This, Sen. Mike Frerichs and Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, is why it's irresponsible to pass a budget that is so badly out of balance that you must rely on Gov. Blagojevich to cut things in order to balance it. Does anyone really expect, when the Governor is considering where to cut, that the University or local legislative districts will be treated well?
But at least our local legislators can sleep easy knowing they have done their masters' legislative leaders' bidding.
From the Daily Illini:
The Champaign City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday night to pass an ordinance giving Mayor Gerald Schweighart the power to increase the entry age for University bars from 19 to 21 in "emergency" situations.
In order to enforce that power, the mayor must give Champaign bars 24 hours notice before implementing the age increase, meaning the act would be in anticipation of uncontrollable environments, not a reaction to them.
Discuss.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has put another 450 jobs on the chopping block as part of his latest budget feud with lawmakers.
Workers at the University of Illinois Extension program have been told there may not be money to pay them after May 1 because the governor is threatening to withhold an estimated $18 million.
The Extension serves an estimated 2.5 million residents each year, including nearly 300,000 youths who take part in 4-H programs. It has 77 offices located in Central Illinois and throughout the state.
Discuss.
State senator considers cap on int'l students at U of I
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/state&id=6064616&pt=print
URBANA, Ill. -- A state senator from Chicago says the University of Illinois might consider placing caps on numbers of international students it accepts.
Ed Maloney broached the possibility after one institute found Illinois' 41,000-student Urbana-Champaign campus has more than 5,000 foreign students.
That's more than any other public U.S. university.
The Democrat -- who chairs the Senate's Higher Education Committee -- cites projections that Illinois high schools will graduate more students in coming years.
He says that means many qualified Illinoisans may not have a shot at getting into U of I.
But an associate provost at the Urbana-Champaign campus cites the welcomed diversity foreign students bring to U of I and says it'd be wrong to impose caps.
The News-Gazette: UI's Global Campus starting small
URBANA – Global Campus isn't exactly spanning the globe – yet.
Right now, 10 students are taking classes through the University of Illinois' new virtual campus – three in a bachelor's-completion program in nursing and seven in electronic-learning programs – and the majority are from Illinois.
Given the $3 million spent on Global Campus this year, that's not an ideal student-cost ratio, as one trustee dryly noted last week.
...
While the nursing program has had difficulties, the E-learning programs have been unexpectedly popular, attracting teachers, college administrators and corporate employees hoping to manage or teach online learning, he said. Twenty new students signed up for the eight-week term that starts in May and another 25 are expected in September, well ahead of original goals, he said.
The nursing program is a bit of a puzzle. Market research showed "very high demand" for the program nationally, and initial recruiting drew 3,000 inquiries, he said. But only three people ended up enrolling.
Many of those interested were hoping to finish their bachelor's degrees quickly and inexpensively, Gardner said, and they were intimidated by the prerequisites required.
"We have high standards," Gardner said, noting the College of Nursing is ranked in the top five nationwide. "It is a demanding program."
To qualify, students must be registered nurses who have completed a number of tough prerequisite courses. Most applicants needed to take four to six courses before they could enroll, Gardner said.
To create a "pipeline," the UI made arrangements for students to take the prerequisites online through Parkland College, and 15 to 20 should be ready to enroll in Global Campus by September, he said.
...
Global Campus will always attract a strong contingent of Illinois residents, who are famliar with the UI name, he said. But it's stirring more interest from across the country and even overseas, said Becky Vinzant, director of student services.
History may be on his side. Now 40,000 students strong, the Urbana campus opened 140 years ago with 44 students.
(UPDATE: edited by IP to shorten the excerpt.)
The UI has more international students than any other American public University.
For the first time, the state's flagship public school is home to more international students than any other public university in the country. In fact, the number of foreign students at the Downstate Urbana-Champaign campus -- well over 5,000 -- is more than had ever attended any public university in U.S. history.
Foreign students from 120 countries now make up about 13 percent of the 41,000-student body, outnumbering the combined numbers of black and Latino Americans on campus. The share of foreign students is up from 9 percent of a smaller student body 10 years ago.
And:
"People in Illinois pay their taxes and their hard-earned money here,'' said Silverstein. "They should be given first treatment here.''
U. of I. officials deny that international students are displacing residents, noting that freshmen who are state residents still number 6,060 -- 87 percent of freshmen -- the highest percentage in the Big Ten.
And:
Though many students welcome the diversity the foreign students bring, it has not always made for expanded horizons. Many students say international students and the majority of white students generally choose to live and socialize apart.
"There is a de facto segregation,'' notes Joshua Myers, a student from Aurora who did research on housing and social integration at the school. "There is not any agenda by the school, it's just how it is.''
Adds anthropology Professor Nancy Abelmann, who directs an ethnography of the university: "Many undergraduate students go about their lives quite untouched by the presence of many international students.''
Interesting article.
(Hat tip: CapFax - welcome back, Rich.)
UPDATE: Tom Kacich had a similar story last year.
From Sunday's News-Gazette:
A plan that city staff members are finalizing eventually could lead to higher property taxes for some East Green Street property owners, much denser development in the western part of Campustown, a campus parking deck and a multimillion- dollar extension of the streetscape.
The plan could lead to an eventual reshaping of the Green Street corridor, which already is undergoing a boom with a 24-story apartment building and a seven-story retail and office building currently under construction.
The "University District Action Plan" is an update of a 9-year-old Campustown plan.
Discuss.
At UI, tuition is going up again:
Trustees at the University of Illinois are to consider a proposal that would boost tuition at its Champaign and Chicago campuses by 8 percent next school year.
The proposal to be taken up next week would push the costs for new undergraduates in Champaign above $20,000 for the first time. The plan would set tuition, fees, room and board at the flagship campus at $20,034. Students paid $18,550 last year.
(Hat tip: CapFax)
From today's News-Gazette:
Costs for extra police and other staff for "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day" were more than $30,000.
Those costs included overtime pay for patrol officers and other staff for police and university personnel, but that was expected with the intended strategy of having more officers on the streets.
Discuss.
There have been rumors about the UI's utility deficit for almost a year, and the News-Gazette had two pieces on Sunday about it. The first:
The deficit – slightly more than a year's worth of utility expenses – built up over five years as energy prices jumped by double digits and state appropriations failed to provide extra money for the UI to heat, light and cool its ever-expanding campuses, officials say.
"We had a budget for utility costs based on projections and recent history, and those utility costs soared well beyond what the expectations and projections were," Hardy said. "So we had to tap into various university reserves or savings to be able to pay our utility bills."
Cyclical spikes in energy costs are common, and prices tend to average out over time, he said. The UI used internal borrowing in the past, repaying other funds as the prices of natural gas, coal or oil dropped.
But natural gas prices spiked in 2004 and never came down. Coal prices rose as worldwide demand increased, particularly from China and India. And oil eventually topped $100 a barrel.
The second:
When Walter Knorr was hired as the UI's chief financial officer in early 2007, one of his first assignments was to prepare a report on the magnitude of the problem. The UI audit was not made public, but White said the findings were "very, very similar" to those in the state audit released Feb. 26.
Among them:
– The UI hadn't assigned anyone the task of reporting budget deficits for activities that cross campuses, such as utilities.
– University policy called for trustees to be briefed quarterly on budgeted versus actual spending, but utility costs weren't highlighted in those reports.
– UI policy was unclear about when trustee approval is required for money transfers between state accounts and unrestricted reserve funds.
– The accounting involved with utilities was "excessively complex," spread across all campuses and the central administration.
Discuss.
Thursday's News-Gazette: (forgive me, I'm catching up...)
University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman is calling for the city council to re-evaluate its alcohol policies, including possibly raising the bar entry age from 19 to 21 and increasing penalties for bars that serve alcohol to underage youths.
And:
Schweighart said he's talked with council members and that five of them are opposed to raising the bar entry age. He identified those members as Michael La Due, Tom Bruno, Ken Pirok, Deborah Frank Feinen and Marci Dodds.
"I have heard from the council people, and they are not changing their minds," he said.
Not that I agree with the Chancellor, but at least this time they're not waiting until a week before Unofficial St. Patrick's Day to do something. Maybe planning for the 2009 version of the event will be slightly less hysterical than they were this year.
There's an interesting article in the Trib about Blago defending a pardon for Chandra Gill. Gill is currently an administrator for the Loop Lab School, which had rented space in the Pilgrim Baptist Church before it was destroyed by fire. Gill was convicted in 2002 of assaulting off-duty Urbana officer Al Johnston. She petitioned in 2006 for a pardon, and Blago granted it in 2007.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration presented a confusing picture Wednesday of what his office knew about a woman who received a criminal pardon from the governor in 2007, even as her school received a $1 million state grant to reopen after being burned out of the Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Blagojevich ducked out of a news conference Wednesday morning without answering questions about why he granted the pardon to Chandra N. Gill, who at the time was working with state officials to obtain the grant for the Loop Lab School. The school had rented space at the church until it was gutted in a 2006 fire.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-mistaken_grant_webmar06,1,994978.story
Here are some related stories:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-moneymistake-pard,0,570522.story
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-pilgrim-baptistmar05,0,6636685.story
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-pilgrim-baptist.04mar04,0,7744993.story
Update: There's a related article in the News-Gazette at http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2008/03/13/exofficer_upset_by_pardon . Another officer involved wasn't too pleased when she heard about the pardon, and she also questioned the $1 million being given to the Loop Lab School.
From the Daily Illini:
Part of Campustown may soon be getting a makeover in order to become more developed and pedestrian-friendly.
The Champaign City Council gave instructions Tuesday night to move forward with a plan to work on Green Street. Since Green Street between Wright and Fourth streets has been worked on extensively in the past few years, the plan will, among other items, address the area from Fourth to First streets.
From today's News-Gazette:
White defended the university's commitment to openness and its record on FOIA requests, but also promised to do better.
"The general principle is, we do our business not only in the open but in the sunshine," he said.
Rose said in one case, UI student Paul Schmitt – elected last week as the new Urbana student trustee – was told his request for correspondence between "officers and agents" of the university and the NCAA was unduly burdensome because it didn't specify what an officer or agent was.
"At best that's a slap in the face to the kid who filed it. At worst you're trying not to disclose something," Rose said.
In another case, a television reporter requested information on utility budget shortfalls at the UI months ago, but Rose said most of her request was denied. The UI said internal audits are exempt from FOIA disclosure.
Last week a state audit reported on those deficits, which grew to $117 million over four years. Rose said the UI should have disclosed the information when asked, rather than wait for a state audit, because it now appears the UI hid behind the audit as a "shield."
From the Daily Illini:
Despite a nationwide decrease in alumni donations to universities, the University of Illinois reported an increase of $18.8 million.
According to a report by the University of Illinois Foundation, alumni donated $57 million, a nine percent increase from last year.
However, a separate study by the Council for Aid to Education, a non-profit research group, found total gifts dipped nationwide by $130 million between 2006 and 2007.
Given the national anticipation of recession, and the local insistence that funding would be hurt by the removal of Chief Illiniwek, this is very positive news.
From the News-Gazette:
They want the Chief back.
In a nonbinding referendum this week, University of Illinois students gave a resounding "yes" when asked if they want Chief Illiniwek to return as the official UI symbol.
The vote was 7,718 to 2,052, or roughly 79 percent to 21 percent.
More than 10,300 students voted in the two-day elections this week, the second-highest total in the 10-year history of online balloting, said law student David Mangian, co-chairman of the Student Election Commission.
And:
Chief supporter Frank Calabrese, who was re-elected to the faculty-student senate, was jubilant after results were announced Thursday evening at Gregory Hall.
"People cannot ignore public opinion: 80 percent of the student body says we want it back," said Calabrese, a UI junior.
Frank is wrong: The NCAA absolutely will ignore public opinion, and the BoT will do what the NCAA tells them to do.
Effort is admirable, but this will have absolutely no effect on anything.
From the News-Gazette:
Mayor Jerry Schweighart doesn't have the legal authority to raise the age of admittance to bars to 21 this weekend, a possibility he was considering to deal with "Unofficial St. Patrick's Day."
But Schweighart said he signed Thursday an emergency order that gives him broader powers to shut down individual bars if they are serving intoxicated patrons, are over their occupancy limits or if fights are occurring at a rate where authorities believe the bar is losing control.
Schweighart said the bars would get one or two warnings before they would be shut down. But he said he won't hesitate to take such a step. Bar owners have been notified about the new emergency order, which has not been used in prior years,
"It puts the bars on a little extra notice," the mayor said. "If they know they can be shut down and lose a night's revenue, they'll be a little more observant at the door not to let in intoxicated people and to make sure no one gets out of control.
"It gives the doorman an opportunity to say, 'You can't come in; you're too drunk,'" he said.
From the Daily Illini:
Following his speech, Herman offered additional stipulations the city should enforce, including only allowing people 21 and over into the bars and having the bars remain closed until 5 p.m.
"I don't want to see kids drunk on the street at 8 a.m.," Herman said.
Herman said he wished Scott Cochrane, owner of multiple campus bars, would come forward and be a part of the Unofficial dialogue.
"We are allowing Scott Cochrane to define this community, to define who we are and what we want to be," Herman said.
...
The mayor said he and the city attorney have been looking into the possibility of issuing an executive order to raise the bar age to 21, but nothing has been decided.
Not all members of the city council took Herman's speech favorably.
"He offered no suggestions," said Michael LaDue, Deputy Mayor and Dist. 2 Council Member for the City of Champaign. "There was nothing prescriptive in there. He basically got up and said 'I am very concerned.'"
Six hours later, we get the NG's story, but it's got a little more information:
Schweighart said after the meeting that he intends to bring back at least two measures to the city council for a vote in coming weeks and months. He said he would ask the city council to consider raising the bar entry age to 21, a move he predicted will fail. Despite that prediction, Schweighart said, he still wants to get council members positions on the record.
The mayor also said he will bring back some version of a proposal that the council rejected in October 2005 that would have increased penalties for bars where too many underage youths were arrested for drinking alcohol.
Since its Friday lets talk about a light issue that can bring all of us together: the demise of Indiana University Basketball Coach Kelvin Sampson.
A week after IU officials began an investigation into Sampson's cheating, ESPN is now reporting that IU and Sampson are trying to reach a "financial settlement" (aka a contract buy-out that will avoid the lawsuit that will result from firing him too early).
ESPN Story: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3258506
Urbanagora has more as well: http://www.urbanagora.com/2008/02/hoosiers-fans-suck-too.html
From the News-Gazette:
Included in the settlement is an agreement that the UI, the sanitary district and CEDA will pay $450,000 to the U.S. for natural resource restoration projects, along with $41,000 for expenses.
Trustees for the settlement are the U.S. Department of the Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Illinois through the Department of Natural Resources and the Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The restoration projects include rock structures to reduce erosion and create pools, which would benefit aquatic life and improve water quality. The trustees will take comments about designs of rock structures for the Saline Branch, but have not yet decided on projects for the Salt Fork, court records show.
The trustees will prepare a restoration plan for the Salt Fork and will seek ideas from the public in developing that plan.
"We are really happy about that," said Glynnis Collins, a water resource scientist with Prairie Rivers.
Please consider a donation to support this site:
Thank you to our generous supporters!
