UVa Day at the General Assembly

Last February, the Legislative Affairs Committee visited the General Assembly in Richmond to talk to legislators about issues facing UVA students. The committee met with Senator Creigh Deeds, Senator Phillip Puckett, Delegate Bud Phillips, Delegate Jimmie Massie, Delegate David Toscano, Delegate Rob Bell, and Delegate David Englin. We also distributed letters expressing our concerns to the entire Assembly.

In our letter and in our meetings with the legislators, we asked legislators to keep students in mind when voting on the Governor’s budget bill. Students are already seeing the effects of previous budget cuts, in the reduced number of courses offered each semester, increased class and discussion sizes, and the loss of the Spanish minor. We also addressed House Bills 732 and 1026, which proposed increasing the percentage of in-state students at the University of Virginia. In the context of today’s economy, these bills greatly threaten student life by taking away the tuition the University receives from out-of-state students, which is a significant source of funding. Additionally, this threshold would decrease the diversity of the student community. Both bills failed in committee.

The legislators were receptive to our concerns and appreciated seeing UVA students at the Capitol. Delegate Toscano of Charlottesville was especially pleased to speak with us, assured us that he was on our side, and thanked us for mentioning his bill HJ 152 (commending the UVA Men’s Soccer team) in our letter. After a successful trip to Richmond this year, we look forward to another UVA Day in 2011!