A delegation of UB's top administrators, along with Student Association president Christian Oliver, joined the weekly slew of lobbyists in Albany Tuesday, in hopes of influencing legislators on issues affecting UB.
The delegation was composed of several UB officials, including President William R. Greiner, R. Nils Olsen Jr., dean of the Law School; Jeffrey Skolnick, director of the Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics; and Vice President of Governmental Affairs Janet E. Penksa.
Oliver said the delegation lobbied against budget cuts that affect education funding and also advocated a restoration of the Educational Opportunity Program.
The group also lobbied for permission to raise tuition in certain programs at the graduate level, according to Oliver.
Penksa, who ran the Appropriations Committee in the New York State Assembly for 10 years, said she found the sessions extremely effective because the delegation consolidated many of UB's state-level interests into a small group.
"Bus loads of students have an impact, and large groups of people can get attention for one issue," Penksa said. "But small all-star groups are the best."
Oliver said it was important that UB administrators made up a large part of the group. He said lobbying with student-only delegations is ineffective because legislators are less likely to take a group of students seriously.
"If you had spoken to me prior to last Tuesday, I would have said it was a waste of time," Oliver said. "But you would be hard pressed to sit through the meetings we sat through and said this was a waste."
"Each legislator was interested and informed," Oliver added. "Each pledged to do everything they could."
Mark Meyerhofer, the district manager for Assembly majority leader Paul Tokasz (D-Cheektowaga), said the UB delegation presented an effective lobby to Tokasz on Tuesday because of the different interests involved.
"If it's just students, it's more difficult," said Meyerhofer. "A combined effort, when everyone is on the same page, is much more effective than getting just one side."
"When you get the administrators, that is very effective," Meyerhofer added.
Many UB students said they were frustrated because student voices alone do not have the same strength as when they are joined by members of the administration.
"The only way students can have an impact is if they are persistent enough so that they become an annoyance to the government," said Nick McLaughlin, a sophomore music major. "You look at any other movement in history and it was just the fact that they were persistent and did not give up."
"I think that students have some power, but when combined with administrative officials they have the most power in comparison with either one alone," said Allison Woodin, a sophomore mechanical engineering major.
Dan Nilsson, a senior social sciences interdisciplinary major, doubts the effectiveness of the voice of students in Albany, due to lack of student involvement in lobbying.
"I don't think that it can be changed at the moment, unless an overwhelming amount of students voice their opinions," said Nilsson. "There is too much apathy amongst the students in this state."
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
