About 100 supporters of the University of Alaska rallied outside the state Capitol Friday to call on legislators to fully fund the state’s university system.
Gov. Bill Walker’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year flat-funds the university at $314 million, plus an additional $70 million for deferred maintenance. That’s $24 million less than the university requested.
At the rally, legislators, university faculty and students spoke about the need to fund Alaska’s public university to strengthen the state’s workforce and economy.
Rep. Adam Wool, a Fairbanks Democrat, said he supports fully funding the UA Board of Regents’ budget request of $341 million.
“And the cuts that we’ve endured, the number of people we’ve cut, the number of millions of dollars we’ve cut in the last several years is deplorable,” Wool said. “We have to stop it now. We have to reverse the trend. We have to reinvest. I’m embarrassed every time I see these numbers come out.”
Forest Haven is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Irvine studying the regulation and management of subsistence food resources in Southeast Alaska. Before that, she enrolled at UAS to get an associate degree, but with her professors’ encouragement pursued a four-year cultural anthropology degree.
“But I think what often ends up happening when you cut funding is you’re increasing class size, you’re making it harder for professors and smaller universities to offer that sort of unique kind of intimate education that is available at UAS.”
UA President Jim Johnsen was at the Capitol earlier in the week presenting a budget overview to members of the House Finance Committee.
