 EDUCAUSE POLICY recently asked other higher education associations, what is the best way for higher education IT staff to engage in federal policy issues? First thing I would do is find out if your campus has a federal relations representative and do you know that person? Call them up, tell them you have an interest in federal relations that they may have a relationship with EDUCAUSE and sit down, meet that person and find out what kind of role you can play with them. Not every campus has a very active government relations area. Sometimes it is combined with the general counsel's office or the public affairs office but it's important that they be involved in EDUCAUSE to the extent that that's available to them and to keep up with issues on their own as well as with others on their campus. I think it takes a combination about the technical knowledge that the IT folks bring along with the knowledge of the possible, the structure of the language if you will, of the policy process because I think there's a really good opportunity to combine forces with both sides bringing a perspective and knowledge to them that it really takes to develop a successful policy approach. At AAU we have an organization called the Council on Federal Relations. Those are the government relations of people that have been designated by the presidents and chancellors to work with the AAU Washington office staff on these issues and in effect we work as a team, the Council on Government Relations, the CFR, Meet, Council on Federal Relations, Meet once a month here in this office and they're highly professionalized, effective people. They know the campus issues, they know the government issues, they have close connections with their congressional delegations and to have IT people work with them is going to give the best outcome for the institution itself. I think it's to partner and to listen with other members of their campus. It's to understand what some of the pressure points are for all of these other campus partners and to build consensus around what those issues and policies are in order to then work collaboratively in Washington to have a voice in the conversation but to do it with all members of the campus community such as research libraries, the federal relations reps, the offices of research and the like. In my experience there are few issues that any one function in an organization can effectively advocate and that's particularly true for colleges and universities. Our strength, our ability to shape policy is greatly enhanced when we work together across functions within the institution and across associations here in Washington and so when EDUCAUS and NACUBO can partner on an issue or you can partner with other organizations who represent other constituencies on campus, we present a stronger message, a more unified voice and as a result the possibility of success at least in my experience greatly increases. That's excellent advice. In summary, first, partner with your campus government relations staff if they exist. Second, communicate and collaborate across campus departments and functions. And third, leverage national associations such as EDUCAUS, NACUBO and others. Contact the EDUCAUS policy staff in Washington DC if you have any questions about how you can become more engaged in IT policy or if there are policy issues that you would like your association staff to pursue.