Michael Hinton, an English and theater faculty member at Connecticut State Community College Tunxis, is an alumnus of three higher education institutions within the Connecticut State Universities and Colleges system. Hinton, who said he grew up “surrounded by poverty and addiction,” and later in his youth entered the foster care system, credited much of his success in higher education to the services the CSCU system offered over 20 years ago. But now, many of those student services no longer exist, Hinton said. “It’s time to restore the promise for our performance, time to restore that promise for our students, fund our schools, protect our services, and above all, invest in our faculty who make this education possible,” Hinton said at a news conference Thursday hosted by CSU-AAUP and 4Cs, two unions that represent staff at the state’s four regional universities and 12 community college branches. The news conference was the unions’ latest advocacy effort for more state investment as the January start of the legislative session nears, when the legislature will craft a new biennial budget. Over the last two years in particular, union members have been vocal about budget strains that have resulted in a reduction in staff and several cuts on campus, including to library, tutoring and cafeteria services as tuition and fees have increased. “We’re going to force Gov. [Ned] Lamont and legislators to prioritize our students, our workers, our economy and our future instead of prioritizing Wall Street and the ultra wealthy,” said Seth Freeman, president of the 4Cs, the union representing workers at community colleges. “Our students are going to tell Gov. Lamont, no to cutting us, no to slashing our services. Our students will say yes, Gov. Lamont, yes to cutting your Wall Street friends, yes to fewer tax breaks for your millionaire and billionaire country club friends. With our students and our communities, we are going to clear the fiscal roadblock and finally make investments in education, and health care, child care and other needed services.” Following the presidential reelection of Donald Trump last week, Lamont said that Democrats had “lost a lot of the working families,” and that the outcome of the election “ought to be a wakeup” to fight for the middle class, something he felt his party had “lost sight of.” Union members say this is now an opportunity for Lamont and other lawmakers to show their recommitment to the working class, especially as the CSCU system educates 85,000 students, the majority of whom are from Connecticut and stay in state after graduation, are people of color and/or come from low-income backgrounds. “We had talked to him (Lamont) many times. We’ve explained the problems our students are having. We brought students to talk to him last year, and he just seemed to ignore it. He said, ‘I’m giving plenty of money,’ and we said, ‘Well, it’s not getting to the classroom. It’s not getting to our students,'” said Louise Williams, president of CSU-AAUP and history faculty at Connecticut Central State University. “I do think the election has shown that if you ignore the people who are really trying to work hard and have opportunities to do better, they’re not going to support you,” Williams added. “So, I do hope that Gov. Lamont changes his mind and that he realizes that the opportunities that higher education provides for the working people of Connecticut, the average people of Connecticut, are really, really essential.” David Bednarz, Lamont’s senior press secretary, reaffirmed the governor’s commitment to the CSCU system in a statement to The Connecticut Mirror Thursday and said the governor’s office plans to draft a budget that “will include support to ensure that this system can continue to thrive.” “Gov. Lamont is a strong supporter of CSCU, and every single budget he has ever signed into law has increased state funding for this system by millions of dollars,” Bednarz wrote. “The governor particularly appreciates the role CSCU plays in helping Connecticut’s students become career ready and trained for in-demand jobs. The administration is still working on a budget proposal for the upcoming year and anticipates that this proposal will include support to ensure that this system can continue to thrive.” Talia Lopez, a sophomore at CT State Tunxis, urged Gov. Lamont and lawmakers to invest into the CSCU system. Credit: Jessika Harkay / CT Mirror Earlier this year, higher education stakeholders asked lawmakers for more funding to balance a $48 million deficit that remained after mitigation efforts for a $140 million shortfall were put in place. The state’s universities and colleges had received hundreds of millions of dollars in support in recent years from federal pandemic relief funds and state budget surplus dollars. While the CSCU system did not receive any adjustments in the state’s General Fund appropriations, the state budget stabilization bill in early May did allocate an additional $80 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding — from $48.8 million to $128.8 million — in 2024-25. The legislature had indicated they might add slightly more before the end of the calendar year. In a spending plan presentation in early June, CSCU administrators said they planned to use most of the funding to cover union raises ($19 million) and deficits within its community college campuses ($41.3 million) and Western Connecticut State University ($6.3 million).  Another $5.8 million was expected to go toward the expansion of the state’s free tuition community college program, while the remaining $7.6 million would go back “to the institutions to roll back some of the mitigation efforts,” Sam Norton, a spokesperson for CSCU, told the CT Mirror in June. Talia Lopez, a sophomore at CT State Tunxis who is part of the free tuition community college program, said those state initiatives have allowed her to “focus more on my studies,” but that there was more work to be done to support all students. “Unfortunately, not all of my peers have the same opportunity to receive free tuition. Many students paid for college out-of-pocket, and rising tuition costs only add to their burden,” Lopez said, adding that she’s “observed firsthand the academic challenges students face,” with cuts to tutoring and library hours. “These cuts disproportionately harm students who are already stretched thin or who are just trying to adjust to rigorous college-level courses for the first time,” Lopez said. “By cutting resources and raising tuition, we risk their future and mine, and in turn, we risk the future of the state. Gov. Lamont, I hope you will … remember us, the students.”