Marian University: Political Science

Situation

The Political Science program at Marian University benefitted from great exposure throughout the city, largely stemming from the civic engagement of students in the program. Still, the program was small and struggled to grow. The year of this engagement was a presidential election year, and faculty lamented not only how the program had unrealized potential for growth, but even more so in a year when the entire nation was more attuned to the nature and importance of political discourse.

Solution

We helped the Political Science faculty identify a civic engagement gap that they and their students could uniquely fill, creating a timely marketing opportunity for the program. More people were planning to vote that year than usual just by nature of having a national presidential election, many of which voters weren’t voting in other years for some reason. We determined several likely reasons for this disengagement, particularly the general lack or knowledge about what offices and subjects are subject to vote in “off” years, when and how people could ensure that they were registered to vote in the first place, and where to find non-partisan information on election topics. Since much of this information is state-specific, we captured it and framed it on a magnet in the shape of the state (Indiana). Putting it on a magnet gave it an automatic home such as a fridge or a filing cabinet, ensuring that it would have greater staying power. Further, since much of the student body was engaged in Get Out The Vote efforts throughout the city, they had a natural and welcomed distribution opportunity.

Success

As is the case with the most successful politics, the most immediate and powerful impact was local. Immediately, this movement generated greater engagement throughout the campus community. It heightened the reputation of the faculty and the program among political parties on both sides of the aisle, and gave the faculty more effective tools for recruitment.