ISU Ambassadors are going full force with their lobbying efforts this year and are trying to recruit interested students.

Jessica Bruning, director of ISU Ambassadors and junior in political science, said they are encouraging any interested student groups to get involved with training day. This year’s training day will be at 7 p.m. Thursday in Carver 001.

“Sen. [Herman] Quirmbach, Rep. [Lisa] Heddens, and UNI’s legislative liaison Joe Murphy will all be speaking and providing tips on lobbying as well as giving us some insight as to where the universities stand in terms of funding and the political climate we will be dealing with,” Bruning said.

Lobbying primarily takes place in February and March, and the group would like to make sure that it has a strong group to represent Iowa State.

The main project being worked on is the Regents’ Day at the Capitol. Students from the University of Northern Iowa, University of Iowa and Iowa State join and go to the Capitol with a common goal in mind:

“Usually something along the lines of supporting regent universities, and lobby the legislators on this topic,” Bruning said. “We invite student organizations to attend to show the legislators that their support is going to worthwhile projects that make an impact on the community, state, nation and world.”

This year, Bruning said, the group has been working a lot with student debt. The state of Iowa has some of the highest debt in the nation. Ambassadors are able to formulate an argument and present it to the legislature.

Ambassadors have already been connecting with new legislators by writing letters introducing themselves. When spring session starts, they may have an opportunity to sit in on educational committee meetings in order to understand what they are up against.

“When we actually go to lobby, we request to speak to a certain legislator at the door to the chambers,” Bruning said, “and if they are willing to speak with us, they will come out of the chamber, speak with us for a few minutes while we make our case, and hopefully it will make some impact on them.”

The Ambassadors cannot closely measure success because there are so many different factors in play when the decision is actually made, but one thing Ambassadors do know is:

“Sen. Quirmbach has promised to submit to provide tax exemption to textbooks bought at bookstores in Iowa, so if that passes, we can count that as a plus,” Bruning said. “We are also working to get the state work-study program restarted, and we lobby for overall support of the university.”

Ambassadors encourage students to bring issues they feel are appropriate causes for which to lobby. Students can contact Bruning at [email protected] if an issue deserves their attention or if any groups would like to become involved.