Jill Nilsen knows what the efforts of the Higher Education Legislative Coalition will do for public higher education in Illinois.

HELC has organized its third annual “Lobby Day,” and students, faculty, staff and other organizations are going to Springfield today to lobby for higher education.

“I think the stronger the message, the more unified the message and (the) increase intensity of the message is needed,” Nilsen, vice president for external relations, said.

Buses arrived at Eastern around 7:30 a.m., and took a handful of Eastern students, faculty and staff to Springfield. A rally will be held in the morning outside of the capital building, and the many different groups will then visit legislators to lobby for higher education.

Other organizations participating in “Lobby Day” include: many Illinois public universities and community colleges, the University Professionals of Illinois, and the Illinois Education Association.

HELC also established four important points it feels need to be addressed in the legislature, one of which is the accessibility and affordability of public higher education.

“It’s very consistent with the message that we’re bringing as an individual institution,” Nilsen said of HELC’s four points. “The coalition is trying to establish an even stronger voice for higher education in the state.”

She added, when at Springfield, the people representing Eastern will break into separate groups, and each group will visit about 12 legislators and lobby for higher education.

Each group member will have a card that lists HELC’s four points and an area on the card that allows for a personalized message.

Charles Delman, Eastern’s UPI chapter president, said the UPI chapter worked closely with the administration and other Eastern groups in planning for “Lobby Day.”

“We will attend the rally,” he said. “We’ll go around with groups of students, faculty and staff, and we will speak to legislators.”

UPI also set up tables in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union on Monday, and students and faculty were able to write out a personalized message on a postcard for the legislators.

Delman said those postcards would then be handed to the legislators today. UPI set up tables around the Union last year as well.

“It really matters to legislators to hear from students because they say they don’t hear from students or faculty enough,” he said. “They need those indications to know how much people care, and what the education is doing for people.”

Nilsen said this would be Eastern’s second year participating in HELC’s “Lobby Day.”

“If we have more voices joining together, saying the same thing, I think that is going to reinforce the importance of higher education,” she said.

Delman said he expects most or all of UPI chapters to participate in “Lobby Day,” and added it is important for legislators to hear directly from the sources about the needs of higher education in Illinois.

“What legislators all tell us is, if you don’t hear from us and if we don’t make our concerns known, we are less likely to get attention from the legislator or get the issues we care about dealt with and resolved,” he said.

The Higher Education Learning Coalition’s four important points:

-Higher education needs to be accessible and affordable to the citizens of Illinois.

-Higher education is critical to the workforce and economic development of Illinois.

-Investment in higher education is necessary for the recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty and staff.

-Resources are needed to close the achievement gap among higher education students in Illinois.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.