College recognized at ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony

At the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, held October 19, 2018, to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Inver Hills Community College received a silver seal for achieving a student rate between 60 percent and 69 percent.

ALL IN Challenge Awards
Silver Seal Campuses

“Giving students opportunities to be informed, engaged citizens strengthens our communities,” said Michael Berndt, Inver Hills interim president. “One of the historic charges of public higher education is to promote democratic values and appreciation of a free and diverse society, a charge memorialized in Minnesota statute. The fact that our Student Senate is so involved in this educational effort is a great sign for our future.”

Student participation in elections has increased in the past few years. A recent report, “Democracy Counts: A Report on U.S. College and University Student Voting” from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, an initiative of Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy in Higher Education, shows that between the 2012 presidential election, and the 2016 presidential election, student voting went from 45.1 percent of eligible voters in 2012 to 48.3 percent in 2016—a 7 percent improvement.

“I am proud to honor the students, alumni, staff and faculty of Dakota County Technical College with an ALL IN Challenge silver seal in recognition of their dedication, hard work and achievement,” said Zaneeta E. Daver, director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “DCTC is not only ensuring that a more representative population participates in our nation’s democracy, but is educating students to be civic-minded. They are an example to be emulated.”

The All IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus. By joining the Challenge, campuses commit to:

• Convening a campus-wide committee that includes members from academic affairs, student affairs, and the student body, as well as any other relevant stakeholders;
• Developing and implementing an action plan to improve democratic engagement;
• Participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) in order to measure student voting rates; and
• Sharing their campus’ action plan and NSLVE results in order to be eligible for a recognition seal and/or awards.

More than 300 campuses, enrolling more than 4 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.

Learn more about Get Out the Vote at Inver Hills by contacting:

Nicki Bottko
Associate Director of Student Life
651-450-3530
Jenni Yamada
Student Life Activites Coordinator
651-450-3754
Student Life
651-450-3530
College Center Room 116