More than 150 students, faculty and alumni from the University of Minnesota's five campuses converged at the Capitol on Tuesday, calling for state funding to refurbish aging infrastructure and to freeze undergraduate tuition.
Students and officials voiced their school pride on "Support the U Day," which began with a rally in the Capitol rotunda before students met with lawmakers throughout the afternoon.
"I think it's really important for students to show up so that legislators know how much we contribute to … our community, that students really care about these issues," said Simran Mishra, incoming student body president at the U's Twin Cities campus.
The U is asking for $238.5 million in capital funding to address a mounting backlog of maintenance and renovation needs. Gov. Mark Dayton went beyond that request in his 2018 public works proposal, recommending a roughly $300 million investment.
University President Eric Kaler spoke to students during the rally about the school's infrastructure needs, and he urged them to continue seeking legislative support.
"All of the requests we have made are important and significant," Kaler said.
Dalton Javner, student body president at the U's Crookston campus, said the northwest Minnesota school needs state money to modernize outdated lab spaces.
"We're not able to do all of the labs that we want to do ... because we don't have the actual facilities to facilitate that learning," said Javner, a senior health science major.
