JSU Students Rally Against Barbour's Plan

Students at Jackson State, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley are gearing up for a big rally at the state capitol on Friday at 1:00 pm.

On Thursday, Jackson State's Student Government Association sponsored a town hall meeting to talk about Governor Haley Barbour's proposed plan to merge three historically black universities to save money. The governor says it would save the state $35 million. Hundreds of students attended the meeting, including University President Dr. Ronald Mason.

"The role of HBCU's in Mississippi is to lift up the people Mississippi spent a lot of time beating down," he said.

Student Government Association President Courtney Gray says students on campus are uniting against the proposal.

"We were funded on the principles of educating those who were underprivileged and to combine HBCU's and just wipe away their legacy, it's just not a good look for the state," he said.

The governor is facing opposition in the state capitol and on the internet. The blog Gawker accuses Barbour of "institutional racism." One online petition against his plan has garnered more than 800 signatures.

"Nothing about this budget is going to be popular," he said during a news conference earlier this week.

Some students told us the governor's plan gives students at other state universities an unfair advantage with more resources.

The Institute of Higher Learning is not taking sides on the controversial merger proposal. Instead board members say they're focusing on ways to save money at their institutions.

Commissioner Hank Bounds said even without mergers, state universities face tuition increases to make up for big budget cuts. He suggests cutting faculty and staff salaries and imposing furlough days to save money. He says students who depend on state financial aid may feel the pinch because it may get tougher to get student loans. Bounds is giving university presidents until January to come up with their own comprehensive savings plan.

"By January, we'll know what the impacts will be to academic programs to administration to custodial services," he said.

Ultimately, it's up to lawmakers to decide how to balance the state's budget.