UNC students head to Washington to lobby for student interests

Students from around the Atlantic Coast Conference are gathering in Washington, D.C., today to represent their schools’ interests directly to members of Congress.

Three UNC students — chosen from student government’s executive and legislative branches and the Campus Y — will join students from other universities to travel north for the ACC Student Educational Advocacy Trip, which will last until Tuesday.

Freshman Casey Collins, special assistant to the student body president for the Association of Student Governments and a student going on the trip, said the purpose of the trip is to advocate to Congress about the importance of federal funding in higher education.

“It’s important that we’re really passionate about getting financial aid and funding for research,” Collins said. “The overall goal of our trip is accessibility.”

Junior Paige Comparato, speaker of Student Congress and another student on the trip, said the students’ main goal will be to focus on the importance of research and work-study grants.

She said she is looking forward to the opportunity to work with other schools in the ACC.

“I’m excited to collaborate with the other schools and see what their big issues are on campus,” Comparato said.

Of those other schools going, the UNC representatives have been working closest with the representatives from N.C. State University, Comparato said.

Joshua Privette, a senior from N.C. State and the executive consultant for the executive branch of N.C. State’s student government, said he wants to highlight the importance of undergraduate research.

“Funding for undergraduate research is constantly being cut by the federal government,” he said.

“The bigger idea is just to have a bigger united student presence in D.C. and to show Congress that students are very invested,” Kaplan said.

Student attendees said the trip also is giving them a chance to advocate for change on a larger scale.

“I think this will be a great chance for us to actually break out of the campus,” Comparato said. “It’ll be a great way to link the student congress and the federal government — I think it’ll help us fulfill one of our roles of advocacy and go beyond campus life.”

Comparato said in light of upcoming tuition talks, the trip will provide valuable experience for the students who are attending.

Kaplan said he is looking forward to representing UNC.

“Meeting student leaders from other universities, talking about their parallel student organizations and having the opportunity to be on Capitol Hill is exciting,” he said.

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