For business marketing junior Jaleja Page who participated in Friday’s student march on the Capitol alongside members of the University’s Black Student Union, the rally for higher education was a chance to express her concerns and speak on behalf of students like herself statewide who are suffering because of budget cuts.
Page said she recently dropped her merchandising minor because the lack of state funding could no longer support the existence of the program. She said she is most fearful, though, of high rises in tuition and school closures at institutions like Southern University.
“I came today because I’m hoping to get change — I want the legislators to hear the student voice,” she said.
Unified chants, political banners, balloons and students dressed in university paraphernalia replaced the usual automobile traffic downtown as roughly 100 students marched toward the steps of the Capitol building from A.Z. Young Park, chanting, “Stand up, fight back. Higher ed is under attack.”
Friday’s rally was similar to one University students hosted in spring 2015, around the time of the last major threat of budget cuts to state higher education, mass communication senior Kat Latham told The Daily Reveille.
“It’s all about visibility and promoting importance of higher [education],” she said. “We want students to understand that it’s very important to come out to the legislature stating why they feel like higher [education] should be protected.”
Latham said her favorite part of the rally was having the opportunity to collaborate with a number of schools to support a common cause, which was something the African American Culture Center and Black Student Union members had suggested and brought to fruition by reaching out to Student Government representatives.
“I think our integration shows a message to legislators that it’s not just LSU. We have students willing to travel to come tell their story and discuss why they should protect higher education and to encourage them to figure out ways to,” Latham said.
Representative Pat Smith said legislators can not afford to cut students out of the decision-making process.
“Students have the right and the authority — [they] have my vote,” Smith said.
