Help Raise $43 Million per year for UMB Thursday March 21

3/5/2019

Dear Colleagues,

What would you do with $43 million more per year at UMB? 

The Cherish Act (Senate Bill 741 and House Bill 1214) will infuse Higher Education in Massachusetts with $500 million/year, of which over $43 million/year will go to UMass Boston. 

As you know, funding for higher education in Massachusetts has been cut by 31% since 2001 (after student enrollment and inflation are taken into account).  This year we have a once in a generation chance to fix this through passing the Cherish Act. 

Come to the Public Higher Education Advocacy Day on Thursday, March 21 at the State House to advocate for the Cherish Act, to lobby for the Debt Free Future Act to address the student debt crisis, and to ask for debt relief for UMB, no competition with Mt. Ida, and to ensure our public urban mission.

There are two ways to attend Lobby Day

MTA Lobby and Lunch is a shortened Lobby Day for those who can’t attend the full day.  A bus will leave UMB at 11 a.m. to bring people to the State House, returning to campus around 1:30 pm.  Sign up here

For the Phenom full day program runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Sign up here

There will be a brief training before heading out in groups to meet with legislators.  Lunch will be provided for both tracks.

We need UMB participation to make our state representatives listen!

Have you and your colleagues signed the Fund Our Future petition yet?

• Sign the petition for the Cherish Act (and also for the Promise Act, which adds over $1 billion for K-12 education) in the FSU office
• Pick up petitions from the FSU office and circulate these to get this law passed.  (Return these by March 18)
• These petitions will be delivered to legislators on March 21

Hundreds of faculty, staff and students will be asking legislators to pass the Cherish Act and to meet the needs of higher education in the Commonwealth. 

Find out more at 

https://actionnetwork.org/events/public-higher-ed-advocacy-day-2019?clear_id=true 

What else can I do to support the cause?

PHENOM student organizers are happy to visit your class, to help educate and involve students about the issues affecting public higher education.  Please contact UMB's PHENOM student coordinator Juan Blanco at  jblanco1200@gmail.com.  

If you would like to get more involved in helping our union to pressure the Legislature to fully fund our campus and public higher ed more generally, email fsu@umb.edu and we will help to connect you others working to build the campaign.

In solidarity,

The FSU Advocacy Day Team

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