Among posters reading “Stop the cuts! UT is bleeding,” “Don’t sink our flagship” and other such slogans, UT students, faculty and staff gathered on the Pedestrian Mall to protest the newest budget cuts to the Knoxville campus and to the entire University of Tennessee system.

According to an announcement posted on the chancellor’s Web site, the Knoxville campus has been asked to sustain an additional $6 million in budget cuts for this academic year as a portion of the newly mandated $17 million cut across the UT system.

Interim Chancellor Jan Simek, in his Web site announcement posted on Oct. 9, said some of the cuts will include decreased travel and field opportunities for students and cancellation of upper-division courses affecting student ability to graduate, among other reductions.

UT’s Progressive Student Alliance and the United Campus Workers-Communications Workers of America, local chapter 3865 organized “Tell Nashville to Stop the Cuts!” in hopes to encourage involvement and to send a message to the state government in Nashville.

The press release for the event warned of further cut backs if action is not taken immediately.

According to the release, jobs are “being lost with classes and entire departments being cut, resulting in an UT that fails its mission of education and economic development for the state. And that’s just the beginning. Budget cuts are more than guaranteed for UT next year.”

Kyle Hardy, junior in global studies and PSA member, said the attention being paid to the event is an indication of the importance of the rally’s mission.

“A lot of teachers have canceled class, and workers have been allowed to take their breaks during this time,” Hardy said.

The PSA had a table set up at the event to encourage people to sign a petition in response to the budget cuts and to call Sen. Jamie Woodson to express their concern about the current situation. Woodson is the representative for District 6 in Tennessee, a spokesperson for the Knoxville area.

Janet Miles, the UCW-CWA local secretary, introduced eight speakers, each a member of the UT faculty, staff or student body, during the hour-long event. She also serves as the spokesperson for the union.

“We believe the budget cuts are hurting … the quality of education and the people of the university,” Miles said. “This doesn’t have to happen. Nashville has the power to stop the cuts.”

Miles, on behalf of the union, has suggested four alternatives to the current situation: The legislature could first, reduce exemptions on state sales tax on items such as marina docking fees, fishing tournament licenses and taxidermy; second, close loopholes in the reporting of corporate taxes; third, levy taxes on Tennessee residents earning more than $250,000, that is, on the top one percent of the population; and fourth, tap the rainy day fund to alleviate the immediate shortfalls. Miles said the rainy day fund currently contains nearly $1 billion in discretionary funds.

Several of the event’s speakers motivated the attendees with spirited speeches.

Jon Shefner, associate professor of sociology and global studies at UT, said, “All of us here are working on the front lines of the American dream … That dream does not exist without education.”

Shela van Ness, associate professor of sociology at UT-Chattanooga, warned that inaction would only result in more struggles in the future.

“More cuts are planned,” she said. “This is only the first round of a very tough fight. If we don’t unite, we will sink.”

Van Ness spoke about UT’s outsourcing of labor. When UT hires employees part-time, they have no benefits and no job security, she said. She was also critical of the programs and methods she believed needed improvement.

“Petersen’s office is a big, fat waste in my personal opinion,” she said. “It is time to push back against the insanity of this stupid planning.”

Additionally, student speakers shared personal stories about how the budget cuts are affecting them and their peers. Student complaints included an inability to receive a diploma because of debts to UT and problems with class cancellations.

The event had an overarching theme that unified action is necessary to enact real change. Miller reinforced this belief.

“Together we’re stronger than we are individually,” Miller said. “We can take action and we can bring change.”