A small group of students gathered in the law quad to hear Republican Senate hopeful talk about more open Cornyn discuss the need to amend the FOIA.

The event was organized by law professor Linda Eades. She said Cornyn wanted to speak to students about the need to make the FOIA more in-line with the Texas Open Records Act.

Students present at the event thought his discussion was important. President of the Student Bar Association Jonathan Musser said it is vital that public officials want us to have a more open society.

“We have trouble in government when our government officials don’t want us to know what is going on in government and its proceedings,” he said.

Cornyn said the public has a right to know and Texas law keeps the records open.

“[FOIA] puts a burden on the party trying to withhold information,” he said. “It is critical to enforce open-government laws. ”

Cornyn has been recognized as a leader in open government, as Texas’ attorney general. He has been active in promoting enforcement of open records requests filed under state law.

Under Cornyn, more than 6,000 open record rulings in 2001 were issued. That is an increase in 1,000 over the previous year and almost double the number of letter rulings issued in 1998.

He also reduced the turnaround time for responding to requests for open records rulings. Almost half the 6,149 letter rulings in 2001 were completed within 20 working days of receipt of request. Almost all issues were issued within 45 working days.

He also created a statewide, toll-free open government hotline, 1-877-OPEN-TEX, to answer the questions of elected officials, the media and the public regarding open government issues. This has allowed him to respond to over 8,500 inquires about open records and open meetings on the hotline.

Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk is running against Cornyn to succeed Phil Gramm, who is retiring after three terms.

Republican students hoping to persuade others to vote for Cornyn distributed campaign signs in the quad.

One Cornyn supporter, Natasha Nasser, said she urged Cornyn to come to the SMU campus so students could get the opportunity to meet Cornyn.

“I want the students to get to know him like I have. Students at SMU are apathetic about politics. I love politics and I love Cornyn,” the SMU graduate said. “I just hope SMU students will get out and vote.”

Other students thought it would show Cornyn that he is supported by college-age men and women.

“I want him to see that young people are conservative. There’s nothing unique about hearing that college students are democrats. But college republicans are something exciting and new,” said College Republican National Committee-Texas Field Representative Carla Weiss.