Student Organizing Jobs and Internships
Several of our friends and partners are now hiring. If you're looking for a job or internship in the student organizing field, these openings may be of interest to you.
Fellowship for Affordable Higher Education
U.S. PIRG is hiring a Fellow to work on their Higher Education Project. This is a two-year organizing position to push back against cuts to the federal higher education budget, get predatory banking products off campus, and work to introduce free, online textbooks into classrooms. This position is based in Washington, D.C., or Boston, MA.Read more
SUNY Students Organize Statewide Advocacy Effort
We recently spoke with Marc Cohen, the Senior Director of External Relations for the SUNY Student Assembly, about their recent lobby day at the state capitol.
Please tell us your name and current position with the SUNY Student Assembly. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Marc Cohen. I’m a Junior at the University at Albany studying Political Science and Philosophy, and the Senior Director of External Relations for the SUNY Student Assembly. I also serve the University at Albany Student Association as Vice President.Read more
Save Student Aid: Issue Update
In response to our recent action alert, more than 70 student government presidents signed a letter to Congress urging them to oppose cuts to student aid programs. Thank you to everyone who took action!
Unfortunately, the U.S. House and Senate still chose to move forward with these cuts.
The cuts in the House's version of the budget are especially harsh and include:
- $90 billion from Pell Grants, which support nine million low-income students;
- $34 billion from in-school interest subsidies, which protect students from paying interest on their student loans while they're still in school; and
- $27 billion from programs like income-based repayment and public service loan forgiveness that provide a safety net for graduates with student debt.
However, these cuts are a long way from becoming final - and we're going to fight them at every single turn.Read more
Student Government Presidents: Save Student Aid!
The U.S. House and Senate will vote during the week of March 23rd on budget proposals that would cut $150 billion in student aid funding over the next ten years!
These budget resolutions would slash funding for Pell Grants, increase interest rates on student loans, and make other cuts that would make higher education more expensive for millions of students. (Learn more here.)
Student government presidents: please sign the letter below to Congress urging them to oppose these budget cuts.
This letter is sponsored by U.S. PIRG and the United States Student Association.
UPDATE: We submitted all of your letters to Congress, so we're no longer collecting new letters at this time. Thank you to everyone who signed on!
Pittsburgh Student Governments Work in Citywide Coalition
We recently spoke with Dave Gau, the President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council (PSGC). The PSGC is a coalition of student governments from eleven colleges in the Pittsburgh area. Together, they advocate on local issues that affect students.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Dave Gau, President of the Pittsburgh Student Government Council and also President of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate and Professional Student Government. I graduated from Pitt in 2011 with a BPhil in Bioengineering and BS in Math and Economics. I am currently a third-year PhD student in Bioengineering at Pitt. I am originally from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and also went abroad from 2011-2012 to work in Australia with a Whitaker Fellowship and Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship prior to returning to work on my PhD.Read more
Nevada Students Lobby in Carson City
We recently talked with Elias Benjelloun, the Student Body President of the Consolidated Students of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV CSUN). He spoke to us about a recent lobby day attended by Nevada students from across the state.
Please tell us your name and current position in student government. Please also tell us a little bit about who you are: your year, area of study, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Elias Benjelloun and I serve as the undergraduate Student Body President of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I represent the 23,000 undergraduates at UNLV and oversee a $1.2 million annual budget. I am graduating this semester with my degree in biology and plan on pursuing graduate programs here at UNLV where I can continue serving my local communities.Read more
Louisiana State University Campaigns Against Budget Cuts
Louisiana students are currently facing deep proposed cuts to the state's higher education budget. Bradley Guin, a student leader from the Louisiana State University Student Government, told us about their efforts to prevent these cuts this spring.
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, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Bradley Guin and I serve as the State Capitol Advisor for the LSU Student Government. I essentially serve as the liaison between LSU SG and state leaders and legislators on matters affecting LSU and higher education. I’m currently a senior studying political science, and I will be attending law school next fall.Read more
WWU Student Gets #Lobbylicious in Olympia
We recently had the opportunity to talk with Heather Heffelmire, the Legislative Liaison for the Associated Students of Western Washington University (ASWWU). In that position, she is spending the winter quarter in Olympia as a full-time lobbyist working on behalf of the students at WWU. She's been posting online about the experience under the hashtag #Lobbylicious. You can read her blog posts about lobbying here, here, here, and here.Read more
University of Iowa Crowdsources Project Ideas
We recently had the opportunity to interview a student leader from the University of Iowa Student Government about Iowa Ideas, their innovative new program to get the student body to share ideas about campus problems and how to fix them.
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, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Jeffrey Ding and I am the Vice President of the University of Iowa Student Government. I am a junior studying political science, economics, and Chinese. I was born in Shanghai, China, and moved to the United States when I was three.
How did you get involved in UISG?
I was chosen as a freshman senator (five spots are reserved for first-years), so I was able to get involved right away.
Please describe Iowa Ideas. What does it do?
Iowa Ideas is a crowd-sourced idea generation site, which functions as a "Reddit" for initiatives to improve the University of Iowa. Anyone affiliated with the University of Iowa can contribute ideas to the site and vote up other ideas they think would be good to implement.Read more
Duke Uses Research to Be More Effective
The Duke Student Government (DSG) recently launched a new program, the DSG Research Unit, to study campus issues and help the DSG make more informed decisions on campus policies. We interviewed Abhi Sanka, the DSG Executive Vice President, to find out more about the research program.
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, any other background info you’d like to share.
My name is Abhi Sanka and I am the current Executive Vice President of Duke Student Government. As Executive Vice President, my responsibility is to broadly oversee week-to-week management of Student Government’s operations, and preside over our Student Government Senate. I am a Junior at Duke, pursuing a major in Public Policy and a Certificate in Genome Sciences and Policy. This past summer I interned at the Institute of Medicine on the Roundtable for Translating Genomic Based Research into Health, and my academic passions lie in politics, health policy, and personalized medicine.Read more