By chance, Governor Bruce Rauner unveiled his hokey duct-tape commercials around the same time students and faculty from Northeastern Illinois University took to the streets to protest cuts that threaten to put their school out of existence.
After the commercials aired, Rauner insisted they weren’t campaign spots. “Really, we’re just trying to communicate with the people of Illinois,” he told reporters last week while making a visit to Decatur, which he insisted wasn’t a campaign appearance.
As more than one speaker pointed out, Northeastern’s traditionally been the school of choice for north-suburban and north-side working-class and lower-income students looking for a relatively affordable commuter school. (Tuition is about $15,000 a year.)
For many students, a degree from a state school is a key step toward achieving the middle-class dream.
To make ends meet, the university has ordered employees to take eight furlough days, and it closed the campus over spring break, leaving students without access to the library, gym, science labs, etc.
She makes a good point. In 2012, when he was still a private citizen, Rauner gave a now infamous speech before a right-wing think tank in which he urged the state to pit one faction of the Democratic Party against the other.
