Several affinity groups will stage a sit-in at the Collis Center on Sunday to protest potential cuts in federal spending on education by the Republican-led Congress.
"By protesting against the spending cuts, we hope to also raise campus awareness of what is going on in the government," said Ana Henderson '94, president of La Alianza Latina. Henderson is one of the event's organizers. La Alianza is the College's Hispanic students organization.
Members of the Afro-American Society and Native Americans at Dartmouth will join La Alianza at the sit-in. She said students and administrators will speak at the protest. Henderson also said she hopes a representative from the Financial Aid Office will attend the protest.
The Republican's "Contract With America" proposes curbing government spending and cutting federal programs across the board, and one of the areas Republicans have targeted to cut has been spending on education.
Congress could cut or reduce appropriations for federal student aid such as the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, the Work-Study Program, Perkins loans and federal components of state grants.
According to Henderson, the College could lose about $1 million worth of government funding.
"This is a pretty far-reaching plan, it may affect all students because the money is going to have to come from somewhere else," Henderson said.
Director of Financial Aid Virginia Hazen previously said the College is joining a nationwide effort by higher education to urge Congress to keep up student-aid programs.
"We and our financial aid colleagues across the country are writing to senators and representatives to tell them this would not be a wise move," she said.
Further cuts may affect the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, Public Broadcasting and other organizations. This could lead to professors getting less money in federal research grants.
"Some teachers are funded by grants such as these, and without them, Dartmouth may have to make up for the loss in salary," Henderson said.
Henderson said the proposed cuts are important to La Alianza, because the cuts could effect minority groups.
"Some of the proposed legislation targets low-income families and also immigrants, legal and illegal," she said.
Tiffany West '98, the AAm's concerned black students chair, said spending cuts could have a dramatic effect on minorities.
"This proposal could totally change the face of black students applying and being admitted to Dartmouth," she said. "With the proposed changes, an education of Dartmouth's caliber will be out of reach for many."
Henderson said she approached AAm and NAD with the idea of working together in a coalition.
The three organizations chose to work together because they felt it was an issue that affects all communities a great deal, Henderson said.
"Our communities, Afro-Americans, Native Americans and [Latinos] share a history of struggle to be admitted, to attend and complete higher education. This is another attack on our presence here," Henderson said.
Information on the "Contract With America" and its proposed cuts will be distributed at the protest along with information on who students can contact in the government to voice their opinions, Henderson said.
"This is an issue which affects a large portion of the Dartmouth population. It does not affect only one small group," Henderson said. "I think this rally will be success if a lot of people come out and if we raise the campus' conscience about what the proposed cuts mean to the Dartmouth community."
