Legislative Action Days
The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students was founded in 1986 in response to the federal government eliminating the tax-exempt status of graduate stipends. As such, a core focus of NAGPS’s mission is to advocate on behalf of graduate-professional students to policy makers at the federal level. We also equip and empower our members to advocate to policymakers at the state and local levels as well. In support of this mission, NAGPS hosts it Advocacy Summit and Legislative Action Days (LAD) twice per year in the nation’s capitol, Washington DC, during the spring and fall semesters. Attendees arrive on Friday and leave on Tuesday and the topics addressed at LAD are derived from our legislative platform and advocacy platform.
Advocacy Training
The first part of LAD consists of two days (Saturday and Sunday) of advocacy training. Attendees are exposed to training sessions where they learn about the legislative issues NAGPS will address during the LAD. These sessions are led by NAGPS board members and members of its advocacy committees, as well as guests from our partner organizations in Washington DC such as the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), and The Association of American of Universities (AAU). Attendees also receive advocacy training where they are taught the do’s and dont’s of congressional office visits.
Hill Visits
On Monday and Tuesday LAD attendees attend their scheduled congressional office visits. In concert with the office visits, NAGPS also creates opportunities for its attendees to meet with key committee staff on topics we will advocate on. In previous LAD’s we have met with the House Ed and Workforce Committee, the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (Help) Committee, the House Committee on Science Space and Technology, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the Small Business Administration, to name a few.
See Action from previous LADs below
