With major changes occurring in California’s education budget, Lobby Corps is partnering with the California State Student Association (CSSA) to directly lobby and fight for CSULB students in Sacramento – and your opportunity to join the fight is an application away!
The California Higher Education Student Summit (CHESS) is a two-day annual conference that empowers students to become agents of change by giving them opportunities to advocate for a quality public higher education system. CSULB students will travel to Sacramento to meet with representatives, discuss issues pertinent to student success, and lobby for what’s important to students in the state.
“Funding is always on our list, but we can discuss anything: lowering the cost of textbooks, maintenance processing issues, more tenure track faculty or more auxiliary autonomy for our AS bodies—you name it,” said Dale Lendrum, who is in his second year of pursuing his master’s in communication studies and acts as chair of Lobby Corps.
The first day of the conference will include a time of planning and preparation, and the following day will entail speaking with elected officials, attending meetings and lobbying for the entirety of the day. Other CSU’s from across the state students to lobby as well.
“If you’re not at the table, you’re not on the menu,” said Lendrum. “We want to be at the table. It’s important for students to become involved because we benefit today from what students who came before us went and did—and we have a responsibility to continue that cycle.”
While Lobby Corps will be leading the fight, 20 or more students are able to apply to be a part of this experience. The application is open to all students, but the team is looking for passionate students who want to make a difference.
“CHESS offers students an experience to network with politicians, representatives and our motivated peers that we can’t get anywhere else,” said Lendrum. “It gives us an opportunity to bring our own knowledge of the system to these elected officials, giving participants a sense of empowerment, confidence and accomplishment.”
Applications are available on BeachSync and are due on November 18. For more information, visit www.asicsulb.org/gov/legislative-branch/lobby-corps.
