPRK Votes offered students an opportunity to share their voting PSAs to be played on the air.
Every election cycle since 2004, WPRK has partnered with Orange County’s Adopt-a-Precinct program to train students, faculty, staff, and community volunteers as poll workers and on how to operate a voting precinct. This year, they welcomed in 22 volunteers, the highest number in over 15 years.
Rollins College ranks high among many colleges in terms of civic participation. In the 2020 election, ALL IN Campus Democracy Awards recognized Rollins with a Gold Seal for having a 72.9 percent engagement rate, exceeding the national average.
Rollins College remains committed to continuing to push civic engagement in coordination with community engagement, even after the election.
“One of the main things we’re looking at right now is just making it clear to students that voting is not the only way to be civically engaged whatsoever,” says Cassity-Ness. “It’s also about, ‘hey, how can I make sure that I am going to be a positive representation of my community in general and having conversations with people who disagree with me, but still being able to find some common ground through deliberative dialogue.’”
Among the college’s efforts to continue civic engagement post-election season is its collaboration with the AAC&U for Democracy Re/Designed. These are 90-minute sessions of intentional conversation about student ideas surrounding redesigning democracy. Students who are interested may sign-up through October 21. Participants will be awarded a $10 Amazon gift card.
Students who wish to be a part of engaging the campus in democracy may join the Rollins Coalition for Civic Participation. Students may email mhein@rollins.edu and vteske@rollins.edu to attend monthly meetings.
For more information on civic engagement events on campus, students can check out The Center for Leadership & Community Engagement’s MyRollins Page for the most up-to-date event information.
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