IOP Adds School To Civic Program

Franklin & Marshall College became the newest member of the National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement—a program established by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics aiming to increae student interest in politics on college campuses—last week.

The 22 schools in the consortium, which includes Harvard College as well as state universities, will participate in a “sharing of ideas,” said Laura Simolaris, Director of National Youth Engagement at Harvard.

Franklin & Marshall was invited to join the consortium because it was “already doing good work around civic engagement on [its] campus and in general,” Simolaris said.

F & M Votes is a center at Franklin & Marshall that promotes voter registration, education, and motivation.

On Harvard’s campus, the National Campaign runs Harvard Voter Outreach and Turnout Effort, referred to as H-Vote, to increase voter registration and activism, especially during election years.

On Study Card Day, the National Campaign registered Harvard freshmen in University Hall and upperclassmen in their respective Houses. Throughout the semester, they will remind students of voting deadlines, as well as give them information about how to register for absentee ballots, said Liesl J. Newton ’11.

“The whole purpose is to create,” said Madonna, “What I like about the program is that it is designed to try to bring about life-long commitment to this kind of service, whether it’s civic engagement, or more general, like community work or political work.”

—Staff writer Monika L. S. Robbins can be reached at mrobbins@college.harvard.edu.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: October 3, 2010

An earlier version of the Sept. 22 news article "IOP Adds School To Civic Program" incorrectly stated that a quote from G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall, referenced F & M Votes. The correct reference was the Ware Institute for Civic Engagement.