Concerned students participated in an “ICE off our campus rally” on Monday, organized by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Illinois State University. About 25 attendees marched from Uptown Circle to the Quad, chanting phrases like “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” “We have been working for a long time, a few months now, in trying to get the University to listen to our pleas, listen to our stories, “ said Anthony Zarate, a junior Spanish education major. “We deserve to be heard. That is why we shout. We hope that the University will start to listen to us a little bit more,” Zarate continued. Normal Township Advisor Krystle Able shared the importance of local politics regarding immigration issues. “The way we got here is because not enough people in our communities fight on a local level. Immigration is not just a national issue, it is an issue with every single level of government, including townships, city councils, mayors, and with your state representatives,” Able said. “We’ve seen the power that the state of Illinois has in being able to be a sanctuary state, and we also see the attacks that we’re under because of that,” Able continued. Anthony Tamayo, a freshman Spanish education major and representative for the Coalition Assisting Undocumented Student Achievement (CAUSA), also spoke at the rally. “I’m here with the Coalition Assisting Undocumented Student Achievement [where] we work to protect the students here on campus, whether they’re undocumented, mixed status, or anything between or beyond,” Tamayo said. “It is our goal to ensure the safety and well-being of these students, as well as all students here on campus. This can only be achieved by the University promising to uphold its DEI values and in turn, protecting and valuing its students,” Tamayo continued. Additionally, Tamayo said that ISU must revise its budget, ensuring that students, faculty and staff profit instead of the administration.

Full Disclosure: This coverage was published on WGLT by the same author. One of more than 1,000 “Hands Off!” rallies across the country took place in downtown Bloomington Saturday afternoon to oppose the government's agenda regarding cuts to the federal government and concerns about human rights under President Donald Trump's leadership. Hundreds of protesters filled the south lawn outside the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. “Hands Off!” is a nationwide effort that seeks to give power to U.S. citizens who oppose joint efforts by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk to make policy changes which would affect citizens’ rights. Crowd members of all ages held signs with written messages such as, “Don’t Turn Your Back on Humanity” and “Make America Moral Again.” "I'm seeing history repeating itself right now where real fascist ideals are being pushed on a democratic country," said attendee Todd Peterson. "I really feel we're going to have to take a stand on this." Peterson said the large crowd size was what he had hoped to see. The progressive advocacy group Voices of Reason, a local chapter of Indivisible, organized the rally, which included several speakers. “There are corporate-backed politicians and billionaires trying to gut the programs that keep our families and communities afloat. They are doing it behind closed doors with lobbyists whispering in their ears while telling the rest of us, ‘There’s not enough to go around,’” said McLean County Board member and newly-elected Normal Township Supervisor, Krystle Able, a Democrat. Able called out Republican U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood for “voting in favor of policies that would weaken Social Security and Medicare while protecting tax breaks for the wealthy.” Democratic State Rep. Sharon Chung for the 91st House District said Trump’s first four years in office were only a warm-up for what is to come. “We’re fighting for the soul and for the foundation of our country,” Chung said. “My parents were immigrants here—to the United States. This is not why they immigrated to the United States.” Chung gave congratulations to the United Faculty of Illinois State University for their agreement reached with the University’s administration, which was announced Friday evening. President of the Bloomington Education Association, Julie Riley, spoke about threats against schools and students at those schools. “As you know, our current president nominated and has seated a wrestling promotor to be the head of the Department of Education,” Riley said. “Wrestling is not the same as public education, folks.” Riley said students in need of speech support, social work minutes and physical therapy will be in danger of losing those services if their access to Medicaid is cut off. “Although our boards have been good to us, I don’t know what they’d do if they didn’t have federal funding to pay for special educators,” Riley said. “We don’t have the kind of money in our local school board budgets to make up that difference.” President of Bloomington's Prairie Pride Coalition, Dave Bentlin, wished to call out members of the LBTQIA+ community who don’t believe they are under serious threat. “This is just the start,” Bentlin said. “None of us [are] safe. They will come after all of us if we don’t take action.” Bentlin gave thanks to local businesses, namely Lucca Grill, who have supported the local LGBTQIA+ community. Bentlin said that before he arrived at the rally, he received a text message from another member of the LGBTQIA+ community who didn’t feel safe attending. “I honor that concern,” Bentlin said. The rally ended with the crowd participating in call-and-response chants and singing two songs, “This Land Is Your Land” and “We Shall Overcome.”

Illinois State University's Student Government Association (SGA) held its biweekly meeting Wednesday. A new member was appointed, two amendments were made to the SGA's bylaws and a bill was passed to fund the upcoming Redbird Market event. SGA unanimously elected to add sophomore Sandy Berg. She will be taking on a Greek life-adjacent role. “She’s going to be the ex-officio of the College Panhellenic Council. So she will be advocating for all the sororities on campus,” said Student Body Chief of Staff Maegan James. Members also discussed the upcoming Redbird Market. The market will sell art, clothing and other items. “It's an opportunity for students to be able to have a platform to sell their services–an opportunity for all other students to see what their fellow Redbirds are working on,” Blair said. Members unanimously voted to allocate $1,200 towards the Redbird Market event. “[The money] is coming from an already allocated spot from the dean of students' office and all of that money comes from general campus funds,” James said. The SGA's bylaws were also amended twice. The First Amendment now requires applicants for on-campus IT positions to have previous IT experience to be hired. The Second Amendment saw the addition of the SGA’s oath of office into the bylaws. The next SGA assembly meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April 16 in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center.

The United Faculty of Illinois State University (UFISU) announced that a full tentative agreement has been reached with the University's administration Friday evening. UFISU and the University administration reached a tentative agreement after a lengthy 16-hour meeting on Thursday immediately followed by another meeting on Friday. "This monumental achievement would not have been possible without the demonstrated collective power of all of you—our members, our union siblings, out students and our communities," the online announcement read. The announcement expressed appreciation for those who have supported UFISU's movement over the last 13 months. This story will be updated.

A 16-hour-long negotiation session between the United Faculty of Illinois State University (UFISU) and Illinois State University on Thursday did not result in an agreement. UFISU released an update on the bargaining process with ISU's administration for fair wages Friday morning. "As of today, the 650 tenured and tenure-line faculty in the union may legally strike at any time," read a statement released by UFISU on Friday. Associate Professor of the Department of Finance and Law and co-lead negotiator for UFISU, Tice Sirmans, was quoted in the update. Sirmans said the 16-hour meeting only created more distrust. "While the administration continues to insist that they are prioritizing student and faculty needs, their actions repeatedly prove otherwise. Rather than focus on bargaining a fair contract that helps to ensure a high-quality education for students, President Tarhule and his team are prioritizing research and trying to pit faculty against one another for meager raises in a Hunger Games-like scenario," Sirmans said. Sirmans said UFISU is prepared to strike next week if necessary. Several UFISU members formed a last-minute gauntlet as they met with administrators Friday morning for another negotiation session. UFISU also scheduled a rally for Friday evening, but it was canceled due to the weather. "Our power is strong, and the ISU Admin know we can mobilize at a moment's notice if we have to," the UFISU rally cancellation post read.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, the United Faculty of Illinois State University (UFISU) held the Big Union Family Rally on Illinois State University’s Quad. It was the last day before the union was allowed to initiate a strike. Before the scheduled march around the Quad, speeches were given by members and special guests regarding the demand for a fair contract from the administration. One of the two final speakers included Illinois’ State Representative Sharon Chung. “I am a union member myself. I have a lot of friends here, and also my background comes from being a faculty member as well. I’m always going to be standing up for workers’ rights,” Chung said. The rallies over the last few weeks have grown in numbers. The rally held today had multiple new faces as families and friends joined in solidarity. Members from the non-tenure track faculty union, the graduate student union, the local teamsters, family members of UFISU and local K-12 teachers attended the rally to put pressure on the administration. “We invited people from the community, so people can bring their families and pets. We wanted to make sure that people knew that we’re there for them and we appreciate everyone attending,” Special Education Associate Professor Mark Zablocki said. According to a media release from ISU, the university and the union met for the 46th negotiation session on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. The university presented an enhanced on-the-record economic proposal, as well as an on-the-record proposal on definitions. There were off-the-record topics discussed afterwards. These negotiations did little to increase the hope of an agreement for UFISU. “The goal today is to send a clear message to the administration that the faculty are not going to be pushed around,” UFISU Professor Keith Pluymers said. “We’re not going to see this university put a system that devalues student learning at every turn by telling us that if we focus on teaching, we don’t deserve to get paid a raise that keeps up with inflation.” Bargaining table sessions between UFISU and ISU have been long and grueling, as most sessions have gone for hours on end. A majority of the UFISU members have numerous emotions about the lack of response from the university administration regarding a contract. However, the support from the campus and Bloomington-Normal’s community has kept UFISU’s spirits lifted. “I think people are anxious and frustrated, but also really excited and feeling heartened by events like this, where community support is so obvious. We feel like we really have a big, diverse group behind us,” Assistant History Professor Taylor Soja said. Many students attended the rally in support of their professors and colleagues in UFISU. Freshman music education majors Nick Sleevar and Nathan James emphasized the importance of supporting the faculty. “We’re both future teachers and this concerns us; this is the well-being not only for us, but for our future students,” Sleevar said. “Not even just for teachers. It’s important for people to be unionized and to have a voice for their own contracts and their pay,” James said. The march began at approximately 4:37 p.m., and concluded at five. Members marched with signs that read “Take care of my dad, so he can take care of his students” and “Pay faculty, not lawyers.” Tension hung in the air after the group distributed. “We’re all feeling a lot of stress because we don’t want to go on strike. We are feeling sick at the decisions coming from President Tarhule and the whole administration team,” Pluymers said. “They look at [students] as nothing more than tuition dollars. We look at [students] as people, and we hope [they] understand the difference…We are absolutely fed up.”