Students at the Downtown campus participated in a rally against the state Senate’s proposed university budget cuts Wednesday afternoon in hopes of spreading awareness of the issue.
Alicia Cybulski, office manager of the Arizona Students’ Association, and Christian Vasquez, president of ASASUD, collected “pledge cards” and video testimonials from students who would be affected by the proposed cuts.
On March 16, the state Senate approved a proposal that seeks to cut $235 million in university funding for the state of Arizona, including $107 million from ASU.
The Senate’s proposal calls for a $65 million addition to the $170 million cut previously proposed by Gov. Jan Brewer.
“Today is the day,” Cybulski said. “State legislatures have this misconception that students don’t pay that much for tuition, when in reality, some students are working two jobs to pay off student loans.”
Students filled out brightly colored cards in support of the rally, pledging to attend the next rally and to “stand strong for education.” Students also created a paper chain that detailed how much their degrees could cost them should the proposal go into effect. Approximately 134 students on the Downtown campus participated in the event.
In an email, Vasquez explained the purpose of the pledge cards.
“We created them to get students interested and educated about what’s going on with the budget,” he said. “We are going to give them to legislators and the Governor to let them know students stand strong for education and for legislators to balance the budget without dismantling education.”
Cybulski plans to drop off the pledge cards at the Arizona House of Representatives sometime within the next few days as a demonstration of public opposition to the budget cuts.
Cybulski and Vasquez also recorded video testimonials from students explaining how the proposed cuts could affect their financial situations. The videos will be uploaded on YouTube in hopes of causing change and gaining support.
“The YouTube videos are a way of building more momentum and visibility on the issue and (of) getting the word out beyond campus,” Cybulski said.
Lance Rivera-Toledo, a health sciences major, said he agrees with the rally’s principles.
“I support the Downtown Phoenix campus in their effort to rally against the budget cuts,” Rivera-Toledo said. “I’m here for myself and my peers because we can’t afford to have tuition go up.”
ASASUD and ASA hope to conduct another rally against the proposed budget cuts sometime next week.
Contact the reporter at rachel.l.cohen@asu.edu
