Characteristics of In-House Lobbyists in American Colleges and Universities
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Characteristics of In-House Lobbyists in American Colleges and Universities Scott Ellis Ferrin Brigham Young University, 306-G MCKB, Provo, UT 84602, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Presidents in higher education have been studied extensively, but the campus official who coordinates the university’s lobbying efforts has not been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. This article describes the backgrounds of in-house lobbyists in higher education, and explores the perceptions of in-house lobbyists and presidents on the attributes necessary for success as an in-house lobbyist. Inhouse lobbyists and presidents were interviewed at 20 universities and a national survey of in-house lobbyists was conducted. Higher Education Policy (2003) 16, 87–108. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300003 Keywords: politics; lobbying; higher education; lobbyist
Introduction An extensive body of scholarship exists on private and public interest lobbyists. However, political scientists, and those who study the administration of universities, have tended to ignore lobbyists for colleges and universities. For example, Milbrath in his seminal work in 1963 chose to study Washington lobbyists as a whole by dividing them into groups and analyzing lobbyists from each group. The groups were: ‘large labor, small labor, large farm, small farm, large trade, small trade, corporation, large citizens, service or veterans, church and humanitarian, foreign government or firm (Milbrath, 1963, 31, Table III-1).’ Noticeably absent were lobbyists for colleges and universities or for education as a whole. More recently, Heinz, Laumann, Nelson, and Salisbury in their innovative book The Hollow Core focused on four newly constructed domains in which to investigate the work of lobbyists — agriculture, energy, health, and labor. These newly constructed domains were developed to provide classifications of lobbyists that were more useful than those used by previous researchers such as Milbrath. However, they too ignored lobbyists for higher education (Heinz et al., 1993). Although scholarly investigators have tended to ignore lobbyists for colleges and universities, those who lead and direct colleges and universities have not.
Scott Ellis Ferrin In-House Lobbyists in American Colleges and Universities
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Most medium to large universities, and many smaller colleges, are greatly affected by governmental decision making, and the current proliferation of lobbying offices1 on such campuses is the result. Regarding this proliferation, one in-house lobbyist interviewed in this research noted: Well, here in this state, we andy State University (University name removed) used to be the only institutions that had, quote, lobbyists, and now every institution [in the state] does. And I think the same thing is happening all around the country and at the federal level (Interview of inhouse lobbyist N).2 Some of the reasons for this proliferation and the recognition of the powerful tool a strong lobbying office is to a higher education institution are obvious. Lobbying efforts can be a po
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