[Please share widely among WCU Faculty, Students, Staff, Family members, Friends]
Tonight’s Chester County Rally for Public Education is on, rain or shine. Current weather forecast (as of about 11:45 am) says a slight chance of rain the evening.
If you (and students are invited to do this too) want to join the APSCUF Funeral Procession (mourning the death of higher education if Tom Corbett wins) and march up to the courthouse, meet at the APSCUF office around 6’ish. Wear black if you have it.
If you can’t or don’t want to join the procession, just be on the courthouse lawn @ 7.
If you’re still not convinced that YOU have to YOUR PART in this fight, if you still believe that us loudmouth rabble-rousers will do your part for you, if you don’t think the threat is serious enough to warrant being at the courthouse for one stinkin’ hour, read on.
This is a somewhat modified version of the “speech” I gave at the student-led walkout/rally last week in front of Sykes Hall, starting after the hortatory “thanks for coming” stuff. –Seth
I have only four things to say today, and I’ll make them very quick.
1. We’re winning this fight. If you’ve read or listened to or seen any news in the last couple of weeks, you know that lawmakers in both parties are pushing back hard against Governor Corbett’s original proposal to slash our state budget allocation by more than half.
The reason we’re winning is because we’re doing THIS WORK: rallying, writing, calling, postcarding, petitioning. Let there be no mistake about that.
2. Now that we fall all good about ourselves… We haven’t WON anything yet. There won’t be a budget in place for weeks, and a lot of bad [oops!] can go down between now and then.
That means we can’t afford to let up. The gains we’ve made in both legislative and public support are important and impressive but fragile, and the second we stop pushing, the second the hammer falls on us.
3. Now that we’re all scared again, there are two important things for us to be doing right now. First is turning out for events like the Rally for Public Education at the Chester Co. courthouse on Wed 4/27. Second is to make sure our contact networks are alive and well through the summer so we can stay organized and keep fighting together.
4. And finally, whatever happens between now and the passage of our budget; whatever happens between now and full restoration of the budget we need and deserve: don’t ever forget who picked this fight. It wasn’t us–students, faculty, staff members, university employees, our families, our friends. It wasn’t us, and the people who did pick it need to pay a steep price for that.
For those of you (and I know who some of you are) who are getting ready to graduate, or who don’t believe the current attacks on public education mean anything to you, I have only this to say:
If you intend to teach in a public school at any level, you’re a target.
If you care about anybody who teaches in, otherwise works for, or attends a public school, you’re a target.
If you believe that anybody besides the wealthiest Pennsylvanians deserve a shot at achieving anything remotely resembling a secure future, you’re a target.
Don’t let the slow place of the budget process lull you to sleep. FIGHT!
APSCUF-WCU 