James Redmond
News Reporter

Cuts to higher education funding aren’t popular around Mesa State, but there are people trying to do something about these cuts. Associated Student Government will hold a rally to protest state budget cuts on higher education at noon on Feb. 17 in the Maverick Pavilion.
“All students are welcome,” ASG President Ryan Hendershot said. “We want everybody and their brother there.”
MSC is not the only college that will speak out against state higher education funding cuts on this day. “Every single major institution in the state, in terms of higher education, will be holding some kind of press conference or rally,” said ASG Vice President Nick Lopez.
According to Hendershot, with all the problems that state higher education budget cuts are creating, ASG is looking for student input. “We’d like any student out there to offer up solutions to this issue, this challenge. We welcome that with open arms because that’s something we don’t hear from other student governments around the state,” Hendershot said at an ASG meeting.
Students agree with ASG and voiced their own concerns. “I think it’s pretty stupid,” said Travis Mulkey, an exercise science major. “It’s ridiculous. Our government is saying education is the core of our government, education is the core of our country, and then they try to kill education at the same time.”
Other students are more concerned with the funding itself. “It’s a bummer. It means I get less funding,” MSC student Alex Engel said. “I’m already struggling to pay as it is.”
After hearing about the rally, student Jake Hester supported the ASG decision to speak out against the budget cuts. “I think it’s a good idea,” he said. “It’s expressing the concerns of the students so our voice is actually heard somewhere.”
According to Hendershot, ASG is working hard to make the student rally as professional as possible.
“(That way) the media takes us seriously, so the students take us seriously, so the administration and faculty and other students across the state know what Mesa State stands for, what we as a student government stand for,” Hendershot said in an ASG meeting. “We’re not going to just sit idly by while budgets continually get cut.”
u
jredmond@mesastate.edu