Shippensburg University administrators offered a meeting to six students who unexpectedly showed up to the President’s Cabinet Meeting on Monday, to ask for help to protest Pennsylvania’s ongoing budget impasse.

SU student Kayshaun Fitzgerald took action with his classmates and asked SU administrators to support them in putting pressure on legislators to pass a budget. He told the administrators that he wants them to help mobilize students to Harrisburg and suggested they drive the buses themselves if necessary. He also called on them to spread the word about their intentions to protest the impasse.

The state has been operating without a budget for 140 days, which is leaving students without their state grants to cover expenses, such as books and housing. Though SU gave its students an advance on their grants from their reserve funds, it was not enough to fully compensate them.

“We need help — we are asking for help,” Fitzgerald said. “We need to get more students in this.”

Vice President of Student Affairs Roger Serr told the students he would work with them.

“I’m more than willing to step up and help you,” Serr said. “And I can help you organize and I think we need to pull in student government.”

Brendan Finucane, president of SU’s chapter of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF), said he was speaking on behalf of the faculty when he said he was willing to help them. Serr and Finucane scheduled a meeting to address their concerns, which will be held today.

The SU Student Senate, which may have a representative at the meeting, has been trying to inform students about the consequences of the impasse. Some students took action on their own accord.

Fitzgerald organized the students together with Dorsey Cottman and Katara Lewis, who are all talk show hosts for “The Void,” a program on the SU radio station WSYC. On Sunday, they broadcast their plans to speak at the cabinet meeting and invited students to come with them.

They met in front of Ezra Lehman Library at 9:30 a.m. on Monday and walked across campus to the annex at Century Café in Old Main, where the cabinet meeting was held.

“We want them to help mobilize us to Harrisburg,” Fitzgerald said, adding that they want to set a specific date to go. Serr met the students outside and invited them to introduce themselves and address the administrators after the current presenter was finished.

“Any pressure in Harrisburg is good,” said SU senior Adelaide Mooney, while waiting outside the meeting. Mooney said that while she is not directly affected by the budget impasse, she came to the meeting to learn more and support a classmate.

Serr invited the students in and they introduced themselves. Fitzgerald, raising his voice at times, expressed his concerns, pausing to give SU President George “Jody” Harpster a chance to speak.

“We all have been engaged in trying to move the legislature,” Harpster said, adding that there are organizations outside SU to persuade the legislature to pass the budget that the students could work with. “The institution has made the adjustments we could make,” Harpster said.

SU is currently operating without its normal state appropriations because of the budget impasse. It is relying on tuition, fees and reserve funding to pay for expenses and give students advances on their grants. Fitzgerald and his classmates, however, requested the administration to help students take more action.

“Am I asking for too much?” Fitzgerald asked of the administrators, looking across the room filled with dozens of people. After a moment of silence, Serr spoke up and offered his assistance to hear the students and see if they could work with Student Senate. The students also received additional support from APSCUF.

“On behalf of the faculty, we’d be willing to help as well,” Finucane said.

Fitzgerald had a one-word response — “Amen.”

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