AFSCME members, NEIU students rally for university funding
Decrying the budget crisis that has left public universities without state funding for eight months, and demanding that Governor Rauner stop harming higher education immediately, a capacity crowd of more than 400 people filled the Northeastern Illinois University auditorium for a “Stand Up, Speak Out” rally on Feb. 25.
The event was organized by a coalition that included AFSCME Local 1989 (which represents NEIU clerical workers, groundskeepers, child care workers and others) together with student groups, faculty and even university administrators.
“It shows how concerned people are, especially students,” said Local 1989 President Ellen Larrimore, an archivist in the university library system. “We really are in a crisis situation. To stay open without state funding, the administration says they’ll have to make serious cuts, including furloughs and layoffs.”
“The protest was spurred by the governor's recent veto of legislation that would have restored Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants, which more than 2,000 NEIU students rely on to help cover tuition costs,” DNAInfo reported. “The governor is playing politics at the ‘expense of the future of Illinois, which is our students,’ NEIU Provost Richard Helldobler said.”
“There’s a strong sense that the governor doesn’t care,” Larrimore said. “People are frustrated and fed up with Rauner because he won’t compromise to fund our school or MAP grants, which hurts our students, or he puts conditions on it.”
That’s why similar coalitions of students, staff and faculty are coming together on campuses statewide. They converged on the Capitol for the governor’s budget address on Feb.17, and a massive rally at Eastern Illinois University on Feb. 5 drew more than 1,000 people.
AFSCME Council 31 associate director Tracey Abman was among the rally speakers. State representative Will Guzzardi also spoke and senator Ira Silverstein, an NEIU alumnus, greeted the crowd.
Guzzardi and Silverstein are among the Democratic majority in the General Assembly that passed Senate Bill 2043 to restore MAP grants. A vote to override Gov. Rauner’s veto is expected soon. Call your legislator to urge support for the override.
“As we fight together for MAP funds and university funds, let us not fall prey to the corporate elite’s attempts to divide us,” Abman told the crowd. “We must stand together with others who are also struggling because there is no state budget, and we need to support those who are standing up to Rauner’s wrong priorities and fighting to fund our future.”