By The Keystone Newspaper Event encourages students to reach out to local legislators
By Bethany McDonald & John Mahoney
On Oct. 23 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., professors, students and faculty under the Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties (APSCUF) gathered at the Alumni Plaza to show their support for high quality, affordable public education in Pennsylvania. English professor and APSCUF member Kevin Mahoney addressed attendees, followed by the opportunity for students to write postcards to their local legislators.
Mahoney emphasized that higher education has never been solely about job training; it is also about investing in students and citizens to preserve the nation’s democratic way of life.
Photo Credit: Bethany McDonald
“We as people invest in higher education because we want critically thinking individuals that are not just going to be cogs in a machine, that are going to go out there and do what they are told,” Mahoney said. “We want people who have the skills and the training to be able to discuss with others and figure out what we want our futures to look like.”
Mahoney then addressed the slow war on higher education waged through systematic defunding. In 1983, the state covered 75% of college tuition, believing that investing in its people would make the state prosperous, healthy and strong. Today, the situation has flipped; over 75% of tuition is paid by students and their families.
“Higher Education in this state has been looked at as a consumer choice, like toothpaste,” Mahoney said. “Something they look at and say, if they want it, they’ll get it.”
Mahoney noted the irony in the decision to cut programs that are needed to answer critical questions instead of consolidating them into an amalgamation of departments.
“We are taught to learn from history so that we are not doomed to repeat it. So, we should invest in history, right? But no, they don’t,” Mahoney said. “If we want to understand why there is such a large concentration of racial discrimination and white supremacist organizations, we need data and sociological research. But what do we do? We cut it.”
Mahoney also expressed a deep frustration watching students have their funding “ripped from out beneath them,” voicing his distaste for the recent crackdown on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
“There’s no more funding, because the student used the word ‘diversity’ in their grant application,” Mahoney said.
The conversation’s focus then shifted onto KU as Mahoney urged the audience to ask themselves: Who are we at Kutztown? Are we going to allow the constant destruction of our programs? Are we going to let students fail because they lack the resources to succeed?
“I understand, it can often seem like we’re sitting here watching an assault happening from Washington, D.C. But I can tell you right now, you don’t need to travel to D.C. to help stop this. You can help to stop it here on campus.”
Mahoney then highlighted the university’s new president, Dr. Philip Cavalier, urging students to consider his stance on preparing students for civic engagement.
“We have an opportunity right now with a new university president,” Mahoney said. “We can ask the president, ‘Where do you stand?’ Our mission statement says the administration aims to prepare students for public service and empower civic engagement. We can ask: Do you stand by these words?”
Photo Credit: Bethany McDonald
KU students then gathered to fill out cards to send to a Pennsylvania legislator.
“After you sign these cards and make these calls, look around campus,” Mahoney said. “Who are the people here who will help fight for the future of higher education? We are what matters.”
KU Advocacy Network representative Reece Means joined the conversation, speaking on behalf of the club that meets Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Old Main lobby.
“You are the voice and the people,” Means said. “Our club brings students together to fight for their rights and to educate ourselves on what we are entitled to.”
Additional students in attendance voiced their concerns about the future of higher education and how current funding decisions could shape generations to come.
“I’m fighting for my access to higher ed,” junior Jules Lynd said. “I want to be a professor someday, and if they’re gutting our system, it’s bad for me, it’s bad for our future children, and it’s bad for our people, as higher education is a human right.”
Similarly, sophomore Sean Donnelly emphasized the long-term impact of defunding education.
Photo Credit: Bethany McDonald
“If we defund public education now, we may not see the effect within the next five, ten, or even fifteen years,” Donnelly said. “But when the children brought up entirely within a defunded education system become adults, we will have raised a state of followers, not leaders.”
Assistant Department Chair and English professor Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek, a member of APSCUF, expressed that professors feel that both higher education and K–12 education have long been under attack.
“We can see it at the state level, as K–12 teachers struggle while the state budget remains unpassed. We can see it in higher education, as the current administration moves to eliminate programs like student loan forgiveness, including for firefighters and veterans. Research grants are being cut as well,” Lynch-Biniek said.
Lynch-Biniek expressed that if the government, both local and federal, doesn’t support education, it becomes only for the elite.
“We don’t want that for students on campus or students in the United States,” she said.
Mahoney and his colleagues believe in working-class individuals and in the principle that everyone should have access to higher education.
“Education is a human right that is not being upheld. We have the right to be capable, fully educated people. There should not be ignorant compliance in the workforce. We are humans, not machines,” Mahoney said.