FAU professor Becky Mulvaney never imagined her Public Communication, Democracy and Civic Engagement class would make such an impact on FAU this semester.

The senior-level public communication class is required to organize a civic engagement event. Initially, the class decided to organize a political event aimed at informing students about the current presidential candidates.

“But when rumors started flying about the statewide budget cuts, the students decided to organize an informational rally instead,” said Mulvaney. “They talked about it for about a week, then planned the event in just two weeks.”

“At first the students were angry when they found out about the budget cuts,” Mulvaney explained, “but their anger turned into action when they realized the cuts are here to stay.”

“We were angry, but in a constructive manner,” said senior Lauren Dibonifazio, a public communication major.

In fact, the only way you can make these students angry is by calling the event a protest instead of a rally.

When UPTV went to their meeting two weeks ago, we were joined by the art director of City Link magazine who wanted the students to recreate the “protest” and portray their “anger” for his photographs. Big mistake. The art director was quickly corrected by Devin Kelley, public communication senior: “One, it’s not a protest. Two, it’s an informational rally, and three, we’re not angry.” The event was recreated, but didn’t compare to the actual rally itself, held on Feb. 28.

The highly publicized rally drew a crowd of over 300 students, legislators, and faculty members. The students, naming their organization the Save Our School (SOS) Project, managed to get over 1,000 signatures on a petition that was sent to Tallahassee.

“Our goal is to maintain lines of communication between lawmakers, administration and students to come up with a compromise and to form a solution [to these budget cuts],” says senior Josef Palermo senior, one of the organizers.FAU Student Body President Tony Teixeira jumped on the bandwagon and went as far as traveling to Tallahassee to lobby in front of congressional leaders.

The SOS Project also launched a blog Web site, sosproject.blogspot.com, to effect their goal of maintaining lines of communication. Kelley, a constant blog contributor, is very passionate about the SOS Project. “The purpose of the blog is to keep students updated with what’s going on, as well as post recent articles on the budget cuts. Our contact information is also sent to legislators in Congress,” said Kelley.

In fact, the SOS Project organizers have been so successful in informing students and faculty alike that they have been contacted by leaders from top state colleges such as Florida State University and the University of Florida.

UPTV spoke with Ken Jessell, vice president for financial affairs, who gave us the latest information on what is being cut and what isn’t. “We promised the students at the rally that we would keep summer classes, and we have fulfilled that promise,” said Jessell. Items that will be definitely be impacted by these budget cuts include excess personnel such as cashiers in the different campuses. “Students will be able to make a payment through an automated phone system, online, or here at the Boca campus,” assured Jessell.

But the most important aspects of a college education are still a must. “The academic structure and campus safety are less likely to absorb cuts,” assures Jessell. Availability of classes may range to inconvenient days and times, but major classes will not be cut. “The only thing we know for sure is that there will be a six percent tuition increase for students,” said Palermo.

With an estimated $7 million budget cut expected to go into effect before July 1, the process of deciding how to handle these cuts are still in debate. Once FAU learned of the budget cuts, FAU President Frank Brogan appointed a task force to deal with these changes. The group meets every Friday to discuss and analyze the effects of the cuts. Once the task force learns more information on the exact details of the budget cuts, they will be able to make more solid decisions on appropriating funds, or lack thereof.