• Wednesday, March 30: The “Speak for Illinois” group will meet at 4 p.m. in Guyon Auditorium to discuss the state’s longest budget impasse to date. The group will try to come up with solutions to the budget issues and encourages students to attend.

• Wednesday, March 30 to Friday, April 1: The SIU Collegiate Section of the Society of Women Engineers will be tabling in the SIU Engineer Building breezeway from March 30 to  April 1 to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention. All funds raised will be distributed to a nonprofit suicide awareness organization that has not been determined yet. SIU’s Society of Women Engineers President Kelby Rogers said, “Raising money for this cause is important, but our priority is really to start a conversation and get people talking about suicide and its prevention.”

• Thursday, March 31: The Mass Communications and Media Arts alumni are coming to SIUC to discuss the future of media. The alumni will be participating in a panel that is open to the public from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Communications Building, Studio A. The panel will talk about its  educational experiences at the university and how it prepared them for their career paths, advice for students looking for jobs and, most importantly, the changing media and requirements to be in an employee today.

• Friday, April 1: “Rally for a Fair Budget!” Speak for Illinois is hosting a rally to pass a budget Friday in front of Morris Library from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This will be in solidarity with other colleges and universities in Illinois that are hosting fair budget events on the same day.

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• Friday, April 1: Brookside Apartments, 1200 East Grand Ave., will be hosting a Community Hog Roast, Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Along with games, prizes and food, there will be a chance for attendees to tour the Brookside apartments. 101.5 CIL-FM will be broadcasting the event live.

• Friday, April 1: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies will be presenting the fourth annual Spring Conference: “Embodied, Rites, Rights, Writes.” The event will be hosted by the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies organization from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second floor River Rooms in the Student Center. The purpose of this conference is to bring together students and faculty for collaboration on dialogue about women, gender and sexuality. A follow-up conference for student award presentations and the closing reception will continue at 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Morris Library on the first floor rotunda.

• Saturday, April 2: The Peace Coalition and Justice Monthly Vigil “Celebrate and Protect our Water,” event will be held 12 to 1 p.m at the corner of Illinois Avenue and Main Street in Carbondale. The vigil has a justice theme on protecting water from places such as the Navajo lands to the Appalachian communities, Flint to Honduras and even here in southern Illinois. Co-sponsors such as the Southern Illinois Rights Project, the Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing our Environment (SAFE) and the Gaia House will be in attendance.

• Sunday, April 3: The First Church (Disciples of Christ) at 10:30 a.m. will be holding a half-hour concert featuring recording artists of bluegrass and acclaimed husband and wife duo, Gary and Roberta Gordon of Sparta. The event is open to the public as guests are invited to bring a friend. The service will include a simple call to worship, readings, prayer and an open communion in which all are invited, but not required to participate.

• Sunday, April 3: DreamWorks presents “Are Nightmares Your Friends in Disguise?” program at 12:15 p.m. Bob Camp will discuss possible sources and interpretations of nightmares and audience members will also have a chance to share their own dreams and receive interpretation as well. The event will be followed by a Q&A provided by the DreamWorks team.

• Sunday, April 3: The Indian Student Association will be hosting its annual event, “Indian Night,” which will showcase Indian culture, food and will be a good place for students to network and bond. The event will take place in the Student Center auditorium from 6 to 8 p.m.

• Monday, April 4 to Saturday, April 9: The School of Art and Design at SIU will be presenting the annual Rickert-Ziebold Trust Awards. The awards are held to recognize, honor and reward graduating seniors from the School of Art and Design. The exhibit of finalists work will run from  11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. April 4; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 5 to April 8; and from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. April 9. The announcement of winners will take place at 3:30 p.m. April 4 in the Surplus Gallery. The winners exhibition reception will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 8. The overall award presentation will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Surplus Gallery.

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• Wednesday, April 6: Co-sponsored by the Department of History and Languages, Cultures and International Trade, along with the English Department will be presenting “Shakespeare Day: Gender, Power, Money.” The conference is to commemorate 400 years of Shakespeare’s legacy. The event will include keynote sessions by SIU’s emerita professor Mary Ellen Lamb and University of Illinois professor Curtis Perry. Students will also be involved. This will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.

Diamond Jones can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3325.