Stick it to ‘em

There are budget crises and there are budget catastrophes. And it appears that the university system in Arizona is nearing the catastrophe end of that spectrum. There is talk (though, at the moment, this is just talk) that the state will impose a 40% budget cut on the university system, state wide. I’m not sure how much whoever reads this knows about university budgets, but 40% cuts are not tenable. Especially since this new proposal has come after several years of smaller but still substantial and painful budget cuts.

Anyways. Decisions are going to be made soon about the nature and scope of the cuts. And there is much (well-deserved) worry about the future of the university system in light of these cuts.¹ All of which leads me to the point of this blog entry: it appears that the Arizona Student Association (the student govt. association) has plans to bus at least 1,500 students up to Phoenix to join thousands of other students state-wide to protest/demonstrate/plead on the steps of the state capitol. Yes, that’s right, there is a University-wide field trip scheduled up to Phoenix to engage in some good-ol’ civic participation. Moreover, anyone who plans to go on this trip will have a dean’s excuse for classes that day. (Here’s the information on the ASA website.)

I don’t know why, really, but this all makes me rather happy….I like the thought of all levels of the University system banding together to fight what, if passed, is going to be truly catastrophic to our schools. I can only hope that the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of students gathered at the state capitol will have an impact on the decisions. Well, I suppose I can also take a bus ride up to the capitol on Wednesday, if I want. (And, believe me, I’m tempted. (No, really.) )

1. Ahh. The wonderful effects of Janet Napolitano stepping down as governor to be replaced with a conservative republican. Especially with both branches of the legislature are also controlled by conservative republicans.↩