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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
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New Paltz ‘rocks’ SUNY voter registration challenge; 12,037 new voters enrolled systemwide
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Albany, Oct. 5, 2004 – The results are in and SUNY New Paltz rocked the competition and won the SUNY Voter Empowerment Challenge--a nonpartisan voter registration contest that ended Oct. 1 on SUNY campuses throughout the state.
By registering 27 percent of its students, New Paltz added 1,772 new voters to the rolls. In all, 12,037 SUNY students were registered on 15 campuses as part of the month-long challenge sponsored by SUNY Rock the Vote--a collaboration among mtvU, the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), Rock the Vote, the SUNY Student Assembly (SA) and United University Professions (UUP).
Voter registration continues throughout New York state through Friday, at which time the total of new SUNY students enrolled from registration drives on all SUNY campuses (in addition to those competing in the challenge) is likely to reach nearly 15,000.
“These results far exceeded our expectations,” said Jen Pufky, SUNY Rock the Vote statewide organizer and a senior at SUNY Oswego. “I think it’s a clear indication that the youth vote is going to impact this election in unparalleled ways.”
SUNY faculty worked alongside students to get new registrants.
“This successful campaign shows the powerful impact faculty and students can have working together on such an important project,” said William Scheuerman, president of UUP, the union representing 29,000 academic and professional faculty on SUNY’s state-operated campuses.
The student activists agreed.
"Students are agitated about a host of issues, from the rising cost of higher education to the devastation of our environment, and want to have a voice,” said Michael Grenetz, project coordinator of NYPIRG’s SUNY New Paltz chapter. “Never underestimate the potential for a small group of talented students to tap into that."
As the winning school, SUNY New Paltz will celebrate with a Voter Empowerment Invasion, to be held on campus before Election Day.
“When the celebration is over, the rest of the challenge begins,” Scheuerman said. “Then it’s time to get students out to the polls to vote.”
Final registration figures from the 15 SUNY campuses that participated in the SUNY Voter Empowerment Challenge are attached.
SUNY Rock the Vote Challenge
Final Totals: 12,037
SCHOOL
TOTAL REGISTERED
TOTAL FULL TIME ENROLLMENT
(Fall 2003 #s from SUNY)
% OF STUDENTS NEWLY REGISTERED
Stony Brook
1,672
19,062
8.8%
Binghamton
1,159
12,935
9%
Albany
1,366
14,981
9.1%
Cortland
1,104
6,417
17.2%
Oswego
1,123
7,400
15.2%
Geneseo
880
5,449
16.1%
Plattsburgh
315
5,553
5.7%
Monroe CC
798
13,931
5.7%
Potsdam
277
4,422
6.3%
Fredonia
953
5,287
18%
Alfred
224
3,952
5.7%
Cobleskill
186
2,400
7.8%
New Paltz
1,772
6,569
27%
North County CC
105
1,041
10.1%
Hudson Valley CC
103
8,627
1.2%
UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York State-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).
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