res 9.16

1. THE UNIVERSITY PARK UNDERGRADUATE ASSOCIATION
The Pennsylvania State University
16th Assembly
2021 - 2022 Session
Resolution #09-16
September 15th
, 2021
Be it decided by the Assembly of Student Representatives,
having been brought to the floor by the Committee on Governmental Affairs, a
Resolution
Supporting the Creation of Survey About a University Holiday on General
Election Days
Nature of the Situation:
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Exercising the right to vote is a cornerstone of full participation in a democracy, yet students
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across the United States have been largely apathetic to turning out to vote until the recent few
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election cycles. Exercising that right allows students to have a say in the policies and issues that
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affect their lives at the local, state, and national levels, and it gives students an opportunity to put
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the knowledge and skills developed in the classroom to use in a practical way to impact their
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communities.
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It remains difficult for Penn State students to budget the time to vote on Election Day. Time
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constraints, such as classes, exams and homework, extracurricular activities and jobs, and health
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and counseling appointments, in aggregate, hinder students’ ability to schedule an appropriate
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amount of time to attend a polling station and vote. It is imperative that as many students as
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possible vote while still in college, as studies have shown that voting at a young age increases
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one’s likelihood for voting for the rest of their life.1
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1
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379412000212

2. Penn State has seen an increasingly engaged student body. In 2018, the student voter rate was
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36%, an increase of 22.3% from 2014. However, this falls short of the national average student
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voter rate of 2018, which was 39.1%. Student voter registration across the nation also increased
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significantly in this time-- in 2018, 74.1% of students were registered to vote, compared to
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60.6% of students in 2014. In 2014, 22.6% of registered students turned out to vote. In 2018, the
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turnout rate of registered students more than doubled to 48.6%. These numbers reflect a national
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student voter engagement uptick trend over the past decade, but there is still more that can be
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done, through grassroots and policy approaches, to further enhance students’ participation in
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elections. An example of such a policy is the establishment of a university holiday on Election
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Day.
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The Pennsylvania State University does not currently designate the November General Election
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Day as a university holiday. Across the nation, many higher education institutions have designated
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all local, state, and federal Election Days as university holidays-- thereby relieving the burden of
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class attendance on students who face numerous barriers to voting. These institutions often couple
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a non-instructional Election Day with civic engagement opportunities for students, such as
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encouraging students to do elections-work by serving as a poll judge or poll watcher or providing
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educational programming about civic processes. Here is a list of higher education institutions that
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have prioritized civic engagement by establishing such a holiday on Election Days: Brown
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University, Columbia University, Drexel University, George Washington University, the
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University of Utah, Colorado College, Elon University, Suffolk University, Wayne State
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University, American University, Community College of Philadelphia, Lesley University, Stony
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Brook University, and Swarthmore.
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The 1998 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965 included a mandate that
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requires institutions of higher education to engage in certain voter registration activities during
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years when there are elections for federal office, governor, or other chief executives within the
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state.2
Pursuant to the HEA, Penn State must engage in such voter registration activities, and the
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Penn State Center for Character, Conscience, and Public Purpose (CCCPP) serves to
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operationalize this federal mandate.3
While the HEA pertains specifically to voter registration,
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Penn State has typically interpreted the ‘good-faith’ voter registration mandate as representing a
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broader call to action to supply the student body with civic engagement opportunities beyond just
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voter registration. A civically-engaged student body is one that is not only registered to vote, but
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one that is empowered and informed to address issues of public concern through civic processes.
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The UPUA has a history of student voter engagement. The 14th
Assembly of the UPUA
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advocated for and successfully passed class attendance leniency policies on Election Days.4
The
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2
20 U.S.C. §1094 (2010)
3
https://studentaffairs.psu.edu/psu-votes
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Election Day Leniency

3. 15th
Assembly passed Resolution #29-15: Support For Voting Opportunity and Turnout
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Enhancement, which supported election day leniency and urged the University Faculty Senate to
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create a University Holiday on Election Day.5
Such a holiday was not established for the 2020
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General Election.
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Recommended Course of Action:
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The University Park Undergraduate Association, on behalf of the University Park undergraduate
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student body, supports designating all local, state, and federal General Election Days as non-
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instructional university holidays via a University Faculty Senate legislative approach. This would
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ensure that all members of the Penn State community—including students, faculty, and
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employees—are prioritizing efforts to empower each other to vote on Election Day. The UPUA
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believes by doing this, students, faculty, and staff will have greater access to voting, and Penn
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State would better realize Election Day’s importance as a keystone of our democracy.
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The UPUA would like to solicit student feedback on this initiative, and, therefore, will administer
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a Qualtrics survey (shown in Appendix I) to all Penn State students. A non-instructional day policy
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would affect undergraduate students across the Commonwealth as well as graduate and
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professional students, so the Qualtrics survey will be administered to these students as well as to
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undergraduates at University Park.
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This survey will inform UPUA advocacy moving forward in how we present this issue to
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administration and Faculty Senate, as well as help us gauge interest in support among students for
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this initiative.
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Special Acknowledgement to Vika Vijayanand, Director of Data Analytics
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5
Resolution #29-15

4. Respectfully submitted,
Noah Robertson
College of the Liberal Arts Representative
Vice-Chair of Academic Affairs
Samuel Ajah
At-Large Representative
Vice-Chair of Governmental Affairs
Donald Impavido Jr.
College of IST Representative
Nora O’Toole
At-Large Representative
Civic Engagement Liaison
Sean Terrey
At-Large Representative
Lakyn Meeder
At-Large Representative
Chair of Governmental Affairs
Jordan Deibler
At-Large Representative
State-Federal Liaison
Matt DeAngelis
At-Large Representative
Annmarie Rounds-Sorensen
At-Large Representative
Cara Fliegel
At-Large Representative
Chair of Facilities
Lewis Richardson
Schreyer Honors College Representative
Chair of Academic Affairs
Committee Vote: 10 /0/0
Assembly Vote: Y/N/A
Speaker of the Assembly ________________________________________________
President of the Student Body ________________________________________________
The University Park Undergraduate Association

5. Appendix I: Qualtrics Survey