If you took a look at Eastern’s previous academic calendar holidays, you might notice something different about this November.

Unlike for the 2020 presidential and 2022 general elections, Eastern will not be recognizing this upcoming 2024 Election Day as a holiday. 

Despite Eastern’s justification for why they decided to remove Election Day as a holiday, students, staff and faculty need to demand this decision be reversed in the future. 

Universities cannot continue to market themselves for their development of responsible citizens and leaders, tout their democratic engagement and portray themselves as a bedrock for democracy, while simultaneously reintroducing barriers to voting for its students and employees. If Eastern truly wants to be recognized for its voting excellence, the university should return Election Day as a holiday. 

Generally, young people vote in smaller numbers than older age groups, and contrary to popular belief, it’s not due to voter apathy. 

According to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, after the 2022 election, when youth were asked why they didn’t register or cast a ballot, only a minority said it did not matter or they didn’t think it was important.

While 25% of youth specifically cited apathy as a reason for why they didn’t register, the majority cited structural barriers such as lack of transportation, long lines at polls, no time off from work and convoluted absentee ballots for college students living out of state and away from home. 

We should question the role Eastern plays in contributing to this arduous process. Considering that many students will still have classes and on-campus jobs to work this upcoming election, it is not difficult to see how Eastern could ease this burden. 

They were able to do it in the past. What changed? 

The short answer is that in 2020 and 2022 the state of Illinois required state universities to be closed for Election Day; however, there were no such requirements for 2024. 

According to Eastern’s legislative liaison, the most recent legislation passed by the Illinois General Assembly does not mandate Election Day as a holiday for public universities. Specifically, the 2024 omnibus bill does not include the language that would have required Eastern to declare a university holiday. This legislation is what has governed public universities’ decisions across the state.

Evidently, Eastern is becoming part of the problem concerning youth electoral disengagement by removing Election Day as a holiday, and thus are compromising on their commitment to their democratic values. 

Furthermore, this decision should be understood within the context of an insurgence of voter suppression in recent years. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, more than 400 anti-voter bills have been introduced in 48 states, defining anti-voter bills as legislation that “erects unnecessary barriers for people to register to vote, vote by mail or vote in person.” 

Universities should actively combat this trend, not pile on top of it. 

I applaud all of the efforts to increase voter access, education and information on campus thus far. Voting is just one of many tools we as the youth should utilize to express our political will and vision. 

Moreover, we need valuable political education and engagement in electoral politics, not pandering, memes and pop-culture from the major political parties. The initiatives to increase voter awareness by a number of offices, organizations and students on campus gives me hope. 

However, it is just disappointing that not all of Eastern seems to be “All In” when it comes to increasing voting access.

Eastern, reverse this decision and return Election Day as a holiday.

Jason Farias can be reached at 581-2812 or at jsfarias@eiu.edu.