MARQUEE MOVE-IN
HALL OF FAME BOUND Eastern women’s basketball coach
As part of a gift fund, Eastern received an electronic marquee which is placed outside of Old Main.
Debbie Black will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 8.
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Dai ly Eastern News
THE
W W W .D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S. C O M
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
Schulman explores ‘Catfish’ importance By Samantha Middendorf Entertainment Editor | @Samantha_EE The art of “catfishing” was brought to the campus Tuesday evening when Nev Schulman discussed his viewpoints on relationships, honesty, identity and self-esteem, especially on the Internet. Schulman, a popular host, producer and photographer best known for his MTV show “Catfish,” helps those who believe they may be deceived by the other end of an online relationship. One who is “catfished” is misled about the appearance or identity of the person they are talking to online. Though it was his first time at Eastern, Schulman said he has recently been in the area. Kankakee was the location of a taping for the fourth season of “Catfish.” A factor affecting Schulman’s popularity is because of his own experience in being “catfished.” Schulman was involved in an online relationship, but when he met the woman he though he had been speaking to online, she was a woman in her 40’s with a husband. Despite the negative impact some may think this would have on a person’s life, Schulman chose to look at it in a positive light. The intent of “Catfish” is not to spread a bad light on those who hurt you, Schulman said, but to appreciate those who make you a better person. Those people are your catfish because they get you through your dayto-day life. “I urge you to keep finding people that can be the catfish for you,” he said. Schulman released his first book titled “In Real Life,” in September. The ideas he writes about in his book were the main topics he discussed at his presentation. “I realized I had a story that was unique,” Schulman said. “There’s so many feelings and complications and shades of gray in life, so I wanted to talk about those sorts of things more.” Schulman said he began to give talks on college campuses because of the age demographic he can reach out to.
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A property tax referendum to ensure funds for the Kansas School District will be on the ballot on Election Day for Coles County voters. The proposition from the Kansas School Board asks for property taxes to be increased to 2.19 percent for the next three years for Coles, Clark, and Edgar counties in Illinois. According to Kansas School Board minutes from the past year, Kansas School District No. 3 has been trying to find a way to ensure the school district can remain active. The school board minutes reveal the Kansas School District is projecting a $150,000 deficit in their funds. This tax referendum comes after the faculty has already taken an 8 percent pay reduction for the next two years. Jim Littleford, the Charleston School District superintendent, said the lack of funds for edu-
Attrition used in place of faculty losses By Debby Hernandez Administration Editor | @ DEN_News
schools than just Charleston’s immediate vicinity. “Last year for example, the state only gave all Illinois school districts only about 89 percent of what they are supposed to give them,” Bartz said. According to the Kansas School Board minutes from the past year, Kansas School District’s deficit in educational funding for the 2012-2013 school year was $588,000. At the time of the meeting last April, the projected deficit was $410,000 for the 2013-2014 school year. Bartz noted Illinois’ financial troubles extend beyond just educational funding. He said until Illinois resolves these issues, schools will continue to face financial hardship. “The bottom line is, until the state gets more revenue it’s going to be tough for schools,” Bartz said.
Eastern administrators are using attrition to compensate for the total 58 faculty members who either retired or were not rehired during the 2013-14 academic year. The teacher pension rate of return changed from 7.5 percent to 8 percent under the Teacher’s Retirement System of the State of Illinois, effective June 2014, according to the TRS website. Blair Lord, the provost and vice president for academic affairs, said the change caused professors to retire early. “Because of the discussions and ambiguities regarding what will happen to the state pension programs for people, some people felt they needed to retire before they got (the) ‘short end of the stick’ on an agreement over there,” Lord said. As a result of retirees during the 2013-14 academic year, the university currently has a total shortage of 26 Unit A, 14 Unit B, and 18 nonnegotiated faculty members for the 2014-15 academic year. The number of Unit A members decreased from last year’s academic year from 394 to 368. Unit B members went down from 173 last year to 159 this year. Non-negotiated faculty numbers dropped from 90 last year to 64. A total of 121 faculty positions went vacant, but 63 of the positions were filled with either new hires or position redistribution. Lord said the new hires only make up for those who retired the previous year, making it difficult to catch up with the continuous change of retiree numbers. “The ones we hire for next fall are really the ones replacing the ones that retired a year ago, so there is always a delayed reaction in there, which makes it a fairly tricky management issue of the workforce,” Lord said. A total of 35 Unit A and B faculty vacant positions were retirees, with 25 members from Unit A and 10 members from Unit B. Lord said retirement numbers were significantly high for the 2014-15 academic year. “One thing we do know about last year is that 25 retirements out of Unit A was an unusually high number,” he said. “That is not likely to be repeated this year.” Lord said the typical number of retirees for Unit A faculty is between 15 to 18. He said the number of Unit B retirees nearly doubled from the normal number of retirees being 5 to 6 faculty members. Lord said Eastern must maximize the advantage of attrition in order to decrease university expenditures within divisions, as recommended by the Council on University Planning and Budgeting “Ninety percent of the division of academic affairs budget is tied up in people,” he said. “In order to get to a reduction of expenditures at the level that the division was expected to achieve, I had to take advantage of a lot of departures.” Lord said using attrition is the alternative that was used save money while remaining fair. “The only way to really get savings out of that is to have fewer people working,” he said.
Braden Harp can be reached at 581-2812 or baharp@eiu.edu.
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CHYNNA MILLER| THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Nev Schulman, star of the television show ‘Catfish’, talks about his life, relationships, and offers advice to students during the Catfish On Campus event Tuesday in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr, University Union.
Ballot draws attention to school funding By Braden Harp Staff Reporter | @DEN_News
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cational purposes is not isolated to the Kansas School District. He said the problem stems from the absence of support from the state of Illinois. “The Charleston School District has lost $3.5 million in the last four years,” Littleford said. Littleford said Charleston Schools have a bit more freedom when they deal with budget issues than a smaller district like Kansas would. “In Charleston, I have a lot more leeway with budget reductions,” Littleford said, “Because we are a larger district, we can adjust class sizes and we have more faculty to maneuver.” Littleford said the Charleston School District has tried something similar to Tuesday’s proposition in the past. “We’ve tried a one percent sales tax increase for funding in 2010 and 2014,” Littleford said, “The latest vote was denied by around one thousand votes.” David Bartz, an education leadership professor, said the education problem extends to more