After heavy cuts, lobbying much easier

ANNAPOLIS - The mood was buoyant in this lawmaking town yesterday, as students with the assurance of a tuition freeze swarmed legislators' offices to urge higher-education-friendly legislation.

But this year, who really needed a reminder that rising tuition rates needed a stop sign? The issue made both Gov. Martin O'Malley's victory speech and inaugural address, and Democrats in Congress kicked President Bush's student loan interest rate hike to the curb last week.

So for Student Government Association representatives yesterday door-knocking every state delegate and senator as part of Annapolis 101, a crash course for student lobbyists, yesterday's event was more of a reminder than hitting up legislators for taxpayer money.

"They need to know that we care and that we are aware and that we can mobilize," said SGA Senior Vice President Kyle Carson. "We are the leaders of the future, and our education is important to the state. We're a worthy investment."

It was the first Annapolis 101 since former Gov. Robert Ehrlich left office, and despite his making a late-term tuition freeze possible, SGA leaders still carried hard feelings from the two years of deep budget cuts. University System of Maryland Student Council member Devin Ellis recalled the frustration of the belt-tightening days.

"The last two years we've faced urging legislators to do what is virtually impossible under Maryland law, which is doctor the governor's budget," Ellis said. "Once the governor submits the figure, that's the number you have."

But in some ways, those two years were the SGA's glory days: Former president Aaron Kraus' hunger strike for lower tuition gained wide media attention, and antics such as SGA members' threats to strip nude to bring attention to higher education in the legislature's observation gallery made regular Diamondback headlines. Yesterday, it was more mingle and schmooze than grovel and beg - or starve.

The Diamondback followed five members of this university's SGA as they attempted to meet with all of Montgomery and Prince George's counties' state delegates to discuss issues ranging from tuition, to tax-free textbooks and the student housing crunch.

Though the group was often confronted with secretaries who regretfully informed them delegates were in committee hearings or otherwise occupied, they sat down with a few officials or legislative aides who eagerly heard what they had to say.

Students told officials about the high price of textbooks, suggesting the sales tax be removed for at least one week each semester. They spoke about students selecting other colleges because this university couldn't offer them housing or adequate financial aid.

Some specifically spoke of friends who attended Duke University, "the arch nemesis" one student called it, because they offered better financial aid packages.

"Well as long as they didn't go to [University of North Carolina at] Chapel Hill," joked freshman legislator and university alumnus Jim Gilchrist (D-Montgomery), who added that on his tour of the university's John S. Toll Physics Building he realized its need for renovation.

"It's important to have people visible and have people come down and say what they need," said Gilchrist after the students had left.

Gilchrist said when he "sits in these meetings and sees how a democracy works and [has] all these forces coming at [him]," it's the people he meets face-to-face who stick out.

Graduate Student Council President Laura Moore shares Gilchrist's opinion and indicated it was her motivation for attending Annapolis 101.

"We are the people who are greatly impacted by the decisions they make, so I think it is really important to make our presence known today," Moore said yesterday while frantically stapling packets to be distributed to the legislators. "I think it's important for legislators to see students face-to-face because then it will be difficult for them to make decisions that are bad for students."

Under O'Malley's budget, graduate student tuition will still see an increase of about 2 or 3 percent, but according to Moore and Ellis, that is considerably lower than recent years.

Meanwhile, student researchers from around the state gathered in a ballroom at the Senate Office Complex to present projects to legislators who trickled in throughout the day. A recent market study found that Maryland residents felt cutting-edge research was one of a university's key functions - something University President Dan Mote found both pleasing and shocking.

"Research is a major responsibility of a university like this, more than other university in the state in general, but what is unusual about [resident recognition is], the average citizen had not traditionally had a deep appreciation of the research tradition of the university," Mote, who attended the research fair, said in an interview earlier this week.

The students who presented projects or lobbied politicians "are the best spokespeople for the university," said university lobbyist Ross Stern, who attended the event. "I'll often hear [from legislators] in the next few days [after Annapolis 101] that, 'We met with the students, and we're really impressed'."

After a tiring day of roaming halls, preaching objectives and shaking countless hands, the student lobbyists attended a banquet where they rubbed elbows and chowed down on lasagna with higher education's heavy hitters.

University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan, State Sens. Jim Rosapepe (D - Prince George's and Anne Arundel) and Patrick Hogan (D - Montgomery), O'Malley's Chief of Staff Michael Enright and SGA President Emma Simson were among the night's attendees that gathered to applaud the governor's financial support for higher education in the state once again.

"You are an inspiration," Kirwan told the students, joking he wishes he could take a student to all of the system's hearings in Annapolis. "I just don't know how else to say it ... It isn't your job; you are there because you care. You make a difference in our efforts."

SGA Executive Secretary Alicia Robertson and freshman legislator Sterling Grimes said over dinner that like Kirwan, they felt the day was an overwhelming success.

"I think legislators are starting to get more of a feeling for why they are in office," said Grimes. "Things are starting to changed. It seems we have legislators who actually care about their constituents. They want to see change, and that's how Annapolis should be."

Contact reporter Steven Overly at overlydbk@gmail.com.