By Nick Carson
News Editor

Since the beginning of the spring 2014 semester, KU and surrounding schools have seen what seems to be a record number of canceled or delayed classes due to snow.

This winter is sure to carry with it one of the highest snowfall totals in recent memory, with more snowstorms coming before spring fully hits.
With these unusually high snowfall totals, students are becoming increasingly frustrated with KU’s handling of plowing parking lots and sidewalks.

Many commuters are dependent on the local roads and parking lots being plowed to get to and from their classes, and huge patches of ice still have not been cleared up around campus sidewalks.

Student Government Board (SGB) president Nick Imbesi believes, however, that most students have misplaced their blame for the sub-par conditions, and was quick to blame Gov. Tom Corbett.

“Facilities is in charge of the removal of snow, and I do want to say that they are using the resources they have to the best of their ability to provide us with a safe campus. If we really want to point a finger at somebody, I would point a finger at Harrisburg, because they are not giving us the proper funding for our institution to operate the way it needs to operate,” Imbesi said.

Imbesi also urged students to call their legislator, to allow them to see that this lack of funding is not only affecting the quality of students education, but now their safety on campus.
The blame for this lack of funding is quite clear to Imbesi and the SGB, who said that this “deficit funding has continued, which has caused our University to operate on a 25 percent cut from three years ago.”

He also said that he has seen no effort from Corbett’s office to correct this deficit funding, despite the fact that universities such as KU were told that there would be a new budget proposal.

“Two years ago Gov. Corbett said ‘we need to sit down and have a candid discussion on how to make higher education affordable to Pennsylvanians’ and that has yet to happen,” Imbesi said.
According to Imbesi and the SGB, until that discussion happens, Gov. Corbett’s deficit funding will continue.

“His budget puts the natural gas companies first, the wealthy second and his special interest third. The working and middle class and students aren’t even there. He can say he’s thrown all this money at education, but at the end of the day it’s a lie. Public schools are operating at a deficit, including Kutztown University,” Imbesi said.