Fighting
the budget cuts
By
Gabrielle Charette, director of Government Relations
Many of you have approached the president, me and other University officers
regarding the governor's recently announced budget cuts to higher education
and have asked about what steps you can take to help get some of the reductions
restored.
Since the budget is now being reviewed by the Legislature, the most helpful
action you can take is to write your legislators and urge them to restore
funding to the 12 senior public universities and colleges. You may, of
course, stress, in particular, the importance of restoring funding to
Montclair State University, New Jersey’s second largest and fastest
growing university. I have attached a list
of points that you may want to incorporate into your letter. To have
maximum impact these letters should be written on your personal stationery,
and although this can be an emotional issue, a business-like tone is most
effective and will be best received by the legislators.
I also suggest that you copy the governor, and the Budget Committee chairmen
in each House of the Legislature. I am attaching a copy
of those addresses for your convenience. If you do not know who your
legislator is or his/her address you can access that information at www.njleg.state.nj.us
and click on “Find your Legislators.” Then click on municipality
and you will get an alphabetical list of all New Jersey municipalities
and the district number the town is in. If you need further assistance
determining who your legislator is or where to send the correspondence,
please do not hesitate to contact me at 7648 and I will be happy to provide
you with the information.
Finally, if you would kindly forward a copy of your letter to the Office
of Government Relations I will be able to inform the legislative leaders
of the overall volume of mail sent by the Montclair State community.
Thank you for your interest in this important issue and your support of
the University and higher education.