Approximately 200 Nicholls students protested the budget cuts facing the University at the state Capitol Monday, the opening day of the 2009 state legislature.Students congregated around a paper mache shark on top the Capitol steps Monday and chanted while raising signs with various messages against the $5.3 million budget cuts facing the University later this year, all as part of the “Stop Eating Education” movement, which began in February at Nicholls with a demonstration on campus.
Students were escorted out of the Capitol by security after chanting “Stop eating education!” in the Senate hall during a recess before Gov. Bobby Jindal’s speech. Outside, students circled around the shark and chanted for over an hour while receiving media coverage from several area print and broadcast news outlets.
Jeannette Burke, general studies senior from Houma, said the protest was an amazing effort, and people from a variety of different student organizations took part. “We all looked different, but we all fought for the same cause. We all fought for the same reason,” Burke said.
Ron Sapia, government senior from Raceland, said the protest was excellent, and his only disappointment was the lack of students from other universities. Approximately fifteen students from Delgado and one student from Louisiana State University participated in the protest, but no other schools were represented. “They didn’t show up in numbers, and some didn’t even show up at all,” Sapia said. “It’s not like they weren’t informed.”
Sapia said he believed state legislators received the message of the protest. Several state representatives expressed their appreciation of the students’ demonstration and their concerns regarding the budget cuts. Juan LaFonta, state representative of district 96, said he is glad students came out to voice their opinion.
“We need more of our generation here,” LaFonta said.
Walker Hines, state representative of district 95, said he is upset with the proposed budget cuts. “We have to make sure in the future not to cut education,” Hines said.
The protest was conceived in Nicki Boudreaux’s, instructor of mass communication, public relations class before spring break. “I think it went great as far as meeting the goals we set out in class,” Boudreaux said. She said she was also disappointed with the lack of support from other schools.
“This would have been a great opportunity for the collective voice of our universities to be heard,” Boudreaux said.
Boudreaux said students should not stop fighting the budget cuts just yet. “It’s not a fight where we can say, ‘We did our part, and we’re done now.'” Boudreaux said students should continue to write their state representatives and work to ensure their communities are aware of how much impact the budget cuts will have on students, faculty and the University.
