Originally published by SPM on April 1, 2009
When political science junior Jonathan Alanis was hired as a policy intern for a research center at Arizona State University last summer, he never expected that university-wide budget cuts would render him jobless within a few short months.
“I heard that budget cuts were coming,” says Alanis, 21, “but I always felt like [they] would never hit me. I felt like I was off to such a great start with that job…I was part of something, and then all of a sudden it stopped.”
One of three student workers employed by the North American Center for Transborder Studies (NACTS), Alanis abruptly found himself with a difficult choice to make: either keep the internship without pay, or find a new job elsewhere.
Faced with mounting bills and other living expenses, he chose the latter.
“I couldn’t afford anything…” he says. “I knew I had to leave. I made some calls, called about seven different business owners I knew, different departments at ASU, but no one had anything.”
The timing of the center’s layoffs was particularly unfortunate, as they came barely a week after President Crow distributed a video message to students assuring them that tough economic times would only minimally affect them — if at all.
“You all are […] in one of the safest ports in the storm,” he said in his video, which was sent to students via email. “College students are well supported overall by the infrastructure that we have, […] by Pell grants, by university financial aid … and many of you have that support in addition to strong support from your families.”
While clearly intended to be more of a statement about educational costs than student livelihood, the message nevertheless underplays the negative impacts of budget cuts on students — especially considering that 61 percent of ASU students work at least part-time, with 5,553 of those employed by the university. Then again, much of the information presented by ASU regarding their responses to the recent economic downturn has underplayed its potential (or actual) effects on students.
While the university admits to eliminating 550 staff positions, including deans and department chairs, and warns of potential additional lay-offs to come in 2010 , no concrete information is available regarding budget-related elimination of student positions or reductions in student worker hours or pay (though anecdotal evidence may abound).
