Our Republican state legislators, not content with simply slashing the regent universities, have aimed their budget shears toward the funding of community colleges, work-study programs, high-school retention programs and teacher salaries and development programs.

Under their proposals, community colleges would be cut $9 million, the Iowa Tuition Grant cut $2.9 million, the state financing of work-study programs totally eliminated, Jobs for America’s Graduates program sliced $333,000 and a $40 million commitment to the Iowa teacher compensation system reduced to $8 million, according to figures in Des Moines Register.

To quote Gov. Vilsack, “It sends a very clear and unmistakable message that education is not a priority of this Legislature.”

At first I thought these cuts only suggested that Republicans are against education.

That was before I heard about their plan to shut down all five of the Department of Human Services’ regional offices and cut its budget by nearly $8 million.

I can only arrive at one conclusion: Republicans hate people.

Well, not all people. It’s kind of hard to pigeonhole all the people Republican’s don’t like, and I suppose some clarification is in order.

After some thought, I came up with a rule that quickly and easily determines if you or your loved ones could be the target of mindless Republican budget cuts.

I call it the “Sen. Grassley Rule.” Simply put, if you look like Sen. Grassley or are in his tax bracket, then you will not be affected by the current activities in our state Legislature.

As for everyone else, we face some budget cuts that will have a real affect on how we live for the next few years.

Students here are already bracing for a nasty tuition hike, and Iowa State may shut down completely and not pay faculty and staff (the ones they don’t lay off) for part of this winter break to make up for the estimated $16 million to $24 million cut.

My dad works here, so I guess this means Elton and I shouldn’t expect much in the way of Christmas presents.

The Iowa Legislature needs to meet with university officials and reach some kind of agreement on what they want Iowa State to do for Iowa.

I assume it doesn’t involve corporate-centric research, constructing huge buildings to impress alumni and soda contract consultants, but it would be nice to get a straight answer from them.

Iowa State does manage to educate a great many students, and the students are the biggest losers in the upcoming budget cut.

As tough as affording an education for the next few years will be on students, it could get even worse for Iowans who depend on the Department of Human Services for food stamps and child protection.

A proposed $7.7 million cut will force the DHS to close all of its offices and radically restructure how the department operates.

As a result, more than a third of the department’s full-time employees could lose their jobs, while the human services budget committee expects no loss in productivity.

Department Director Jessie Rasmussen remarked in the Des Moines Register that “Maybe the GOP leadership doesn’t think it’s important for families who are trying to get food on the table for their kids to have their food stamps arrive on time, but we think it’s critical.”

When it comes to cutting funding, Republicans can only see bureaucracy and “big government” at work.

Indeed, there are things at Iowa State that probably shouldn’t get the funding they do, and I’m sure the Department of Human Services isn’t as efficient as it could be, but sweeping budget cuts are not the solution, especially since the institutions in question play a large part in ensuring the well-being and overall health of our state.

I’m all for reducing bureaucracy, but these cuts aren’t trimming the fat – they’re starving muscle.

The Department of Human Services and regent universities are only seen as numbers on a sheet that desperately needs to be balanced.

Percentage points are shaved in some areas, while the Legislature hacks and slashes at the budgets of others – with little regard as to how the organizations will be affected. When we complain, they reply, “Deal with it.”

When Gov. Vilsack complains that education and child welfare need adequate funding, the Legislature accuses him of political posturing.

Students shouldn’t take these cuts lying down.

I hope you all wrote letters last week, and with any luck, the Government of the Student Body will knock some sense into those short-sighted twits this week, I hope with whiffle bats.

Sam Wong is a sophomore in electrical engineering from Ames.