On May 17th the Minnesota legislature adjourned its regular session without having passed the higher education budget bill or any other budget bills. While legislative leaders and Governor Walz had come to an overall budget agreement a few days before the end of the regular session, details for all of the budget bills remained to be worked out.
Minnesota State recently approved the recommendations of the Ad-Hoc Basic Needs Committee for campus and system wide best practices. Of the approved campus recommendations, nearly 85% were proposed by LeadMN as part of our systemwide Basic Needs Policy proposal in February.
In this edition, we talk about the Summer Leadership Training Series, our mental health day of action, the Spring Forward Campaign, and introduce the new student leadership team.
LeadMN submitted a letter to conference committee members urging them to make college affordable, cover inflationary expenses at the community colleges, and support student basic needs.
The past few weeks has been a very traumatic one for the black community. The Brooklyn Center Police murdered Daunte Wright and it seems to be the common response, the state let police get away with harassing protesters and the community they had hurt.
LeadMN held is annual awards for 2020-21 to celebrate the work of students, faculty and college presidents for their work in supporting students in this very difficult year.
I would like to first thank you for including the mental health awareness program and funding, basic needs support, and funding for the hunger free campus in your omnibus bill. These issues were a top priority for our students and we are grateful for your support and willingness to work with and listen to our students to find solutions to the challenges we face.