October, 14, 2019
In This Issue:
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Barry Gets Good Report Card for Student Voting in 2018 Midterm Elections
Voting rate increased from 29.5% in 2014 to 42.6% in 2018
Barry’s student voting rate increased from 29.5% in the midterm elections of 2014 to 42.6% in 2018, a study has found. This voting rate was higher than the average voting rate of 39.1% for all U.S. colleges and universities in 2018.
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) found an almost 21 percentage-point increase in the voting rate of registered Barry students – from 39.9% in 2014 to 60.8% in 2018. Of the 6,518 students eligible to vote last year, 4,560 registered to vote and 2,773 actually voted.
The NSLVE Campus Report for Barry University, received on September 23, said the number of students who voted increased by 483 – from 2,290 in 2014 to 2,773 in 2018. However, the voter registration rate for Barry students dropped slightly from 73.8% to 70% between the two midterm cycles.
NSLVE is a major initiative of the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life.
NSLVE further found that college students across the United States more than doubled their rate of voting from the 2014 to the 2018 midterms. According to the Tufts report, 40% of students who were eligible to vote cast ballots last year, up from 19% percent in 2014.
The Tufts institute published the statistics in its Democracy Counts 2018, which analyzed voting patterns for some 10 million college students on more than 1,000 campuses across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Participating institutions gave the NSLVE organizers permission for their student enrollment records to be matched with public voting records.
Observers see the voter registration and turnout as a dramatic spike in political engagement that could draw unprecedented attention to college students as voters in next year’s presidential election.
In January 2012, the U.S. Department of Education issued a “call to action,” challenging colleges and universities to support academic programs and experiences designed to increase student civic learning and engagement in democracy. In response, the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI), with support from Barry political science expert Dr. Sean Foreman, developed the Campus Democracy Project (CDP).
Over the years, the nonpartisan CDP has been instrumental in promoting voter education and registration and coordinating get-out-the-vote activities.
“Among students, there has been a groundswell of interest in local and national politics, matched by enthusiasm about participating in democratic processes,” said CCSI Executive Director Dr. Glenn Bowen. “Increasing both the voter registration and voting rates remains the priority of the CDP Committee.”
Last month, on National Voter Registration Day, representatives of Barry’s College Democrats and College Republicans, with other student leaders, spent time encouraging their peers to become registered voters.
As part of the CDP, the student leaders band together in an initiative called BucsVote.
Dr. Scott F. Smith, vice president for mission and student engagement, thanked the student leaders, as well as faculty and staff, for their work on the CDP.
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Digital Marketing Course in School of Business Approved for Service-Learning Designation
MKT 326-01: Digital Marketing, a course in the School of Business, has been approved for the service-learning designation.
Dr. Samuel K. Doss, an associate professor of marketing, has designed the course to expose students to “a myriad of ways in which basic business functions can be enhanced through information technology.” The course will cover such topics as website development, marketing communications, and relationship marketing strategies. Students will assist nonprofit organizations with relevant advertising on the internet.
The Service-Learning Designation Committee has certified that the course demonstrates the value of applied learning, student engagement with the community, and critical reflection.
The Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI) coordinates the service-learning designation process.
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Volunteers Turn Out for Two Days of Service in September
Volunteers turned out in droves for two days of service in September – one in remembrance of 9/11 victims, the other to support efforts to keep coastlines clean.
September 11th Day of Service
Barry University marked the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 14 with collaborative service projects at four sites: Feeding South Florida’s Pembroke Park warehouse, Greater St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Coconut Grove, La Paloma neighborhood, and the Barry Urban Garden.
International Coastal Cleanup
Students and staff joined in coastline cleanup efforts on September 21 in Miami-Dade County. They removed debris and discarded items from the coastlines and adjacent areas of the Oleta River State Park and another section of Biscayne Bay as well as Historic Virginia Key Beach Park, Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, and Deering Estate.
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Barry Student Leaders Attend National Conference Focused on Food Recovery
Barry Service Corps Fellows Paola Lopez-Hernandez and Samantha Ternelus attended the 2019 National Food Recovery Dialogue (NFRD) in Philadelphia on October 5 and 6.
Lopez-Hernandez and Ternelus were among student leaders gathered at Drexel University for the two-day conference organized by the Food Recovery Network (FRN).
“We attended workshops that amplified our knowledge of various subject matters around the issue of food waste,” Lopez-Hernandez said.
“The goals of the workshops ranged from spurring students to engage 2020 [election] candidates in discussion about hunger, the environment, and the future of food in the United States to understanding how to support upcycling food companies,” Lopez-Hernandez explained. “Upcycling can reduce tons of pounds of food waste by using all parts of the food or parts of veggies that most restaurants or food companies waste.”
Ternelus said she was happy to meet “people from all over the world with the same passion for food sustainability and hunger reduction.”
FRN prides itself on being “the largest student movement fighting wood waste and hunger in America.”
Barry alumna Dominique McMillan, the program and outreach fellow at FRN, led an NFRD session titled “Faith and Food Recovery: Judeo-Christian Perspectives for Food Justice.”
A former Barry Service Corps Fellow, McMillan spearheaded the creation of Barry’s FRN chapter during the 2017–2018 academic year. Lopez-Hernandez and Ternelus are current chapter leaders.
Barry’s FRN chapter diverts food from the waste receptacles of the main campus dining hall to Miami Rescue Mission, a nonprofit community agency that provides social services and supplies to people in need.
Lopez-Hernandez said many of the ideas discussed at the conference would be implemented as the chapter expands.
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CCSI Administrators will be among Presenters at Community Engagement Conference
CCSI administrators Dr. Glenn A. Bowen and Courtney Berrien will be among the workshop session presenters at the Annual Conference of the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) next week.
With six co-presenters, Bowen and Berrien will participate in a two-hour session titled “How to Get Published in Service-Learning and Community Engagement Journals.”
Bowen is a member of the IARSLCE Board of Directors and co-editor of the International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IJRSLCE). He is the coordinating presenter of the workshop.
Berrien will represent Collaborations: A Journal of Community Research and Practice. She was recently named the journal’s associate managing editor.
Bowen and Berrien’s co-presenters will be representatives of the Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education, Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, and RIDAS – Revista Iberoamericana de Aprendizaje Servicio.
The IARSLCE Conference will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from October 23 to 25.
“Celebrating the ‘I’ in IARSLCE: Researching Engagement Across Borders” is the theme of the conference.
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Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship Meets This Tuesday Afternoon
The Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship (FLC) will have its second meeting for the academic year tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 15), beginning at 1 p.m. The CCSI will host the hour-long meeting in Adrian Hall, Room 208.
All FLC members and prospective members are urged to attend.
For further information, contact the CCSI at 305-899-4711.
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“Accelerating the Pace of Civic Engagement” is the Theme of CCSI Annual Report
“Accelerating the Pace of Civic Engagement.” That’s the theme of the 2019 Annual Report of the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CCSI).
“The Barry Urban Garden came to fruition; the Community Engagement Symposium complemented the implementation of the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan; the Barry Service Corps continued to harness students’ skills and energies for civic engagement,” noted Dr. Glenn A. Bowen in an introductory message.
Highlighted in the Report is the University’s celebration of the community engagement achievements of students, faculty, staff, and community partners; students’ demonstration of how their engagement with the community brought learning to life; and the Barry Service Corps Fellows’ demonstration of excellence in academics and civic leadership. Also highlighted are forums focused on voting rights, hunger policy, the opioid epidemic, and global warming.
Bowen expressed gratitude to students, faculty and staff, senior administrators, alumni, and community partners. “By participating in community-focused programs and events throughout the year,” he said, “they all had a hand in accelerating the pace of civic engagement.”
Copies of the 60-page Report are available from the CCSI.
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