By Michael Mullins
UEA-D Legislative Liaison
Colleagues!
I hope as your semester winds down you are able to reflect on the struggles made across our campus this year and the accomplishments we've made on behalf of our faculty, students and generally the campus and community. Without your input and energy UEA would not be able to represent you collectively. Thanks for all you do.
Now, turning to one of the most pressing issues we face: our budget.
What seems to be coming out of all the discussions across our U of MN System and the Minnesota Legislature is that there is renewed attention being paid to Higher Education in Minnesota and how and at what levels we still — as a state — wish to finance our citizens' futures. Governor Dayton stated in his 2014 State of the State Address that increased support for Higher Ed is critical and he's stated in several appearances recently that should he be re-elected in November 2014, he'd again work to provide more monies to publicly funded higher education.
In the January issue of the NEA Higher Education, "Advocate," we could read that the total defunding of Higher Ed in Minnesota totaled a 17.6% decrease between 2008-'13. In 2013 the Minnesota Legislature did, in historic fashion, place an additional $240 million into Higher Ed across the state of Minnesota.
The Minnesota Legislature is compelled to end this session on the 19th of May, and they likely will end their work earlier. We will see the Senate version of what's called the "Bonding Bill" and then the House and Senate will need to seek a compromise after that. The House Bonding Bill version provides significantly more monies for the U of Mn System and the individual UMD Projects than does the Senate one. You responded well to my last appeal asking you to consider writing and calling influential legislators. If necessary, I will appeal again this week for your support. Your voices are critical in this process as we cope with a general defunding to our U of Mn System and specifically to the UMD Campus. As we reach out to our elected officials, please keep in mind that this appeal, as always, is being made in a bipartisan fashion. We need to connect and convince members of all parties and political persuasion of the value of education in supporting a thriving democracy.
As always, send me an email with any questions or feedback.