Imagine the outrage in certain segments of the Right--Rush Limbaugh, Fox Noise, the WSJ editorial page--if they learned that the administration and faculty of a university were not only pressuring their students to register to vote, but that they were leaning on them to register to vote from their campus address in a swing state. Imagine the charges about "tenured radicals" and "liberal indoctrination" that would ensue if it were learned that professors, with the administration's apparent complicity, were offering students extra-credit for registering and voting. And imagine the calls for investigations that would rain down from on high at the news that students were being encouraged, nay pressured, to vote for a particular candidate. Imagine the protests if the University's chancellor sent out a mass email proclaiming that
"Our 11,000 students and 4,000 faculty and staff could cause our school to become known as the university that elected a president!"
Surprise, surprise. It's happening in Virginia.
That's right Virginia, where not so long ago, county registrars at places like Virginia Tech were actively seeking to prevent students from registering at their campus addresses, for fear that they might vote for Obama. Virginia, where students who tried to register to vote from campus were being told they might be cut off from their parents' health insurance, lose scholarships, and face all sorts of other repercussions, none of which were true.
Now one university is pressuring all eligible student voters to register on campus. The Chancellor personally kicked off the registration drive.
Students have been offered voter registration forms by resident advisers during residence hall meetings and by professors during class. Jonathan Woods, a junior ... and resident adviser, said he and fellow RAs were instructed to educate their residents about registering to vote during a regular RA meeting.
"It's definitely been pushed to vote," one student said, "especially to vote locally." The student noted, however, that he still plans to vote in Pennsylvania by absentee ballot. "Pennsylvania is a swing state, too," he said.
In addition to the increased availability of voter registration forms, classes will be canceled on Election Day, and buses will be available to shuttle students to the polls. "It's a major election -- they really want students to vote," freshman Bethany Hernandez said. "Some teachers are giving extra credit if you register to vote."
Where is this enlightened push for participatory democracy, one that seems so at odds with recent attempts to stifle student voter registration in the Old Dominion, taking place.
Liberty University. The school that Jerry Falwell built.
Now let me be clear. I am not opposed to efforts to register student voters. Nor do I oppose efforts to register them in the state where they attend college. The first time I ever voted was while in college and I voted at my campus address. I am, myself, a college professor and I encourage my students to register and vote, though I never presume to tell them where to register to vote or whom to vote for. And I live in a state that has had some close elections for President and federal offices in recent years.
In principle, then, I have no objections to efforts to register student voters at Liberty. That's democracy. Democrats try to register and turn out their voters, Republicans try to register and turn out theirs.
What I object to is the obviously coercive atmosphere in which this is taking place. Not only are the chancellor and faculty telling students to register, they are telling them WHERE to register and, implicitly, WHOM to vote for (Liberty couldn't be the University that elected a President if student votes were split now, could it?).
More importantly, I object to the rank hypocrisy at work here. I'll bet the county registrar in Lynchburg hasn't taken out ads in the student papers threatening Liberty students with all sorts of dire consequences if they register there rather than at their parents' addresses. I'll bet Liberty students aren't being asked if they plan to stay in the area after graduation when they register. And I sure as hell bet Rush, Fox Noise and the rest of the Right-Wing Noise Machine won't raise a peep about this. But if Swarthmore, Oberlin, or some other private college in a swing state whose students were known to have liberal tendencies tried this, Bill O'Reilly would need to be put on sedatives and in restraints (hey, not a bad idea).
I'm not sure where all this is going. I guess what I would say to college students who want to vote in Virginia is this. Print out a copy of this article. If your local registrar gives you a hard time about registering to vote from your campus address, show it to them and ask why you can't do it when Liberty University students not only can, but are practically being forced to do so.