Politicos with fat wallets and strong livers. Shady figures in three-piece suits, stroking senators in smoke-filled back rooms, paying and drinking their agendas into law.

Such is the stereotype of the Washington lobbyist. But it is a stereotype, observers say, that does not match the rigors and complexities of modern politicking.

A little wheedling might have gone a long way at one time, but no longer, says James R. Collins '72-'73, senior vice president at Washington D.C. lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates.

"That little shmooze at the end of the day is not enough anymore," Collins says.

Collins is what is known in the business as a "hired gun": his firm contracts its services to various institutions and businesses, pleading their causes on Capitol Hill. Currently he lobbies for Boston University, Tufts University and the New England College of Optometry.

On the Hill and in state houses and city halls across the nation, lobbyists, like Collins and his colleagues, are making the case for higher education, fighting for a range of causes from student aid to taxation regulation to research funding.

The Changing Face of Lobbying

According to Collins, new media technology and an increase in public scrutiny have changed the face of lobbying in the past decade, taking it out of the back room and onto the front lines.

"There's a whole process of education that acts as a backdrop to the ultimate act of voting," he says, speaking of those vital Congressional floor votes that decide each issue's outcome.

It is this influencing and "education" that many lobbyists inside and outside university life say is the first step to successfully influencing Congressional policy.

"One of the major problems is that the government seems to view education first as a privilege, and they don't view it in egalitarian terms," says James B. King, Northeastern's senior vice president for government and community affairs.

For example, King says, recent legislation by Gov. William F. Weld '66 will make it difficult for Massachusetts colleges and universities to obtain the scholarship money they need.

"It was viewed as just another expense rather than an investment," King says. "For a number of people, if those monies aren't available, there's just no way for them to get an education."

Lobbyists these days need to play hardball, King says, relying not on flattery, but on convincing testimonials and hard facts. "One of the great myths is that everyone's for sale for a tuna fish sandwich," Northeastern's vice president says.

Also, Collins says, lobbyists have to fight the perception that universities are nothing more than big businesses.