Rally outside U of M McNamara Alumni Center on March 12, 2009 to demand that the Regents not cut the Regents Scholarship benefit. (Fight Back! News)

Minneapolis, MN - More than 100 workers rallied here March 12 against a proposed cut to the Regents Scholarship, a benefit that allows University of Minnesota employees to take classes without paying tuition.

AFSCME 3800, AFSCME 3937 and other concerned employees and students organized the rally and collected more than 1000 signatures on a petition in response to a university administration proposal that will require employees who wish to take a class at the through the Regents Scholarship to pay 25% of the tuition for their class.

Cherrene Horazuk of AFSCME 3800 said, “Given the alarming tuitions rates here at the U and the decreasing buying power of our wages, this is yet another slash in our ever-shrinking benefits package.” She added, “The Regents Scholarship allows entry-level employees to increase skills and get better jobs in the future.”

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800 said, “71% of the staff who use Regents Scholarships are unionized and civil service employees. We cannot afford to have the university budget balanced on the backs of hard-working employees while hundreds of administrators make more than the governor of the state of Minnesota.”