By Signe K. Skinion

The Graduate and Professional Student Council will start this semester with a resolution in support of state funding for Amtrack and a vote on the proposed lighted intramural sports complex in their first meeting tonight, council members say.

The possible cut of the Amtrack train route from Carbondale to Chicago has been a source of heated debate over the past few months, and Mark Terry, GPSC vice president of graduate school affairs, said he hopes the council will vote on a resolution in support of state funding for Amtrack.

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Amtrack is a critical element of the infrastructure at the University, Terry said. I suspect we will see the resolution pass in strong support of Amtrack funding.

Bill Karrow, GPSC president, said he feels the Illinois government is not looking at the entire state with the proposed route cut.

I think it’s short-sighted of Gov. Edgar by not thinking of how this will affect down-state Illinois, Karrow said. This not only affects the graduate and undergraduate students at SIU, but it affects the community as a whole.

Terry said if the resolution passes, GPSC will be sending copies of the resolution to Mayor Neil Dillard, Gov. Jim Edgar, Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.

Karrow said a proposed lighted intramural sports complex will also be a source of some debate at tonight’s meeting.

There are a lot of personal positions when it comes to this subject, Karrow said. What it boils down to is we either have to stop raising fees, or it will be too expensive to attend SIU.

We have to decide when we stop raising fees, and if this complex is worth it.

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The sports complex proposal was approved by the Undergraduate Student Government last month and awaits the GPSC vote before going on to the SIU Board of Trustees on Feb. 8.

Fred Jacobs, GPSC executive board member, said the sports complex is more a question of money than anything.

This is causing a fair amount of concern, and what GPSC is looking at basically is could it be done cheaper, Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he has heard estimates of $6 per student for two semesters instead of the proposed $11, but he said he has no hard figures on that estimate.

GPSC will be meeting at 7 p.m. tonight in the Student Center Mississippi Room.