Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    AI and Microcredentials
Sign In
The States

In Heated State-Budget Fights, Students Strive to Be Heard

By Sarah Brown June 10, 2015
Students protested budget cuts last year at the U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, one of several states in which student activists have tried to persuade legislators to drop or moderate their plans to slash spending on higher education.
Students protested budget cuts last year at the U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, one of several states in which student activists have tried to persuade legislators to drop or moderate their plans to slash spending on higher education.Flickr

Public colleges and universities in several states once again face the prospect of sharp budget cuts this year, and students say they have an important role to play in opposing them.

Still, student activists say, mobilizing peers is at least as significant a challenge, as they might not understand how budget cuts will affect them — until the cuts occur. Other activists say politicians don’t take them seriously. Timing can also be a barrier: Many legislative sessions wrap up in the summer, when most students are no longer on the campus.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Public colleges and universities in several states once again face the prospect of sharp budget cuts this year, and students say they have an important role to play in opposing them.

Still, student activists say, mobilizing peers is at least as significant a challenge, as they might not understand how budget cuts will affect them — until the cuts occur. Other activists say politicians don’t take them seriously. Timing can also be a barrier: Many legislative sessions wrap up in the summer, when most students are no longer on the campus.

The Chronicle examined college and university systems in four states that face significant budget cuts this year — Wisconsin, Louisiana, Illinois, and Connecticut — and spoke with students and experts to gauge how students are influencing the debate, and whether their efforts to roll back the proposed cuts are paying off.

Wisconsin

Initial proposed cut: $300 million over two years (13 percent) across 26 University of Wisconsin campuses.

What the cut could mean: The flagship campus, in Madison, said it would eliminate at least 400 positions in anticipation of the budget cuts and would scale back some academic and support programs. At least six campuses in the system have offered buyouts to some faculty and staff members.

What students have done: A group called UW Students Against Education Cuts has gained nearly 1,700 members on Facebook and has spoken out on campuses and at the Legislature. The group’s leaders have tried to design activities — such as a rally between classes — to take no more than a few minutes of students’ time. Students have also spearheaded a campaign asking the system’s president, Raymond W. Cross, to either take a public stand against state leaders’ budget proposals or resign.

“By the time it affects every student, it’s too late,” said Lorenzo L. Lones, vice president of the student body on the Green Bay campus. “We’ve tried to help them understand the severity of the situation.”

Changes made to the proposed cut: Lawmakers voted to reduce the cut to $250 million in late May. They have also moved to reduce the faculty’s role in shared governance and to remove tenure protections from state law, prompting an outcry from faculty leaders. The system’s Board of Regents voted late last month to move such tenure protections to system policy, though many faculty members have said that tenure would still be weakened if the budget plan was adopted.

Important date: June 30, the last day of the fiscal year, is the deadline for the state’s budget to be adopted.

Have students made a difference? A number of students have worked passionately to oppose the cuts, but Mr. Lones admitted that he doesn’t think many Wisconsin politicians care what students think. David J. Vanness, an associate professor of population health sciences on the Madison campus, said he’d like to see more students rallying against the threats to tenure and shared governance, “but it’s summer, and they’re not here.”

Louisiana

Initial proposed cut: $567 million over one year (78 percent) across four higher-education systems totaling 28 campuses.

ADVERTISEMENT

What the cut could mean: In late April, F. King Alexander, president of the Louisiana State University system, raised the possibility that his institutions would declare financial exigency — a designation that would allow campuses to fire tenured faculty members and restructure their finances. Some observers suggested that smaller campuses would have to close.

What students have done: A coalition of student groups has organized rallies throughout the spring, including a march to the Legislature in April that attracted about 1,200 attendees.

Andrew Mahtook, student-body president at LSU’s flagship, in Baton Rouge, said that at least one member of the student government had been at the Legislature each day of the session. He said students had attended committee meetings and had met personally with legislators, including Rep. Charles E. Kleckley, a Republican who is speaker of the State House of Representatives, and the chief of staff to Gov. Bobby Jindal, also a Republican. And next week, LSU’s student government plans to release a report card that grades each state lawmaker on higher-education issues.

Changes made to the proposed cut: The State Senate approved a budget on Monday that would allocate $955.3 million to higher education, keeping state support nearly flat. Senators made some other changes in the budget passed last month by the House, which will now consider the bill again.

ADVERTISEMENT

Important date: June 11 is the last day of the legislative session, though the governor could veto the budget and force lawmakers to call a special session.

Have students made a difference? Mr. Mahtook said that, in his experience, lawmakers were happy to meet with students and took them seriously. Albert L. Samuels, a political-science professor at Southern University at Baton Rouge, called Mr. Alexander’s mention of financial exigency a “game-changer” that “sent a chill up lawmakers’ spine.” But he said students’ activism had helped.

Illinois

Initial proposed cut: $387 million over one year (31.5 percent) across 12 university campuses and 48 community colleges.

What the cut could mean: The University of Illinois president, Timothy L. Killeen, said last week that some administrators would be laid off and some retiring employees wouldn’t be replaced. Randy J. Dunn, president of the Southern Illinois University system, has said that tuition would have to double systemwide.

ADVERTISEMENT

What students have done: University of Illinois students aren’t as politically engaged as are students in some other states, said Mitch Dickey, the student-body president at the system’s flagship, in Urbana-Champaign. Instead, students have shared personal stories on a Tumblr page called “Cuts Mean Us.” Each testimonial includes a student and a quotation about how the cuts would affect him or her.

Mr. Dickey said students had also written nearly 1,000 letters to lawmakers. He and a dozen other members of the student government have been more directly involved. He’s testified before members of the State House of Representatives and attended legislative hearings alongside the state’s college and university presidents.

Changes made to the proposed cut: Democrats, who control the legislature, have proposed to reduce the cut to 6.5 percent over all, but their proposal would still leave a $3-billion gap in the state’s budget. Mr. Killeen said last month that he expected the final cut to universities to be less severe than the original proposal.

Important date: June 30 marks the end of the fiscal year and the new budget deadline, as lawmakers extended the session past its official end, on May 31.

ADVERTISEMENT

Have students made a difference? “In my conversations with lawmakers, it sounded like we were very effective in committee hearings,” Mr. Dickey said. Nicholas C. Burbules, a professor of education policy at the Urbana-Champaign campus, said the university’s government-relations staff had told him that students were the institution’s best representatives.

Connecticut

Initial proposed cut: University of Connecticut officials have said that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal would leave the institution with a nearly $40-million deficit; a $22-million cut was proposed for the system of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities.

What the cut could mean: Susan Herbst, UConn’s president, has said that the cuts would force her to lay off faculty and staff members and to curb degree programs. She has also warned that the university would have to postpone its 10-year plan to increase capacity by more than 6,500 students. The state-colleges system will increase tuition on all campuses. One community college made plans to close a branch campus.

What students have done: About 60 to 80 students attended a legislative hearing on the budget in late February, and several students testified to lawmakers. If students couldn’t lobby legislators personally, they wrote notes to lawmakers, and other students delivered them.

ADVERTISEMENT

“There was a sustained effort throughout the legislative session,” said Adam J. Kuegler, external-affairs chair of UConn’s student government. “Students were really willing to give their time.”

Community-college students in Meriden, Conn., also protested the closing of the branch campus there.

Changes made to the proposed cut: In the budget passed last week by the legislature, UConn would receive $10.9 million more in state money than it received last year, but the university would still face an $18.3-million deficit. The state-colleges system would take an $8.2-million hit. Lawmakers voted separately to keep the community-college campus in Meriden open.

Important date: June 20 is the deadline for Mr. Malloy, a Democrat, to sign or veto the legislature’s budget. He said last week that he was unlikely to veto it.

Have students made a difference? “You can tell that the legislators want to hear from the students,” not the administrators, said Jeremy T. Teitelbaum, dean of UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He said that while UConn students were generally not engaged with the budget process, the students who testified were highly articulate and well prepared.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
SarahBrown2024
About the Author
Sarah Brown
Sarah Brown is The Chronicle’s news editor. Follow her on Twitter @Brown_e_Points, or email her at sarah.brown@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Photo illustration showing Santa Ono seated, places small in the corner of a dark space
'Unrelentingly Sad'
Santa Ono Wanted a Presidency. He Became a Pariah.
Illustration of a rushing crowd carrying HSI letters
Seeking precedent
Funding for Hispanic-Serving Institutions Is Discriminatory and Unconstitutional, Lawsuit Argues
Photo-based illustration of scissors cutting through paper that is a photo of an idyllic liberal arts college campus on one side and money on the other
Finance
Small Colleges Are Banding Together Against a Higher Endowment Tax. This Is Why.
Pano Kanelos, founding president of the U. of Austin.
Q&A
One Year In, What Has ‘the Anti-Harvard’ University Accomplished?

From The Review

Photo- and type-based illustration depicting the acronym AAUP with the second A as the arrow of a compass and facing not north but southeast.
The Review | Essay
The Unraveling of the AAUP
By Matthew W. Finkin
Photo-based illustration of the Capitol building dome propped on a stick attached to a string, like a trap.
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Can’t Trust the Federal Government. What Now?
By Brian Rosenberg
Illustration of an unequal sign in black on a white background
The Review | Essay
What Is Replacing DEI? Racism.
By Richard Amesbury

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: a Global Leadership Perspective
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin