Student governments provide an important backbone to our coalition by engaging their campus on the issue of Open Access and connecting students to the broader movement. In addition, student governments play a crucial role in our lobby efforts by reaching out to their local Senators and Congress people when action alerts are issued. Join the growing number of student governments advocating for Open Access – every campus makes a real difference.

Here’s what you can do:

Join the Coalition

• Sign the Student Statement on the Right to Research.
• If you need to pass a resolution to endorse the Student Statement, customize our standard student resolution.

Advocate Nationally

• When action alerts are issued, issue a statement on behalf of your student government. Contact legislators to communicate your view of the issue. (Join the SPARC Advocacy email list to receive alerts).

Advocate on Campus

• Include information about Open Access in your newsletter or mailing list.
• Organize events on campus to educate your members and peers about Open Access.
• Raise awareness of high journal prices with Overprice Tags.
• Use the posters and other swag in the student outreach toolkit to engage students on your campus.
• Ask your university's administration to adopt policies that support Open Access.

If you fund student research grants...

• If you fund research grants for students, adopt a policy encouraging grant recipients to make their research Open Access.
• If you fund student conferences that have research poster sessions or research paper sessions, adopt a policy encouraging funded conferences to make those posters and papers Open Access.

Get your peers involved

• If your student government is a member of state or national organizations, networks, or consortia, ask them to support Open Access.