The FA again hosted student voter registration drives on all three campuses this year. In the photo at left are Kevin McCoy, Tara Fagan and Dante Morelli at Grant; at center is Caitlin Parzych at Ammerman along with Finn the Shark; and at right is Cynthia Eaton at Eastern. (Left to right: photos by Cynthia Eaton, Kevin McCoy and Kat Borner)

Caitlin Parzych (Human Services, Ammerman) says this is why it's important for the FA to continue conducting voter registration drives each year: "because it sends a message to our students that we value their voices."

Alongside FA officer Kevin McCoy and fellow member Ed Champ (Enterprise Resources, Ammerman), Parzych registered about ten students in the two hours she was able to volunteer at the FA's table on October 9. "Other students," she said, "stopped by to find out if they were registered and where they could find their polling place."

Registering students to vote is something the FA has engaged in for years—even years long before we were aware that the federal 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act included a mandate that institutions of higher education participating in federal student financial aid programs must make a "good faith effort" to distribute voter registration forms on campus.

We know the college is doing this anyway, but as a faculty union we feel it is one of our fundamental civic responsibilities to introduce students to one of their fundamental civic responsibilities.

On September 18, Tara Fagan (Counseling) worked with the Grant Campus Student Government Association to organize the FA drive using Rock the Vote materials. FA President Dante Morelli and Grievance Officer Kevin McCoy worked the table alongside Fagan for hours. Fagan noted, "Students often don't realize that is where their vote really counts: how demographic statistics influence federal, state and local legislation. They should be encouraged and educated about the importance of voting and why their vote counts particularly with regards to their demographics, how they identify themselves, financial aid, etc."

At Eastern, the FA's voter registration was again this year hosted by me and the student club I advise, Activist Coalition at Eastern (ACE), for several hours each on September 25, September 30 and October 2. In addition, EC rep Kerry Spooner distributed voter registration forms in all of her classes. Spooner explains,

I handed out the voter registration forms in my classes because the Activist Coalition at Eastern’s request necessitated it. I say this partly in jest, but mostly in sincere praise for the ACE students. When students respond to the ethical exigency for greater political participation, I oblige. After all, teaching to disrupt oppression, as so many of us do at SCCC, means encouraging students to bring their knowledge and experience to bear on the collaborative intellectual discovery done in the classroom.

For many students, their first experience with democratic practices happen in the classroom. My goal, however, is to empower students to become a catalyst for social and political transformation beyond our classrooms. So, when students approach me with a task that encourages democratic praxis, again, I oblige. 

	Cynthia Eaton, left, and Courtney Brewer deliver student voter registration forms at the Board of Elections in Yaphank on October 11. (photo by Kai Tvelia)

After all forms were collected, on October 11, the last day for in-person registration for the general election, Executive Vice President Courtney Brewer and Secretary Cynthia Eaton dropped off nearly 80 student voter registration forms at the Board of Elections in Yaphank.

If you'd like to help staff our FA tables next year during the student voter registration drives, or help by distributing forms in your classes on behalf of the FA, please contact Dante Morelli, Kevin McCoy or Cynthia Eaton to be added to the list.

We hope you'll consider doing so because the FA truly does value our students' voices.