After talking about it for months, the Utah Student Association formally launched a Web site aimed at keeping students politically connected last week.
Located at www.utahstudents.org, the site will allow students to easily identify their representative and email him or her by clicking on the lawmaker’s picture. During the 2003 legislative session, the site will track how legislators vote on issues dealing with higher education.
“We are confident that there has never been a student lobbying tool of this magnitude,” USA President Steve Palmer said. “Students will be able to remain proactive with the Legislature without ever having to leave campus.”
In the past, student leaders have focused almost entirely on rallies at the state Capitol and their personal meetings with legislators to lobby for students.
“This state of the art Web site will unify the students of Utah as never before and give them the potential to be heard loudly. Rather than trying to bring 140,000 students to the Capitol each year we can now focus on bringing the Capitol to the students,” Palmer said.
U Student Body President Ben Lowe said, “A lot of legislators don’t always consider how students feel before they vote. If students contact them, it will force lawmakers to consider our feelings.”
Palmer believes the Web site would have significantly helped students this year when they lobbied against a bill that placed more restrictions on receiving state residency status.
Lowe hopes that next year’s USA administration will meet with student groups on an individual basis and encourage them to use the site to lobby lawmakers.
“In the future, this site could give students a tremendous amount of political power, and I hope it does,” Lowe said.