Students take stand, walk out 
February 4, 2010 by Sean Jaramillo
UNLV students have been mobilized into battle, and their battle plan will be a walkout.
Click image to enlarge.
The student body is planning the walkout for this Tuesday to show that college education is not expendable, and to show legislators what a shut-down UNLV looks like.
“The potential cuts have a real possibility of closing major portions of what we offer students,” said Student Body President Adam Cronis.
“It could mean the closing of whole departments. We want to showcase that if classes are eliminated, [students] can’t meet their class requirements and in that case, they might as well just sit in the quad.”
As to the actual walkout, students will skip their classes on Tuesday and gather in front of the Student Union at 10 a.m.
They will then carpool down to the Grant Sawyer State Office building at 555 E. Washington Ave. to call the attention of state legislators.
“Being seen as a commuter school helps us in this case,” Cronis said. “Most everyone will have a way to get down there and I will gladly take as many people there as I can fit in my car.”
Cronis was quick to mention that even though CSUN will have people involved with the walkout, this is not a CSUN-sponsored event. He added that he hopes to gauge the Senators’ opinions of the situation today.
The Graduate & Professional Students Association is also going to be involved with the protest, as they voted unanimously to support the walkout.
Kyle George, GPSA vice president, noted that this protest will be much different in tone from the budget protests last year.
“Last time we rallied, we protested, but we realized that we are united [with the state] and we didn’t mind taking the hike in tuition as much,” George said. “This time, I think we’ve had to bear a disproportionate amount of the cuts and we can’t stand to take it anymore.”
GPSA President Jessica Lucero agreed and added that she hopes the support does not stop with the student body.
“I sent an e-mail to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce explaining the importance of having an educated work force and to let them know that we… would love for them to be at the walkout too,” Lucero said.
“This walkout will be about uniting students and hopefully it unites the faculty with the students to fight the budget cuts,” she said.
The walkout will not be the only protest the student body has planned.
Students and faculty are encouraged to attend a testimony at the state legislature’s interim finance committee meeting at 1 p.m. today in the Grant Sawyer building to tell their personal stories of how the cuts have affected them.
So to show that college is not expendable, students are going to walk out of the class? That seem ironic to anyone else? Furthermore, why should students be forced to protest? If UNLV wants to save money, stop giving out scholarships to any old moron with the slightest ability in sports.
Thank you, Thomas, for pointing out what should be obvious to students. You can’t prove that education matters by walking out of class and sitting in a courtyard. If you want to prove it matters, encourage students to actually attend their classes to prove how overbooked some are. I have classes that would require many students to sit on the floor if everyone showed up. How about encouraging the slackers to get to school and proving the negative impacts the cuts have had already?
Thomas and Eliza,
Neither of your suggestions would create much (or any) impact. Thomas, students are not being “forced” to protest (they may choose to do so or not), and cutting sports scholarships would be only a drop in the bucket compared to the cuts the university will be receiving.
Eliza, it is true that all students who sign up for a class should attend. However, the problem is that people do not care what the class conditions are like so long as the students are staying in line. Frankly, our govenor and many of our law makers would probably be fine with removing chairs and tables from classrooms if it saved a few bucks and no one made a fuss about it. Our elected representatives depend upon us communicating our opinions to them. This event may not necessarily be the best way to do that, but, with enough support, it can be a loud and assertive way to send a clear message- and that’s what we need right now.
-R.C.
Our state government doesn’t care if we are in class in Tuesday or not. I would like to see the current UNVL Budget and how the current monies are being spent by the school administration. How much does it cost to keep the athletic department and how much revenue does that department generate? Which overpaid tenured Professors should stay and which should go based on their ability to instruct, not on their abilty to research and publish. How much of a paycut is University Administration willing to take? UNLV’s administration are going to make the decisions on what to cut, maybe we should be marching to their offices, not the states.
We need to organize and begin campaigning against the current state govt. officials or begin a letter writing campaign including all levels of education in Nevada. It is time for Gibbons and the rest to leave office, there we can make a difference. Hopefully, the next officials will begin to tax Nevada’s “Cash Cow” the way it should have been taxed years ago.
Missing classes only hurts ourselves, not the govt. we are protesting against.
Walkouts can be effective, but they are usually reserved for taking a stance against the university. After all, how can administrators go on without students in class? You honestly believe Gibbons gives a crap if a few hundred kids march down to city hall and chant? At the end of the day, most students will accept a $100 per credit increase if it’s passed down, and few will actually leave the state. This is not taking a stand. This is, bottom line, a bunch of naive students ditching class to go make a ruckus. Take the time in class while you have it because it’s likely that you will get less in-class time to learn from now on.
Instead of doing this, students should be rallying to push for increases in aid, finding out how they can gain access to local/national scholarships and campaigning for the candidate they believe will support education (my pick is Rory Reid–but they should rally behind whoever is not Gibbons at this point). They should ask university administrators to look into partnerships with fellow Nevada institutions to keep some of our soon to be cut programs alive in spirit atleast. We should be made aware of what cuts are being considered and what programs are on the chopping block, and the university should issue a call to departments to immediately begin the search for grants, donations, etc. that can keep this university going.
Ditch day…err I mean the walkout just happens to fall on the same day Bioshock 2 comes out. Excellent.
I think it’s great how many of us have tests that day…
As a BATTLEBORN NATIVE REBEL, i attended Clark County Schools as did so many others in Nevada. For many like myself,recall my Father helping build the University, as he and so many others had built this town. I remember the Proud Difference,it had compared to the Famous Mint,ThunderBird, Landmark,Hilton, UniPlaza 2name afew, because it meant afuture for those who had families. Many came to Vegas to work, Unions provided the work, built the establishments,that built revenue and generated industry.Yet for so many,their children had to go elsewhere for Higher Education.The needs of Our City Grew, and had no means or little to maintain progress without knowledgable educated people to fulfill the fast changing needs. Unlv gave oppertunity of which never would have been possible. UNLV gave those who were older who didnt go to college, raised a family a place to fulfill their life by future plans fulfilling dreams and receiving knowledge. THE ONLY REAL THING THAT BELONGS TO YOU! gAmBlE tHeSe oddS u LOSE.SpiriT
Find this matter IMPARITIVE on EVERY LEVEL and Involves EVERY STUDENT!!! Education is provided to everyone!!! In This Great Nation of which Nevada Is A Part Of… It Is Our Duty As A State To Provide And Uphold The Qualities As Is Utmost Possible And To Our KNOWLEDGE and Abilities, for all those who are our citizens residing under in and of Nevada, to better serve what makes this Country Whole. question* if All Students Stayed Home, or decided to strike if you will, would we get our money back? Umm or purhaps keep the taxs? We then could afford to send our children to school and play golf while on vacation. Just like those now who are useing Education Money,huhmm?
Thomas and Eliza i don’t think you understand what a lot of the budget cuts mean to a lot of students in the Higher education system of Nevada. For some it means that they have spent 3 years at a University chasing a dream for a certain degree, that in their senior year they are going to be unable to finish and either have to uproot themselves to a new town and new college or completely change degrees. The idea of college classes being over crowded is not the case, in many places throughout the world they use huge lecture halls and College goes on as need and is effective. The problem with Budget cuts is a less motivated teaching force as well as making it much harder to obtain classes needed for Graduation. I don’t know how many of you are in the Higher Education System right now, but as a College Student i greatly feel the impact of continuous budget cuts.
To anyone who attended the “walk out”, I have a question. It personally stinks to me that it may effect my college time, etc. BUT I also understand how things work. You got to do what you got to do. SO my question is…what do you think should be cut instead? Money to prisons? Police? SCHIP? Roads? What should be cut in lieu of a few classes here and there? Should we implement a state tax? Or should we just spend money we don’t have like Obama does? What is your alternative?
I figure if you are going to complain about something, you better have an idea to fix it..