RICEngaged

History and Mission

RICEngaged was founded in 2016 as a partnership among partisan and non-partisan student organization leaders, the Center for Civic Leadership, and Rice faculty and staff committed to organizing and promoting political participation through voter registration, civic education, and mobilization. Above all, we partner with the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, whose vision is “a country in which the electorate mirrors our country’s makeup and college students are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls.” Launched in 2016, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge strives to change civic culture and institutionalize democratic engagement activities and programs on college campuses, making them a defining feature of campus life. The Challenge provides RICEngaged the support to:

  1. Make participation in local, state, and federal elections a social norm.

  2. Substantially increase the number of college students who are democratically engaged on an ongoing basis, during and between elections, and not just at the polls.

  3. Make educating for democratic engagement on college campuses an accepted and expected part of the culture and curriculum so that students graduate with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and values needed to be informed and active citizens.

To inform our ALL IN Campus Action Plan and with the endorsement and support of Dr. Bridget Gorman, Dean of Undergraduates, we also partner with the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) to understand Rice student registration and voting rates and trends across elections and across student demographics. This year’s plan built off strengths and deficiencies identified in the most recent NSLVE data.

As a result of RICEngaged’s efforts, ALL IN recognized Rice University as a gold campus for achieving 70-80% student voter turnout and gave our 2020 Action Plan its highest categorical rating on account of broad campus engagement, outreach to underrepresented student voting populations, and integration of civic educational opportunities.