By Following several months of encouraging students to vote, various departments from Long Beach State’s administration and Associated Students Inc. are now shifting their focus toward supporting and engaging students beyond the election.
In addition to personal and group therapy sessions hosted by Counseling and Psychological Services, CSULB’s Residential Life staff are putting together a workshop called “Beads of Boundaries: Identifying and Communicating Boundaries for Peace,” which will allow students to learn about talking to people with differing political views.
“It will be a facilitated space where students can make a bracelet and learn more about setting intentional boundaries, especially ahead of the breaks where they may be interacting with loved ones with different political views,” Residential Engagement and Staff Training Assistant Director Hannah Elliott said in an email.
She said the event is expected to happen before fall break, with an official date confirmation to be announced on CSULB Housing’s Instagram account.
CSULB’s Civic Engagement team, led by University Partnerships and Civic Engagement Director Ricki Burgener, participated in over 10 events from the start of the semester to raise awareness on statewide ballot propositions, local measures and district candidates.
Additionally, the Civic Engagement team helped encourage students to register to vote as part of the statewide college Ballot Bowl competition.
Long Beach State ranked sixth overall and second among California State University colleges with 1,591 newly registered voters.
University of California, Berkeley, ranked first overall with 2,422 new registered voters and CSU Fullerton ranked first among CSUs with 1,709 new registered voters.
While Civic Engagement has no future planned events, Burgener said she will soon meet with her team to discuss plans for the 2025 spring semester.
“It’s one thing to plan for the general elections… [but] we still have to plan on what we’re going to be doing during the offseason, and so right now, we will be chatting about some ideas,” Burgener said.
Events based on climate change, mental health and encouraging students to get involved with local government meetings and policy decisions are among early ideas of the Civic Engagement team.
Similar to the Civic Engagement team, Lobby Corps is an ASI subcommittee focused on student civic engagement through education and advocacy. Both teams worked closely to encourage students to vote.
ASI President and political science major Nikki Majidi said ASI is not planning any current election events. Still, Majidi reiterated that campus administrative services, including CAPS, plan to roll out more student support events following the election results.
Separately, Majidi said Lobby Corps will have more civic engagement events during the spring semester.
When speaking on the importance of advocacy and voting, Majidi said students can make change and influence decisions even if they do not realize it.
“What you think you don’t have the power [to do], you really do; and your individual voice, it might seem one of many, but there’s so many different factors that are in play when you’re voting,” Majidi said. “You’re affecting so many different things.”
ASI Chief Legislative Officer and political science major Nicholas Nieto said civic engagement and the general idea of voting is more than voting for political parties.
“People have taken on the impression that it’s either Democrat or Republican, but when you look at it on a local level, that’s really not the case,” Nieto said. “You’re not voting a party. You’re voting policies.”
