UT Student Government attended the Big 12 on the Hill Conference in Washington D.C. from Feb. 26 to March 1 to advocate directly to lawmakers for improvements to mental health resources on campuses and college affordability. 

Five representatives from SG attended the conference, including president Leland Murphy and vice president Isabel Agbassi. The conference is an opportunity for the student governments of the Big 12 universities, such as UT and Baylor University, to come together to bring student needs to the attention of national legislators. The conference included the ten Big 12 schools, as well as universities about to join the Big 12 such as the University of Houston. 

The student leaders met with legislators and their aides over two days to advocate for mental health resources and college affordability, the primary issues the schools collectively chose to address, Agbassi said.

“There’s great strength in numbers, and so the fact that all these schools from all these states came together on these issues was really powerful,” Agbassi said. “That resonated with the people we talked to.”

Murphy said they advocated for the Enhancing Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Through Campus Planning Act that would strengthen access to mental health resources at higher education institutions.

“It’s a big priority because we’re still coming off of (COVID-19), and all the damages to mental health that (it) brought,” Murphy said. “Students especially face increased levels of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.”

Murphy said they also pushed for Pell Grant expansion to support college affordability, asking Congress to preserve the $400 increase to the grant they added during the pandemic and to adjust Pell Grant awards with inflation.

“I know a number of people who are recipients of the Pell Grants and are finding that it no longer meets their entire need for tuition,” said Libby McTaggart, co-director of Hook the Vote, a civic engagement organization within SG. “If we can convince legislators and decision-makers that these needs are important and urgent, then we can see an improvement within student populations.”

Agbassi said SG provided lawmakers with information, bill numbers, statistics and testimonials to make their case for change.

“All of that would help them to make sure that when bills — good or bad — come across their desks, they’re able to know what the college student perspective is,” Agbassi said. “A lot of times that can be missing from legislation that affects higher education.”

Some of the legislators the SG representatives met with represent the Austin area and were elected in part by University students, such as U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

“It’s important to put pressure on them and hold them accountable for the position they’ve earned and make sure that they have an ear to the people that are working so hard and that went to the polls in order to select them to lead,” McTaggart said.

Murphy said this year’s Big 12 on the Hill Conference is the last one UT student leaders will attend. Instead, they will attend the Southeastern Conference’s equivalent legislative conference as the University prepares to join the new organization.

“I hope that representatives take our voices seriously, because although we are young people, we are on the ground,” McTaggart said. “We are feeling the impacts of these decisions greatly.”