Students address opinions on SOPA
The Student Senate will address student views today on the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act as well as an expenditure request for the student executive vice president to attend an Illinois Board of Higher Education meeting in February.
The Student Senate will vote on a resolution against SOPA and PIPA, and Mitchell Gurick, a student senate member, began a letter writing campaign asking students to sign letters against the legislation.
Although SOPA and PIPA have been tabled indefinitely, Gurick said he still thinks it is important that Illinois representatives know where Eastern students stand on this issue.
“We wanted to give Eastern students a chance to let their voices be heard and showcase that voice can be heard,” Gurick said.
The letter writing campaign began Friday outside of Coleman Hall and ended Monday at the University Food Court in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
“Basically after all of the coverage and the Internet blackouts, I thought it was important for student government to do something; so we did a lettering writing campaign,” Gurick said.
He said he teamed up with Student Senate members Jenna Mitchell and John Poshepny and had more than 100 participants each sign two letters.
“I am a political science major and we had discussed (the legislation) in a lot of my classes,” Mitchell said. “We are going to bring this feedback to the Student Senate, and the student body is generally against it, so it is our job to represent them.”
If the resolution passes, Gurick, Mitchell and Poshepny plan to send copies of it along with the letters to Illinois Senators Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin.
“I hope the (student senate members) vote yes not because of all the recent publicity, but because they genuinely want to take a stand and it is what their student constituents want,” Mitchell said.
Also on the agenda is a proposal to fund travel expenses for Jarrod Scherle, the student executive vice president, to attend the Illinois Board of Higher Education Student Advisor Committee at Joliet Junior College.
This meeting is a part of Scherle’s executive duties, and he has attended three in the past year.
Scherle said he plans to collaborate with his counterparts from other institutions to discuss issues that face all student governments and higher education statewide.
“It is pretty standard, and it is required and budgeted for,” Scherle said. “We will discuss our lobbying days and who we want to target. We will also be discussing performance based funding and our thoughts on it.”
The Student Senate meets at 7 p.m. today in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812
