Budget woes may bolster student awareness

By JAMES W. BAKER
Collegian Staff Writer

As legislators increasingly turn to cuts in education and student aid to solve their budget woes, student lobbyists at the University are hard at work informing and mobilizing their fellow students into effective blocs of opposition.

The Undergraduate Student Government Student Lobbying Network, which deals with representatives at the state level, is now involved with efforts to challenge Gov. Tom Ridge's recent budget proposal.

That proposal, which falls about $23 million short of the University's request, has recently come under criticism from outgoing University President Joab Thomas and state Rep. Lynn Herman, R-Centre, as a threat to the quality of education at Penn State.

Noting the unlikelihood of a spontaneous student response to Ridge's budget, Jonathan Spacher, director of the lobbying network, is committed to organizing opposition.

"It is our job to get students active and motivated," he said.

In order to make sure that students' concerns are heard, the lobbying network is currently sponsoring a voter registration drive this week in front of the Penn State Bookstore on Campus.

Spacher said registering to vote is an important step in being heard.

"The greatest thing (students) can do is let their representatives know that they are concerned," Spacher said.

In conjunction with the registration drive, the lobbying network is collecting signatures for the petition submitted by Altoona Campus Student Government Association President Ben Faulds.

The petition, which will be submitted to state representatives and the governor on April 3, represents a collective effort by USG, the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments and the lobbying network to voice opposition to any decrease in state appropriations to the University.

Spacher is also attempting to increase the overall political clout of University students by organizing a statewide lobbying network. The idea would be to have "student lobbying liaisons" at every Penn State campus in the commonwealth.

Amanda Nielsen, a member of the lobbying network, said these efforts are aimed at "trying to get more direct lobbying from Penn State students."

Also threatening education at the University are current efforts by Congress to cut student aid. Proposed cutbacks to work-study programs, grants and loans could add up to nearly $20 billion during the next five years.

In addition, some members of Congress are seeking to eliminate the student interest subsidy on federal educational loans. That could represent up to a 20 percent increase in the amount that University undergraduates would eventually have to pay back.

Melissa Richards, USG director of Big Ten relations and federal lobbying at Penn State, recognizes the threat that these proposals represent and has been working hard to alert University students through letter-writing campaigns and the recent Government Awareness Day.

"We would like to reach as many students as possible," Richards said. Her main priority is keeping students informed and excited about the issues.

Considering the number of students the cuts could affect, finding people willing to write letters and sign petitions might seem like an easy proposition.

Richards said that she has even persuaded students to sign she has had to offer material incentives to get students to sign letters in opposition of financial aid cuts.

In comparing the level of student activism to other Big Ten schools, Richards said, "we are pretty low," adding that students "are not proactive, they are very reactive."