Students ‘pitch’ to legislators for funding

Spread across the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus, students moved out of residence halls and onto the grass to pitch tents at the seventh annual Tent State.
The focus for this year’s tent town, which began April 25 and is scheduled to last to May 1, is to bring attention to the dwindling support from Trenton and the cuts to the University’s budget and for an increased political and social awareness in the New Brunswick community, said Tent State Wellness and Schedule Coordinator Jordan Bucey.
Students are camping out, making art, playing music and collaborating for the week to protest the slashing of funds for higher education.
“This year was not so much [about the war], but ... a focus on how the economy is affecting Rutgers,” she said. “We are saying that the budget crisis is a myth. [The crisis] is an improper allocation of funds. We’re spending money on turf restoration and flowers when desks are falling apart in classrooms and professors are being laid off.”
A major way Tent State is getting students involved is at their legislation tent, where all of the New Jersey’s state legislator’s districts and their phone numbers are listed for students to call and ask them to support higher education, Bucey said.
The first Tent State took place in 2003 and was a result of budget cuts, which were going to cause an increase in the price of housing. So the organizers set up the city of tents to show that the increase could make them homeless, Bucey said.
“New Jersey is the wealthiest state in the country. We have the most millionaires and pay the highest taxes,” Bucey said.
New Jersey’s .1 percent decrease in support for higher education between 2006-2007 and 2008-2009 was the 47th lowest among U.S. states, according to data posted on the University’s website.
This message is one that many University students can relate to.
“Right now, all we hear [out of Trenton] is how poor the state’s budget is and all of the cuts and layoffs that are coming to help balance the budget,” Rutgers College junior Matt Howard said. “It’s just a shame that higher education always seems to be on the cutting block.”
The other focus behind Tent State is to encourage students and community leaders to be more active where they live in education. Organizations like the Street University Mentorship Program, which helps educate New Brunswick High School students and their parents on the process of applying to college and filling out forms like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, Bucey said.
“The problem is a lot of the parents are immigrants and just are not familiar with the process of going to college,” Bucey said. “We have to say, ‘Here is a FAFSA, here is how you apply to college.’”
The week of pitching a tent and living in the shadows of Murray Hall is just the jumping off point in terms of action in dealing with these issues. Once Tent State is over, the hope is to get the students who participated in the peaceful protest to then get out and take a more active role in getting results, Bucey said. Whether it’s going down to Trenton to protest, calling their legislators or participating in the Street University Mentoring Program.
For some students, Tent State has really been an eye-opener for many of these issues.
“We hear a lot about the problems with the budget or the problems in New Brunswick, but I never knew what I could do too,” Cook College junior Katie Heffernan said. “Then you come down here and you see what all these people are doing, and it really shows that there is a lot that can be done.”
Bucey said it’s important to show other students, the administration, the community and lawmakers that the University’s population really does care about the issues and that Tent State is not just a cool vacation spot on Voorhees Mall.
“I think people need to realize that we’re not just a bunch of people here to camp out, but we have a purpose and show them that we love Rutgers and that’s why we are here,” Bucey said. “My passion and drive to do Tent State is because I love Rutgers and I love education.”

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