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MSA to connect students to legislators

Students will have the opportunity to lobby lawmakers in style today, courtesy of the Michigan Student Assembly and CellularOne.

Expanding efforts to lobby state and federal officials, MSA representatives plan to station themselves on the Diag today with celluar phones, offering students a chance to contact the offices of their state and federal senators and representatives.

The assembly obtained three phones from Ann Arbor Cellular Incorporated for students to call lawmakers via a special 800 number for constituents.

"Instead of doing letter-writing campaigns and getting signatures, it's a more innovative way of having students support higher education," said LSA Rep. Jasmine Khambutta.

The number (800) 574-4AID connects constituents with the appropriate legislative offices in Washington, D.C.

Khambutta said students will have the opportunity to contact offices from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. today to ask questions or offer comments to their representatives.

Although MSA's External Relations Committee communicates regularly with lawmakers in Lansing, this project is significant "so we're not always just contacting the Michigan representatives -- two or three people just get bombarded with mail," said RC sophomore Edna Yang, who coordinated the project with Khambutta.

Kimberly Cristea, an LSA first-year student, said she would participate in the program to discuss issues of euthanasia and government spending with government officials.

"The government gets so many letters and so many petitions, often times it's hard for them to get ahold of what people are saying," Cristea said. "If people call them, it might be more effective."

The representatives will concentrate on drumming up support for higher education funding, but students are welcome to lobby for any issue, Khambutta said.

In light of statewide debates concerning the tuition tax credit and Gov. John Engler's budget proposal, the fate of higher education's funding has been in the spotlight for the last few months.

"This is a really good way to make students more aware that it's not over," Yang said.