Resources & Opportunities
Campus Resources
GVSU is a community of learners who share a mission to “educate students to transform their lives, professions, and society.” We do this by pairing our deep tradition of liberal education – an education that encourages freedom and growth – with our emphasis on creative thinking, innovation, and development of professional skills.
Padnos Sarosik Civil Discourse Program
The mission of the Padnos Sarosik Civil Discourse Program is to prepare students to be agents of social change who practice and model civil discourse.
Restorative justice is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in the specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs, and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible.
GVSU Voter Education Consultations
This year, the Research Consultants of GVSU are adding nonpartisan candidate information gathering to their services in addition to helping students to find their ballots.
Off-Campus Opportunities & Events
Become a Poll Worker in MI
Election workers are the Most Valuable Players of our democracy, ensuring free and fair elections for all. Right now, our democracy needs election workers more than ever. Election workers are paid for their service and trained before Election Day.
Here is a resource provided by Democracy MVP to help get started: Poll Worker Recruitment Toolkit
External Resources
National Voter Education Week (NVEW) helps voters bridge the gap between registering to vote and casting a ballot. During this week of interactive education, voters can find their polling location, understand their ballot, make a plan to vote in person or remotely, and more. NVEW strives to help voters overcome common barriers to become confident voters and ambassadors of voting in their communities for every election.
This report covers how college students and communities can collaborate with election officials so that the voting process works for everyone, creating confusion or stress for young voters.
Upcoming Events
Democracy 101: "Opposing Tyranny with Nonviolent Civil Resistance" (INT 100/201 approved)
February 25, 2026 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Join us for a deep dive on Nonviolent Civil Resistance: what it is, studies by multiple scholars, and examples of different types of Protest, Noncooperation, and Intervention. Blending some lessons...
Elect Her (INT 100 approved)
March 19, 2026 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Running Start, the non-profit organization that runs the Elect Her program, brings campaign training and real-world experiences from currently-elected officials to college campuses across the U.S....
Democracy 101: "Strongmen and How to Get Rid of Them" (INT 100/201 approved)
March 30, 2026 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Join us for a broad, quick survey of various “strongmen” that came to power more-or-less democratically throughout the past century, then subverted democracy and became autocrats. There...