Non Tenure Track professors at ISU are showing solidarity with their counterparts at other budget strapped campuses with a demonstration on the quad. ISU teachers gathered to protest the ongoing budget roadblock. Historian Stewart Wenger says central Illinois lawmakers are betraying the people they represent by hurting higher education and social services.
"People like Dan Brady, Bill Brady, Jason Barickman have to side with their constituents rather than siding with the Governor's money. And the Governor's money is what's purchasing the Republicans in the GA right now. Not to put too fine a point on it, that's the score. We all know it," he said.
Area lawmakers have insisted for years that the state is spending beyond its means and government needs to be downsized. They are also in favor of lower taxes, and say that cannot happen without cuts in hope of future economic growth.
History professor Katharine McCarthy suggests the Republicans are being hypocritical.
"Our local representatives, almost all of them have benefitted from higher public education. So, I think they should support their alma maters. You have to fund higher education. It's the future. You have to invest in the future," she said.
Wenger says the Governor's stance on the budget may cause enough economic pain to ISU and other institutions to prompt opposition to sitting Republican lawmakers in McLean County, particularly "if ISU goes the way of Chicago State," he said.
The rally happened in solidarity with other rallies on public Universities in Illinois and in Springfield.
