 "Photo: Shawn Wright / The South End")
 "Photo: Shawn Wright / The South End")
 "Photo: Shawn Wright / The South End")
 "Photo: Shawn Wright / The South End")
At least 600 students attended the Wayne State Student Council’s rally on Monday afternoon to protest cuts made to higher education by state legislators, especially the Michigan Promise Grant.
Warren Avenue, in front of the Welcome Center, was shut down from Woodward Avenue to Cass Avenue by the WSU Police Department, with speakers from the Student Council and the Student Activities Program Board galvanizing the mixed crowd of students and faculty.
“For planning it in four or five days, I think we did awesome,” said Student Council President James Gale. “I’m very happy with the turnout.”
One by one, student leaders took to the podium to tell their personal account of how the cuts are affecting them. Freshman Stephanie Hercula, member of the Program Board, shared her story of how cutting the Michigan Promise Grant has impacted her life.
“I received a letter that said I have to pay back $1,000 by Feb. 1 to the state government for money that was given to me by the Michigan Promise Grant,” said Hercula, who is 17 years old and struggling to pay for school. “That money helps me pay for books, gas to get down here, and now I have to give it back.”
She said that her family is only able to help out so much. Hercula’s mother was laid off from her job and just recently found another one that forced her to relocate to Washington D.C. because of Michigan’s poor economy.
Hercula took the Michigan Merit Exam during high school and was excited to learn that she had received the Michigan Promise Grant. She won the President Scholarship, which pays $8,000 for a year of schooling, but her tuition this semester was over $4,000. The Michigan Promise Grant was going to help cover the difference
“I was so glad when I realized I had it,” Hercula said. “Now that it’s being taken away, I’m frustrated.”
She was also was just one of many students who were dressed in black and white prisoner uniforms, making a statement that prisons and criminals receive more funding than education.
In a 2008 study, it was estimated that Michigan spent $1.19 on corrections for every $1 spent on public universities and community colleges during the 2007 fiscal year.
The rally ran from noon to 1 p.m. and was followed by a protest march up and down Warren Avenue, in between police barricades. But the protesters didn’t stop there, taking the march all around campus to show everyone their frustration.
“They (Michigan legislators) can’t cut university budgets and then cut scholarships to students and expect life to continue the same way — that’s insanity,” said Harvey Hollins, vice president of Government and Community Affairs.
Please check back later to thesouthendnews.com for video of the march.
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