Editor’s note: This story contains language some may consider offensive.
NEW ORLEANS — At the hillside amphitheater at the University of New Orleans on Wednesday, hundreds of students took action against budget cuts.
On stage at UNO, local hip-hop artist Truth Universal performed in front of a backdrop of banners reading “Jindal’s Helicopter Rides Cost More than My Education,” “Stop Cutting, Start Investing” and “Who Dat Fighting Against Budget Cuts? WE DAT!”
Students flocked to the field Wednesday as part of the Block Party for Higher Education, an event hosted by the Save UNO Coalition and UNO’s Student Government.
The event, publicized via Facebook, on-campus fliers and posters and professor encouragement, was aimed at getting students involved in preparation for a Nov. 10 march on the State Capitol.
A series of tables stretched across the ground in front of the stage, each one providing students a different way to get involved.
About 50 students dotted the hillside at any given time. Some sat whispering to each other in the shade of the trees, waving their hands for emphasis as they talked.
A steady trickle of students flowed across the grounds throughout the two-hour protest, signing petitions, e-mailing legislators and grabbing posters and leaflets.
At UNO, the rapper railed against governors and corporations, eliciting cheers from the scattered crowds.
At one table, students signed 10-foot-long rolls of plastic, their sprawling John Hancocks in bold, multicolored marker. They would eventually fill two of them front and back.
At another table, students knelt on the grass with two laptops, furiously typing e-mails aimed straight at their local legislators. At yet another table, students bent over a list of legislators’ phone numbers, typing them into their cell phones.
One long-haired faculty member was handing out bumper stickers that said “Save UNO from Jindal” and “Cutting Higher Education, Courtesy of the Louisiana Legislature.”
The rapper started chanting, “Resist, Rebel. Resist, Rebel.” A few students started bobbing their hands up and down to the beat.
“Why aren’t we seeing people getting involved at LSU?” demanded Nathalie Tejeda, an anthropology junior at UNO. “What are you guys doing to get riled up?”
Tejeda sat on the hillside, arms folded. She was watching what went on at the stage, but like many students sitting there, she wasn’t getting excited.
She was staring at the stage or perhaps past it.
She was getting angry.
Students at the protest Wednesday said they’ve already started seeing the results of cuts.
“Walk around, check this place out,” Tejeda said tersely. “There’s no chalk on the chalkboards. There’s no soap in the bathrooms. They keep talking about turning off the air-conditioning after hours, so students with late classes are going to be sweating or freezing.”
Nancy Trace, psychology junior, was sitting next to her, and she was just as angry.
“I’m just pissed. It’s my education they’re fucking with, and I’m pissed about it.”
UNO could face another cut as high as 35 percent — or $20 million — for the next fiscal year.
On stage, Laura Manning, a Save UNO organizer of the event, was getting students riled up.
“We want to make it clear that this is a political event,” she said to the crowd. “You are here right now because you give a damn about your future and the future of the community.”
Manning said the effort to save higher education spans more than just UNO’s campus.
“I’m tired of thinking of it as us versus LSU,” she said. “It’s important to remember we’re all in the same system. We’re all in this together.”
The issue of LSU and its role in the cuts is a tender one on UNO’s campus, especially in the wake of Chancellor Tim Ryan’s firing at the hands of LSU System President John Lombardi. Some students refuse to answer questions about the LSU-Baton Rouge campus at all — unless it was in obscenities.
“Your chancellor says, ‘I will support you. We will get through this,'” said Bill Bracey, a UNO accounting junior. “And then he gets chopped — that’s pretty scary for us.”
Protest organizers distributed posters of a harsh black and white Lombardi silhouette over the words “Be Young and Shut Up.”
Bradley Wood, an organizer of the Proud Students budget cuts activism group at LSU, spoke at the event.
“In some ways, you’ve put us all to shame,” he said to the crowd.
Wood said LSU students haven’t gotten involved because they haven’t experienced much pain because of the cuts.
“But we’re trying to get the attention of LSU students,” he said. “And we’re looking to you for an example.”
Emily Srofe, a UNO SG Senator who helped organize the event, said “today we’re trying to send a message to LSU. We want to work with y’all to stop these cuts.”
Srofe said the cuts were an “issue of priorities” within the state Legislature. She said it’s important for students to tell their legislators “we’re here, we vote, and we want higher education to be a priority.”
UNO SG President John Minio also spoke at the event, calling students to action.
“The rest of the state is looking at you because nobody expects us to do anything,” he said. “If we stand up, you can bet the other campuses will stand up behind us.”
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]