Raise Your Voice!

As senior Global Studies students at Loyola University Maryland, we recognize the importance of a healthy democracy, fueled by civic engagement and an informed public. To be civically engaged is to participate in both political and non-political actions that address public concerns and promote improvements in quality of one’s community. Civic engagement is both individual and collective action which contributes to the strength of democracy. Democracy does not solely exist in the discipline of Political Science; it is informed by region-specific sociological, economic, and historical factors. In recognizing the crossroads between these principles, we are able to better understand the underlying causes for the problems which plague our current institutions. With this knowledge, we are able to develop a comprehensive plan of action that holds longstanding impact. In our research across these disciplines, we have come to realize that Loyola serves as a microcosm for the American political scene. Through conversations with various students and faculty, we have witnessed that even among people with access to resources there are high levels of misinformation, apathy and confusion over what civic engagement truly entails. Many grapple with how to become more engaged and how to  gain adequate knowledge on the many facets of civic engagement. With all of this in mind, we felt empowered to push our university to become a catalyst for change. Our partners at BUILD gave us the skillset needed to make Loyola a leader in civic engagement. In a time where American democracy is seemingly fleeting, and countries are becoming more interconnected, it is an obligation of universities to ensure that all of their members are well informed and engaged global citizens.