Collegiate Times

RICHMOND — Leaders from the student governments of Virginia’s universities flooded the offices of the state’s General Assembly members Thursday, seeking to halt higher education budget cuts.

What the members of the House of Delegates and Senate said stopped many of the student body representatives in mid-sentence.

“I’m with you,” said one legislator after another. Virginia Tech SGA President Brandon Carroll said he was often “preaching to the choir.”

Thursday was Lobbying Day for members of Virginia21, a higher-education “action-tank” based in Richmond. Student body presidents and leaders from all public Virginia universities were invited to meet at the Virginia State Capitol to be recognized in session, but more notably, to meet with as many General Assembly members as possible.

Carroll, along with SGA governmental affairs leaders Brittany Anderson and Nadine Gibson, traveled to Richmond to meet with delegates and senators.

Carroll said the efforts of student leaders to meet with General Assembly members in person would be remembered.

“They hear so many times from all these different lobbyists on a daily basis,” Carroll said. “They understand that we’re in school. They understand that we have lives, and that we’re driving down here to show them how important this is to us. I think they realize that.”

Nearly every public Virginia university sent a representative. Christopher Newport University and Longwood University sent the largest number of representatives. Dan Smolkin, the student body vice president for administrative affairs at James Madison University, said he felt all students needed to send a message that they were worried about budget cuts.

“Students are what the universities are about,” Smolkin said. “If this is something that truly is important to us, it’s something that needs to come from the students, and not just the political science majors or the ones that are really studying legislation.”

More than 30 student leaders swarmed through the halls of the General Assembly building Thursday morning, looking to convince policy makers to stop certain cuts to higher education.

Most said they were already convinced, especially on the topic of an auxiliary student fee tax in former Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposed budget.

“I think that was probably a poison pill that was put in the budget that was unacceptable to the majority of people,” said Sen. Frank Ruff, a Republican from the 15th District.

The tax, if written into the final budget, would take five percent of student auxiliary fee money from each public university in the state.

Auxiliary student fees include money paid to the university for health centers, athletic facilities and libraries.

Steven Jones, executive director of Virginia21, said the tax was a top priority for his group. He is confident it will not make it to the final budget, which is scheduled to be finished March 14.

“What students need to see, and what we think the legislators have seen, is that it is more of an issue of public trust,” Jones said. “The school sends you a bill that says you are paying a $30 computer fee — that is what it should actually go toward. It shouldn’t go to paying down the state deficit.”

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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 19 issue of the Collegiate Times.