Further cuts to Iowa universities’ budgets are “unacceptable” and a “tremendous disappointment,” said Jon Turk, GSB president and senior in political science, in a joint statement Tuesday night with Adam Haselhuhn, president of the student body at University of Northern Iowa.

They wrote that it is time for students to say “Enough is enough” and that university budget cuts will harm the state in the future.

“The state has made a choice to not support Iowa’s public universities at the level promised and needed for them to be successful,” the two presidents wrote. “The state is increasingly placing the burden of a public higher education on students’ backs. In a challenging economic climate, higher tuition increases are unacceptable and will make it difficult for students and families of Iowa to afford an education.”

Turk and Haselhuhn acknowledged that “swift action” needs to be taken after Gov. Chet Culver’s recent announcement that Iowa departments will receive a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut to accommodate a revenue shortfall.

They wrote that higher education needs to remain a “top priority.”

“It is unclear after these cuts if education is truly a substantial priority of a state that, at one time, took great pride in properly supporting its institutions of higher education and research,” the presidents wrote.

 — Daily Staff