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Next Lobby Day in line for Tuesday
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor The first Lobby Day took place at the State Capitol on Feb. 13. The SCSU Student Government has planned another day for students to lobby this Tuesday. SCSU will be the only school to have students at the Capitol.
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Student Government's proposed second Student Lobby Day will take place Tuesday when SCSU students will be given another opportunity to meet with their respective legislators.
The last trip that Student Government planned to the State Capitol left a lot of students with a bitter taste in their mouths because they were not given the opportunity to talk with state legislators.
According to Birch Carlson, Student Government's legislative affairs chair, this trip will be different. The students that go on this trip to St. Paul will definitely have the opportunity to talk with legislators. Carlson was not able to make official appointments with the legislators because of their busy schedules, but according to him, the legislators will be available for discussions when they have free moments throughout the day.
"As long as the legislators are not voting we will have access to them, and we will utilize that," Carlson said.
Student Government is planning to meet for the trip at 10 a.m. Tuesday at its office in Atwood Memorial Center. The group of students and Student Government representatives will take state vans down to St. Paul.
Carlson said students who are interested in going on the trip should sign up at the Student Government office, so enough transportation is made available. He said he would arrange for as many students as possible to go on this trip.
"Right now about 10 to 20 people have signed up, but we will bring as many students as we can," Carlson said.
The group will be at the capital all day so they have as many opportunities as they can to talk with legislators.
According to Carlson the group would like to meet with legislators from the St. Cloud area including Rep. Joe Opatz, DFL-16A. Carlson also encourages students attending the trip to try and meet with legislators from their home town area.
"This trip is about meeting as many legislators as possible," Carlson said.
The topics that the Student Government would like to discuss with the legislators are the bonding bill, contract freeze and Pell Grants. The bonding bill is an important topic according to Carlson because SCSU renovations for the campus are included as a part of this bill.
The new hot topic that the Student Government would like to discuss with legislators is the state government's recent decision to freeze all new service contracts. According to Carlson, this contract freeze directly affects such things as student activity fees.
Carlson is also hoping that the group attending this trip will also get to discuss Pell Grants with the legislators. He said that this has been an issue with students for a long time now.
According to Carlson, students should be concerned with Pell Grants because whatever amount of money students receive from Pell Grants should not count against grants that students receive from the state.
Other representatives from the Student Government are also encouraging students that have not signed up for this trip to attend and make their presence felt.
"The physical presence of students makes a huge impact on state legislators," said Desiree Westby, Public Relations chair.
According to Westby, this trip is unlike the trip that was taken in February, because only SCSU students will be attending. The earlier trip was an annual event organized by the Minnesota State University Student Association and the Minnesota State College Student Association.
"This trip involves more focus on St. Cloud State students," Westby said.
Geoff Higgins can be reached at: [email protected]
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