In a somewhat carnival-like atmosphere, members of College Republicans gathered on the north side of the Quad Wednesday to protest recent developments in state universities' budgets, focusing most of their chants against Rep. Naomi Jakobsson (D-Champaign) and her support of the most recent state budget which decreased state university funding.

Dan Bolin, executive director of the College Republicans, said Jakobsson should have done more to support the University because it is within her district.

"At the very least, Naomi Jakobsson should stand up for the University of Illinois," he said.

Jakobsson was unavailable for spoken comment, but in a written statement she said of the bill that appropriated funds for state universities, "I supported this because the University of Illinois asked me to."

The protest included a plywood figure with a picture of Jakobsson on its head, a picture of Gov. Rod Blagojevich on its left hand and a picture of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on its right.

The students focused much of their attention on why Jakobsson supported a budget that cut the University's funding while increasing funds for Chicago State University.

"No legislator has been able to come up with a reason why," said Mike Schlau, the College Republican member who led the protest.

According to Jakobsson's statement, the University's funding was decreased by 4.9 percent while Chicago State University saw a 27.1 percent decrease in funding from the state.

"I worked very closely with the University on this to ensure that UI got every possible dollar," Jakobsson said in the statement.

Steve Brown, spokesman for Madigan, said the funds appropriated to each of the state universities were based on what the governor thought each university needed and what the state could afford.

"I don't think you can compare budgets from one university to another," he said. "Particularly, you've got how many billions of dollars going to the U of I versus probably millions going to Chicago State."

When asked what his thoughts were on Sen. Rick Winkel, R-Champaign, supporting the same budget, Schlau said the College Republicans did not have a comment.

As Schlau spoke to the crowd of about 15 people, others took turns throwing a football at the plywood followed by the crowd yelling, "She dropped the ball!"

"It's sad," Schlau said. "She just continues to drop the ball on us."

The demonstration reached a pinnacle when he shouted, "We need to send her a message. This is the message I think we need to send her."

The plywood figure was then tackled by College Republicans member Garrett Leek as the crowd cheered on.

—Evan McLaughlin contributed to this report