2024-03-19 08:41:49 2024-03-19 03:41:49

Chicago Student Action

The IIRON Student Network is now Chicago Student Action

Our name has changed, but our work remains the same. We continue to build power on campuses across Chicago to win real victories for racial, economic, and gender justice.

Fighting for Justice at Six Campuses and Counting

Chicago Student Action currently consists of growing chapters at Roosevelt University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Governors State University, with plans to expand to additional campuses across the Chicago area.

As microcosms of our larger society, our universities are often run for the benefit of an elite few at the expense of students, staff, faculty, and the greater community. Members of Chicago Student Action are trained to take leadership on their campuses and organize support for issues such as campus living wages, fair financial aid practices, an end to racial profiling by university police, divestment from fossil fuels, and to advance our vision of a higher ed system that works for all of us.

We also know that higher education in this country continues to be inaccessible to most, especially people of color and from low-income backgrounds. In Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner has cut 30% of the state’s higher education budget, including MAP Grants, making it difficult or impossible for many students to continue to attend school. This is unacceptable. All chapters of Chicago Student Action are working together on a campaign to demand free higher education in Illinois. Sign the petition for fully funded higher ed now.

Meet our student leaders

Jessica Law, UChicago Student Action

“I used to feel apathetic about my life. As a woman of color, I felt like I was allowed only a narrow, limited way to live and exist in the world, and I grew up feeling alienated from myself. But this work—organizing—has inspired me and I have realized that I don’t have to live my own life passively. Moreover, I now have the tools and courage to fight back against the structures and systems that told me who I was allowed to be.”

 

Read more stories from students→

 

Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information about Chicago Student Action, email students@thepeopleslobbyusa.org.