Today, Jan. 31, state-related universities throughout Pennsylvania are traveling to Harrisburg to advocate for greater state funding for higher education.
Ken Lawrence, a 1995 political science alumnus, is the senior vice president for government, community and public affairs at Temple. As per his position, Lawrence directs all of Temple’s advocacy efforts at multiple levels of government.
In honor of today’s Rally for Higher Education, The Temple News spoke with Lawrence about his time at Temple and his current involvement with student protests.
The Temple News: What was your role in planning today’s rally?
Ken Lawrence: The Harrisburg Rally is really run and generated by the students. We’re providing some support for the buses and for breakfast and lunch, but this was really organized by the students with their peers from the other state-related universities.
TTN: Is it vital for students to rally the government for higher education?
KL: I think that students need to let their government know what is important to them, and if higher education funding is important to them, they need to let their elected officials know about it.
TTN: Were you politically involved at Temple when you attended?
KL: I was president of the Political Science Majors Association, and I was Chief-of-Staff to Temple Student Government.
TTN: Where do you see the future of state funding for higher education going?
KL: [State funding for higher education] has been declining for the last few years, but I think there needs to be political will shown by voters in Pennsylvania that this is something that they want to continue.
Abi Reimold can be reached at abi.reimold@temple.edu.
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