Political Affairs 2008-2009

Met with Tammy Lee Berwanger the VCU Staff Senate President and Susan Beavers VCU Staff Senate Vice President, about the possible addition of a Staff Appreciation Day to the VCU Calendar. This would entail that the Faculty and Staff would be acknowledged for a single day for all their work and support during the school year. We are still in debate as to whether this should be an event or and observance. Hope to discuss this on Monday @ the Cabinet Meeting because its really up to the students to decide what they want to invest their time in. We are shooting for Staff Appreciation Day to be be between April 9th and April 24th. Comments and Criticism Welcome.

We have finalized the Lobbying Agenda adopted by the Monroe Campus Student Government. The Legislative Committee united with the Political Affairs Team is diligently working to create training dates for students to attend before lobbying. On Monday, January 26, 2009 Virginia 21 will be having their Advocacy Day. Any interested students wanting to lobby on that day can email me for further information.

After talking to the Barnes and Noble staff we have been granted an opportunity to receive a discounts on selective merchandise within the store. Once we are ready to move forward in our efforts of creating gift baskets for the delegates during the General Assembly session than we can go to the bookstore to purchase various items. Our lobbying date is still being coordinated with between the Political Affairs Team and the Legislative Committee. Currently we are looking at either January 27, 2009 or January 29, 2009.

Week of wrote:One of the many positive results from our meeting is working with Mr. Smith and his staff to produce a lobbying information session for VCU students. This would be a formal avenue of educating students on the Do's and Dont's concerning the General Assembly.

Has this session happened yet?

Democracy 101 has proven to be successful as far as student interest, but vacant spaces in the Richmond locality are extremely limited. This week Chief of Staff Morgan McDowell and I met with the VCU Assistant Vice President of Governmental Relations Mark Smith to discuss critical issues concerning lobbying day. One of the many positive results from our meeting is working with Mr. Smith and his staff to produce a lobbying information session for VCU students. This would be a formal avenue of educating students on the Do's and Dont's concerning the General Assembly. Overall we are continuing to work hard with Virginia 21 to produce a successful Democracy 101 campaign and look forward to meeting with the SGA legislative team to finalize our agenda for lobbying day.

THis week we were able to get fifty individuals to sign up for Democracy 101. Advertisement consisted of going to various student organization meetings and also placing flyers up around campus. An official email was sent out to the entire SGA concerning Democracy 101 and Johnathan Ward has committed to passing the email on to the Activities Programming Board. The mandatory information sessions will be held by the Election office and applicants will be notified via telephone and email.

This week we attended the Democracy Rebooted Conference which went very well. Attendees were able to gain knowledge in the field of lobbying. Governor Kaine also gave a great keynote speech on how we can continue to achieve success both on campus and in the community. Democracy 101 campaign kicks off October 6, 2008.

We have successfully communicated with Emily Webb and began planning the Democracy 101 program for the Richmond area. Jibran has also been gracious enough to set aside some time to assist us in announcing the program to VCU students at the Presidential Round Table. Both Sunjay and Jenny have proved to be most helpful throughout this entire process in coordinating with student organization leaders for their potential support.

Political Affairs 2008-2009