The United States Student Association-sponsored Death of Education rally, originally planned to coincide with President Bill Clinton’s speech today, has been canceled at the request of the White House, SIUC student government leaders say.

The rally was originally scheduled to be a show support for financial aid with Clinton giving his speech in the middle of the rally as the rally’s guest speaker.

The rally and march, also sponsored by the Undergraduate Student Government, was axed by the White House in order for the president to be the main attraction, USG President Duane Sherman said.

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The White House didn’t want anything taking away from the president’s speech, he said.

USSA, a Washington D. C.-based student lobbying group, and USG sponsored the rally to oppose proposed cuts in financial aid that USG and USSA said would lead to the death of education.

USSA Vice President Kazim Ali said Clinton’s speech is a Death of Education rally, just not as extreme as the rallies in such places as Colorado, North Carolina, New York and Pennsylvania.

Ali said the rallies in these places consisted of students carrying coffins, wearing black clothing and carrying signs and banners. But, he said the White House advancement team did not want that type of theme being displayed when Clinton gives his speech at SIUC.

However, Ali said SIUC compliance with not having the rally was a good decision because the University wanted Clinton to come.

Benefits of having Clinton here outweigh the limitations to the rally, Ali said. The message, (that education is facing its own death due to the worst cutbacks in financial aid history), will still get across to students even without the Death of Education rally.

USG Governmental Affairs Commissioner Dan Piper said Sept. 4 that the rally was a message SIUC was to give Clinton to take back to Congress.

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Piper said now the rally would have been too much for USG to handle .

Considerations into planning and choosing the sight and the time to get there were too much, Piper said.

Sherman said the decision to cancel the rally will not stop USG from being active at the speech.

Sherman said there will be tables set up for students to register to vote, petition for financial aid and get information about program cuts and different organizations.

Piper said students will be able to sign a national petition concerning the cuts to financial aid and education while also receiving fact sheets about the financial aid and education cuts at the tables.

Piper said students registering to vote need two forms of identification with at least one picture and a local address.

Piper also said that USSA and USG will hand out black armbands after the speech is over.