The Access March to Gov. Rauner
November 11th of 2016, a year after the iconic ACCESS Bill Launch at UIC brought a large turnout to support the bill. High school students and many other organizations across the city joined together to call a press conference, urging Governor Rauner and state legislators to vote “yes” on SB 2196 (Student ACCESS Bill), which is passing through the House of Representatives this coming session. The march was led from the Chicago Temple Church to the governor’s office at the Thompson Center downtown, with the purpose of delivering a petition to Governor Rauner and members of the Illinois General Assembly, asking to support the Student ACCESS Bill. However, things have changed in the coming weeks as more political and racial tensions raise due to the presidential elections.
Student collaborators of the bill have decided that unity among races must be pushed more than ever and have decided that the Student ACCESS Bill will now include non-violent, non-serious, non-sexual offenders to the legislation allowing equitable access to state-funded scholarship at 4-year institutions. This will raise awareness of the issue of mass incarceration in the United States and begin the start of unifying issues of black and brown oppression.
This Bill and its new piece of legislation will be presented during lame-duck session, which is in the beginning of January 2017.