Tuesday, Sept. 20, is National Voter Registration Day. Stop by the Olmsted Breezeway or Helmick Commons between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to fill out a registration form and get all your voter registration questions answered. All passersby will receive a sweet treat to celebrate civic engagement.

According to U.S. Census data from 2020, as many as one in four eligible Americans are not registered to vote. Every year, millions of Americans find themselves unable to vote because they miss a registration deadline, don’t update their registration, or aren’t sure how to register. National Voter Registration Day wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to vote.

Can’t make it? Contact Stephanie Kiel at stephanie.kiel@drake.edu with any voter registration questions. For more election information and resources, click here.

— Stephanie Kiel, AS’23

September is Suicide Awareness Month. The Counseling Center has been tabling the past few weeks and is excited to share events taking place throughout the rest of the month.

Make and Take Shirts
Wednesday, Sept. 21, Biig Pluto will be in Olmsted from 10–2 p.m. sharing their mental health designs for you to Make and Take a Shirt. Bring your own or get one at the event.

Suicide Awareness Walk and Resource Fair
Friday, Sept. 23, meet outside Olmsted at 2 p.m. for the Suicide Awareness Walk. Together we will walk the Bulldog Mile. Local mental health resources will be tabling in Helmick Commons at this time as well.

Speaker
Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. Josh Rivedal will share his experience with loss due to suicide and how to be mentally healthy. Josh will share hope and resources throughout the conversation.

QPR Training
Friday, Sept. 31, at 11 a.m. in Olin Hall, Room 206, will be a campus wide QPR training. Learn what questions to ask, how to persuade and where to refer someone you might feel is thinking about suicide. Register at drake.edu/counselingcenter.

Thank you to the individuals, student groups, and departments involved in planning and implementing a series of impactful campus events.

— Lynne Cornelius, Violence Prevention & Programming

Drake is continuing to roll out updates to our Self Service system. The next update will be to the registration-related pages, including the schedule of classes, student registration screens, and the course catalog.

On Sept. 27, you will access registration tools, schedule of classes, and course catalog via a new Registration and Schedule link on the Registration card in Self Service or via the Student Profile left navigation menu. We have created numerous registration-related Knowledge Base articles to help you navigate this change, you can access them here.  Students will still be able to access the current Registration pages by clicking the Registration and Schedules (Legacy) link on the Registration card.  This link will be available through February 17, 2023.

Faculty and staff will also be redirected to the new Registration landing page to access the schedule of classes and course catalog. If you do not currently see the Registration card in your Self Service screen, click the blue Discover More button. To add the card to your homepage, click the bookmark icon in the upper right corner of the card. Providing registration overrides and viewing your advisees’ schedules will remain available in the current Self Service pages.  For more information, view the Self Service Knowledge Base articles here.

— Jenny Tran-Johnson, Registrar

The Drake Law Delts are sponsoring a LifeServe Blood Drive on Friday, Oct. 21, from 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. in Cartwright Hall, Kern Commons (2nd floor.) All members of the Drake community are welcome to participate. Your donation might help save your neighbor, friend, family member, or a stranger in our community!

The Blood Drive is held as part of the Law School’s celebration of Cady Day of Public Service. The annual Cady Day of Public Service honors and celebrates the life and legacy of late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady and his commitment to public service, access to justice, and civil rights.

Appointments are necessary. Click here to schedule your appointment.

— Theresa Howard, Law School

Experience world-class performances by legendary favorites and rising stars with Civic Music Association.

A long-time partner of Drake University, CMA holds many concerts at our very own Sheslow Auditorium. Check out their line-up and save 25% on any season ticket package through Aug. 30 with code DRAKE25. Learn more.

— Jacob Lemons, Fine Arts Coordinator

This organizational view of Drake’s leadership is a great way to get to know the leaders and structure at Drake. If you click on a person’s image, you will be directed to their corresponding web page. This interactive chart can also be found on the Office of the President page. It is a handy tool, especially if you are new to Drake.

— Nate Reagen, Office of the President

An important reminder: avoid scheduling campus events during the High Holidays observed by many members of our campus community who are Jewish. Please go to the Office of Equity and Inclusion website to import the dates of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur for this September and October directly into your Outlook calendar.

Faculty are required to provide students reasonable accommodations to honor their religious identities. It is especially important we honor this obligation as we communicate celebration, affirmation, and inclusion of all the diversity within the Drake community.

Students need to communicate the accommodations they require, so we can institutionally support clear communication between individual faculty and their students.

— Jen Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion

On Aug. 24, President Biden announced his administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan, which:

• extends the student loan repayment pause through December 31, 2022.
• Provides one-time loan cancellation to eligible borrowers who have federally-held student or parent loans that were first disbursed prior to July 1, 2022. Eligibility for loan cancellation is based on student or parent income thresholds. Eligible borrowers who received a Federal Pell Grant can receive up to $20,000 in loan cancellation. Other eligible borrowers can receive up to $10,000 in loan cancellation.
• Proposes a new income-driven repayment plan aimed at reducing monthly payment obligations for low and middle income borrowers.

The Biden Administration expects to release an application for loan cancellation in October 2022, and borrowers will have until December 31, 2023 to apply. You can sign up to be notified when this occurs at the Department of Education’s subscription page.

Other student loan-related initiatives implemented by the Biden administration include Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) and “Fresh Start”. TEPSLF offered a temporary period (which ends Oct. 31, 2022!) during which borrowers may receive credit for payments that previously did not qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The “Fresh Start” initiative helps borrowers who are in default on federal student loan(s) by restoring eligibility to federal student aid, stopping collections on defaulted loans, and providing an opportunity to restore loans to good standing.

The best place for accurate information about federal student loan policies is www.studentaid.gov. To be notified of updates please subscribe to “Federal Student Loan Borrower Updates” on the US Department of Education’s subscription page.

— Ryan Zantingh, Director of Financial Aid