THE INNER-CITY NEWS - March 01, 2023 - March 07, 2023
UConn Students Protest Lamont’s Budget by Hugh McQuaid
Hundreds of UConn students and staff rallied Wednesday at the state Capitol in opposition to the university’s funding levels recommended by Gov. Ned Lamont last week in his two-year budget proposal. Backed by a state coalition of public sector labor unions, some of the UConn community staged a mid-day walkout from the university’s Storrs campus, boarded buses and gathered on the north steps of the Capitol building. After the event, state Capitol police estimated that roughly 700 people attended the rally. At issue was the governor’s budget package, which, if approved by the legislature, would spend around $887 million on UConn, its four regional campuses, and UConn Health over the next two years. On paper, it’s an increase over the $753 million in baseline funding the school received in the last budget, but it pales when compared to the total of more than $1 billion the university received when combined with temporary federal aid. During the rally, the governor and his budget proposal came under fire from students, faculty and some Democratic lawmakers who represent towns with UConn campuses. “When the governor released his budget, he said there was a focus on inclusive opportunity and I think it’s clear from everyone here today that he missed his mark,” said Jon Heiden, external affairs director of the school’s student government. “We’re here to remind Governor Lamont and the General Assembly that without
adequate funding for academics, this state can not prosper,” Zachary Boudah, student body president of UConn’s Avery Point campus, said. Over 45 minutes the group chanted and applauded a slate of student and faculty speakers from the university’s campuses. At the conclusion of the rally the protestors dispersed, many of them planning to testify at a hearing of the Appropriations Committee being held in the nearby Legislative Office Building. Sympathetic lawmakers described for the crowd the tone of that hearing. “The conversation inside has already taken a bad turn,” Rep. Gregg Haddad, a Democrat whose district includes the Storrs campus, said. “Legislators are talking about right-sizing public higher education in Connecticut. That’s a code word for shrinking it and instead we should be expanding it.” Others said the budget proposal was a disappointment that would lead to higher tuition, less faculty and few in-state college students. Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Windham, said that over the last 30 years Connecticut had reduced its share of UConn tuition from 50 cents on the dollar to less than 25 cents under the proposed budget. “That is wrong,” Flexer said. “At what point does UConn stop being a public institution if there is no public investment?” Responding to the rally, the governor released a statement touting historic investments in UConn. Lamont said the budget included the largest baseline grants for the school in state history. The proposal would support wage increases and shift
UConn students display signs during a rally over the university’s funding on Feb. 15, 2023 Credit: Hugh McQuaid / CTNewsJunkie
UConn Professor Jeffrey Ogbar, president of UConn-AAUP Credit: Hugh McQuaid / CTNewsJunkie
pension and retirement health benefits into the General Fund, making them more competitive for grant funding, he said. Lamont said the state could not continue to fund the school at the levels it had when pandemic relief funds were available. “The COVID-19 federal relief funds were intended to be one-time in nature, providing support during the public health emergency. Those federal dollars were never intended to pay for ongoing expenses,” he said. “The UConn administration’s insistence that the state continue covering this federal aid now that it is no longer available is not a fiscally sustainable solution.” But UConn’s backlash against the governor’s budget began almost immediately after he proposed it last week. Last Tuesday, the Daily Campus reported that UConn President Radenka Maric suggested the school may pull out of an agreement to play UConn basketball and hockey games at the XL Center in Hartford. During Wednesday’s rally, Jeffrey Ogbar, a history professor and president of the faculty union UConn-AAUP, said he did not buy the governor’s claim that this year’s budget represented a funding increase for the school. He pointed to years of belt-tightening and employee benefit concessions. Ogbar said inflation more than canceled out recent increases. “Any way you look at it, we’re losing money. We’re not going back to that baseline, we’re going backwards, backwards. It’s a disinvestment any way you look at it,” Ogbar said. “We can’t be flimflammed, bamboozled, hoodwinked, run amok by a slight of hand.”
Nursing Home Staffing, Transparency Up For Debate by Christine Stuart and Hugh McQuaid
Nursing home staffing shortages, financial transparency, air conditioning, and family visits topped the agenda Thursday for the Human Services and Aging Committees. One of the more controversial proposals would require a minimum number of hours of care per resident moving it from three hours to 4.1 hours per day, the recommended level of care from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since 2001. While everyone who has a loved one in a nursing home wants the best care for them, staffing shortages have meant that nursing staff has less time for each patient every day. The bill would impose a $10,000 fine on nursing homes that didn’t provide this level of care. Supporters of the bills held a press conference in the Legislative Office Building prior to Thursday’s hearing. During the event, Lurlette Newell, a certified nurs-
Lurlette Newell a certified nurses’ assistant at Westside Care Center in Manchester Credit: Hugh McQuaid / CTNewsJunkie
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es’ assistant at Westside Care Center in Manchester, said nursing home staff are frequently overwhelmed as patients once cared for at hospitals are being shifted to nursing home settings. “Residents need our love and affection and we are not able to give this to them due to the lack of time with the current staffing levels,” Newell said. “Connecticut residents living in a nursing home should be a priority to the legislators of Connecticut.” In testimony before the legislative panel, Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, agreed. “Safe staffing levels are important for protecting the quality of patient care and workplace safety. They also reduce staff burnout and turnover in an industry that is desperate to hold on to qualified and competent staff,” Hawthorne said. Timothy Flaherty, an administrator of Village Crest, said recruiting staff, even before the pandemic, to achieve that 4.1 hours was difficult. “Hiking up minimum staffing level without any financial support will only
further negatively impact our facility,” he said. “We don’t have the labor in the community to support this bill.” Russell Schwartz, vice president and director of operations at Avon Health Center and West Hartford Health & Rehabilitation Center, said they set up interviews every week and many applicants don’t even show up. “The workforce just does not seem to be there,” Schwartz said. “Everyone is chasing the highest hourly rate, with no commitment to the job, or the residents. There are only so many extra shifts our staff can cover before suffering burnout.” Family members like John Interlandi, who is the conservator of his brother, said when he visited his brother he found his pants and his bed soiled in urine and the temperature in his room was over 80 degrees. “Based on my personal experiences, I am very concerned about the care that folks like Joe receive within the nursing home setting,” Interlandi said. Con’t on page 09