Representatives and Senators of North Carolina, 

Enough is enough. Our University is dying. No, it is being killed — by budget cuts taking place within a systemic attack on public services. But we, the students, faculty and staff of the UNC System, will not put up with this any longer.

Sen. Tom Apodaca, if you had graduated from N.C. State when you got your bachelor’s degree, your tuition would have been six percent of what we pay today, and even adjusting for inflation, 18 percent of that. Cuts have kept faculty and staff pay nearly stagnant for years, as class sizes and contingent faculty have swelled in number.

You recently decided to eliminate North Carolina’s estate tax, which will help only 140 families in the state, while costing it more than $60 million every year. Point being, there is enough money — it’s just a matter of how you choose to use it. Right now, you’re using it to the harm of the many; the many being us, whose futures depend on the UNC System.

We demand you stop your assault on education. If you defund our universities, we will defend them. 

Sincerely, ____________________