As one of the country’s top academic institutions for research and innovation, the University of Pittsburgh has long held a commitment to civic engagement and is committed to working on a University-wide level to create a more civically engaged institution. The Pitt Votes initiative was established in 2019 to create a more accessible and consistent political environment on Pitt’s campus. By making voter registration & education tools widely available to students, Pitt Votes aims to stimulate greater civic engagement across Pitt’s student body.
In recent years, the combined efforts of the University on an institutional level – along with grassroots mobilization on the student level – has led to historic levels of voter registration and voting rates. As of 2020, the voter registration rate at the University of Pittsburgh was 90.1%, and the voting rate among the student population was 78.5% (12.6 percentage point increase from 2016). The University earned a Voter Friendly Campus designation from NASPA and the Campus Vote Project in March 2021 and Gold Medal Designations from the ALL IN Democracy Challenge for the 2020 General Elections and the 2018 Midterm Elections. Connections with the Board of Elections, support throughout the institution, and various programming efforts have allowed the University to take a collaborative approach towards improving civic engagement.
The University of Pittsburgh participates in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) and approves making the data public through the All In Campus Democracy Challenge. (Play our 2020 NSLVE Report Kahoot!)
Statement of Nonpartisanship: The Pitt Votes Steering Committee does not support or oppose candidates for public office nor take a stand for or against any political party.
Land Acknowledgement
We recognize that the University of Pittsburgh occupies the ancestral land of the Adena culture, Hopewell culture, and Monongahela peoples, who were later joined by refugees of other tribes (including the Delaware, Shawnee, and Haudenosaunee), driven here from their homelands by colonizers. We honor these traditional Native inhabitants of this place and uplift their historic, unique, and enduring relationship with this land, which is their ancestral territory. We pay our respects to their Elders and their past, present, and future people, community, and culture. While we cannot change the past, we commit to continued gratitude for the gifts of nature, along with ongoing respect, care, and stewardship of the land, each other, and future generations.
Learn more about land acknowledgement from the Office of Sustainability here.