The TSU Student Government Blog

Storm the Capitol…or “That One Day It Was Really, Really Cold”

Henri Queuille, a noteable French Radical politician–with an utterly unpronouncable last name–once said of politics: “It is the art of postponing decisions until they are no longer relevant.” 

Most people can figure out where their political allegiances lie: some believe that President Clinton’s policy of debt reduction was responsible for the boom of the 1990s, while others think that Reaganomics deserves the credit.  Many, many more don’t especially care who was responsible for the 8-year Dow Jones block party.  Politics, after all, isn’t everyone’s particular cup of tea, and there is something to be said for foregoing the cup of tea on certain occasions: at social events, during family dinner, or, most of interest to this posting, on 14-degree, blizzard-like mornings when you’d much rather stay in bed.

Last Wednesday, February 6th, however, 8 intrepid Truman adventurers threw off their warm blankets and slogged through the gusting snow at the happy hour of 6am to reach their home for the day: a charter bus parked illegally in Circle Drive.  The bus and it’s driver, a genial man named Jon, were waiting to take the students to Jefferson City for a day of lobbying State Senators and Representatives, an annual event known as “Storm the Capitol.”  On the day’s agenda were 2 main issues: reducing textbook costs and securing a vote for Truman’s Student Representative to the Board of Governors.

Bagels, however, took immediate priority once the trip went underway, understandable as, at 6:30 in the morning, making a decision between spreading low-fat or regular strawberry cream cheese on your blueberry-infused pastry requires a great deal of thought.  Breakfast was followed shortly thereafter by a rousing hour-long game of politically-incorrect Catchphrase, which saw “Team: Better Than You” beat “Team: Estrogen” just as the bus rolled into JC.  Once again, Jon found a suitable space to illegally park the bus, and the day was underfoot.

Throughout the course of the day, the 8 students and their “advisor-for-a-day,” Sujit Chembukkar, met with 21 Senators, Representatives, and representatives of the Representatives, discussing why, exactly, they were bringing forward these issues.  Most legislators had heard about the Student Vote on the BOG issue one too many times: the current Senate Bill 873, which would give the Student Representative a vote is, approximately, the 279,435th incarnation of such legislation.  To give some background, currently the University is governed by a Board of 10 members, 3 of whom are non-voting.  The student representative is one of these three members, though from a student perspective the fact that they represent the source of 31.2% of University funding should allow them to have a vote in decisions made regarding the usage and oversight of those funds.  Most legislators don’t share this view: from one’s perspective, a student needs to be “at least 50 years old” before they can expect and appreciate such a privilege.

Most Senators and Representatives the students visited with had not heard of Textbook Transparency, however, and this proved to be the most exciting topic discussed.  Textbook Transparency laws require publishing companies to make available the price, history of revisions, and information about the availability and pricing of any alternative or supplemental material to prospective buyers when pitching a sale.  It also requires “bundled” items, such as several books in one packet, to be made available “unbundled,” and also directs that–where technologically possible–”an approved public institution of higher education” will allow students to use any undisbursed financial aid to buy these books in their bookstores.  Just 3 states so far have passed Textbook Transparency legislation (Washington, California and Connecticut), but if all the political planets align Missouri will join their ranks this year: the Missouri Textbook Transparency Bill, House Bill 2048, was introduced into legislation shortly after Truman students lobbied for its creation in Jeff City.

If Henri Queuille was right about politics, a decision about this may come soon: this issue will continue to be relevant for as long as there are students, and especially for as long as there are students willing to speak up.  Many thanks go out to those dedicated individuals who made this event and this legislation possible; there is now a big, beautiful bill on Capitol Hill that, rumor has it, is apparently the new “it” thing for Representatives to get their names on.  Cheers!

EA