State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney introduces bill to eliminate taxes on textbooks

(As originally published in the Cleveland Stater student newspaper printed edition)

By Sheena Holland

                                                 

Photo provided by the office of Rep. Sweeney

           

                                                        

Going to college can be a daunting experience – between the tuition, tests and pressures to succeed, many students step away, or worse, think they cannot attend at all.

But State Representative Bride Rose Sweeney, 27, a graduate of John Carroll University several years ago, knows the plight of a typical college student, and is pushing for changes to make their lives at least a little bit easier.

Rep. Sweeney (D-Cleveland) along with Rep. Niraj Antani (R-Miamisburg) recently introduced a bipartisan bill to eliminate sales taxes on college textbooks.

Rep. Sweeney said that she was excited about the recent successful elimination of the pink tax (the tax on feminine hygiene products) and it made herself and other legislators continue considering what other demographics could benefit from certain tax breaks.

“This came, which I think is really cool, with another state legislator Naraj Antani. We're two of the youngest people in the general assembly and he is very, very far right,” Rep. Sweeney said. “And it's cool that, being some of the youngest people that are recent graduates from college, [we’re] coming together and saying, ‘okay, what can we do?’ We did just get more money in the budget to hopefully lower costs of tuition, but there's other things we can do.”

She said that she feels the responsibility to speak on behalf of college students and address the student debt crisis rests on the younger members of the general assembly, so introducing the bill to eliminate taxes on textbooks is both a good way to raise awareness and put some money back in the pockets of students.

Reps. Sweeney and Antani have looked over what the raw numbers would look like if the bill goes through, and Sweeney said that she thinks the benefit for students outweighs the relatively minimal hit the state budget would take from cutting that tax.

“We have a $70 billion budget, so this is a few million dollars. So, I think we just keep educating and putting it in those contexts,” Rep. Sweeney said. “You know, unfortunately the average age of the general assembly is – this is just me ballparking, around 50 years old. And so, the people that are in there [are those] who've been making these decisions on higher education. I’ve talked to people and it's just not a priority for them – and I ask about the student loan crisis, and I've had actual members of the general assembly say it's not a crisis. Like it's not a real thing.”

Rep. Sweeney said that she knows how challenging it can be for anyone to join the workforce without a degree, since many entry level jobs require one, so she commends students who brave the hurdles that college poses to reach their goals. She said she wants to contribute any way she can to lessen those barriers, even if it is just helping students save some money whenever they buy a textbook.

“It's a very small break, but you know, when you look at it, it's millions of dollars that the state … taxes on these books, when I think it could be better used in the hands of students.”

CAB's Foam Drop -- Sept. 19 2019

CAB Kicks Off Fall with a Foam Drop

By Sheena Holland                                                                                                     

A typical Thursday evening at Cleveland State consists of students strolling to night classes, having dinner at Chili’s, or trying to catch up on homework that has piled up over the week – or occasionally getting blasted by foam cannons.

The front lawn of the Music and Communication Building transformed into a dance floor made of bubbles on Sept. 19 as the Campus Activities Board hosted Cleveland State’s first Foam Drop event.

The Foam Drop had many elements of a traditional dance party, complete with an energetic DJ on a stage, a fog machine and heavy-duty speakers playing classic pop hits that could be heard well down Euclid Avenue. However, the defining feature of this event was that students who came near the stage were up to their knees – and sometimes higher – in foam bubbles.

CAB’s Viking After Dark Chair Ally Pavey and her assistant David Richeson-Orr orchestrated the event. A company called Glowrage caught their eye during CAB’s annual trip to the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) convention, Pavey said.

Glowrage also does paint parties along with foam ones, but Pavey wanted to bring an event to campus that was different than anything CAB had done before.

“We have had sort of similar things on campus such as Holi, which is the powder party, and a couple years ago we did a paint party, but I had never seen something like foam,” Pavey said. “I thought it’d be something a little bit different, and it kind of looked fun from the picture. So, I wanted to give it a try and see how students responded to it.”

According to Pavey, they responded quite well. She had hit her goal in attendance before the sun even went down.

“My goal was around 200, so I'm at my goal, and hoping to even exceed it,” she said.

CAB also provided Mitchell’s ice cream for attendees and set up various other games around the lawn such as inflatable Twister, giant Jenga, and Connect Four.

 Photos by Sheena Holland: