We had the opportunity to interview a leader from the
Associated Students of Boise State University about their current legislative campaign to defeat a bill that would allow concealed weapons on campus.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, major, etc.
My name is Cassie Sullivan and I am the Vice President of the Associated Students of Boise State University. I plan to graduate this May with a degree in economics and a minor in political science. Upon graduation I will move to Washington, D.C., where I will pursue a career and graduate studies in international development.
How did you get involved in ASBSU?
Being very involved on campus through Honors College, Speech and Debate, jobs, and clubs I founded, I had always wanted to be a part of ASBSU. I wanted to learn more about their workings so I could help improve problems I observed from the outside. I was interning at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, when elections took place last year, so unfortunately I wasn’t part of that process. They ended up having one last position to fill, Secretary of External Affairs, so I applied to be appointed. I was a successful applicant and proceeded to commit a lot of time to my role. Due to my high productivity, I was then further appointed to fill the vacant Vice President position (our president had to resign due to personal circumstances mid-term).
Tell us about the “guns on campus” bill being considered by the Idaho legislature. What would it do? Who is backing it? What would it mean for the university if it passed?
SB 1254, the guns on campus bill, is a piece of legislation introduce by an NRA lobbyist. The bill allows concealed weapon permit holders and retired law enforcement officers to bring their guns to campus. It restricts guns from the dormitories or from gatherings of over 1000 people.
All major stakeholders have expressed opposition to this bill, including the State Board of Education, University presidents and administration, student bodies, faculty, staff, and law enforcement officers. Regardless, Idaho legislators are moving forward with the bill. This demonstrates the disconnect between lawmakers and their constituents. They have politicized the issue and are no longer looking to the people to make decisions.
If it passes, the university campus security will have to undergo additional training on how to deal with weapons on campus. Signage will be implemented. And metal detectors will be installed in large assembly rooms. This is expected to cost universities six million dollars over the next three years.
Please describe the ASBSU campaign against this bill. What are all of the tactics being used? What other groups are involved?
As the ASBSU leader on this, I took the initiative to have an open forum with our student assembly. The student assembly consists of 40 appointed students that represent concentrated groups on campus. I let assembly members openly discuss the issue and had the students vote. They voted unanimously in opposition.
I took the assembly responses to our executive ASBSU team where we discussed how to move forward with the results. I then drafted an official resolution in opposition of SB 1254 on behalf of the Associated Students of BSU. We sent this resolution to senators, students, and the university administration. I also sent out a survey which was taken by 100 students and 71% opposed SB 1254. I spoke with other student governments in the state about the efforts they were taking and we all attempted to combine our best efforts. We also wrote a Letter to the Editor to our local newspaper, calling out legislators for not calling on students for their opinion on the issue.
You recently participated in a major rally against the guns bill. How did the rally go? What were your goals for the day and did you meet them?
We helped organize the rally with BSU faculty as well as an organization based in NYC, Gun Free Kids. We did so in less than 48 hours, so we really didn’t have time to set goals. I worked with members in the community to spread the word by using social media and email. We had a press release sent out and the space and podium reserved. It rained in Boise that day, and still over 300 people showed up on the capitol steps. About 20 people were there to anti-protest. The VP of the student government from the College of Western Idaho, a BSU professor, and I addressed the crowd. I have been in competitive debate for about seven years, so addressing the crowd went really well and the crowd expressed a lot of energy.
Now that the rally is over, what are the next steps in the campaign?
We attended the House State Affairs Committee and I was the first student who signed up to testify. After expressing our feelings, again, alongside all other stakeholders on the issue, the Committee members voted along party lines to send the bill to the House floor with a recommendation to pass. Our last effort has been to draft a letter to the governor and have students on campus sign the letters. We have about 800 letters signed after just today. I will then deliver the stack of signed letters to Governor Butch Otter, and inform the press that we have done so.
For other student governments that are planning a legislative campaign, what advice would you give them? What have been the biggest challenges? Biggest surprises? Lessons learned?
Don’t hold back. Put your best efforts forth, and even if the efforts fail, it will be worth it. You really gain a new perspective on politics once you’ve participated first-hand. This effort has been entirely to voice our student body’s opinions. I really grasped the power student government leaders have by realizing how much freedom I had to take initiative on an issue that concerned our campus.
Reaching out to community members is a big help. The student voice is actually really important and needed. Faculty and staff don’t have the same resources as student government officers. We really are the governing body to turn to in order to rally student forces. Doing so has brought a lot of recognition to ASBSU.
The biggest challenge has been trying to be an engaged political activist while also being a full-time, straight A student! Class schedules don’t really work with rally planning. On weeks when we have a hearing at the capitol we are in the office until midnight or later and up working again at 7 a.m. It consumes us, but it really is our duty!
The biggest surprise has been how much faculty, staff, and administration appreciate our efforts. There’s no way they could connect with students the way we do, so they are so grateful to us for doing our jobs. On the day of the Senate hearing I got a $40 parking ticket – one of my professors saw it and took it, promising to pay it. She said, “We all owe you so much more than this.” That was a good feeling.
Lessons learned: Being a lobbyist is a full-time job! It’s not something you can do half-way. If you do it half-way your results will be sloppy. But if you commit yourself fully, you are going to get a lot of opportunities most students would never have while attending university. There is a lot of power in our positions, and we have to balance using that power in the right way for the right reasons. But when you nail that, it is all so worth it.
You can read more about the guns on campus bill in these recent news stories.
You can also read the ASBSU resolution against the guns on campus bill and the letter from ASBSU to the Governor on this issue.
We had the opportunity to interview a leader from the Associated Students of Boise State University about their current legislative campaign to defeat a bill that would allow concealed weapons on campus.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, major, etc.
My name is Cassie Sullivan and I am the Vice President of the Associated Students of Boise State University. I plan to graduate this May with a degree in economics and a minor in political science. Upon graduation I will move to Washington, D.C., where I will pursue a career and graduate studies in international development.
How did you get involved in ASBSU?
Being very involved on campus through Honors College, Speech and Debate, jobs, and clubs I founded, I had always wanted to be a part of ASBSU. I wanted to learn more about their workings so I could help improve problems I observed from the outside. I was interning at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, when elections took place last year, so unfortunately I wasn’t part of that process. They ended up having one last position to fill, Secretary of External Affairs, so I applied to be appointed. I was a successful applicant and proceeded to commit a lot of time to my role. Due to my high productivity, I was then further appointed to fill the vacant Vice President position (our president had to resign due to personal circumstances mid-term).
Tell us about the “guns on campus” bill being considered by the Idaho legislature. What would it do? Who is backing it? What would it mean for the university if it passed?
SB 1254, the guns on campus bill, is a piece of legislation introduce by an NRA lobbyist. The bill allows concealed weapon permit holders and retired law enforcement officers to bring their guns to campus. It restricts guns from the dormitories or from gatherings of over 1000 people.
All major stakeholders have expressed opposition to this bill, including the State Board of Education, University presidents and administration, student bodies, faculty, staff, and law enforcement officers. Regardless, Idaho legislators are moving forward with the bill. This demonstrates the disconnect between lawmakers and their constituents. They have politicized the issue and are no longer looking to the people to make decisions.
If it passes, the university campus security will have to undergo additional training on how to deal with weapons on campus. Signage will be implemented. And metal detectors will be installed in large assembly rooms. This is expected to cost universities six million dollars over the next three years.
Please describe the ASBSU campaign against this bill. What are all of the tactics being used? What other groups are involved?
As the ASBSU leader on this, I took the initiative to have an open forum with our student assembly. The student assembly consists of 40 appointed students that represent concentrated groups on campus. I let assembly members openly discuss the issue and had the students vote. They voted unanimously in opposition.
I took the assembly responses to our executive ASBSU team where we discussed how to move forward with the results. I then drafted an official resolution in opposition of SB 1254 on behalf of the Associated Students of BSU. We sent this resolution to senators, students, and the university administration. I also sent out a survey which was taken by 100 students and 71% opposed SB 1254. I spoke with other student governments in the state about the efforts they were taking and we all attempted to combine our best efforts. We also wrote a Letter to the Editor to our local newspaper, calling out legislators for not calling on students for their opinion on the issue.
You recently participated in a major rally against the guns bill. How did the rally go? What were your goals for the day and did you meet them?
We helped organize the rally with BSU faculty as well as an organization based in NYC, Gun Free Kids. We did so in less than 48 hours, so we really didn’t have time to set goals. I worked with members in the community to spread the word by using social media and email. We had a press release sent out and the space and podium reserved. It rained in Boise that day, and still over 300 people showed up on the capitol steps. About 20 people were there to anti-protest. The VP of the student government from the College of Western Idaho, a BSU professor, and I addressed the crowd. I have been in competitive debate for about seven years, so addressing the crowd went really well and the crowd expressed a lot of energy.
Now that the rally is over, what are the next steps in the campaign?
We attended the House State Affairs Committee and I was the first student who signed up to testify. After expressing our feelings, again, alongside all other stakeholders on the issue, the Committee members voted along party lines to send the bill to the House floor with a recommendation to pass. Our last effort has been to draft a letter to the governor and have students on campus sign the letters. We have about 800 letters signed after just today. I will then deliver the stack of signed letters to Governor Butch Otter, and inform the press that we have done so.
For other student governments that are planning a legislative campaign, what advice would you give them? What have been the biggest challenges? Biggest surprises? Lessons learned?
Don’t hold back. Put your best efforts forth, and even if the efforts fail, it will be worth it. You really gain a new perspective on politics once you’ve participated first-hand. This effort has been entirely to voice our student body’s opinions. I really grasped the power student government leaders have by realizing how much freedom I had to take initiative on an issue that concerned our campus.
Reaching out to community members is a big help. The student voice is actually really important and needed. Faculty and staff don’t have the same resources as student government officers. We really are the governing body to turn to in order to rally student forces. Doing so has brought a lot of recognition to ASBSU.
The biggest challenge has been trying to be an engaged political activist while also being a full-time, straight A student! Class schedules don’t really work with rally planning. On weeks when we have a hearing at the capitol we are in the office until midnight or later and up working again at 7 a.m. It consumes us, but it really is our duty!
The biggest surprise has been how much faculty, staff, and administration appreciate our efforts. There’s no way they could connect with students the way we do, so they are so grateful to us for doing our jobs. On the day of the Senate hearing I got a $40 parking ticket – one of my professors saw it and took it, promising to pay it. She said, “We all owe you so much more than this.” That was a good feeling.
Lessons learned: Being a lobbyist is a full-time job! It’s not something you can do half-way. If you do it half-way your results will be sloppy. But if you commit yourself fully, you are going to get a lot of opportunities most students would never have while attending university. There is a lot of power in our positions, and we have to balance using that power in the right way for the right reasons. But when you nail that, it is all so worth it.
You can read more about the guns on campus bill in these recent news stories.
You can also read the ASBSU resolution against the guns on campus bill and the letter from ASBSU to the Governor on this issue.