W0294343 Mary I Am Writing

W0294343

Mary

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude for your recent letter-writing initiative on behalf of higher education in the great state of Louisiana. While I share your relative disappointment in the inability of the campaign to reach its established goal of 1,000 letters, I would still encourage you to consider the project a tremendous success nevertheless. Among other things, the joint initiative between the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Students United in Pursuit of Educational Respect (S.U.P.E.R.) network serves as an example to other representative groups and student organizations of their ability to inspire community and political participation among their members. I would, therefore, not be surprised at all if your future efforts of a similar nature are joined by other organizations and result in continually increasing participation and response rates.

In addition to serving notice to the decision-makers in our state government that the students of Southeastern Louisiana University care about the long-term future of their institution and of the quality and sufficiency of educational opportunities in the great state of Louisiana. In that regard, the fact that your project resulted in the receipt by the governor of correspondence from members of this educational community is especially important. Furthermore, I would imagine that many of those who contacted their political representatives for the first time by virtue of your project are much more likely to do so in the future than they would have been otherwise. You expressed the fundamental importance of individual community and political participation and in my opinion; you succeeded in greatly increasing the degree to which at least 515 members of this community will make the effort to express themselves in the future. In that regard, you have achieved an important accomplishment in much the same manner as those community activists who encourage unregistered voters to become registered participants in the American political process.

Personally, I would encourage you to view the response of 515 letter writers as a tremendous success that will probably go a long way toward militating effectively for some of the essential educational needs of this educational community. I would also imagine that your efforts have increased awareness of the value of FaceBook and other social network platforms for political purposes among many people who may have previously used them exclusively for recreational purposes.