Student voting in upcoming election 

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing today to encourage the faculty and the broader Rice community to facilitate student engagement in voting.

Last spring, the Student Association passed a resolution encouraging faculty to provide maximum flexibility to students on Election Day, which is next scheduled for Nov. 8. We encourage all instructors to consider ways to support this goal for both undergraduate and graduate students. Some things you can do include canceling a scheduled class meeting, rescheduling for another time that works for the class and creating asynchronous options on Election Day to allow eligible students to cast their ballots. Faculty are also encouraged not to make assignments due or have exams on Election Day. In 2020, classes were made asynchronous, which likely contributed to 77% of eligible students voting — the highest rate in Rice’s history. Leaders in the Student Association and across campus strongly support continuing this trend. Providing students with the time and flexibility to vote on campus on Election Day is in accordance with our values that include promoting constructive engagement in our democracy.

All registered Harris County voters will be able to cast their ballot at the polling location in the Sewall Hall Welcome Center on Election Day.

We recognize this message is coming late in the semester and that changes to your course schedule may not be feasible. If that’s the case, please consider stressing the value of voting to students in other ways, such as by sharing important registration and voting dates. For Texas, those dates are:

  • Oct. 11 - Last day to register to vote
  • Oct. 24 to Nov. 4 - Early voting
  • Oct. 28 - Last day to apply to vote by mail
  • Nov. 8 - Election Day and last day for vote by mail ballot to be received

We also encourage you to send students to ricevotes.rice.edu and @ricevotes on Instagram for updated information on elections and to remind students that Rice has a subscription to TurboVote, which allows students to register to vote, get election date reminders and request a ballot by mail in a simple and streamlined way.

If you would like to help students connect course content to the upcoming election, the Center for Civic Leadership has developed Civic Rice: Curricular Resources, a robust set of Canvas resources to integrate civic engagement, including a module for voter education and awareness in the curriculum. Resources include a variety of ways and levels of commitment to engage students in your course content through a civic lens.

Part of our mission as a university is to prepare our students for participation in civic life, and we therefore have a collective responsibility to make space for our students to become engaged in the democratic process. Thank you for your efforts to promote voting among our student body.

 

Best Regards,

President Reginald DesRoches

Provost Amy Dittmar

Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman 

Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda

Speaker of the Faculty Senate Alexandra Kieffer 

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