Student Voter Drives Are a High Priority
At Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus
- Borough President Marty Markowitz to Speak on September 28 -  

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus this fall is pushing to register many first-time voters and to encourage all students to be active in the democratic process.

A legislative forum to get out the vote will be held on Tuesday, September 28, from 11 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. in Health Sciences Room 107, with guest speakers Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Councilmember David Yassky of Brooklyn’s 33rd District.

An actual voting booth will be located outside HS 107 for students to use in practice voting. About 150 freshmen are expected to be among those attending. The radio station, Hot 97, and the Brooklyn Campus will provide free gifts to participating students.

Brooklyn Campus Provost Gale Stevens Haynes noted that records show that as few as one in five Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 voted in previous elections.  “I hope all students will get informed on the issues, register and use their precious right to vote in this critical election year,” she said.

History professor Joe Dorinson encourages his students to register by adding five points to the midterm grade of anyone who brings in a voter registration card. “Students get caught up in day-to-day concerns and lose sight of the long view. But it’s very important for them to get involved. Issues such as college costs, academic freedom, healthcare and social security directly affect their future and their present,” he said.

Additional voter registration drives are planned for evening and pharmacy students. The Brooklyn Campus will set up voter registration tables for evening students, on September 21 and 23, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. near the Student Activities Office and in the Metcalfe Lobby. Also on September 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the Courtyard, the College of Pharmacy will hold a drive at its annual club fair, which nearly 600 students are expected to attend. The voter registration drive continues on Saturday, October 2 at Alumni Fest, with a computer terminal to locate polling places and identify representatives.

Earlier drives were held for incoming freshmen on Orientation Day, September 2, and for 200 sixth-year pharmacy students, on September 3.

The September 28 event is sponsored by the Legislative Committee for Student Services. For more information, call (718) 488-1602.

Long Island University opened its Brooklyn Campus in 1926, welcoming a diverse population at a time when other major universities enforced quota systems against racial and ethnic minorities. More than 12,000 students currently are enrolled at the Brooklyn Campus. Located at the corner of Flatbush Avenue Extension and DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, the Campus is accessible to all major bus and subway routes and the Long Island Rail Road.