At least half a dozen legislators and one representative of Governor Jon Corzine listened to a two-hour presentation by Rutgers University students Monday on the effects of last year's historic education funding cuts. Barbara Buono, a Democratic state senator, tells the Daily Targum the presentation had a "deep impact":
"I knew from my daughter attending Rutgers that there were real issues with respect to class size and research laboratories, but I wasn't aware of the magnitude the cuts have had on things like searches for professors being suspended, and problems with respect to capital projects around the campus, stairs are crumbling. I didn't realize the situation with respect to living quarters had reached such tragic consequences, students should not be living in lounges."
Support for the students was bipartisan. One Republican assemblyman, who told the students he wishes spending on pork projects had gone to higher education instead, says he was most touched by the personal stories. "Your faces are worth more than the photographs," he told the group.
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