Colleges and universities in TN are embracing the responsibility to foster the next generation of informed, engaged citizens necessary for TN democracy to grow. The U.S. Higher Education Act requires institutions of higher learning to facilitate voter registration on their campuses but does not provide federal instruction on how best to fulfill the mandate. Misunderstandings and myths about student voting cause confusion and stumbling blocks often limit student access to the polls. Tennessee Campus Democracy Network works to actualize best policies and practices pertaining to civic participation and engagement within higher education in response to Tennessee’s lowest voter turnout in local and national elections.

When Tennessee’s institutions of higher education make civic learning and civic engagement central, not peripheral, on their campuses, they not only help students better understand their own impacts on neighbors, society, the nation, and the world, schools also advance students’ civic competencies that enrich Tennessee communities all across our state. Incorporating democratic engagement into campus life creates structures and stability for students as they explore their political beliefs and their responsibilities in our participatory democracy. Increasing student voting embeds habits of citizenship that last far beyond the collegiate experience.

The Tennessee Campus Democracy Network will promote civic learning and engagement on campuses throughout TN by providing workshops and panels of local and national experts in student voting, campus organizing, and civic education. Together we will reexamine, reaffirm, reenergize, and recommit to the best practices that build civic capacity in our students and create civic campuses at our home institutions.