By Michael Purtell
A megaphone, clappers and chants filled the air of Amitie Plaza as a crowd gathered to protest in support of the funding of America’s education system.
The Plattsburgh chapter of the United University Professions held a protest on campus in protest of the Trump administration’s federal budget cuts April 16. The primary focus of the speakers was the cuts to the Department of Education, but members of the protest used the megaphone to express their dismay with cuts to the office of Veterans Affairs and the targeting of international students.
Plattsburgh Professor of Theatre Kim Hartshorn hosted the event, and spoke first to the crowd of assembled faculty and students. He spoke about how important it was to organize and protest so that individuals’ dissatisfaction can be felt and their freedoms can be fought for.
Hartshorn reminded the crowd that they don’t just protest for themselves, but for the students and staff unable to do so.
“It is those of us who are hidden and those of us who are vulnerable who will be targeted first,” Hartshorn said.
Hartshorn and the UUP organized four speakers to rally for the cause.
MICHAEL CASHMAN
Plattsburgh Town Supervisor Michael Cashman was the first speaker to take Hartshorn’s place. He prepared a statement for the crowd, and stressed the importance of elected officials in making themselves visible in their support of the wants of their communities.
Cashman explained his college path through SUNY Plattsburgh and called to attention how TRIO programs acted as an investment in his potential. He said the program and programs like it “are essential in the North Country.”
The Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to the department of education have threatened the eight programs that make up TRIO, and without it many students are less likely to be able to afford a college education.
Cashman also called for the revitalization of the Pell grant, as it no longer accommodates “modern costs.”
“When we invest in education we invest in our democracy, workforce and economy,” Cashman said. “It is about the investment in the collective. My heart breaks for those losing their jobs from the chaos-commander-in-chief. Do not relent.”
Cashman had to leave after his speech, but Hartshorn thanked him for his appearance greatly.
“From my conversations, our elected officials do stand on our side, on both ends of the aisle politically,” Hartshorn said.
HOLLY HELLER-ROSS
SUNY Plattsburgh alumna and Librarian Holly Heller-Ross spoke next. She restated Cashman’s point about the modern cost of a college education and how Pell grants have not grown to accommodate the new costs.
When Heller-Ross graduated with her BS and MS degrees in library science, she said she only had one thousand dollars of debt because she was well supported by her Pell and TAP grants. She said that today’s students deserve the same financing.
Heller-Ross next spoke on the ways in which the current administration has violated americans’ first amendment rights. She cited the destruction and banning of books containing LGBTQIA+ ideas, especially in republican-voting states.
“When we don’t defend our rights, we lose our rights,” Heller-Ross said. “We need all of our legislators to enact legislation that protects our freedom of speech and our right to assemble, then we need a judicial body to defend our rights and finally we need to say that over and over again until it happens.”
Heller-Ross led the crowd in several chants before relinquishing the megaphone to the protest’s next speaker.
“We the people have the power, but we have to get louder,” the crowd chanted.
SHAWNA KELTY
Associate Professor of Theatre & Department Chair Dr. Shawna Kelty was the next to wield the megaphone. Her message was simple: it is the right of anyone upset enough to protest to write to their congressperson and speak their mind.
Kelty also asked the protesters to reflect on their positions within SUNY Plattsburgh and understand how government funding had played a role in getting everyone to college, student or faculty.
“Without federal Aid, no one would be here,” Kelty said. “We would have no one to teach and no jobs.”
JOHN LOCKE
Technology-Enhanced Learning and Distance Ed Coordinator John Locke was the last of the organized speakers, and his message was one for Elon Musk, President Trump’s appointed head of the DOGE.
“As a veteran and someone who still believes in what he fought for: Keep your dirty DOGE hands off the VA,” Locke said.
Locke is a Navy veteran and spoke on how recent budget cuts to the office of Veterans Affairs have been “a betrayal.”
“That’s not efficiency, that’s abandonment,” Locke said.
The Hands-Off campaign, which recently hosted a protest against Trump and Musk in Plattsburgh’s Trinity Park, received an endorsement from Locke, who said the movement was important as a “demand that we put people over profits.”
Hartshorn finished the organized speeches with a reminder that when the government is turned against any group of people, it is important to stand up for them, even if you are unaffected.
“We are about to get punched in the jaw,” Hartshorn said. “We need to be loud and we need to be visible. We need to fight for those who are invisible.”
