THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070334
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
Political science major B.J. Ford trudged across Virginia Tech's bitter-cold campus Monday to call his state representative from a student-run telephone bank and write him a faxed letter.
``As a student and registered voter, I am concerned and dismayed over the budget cuts at Virginia Tech and other universities have suffered over the last several years and would like to see a halt,'' Ford wrote to Del. Robert Harris, R-Fairfax.
Ford said students were encouraged by votes in the Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees Sunday that restored the $49 million that Gov. George F. Allen wanted to slash from higher education.
``I'm hoping this is a moot point, but we don't want to take any chances,'' Ford said. ``The full General Assembly hasn't voted on it and Gov. Allen can veto it.''
Virginia Tech and other colleges and universities in Virginia have held rallies and letter-writing campaigns to persuade the legislators to maintain higher education funding.
On Student Advocacy Day, the Student Government Association set up 20 telephones in a room and gave students fact sheets to help them make their pitch to delegates.
SGA President Seth Gunther said about 1,000 students made calls and wrote letters Monday morning. He said he expected at least another 1,000 to participate in the lobbying effort, funded by the university's private foundation.
At the same time, Tech President Paul Torgersen was in Richmond, making personal appeals. The university's ability to support Virginia's agriculture industry would be crippled, he says, if the Assembly goes along with Allen's proposals to slash funding for agricultural research and outreach programs. by CNB