On Tuesday afternoon, in front of the Tempe campus Memorial Union, about 100 students stood in protest.
They loudly objected the Arizona Legislature’s proposal to help repair the state’s budget shortfall and cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the state university system over the next two years. They, like students at the two other Arizona universities holding analogous protests, trumpeted the importance of higher education.
They were not enough.
Granted, it is too early to be clear on the specifics of the proposed budget cuts. Legislators say they are considering a slash of at least $489 million in funding, but university officials say the proposal would strip more than $600 million from Arizona universities over the next two years. But it is not too early to begin asking questions.
How will this affect the quality of education provided in this state? Are these cuts really the last resort for solving the state’s financial crisis? Who is more accurate between the universities and the legislature when it comes to the discrepancy between a $489 million and a $600 million reduction?
Just as it is not too early to start asking questions, it is also not too early to begin vocalizing dissent to state representatives.
If you feel no incentive to get involved in the fight, note that the most recent cuts incurred by ASU led to the loss of 265 jobs across the University, higher tuition and college-specific fees and larger class sizes for the current semester. Those negative factors do not include the two schools disestablished, or the additional 500 staff positions and 200 faculty associate jobs cut by ASU in preparation for further budget cuts.
When University spokesman Virgil Renzulli said, these cuts “would be devastating to the University,” he was far from kidding. The future of ASU as we know it depends on the action taken by the legislators down in the Arizona State Capitol building.
Arizona Board of Regents Vice President Ernest Calderon warned that the cuts could spur the elimination of more than 2,000 faculty and staff positions at ASU. In a statement released by the Office of Public Affairs, University officials warned that program reductions could follow if the proposal passes.
Just like that, the New American University could burn to the ground, sustaining damage that would prove difficult to recover from. In addition to losing its up-and-coming higher-education institution, the state would stand to lose the kickbacks ASU has provided it over the years: thousands of degree-holding members of the state’s workforce, thousands of jobs created and billions of tax dollars generated.
With the state’s budget shortfall possibly reaching $3 billion by 2010, it is a given that every branch of the state needs to pitch in to recoup the losses. ASU and the other state universities are no different. However, there is a difference between carelessly making massive, overarching cuts and carefully making necessary cuts to superfluous state entities.
As benefactors of a state university system that will someday help provide us with our careers and our livelihoods, it is now our job to keep that very system alive.
