Hundreds of students, teachers and community members gathered at the steps of Old Main on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus to protest GOP Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill that would cut collective bargaining rights for state workers.

UW-Superior history professor Joel Sipress was first to address the crowd.

“We have to respond to an attack on our community,” Sipress said. “When any of us are attacked, we stand together. This is an attack on the working people of Wisconsin and we will not allow it to stand.”

Cheers erupted from the growing crowed as Sipress led the rally. Political science professor Dr. Khalil Dokhanchi, known to many students as Haji, passed out signs to the crowd. It was announced that several students from the Superior Senior High School skipped class to attend the rally in support of their teachers.

The event was a response to Walker’s proposed bill to cut collective bargaining for state employees That includes employees at UW-Superior: from professors to campus safety officers and facilities staff.

History professor Priscilla Starratt came to the rally to support her colleagues who organized the event. Starratt says the bill is not only scary because it strips state workers of their bargaining rights, but that it could lead to more changes.

“We don’t know where it will end,” Starratt said. “So it seems very threatening.”

State workers aren’t the only people feeling threatened by the bill. UW-Superior student Nicole Zappitello hopes to be a public school teacher after she graduates. She says the bill makes her career choice even more uncertain.

“Becoming a teacher is scary to begin with, but knowing I might not have as many rights as my predecessors makes it even scarier,” Zappitello said.

Jessica Duffy, president of the Student Government Association, also addressed the crowd. She urged students to stand up for their professors and the public university system.

“We as a university and community need to stand up and protect our rights,” Duffy said.

Several other community members addressed the crowd including a Superior fire fighter, city council member and English professor Bart Sutter. After about an hour, the speakers were done and the crowds dispersed, chanting, “kill the bill.”

After the rally, a teach in was held in the Multicultural Center in Old Main to educate people about what the governor’s bill entailed.