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Students would give up voting rights for free tuition, NYU poll finds
11/19/07
A poll of more than 3,000 students at New York University recently found that two-thirds of respondents would exchange their right to vote for a year's worth of free tuition, according to Washington Square News, NYU's student newspaper.
The poll, conducted between Oct. 24 and Oct. 26 by a class titled "Foundations for Journalism," found that 50 percent of respondents also said they would give up their voting rights forever in exchange for $1 million. Another 20 percent said they would give up their vote for an iPod touch.
However, 90 percent of students who said they would give up their voting rights for money also said they considered voting "very important" or "somewhat important," according to the paper.
"If we take them at their word, then perhaps they really think votes matter, and that's why someone might pay a year's tuition to buy theirs," Dalton Conley, NYU's sociology department chairman, told the student paper.
-PATRICIO CHILE
The poll, conducted between Oct. 24 and Oct. 26 by a class titled "Foundations for Journalism," found that 50 percent of respondents also said they would give up their voting rights forever in exchange for $1 million. Another 20 percent said they would give up their vote for an iPod touch.
However, 90 percent of students who said they would give up their voting rights for money also said they considered voting "very important" or "somewhat important," according to the paper.
"If we take them at their word, then perhaps they really think votes matter, and that's why someone might pay a year's tuition to buy theirs," Dalton Conley, NYU's sociology department chairman, told the student paper.
-PATRICIO CHILE
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