For most of our students, this will be the first time they have been able to vote in a presidential election. In keeping with our mission, we have undertaken many non-partisan efforts on campus under the heading, Achieve, Lead, Vote to promote voter registration and to provide objective resources in support of voter literacy.

This fall, over 400 of our students have registered to vote through these on-campus efforts, which have been supported by the All In Campus Democracy Challenge led by the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) and the PA Department of State.

College students can choose to vote in the communities where their families reside, or they can vote here as residents of our campus, and thereby, Selinsgrove. For the latter, we also provide transportation to our two polling places.

I recently received a message from a colleague at a sister institution encouraging campus leaders to use their voices to help shape the outcome of the election stating that this is not a moment for campus neutrality. The issue isn’t one of lapsing from the campus neutrality of the Kalven Report, it is a Title IV concern that institutions receiving federal financial aid cannot be partisan.

As I was advised by a senior colleague a number of years ago, college presidents must be political, but they must not be publicly partisan. Therefore, I can’t endorse a party or a candidate. There can be no political signs in my yard, nor candidate bumper stickers on my car, but I can and should advocate for issues that support our mission and our students and argue against those that oppose them.

For years, when students have asked me for whom I will vote, I have replied “For the candidate who will best support education and the arts.” It plays by the rules, but it also signals to them that I am voting on issues rather than party or personality.

I do vote based on the issues, although more than just two. Sound economic policies, civil rights, the environment, healthcare, infrastructure, and diplomatic philosophies are also important to me. It often yields a mixed ticket.

We tell our students that they should vote, but we don’t tell them how they should vote. We encourage them to reflect on which issues are important to them, and we provide them with the tools to draw objective conclusions as they exercise their civic duty. If that were how all people approached the election, we would surely be enjoying a much more civil national ethos.