The Student Committee on Political Action met Thursday to discuss philosophy and strategy for the April 13 Day of Action II.

SCOPA Chairman Tom Rainey said the reason there had not been meetings earlier in the semester is because he had to decide if he was going to make the commitment to take a role in the committee, he said.

After the committee discussed who is directly affected by education cuts, Rainey said the next step is to start developing tactics.

The working class people and the poor people are affected the most by the cuts, he said. “If they (the poor) are kept out of school, they will be kept poor,” he said.

Committee member Aaron Burke, also a Student Association senator, said the class struggle should be kept out of the discussion when dealing with the problem of education cuts.

He said the committee should persuade those affected by the cuts to work on the project.

Committee member Paula Radtke, also SA public relations adviser, said the education cuts are affecting the quality of education because a lot of teachers are leaving NIU to teach elsewhere where they will be more appreciated for their teaching and get paid more for it.

“Students should be asked, ‘who do you want to be teaching classes?'” Radtke said. Teachers are leaving because they are not getting paid well, she said.

She said the students and the administration should coordinate their efforts. “It won’t hurt us, it will help the whole cause,” she said.

“We have to work within the the legislature and educate legislators to the problem,” Radtke said.

However, Rainey said the best way to fight education cuts is to ignore the legislative process.

Committee member Tiffany Linn said students need to get involved by writing letters and making phone calls to legislators, not just by being there on the Day of Action.

Rainey said, “If the leaders want to keep the poor poor, then writing letters won’t help.” He said he disagrees with letter writing because it makes people think they are helping while actually they are not.

Rainey said he thought the 300 people who blocked Lincoln Highway on the Day of Action made a large point. He said having the police ask the protestors to move from the street made the legislature take notice.

Radtke said the 300 were not representative of the 24,000 people on campus.

“We don’t need a majority, we just need a lot of people,” Rainey said.

He said it does not matter how many “angry” people there are, it matters what the “angry ” people are doing. “We need to make it uncomfortable for the legislature,” he said.