Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260098
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
With Gov. George Allen proposing to take $47.5 million from the state's colleges and universities, nixing Radford's $2 million College of Global Studies and cutting $1.6 million of Radford's state funding, rally organizers pleaded for action.
"The value of our degree is in serious question," Ali Hebler, president of Radford's Student Government Association, told a crowd of about 200 during the 20-minute rally. "We need you to care. We don't have time for apathy."
However, Hebler probably hadn't anticipated activism from the other side. A small contingent of Allen supporters heckled and shouted their way onto the scene.
Waving signs with messages like "Don't blame our governor for the mistakes of our RU government," the group made known that not all students think Radford is being unduly targeted.
"There's too much fat here," said Brian Medlin, espousing the logic of stamping out the global college and criticizing the school's administration for its bureaucracy and for not properly upgrading facilities..
"The students aren't getting what they deserve," Medlin said. Inviting a reporter to lunch in the cafeteria, he said, "watch how many [workers] stand around and drink coffee."
The university's College Republicans sent out news releases stating they did not support the rally and had been barred from speaking.
As speakers addressed television cameras against a backdrop of signs attacking Allen's proposal to cut education while building more prisons, the opposing sides battled for attention.
As rally organizers spoke, with a flag bearer waving a school banner behind them, two Allen supporters stepped into the camera angle with homemade signs. The action brought laughs, jeers - and rebuttal.
"Students, you need to become acutely aware of the situation," Hebler said, then jabbed, "and become acutely aware of the rude Republicans that are standing behind us."
The opposition made its presence known as other speakers lamented the proposed cuts, including the $1.6 million - 6.7 percent of Radford's state funding - lost when the school failed to meet its deadline for restructuring. But the primary message was clear:
"Do we want to be dead last in educational funding? Do we want a second-rate university system for the youth of this state?" said Thomas Mullis, a psychology professor at Radford and president of the faculty. "Fund these schools like they should be funded. Our students are our best hope."
Hebler and other speakers urged students to join them on a message-making bus pilgrimage to Richmond on Feb. 15.
"It's not just a Radford thing; it's a statewide thing," said Robert Postel Jr., student government president at Longwood College, which will hold a rally today.
"We thought [Wilder's cuts] were bad," said Tammy Baker, a senior at Radford. Allen "stabbed us in the back. He doesn't care where Virginia's going."
by CNB