The fall semester goes to show that while students, faculty, and staff are not the arbiters of WashU actions or policy, our opinions on them carry weight.

The University employs professional lobbyists at the federal, state, and local levels, and since last spring, has included student volunteers in the effort through Bears Caucus, a student lobbying group created by WashU’s Office of Government & Community Relations.

As a small group of graduate students listened in the audience, MD/PhD student Jamie Moffa explained how to convey the importance of their research to local and state legislators.

The students were gathered — both in McDonnell Hall and at WashU’s medical campus — as part of a nationwide day of action through the organization Labor for Higher Education to phone bank in opposition to recent proposed funding cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH).