Rally Set To Lobby Legislature

Participants also will focus on campaign finance reform in state elections. The rally will begin at noon in front of the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

Speakers at the rally include former UNC-Chapel Hill Student Body President Justin Young; UNC-system Association of Student Governments President Andrew Payne; Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange; and Tara Purohit, organizer of the UNC Common Cause/Democracy Matters Student Alliance for Campaign Finance Reform.

The rally is organized by UNC-CH alumnus Dennis Markatos, youth coordinator for the N.C. Common Cause Education Fund, a lobbying organization promoting open and accountable government.

Markatos said the rally is the end product of several movements to bring about change in the areas of tuition and campaign finance. He said that his organization keeps a close eye on state policy and that the rally is necessary to allow politicians to hear their constituents' voices.

"The state is not living up to its responsibilities, so we're like a watchdog organization," he said. "This is the culmination of many efforts of tuition battles and campaign finance reform."

Markatos added that the organization hopes to continue planning rallies to ensure that opinions continue to be heard.

Payne said it is important to spread the message that legislators are required to keep tuition at a reasonable rate for all students.

"We are going to tell the General Assembly that it is their constitutional responsibility to provide for an affordable college education," he said. "They shouldn't fund the budget on students' backs."

The BOG voted March 6 in favor of a systemwide 8 percent tuition increase for in-state students and a 12 percent increase for out-of-state students.

The board also voted to increase tuition on UNC-CH's campus by $300, thus raising tuition by $486 for in-state students and $1,778 for out-of-state students at the University.

All tuition increases must be approved by the General Assembly.

Payne said students need to get their message out to legislators in order to get reform. "If we can affect one legislator's mind-set, then it will have a tremendous impact," he said.

Rally organizers said they expect anywhere from 75 to 200 people to attend the protest.

Payne said he expects student support to be limited because it is expensive to recruit and transport students from around the state.

"We're going to have to expend a lot of resources to get students out there, but we have limited resources," he said. "We have to pick and choose our battles."

Purohit, a junior at UNC-CH, said she thinks the rally will have a strong impact because she already has taken measures to alert legislators about students' campaign finance concerns.

But Markatos said the overall purpose of the rally is to remind the General Assembly of its responsibility to constituents. "We need to send a clear message that it's their duty to fund a wonderful education in North Carolina."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.