Cal State San Bernardino, whose commitment and dedication to work with its students to become more involved in their communities, was recognized at the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony, held last October, to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates.

The university was awarded a bronze seal for achieving a student rate between 50 and 59 percent. CSUSB was one of four CSU campuses to be honored in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The others were Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Northridge and Sacramento State. Other institutions that received the bronze seal include Harvard University, George Washington University, SUNY New Paltz and UCLA.

“This is a wonderful achievement for our campus. Inspiring and helping our students become better citizens is deeply embedded in our DNA,” said CSUSB President Tomás D. Morales. “Students receive tremendous support and encouragement from faculty, staff and fellow students, both during their college careers and after graduation, to become more civic-minded and make a positive impact in their communities.”

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.

In 2016, 77.3 percent of CSUSB students were registered voters and 54.2 percent of these eligible students voted in the presidential election. Also, 14.7 percent of CSUSB student voters sent a mail-in ballot in 2012, while 54.3 percent of CSUSB student voters mailed their vote in 2016 – a dramatic difference in voting behavior.

“I am proud to honor Cal State San Bernardino with an ALL IN Challenge Bronze Seal in recognition of their dedication, hard work and achievement,” said Zaneeta E. Daver, director of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. “Cal State San Bernardino 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.

Visit the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge website to learn more.