Letters to the Editor
Christian Science Monitor

Re: "Who Speaks for Colleges Kids" editorial

To the Editor:

College students could very well play a key role in the upcoming primaries and general election (“Who Speaks for College Kids?,” editorial, Oct. 24, 2003). The views and issues that concern this ideologically diverse population warrant close watching by policymakers and candidates at all levels of government.

One of the most overlooked facts in American politics is that college students are more likely to register and vote than their non-college peers and the general population. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 87 percent of college students were registered to vote in 2000, and 78 percent voted in the last presidential election.

These statistics, and those from Harvard’s Institute of Politics, help to demythologize the stereotype of today’s college student as tuned out and politically unaware. Their attention has been significantly altered by dramatic events in recent years: the 9/11 attacks, the subsequent war on terrorism and in Iraq, the disputed presidential election, and furious protests against economic globalization. I have not seen college students this attuned to national and world events, and so active in their communities, since the 1960s.

According to recent polls, 85 percent of college students say they follow current events, 61 percent do volunteer work, and one in three participate in political rallies or demonstrations. More than 5 million college students gave an estimated 1.2 billion hours of community service in 2000.

My association has been active in bringing the National Campus Voter Registration Project and the CampusCares community service and engagement effort to institutions of higher education since the late 1990s. The deep commitment of America’s colleges and universities to foster good citizenship in tomorrow’s leaders has been matched by the energy and seriousness that this generation of college students brings to American civic life.

David L. Warren
President
National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities