Accomplishments

New Voters Project
In fall 2004, the Student PIRGs sponsored the largest youth voter mobilization campaign in history. Nationwide, the New Voters Project registered over half a million new voters, including over 400,000 18-to-24-year olds. And leading up to election day, we made reminders to over 500,000 young voters. In fall 2006, we turned out the vote again, working on 80 college campuses in twenty states to boost voter turnout.  Our hardworking coalition partners and student leaders registered 75,000 students to vote, and leading up to Election Day we made 94,000 personalized Get Out the Vote reminders either over the phone or face-to-face.

Campus Climate Challenge
Student PIRGs across the country launched the Campus Climate Challenge. The goal of the challenge is for 500 colleges across the country to take the lead in fighting climate change by committing to reduce their emissions to 90% below 2005 levels by 2050.

Higher Education
Our Student Debt Alert campaign works to raise awareness about the growing problem of student debt and call for solutions. Through the campaign, hundreds of students posted their photos and stories on the Student Debt Yearbook, to illustrate to decision makers the importance of financial aid programs. Hundreds of additional students sent testimony to the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education urging them to address student debt issues.

Affordable Textbooks
The Student PIRGs released groundbreaking reports on how the textbook publishing industry is ripping-off students. Students surveyed hundreds of professors and bookstores and our research led to approximately 400 news stories across the country. In addition, Congress called for an independent study by the GAO. The GAO student supported our conclusion that textbook publishers’ practices are driving up the costs of textbooks. The GAO report received attention from press across the country including USA Today.

Wilderness Preservation
Despite a strong push by the oil industry and their allies in Congress, the Student PIRGs were part of a successful campaign to beat back efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling.

Our Ecopledge campaign convinced Staples to stop selling products made from old-growth wood, and convinced Coke and Pepsi to start using recycled plastic in their bottles.

The PIRGs were a driving force behind President Clinton's decision in 2001 to protect 58 million acres of pristine national forests from road building and most logging.