UNC students lobby on Capitol Hill

Three UNC students are visiting Washington, D.C., to lobby legislators and participate in the third annual ACC student advocacy trip this week.

UNC was represented by senior Raquel Dominguez, junior Diana Dayal and freshman Andrew Brennen during lobbying sessions today and Monday.

Dominguez, the undergraduate student attorney general, said the purpose of the event was to interact with Congress to lobby for student aid, loan funding and research funding. The federal government plays a crucial role in supporting collegiate research and maintaining student access to affordable education, she said.

Brennen said he hoped the event would help add another perspective by allowing students to share their stories.

“We’re not going to pretend to have any kind of huge impact on the political system,” he said. “There are many more players. Part of the point here is to get students in front of the people that are going to be making decisions and making sure they’re listening to student voices.”

He said the advocacy day should not be the end of lobbying efforts.

Dominguez said the event is a great opportunity for the student representatives to network with Congress and other student leaders. Brennen said it was rewarding to hear stories from students of other schools and to discuss possible areas for collaboration.

“UNC is not the only school that’s facing some of these problems or has students that are impacted by these programs,” Brennen said. “N.C. State has a huge number of students benefiting from Federal Pell Grant programs and other federal aid programs like that.”

The 11 representatives from the three participating North Carolina schools — UNC, N.C. State University and Wake Forest University — were divided into two teams Monday. Dominguez said the two teams combined to meet with the offices of eight North Carolina congressmen and congresswomen.

The representatives plan to meet today with the offices of Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis from North Carolina, as well as Rep. Virginia Foxx from North Carolina’s 5th District.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to be exposed to D.C., to see what it’s like, to walk door-to-door and relate to different members of Congress and their staff,” said Beau Mills, director of the UNC Office of Federal Affairs.

UNC participated in the first annual advocacy trip in 2013, but didn’t go in 2014. Georgia Institute of Technology led the organizational effort for this trip, and every ACC school except for Duke University is participating, Mills said.

Mills said the Office of Student Affairs was responsible for choosing UNC’s student representatives.

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