Stand up: ‘Education is at stake’
Some state legislators and regents said they are beginning to wonder if students care about the budget cuts because few have made their voices heard. Photo illustration by David Sizemore, Nevada Sagebrush.
Watch a video about the marching band’s efforts to raise money.
Student voice in budget cuts a necessity
In the midst of cutting $31 million from the University of Nevada, Reno budget — cuts that directly affect education — students have been silent. Protestors haven’t trekked across the governor’s lawn, and students haven’t filled legislators’ and regents’ mailboxes with letters.
“My perception is that the response has been tepid, not very obvious,” said Richard Siegel, an emeritus UNR political science professor. “From my perspective, if large numbers show up, (legislators) will pay attention. This is the time for it to happen. I don’t think students should be passive. Their education is at stake.”
University officials, regents and legislators said if students don’t speak up, the cuts could be even more detrimental. Several state programs are fighting for money and if one group is more visibly against cuts, that group will get more money, they said.
“By the time that (students) wake up and realize that they are subject to a lot of cuts, it is going to be too late,” Regent Steve Sisolak said. “If the students don’t care, how do you expect the taxpayer to care? I don’t think it’s asking too much for the students to get involved.”
Chris Romley, a 22-year-old nutrition major, said he cares about the budget cuts. He said he is mostly upset he has to pay for tutoring — a service he needs because his ADHD makes it harder for him to learn and pay attention.
“I don’t have time,” Romley said about stating his opinions to higher-ups. “And I’m not educated in that realm enough to even know where to start.”
Write letters to Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislators and regents
- Discuss the importance of education.
- Provide personal stories of how the cuts impact student life.
- Suggest solutions.
- Be well informed.
- Be concise.
“My concern is that if the students don’t speak up of the specific impacts to the budget cuts, those impacts will be lost in the shuffle,” Assemblyman David Bobzien (D-Washoe) said. “It’s not enough to say you’re against the cuts. You have to provide alternative ways to deal with them.”
Communicate with the student government
- Associated Students of the University of Nevada President Eli Reilly has regular meetings with lobbyists for higher education and university officials.
- It is ASUN’s job to represent students in these discussions.
- Legislators and regents look to ASUN for input.
- ASUN can answer students’ questions about budget details.
“People need to know the full facts,” Reilly said. “Do your research on it.”
UNR Provost Marc Johnson said it is helpful if students share their opinions with the student government because input will be more organized and cohesive if it comes from one place.
Protest
“It clearly has to be mobilized if it has to be meaningful,” Siegel, a UNR professor and president of the ACLU, said. “I personally reject the idea that legislators say they don’t like to have students or other constituencies reach them in large numbers either through a demonstration or picketing, because that’s democracy.”
UNR Professor Joe Calbrese said he is surprised students aren’t “up in arms about this.”
Both Calabrese and Siegel said they talk about the budget situation in their classes and the discussion is often one-sided. They cited that students are either uneducated or don’t realize the extent of the cuts as possible reasons that students aren’t demonstrating.
Reilly said he doesn’t think protesting would be effective.
“I think that a lot of people want a real fire and brimstone response to this, and to me it just doesn’t work like that,” he said.
Regent Howard Rosenberg agreed that there are better ways to take a stance.
“I don’t think it will help anybody to go down and demonstrate,” he said. “I think you guys need to get together with the student government.”
Don’t waste resources
- Only sign up for classes you plan on staying enrolled in. If a student signs up for a class, then withdraws, then UNR may have hired too many faculty.
- Do well in classes, so retakes aren’t necessary. If students take a class twice, UNR has to pay a professor to teach the class to them twice.
- Don’t waste water and electricity on campus to cut down on utility costs.
Officials disagree on the single most effective way to be proactive during the budget cuts, but all say students have a vital role in the process.
“UNR students shoulder a special burden for all college students around the state,” Bobzien said. “UNLV students can’t come up to Carson City during the week but UNR students can. They’re speaking for all of Nevada students.”
Although many students have yet to speak out about the cuts, some student groups are creating solutions as programs are axed from the budget.
ASUN’s executive branch is working to organize student academic clubs as tutors in a free tutoring program set to launch next semester. Student Organizations as Academic Resources (SOAR) was proposed as an alternative program for students after the tutoring center started charging and the writing and math centers were cut.
“The purpose is to provide clubs and organizations with a service opportunity that meets one of the challenges our campus is facing,” Clubs and Organizations Director Jason Entsminger said.
Another student organization, the Pride of the Sierra, UNR’s marching band, is one of the most visible groups in providing budget cut solutions.
The marching band has raised money through raffles, sponsorships and silent auctions in an effort to keep operating.
“The reason the marching band is so visible is that the members care about it,” drum major Zeb Bellon said.
Whether the rest of the student body cares about the future of their education is something many officials are beginning to question.
“I’m disappointed and sad that they seem not to care,” Sisolak said. “When they can’t get into classes or tuition goes up 30 or 40 percent, its going to be too late. It’s going be too late and we won’t be able to fix it.”
Jessica Fryman can be reached at jfryman@nevadasagebrush.com.
Contact Information
Legislative Building
401 S. Carson St.
Carson City, NV 89701
775-684-6800Assemblyman David Bobzien
1605 Wesley Drive
Reno, NV 89503
775-745-5027
dbobzien@asm.state.nv.usSen. William Raggio
P.O. Box 281
Reno, NV 89504
775-786-5000
wraggio@sen.state.nv.usChancellor Jim Rogers
or the Board of Regents
2601 Enterprise Road
Reno, NV 89512
775-784-4901 (Chancellor)
775-784-4958 (Regents)Provost Marc Johnson
Clark Administration building
775-784-1740
marc.johnson@unr.eduASUN President Eli Reilly
The Joe Crowley Student Union, Third floor
775-784-6589
president@asun.unr.eduASUN Senate Speaker
Priscilla Acosta
third floor of The Joe
775-784-6589
speaker@asun.unr.eduFor a complete list of:
- State legislators, visit www.leg.state.nv.us.
- Board of Regents, visit system.nevada.edu.
- Student government representatives, visit asun.unr.edu.
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on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 2:12 am and is filed under ASUN, Academics, Administration, Budget Crisis, News, News CP, Student Life.
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November 18th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
So who has the yarbles to organize a march on the Governor’s Mansion?
November 19th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
i just sent this to the editor but it is because of this article.
Dear Nick
I picked up this week’s sagebrush and within a few minutes I was able to understand your overall message this week. You want the students to protest the budget cuts (heck you told students where to get permits for large protests) and raise tuition rates on certain groups so that others can benefit from it. Heck if I wanted to do that, I would have put the same “fair” articles where you put them. But Mr. Coltrain you, just like the lobbyist and lawmakers in this great state are creating the wrong arguments for stopping the reduction in funding for our beloved university.
First, picking on 1 percent of the universities population and making innuendoes that they are getting special treatment, is just dumb. One percent of the universities population will not solve to problem (unless we can charge the 240 students 7 million dollars for tuition). I would have picked on the $5 ASUN fee. If you get rid of that, 20% of the general fund cut would be gone. I say this because in my two years at UNR, I have seen no benefit of the ASUN but my three free t-shirts.
But really, what is yet to be understood by you, the President of the ASUN, the President of the University, is the right argument to the state legislature. You cannot argue that education is our future, that school will become too expensive, and other basic arguments. You have to go deeper. I believe that if you decrease budgets for education, in 10 years it will have a direct impact on the tax revenue for the state. Buy a certain percentage, maybe only by 3 or 4 percent, we will see reduction of taxes collected by the state.
It is simple, if you lose students and teachers to other schools, the workforce in the state will become less specialized. This will cause reductions of average pay, and lower tax revenue total for the state. This will cause the state to take the casino taxes that pay for our education, and use that money for other programs because there will be less sales tax and property taxes.
You shouldn’t send swarms of students protesting to the governor’s mansion. Send only me. I will go and I will have one sign, “do you want me to make 35k a year or 75k a year, don’t cut my budget.” Understanding that reduction in education directly affects future tax revenues is the way to play the game, no sending 200 journalists from the sagebrush that cannot tell opinion from news.
Michael
Student