BY THE FACNET STEERING COMMITTEE

An Open Letter to College and University Faculty 

We are a diverse group of faculty at all levels, at institutions throughout the United States.  We would like to invite any interested faculty, from teaching assistants and adjuncts to tenured professors, to join us in founding nonpartisan national and state-level faculty networks to ensure student voting rights on and off campus.

We believe ensuring students’ ability to exercise their right to vote is an important priority for all educators. As this year of crisis plays out, we need to be on guard against stepped-up attempts to suppress voting by students. Student voters are a particularly vulnerable population because many have never registered to vote before, or are attending school in states where they have never lived and don’t know the law or procedures.  They may not be able to rely on the advice of family or friends who might live in entirely different jurisdictions spread throughout the country.

In this context, the 1.3 million college and university faculty have a key role to play. We propose to create a Faculty Network for Student Voting Rights to activate faculty on behalf of their students.  This new organization will help organize cross-institutional coalitions of faculty at the state level, since that is where election laws are made, and where the specific knowledge of faculty members who may be long-time residents of the state they teach in can be extremely useful to their students. Its focus will be connecting individual academics with student-led groups in their states, cities, and specific institutions to help provide support to students who are helping others navigate the sometimes frustrating process of registering to vote and then exercising their franchise.

The network will provide:

• Training materials, information on how to adhere to nonpartisan guidelines, and FAQs, drawing on national organizations like the Brennan Center for Justice;
• Access to local, regional, and national networks focused on student voting;
• A “Faculty Pledge” wherein instructors commit to helping register students, publicizing elections-related information, and lobbying campus administrations on behalf of their students’ right to vote;
• A rapid response network to respond to attacks on students and faculty who advocate for campus voting.

To support students on your campus, and in your community and state, take our Faculty Pledge for Student Voting Rights, which includes listing your name and affiliation publicly on our website.