Student Committee On Political Action Co-chairman Fritz Fiebig said the rally SCOPA has organized for Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting at NIU “could get bad if the Board of Regents doesn’t listen to us.”

Although representatives of the university and DeKalb Police Departments said Tuesday night they were unsure if police would be on hand at Thursday’s rally and subsequent Regents meetings, SCOPA member Tom Rainey said officers would be present to “intimidate” students against violent action.

Rainey said he “wasn’t sure” if protests would get out of hand Thursday, but added “something spontaneous is going to happen.

“The more trouble we make, the more power we’ve got. That’s what (administrators) listen to,” he said.

Thursday’s rally is scheduled to begin at the Martin Luther King Commons at noon Thursday, and Fiebig said students will take their protests into the Regents’ meeting at the Holmes Student Center at 1 p.m.

Clifton Stiles, night supervisor for the student center, said the rally “has a lot of people over at Lowden Hall worried.” He warned SCOPA members at Tuesday night’s meeting to “be aware of the fact that (student center employees) are going to be around to enforce policies. We’re going to be tough.”

SCOPA’s rally Thursday will protest three major issues: the paid leave of absence of former NIU President Clyde Wingfield, the firing of CHANCE program counselor Martha Palmer and possible tuition hikes. The Regents are scheduled to address only the issue of tuition hikes Thursday.

Palmer was informed June 27 that her contract, up for renewal in December, would be terminated. She said that although she does not know the specific reason for her dismissal, her firing “seemed to be a collaboration between CHANCE administration and higher officials at NIU.

“There was the allusion to the fact that (I) wasn’t here to please the students, but just to do a job,” Palmer said. “If you worked in the CHANCE office, you would know there is a large degree of racial tension inside the office.”

SCOPA will protest Palmer’s firing Thursday, despite Fiebig’s contention he was “not convinced the Board of Regents is responsible for Martha’s firing.”

Student Association Mass Transit Board Chairman Dave Emerick said SCOPA should avoid the Palmer issue because members do not know the true reason why she was fired.

“The chances are very good that if SCOPA makes a loud protest, the Regents may get so upset they could move to delay discussion on tuition and Wingfield,” he said.

But Rainey said it would be “crazy” to say Thursday’s meeting is the wrong place to raise the issue of Palmer’s firing.

Regarding Wingfield, Fiebig said SCOPA is protesting the fact that Wingfield is receiving $70,000 for NIU instruction at a time when the price of tuition is going up.