The Student Committee on Political Action decided Thursday to ask the NIU administration to cancel classes for the Day of Action II April 13. This would enable all students who wish to participate in the day’s activities to do so without skipping classes.

More importantly, the official cancelling of classes for the day would be a symbol of solidarity among the students, faculty and administration for fighting against the state legislature’s budget cuts. The importance of this must not be underestimated.

There will of course be students who will take advantage of the day off to play around, and critics will surely point to this as a reason for not cancelling classes. But the fact that some students are disinterested in working to improve the plight of higher education is no reason to punish the students who have believed in the cause and worked hard for it.

SCOPA is planning an onslaught of educational and informational meetings, speaker sessions and rallies to get the word out to all students that their participation is vital. If the group is well-organized, and it seems to be, its members will be able to mobilize a great many more students for the Day of Action II than participated in last semester’s Day of Action.

Obviously, working with SCOPA in the planning and preparatory stages and manning letter-writing tables on the Day of Action can make one’s participation in the day much more meaningful. But those students whose time is very limited—because of work or teaching commitments or parental responsibilities—and who are unable to give a great deal of time to the cause, should not feel that they cannot, therefore, be of any help.

All students should recognize that just their presence at the Day of Action activities can be meaningful in terms of letting legislators and people around the state see that students are concerned about the future of higher education and are willing to take the time to show it. Cancelling classes for the day would make this participation possible for more of NIU’s students.

And the more people who participate, the louder the message to Springfield.