Delaware State University made additional budget requests to the Joint Finance Committee Thursday. But some students made public comments to express their own concerns about funding allocations.
DSU President Tony Allen addressed recent student protests focused on sexual assaults and campus security before diving into budget requests.
“I want everybody to know that I'm proud of my students," Allen says. "They raised serious concerns, not only it has affected our state, but affects colleges and campuses throughout the country, and we take it seriously. I've heard them. I want to be thoughtful about how we respond. And I want to make sure that we're engaging our entire university community in that response.”
But freshman Micaih Lloyd told JFC members there are not enough counselors on campus, nor enough resources to assist sexual assault survivors. He also expressed concerns over campus infrastructure.
“There needs to be funding set aside for water filtration systems for our shower heads," Lloyd says. "Briefly, I was admitted to the hospital over this past week due to a bodily rash, as well as several other students who came forward with the same concern.”
Allen is requesting about $2.4 million more than the $44.7 budget recommended for DSU by the governor.
Additional money would help expand the nursing and aviation programs, implement a masters in psychology program, and accredit DSU’s masters in occupational therapy program. It would also support academic advisor retention.
The university initially asked for $225,000 to create a Center for Safety and Well-being within Disability Services, but is raising that request to $952,500.
Allen calls the center a top priority, noting that since the pandemic, disability resource requests have increased six fold. Allen says the money sought for the center would help hire more community health nurse educators, trauma specialists and victim services support specialists.
Sophomore MJ Jimmerson says some current funding should also be reallocated to improve security and trauma services.
“Also the many underpaid faculty and the lack of security makes crime cases incapable of being time sensitive due to the lack of resources and staff that can actually address these issues in a timely manner,” Jimmerson says.
Public comment also included one DSU mother, who says her daughter was raped on her first day of school. She echoed pleas from the students for additional security and safety measures on campus.
