SUNY Geneseo students protest cuts in state funding
About 100 State University College at Geneseo students on Wednesday protested cuts in state funding to higher education.
Since the start of the 2008-09 school year, funding to the State University of New York has been slashed by more than $400 million, said Geneseo President Christopher Dahl.
The students gathered about 1 p.m. on Sturges Quad, where about 30 students have been camping out since Sunday to protest the cuts.
The group marched through the campus and held a peaceful sit-in from about 2:15 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Erwin Hall.
The students said cuts in state funding have increased class sizes and cut the number of course offerings. They also complained that only a small portion of a $620 tuition increase earlier this year is going to the SUNY system.
They want an end to state aid to private colleges, which totals about $45 million annually.
“They shouldn’t have state money going to private schools,” said Ellyn Jameson, 20, a senior from Penn Yan, Yates County.
Dahl said his campus faced a $3.2 million deficit at the start of the current school year. About 10 percent of course offerings have been cut and at least 35 teaching positions have been left vacant. “I can certainly understand why the students believe this is unfair,” said Dahl.
At least three students were briefly detained by campus police for trying to hang a large banner on the front of the Integrated Science Center that read: “Stop the budget cuts.”
College spokesman David Irwin said the students were escorted by police from the roof of the building and questioned, but not arrested.
He said they might face college disciplinary charges for going on the roof and trying to hang the banner without permission.
The SUNY board of trustees on Tuesday approved a $2.17 billion budget request that would increase tuition at the 64 four-year schools by $100, from the current $4,970 to $5,070.
