Jack Wylie has been elected director of legislative affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado.

Aaron “Jack” Wylie, president of Metro State’s Student Government Assembly (SGA), has been elected to serve as director of legislative affairs for the Associated Students of Colorado (ASC).

““Essentially I’ll be the senior lobbyist for the organization and for all state college students,” said Wylie, who was instrumental in ASC’s formation by serving on a working group that formulated its basic structure and leadership.

Among the duties Wylie says his new position will assume is making sure that ASC has a strong presence at both the legislature and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE), organizing the group’s lobbying efforts and building strong relationships with students and legislators.

“The main goal is for ASC to have a voice in the higher-education budget,” Wylie said “We want to be involved in the discussion of what to do when Referendum C expires in 2009, which was a big topic at the recent higher-education summit with Gov. Ritter, David Skaggs and all the college presidents.”

One project that Wylie already has begun tackling is the process for choosing the non-voting student representative on the CCHE board. “The ASC Board of Directors would like to elect that student,” he said. “We’ve already talked with CCHE Executive Director David Skaggs about it. And we will be sending students to every CCHE meeting.”

Currently there are 12 state higher-education institutions that belong to ASC. Wylie said the goal is to have 20 member institutions by the end of summer and perhaps most of the state’s more than 30 colleges by the end of the 2007-08 academic year. As director of legislative affairs, Wylie will be a voting member the ASC board’s executive committee.

Wylie said that one barrier ASC is confronting is its funding. “We’re hoping that CU, CSU and Metro State will be major funders. I’m hoping that SGA will come through with $10,000.”