Volunteering generates student votes

Appalachia, Pulse, Campus School: These are only a few of the many volunteer opportunities at Boston College. As a Jesuit university that places great importance on service to others, volunteering has worked its way into almost every student's undergraduate career. Daniel Ponsetto, the director of the Volunteer and Service Learning Center of BC, said that the University attracts service-oriented, committed students, and that "others catch the bug." When asked why such a large number of people commit their time to volunteering, Ponsetto said, "They want to be involved in a community, to be a part of something." Being a part of something is not the only benefit of volunteering; Ponsetto also said that it helps people gain insights about the world and each person's role in it. This role, however, is not limited to helping to build a house or tutoring a young student in Brighton. Bobak Fatemizadeh, a representative from the BC Democrats and A&S '09, said that service and political participation cannot be separated. He said, "I don't think students should view political activism and social activism/volunteering as two mutually exclusive activities … students should recognize that voting and being politically active is a way to amplify their effect on society." Fatemizadeh was not the only one to express this sentiment. Ponsetto also said that bearing witness to such political issues compels people to strive to have a larger effect in the world. Fatemizadeh said, "Often the issues around which people get involved in when volunteering exist as a result of different failures of our elected officials; students should recognize that they can tackle these issues from two directions by both volunteering and voting." Since the link between these two forms of social participation holds so strong, it seems that at a service-oriented school such as BC, the voting participation would be equally high. With the 2008 elections coming up in the next year, voting in the next presidential election will be a new way for many students to participate in their community and in their country. But do students vote as much as they volunteer? The low percentage of students who vote in the Undergraduate Government of Boston College elections may indicate that the correlation between volunteering and voting does not apply at BC. According to Rachel Lamorte, A&S '10, said students tend not to vote because it seems like a hassle. "Logistically it is difficult for students to vote; many students, especially at a private school like BC, live in another state and are often unclear about registering to vote and obtaining absentee ballots," Lamorte said. Lamorte also speculated that students' tendency not to vote could be accredited to the feeling of being disregarded by the government. Lamorte said, "a lot of students have found that the government has largely ignored them and therefore don't think their vote will make any difference. Unfortunately it's a self- perpetuating cycle." In addition, many students find that volunteering is less abstract than voting and generates immediate concrete results, rewarding students a greater satisfaction in their efforts. The service community at BC may help to change this trend: Studies have proved that volunteering and voting are inextricably linked. According to a study done at the University of Texas at Austin, students who volunteer in their community have a higher voter percentage rate in their state. BC students have the drive to make a change in their community, but the obstacles that were described by Lamorte must be overcome. "There needs to be clearer and more widely available instructions regarding registering to vote and obtaining absentee ballots and a big part of that must come from the school. Here at BC, College Dems and College Reps do voter registration drives, but more groups need to get involved just so there is the ability to reach the entire student body," Lamorte said. Ponsetto said that he would love to see a discussion started about how students can make the transition from helping on a small, personal scale to being politically active and making a larger impact. At a school where service groups are forced to use selective application processes to restrict applications, the environment for a high voter percentage has developed.