A crop of universities is claiming new real estate in Washington as part of a push to expand higher education advocacy in the nation’s capital. The University of Notre Dame, Duke University and Northwestern University are for the first time establishing offices in D.C. or hiring in-house lobbyists to be stationed here to coordinate government relations. The push comes as universities look to get more involved in a broad range of national policy issues, and the days when a member of Congress could be counted on to insert an “earmark” in the budget to help an institution have gone. Major universities have long relied on Washington law and lobbying firms to advocate for them on policy matters and research funding, but those lobbyists typically represent dozens of other clients in various industries. It is more rare for a university to hire full-time, in-house lobbyists and base them in D.C.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/universities-opening-dc-offices-hiring-in-house-lobbyists-to-raise-government-relations-profile/2012/05/25/gJQAf7Q3uU_story.html
