Undergrads to lobby Gov. in Harrisburg

Two University students are recruiting undergraduates for a trip to Harrisburg to lobby Gov. Robert Casey and state legislators to restore full funding to the University for next year. College junior David Rose and College senior Jonathan Colton plan to make the trip late this month with at least 50 University students as part of a grassroots movement to change Casey's mind about slashing all state funding to the University. The organizers said last night that The Philadelphia Inquirer and several television stations are eager to cover the rally. Casey, in last month's budget announcement to the State Assembly, proposed cutting over $41 million in funding requested by the University. "The purpose clear and simple is to make sure the students of the University of Pennsylvania don't get screwed," Rose said, adding that students contributed $72 million to the state's economy last year. Rose and Colton asked the Undergraduate Assembly to help fund the planned trip to the Capitol, but the student government instead only passed a motion tentatively endorsing the plan. If the UA will not fund the trip, Rose said he will raise the money himself instead of asking students to pay for the trip. "I'll go to the administration, faculty, non-profit organizations and corporations," Rose said. "Students are taxpayers, the University is a taxpayer, and work study students are taxpayers," Rose said. "Wouldn't it be nice for us to get a little bit of this money that we pay in taxes back?" While Colton has just five students who have committed to the trip so far, he said he has only been working on the plan for three days. Colton said last night the trip to Harrisburg will provide a means of personalizing the proposed budget cut. He said Casey views the cuts as affecting a big institution, but said students are ultimately hurt when the University passes along the impact of the cuts in the form of a higher tuition. Colton stressed that the students should not simply ask the University to keep tuition levels the same, but that students should put forth the effort by going to Harrisburg and lobbying state officials. "We want to target the governor and the General Assembly," Colton said, adding that state governments complained when President Reagan cut federal funding to states, but now the governor has turned around and done the same thing to students. Rose said that each bus will cost about $550 and the trip will be scheduled for sometime at the end of this month. "Right now we are in the process of setting up meetings with the governor and the speaker of the house," Rose said. "But we have no illusions they're going to speak to us if they have a political alternative." "If it means that we have to sing 'The Red and Blue' on the steps of the Capitol [building in order to get a meeting with Casey], then so be it," Rose said.

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