Four different student governments were represented at the capitol Monday to lobby the legislators with regards to recent bills for budget cuts. More than 400 students stood in the rotunda of the Capitol to make their voices heard.

“I think it kind of hopefully opened students’ eyes to the fact that they do have a voice,” said Jessica Bruning, director of ISU Ambassadors. “Legislators for the most part are open. They may not always do exactly what you want them to, but that’s part of the process.”

In light of the several different points of view represented, whose fault is it? The first half of the argument is against the legislators themselves. Representatives from the three regents schools claimed that the cuts are bad for universities and money should be drawn from elsewhere. 

“What we try to do throughout our campaign, at least in Iowa City, is that higher education funding should be a nonpartisan issue,” said John Rigby, president of University of Iowa Student Government. “I think that higher education is one of the most important things the state can invest in. We’ve been trying to emphasize that, both Republicans and Democrats.”

Jennifer Nulty, director of Governmental Relations of the University of Northern Iowa Student Government, brought a slightly different approach to the capitol. Students from UNI wanted to show the direct influence the cuts have on students.

“Our goal is to put a personal face to the university and say why UNI is a great place to go to school, why is it a good investment for the state,” Nulty said. “When we get cut, this is what happens to me and make it more of a personal thing.”

Accordingly, she also cited the fact that something other than personal opinion may have an effect on the decision to proceed with budget cuts. Instead, she criticized some of the student groups that supported the cuts.

“It’s their political opinion,” Nulty said. “Mine differs. The thing is, they don’t have a personal story about it. They’re still going to see an increase in class sizes, their tuition is still going to go up next year. It’s both political and personal, and our goal here is to make it personal.”

However, not all students present were protesting against budget cuts. One group, the Iowa State College Republicans, was in favor of the cuts and instead criticized universities for inefficient spending.

“You know, we’re just down here to show legislators that there are students that support what they’re doing and that understand and realize that we can’t afford it anymore,” said Logan Pals, president of ISU Republicans. “We’re broke and that stuff needs to be changed.”

Pals continued to describe that the responsibility to overcome the budget cuts lies within the university and that they need to be more streamlined. For now, he says that instead of reforming the entire system, the Iowa Legislature is taking small steps like budget cuts.

“What the legislators are trying to do is make it easier by taking the cuts right now so they don’t have to take drastic measures later on,” Laws said.

Despite the staunch opposition between the parties, the mood remained fairly positive and everyone wanted to “just have fun” and make a statement to represent their interests. It also had an impact on legislators, however, whether it swayed their opinions has yet to be seen.

“It’s showing to me that people want to be engaged no matter what side of the particular issue of the people that are here, they like to be engaged,” said Rep. Annette Sweeney, R-District 44.

However, she was still in support of the budget cuts as a solution to short-term fiscal issues and was optimistic about a financial turnaround in the near future.

“We need to look where we can cut wasteful spending, and we need to look at the budget,” Sweeney said.