I am an IS office major. Most of my classes are in BA. I am almost 63 years old. I have been at UTM since fall, 1999. College is my first priority. As one of the elder students, many of the student body confide in me. I feel like I can speak for the way most of the students feel.

We are adults. We know that money only goes so far. We have been under funded, and under staffed for a long time. We have lost several very good professors because we cannot pay them what they rightfully deserve. Now we are losing more, especially BA!

I heard through the grapevine that we will be losing some of our favorite teachers. Grapevine is gossip. We would like a list of exactly which teachers will be let go. What is the list of other cuts? Is there anything we, as students, can do to change this? The only thing I know that I could do to help, would be to give up my free printing at the computer labs. I would gladly do so, if it meant keeping some of our favorite teachers.

What else can we do? I could well do without the new student chairs and tables in many of the rooms. Most of the students do not need a zip-drive, or RW CD in the computer-labs. The good teachers we will have left will be so over-extended that they will be worn out. The classes will have to be larger.

Thusly, we will loose the 'hands-on' technique that is one of the main draws for new student admittance.

In the big picture, we the students and our families pay the bills. Can we do anything to help? Can we at least let the teachers who are at risk that we love and support them?

Rae Stewart is a Information Systems major from Martin.