As state lawmakers look to make Kentucky State University a polytechnic school, members of the Kentucky State University community are fighting back.

Kentucky State students and alumni have rallied at the state capital within the past week to protest Senate Bill 185, which would drastically change the composition of Kentucky State University by limiting academic offerings to 10 majors and capping student enrollment at 1,000. The bill is sponsored by tate Senator Chris McDaniel, a Republican from Ryland Heights, with support from House Speaker David Osborne and Senate President Robert Stivers. It passed the Senate unanimously on March 26th.

A report by WKYT details the concerns that several students and alumni have about the potential change. Senior class president Mugissa Donatien expressed concerns about the removal of the liberal arts programs from on-campus academic life.

“If it changes to polytech that mean that all liberal art majors would go on-line and we would lose a sense of community that we have as black students here.”

A meeting occurred among leaders on campus in the Student Activities Center that featured George Brown, a Democratic state representative and Tennessee State University alumnus. In comments to WKYT, he expressed his aversion to the bill in its current form.

“We cannot sit back and say its ok…it’s not ok and we need to say it.”

Other students find issue with how the proposed legislation, if enacted, would affect campus organizations such as fraternities and sororities. The language in the bill suggests that it would be required for fraternities and sororities to reapply for their charter recognition, which Kentucky State stakeholders believe is a direct attack on the identity of the institution. Donatien told WKYT about the fight to maintain Kentucky State's identity.

“By taking our greek organizations that’s part of the legacy of HBCUs,” said student Kristie Powe.

Donatien added, “We are demanding to keep our identity and we are also demanding that they support more than a thousand students on campus and in the bill it actually states that they would only support at least a thousand students and so we want to actually have more students on campus.”