Students who chose to spend a sunny afternoon lounging in the grass around Library Mall were asked for more than spare change last Friday.
University of Wisconsin System President Katharine Lyall and Board of Regents members were on hand to encourage students to register to vote as part of the United Council’s “Get Out the Vote” campaign.
The student registration was the first event in the Council’s three-day “Get Out the Vote” Conference.
The informal event was meant to make it as easy as possible for students to become involved in the upcoming November election.
As students congregated around the Mall, reading and talking, event organizers walked up to them and asked them if they’d like to register to vote.
“I probably wouldn’t have gotten around to actually registering if they wouldn’t have been here,” admitted Mike Guy, a UW graduate student, who was eating lunch with his friends when approached by a staff member.
“It was very nice and very convenient to have people coming up to us, asking us to register,” agreed Erica Lannan, another UW graduate student.
The event was held to raise student awareness of the election, build a partnership between the Board of Regents and students and engage students in the political process, explained Stephanie Hilton, United Council academic affairs director.
Through this event, Hilton said the hope is that the Board of Regents and students begin to work together to benefit the university, rather than working against one another.
“The Board of Regents, UW System, administration, faculty, staff and students all want the same thing: a quality, affordable, accessible UW education,” Hilton said. “We are coming together today to make that a priority at the polls.”
Lyall stressed the importance of the event not only as a way to register students to vote, but also to raise awareness of the election, since students can have a large impact on elections.
Eight percent of UW students voted in the 2000 Presidential election.
“I think it is very important for students to participate in the democratic process,” Lyall said. “We have a very important election coming up. The results of that election can really affect the university.”
