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Show ASUU organizes lobby to represent students at state legislature BY TOM HORTON Chronicle Staff Student lobby efforts will take on a new, more informed, and hopefully more effective voice for the upcoming session of tlie Utah State Legislature. "We're going to take a different approach ap-proach this year that I hope will be more effective," said Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) President Randy Dryer. "The actual lobbying group that contacts the legislators will be a small, articulate, well-informed group of students, stu-dents, perhaps four or five, rather than hundreds of students flooding the capitol in an uncoordinated effort." The lobby is being handled by ASUlTs Legislative Relations Re-lations Committee. Dryer also revealed some specific programs pro-grams which he hopes to have die legislature legis-lature consider, among them a plan to put students on Institutional Councils throughout through-out tlie state. "The channels to do tin's will first entail getting administrative support from this University, and second, we can hopefully get some support from our own Institutional Council," he said. The law now reads that eight people appointed by tlie governor will make up an Institutional Council. The Legislative Relations Committee is trying to get this changed to include a student appointed by the governor, or the studentbody president, or possibly a student stu-dent elected by the students. As far as budget legislation goes, Dryer says "I think it is inevitable that there is going to be a tuition increase if higher education doesn't receive a substantially larger budget allocation from the governor. The governor this year has to worry about public schools and about welfare, which is in dire straits in this state, so higher education is going to lake a lower priority than it has in past years." He also gave reasons for restricting tlie student lobby to such a small number of people. He feels that personal contact and familiarity with legislators are more important im-portant factors than large and uncoordinated uncoor-dinated demonstrations of opinion. Legislators Legis-lators tend to be intimidated by marches and therefore less receptive to new ideas, Dryer said. Facts and arguments are also more consistent and persuasive when there is no group pressure involved, he added. The speaker of the House of Representatives, Repre-sentatives, attorney Lorin F. Pace, bears this out. "When anyone tries to twist your arm or push you around you develop a defense mechanism, and I think the mass march idea has a tendency to do that. I personally prefer tlie quiet approach. I can do much more by getting around and talking to oilier legislators and asking for their support, than I can by using this shotgun-blast type of tiling." Speaker Pace added these thoughts on the student lobby. "I believe that tlie student is considerably more able to be a part of the decision-making process than lie has been in the past." He added that students are now getting involved in the constructive processes of legislation and policy-making rather than just participating partici-pating once the decisions have been made. Dryer expressed some apprehension on possible legislation controlling student dissent. dis-sent. "I am hoping the legislature is far-sighted far-sighted enough and open-minded enough that they won't look at the national picture and react to that and force some type of controls or repressive legislation on Utah schools, which have been relatively free of any violent campus disruption." If legislators keep their heads and react only to the Utah situation. Dryer says, they will sec that Uiere is no need for controlling legislation in Utah. |
