Jessica Lee

Yesterday, a handful of college students did what college students aren't required to do: they left campus for a day to convince our state politicians that higher education needs to become a priority.

Budget cuts, smudget cuts.

Students from UA, NAU, ASU and Pima Community College Downtown rallied at the State Capitol, putting legislators in the hot seat. Eight of them were coaxed out of their political holes and spoke to the crowd.

The rally, put together by the Arizona Students' Association, started off the "Failing our Future" campaign. Sara Halverson, an ASNAU member and an ASA delegate explained that it was hoped the rally would accomplish two goals: 1) Educate the Arizona public. 2) Let the Legislature clearly know that higher education needs to become a top priority.

I was part of the eight-student force that hopped on the bus at 9 a.m. to head to Phoenix. On board were five students who are part of ASA or ASUA, or both, and who have spent much of their college careers fighting for student rights.

That's right. We owe them a high five.

Beside me were two students who found out about the event and decided to come. Not because they had to but because they cared. "Students are often busy and don't want to make time to go to an event," said Chris Buja, a UA religious studies senior who attended the rally. "We can't continue to make that excuse day in and day out."

For the last 10 years, Arizona universities have felt the flame of the state budget. Cuts and lack of passion have led to the current situation that universities have found themselves in. Tax loopholes, corrupt politicians and a lousy alternative fuel fiasco have helped drive Arizona education into a pit.

And it didn't happen overnight. It has been the result of a decade of state leaders apathetic to the university cause. The knuckleheads running our state can't get it into their heads that adequate funding produces a strong economic state in the long run. Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Craig Barrett said it bluntly: "Universities provide the most straightforward form of economic development: job creation, production creation and wealth creation." Let's not forget leadership creation.

Who else is supposed to fill the shoes of the backward state leaders in the future? High school graduates? I don't think so.

UA President Peter Likins has been fighting the fight for some time now. Looking out for the welfare of the university, he stressed "Arizona's need for an educated citizenry and the critical linkage between a robust university system and a flourishing state economy."

It makes sense. Ask any student - we are spending at least four years training to be able to participate in the so-called "real world."

That means we all will contribute to American society - and if our Legislature is smart enough - maybe graduates will even stay and give back to our state.

Candidate for governor, Alfredo Gutierrez, stressed that if UA is neglected in the next 10 years, it will become a second-rate university. If the state is "unwilling to close loopholes and invest in higher education," he went on, "then it is just empty rhetoric."

Tucson Representative Linda Lopez took the mic and drove reality into the ground. "The issue can make or break Arizona's entire education system." I don't know, ranking number 49th in K-12 education seems pretty broken to me.

Although only about 60 students appeared at the rally, Denny Marta wasn't disappointed. Marta, ASA co-director of the UA office, explained that a student's "objective is to learn, not to worry about the politics of the state." He was just glad students were in class.

Nonetheless, the rally was productive even though no major media decided to cover the event. Student Regent Myrina Robinson was optimistic.

It is important, she noted, for the public to see that "(the university system) is not just financial, but rather that it is the foundation for the state. If it cracks, the entire foundation will fall."

What now? Although it seems to be the question of the past decade, ASA is planning for the near future. Jenny Rimsza, ASA co-director for the UA office, knows the rally will heat up the tuition hearings on April 16. "We should be concerned about rising tuition," she said, "because we don't want to give that money to the state. There is no accountability that the universities will see that money again."

Until Arizona politicians realize that supporting the university system will only benefit the state in the long run, the only thing we can do is keep pressing on. Keep on protesting. Keep on studying.

Keep on caring. Keep on trying.