LU voting snapshot: Growth restrictions' effect on tuition a top concern

Thanks to Liberty University’s aggressive get-out-the-vote efforts, this spring marks the first City Council election in Lynchburg history where college students could emerge as a major voting bloc.

Interviews with more than 20 Liberty University students provide a snapshot of reasons why they are voting — or not voting — and what issues are most important.

The biggest concern among those students: how restrictions on LU’s growth will affect student tuition. LU officials argue that the city’s conditional use permit process, which applies to all Lynchburg-area colleges, will place an undue financial burden on Liberty as the school grows, and may result in higher tuition for students.

It’s a deciding factor of Andrew Neber, a sophomore from Wilmington, Del., who plans to vote for Mayor Joan Foster and LU student Brent Robertson in the City Council race for three at-large seats. (He is undecided about the third).

“We should be allowed to grow past 12,000 students rather than spend $8 million on improvements that are not really necessary,” Neber said.

“I love this school, and I love the city of Lynchburg … I think that it’d be pretty awesome if we (LU) could achieve that goal of reaching 25,000 students. It’s one that I think would benefit the entire city and can only bring good things.”

On campus, the City Council race has dominated the news pages of the student newspaper and has been a recurring topic at LU’s thrice-a-week morning convocation.

In late March, Liberty launched a two-day voter registration drive that resulted in several hundred new on-campus voters, pushing the total number of registered voters with a campus address to more than 4,250.

The city will have to wait for Election Day to see if Liberty University students will play a deciding factor in the outcome. Either way, candidates are treating them as a voting constituency that must be taken seriously.

Lauren Lombardi, a freshman from York, Pa., changed her voter registration to Lynchburg this spring so she could vote in the City Council race.

“In convo and stuff, or just in general, people are really encouraging us to vote,” Lombardi said on her decision to register. “They’re not telling us who to vote for, just to vote.”

Taxes and moral issues are deciding factors for Lombardi. When interviewed in mid-March, Lombardi said she did not know the names of the city council candidates, but planned to research their platforms before the election.

“I guess taxes probably is the biggest thing … Moral issues is a pretty big thing, though; I guess moral issues is first, and then probably taxes.”

Hope Wozniak, a seminary student from Bayville, N.J., said she registered to vote in Lynchburg before the 2009 governor’s race.

Unlike most of her graduate school peers, Wozinak lives on-campus because she is a hall advisor. Liberty has been encouraging RAs to mobilize students on their hall to vote, she said.

“I’ll probably be down here for a while so I wanted to make my vote count where I’m living and spending money,” Wozniak said on her personal reasons for voting.

Courtney Taylor, a junior from Antrim, N.H., said the use of local tax money is what she cares about most, citing the Fifth Street roundabout as an example of a frivolous project.

“There are not a lot of business nearby that it’s directly benefiting,” Taylor said.

For LU senior Jaimie Wendland, a native of the Lynchburg area, education tops her list. Wendland’s mother works in the local school system and Wendland plans on following in her footsteps.

“I plan on being a teacher and education is extremely important,” she said. “It’s kinda of frustrating to me that they’re cutting the (teaching) jobs.”

Wendland, a Republican, is still undecided about who she plans to vote for but said that her decision will transcend the Liberty agenda or partisan politics.

“What’s best for the city is what I’m looking for … someone looking out for other people, not just a certain political party interest.”

There’s no way to know for sure how many on- and off-campus students plan to vote in the election, but a significant portion of the student body is not registered. Reasons range from political apathy to feeling more connected to politics in their hometown.

Jillian Paul, an off-campus student from Palmyra, Pa., will stay home on Election Day.

“I know Liberty is hardcore into voting, but it doesn’t directly affect my life I feel like,” Paul said.

Law student Rachel Hepkins is voting by absentee ballot in her hometown of Yeadon, Pa., because she believes her vote matters more there.

“I can’t vote in both places and I’m more affiliated with the politics in my hometown than here,” she said. “They need my vote there more rather than here, where I’m just passing by.”