Building a stronger community starts with the individual, said senior political science major Keith Taylor during a meeting with the faculty union and others Tuesday night.

Eastern’s chapter of the University of Professionals of Illinois, the Fair Trade Coalition and the student chapter of the Illinois Federation of Teachers met Tuesday to discuss labor and education.

Taylor moderated the discussion that plans to build a foundation for what Fair Trade pushes for: an opportunity for everyone to be fairly paid for their labor, especially in the coffee industry.

Taylor said a plan called Progressive Illinois is being organized, which will work with UPI president David Radavich and alumnus Chris Lempa to unify students, the community and the faith community.

Progressive Illinois will be a model of a similar group called Progressive Maryland, he said.

“The first way is to get people interested, and then to get funding, and later research,” Taylor said.

The group will start by e-mailing students, teachers and members of the community regarding campus and area events. Taylor plans to have the group start in the Charleston and Mattoon area, in hopes of spreading it to the Champaign and Effingham areas.

The overlapping interest groups should be able to talk about issues they all have in common, Taylor said.

“It was refreshing to have an open conversation with faculty,” said senior sociology

major Stefanie Michaelis, a member of the Fair Trade Coalition.

Radavich said he wanted to see students more aware of university or social problems.

He said there should be efforts to see better relationships between teachers and the deans, chairs and students and the university community.

Radavich said the current tentative faculty agreement is an example of structuring relationships.

Specifics of the contract, which will be described to faculty members at a union meeting Thursday, gained advantages in academic freedom and reasonable workloads, allowing more teacher-student interaction, Radavich said.

“The struggle is about being treated with dignity and respect as employees,” he said. “We have to live our values. I still think it’s important for us to take a stand.”

The university is becoming a corporate structure with the kids as the products — a pattern consistent across the country, Radavich said.