From grassroots letter campaigns, short films, rallies and mysterious events to coalitions involving the Legislature, University student leaders have made state and national headlines in an effort to combat the higher education financial crisis.
 
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Student Government President J Hudson earned national attention this fall after sending a letter to a New Hampshire newspaper.
The letter, titled “Attention Gov. Jindal,” begged the question — “Where are you?”
The note pleaded with the governor to return to the state where budget cuts are crippling higher education.
“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is spending more time in [New Hampshire] than the [state] he was elected to represent,” Hudson said in the October letter. “I read almost daily about his trips to other states, which makes me believe that he is more interested in running for president than running the state of Louisiana.”
The letter spread to four more states and numerous political blogs within the week, even landing a spot on the CNN news website.
The letter sparked response from the Governor’s Office, leading to some conversation between SG officials and Jindal.
The letter was the first of many, as SG began letter-writing campaigns to address issues to our state representatives and legislators.
In other action, Hudson joined SG presidents from around the state’s public higher education system to create a message to the state government. The Council of Student Body Presidents released a letter that posed a list of questions to the state about higher education.
 
WHATNOW LSU AND FLAGSHIP ADVOCATES
After secretive campaigning around campus, WhatNow LSU was revealed Oct. 28 at “The Event” to be a student-run group advocating against budget cuts through a letter-writing program.
“I wrote a letter two weeks ago that gained national attention, and we need to do the same thing here,” Hudson said at the event. “One letter is not going to cut it.”
Hudson was among other speakers like SG Vice President Dani Borel and Chancellor Michael Martin, who urged students to be aware and engaged.
“This is not a blame somebody session,” Martin said. “This is a ‘Let’s find solutions’ session.”
About 350 curious University students were in attendance and contributed to the campaign by writing letters to state representatives expressing their opinions about cuts. Students also simultaneously sent e-mail messages to Louisiana House of Representatives Speaker Jim Tucker.
At “The Event,” another activist group was introduced — the Flagship Advocates.
The group, founded by Hudson and Borel, is an organization whose “sole purpose is to advocate for the University.”
“The goal for the group is to get one student from every representative group in Louisiana,” Borel said.
 
PROUD STUDENTS
Outside of SG and SG-promoted groups, students flocked to the organization Proud Students, which also aims to rally students around the University’s budget reductions.
Bradley Wood, biological sciences and philosophy senior, and Claiborne MacKnight, biological sciences senior, started the group when the contracts for the “foreign language 14” were not renewed. Wood said one of his former professors was fired, and it affected him personally.
“That’s when we really decided to do something,” Wood said.
Proud Students first stepped into the spotlight at the Faculty Senate-sponsored “Jazz Funeral for Higher Education” where Wood spoke about the importance of saving higher education.
Over the next several months, the group sponsored several awareness projects such as making a short film and collecting signatures for a “Don’t Sink LSU” banner that was presented at the Faculty Senate meeting in November.
The Residence Hall Association and Proud Students hosted a “Don’t Sink LSU” informational session to give background on the budget crisis and to promote the Rally for Higher Education held at the Capitol on Nov. 10. Hundreds of students from across the state gathered to protest budget cuts.
Proud Students plans to maintain contact with other student advocate groups like Save UNO and Stand Up 4 LA and make their voices heard when the Legislative session convenes in the spring.
 
COLLEGE CAUCUS
In preparation for the spring legislative session, another group has been created to open dialogue between students, the Legislature and higher education administrative boards.
The College Caucus introduced itself, along with three state representatives, at the Louisiana Board of Regents monthly meeting last week.
“We are a coalition of concerned students and alumni,” said Aly Neel, founding member and mass communication senior. “We hope to generate conversation, highlight expectations of the student population and drive long-term reform for student success.”
Neel said the group hopes to grow to include communication with the Governor’s Office, the Board of Regents, business leaders and those who are passionate about the state of higher education.
The College Caucus outlined their expectations, demanding the board create a student success-oriented higher education plan.
“A revamp system needs to be laid out for the Legislature and for the citizens of this state,” said Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington. “We look forward to receiving information on your plan and addressing higher education and working with you, as the students said, to [fulfill] our role at the Legislature.”
 
—-
Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]