Flynn Myers, Staff Writer
Chair of the political science, history, and international studies department, Margaret Groarke Ph.D., along with senior Samantha Pavlick, were recognized and awarded by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for their voting registration efforts at Manhattan University for 2024.
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge surveys multiple schools, hoping to empower higher education to elevate student engagement within voting. Jaspers Vote, a non-partisan campaign that encourages students to participate in civic engagement, consists of many hardworking students that enforce this mission. Due to their hard work, Pavlick was selected for the organization’s fourth annual student voting honor roll, while Groarke was recognized with an Individual Champion Award.
According to a press release sent to The Quadrangle, “These honorees successfully advanced nonpartisan college student voter registration, education and turnout efforts in 2024. ALL IN engages more than 1,000 institutions enrolling over 10 million students, and Samantha was celebrated alongside 232 college students and Margaret among 37 campus leaders, partners and election officials.”
Pavlick discussed the steps she had taken over the past four years that led her to receiving the award.
“I’ve been working with the organization on campus, Jaspers Vote, for the past two years,” Pavlick said. “This year, I took a bigger role and we did tabling on campus to help students get registered. We spread a lot of information about absentee voting and voting from school when you are not where you are currently registered. I think it got a lot of students more involved, just like us being out on the quad and [in] Kelly Commons. It got a lot of people thinking about the last election and when we held events like debate watches, I think it got people to be more interested. I hope it inspired people to get more involved and realize it doesn’t have to be this scary thing.”
Groarke was awarded with an Individual Champion award, after her incomparable advocacy for campus voting registration. She said a few thoughts about what the award meant to her and some of the steps she took to get voting registration to where it is now on campus.
“The voter engagement work is very important to me, so I was honored to be recognized for it,” Groarke said. “Over the past few years, I’ve engaged students, faculty administrators and staff in various ways, which I think has gotten us to where we are. We periodically evaluate what worked and what didn’t, and we borrow best practices from our network of universities doing this work. Being able to hire a small core of voter engagement fellows to lead the work has been valuable. I hope next year we are able to mobilize student volunteers as well.”
Interim President of Manhattan University, Frederick Bonato, Ph.D., discussed these awards and the commitment that Groarke has matriculated into the community.
“I mean, it just shows the caliber and the commitment of our faculty, ” Bonato said. “Groarke is just an amazing faculty member. You can see that not only is she an expert teaching for our students, but you can watch her on television, not once, but numerous times again and again, because she’s an expert. So to have that kind of expert teach our students, is in my opinion, a great thing for our students and the university.”
Bonato was also able to emphasize the importance of the awards, and how only a slim few were selected, which sheds light on both of the recipients’ hard work and dedication.
“I am very proud of both of them because it is a very select group,” Bonato said. “It’s quite an honor for them, but for us too. I think these kinds of things, when people see them, it just reflects on our university as a whole, like these kinds of people are here. I think it’s an attraction and it does set us apart in a way. It’s a very elite group they’re in, so I’m very proud of them.”
Editor’s Note: Grace Cardinal contributed to reporting.