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Hot wheels take Spin City by storm
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Star pitcher says goodbye to softball page 7
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alton — east st. louis — edwardsville
START YOUR ENGINES
Motorcycles speed down University Drive in a procession of more than 100 vehicles for a memorial cruise to Grafton to honor former SIUE student Taylor Clark. Clark was killed in May 2015 while meeting someone from Craigslist to sell his car. | MIRANDA LINTZENICH / ALESTLE
Community gathers to remember former student CAITLIN LALLY co-editor
“It was his sophomore year here [at SIUE],” Robert Clark recalled about his car-loving son. “He bought a Mustang GT and on spring break he decided to take it from an automatic transmission, take the transmission out and put a manual transmission in that period he was on spring break.” “It worked out perfectly, and he didn’t break anything,” Robert smiled widely. “He did it off of a YouTube video.” You could hear the soft purr of engines as cars lined up one by one in Lot 9 on campus late Sunday morning in memory of Taylor Clark, a former SIUE stu-
dent who was found dead in Hazelwood, Mo. after meeting up with a person from Craigslist to sell his car. “This is the third event and for this many people to still come out — and I mean I know everyone gets busy in their daily lives and things kind of go by the wayside … ‘it’s been two years, eh we’re not going this year,’ but for this many people, and I know there are still more coming — it’s nice,” Robert Clark said. “It’s that warm fuzzy feeling, I guess.” Car enthusiasts have gathered for a memorial cruise since Clark’s death in 2015, and according to organizer and friend Luke Skalisius, hundreds have cars have showed up each year in support.
“I think the most we’ve had is, I wanna say 400 vehicles,” Skalisius said. “It’s just posting in a couple groups on Facebook, tell one friend — he tells 20 friends and then we have this event.” This year, Skalisius counted over 100 vehicles that met for the cruise to drive to Grafton, where everyone met to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. Chandler John grew up down the street from Taylor and said he was also impressed with the support of the car community before sharing a memory of his childhood friend. “Before I really knew him too well, I’d always see him riding his bicycle in front of my house, and even when we became friends, he’d never come
knock on the door, he’d just always ride in circles out in front of my house,” John said. “My mom would be like ‘Hey, Taylor’s riding circles,’ and I’d go walk out and we’d hang out.” According to Skalisius, being with others and sharing stories was one of Taylor’s favorite things — next to cars. “This is what Taylor loved — getting people together and keeping everybody smiling, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Skalisius said. Skalisius knew Taylor since high school and said they gained a friendship through cars. He said he chose to do a memorial cruise over other events because it is what Taylor would’ve enjoyed. “Taylor was a car enthusi-
ast. He loved working on cars, he loved fast cars, so what better way to remember him than to get what he would love together,” Skalisius said. Robert Clark said he was thankful for the large turnout and all the hard work Skalisius did to coordinate the event. “Even through the tragedy, it’s nice to see all these people who still care and show their support for us. For us, it’s still a daily struggle,” Robert Clark said. The procession left SIUE at noon, revving and roaring, escorted by University Police.
CAITLIN LALLY
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Faculty comments on loan to Carbondale Democrats push for college grants KEEGAN GAUWITZ sports editor
The Board of Trustees approved a loan of up to $35 million to SIUC in a meeting May 10, at the Morris University Center on the Edwardsville campus. The loan was presented with stipulations holding SIUC responsible for declaring short-term fiscal emergency, and the development of a financial stability plan. Conditions also stated SIUC’s first repayment will be to Edwardsville instead of the other entities from which it borrowed including itself and the School of Medicine in Springfield. Following the passage of official terms to the loan, Faculty Senate President Jeffrey Sabby said he felt better about the clarity of the loan’s terms, and he thought the board listened to what the Faculty Senate had to say. “At least now we’ve got terms. It’s a night-and-day difference from the April 6 Board of Trustees meeting,” Sabby said. However, Sabby did share concerns over faculty salary and the lack of a merit increase — an increase in pay for based off efficiency and performance for professors.
“The faculty not having pay raises over the last four years is very important. A lot of people may not know we haven’t had a merit increase in pay, which is what we would normally receive,” Sabby said. Sabby said professors have sacrificed this pay-raise in order to maintain the solvency of Edwardsville’s campus. However, Sabby said this sacrifice has brought risk to professors because of inflation. “One thing that’s never mentioned is the cost of living increase. I did some research for this area over the last four years and found that there has been a 3.7 percent increase — all of us are feeling it. Not only do we have to manage the university budget, but we all have to manage our own budgets,” Sabby said. Mass Communications Assistant Professor Mark Poepsel agreed with Sabby that it’s good to see some clarity in the loan’s terms. Poepsel also said he is concerned about inflation due to the faculty giving up their expected pay increase. “We’ve had cuts on top of cuts, and when you don’t get a
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raise but inflation goes up, it’s like getting a pay-cut,” Poepsel said. As a member of SIUE’s Faculty Union, Poepsel mentioned the need for conversation between the unions on each campus to better develop an understanding of the needs of faculty members on each campus. “We need a careful discussion about what it means to us that Carbondale is borrowing all this money as faculty, and what it means to be a union in the face of cuts,” Poepsel said. Poepsel said it is important that Carbondale stay afloat and recover from their crisis, but that the needs of SIUE faculty members must somehow be met, especially after years of sacrifice to their salaries. “We also have to advocate for our own faculty, who have had cuts on top of cuts, and have dealt with the state budget crisis quite directly … eventually state appropriations are going to come. They’re not going to be the level they used to be, and we may be in a worse position after this loan than we were a month ago,” Poepsel said.
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CAITLIN LALLY co-editor
Pending its passage through the Illinois Senate, after July 2018, the government may pay for students to stay in-state for college. House Bill 1316 includes a program called the College Affordability Grant, which would give Illinois residents a yearly grant of $4,000. According to the General Assembly, roughly 100,000 students would automatically qualify for this grant. Eligibility requirements include being a resident for at least two years prior to application, graduating high school with at least a “B” average, having an annual family income of less than $125,000 and being enrolled full-time in a public institution the fall term after high school graduation. Introduced by D-Rep. Lou Lang, of Skokie, the bill has continued to gain support from other representatives. As of May 30, the bill was passed to the Senate and referred to the assignments committee.
SIUE alumna holds art exhibit in St. Louis CHLOE RICE editor-in-chief
SIUE graduate Erica Iman will discuss her art exhibit “Formation” Thursday, June 1, on 3410 Wisconsin Ave. in Saint Louis. The event, held by Reese Gallery, is free and open to the public. Iman is a painter and ceramicist who is inspired by geological formations and extreme lands. According to Iman, her work reminds her of solitude and impermanence. The art features the different landscapes of the Mongolian steppe through clay. However, this isn’t the first time Iman has displayed her work. Reese Gallery showed another exhibit featuring her work in 2014. For more information, go to thereesegallery.com or ericaiman. com.
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