Rosie Jones, a social relations junior and member of ASMSU, was one of many students holding signs during the Higher Education – Higher Priority rally Friday at the Capital. The rally was organized by ASMSU.
—About 40 students from Michigan’s public universities gathered Friday at the Capitol to push state legislators to make higher education funding a top priority in the next two years.
ASMSU Academic Assembly President Justin Epstein said college students today are finding themselves in the wake of an education funding crisis and can no longer allow higher education to take a backseat on the state’s budget.
In 1980, about 50 percent of MSU’s budget was funded from state appropriations, Epstein said. Now, that number is only 20 percent, he added.
“Funding higher education is not only an investment in ourselves, but an investment in Michigan’s future,” Epstein said.
Speakers at the rally included state Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, state Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Brenda Lawrence and Nick Kowalski, an MSU student running for Ingham County Commissioner.
Meadows, who wore an ASMSU T-shirt during the rally, said education is the No. 1 priority in his district.
In East Lansing and other college towns around the state, education is a top industry, he said.
Lawrence echoed Meadow’s sentiments, adding that she and Virg Bernero, the democratic gubernatorial candidate, realize that economic development must be tied to education. The state will not be the economic engine it could be without a greater investment in Michigan’s 15 public universities, she said.
“There was a time in history where a high school education could get you a middle-class job,” Lawrence said. “That doesn’t exist anymore.”
International relations and journalism junior Joseph Khalil said he wished the rally had received a larger turnout, but was proud ASMSU was making it a priority to make sure the student voice was heard at the Capitol.
So far, Khalil hasn’t heard much about education in the campaigns of the candidates up for election in November, he said.
“I’m glad that ASMSU is taking steps to do things like this,” Khalil said
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