Just a really fast background so you get the letter:

The school is being forced to raise tuition and cut aid and other things because of state budget cuts. The libraries won't be open every day or as long, as well as other stuff.

But, as an aside, the school's sports complex is getting a complete make over, and they are building a new building that isn't even academic from what I understand. So they have the money for that, but not to keep the libraries open.

Here's my letter, headline and all!:

It simply amazes me that every time there is a budget problem in any state, higher education is always affected. I am a recently transfered summer student of N.C. State University, and I have just learned about some of the cuts taking place at the school. Why do the students, who are trying to make something of themselves so this country has a promising future, always have to suffer?

We're not talking about cuts in cafeteria services here; we're talking about things such as raising tuition and closing libraries on certain days and at certain times. For some reason, higher education is seen as "not a necessity," but that is something I never understood.

What happens if future doctors, lawyers, journalists, scientists, ect. cannot afford to go to school anymore, or worse yet, don't have the resources for study that they need? I wouldn't want to be operated on by a doctor or have my dog examined by a vet who wasn't given the best in education. No industry can function with people who don't have the best, and that leaves the future looking bleak. So, tell me again why higher education isn't a necessity?

June 21, 2002, News & Observer, Raleigh, NC

So that was the letter. I figured that since I took part in the protests in Jersey against the budget cuts, the least I could do here was a write a letter.