As Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered his first budget address, Southern Illinois University Carbondale students traveled across the capitol complex spreading the presence of Salukis.
Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Professional Student Council organized the trip for 20 students to lobby for higher education funding.
The students briefly met with Gov. Pritzker and shared their goal of increasing higher education funding in the state budget.
"We need the activism and the action from students to help us and help the legislature know what the right thing to do is," Prizker said.
He said it was his and the legislature's job to revive higher education after it was devastated over the past four years.
"My hope and dream frankly, is that kids who most need it have the opportunity to go to college and won't get strapped with debt for the rest of their lives," Pritzker said.
USG President Toussaint Mitchell and GPSC President Clay Awsumb said the idea came up in discussion three weeks ago when Mitchell learned that students could lobby.
"We were just looking for a way to get students involved, but on a bigger scale," Mitchell said.
In the past, SIU students have lobbied in the capitol. Mitchell said the trip needs to happen next year.
"We're responding to what has been on the state level, an absence of student voices," Awsumb said. "It's been a challenging time for the state, a challenging time for the university, and in that conversation, we've been missing from it."
USG Vice President of Student Affairs Bethany Peppers said she thinks the student trip to Sprinfield shows legislators that the students care about their university. She said having students from various backgrounds, majors, and levels of studies show solidarity among the students when it comes to their university and higher education.
State Senator Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) said it is great for the legislators to interact with students in the capital because the students are their constituents. He said education, as a whole, is something that everyone should advocate for.
"We have to continue to market the incredible universities we have, such as Carbondale," Fowler said.
SIU System President Kevin Dorsey said he was glad to see the students. He said if it weren't for the students, the university wouldn't matter.
"If they're not participating, what does that say about the institution?" Dorsey said.
