STUDENTS PROTEST ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO TRUSTEE’S SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION CUTS

According to Anna Foran of Hyperallergic, Chicago-area students gathered at the Art Institute of Chicago on Monday to protest against a trustee’s ties to public education budget cuts. Eight students were arrested.

Organized by Chicago Student Action, the protest was calling attention to trustee Kenneth Griffin’s support of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who proposed to cut aid to Chicago public schools by $74 million a year. Founder and CEO of Citadel Investment Group, Griffin is one of the museum’s longtime donors.

Chained together and dressed in graduation caps and gowns, several demonstrators stood across Michigan Avenue in order to block traffic for a group of students marching from Congress Parkway to the institute. In a statement, the group said, “Chicago Student Action leaders put their bodies on the line in front of the art institute to demand Ken Griffin, a museum trustee and single biggest donor to Governor Rauner, stop funding cuts to higher education and push Rauner to make public college tuition-free and accessible to all in Illinois, funded by taxing corporations and the very rich.”