Students urged to participate in Census
Casey Rinaldi
Issue date: 3/15/10 Section: News
Another decade has passed and, as seen around campus, it is time to fill out a new Census. Most people know that a census is taken to gather information about a our nation organized by states, counties, and cities in terms of socioeconomic and demographic data, but many do not realize its importance.
In the year 2000, the Census determined that Arkansas experienced a population gain of 13.7 percent, which is equal to an increase of about 100,001 to 500,000 people.
Patrick Dixon, the associate dean and director of Residence Life, explained why the Census should be important to the students of Arkansas State University.
Residence Life works with the Census Bureau to ensure that students who live on the ASU campus receive and complete the Census.
"It's important because we want students to be counted, because the Census helps the university with funding, increasing the number of fire stations as well as helping to determine the specific voter precincts in the area," Dixon said.
Dixon added that they had specific protocol in place to handle the Census on campus.
"We have a system in place where the U.S. Census Bureau will request a list of students living in a particular area; they will conduct and verify a random sampling of students, using the information in our database and will ask very demographic-specific questions. This process has gone on for several years. We also do everything we can to help the Census to acquire and utilize that information," he said.
He also stated that the Census Bureau will always begin this process very early, sometimes even a year in advance before the administration of the actual census itself, as "it is very easy to count students with the information stored in our database that is collected when the students move in to a particular building."
Dixon offered some final thoughts to all ASU students concerning the Census, especially to those that may be doing it for the very first time or may be away from home for the semester.
In the year 2000, the Census determined that Arkansas experienced a population gain of 13.7 percent, which is equal to an increase of about 100,001 to 500,000 people.
Patrick Dixon, the associate dean and director of Residence Life, explained why the Census should be important to the students of Arkansas State University.
Residence Life works with the Census Bureau to ensure that students who live on the ASU campus receive and complete the Census.
"It's important because we want students to be counted, because the Census helps the university with funding, increasing the number of fire stations as well as helping to determine the specific voter precincts in the area," Dixon said.
Dixon added that they had specific protocol in place to handle the Census on campus.
"We have a system in place where the U.S. Census Bureau will request a list of students living in a particular area; they will conduct and verify a random sampling of students, using the information in our database and will ask very demographic-specific questions. This process has gone on for several years. We also do everything we can to help the Census to acquire and utilize that information," he said.
He also stated that the Census Bureau will always begin this process very early, sometimes even a year in advance before the administration of the actual census itself, as "it is very easy to count students with the information stored in our database that is collected when the students move in to a particular building."
Dixon offered some final thoughts to all ASU students concerning the Census, especially to those that may be doing it for the very first time or may be away from home for the semester.
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Todd
posted 3/29/10 @ 9:42 PM CST
Residence life has done such a great job at getting census information to students. So great a job in fact, I don't even know HOW to get the forms.
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