Almost half the people on our shared planet will partake in elections this year. Many have done so. It’s a fascinating thing, really – that we, at least in theory, have rejected the idea that either divine or earthly “power” should direct our course into the future. We have chosen instead to rely on an imperfect collective process where – again, at least in theory – we listen, think, share our opinion, then collectively agree to abide with the majority. I’m not naïve enough not to be thinking of the myriad exceptions to what I just described – the ways it has been distorted and perverted – but I’m also not fed up enough with the exceptions to toss out the potential of human beings thinking beyond themselves to chart a course of self-determination – rejecting, to quote Jefferson, any form of tyranny over the mind of man.
And our system is self-renewing. For some in our society, this will be their last vote. And 8 million young people will be eligible to vote for the first time. Our Colorado State University campuses don’t try to influence how students vote, but we unabashedly do everything in our power to make sure they have the opportunity and understand the importance of the opportunity – the gift given to us by the sacrifice and inspiration of previous generations who invented the concept then gave much, sometimes everything, to protect it.
Public campuses are centers of activity during election season, particularly when it’s time to elect a president, and that’s very much the case for CSU. Candidates, elected officials, celebrities, and party leaders have been known to make surprise visits to both Pueblo and Fort Collins to rally their supporters and persuade those new voters to back their campaigns. It’s a time when students can witness both the best and the worst of our political processes – and when they can form their own decisions about how they want to engage in our democratic systems.
The best: the opportunity to hear directly from candidates about their views, to engage in conversation and debates about ideas and issues, to learn from others who may have different opinions and experiences, to feel part of something greater than oneself, and to explore with faculty how various issues may impact our world.
The worst: the same ideological divisions and heated rhetoric that roil our national discourse can also permeate the dialogue on campus, heightening tensions and raising the temperature on campus in ways that aren’t always comfortable, and rarely productive.
As I’ve said many times in this newsletter, Colorado State has an . But even beyond ensuring the right to free expression, we want to provide our students with every opportunity to learn how to engage thoughtfully and responsibly in our democratic processes and systems. At all three of our CSU campuses, there will be activities and programming this fall focused around democracy, citizenship, and how to disagree better. We want to foster civil dialogue and debate, teach history and its lessons, and encourage engagement and participation above all.
More than 76% of eligible students at CSU’s flagship Fort Collins campus voted in the 2020 election; this year, we hope to reach a voting rate of 80% among those students registered to vote. Voter registration will be a strong focus at our Pueblo campus, and for our online university, CSU Global. In Fort Collins, the county clerk will host a voting center in the Lory Student Center, and both our Pueblo and Fort Collins campuses will have drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots. Students can also choose to vote in their home counties. If you want more information about how students can register and vote while in college, the Colorado Secretary of State offers this . The 91Porn System has compiled additional information for students with questions about the voting process and their rights to free expression.
How will all of this look in real life, playing out in real-time? I imagine there’s a very good chance we’ll see protests on university campuses this fall. You may hear from subsets of students that they’re upset about some of the people showing up to speak. None of this is particularly new; it’s part of election season on a college campus. And while we don’t welcome the turbulence, we do welcome the opportunity to serve as an incubator of sorts – a place where engaged and educated citizens first find their footing and their voice and discover what role they want to play in leading our nation forward. We are, after all, continually in search of a more perfect union. For my part, I hope there will be more than a little rechanneling of the spirit of Lincoln’s first inaugural, where we can remind ourselves that our differences do not make us enemies and that we can all be in a little closer touch with the better angels of our nature.
– tony
Tony Frank, Chancellor
91Porn System
This message was included in Chancellor Frank’s August newsletter. .