I would guess that just about every student on campus knows about the state Legislature’s latest move: cutting the budget of the state’s universities.

However, I would also guess that up until a few weeks ago, few students knew the name of their state legislators, let alone anything they were doing.

Being a presidential-election year, most people were concerned with the national races. Between those and the highly publicized initiatives on the ballot, it’s understandable that most people paid little attention to the arrows on the ballot for state legislators.

The state Legislature tends to fly under the radar. Though its job is nearly identical in nature to the U.S. Congress, we rarely think of it that way. We don’t typically pay attention to every new law that is passed unless it affects us directly.

That is exactly what has happened in the past few weeks. Because the Arizona constitution does not allow the state to carry a deficit for the operating budget, the Legislature must balance the budget each year.

This was extremely difficult to do because of the economic situation hurting much of the country. The state found itself in an extreme deficit with an even larger one projected for the next fiscal year.

When this happens, the Legislature needs to find areas of the state budget from which it can cut spending. Senate Appropriations Chairman Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, and House Appropriations Chairman John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, proposed a solution: a cut that would amount to a 40 percent cut in state funding for Arizona’s public universities by July.

This sent students, faculty, administrators and community members into a frenzy. The meeting for the Arizona Board of Regents last Thursday had hundreds of people present to demonstrate their outrage at the proposed cuts.

The proposed budget reductions to the University have been discussed in great detail on this page and elsewhere in The State Press. They are by no means trivial or routine. The effects could be staggering, far-reaching and long lasting.

I am as angry as the rest of us. The budget deficit is unfortunate, but the signs have been present for a long time. Holding the state universities accountable for it is irresponsible and ridiculous.

But I wonder how many people actually know the name of their state legislators. How many people paid attention when they filled the arrow on the ballot? Most do not, especially young voters.

State legislators have a powerful job. They wield the power to create state budgets, with the approval of the governor. These budgets affect our lives every day. Education, welfare and unemployment benefits, state sales tax and public-safety issues are in the hands of our elected legislatures.

We expect our elected representatives to have our best interests in mind when they make decisions. We give them enormous power and expect them to respect the trust that we place in them. The least we can do is pay attention to the people to whom we give that power and trust.

Perhaps next year, people will pay more attention to the box for their state legislators when they fill out their ballot.

Janne is a criminology and criminal justice graduate student and can be reached at janne.gaub@asu.edu.