While a group at SIU-Carbondale is calling for the campus community to shut down the university for a day on May 2nd to protest the lack of a state budget, an even larger higher educational walkout is being planned for later this year.
Brandon Woudenberg is president of the SIU-C Graduate and Professional Students Council, which represents graduate students as well as students in the medical and law schools.
He says the GPSC is working with SIUC's Undergraduate Student Council to reach out to other schools for a statewide walkout.
"Unfortunately, (we're) planning over the summer for, in the event we don't have a budget, there to be a walkout on all campuses statewide, with faculty, administration and students at the very beginning of the fall semester."
Woudenberg says no state funding for higher education is cutting research programs short for many of the students his group represents. He says the students are worried if they are going to be able to complete their degrees.
A group calling itself the May 2 Strike Committee is calling for a one-day walkout on the SIU-C campus on that first Monday of next month. The group wants to shut down the university to protest the budget impasse, what it believes is a racist and sexist atmosphere on the Carbondale campus and other issues.
