UMD Students Bus To State Capitol For ‘Bulldog Lobbying Days’

DULUTH, Minn. — UMD students rode by bus to Minnesota’s state capitol Thursday on behalf of the university for Bulldog Lobbying Days.

Bulldog Lobbying Days is an annual student-led event where students advocate for the University’s legislative priorities. 

“In the past advocacy efforts have surrounded around funding for building projects, maintaining our current buildings, making sure they are in good conditions, funding for new buildings,” said the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life at UMD, Jeremy Lieferman. “Students have advocated for freezing tuition in the past, getting state funding that allows the university to not raise tuition.”

This year’s students planned to speak to Minnesota legislators about Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR), building restorations to current facilities, and they hope the whole group got a better sense of what lobbying is through their learned applications.

“I’ve actually been involved in student government on and off since 4th grade,” said Julia Covert, Legislator Relations Director for SGA.  “Students are obviously the future. We have a voice and we know that voice is really powerful, especially us here at UMD SGA. We can get a lot done by just using our voices.”

Bulldog Lobbying Days is a great reminder that anyone can be involved and can bring up important issues to their local and state legislators.