ustxtxb_obs_2005_03_18_50_00004-00000_000.pdf

CERTAINLY Hort TWAT /SNIT WU** TO AFFEcT THE MILLIONAIRE’S LOOPHOLE FIATimer5 1.16 KeeP oLiR MAN510/5 AND ASSETS. -NE SENATE -ro PA$ A TNAr MAkE IT 1W10 MORE DIFFuLT TO DEcLARit BANKRIPXY. POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE Agitation, Palpitation, Big Sensations PEOPLE POWER On her first trip to the Capitol, Victoria Neave, a student at the University of Texas at Dallas, sat down at a table across from an aide for Sen. Florence Shapiro \(Rof civic duty, Neave addressed the aide and told of her experiences as a student struggling with the repercussions of last session’s tuition de-regulation. As a result of subsequent tuition hikes, she explained, she has had to work more hours outside school and take fewer classes. “It’s so difficult,” she said. “I know my senators and rep resentatives want us to graduate faster, but if we have to work so much more it becomes difficult.” Neave came to the Capitol as part of “Legislative Mobilization Day,” a joint lobbying effort sponsored by the League of Latin American Citizens for the Advancement of Colored People marked a further strengthening of the relationship between the two most powerful minority rights groups in the state. For perhaps the first time, both organizations are speaking with one voice on a host of issues. More than 197 participants met at 8:00 in the morning for a briefing on the issues: criminal justice, tuition hikes, school finance, health care, environment, and top 10-percent admissions at state universities. Then they split into groups and headed off to legislative offices. Many, like Neave, had never been to the Capitol before, much less lobbied or met with elected officials. For many, the experience proved to be both dispiriting and empowering. “I came to try to effect change, to try to get the legislators to see that stu 4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER MARCH 18, 2005