With April drawing to a close, many Illinois State University students are prepping for upcoming commencement ceremonies. The University will host five ceremonies at CEFCU Arena, with two Friday, May 9 and three Saturday, May 10. On May 9, the 4 p.m. ceremony will consist of the Mennonite College of Nursing and the College of Arts and Sciences Social Sciences. The 8 p.m. ceremony will feature the College of Arts and Sciences Natural Sciences/Mathematics and Humanities. On May 10, the 9 a.m. ceremony will consist of the College of Education and the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts. The 1:30 p.m. ceremony will be for the College of Applied Science and Technology. Last but certainly not least, the 6 p.m. ceremony will feature the College of Business. This is not a ticketed event, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. More information is available online.

Students for Justice in Palestine at Illinois State University (SJP-ISU) held an “Ecocide in Palestine” protest Tuesday to raise awareness about how the war in Palestine contributes to the climate change crisis. As students walked through the Bone Student Center, March, SJP-ISU’s outreach and organization chair, shared excerpts from Andreas Malm’s climate activism book, “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” March said that Hurricane Katrina and the Flint, Michigan water crisis represent the dangerous cycle happening throughout much of the world. “It’s just a cycle that keeps repeating itself,” March said. The discussion was then brought back to Palestine and how damaging the war is to the planet. “War is not separate from the climate and it never has been,” March said. According to SJP-ISU’s Instagram, the United States’ military is currently ranked as the top institutional polluter in the world. “The destruction and contamination of the agricultural land, air quality, water supplies and native wildlife in Gaza is a deliberate act of ecocide,” the post read. Several students supported the protesters as they walked by. A renewable energy student shared the importance of supporting a cause like this one. “It can be very isolating [for people] to just sit on their phones and read everything that’s horrible in the world and think, ‘Well, nobody cares,’ or ‘I’m special because I care and everyone else is dumb,’ but they have to get out there and let themselves be a person,” the attendee said. March emphasized the power of community and its role in activism. “It’s really important, especially now, to understand that action is possible and it’s possible in [our] communities,” March said. “We’ve seen how the federal government has worked to suppress protests, especially pro-Palestinian protests, and it’s largely been an intimidation tactic to get people to stop showing up for their communities.” March hoped that the protest would encourage others to support SJP-ISU’s message and similar advocacy efforts. “When [we] see our community stand up for something, we recognize that there is something to stand up for, and I think that is really important for kicking people out of their complacency and realizing that they can be fighting for something too,” March said.

Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule was among numerous university and college presidents nationwide who co-signed a letter denouncing recent actions by the Trump administration. Over 150 university and college presidents co-signed the April 22 letter, orchestrated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The signers ranged from large public universities to each of the Ivy League institutions, excluding Dartmouth College. The letter urged leaders to unite against "the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education." "We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses," the letter said. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has paused federal funding to several of the country's top universities including Columbia and Harvard. NBC News reported the move was made to pressure those universities to change its admissions processes and penalize student protesters.

Illinois State University's Office of Sustainability will host its annual Earth Day Breakfast this week to help raise awareness of environmental issues and promote change around the world. The event will take place from 8-10 a.m. Tuesday in the Brown Ballroom of the Bone Student Center. Attendees will be provided with a breakfast buffet with local, organic and Fair Trade certified foods. Beverages and vegan options will also be available. This year's keynote speaker will be author and climate activist Zahra Biabani. Assistant Director of the Office of Sustainability Christine Bruckner shared why Biabani was selected for the breakfast. “Zahra was selected as the speaker for this year's breakfast after the Office of Sustainability staff read her book, ‘Climate Optimism: Celebrating Systemic Change Around the World,’” Bruckner said. “She brings a very positive and uplifting message of ‘climate wins,’ [or] examples of people and places around the world that are addressing climate change.” Biabani will discuss how communities are creating unique solutions to the climate crisis. Copies of Biabani’s book will be available for purchase, and there will be a book signing following her address. This event is co-sponsored by the College of Business, Leadership, Education and Development (LEAD), the Department of Health Sciences and the Department of Geography, Geology and the Environment. Additional information is available here.

University of Illinois professor and historian Peter Fritzsche presented “Brown Vibe: How Hitler Won Over the Majority in 100 Days” Thursday in Schroeder Hall. This lecture was a part of the Robert G. Bone Distinguished Lecturer Series hosted by the Illinois State University History Department. Fritzsche, who focuses mostly on modern Europe, the revolution, the Third Reich and World War II, walked attendees through the first 100 days of Adolf Hitler’s rule and what it was like to be in Germany then. One of Fritzche’s key points was the Reichstag Election that took place on March 5, 1933, and how the Nazis dominated election crowds while the government took over the remaining German states. “It is the March 5 elections, with the slim majority, but a strong majority in many, many places, that prompted a wave of violence from above and from below against the republican institutions,” Fritzsche said. Along with this election, Fritzsche discussed how the community turned on each other and how there was a lot of tension between citizens in Germany. Fritzsche’s point stuck with the Department of History’s Clinical Assistant Professor Kelly Keogh. “This idea of how quickly people will turn on each other and turn on their supposedly deep-held beliefs to chase after someone like Hitler or this promise of a better tomorrow is scary,” Keogh said. Keogh believed there were a lot of parallels between what Fritzsche discussed and the current U.S. government. “100 days is all it took for [Hitler] to dismantle [Germany], and [I] see how quickly things are deteriorating in this country. There's some really frightening parallels,” Keogh said. Freshman psychology major Ksenia Peric was interested in how Germany’s citizens felt during this period. “One part [of the lecture] was a guy's diary talking about his family's internal relationships politically and how his family interacted with each other, and I found that really interesting,” Peric said. Keogh was impressed with Fritzsche’s storytelling. “I think he was very calculated in how he weaved the narrative so [attendees] could make the connections to the obvious parallels without beating people over the head with it,” Keogh said. Keogh hoped this lecture would inspire people to make themselves aware and stand up for what they believe in. “Some people are too reluctant to call things out as they are; if it looks like fascism, it is fascism. People need to get more educated and aware, and people need to not give up,” Keogh said. Peric thought the lecture was well-organized and would like to see similar events on campus in the future. “I would attend a lecture like this again, I would appreciate it if we had more opportunities to have these lectures,” Peric said.

Illinois State University's Student Government Association (SGA) held its last general assembly meeting of the semester this past Wednesday in the State Farm Hall of Business. The meeting proved to be a busy night for SGA as six legislative items passed the assembly. The passage of the 13th Amendment removed outdated committees and established three internal committees: civic engagement, internal affairs and external affairs. It also established vice-chairperson roles and allows for subcommittees. “We kind of thought that a vice chairperson would be useful…they would kind of help with event planning…it would be kind of like a second hand in the committee,” President of the Assembly Tyler Bever said. Bever explained that subcommittees would be created at the discretion of the committee chair. He said the planning of the Redbird Market could be a subcommittee under external affairs. The assembly also passed a 12th Amendment, which updated the bylaws to align with recent changes made to the SGA constitution following approval by the student body. SGA allocated $1,100 from the Civic Engagement Committee to the School Street Food Pantry to purchase sustainable and reusable canvas shopping bags through bill #11. “I think this is going to be our third year doing this…that goes to show that the bags are being used, and they are needing more,” said Chief of Staff Megan James. “We made a way to figure out how to get that money to them, obviously not in monetary funds, but in a productive way that helps not only students but also them.” SGA urged ISU to continue pursuing fair trade certification through Resolution #8. “For those of you who may not know, fair trade is a system that values people and fair labor practices with an understanding that the capitalist, neocolonial world market often unfairly disadvantages the global south. This can have severe economic consequences for small farmers, making it nearly impossible to plan their futures, secure their wages or reinvest in their own businesses,” said graduate assistant for the Office of Sustainability Ryleigh Hickman. The direct input from a member of the ISU community garnered praise from Secretary of Governmental Relations Sam Majka. “This is the way that I wish SGA worked more often. Having contact with constituents and being more motivated and energized from constituents,” Majka said. SGA also passed bill #10, which approved a $680.45 allocation for the annual Passing of the Gavel ceremony. “So, we had allocated $600 to Passing of the Gavel…and then I remembered I didn’t get drinks. So, originally it was supposed to be $440, so under that $500 threshold, but then I got drinks for everybody…and so with that it increased the total up to $680 rather than $440,” said Chief of Staff Megan James. James further said that appetizers were included in the total cost of the bill. The Redbird Market was briefly discussed, including an overview of the results of a survey completed by the vendors. Of the 100 vendors that attended, 40 responded. They rated their experience 4.77 stars out of five. More than 50% sold over $200 and 74% of the vendors gained social media followers.