More than 100 Eastern Michigan University students boarded
buses and headed for Lansing Sept. 26 to let state lawmakers
know how they feel about the higher education budget.
Students from 13 of Michigan's 15 state universities were
scheduled to attend a rally on the Capitol steps, calling
for only the second increase in state funding for higher
education in the last eight years.
The event, sponsored by the Student Association
of Michigan and the United States Student Association,
was expected to draw more than a thousand student activists
from around the state. Prior to the 2:30 p.m. rally, students
met individually with lawmakers to ask for a restoration
of funds taken from the state universities in May and for
the Legislature to make good on Gov. Granholm's call for
a 2.5 percent funding increase for higher education.
"Moving Michigan's economy forward will require new investments
in essential areas like higher education," said Freman
Hendrix, EMU's chief government relations officer. "EMU
students (went) to Lansing to deliver a vital message
that our state will not remain competitive if we do not
begin to invest in our people again."
Michigan currently ranks 44th in per student appropriations
and 47th in growth in per student appropriations. Since
2002, state funding for higher education has declined 8
percent at a time when neighboring states like Ohio, Iowa,
Indiana, and Minnesota have all approved double digit increases
in post-secondary funding.
