Plans for a protest on the steps of the State Capitol fizzled Tuesday amid chilly, drizzly weather.
The protest, planned by student activist group EducateLA, was supposed to bring students to the Capitol’s steps as legislators consider several bills that will impact the University.
Two buses were scheduled to take students from the Student Union to the Capitol. The first bus went empty, and the second bus brought a single student, finance senior Stephanie Brewer.
“I was expecting to see a lot of people out here,” Brewer said. “When I got on the bus, I figured everybody else must have driven. I guess I was wrong.”
The Facebook group for the event had 170 students marked “attending,” with 251 marked “maybe attending.”
Many students posted on the group’s wall, saying class or exams would prevent them from attending.
EducateLA spokesman John Parker Ford told The Daily Reveille on Monday that he hoped to see between 500 and 1,000 students attend.
The group had hoped students from other schools in South Louisiana would show up at the rally, but none did.
J Hudson, EducateLA president, said the day was not wasted despite the lack of student attendance. He said about 10 EducateLA representatives entered the Capitol, talked to legislators and voiced student concerns.
“We wanted to make sure legislators saw that students were interested in the legislation they were considering and make sure they heard students’ voices,” Hudson said.
EducateLA had purchased 2,000 pounds of crawfish to be doled out at the Capitol, according to the Facebook group.
Hudson said the group brought the food back to campus, where it was distributed — along with EducateLA’s message — at various locations throughout campus, including Greek houses and churches. The crawfish and buses were paid for by Jim Bernhard of the Shaw Group.
EducateLA has four main goals: limit state appropriation cuts to higher education to less than 10 percent, prioritize higher education within the state, require a clear funding formula from the Board of Regents that will not change yearly and reduce bureaucracy costs in higher education.
Another unrelated protest, titled “Rally at the Capitol: Protect Higher Education,” is scheduled for the Capitol steps today.
That group’s Facebook page showed 100 students marked “attending” and 311 marked “maybe attending” at press time.
 
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]