March 1, 2024 - Election Season Provides Opportunities for Civic Engagement and Dialogue

Dear Campus Community, 

Election season is upon us! Now is a great time to reflect on the importance of civic, community, and global engagement on our campus and in our communities.  
Civic and Global Engagement(opens in new window) is a key priority for Chico State. It is a critical dimension of our campus identity and our commitment to University-community partnerships, as we embrace our responsibility to actively pursue social justice and collaborate with communities near and far in meaningful ways to impact change. In this spirit, election season offers a timely opportunity to consider our civically minded roles—as individuals and as a community—on our campus, in our region, and throughout the world.  

This election year, we encourage you to seek out inspiration and empowerment through civic and community engagement opportunities. For example, voting in the California Primary on or before March 5 and in the November 5 general election is one way to take political action. We know election season has created some anxiety, concerns about our collective future, and, at times, ambivalence about the outcome of elections. However, connecting with your communities and taking action, whether big or small, can be one way to cope with these feelings and find empowerment. 
 At Chico State, our Office of Civic Engagement(opens in new window) and Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE)(opens in new window) are two entities that can help connect you to community engagement opportunities. We also encourage you to seek out other offices, organizations, and educational opportunities that resonate with you and help you connect with community. 

A critical aspect of civic engagement—especially for a university community—is to engage in meaningful, collegial conversations on tough topics without stifling or devaluing free speech, individual voices, and lived experiences. It is possible to exercise free speech while also practicing mutual respect. Free speech, paired with the practice of mutual respect, is a cornerstone to our mission and representative of our campus community values. We hope this political season inspires you to try out strategies for this kind of dialogue, in and out of the classroom. PEN America(opens in new window) and Facing History & Ourselves(opens in new window) offer great resources for teaching, leadership, facilitating meaningful dialogue on college campuses, and more. We encourage you to review the University Publicity Protocol(opens in new window) and the University’s Time, Place, and Manner Policy(opens in new window), especially as they pertain to chalking and other forms of activism, to ensure your political activism is in accordance with campus regulations.  

For questions about civic and community engagement, to get voting information for the upcoming election cycle, or for additional resources on engaging in meaningful dialogue on campus, please connect with Amy Magnus, Director of Civic Engagement (ammagnus@csuchico.edu(opens in new window)).  

Thank you, 
Steve Perez 
President 

Amy Magnus 
Director of Civic Engagement