Something has to be done. You might have read that some gangstas in Topeka currently are carrying out a massive assault on university budgets. In the wake of Gov. Bill Graves' bloodlust for severing the state higher education system, Kansas University has reacted by cutting its budget by $1.15 million this school year and is preparing to cut $3 million for next year. The other five state universities are planning to follow suit. Apparently, Kansas is coming too close to reaching the 21st century, and Graves and Co. want to put the brakes on.
Disturbed by this news, I head to KU to hear what is being done about this on the student front. I first run into Nicole Mulligan, a 19-year-old pre-med psychology major. I ask her if she knew about Gov. Graves proposed $1.5 million budget cut for KU.
"No," she says, but assures me that she's against it.
I ask her what she would be willing to do to change the situation and she shrugs her shoulders, replying, "Nothing...my parents pay for my education."
So where is the uproar? The protest? The coverage? Nowhere really. The most shocking aspect of this story is not cuts in university budgets, but the utter absence of protest on the part of students. Today's youth not only avoid reading history but refuse to take part in it. Recent studies in 1999 and 2000 by The Higher Education Research Institute from UCLA indicate that U.S. college freshmen have shown a sharply declining interest in politics and social activism during the last decade, not to mention a decrease in study time.
Talking to KU students only reinforces this notion. A conversation I have with Lissi Miller, a 19-year-old human development and family life major, is typical of the students I encounter.
Do you now about the Governor's proposed cuts?
"Nope."
Do you know about the cuts at KU?
"Nope."
The hiring freeze?
"Nope."
Now that you know, what are you willing to do?
"I don't know."
Prime cuts
It seems students have forgotten how to protest. This is not the case elsewhere. When university budgets are threatened in Latin America and Europe, it's revolution time. For example, tuition hasn't risen in Mexico since the 1940s, keeping university education practically free. In 1999, Mexican students shut down the entire national university system during a 10-month strike when calls for tuition increases were announced. Thirty years ago, even students in the Midwest would have at least burnt down a building in protest. Not so anymore.
I run into 20-year-old Scott Firestone and ask if he knows about Graves' ordered cuts.
"I saw something about cuts," he replies.
Does he know that last year the Kansas Board of Regents approved two tuition increases, with no increase in the state financial aid program?
"I don't know much about the details."
But would he do something?
"I can't really expect to do anything," he says. "I don't know. I haven't really thought much about it."
If KU students knew how the budget cuts would affect them, they might be more inclined to act. When KU loses state funding, it's forced to look for alternative sources, including tuition hikes, Coca-Cola and Nike contracts, advertising revenues and renting out departments to corporations to conduct research that raises profit margins. What's good for Coke is good for KU. Academic freedom? Truth? These things are all relative. What's important is that machine keeps pumping out students with degrees.
What happens when schools under financial pressure start acting like businesses? Look at what happened to the KU men's swimming and tennis teams, two sports that don't bring in big dollars, which were recently eliminated from the KU athletics program. Imagine philosophy and history now in a similar situation.
Jeremy Lezniak, a 20-year-old physics major, also is unaware of the situation. When informed and asked what he would do about it, he replies, "Study for my midterm ... What is there to do?"
Plan in action
After speaking with Jeremy, I suddenly have a vision a vision of 2,000 students at the capitol building in Topeka with incriminating signs, loud music and speeches on the enemies of higher education in Kansas. Two thousand protesters pointing the finger at the Beast and forcing it to respond. Besides the numerous coronaries that would follow from the shock of seeing such protest, the presence of the student masses would add force to the lobbying efforts for KU. Even more bizarre would be if KU students went to Topeka with students from other campuses. Headlines would be captured, and the legislature could be shut down.
Inspired by my vision, I make a sign and head to the capitol to fight the power. I know there are active and concerned students at KU. Perhaps I didn't encounter them on campus because they were assembling at the gates of power in Topeka.
Or perhaps not upon arrival, the student resistance is nowhere to be found. Had apathy replaced student outrage?
On the drive back to Lawrence, I search for hope, thinking despite this dispiriting picture, there is still time for action. So here's my easy recipe for student victory: noise + protest = end to budget cuts.
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