By Lilly Burrus
Students seeking degrees in the liberal arts, education, social work and religious studies may struggle to get funding in the upcoming semesters, according to the Trump Administration’s new plan to defund majors that won’t meet their salary expectation. Political science professor, John Messmer, gave his insight on the topic and how it will affect students, specifically at community college.
“I want to see this place thrive, which means I want higher education in general to thrive. And when you’re talking about the federal government abandoning even a small percentage of student opportunities, ultimately that means it’s bad for even community college, definitely community college,” Messmer said.
With the administration’s plan to cut funding, it will make it hard for middle and lower class students to afford college for all four years in a field which they are planning to pursue. Messmer pointed out the social status of America and the idea of “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Naturally, families with more money will receive more opportunities to get better paying jobs that can be passed down through generations, but they also have the money to pursue these jobs that will have a lower income.
“There’s this mentality that if you’re not going to college to make more money than you would get with just a high school degree; there’s no point in going to college. I mean, that’s always been the mentality. It’s a very anti-intellectual, anti-liberal mentality that this president and the people that surround him are proud to shout from the rooftops,” Messmer said.
With the November election, it’s important for students in the art and education department to know how to protect the financial aid they are receiving. Conducting research on Missouri representatives and senators is a big step in knowing who to vote for and how to make change stick. Professor Messmer, who has taught political science at Meramec for over 25 years, said his voting style has changed in the past 10 years with the tilt in the modern government. Messmer said when teaching government and political studies it’s best to be unbiased and teach with an open mind. He also said with the system being corrupted, it’s now impossible to stay unopinionated.
“I’m shouting from the roof. The Republican Party is going against American principles. You gotta vote against these individuals. And I say that freely admitting contemporary liberals, the Democratic Party, have a lot of faults. But when you’re up against a political movement that wants to completely abandon American principles, I don’t think there’s any choice. And I’d never thought I’d live to see that day,” Messmer said.
With Meramec having a highly-enrolled arts program, this movement could hit the humanities programs hard, not just causing issues for students studying the arts, but teachers losing jobs as well if colleges and universities opt to remove these programs with the expectation of minimal enrollment due to defunding. Keeping an eye on the news and the changes being made in the government will help students stay updated on this issue and consult next steps for keeping these programs, said Messmer.
“You have to pay attention to what they do, even if it’s just spending 15 minutes a day. Pay attention to the news, maybe for the first time ever. And we’re masquerading as a democracy. We talk a good game. As much as I want to blame, and as much as the blame deserves to be laid to the politicians, an equal amount needs to be laid with just regular people,” Messmer said.
