Civic Engagement at DU
This page provides information about how you can become more civically engaged within the Dominican University Community.
Civic Engagement at DU
The 5 student organizations below offer DU students rich opportunities to engage in work for a more just and humane world. Those organizations and several other organizations like them, can be found on the University's EngageDU and DU Impact platforms.
- The Awareness and Action Alliance is a dynamic student club dedicated to fostering awareness and education on critical global issues. This club's activities include organizing informational sessions, workshops, and seminars to provide in-depth insights into global concerns such as social justice, environmental sustainability, and human rights.
- The Community Actions Network is focused on creating youth advocacy at Dominican University through protest work, volunteering, and petition signing.
- The DU Model United Nations club participates in a Model UN conference every year by representing a country, committee, or individuals around the world. They discuss issues in international relations with students from universities across the country!
- PRISM (People Respecting Identity, Sexuality and Mindfulness) promotes diversity and acceptance throughout campus while educating the university community on LGBTQIA issues.
- The Undocumented & Immigrant Allyance seeks to establish a safe and inclusive environment for all immigrant students (undocumented, migrant, or refugee) through building community, building partnerships within and outside of the university, and unapologetically advocating for the rights of all immigrants.
The 4 offices below below offer DU students rich opportunities to engage in work for a more just and humane world. Those organizations and several other organizations like them, can be found on the University's EngageDU and DU Impact platforms.
- The Center for Cultural Liberation (CCL) exists to retain, support, and celebrate students from historically marginalized backgrounds. By fostering an inclusive campus climate that educates and challenges, the CCL upholds the longstanding social justice values of Dominican University. In the CCL, students can contribute to fostering an inclusive campus climate, support historically marginalized students, develop a strong sense of advocacy and social justice awareness raising, engage in dialogue, and actively connect with students and community members to address challenging social problems.
- The Office for Civic Learning provides opportunities to build a bridge between your academic lives and engagement with public leaders, service agencies and advocacy groups working for social justice. Students can volunteer for community-based learning hours fulfillment through OCL's DU Impact platform and complete paid internships with human rights and social justice organizations through the office's Willenborg Civic Action internship program.
- The Office of Student Involvement (OSI) provides opportunities for students to build their civic participation and leadership skills by being involved on campus. Through OSI and their EngageDU platform, you can join a campus club or organization, attend a leadership workshop, have fun at large campus events, and much more. OSI supports all registered student clubs and organizations.
- University Ministry welcomes you to explore the big questions of life, deepen and nurture your spiritual roots, and work towards a more just and humane world. Ministry invites you to get involved through alternative break immersions, faith and justice-focused internship programs, interfaith programming and retreats.
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| Why use it? |
To learn all you need to know about events, clubs, and engagement opportunities on campus. Join campus organizations. RSVP for upcoming events. |
To learn about organizations engaging in social and / or environmental justice work off (and in a few cases, on) campus. Find agencies who are doing justice work that matters to you and connect with them. Log hours of engagement with them for Community Based Learning courses or to keep your own record of involvement. |
| Where to start: | At https://engagedu.dom.edu/ |
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Who do I contact if I have more questions? |
Jessica Daniels, Director of Student Involvement at jdaniels1@dom.edu or Mimi Pena, Assistant Director of Student Life at npena1@dom.edu. |
Paul Simpson, Director for Civic Learning at pvsimpson@dom.edu. |
2020 Election:
According to the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), Dominican University students participated in record-breaking numbers during the 2020 election. As the chart below shows, the voting rate for our students grew to 67%, both 6.1% higher than DU students in the previous Presidential election year and 1% higher than students at other higher education institutions nationwide.
2022 Election:
The 2022 report provided by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE) and sampled below shows that the DU registration and voting rate dropped significantly. The DU student voting rate dropped to 29.7%. Though a significant decline in registration and voting happens regularly for students and non-students in midterm (non-Presidential Congressional) election years, these numbers are almost 1% below the national student voting rate of 30.6%. That DU student voting rate is also more than 15% lower than the 45.2% DU voting rate in the last midterm elections.
2024 Election:
After the 2024 election, the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education will share a new NSLVE report with Dominican University on eligible students' participation in the election similar to the reports you see above. At that time we will learn whether students registration and voting rates rise as they did in the 2018 midterms and 2020 general election or decline as they did in the 2022 midterm election.
