During last night’s Student Association senate meeting, SA President Jim Fischer ripped Gov. James Thompson and the NIU administration.

Fischer said Thompson’s cuts in the state’s higher education budget “made his blood boil” because they produced the recently approved $150.00 tuition increase.

“These cuts are ridiculous because Illinois has the 10th highest per capita income in the country, but only ranks 36th in its funding of higher education,” he said.

Fischer emphasized his point by hurling a Ronald MacDonald doll to the floor of the Regency Room in the Holmes Student Center, where the senate meeting took place. The doll had a sign attached to it reading “Gov. Thompson.”

Fischer also blasted NIU officials for “not providing any plan for students to exercise direct control over how the HSC is operated.

“Other colleges, such as (the University of Wisconsin) Madison and University of Colorado at Boulder, have control over their student centers, but yet we have none over ours. This sucks and I want you (senators) to know there’s something we can do about it, so don’t think there isn’t,” he said.

In other business, Minority Relations Adviser Larry Robertson, told the senate his plan to fight discrimination on campus through education will kick off with a speaker next Tuesday night.

obertson said Gerald Durley, vice-president of Clark College in Atlanta, Ga., will speak at 8:00 p.m. in the Capitol Room of the HSC.

“Dr. Durley is the founder of our (NIU’s) CHANCE (Complete Help and Assistance Necessary for a College Education) program, which is the only minority recruitment organization we have. He will be speaking on how to fight discrimination through motivation,” he said.

obertson also announced formation of a recruitment bank for minority students. “This is a referral service which provides information to organization leaders who are serious about recruiting minority students into their organizations.

“In the alternative, we will be placing students in these organizations based upon their interests,” Robertson said. “We look at what interests a person has expressed in his application and then refer him to the appropriate organization.