From: Robert Pangborn and Jeremy Cohen Date: October 24, 2008 12:36:00 PM EDT Subject: Encouraging Student Voting Reply-To: Robert Pangborn and Jeremy Cohen   University Colleagues,   We are writing to suggest that as educators committed to building a capacity   to sustain democracy among our students, we take an affirmative role in the   upcoming General Election.  The role we have in mind is non-partisan.  It   does not involve your efforts beyond the University in which you may have   preferences for, or involvement in, the campaign for a particular candidate   or political party.  Rather, this is about our work as professionals at a   non-partisan educational institution.   There are record numbers of new voter registrations among Penn State   students, faculty and staff this year.  More than twenty-three thousand   individuals at University Park and surrounding neighborhoods have registered   since July 1. Similar registration drives have taken place on the other Penn   State campuses.  This does not count all those who were registered to vote in   past elections.  Now there is work that we can do to help students fulfill   what for many will be their first opportunity to vote and for others will   culminate a season of high emotions and appropriate feelings of citizen   empowerment.   Citizenship: Consider making it a point to let students (and others you work   with) know that you are going to vote November 4 because this is one of the   expectations and responsibilities of citizenship.  It is important as role   models in professional relationships with students and staff that we do not   use these occasions to campaign for a given candidate or party.  However, it   is also important that we help students to learn that while candidate choice may   be treated as a private affair, practicing our right to vote need not be   polarizing.  It is an occasion to celebrate the best of our national values.   This is also a good time to remind students to be certain that they show up   at their appropriate polling location (at University Park, the HUB is not the   automatic location just because they're students); that they bring   identification; and that they allow sufficient time for long lines and   unavoidable slowdowns.   Citizenship or Scholarship?  All of us hope that the voting lines at precinct   locations will move quickly.  Whether because of record turnouts, technology   glitches, or the analog requirement that every voter sign the single voter   registration book at their assigned poll, some delays are likely.  Please   help students to avoid the need to choose between scholarship and citizenship   by planning your November 4 classes accordingly.  Circumstances beyond their   control may cause student tardiness or even missed attendance in order to   wait out the lines, challenges to ID or registration, or other delays.   Please do your best to enable students to make up missed work if unexpected   circumstances arise, to avoid altogether November 4 class activities that   cannot be made up, and to help students to embrace November 4 as a day for   both scholarship and citizenship.   We take pride in joining President Spanier and Provost Erickson in   recognizing that voting as responsible citizens is a university-wide value.   We not only support that value.  We recognize that whether students are in   first-year seminars, advanced lecture hall classes, or experiencing   unexpected delays at the polls, November 4 will provide a teaching moment   that may, with our encouragement, last a lifetime.   Robert Pangborn   Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education   Jeremy Cohen   Associate Vice President and       Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education   Director of the Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy