GRC encourages student involvement in politics
The Government Relations Council is changing the way it spreads civic awareness on campus.
ASUSU Executive Vice President Kirsten Frank said she is not going to be doing a civic awareness week this year.
“I feel like I can accomplish the same purpose in a much more meaningful and specialized way,” she said.
Frank said she is planning a speaker series, which she is tentatively calling “Why I Care.” The series will take place during each of the college weeks and will bring a speaker who is a politician or a politically active person who works in a field related to the college whose week it is. She gave an example pertaining to Engineering Week.
“I’m going to bring in somebody who is probably a legislator, who is also by trade an engineer, and I’m going to have him talk to the students, specifically from that college — but everybody will be invited — about why it’s important if you’re in an engineering field to pay attention to the world around you,” Frank said.
USU student and returning council member Benjamin Wilson said this year’s council members have a diverse range of majors, and he hopes to reach a more diverse audience with this speaker series.
“In the past, the council has really gravitated heavily toward political science students, and this year we’re really trying to make a concerted effort to be in contact with other colleges, other majors,” Wilson said. “It doesn’t just affect political science majors.”
Wilson said many non-political science majors don’t pay attention to politics, because they feel like it doesn’t affect them as engineering or mathematics majors. He said the speaker series will show them why they should care.
Frank said the council also works with different political organizations on campus.
“They’re not technically a part of the GRC, but they’re a board affixed to the GRC,” Frank said. “They’ll be coming to our meetings and reporting, and letting us know what’s going on, on campus, with the different political organizations.”
Frank said the council goes to the state capitol building about once a week, during the annual state legislative session, to provide a voice for the the USU student body.
“Our whole purpose there is to meet with members of the Legislature, and show them our faces, give a face to the issues and be out in front of them so they know students care,” she said.
Returning council member Katie Chapman said the council meets with legislators individually or in small groups to discuss the year’s big issues.
“Sometimes you might just have a pleasant conversation, and you know you’re not going to change their mind,” Chapman said. “Other times you really give them information that is insightful and might help them make a decision.”
Chapman said last year the Legislature proposed cutting USU’s budget by 7 percent. She said because of the council’s lobbying efforts, the budget was only cut by a little more than 2 percent.
Wilson said there are ways any student can help show the Legislature what matters to USU students. He said students can write to the legislators that represent their home counties. He said this helps the legislators know what they do affects the whole state, not just USU.
To be able to have an impact at the legislative session, Chapman said, the council spends its first semester preparing to go to the state capitol building.
“We have a lot of preparation,” Chapman said. “We have current and former Senate or House members come and speak to us. We have lobbyists who come and speak to us about the best way to talk to and approach representatives.”
Chapman said it is also a learning experience for the students on the council.
“You learn a lot that you can’t learn in a classroom,” Chapman said. “I learned how accessible our state Legislature was.”
– chris.w.lee@aggiemail.usu.edu