 "Photo: Kelsey Hamilton")
In fear of losing summer classes, nearly 300 students, faculty and staff came out to voice their opinions on the affects of state budget cuts. Even a legislator and a Board of Trustees member made it out to the student-sponsored Save our Summer Classes rally Thursday.
Norman Tripp, chairman of the 13-member board who oversees FAU, assured students that the rumors of summer class cuts were untrue. However, some students who gathered on the Boca campus Free Speech Lawn were skeptical.
"[Tripp] may as well have said nothing," biology major Luisa Velez said of Tripp's comment that classes will not be cut. "I won't believe it until I see it in black and white."
The rally also addressed issues of protecting campus safety as well as maintaining university scholarships.
"The economy sucks and [FAU is no exception]," said senior Brandon Ballenger, one of the event coordinators. "FAU may have to $7 million by July 1 and they already had to cut $4 million since the Fall semester began."
Another event coordinator, Harly Sushil, spoke about how the on-going budget cuts will jeopardize the integrity of FAU.
"You think the campus is quiet on the weekends now? It's going to be a ghost town," the sophomore said. "This year, FAU could reach a total of $108 million in budget cuts."
Legislators, senators and FAU administration members showed up to speak at the rally. However, FAU President Frank Brogan was absent due to the fact that he had another event at the treasure coast campus to attend, according to Tripp.
"I question the importance of the [other] event that Brogan was at," Velez said.
Velez, who was the first student to speak at the open forum portion of the rally, also said she thought FAU Provost John Pritchett was disrespectful while students were speaking.
"I thought it was rude that the provost was laughing and talking [to other administrators] back and forth while students were speaking," Velez said.
During Tripp's open forum, he directed a question to the provost and there wasn't any response from him because he had left the rally early.
"He had better things to do," a student shouted from the audience.
The rally, which originated with an idea in FAU professor Becky Mulvaney's Communication, Democracy and Civic Engagement class, was put together solely by students.
"We could have done a lot more," Mulvaney said. "But we chose today because the legislature goes into session while we are on spring break."
While hearing about all of the money problems the university faces, sophomore Brittany Leitzel was concerned that she may not be able to graduate as soon as she was hoping.
"I'm going to fall an entire semester behind," Leitzel said. "There is no way that I can graduate on time if [FAU] cancels summer classes."
For more information about budget cuts and summer class availability, click here .
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