Nearly 50 OU students will make their way to the Oklahoma Capitol at 11 a.m. Tuesday to promote the importance of higher education as part of a combined effort between public universities and the state Legislature.
Higher Education Day, which UOSA organizes on OU’s campus, sends student delegates from universities each year to meet in pairs with state representatives and officials throughout the Capitol building. Students were not required to have prior lobbying or political experience to attend when they applied in December.
Rachel Tyrrell, event coordinator and economics and accounting junior, said many legislators want to hear from students about their experiences on campus and also hope to keep higher education cuts to a minimum.
The OU delegates will keep Gov. Mary Fallin’s recent promise of lesser cuts to education in mind because they are all affected by increases in tuition costs and student loans, Tyrrell said.
Fallin announced 3-percent budget cuts to education funding, public safety and health and welfare agencies in her first State of the State address on Feb. 8, as well as other, larger percentage cuts in state funding.
“Higher education makes this huge economic impact ... and a college graduate is expected to make about $1.2 million more than just a high school graduate,” Tyrrell said. “The most important thing [for students] to remember is the personal stories. [Legislators] want to remember the stories whenever they’re voting on legislation and whenever they’re lobbying to the governor on higher education budget to remain the same.”
UOSA Director of External Affairs and letters sophomore Joe Sangirardi, whose departmental responsibilities include organizing OU’s Higher Education Day delegation, said in an e-mail students have been to several training sessions that have given them lobbying advice such as what to wear and how to bring up important information to representatives. They also will be briefed on the bus ride to the Capitol on relevant statistics and how to bring them up in their meetings.
The students are expected to return to Norman around 4 p.m. after addressing the entire House about what has benefitted OU, he said.
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bruenig 1 year, 3 months ago
Time for this empty ritual again? Time flies here at OU.