UIUC May Day Rally
On May 1st, International Workers' Day, workers of GEO marched along side undergraduate students and members of the Champaign-Urbana community to present a petition to the university for strong protections for international and non-citizen students and workers and financial dissociation from corporations that provide material support to ICE. The petition originated from a GEO membership vote and was adopted by other unions of the Campus Labor Coalition.
UIUC May Day Rally, 05.01.2026, photo by Jeff Putey
When UIUC's protest surveillance "I-Team" learned that the protestors would be marching to Swanlund Administration building, they informed the organizers that the doors would be locked and that they would not be accepting the petition. March participants arrived at Swanlund, they found Executive Director of Labor and Employment Relations Robb Craddock and Associate Vice Chancellor for Administration Kristin McMurray standing in front of the doors. Protestors chanted "No collaboration with mass deportation!" and demanded that a senior administrative official appear to receive the petition and respond to the community's concerns. Craddock and McMurray refused and repeatedly insisted they would deliver the petition, with no further commitments. Graduate students and faculty members handed a copy of the petition, with over 900 signatures, to Craddock, and organizers and marchers continued to call for the appearance of a senior administrator such as Chancellor Isbell, to whom the petition was addressed.
Union members and undergraduate organizers spoke about the importance of collective action in the face of repression and injustice and connected the fight for immigrant rights to other social justice struggles. After organizers gave several speeches, Craddock and McMurray eventually left unceremoniously with the petition as the protestors chanted and called for greater integrity from the UIUC administration. A GEO steward delivered a final speech calling for the campus community to continue to demand accountability from the university for the safety of international and non-citizen students and workers before the rally concluded.
You can learn more about the shortcomings in UIUC's policies that affect international and non-citizen students and workers and how the Campus Labor Coalition petition would address them here: tinyurl.com/ICEOUT-UIUC-CLC
Executive Director of Labor and Employment Relations Robb Craddock and Associate Vice Chancellor for Administration Kristin McMurray leaving the area with the petition. 05.01.2026, photo by Jeff Putney