From Capitol Hill to MSU: how a possible government shutdown could impact campus

With the potential of a government shutdown looming, MSU may face anticipated challenges. In a Sept. 22 email sent out to the university, MSU President Waded Cruzado detailed this anticipation as possibly having long-term impacts if the possible shutdown stretch into weeks or months.

According to the PBS NewsHour, a government shutdown happens when the U.S. Congress doesn’t successfully pass federal funding or spending related legislation signed by the president. The time-consuming process of passing different funding legislation sometimes results in a stop in government operations.

According to The Hill –  a media company that covers United States policy, politics and international relations – in the past five decades, there have been 21 federal government shutdowns with the longest being in 2019, which lasted 35 days.

Ethan Richardson, an undergraduate in English education and Hilleman scholar at MSU, shared his perspective on the events of Capitol Hill’s discourse. “I think the state of our government right now is probably one of the worst it's been in a long time,” Richardson said. “It's a lot of trying to put up blockades, in order to stop opposing parties, movements and so on, that really creates a stalemate in our government.”

“We are in a university that is supported by the government. And so we could maybe lose budgeting for events. That'd be a loss for everyone on campus,” Richardson said. 

Assistant Director of Alumni and Grants at MSU Barb Sander offered another view, highlighting the immediate effect on student applications. “The biggest effect on our campus that could be affected by a federal shutdown would be the FAFSA applications. Now they're trying for sometime in Dec. to release the ‘24-25 application, but if the government would shut down, it would further delay that process,” Sander said. 

However, she said that essential services won't be disrupted. “A government shutdown won't close the financial aid office or any offices because we're state workers.”

Paul Lachapelle, who has been teaching in the political science department at MSU for nearly 17 years, commented on the broader political implications of the shutdown. “The dysfunction that we're seeing in our government, whether it's at the federal level or state or our local level is a detriment to our most vulnerable people most affected by the lack of action,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we've become so hyper-partisan and so divided that the prospects for bipartisanship are becoming less and less attractive in this hyper-partisan kind of country that we're living in,” Lachapelle said.