Press
Scroll down for past press releases and media coverage.
Media inquiries contact:
Kristi Sanford
Office: 773-262-2297 x23
Cell: 773-456-4024
Email: kristi [at] iiron [dot] org
Contact: Kristi Sanford, cell 773-456-4024 or Kristi@iiron.org or Elizabeth Scrafford, cell 208-818-4626 or elizabethscrafford@yahoo.com
500 Chicago College Students Demand
Student Debt Reduction,
Job Creation, and
a Plan to Mitigate the Disastrous Effects of Climate Change
Today’s college and university students are $1 trillion in debt, but 53% of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. Suffocating debt and bleak job prospects aren’t the only threat to our future: climate change threatens the very future of our planet. Five hundred (500) students from five area campuses will gather to demand solutions to these problems, which we see as THE fight for our future.
IIRON Student Network Meeting: Our Future, Our Voice
Saturday, April 13, 2:00-3:30 PM
Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington Street
Students will call on our elected officials and university administrators to support student debt reduction, affordable education, a meaningful job creation plan, and action to mitigate climate change and preserve the planet.
The IIRON Student Network has invited university administrations to attend the meeting and support students seeking real solutions to these problems.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Congressman Danny Davis will attend. The IIRON Student Network will ask them to make a public commitment to support their platform.
On March 20th-22nd, a delegation of students from the IIRON Student Network will travel to Washington DC to demand a national solution to these issues.
The IIRON Student network is a regional network of college and university student organizations, including Roots of Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, The South Side Solidarity Network at the University of Chicago, North Park Justice League at North Park University, Loyola Organized in Action at Loyola University, and DePaul Students for Justice at DePaul University. Each organization is working for community improvement and economic justice in our region.
The IIRON Student Network trains students to understand, build, and exercise power through collective action. We work to address the issues facing us today and to address the issues facing our wider communities. We understand that when one part of our community suffers, the whole of our community suffers.
Press Coverage
Chicago Sun Times: Photographs from “Durbinville” shantytown action on Thursday, December 6, 2012
CAN-TV: Durbinville full event coverage, live streamed on Thursday, December 6 at noon
Newstips by Curtis Black: “Durbinville Dramatizes Safety Net Cuts”
WBBM Radio: “Protestors Set Up Durbinville Shantytown to Oppose Entitlement Cuts”
WBEZ Chicago Public Radio: “Activists Occupy Shantytown at Federal Plaza”
Getty Images: Durbinville Photograph, Another Getty Images photo made the Washington Post Pictures of the Day but is no longer available online.
Common Dreams: “#Durbinville Targets Key Democratic Senator Willing to Cut Social Programs”
Progress Illinois: Illinoisans Erect Shantytown to Call for Fair Fiscal Cliff Solutions
In These Times: Activists Arrested Confronting Dick Durbin about “Fiscal Cliff” on November 9, 2012
Progress Illinois: Clergy Smash Golden Calf to Press Dick Durbin to Serve People’s Interest in Fiscal Cliff Negotiations on November 8, 2012
Chicago Tribune: “Business Tax Breaks Under State Microscope”, March 3, 2012, Although we are not mentioned in the article, Make Wall Street Pay Illinois (of which IIRON is a member) co-released the Good Jobs First report that is heavily cited in this article.
Riverbender.com and WBGZ: Fat Cat Rally
CBS Rockford: LIVE at 6 P.M. Be sure to click on link on 3rd link (located just above the “recommend on Facebook” button)
Progress Illinois: Chicagoans Call On Quinn to Close Corporate Tax Loopholes
The Chicago Reporter: Activists in Illinois Push to Tip Scales in Favor of Civil Society
Progress Illinois: Number of the Week: 6,230
Reuters: Protests Intensify as Mortgage Settlement Nears
Progress Illinois: Southside Organization Gives “Occupy” New Meaning
Sun Times: Occupy Draws on MLK’s Legacy
Tribune: Religious Leaders, Occupy Celebrate King
Progress Illinois: Occupy Chicago, Religious Leaders Use MLK Holiday as Means to Call for Change
Past Press Releases
April 10, 2013 – 500 Chicago Area University Students from 5 Campuses Gather to Demand Debt Reduction, Affordable Higher Education and Climate Change Action
January 6, 2013 – Despite Poll Showing Overwhelming Support for Corporate Tax Transparency by Illinois Voters, House Revenue Committee Fails to Pass SB 282
January 3, 2013 – Poll Shows Overwhelming Majority of Illinois Voters Think Corporations Should Disclose Tax Information
December 6, 2012 – Grassroots Groups Set Up “Durbinville” Shantytown in Growing Waves of Protest Against Economic Safety Net Cuts
November 8-9, 2012 – Clergy, Citizens Demand Senator Durbin Represent People’s Interest in Fiscal Cliff Negotiations
February 20, 2012 – Jobs MIA Despite Costly Corporate Tax Breaks
January 23, 2012 – Clergy, Homeowners Demand AG Madigan Withdraw from 50 State Robosigning Settlement
January 19, 2012 – South Side Community Leaders Liberate Vacant, Foreclosed Home
January 17, 2012 – Northsiders March on Bank of America to Stop Evanston Foreclosure
January 15, 2012 – “Occupy the Dream” MLK Event Kicks off Week of Protests Against the Reign of the 1%