The University of Utah senior says many legislators think teenagers to 30-year-olds are apathetic about politics.

"They find us less important, and they overlook us," he said. "They just make decisions for us and expect us to abide by them."

But Spillman, 23, said if there's apathy among the young it's because they don't think their voice matters in government.

In an effort to inform lawmakers about bills that would affect young adults, Spillman and some 40 people, mostly U. students, marched Monday through downtown to the Capital.

Under a gray sky, the group gathered in front of the City-County Building before the march, carrying homemade signs that read: "No on HB85" and "GSA's (Gay Student Alliances) are OKAY!" People also passed out sheets with information about how students could contact their legislators.

Spillman, a member of the U.'s Lesbian and Gay Student Union and Asian American Student Association, said he was marching to support the approval of HB90 in the 2006 Utah legislative session. The hate crimes bill would repeal the current law and allow judges and the state Board of Pardons and Parole to give longer sentences to offenders who pick victims based on their membership to any group. HB90 is scheduled to be heard in the Utah House Judiciary Committee today.

"We need to send a message that we will protect every citizen in this state," Spillman said, wearing colored plastic buttons with bill numbers on them.

The march was organized in under two weeks by the Student Activism Movement, a new coalition of several U. student groups, including the Progressive Student and Youth Council, College Democrats of Utah and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan. More than 29,000 students are enrolled at the university, according to school records.

Christina Coloroso is a U. political science junior and president of the College Democrats of Utah. She said she is most concerned about the approval of HB7, which would repeal a law that allows undocumented students who graduate from Utah high schools to pay in-state tuition at any public university or college. Last year, 169 undocumented students benefited from state tuition rates, according to state records.

"We think everyone who wants a college education should be able to have one," Coloroso said as she passed out a fact sheet with information on various bills.

Carlos Cueva, a U. medical laboratory sciences senior and university student recruiter, said he works with undocumented high school students who are depending on paying in-state tuition to earn a college degree. He said he marched Monday to advocate for those students who are working hard to better themselves.

"These kids see their parents doing manual labor and not getting anywhere," said Cueva, who moved from Mexico to Utah with his family nine years ago. "They want something for themselves. They know that through education they can accomplish that."

For Denise Casta–eda, a U. communications freshman, lobbying in the Capitol hallways was frustrating.

She didn't mind that she was one of a handful of Latinos in a sea of mostly white men in suits. But she said it was annoying when some of them just ignored her or walked away talking on cell phones.

"They say comments that make you feel little," Casta–eda said. "Sometimes, I don't understand how people can be in leadership positions and not have an open mind."

Still, she wasn't intimidated and plans to return to the Capitol. "I have the right to voice my opinion for my family, my people, my students," Casta–eda said.