Interim President Frederick Bonato signs a letter expressing the commitment of Manhattan University and himself to full participation of eligible student voting.
MANHATTAN UNIVERSITY/ LINKEDIN
Brooke Della Rocco, News Editor
Interim President Frederick Bonato became the third Manhattan University president to sign a letter expressing MU’s commitment to full participation in civic engagement and voting.
Multiple students working on the Jaspers Vote team were present for the event, including Gabrielle Blair, Samantha Pavlick, Danica Mason and Tigist Dagnatchew, along with political and international studies professor Margaret Groarke, Ph.D., to commit to making civic engagement a priority for the community.
Jaspers Vote competes in the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge every year, where they are rated on a variety of criteria including their plan for how they are going to register voters. By looking at how many voters are registered and how many students actually vote, they try to dissect the institutional commitment to civic engagement.
“They [ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge] ask us to get the president to commit to a goal of having every eligible Manhattan University student participating,” Groarke said. “So we decided that we wanted to do that in a public way because the commitment is more meaningful if everybody on campus knows the president is behind this.”
Jaspers Vote focuses on logistics, not only making sure students are registered to vote, but making sure they are able to participate in broader civic responsibilities. While a nonpartisan group, their mission includes giving people the opportunity to learn about the election so they can make their own educated decisions. In the fall semester, Jaspers Vote held a debate watch party which saw a turnout of about 100 people. The group now looks to hold an event surrounding the New York City mayoral election.
Junior Danica Mason explained why the signing was so important to the Jaspers Vote team and MU’s community.
“It’s significant because it’s important for him to know what we’re doing on campus, and him signing that is furthering the commitment and the awareness for administration,” Mason said. “It is important for people that are higher up to know what we’re doing…and it just kind of shows that he thinks it’s important too, that he took time out of his day to do that for us.”
Mason went on to explain how the Jaspers Vote mission was reflected and publicized by the signing of the official letter.
“It was really nice to get the exposure to the student body, like getting posted on the Instagram,” Mason said. “I feel like a lot of students don’t know what we’re about and what we do…We’re still active on campus, even though it’s not a presidential election season…But we want to educate people on local elections because those are just as important.”
Groarke expressed her drive and determination to make sure every person exercises their right to vote.
“The House of Representatives voted on a bill that will make it a lot harder to vote, if it ever becomes law, which I hope it doesn’t,” Groarke said. “And I think that’s wrong. So that inspires my commitment in the neighborhood where I live and here on campus.”
New York has statistically shown a low percentage of people who participate in elections, and Jaspers Vote along with Groarke, plan to change that.
Bonato mentioned his full and unwavering support of the Jaspers Vote team, offering to help them in any way possible, expressing how important it is to vote and use this opportunity.
“I have friends from other places in the world where this opportunity does not exist or does not exist in the same way,” Bonato said. “We have this, and we should take advantage, but as much as possible. And it’s easy to think, ‘Well I’m only one vote, it doesn’t count.’ But if everybody thought that way, where would we be?”
When asked what advice he’d give to a student interested in participating in an election, Bonato drew on what he’s told his own children.
“My advice would be to educate yourself about the candidates in the most objective way you can,” Bonato said. “Try to get balanced information about candidates and what they stand for, their platforms, their record. It takes some work, but it’s worth it.”