As soon as I can make the technology work, I’ll post the flyer for Sen. Dinniman’s rally at the Chester County Courthouse, the date of which has MOVED–
New Date: Wed, April 27
So you can have Wed, April 20 back for yourselves, but the 27th? We need you there.
Students–if you need money to help pay for school, especially if the Governor and Legislature ignore us and raise your tuition, you may be eligible for one of these scholarships!
We WANT to give money away (but only responsibly, of course). Help us do it!
Faculty: Help spread the word.
Filed under APSCUF, Budget, Scholarships, Tuition increase, Uncategorized, West Chester University
This article from CBS Philly should sound two chords at once:
1. PASSHE’s position in the Legislature is improving; even some very conservative Republicans, who otherwise don’t support much public anything, seem to be on board with protecting at least most of our budget allocation.
2. The reason the Legislature is coming around to this position is that WE ARE MAKING THEM. It’s our efforts on the streets, in the press, in hallways, and everywhere else that are pushing an otherwise not-often-friendly legislature in the right direction.
The upshot is, as our colleague Cherise Pollard (who pointed me to this link) put it, we have to keep working. We should take this news as ENCOURAGING, but it’s encouraging us to KEEP PUSHING.
Tired of getting yelled at in ALL CAPS? Show us what you’re doing to protect our schools and we won’t have to :).
From the State APSCUF blog. President Hicks’ comments at their April meeting call on them to remind our state of the work we do and its importance. I think it’s important for us as faculty to take up his call as well.
Filed under Advocacy, APSCUF, Budget, PASSHE, Public education, Tom Corbett, Tuition increase, West Chester University
At today’s event on campus, Sen. Andy Dinniman announced a Chester-County-wide pro-public-education (pre through college) rally and made an awfully convincing case that WE NEED TO TURN OUT IN FORCE.
Details forthcoming, but here are the vitals–
Wed April 20
7 PM
Chester County Courthouse Steps/Lawn/Wherever else we spill over
If you care about anything on this list, you should be there–
*WCU/PASSHE
*K-12 Education in PA
*Pre-K educational opportunities
*Anybody you know who goes to school at any of those levels
*Anybody you know who works at any school at any of those levels
That just about covers it. Senator Dinniman said two things today that really hit. First, he said that without pressure from us, we can’t expect the State Legislator to do anything for us. Second, he said that with enough pressure from us, they can’t say no!
From yesterday’s Centre Daily Times, Rep. Mike Hanna, the House Democratic Whip, expresses his strong support for funding PASSHE and rejecting Gov Corbett’s budget proposal.
He strikes just the right tone, reminding the Governor (or whoever on the Governor’s staff does his reading for him) that PASSHE tuition hasn’t, in fact, skyrocketted or “gotten out of control,” a mistake (?) the Governor made during his budget address. [The Governor seems unable to understand the difference between state-owned and state-related universities.] Rep. Hanna also strikes the tone in his strong reminder that middle and working-class families in PA are the ones who suffer most from this proposal–exactly the people who seem to have voted for Governor Corbett because he convinced them he was on their side.
I have one quibble with Rep. Hanna’s position. Throughout the piece, he makes moves like this one:
These efforts now further complicate our ability to deal with the extreme budget cuts proposed by the governor.
Come join members of the campus community (students, faculty, staff, administrators, friends) in Sykes Ballroom C at 12:30 on Friday, April 1.
Legislators (members of the PA House and Senate) will be visiting campus to receive the hundreds of postcards students and others have filled out, explaining the impacts that Governor Corbett’s proposed budget cuts will have on us. They will also talk to us about the situation from their points of view and help us refine our strategies as we move forward.
It’s important that we draw a strong crowd to show our legislators that we really are committed to protecting our university at all levels and for the well-being of all campus community members.
The event should be finished by 1 pm.
I’d say “We hope to see you there,” but the need is bigger than that. It’s really important we turn out in numbers. Be there if you can.
–Seth
Folks: I’ve been a little slow getting this list of links out; fortunately, our colleague Kevin Mahoney at the KUXchange put them all together so I don’t have to. Nothing I can say about these that he hasn’t already…
–Seth
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