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Last updated 1:26PM ET
February 13, 2012
KPLU Local News
KPLU Local News
Students Protest Higher Education Cuts
Chantal Anderson (2010-03-05)
Students at the state Capitol with the fake coffin they carried during a mock funeral procession held to protest budget cuts in funding for higher education. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
OLYMPIA, WA (N3) - Thousands of college students nationwide protested cuts to higher education funding Thursday. In Washington state nearly a hundred students skipped class to protest budget cuts at the Capitol in Olympia. Meanwhile in Seattle, University of Washington protesters closed down the intersection 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast. KPLU's Chantal Anderson has this story.

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The funeral procession was meant to signify the death of public education. Senior Rene Soto helped organize the protest.

Rene Soto: "This is a public institution; this should be completely offset by the state funds. And right now next year will be the first time that Evergreen students will be paying more in the operational budget in tuition, than the state pays which to me sounds like a private college."

Inside the Capitol students protesters disrupted work in the Senate.

Lieutenant Governor Brad Owen: "People of the gallery, if you do not stop you will be asked to leave."

Funding proposals in the House and the Senate include cuts to Washington Universities by an additional 3-to-6 percent. But majority Democrats have pledged to preserve funding for the state need grant program for low income students. I'm Chantal Anderson, in Olympia. © Copyright 2012, N3