Sacramento State students went to the Capitol on Tuesday, March 29 to speak with legislators to advocate for an additional $101 million in funding for the California State University system.

The five Sac State delegates included students representing the College Assistant Migrant Program and the Dreamer Resource Center on campus. The students met with legislators such as Senators Jim Nielsen and Richard Pan, as well as Assemblymembers Jim Cooper and Kevin McCarty.

According to Melissa Bardo, president of Associated Students, Inc. at Sac State, the student delegates went to the Capitol to ask for $111 million additional dollars for the CSU system to be used in four areas:

• Increasing access to classes
• Improving infrastructure and funding maintenance projects
• Increasing funding for student success programs to improve graduation rates
• Increasing compensation for faculty

Bardo said the pay dispute between the CFA and the CSU was brought up a few times, by President Robert Nelsen and some of the legislators during Tuesday’s talks at the Capitol.

“Faculty compensation was not the highlight of the discussion,” Bardo said, “but it was talked about.”

To coincide with this year’s advocacy effort at the Capitol, Sac State’s Office of Public Affairs and Advocacy created a new Twitter profile. Elisa Smith, director of news and communications at Sac State, said the @HornetAdvocacy page was created to highlight the university’s advocacy efforts in one easy-to-find place.

“Going forward, we hope to use it to engage students, legislators and the public on issues as varied as the state budget, financial aid reforms and community partnerships,” Smith said.

According to Smith and Nathan Dietrich, interim director of state & federal relations for the university, the idea for the @HornetAdvocacy Twitter profile has been in the works for a while.

The day the @HornetAdvocacy page was created, a fact-finding report on the ongoing pay dispute between the California Faculty Association and the CSU was made public. The CFA held a press conference about it on Monday, and members of Students for Quality Education protested on Sac State campus afterwards. Dietrich said it was purely coincidence that the Twitter account went live on the same day as the other events.

“I can tell you, unequivocally, the Twitter page has nothing to do with the CFA contract issue,” Dietrich said. “They’re completely separate. That is all done out of Long Beach, and doesn’t have anything to do with what we’re doing here on campus.”

This mirrors what President Nelsen said in an earlier interview.

“The negotiations are not taking place on our campus,” Nelsen said. “They’re taking place in Long Beach. So that really is out of our hands.”

Bardo said that whatever additional funding the CSU does get will benefit everyone in the CSU system. She said that last year they were successful in their advocacy efforts, asking for and eventually receiving an additional $97 million in funding for the CSU system.

“They’re particularly fond of Sac State because it’s right down the street, and because some of them come from the CSU system,” Bardo said. “I definitely think the day was successful. Most of the legislators we met are already really good partners with the CSU.”