To follow up on their efforts to lobby against the proposed House of Representatives’ education budget cuts, student leaders from the three regent universities are planning a second rally in Des Moines April 5 to plead their case to the Senate.

The $975 million education spending package, which would strip millions of dollars from the requested budgets of the three regent universities, passed out of the House and into the Senate by a vote of 55-41. A proposal to restore $14.6 million to the higher education budget failed by a vote of 42-55.

On Tuesday, about 75 students from Iowa State, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Iowa converged on the steps of the state Capitol in Des Moines.

Government of the Student Body President-elect Ben Golding said he thought the triple-tiered effort against the budget cuts was effective despite the approval in the Republican-dominated House.

“I thought it was amazing,” he said. “I thought that many students coming together had a substantial impact on the legislators.”

Although the student-led effort drew media from across the state to Des Moines, Golding said he was disappointed with the emphasis some media put on the downfalls in the crusade.

On the giant white signs that made their first appearance on central campus to inform ISU students about the budget cuts, three misspelled words seemed to grab the spotlight from the students’ message.

Golding said the misspelled words, “Affordibility, Legislture and Capital,” were not an issue until they were featured on the front page of newspapers Wednesday morning.

“The disappointing thing is that it takes away from the overall success of the whole day,” Golding said. “In talking with President Jischke, I think it was one of the best communications from students ever. They couldn’t find arguments against what we had to say, so they had to focus on that instead.”

The misspelled words were on a paper taped to the signs, which Golding said was supposed to have been removed before the trek to Des Moines.

He said the short time frame in which the rally was organized contributed to the chance for a random mistake.

“We were pretty rushed,” he said. “There was a lot of opportunity to make mistakes, and if that was the biggest mistake we made, I can live with it.”

Golding said he thought the emphasis on the misspellings was more of a personal attack than an aspect of the rally. “To see that on the front page took away personally from the people who put in a lot of time on the rally,” he said.

House Majority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said he was concerned about the grammatical errors.

“Now, I’ve got to be concerned with their English,” Rants told The Des Moines Register. “Maybe they are making the case they do need more funding. Perhaps it’s a subliminal message.”

Kim Smith, professor of journalism and mass communication, said the errors lessened the chance that the students would be taken seriously by the legislators.

“It suggests, in fact, that the students’ quality of education is not what it should be,” he said. “Perhaps they should put more effort into learning how to spell than political protests at this point.”

However, the misspellings did not interfere with the students’ message to all of the legislators.

“I don’t think we ought to be cutting our basic institutions,” said Rep. Ro Foege, D-Mt. Vernon. “I think it’s great [the students are here]. Any time the capitol is filled with people who support my point of view, I’m going to be happy.”

Golding said the next rally will focus on the senators, and he hopes the students will have a similar impact.

No matter what happens in the senate, he said, opponents of the education budget cuts are counting on Gov. Tom Vilsack to veto the bill should it gain approval in the Senate.