The Kansas University Alumni Association is asking its Jayhawks for Higher Education members to contact their state senators and appeal for lower state budget cuts.

A letter from Kevin Corbett, president of the KU Alumni Association, and Chancellor Robert Hemenway asks alumni to tell their senators to scale back the proposed cuts to the university.

"The Senate Ways and Means Committee has crafted a budget that would cut KU's budget by an additional 12.7 percent next year," the letter reads. "This cut not only is disproportionately large compared to other areas of state government, but it also would seriously damage our ability to fulfill our mission of preparing students to contribute to the Kansas economy."

The double-digit cuts would lead to more layoffs, reduced course offerings and larger class sizes, the letter said.

The letter says that "fortunately," the Kansas House has taken a more reasonable approach, proposing a budget cut of just over 8 percent.

"While this reduction would still harm the University, it is clearly more manageable than the deeper cuts proposed by the Senate," the letter reads.