The University of Illinois Board of Trustees voted earlier this month to increase health insurance premiums by more than 30 percent for students at its Urbana-Champaign campus. 

A bill that would expand labor protections for graduate student workers has passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly and is headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk.

Members of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) said that State Rep. Jeanne Ives’ disparaging comments about graduate workers last week are a distraction from a bigger issue. Ives, a Republican from Wheaton, is opposed to legislation that would expand union rights to graduate research assistants.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost Andreas Cangellaris apologized Monday after he said he received criticism of his actions during the recent strike by graduate student workers.

The Graduate Employees' Organization voted to ratify a new five-year contract with the University of Illinois. GEO co-president Gus Wood said the new contract is an even better deal than what the union initially set out to get.