HUT, HUT, HIKE!
DANCING DELTS
Former Eastern football coach Mark Hutson returns to O’Brien Field as the offensive line coach.
New coed fraternity Delta Psi Delta brings service and dance to Eastern. PAGE 3
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THE
D aily E astern N ews
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE
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VOL. 100 | NO. 4 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S. C O M
RSOs fair showcases to students By Ana Nededog Staff Reporter | @DEN_News Eastern will be hosting Pantherpalooza, an annual fair for registered student organizations from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the South Quad. The event is an Eastern tradition showcasing more than 200 student-run organizations that range from Greek, social, multicultural, academic and athletic. This event gives participants the chance to showcase their organization to the student community and gain new members. Courtney Sage, the student vice president for student affairs, said student government has been putting this event on for years. “The purpose of Pantherpalooza is to provide students with the opportunity to see the different RSOs EIU has to offer,” Sage said. Sage said more than 90 organizations usually sign up for the event and each group would have their own designated table in the South Quad. Monica Burney, the vice president of the Asian-American Association, said she was astounded by the number of RSOs Eastern has. “It’s amazing the amount of organizations that a small school like Eastern offers,” Burney said. “It’s rare to see campus that alive.” Sage said the event is a great tool for student RSO recruitment and students are not always going to go out and look for different organizations. “The college life can be very intimidating. By hosting this event, we are able to help freshmen and all students see the organizations they can be involved in,” Sage said. With this event, students can easily get information and join clubs or groups they are interested in, as each organization is given a table for the fair. The event is held once each semester, and the second will be held in the spring semester. “I just want to remind students to get involved,” Sage said. “EIU offers so many different types of organizations that everyone can find something that interests them.” Ana Nededog can be reached at 581-2812 or ajnededog@eiu.edu.
Crossword puzzles return to The News Roberto Hodge News Editor | @DEN_News Beginning Wednesday on Page 6, The Daily Eastern News will have a daily crossword by the New York Times. Stephanie Markham, editor-in-chief, is hopeful for the outcome of this addition to the publication. “In an academic setting, people really appreciate crossword puzzles and in the past our readers have enjoyed them,” Markham said. Answers to the crossword will be published in the following editions.
JOSH SAX TON | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Vernon Woodley, a professor in the sociology department, inquires about what the university is doing to improve enrollment of students at the Faculty Forum on Tuesday in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.
Faculty forum discusses budget By Cassie Buchman Administration Editor|@DEN_News The Faculty Senate discussed questions about the budget and Memorandum of Agreement Tuesday in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Lecture Hall. Jemmie Robertson, the Faculty Senate chair, relayed details from an hour-long meeting he had with Eastern President David Glassman. “One thing that has come to my attention and a frequently voiced thought is that we feel our voice as faculty, even though there have been warning signs about the budget, we have been vocal about finding things out and have been ignored,” Robertson said. He said he asked Glassman about having an open dialogue and Glassman was very open to that idea. Robertson also talked to Glassman about a p p r ov i n g a m e n d m e n t s t h a t w e re n o t passed by former Eastern President Bill Perry. “My opinion was that it might be sort of a low tide in terms of faculty morale,” Robertson said. “And (Glassman) definitely wants to work to improve that and strengthen the university and move forward.” Jonathan Blitz, the University Professionals of Illinois president, recounted events that have happened in regards to the memorandum and layoffs for the first part of the meeting. The memorandum extended the contracts of some annually contracted faculty members while deferring the 1.5 percent raise for a year as well. “The annually contracted faculty had a week, five working days, to decide if they
wanted to take the offer,” Blitz said. “22 of them did take that offer.” Blitz said that for everybody who did not renew their contract, that money was put into a pool to offer these faculty contracts for employment in the springtime. “ T h e y w i l l h a ve e m p l oy m e n t i n t h e spring, but no where near full time,” Blitz said. Blitz also said they were going to have imminent discussions about early retirement. Four Administrative and Professional Service employees received layoff notices on Thursday and Friday.
“We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore.” -James Conwell, physics professor “The question is, what happens from here?” Blitz said. “I think for UPI, for faculty, we’re O.K. for the time being. But the other shoe has to drop, if we have a big budget decrease.” The layoffs that occurred during the summer are based off what Blitz called an “optimistic” estimate of a 6.5 percent decrease in the budget. “I’m not sure that optimistic scenario is going to hold true,” Blitz said. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Nobody does.” One issue brought up was the enrollment, and how to increase it. James Conwell, a physics professor, said the incompetence of certain individuals in
charge of this need to be addressed. “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Conwell said. Gar y Aylesworth, philosophy professor, was applauded when he spoke about the faculty not just being another group of stakeholders. “We as faculty have been marginalized,” Aylesworth said. “We have a role, we have an authority, and we have a certain amount of power.” “If we’re ever going to have that power, we’re going to have to take it,” Aylesworth said. Grant Sterling, a professor of philosophy, talked about the university’s current budget issue. “The university has been losing money from a rate of roughly $6 million dollars a year for the last three years,” Sterling said. Sterling said the Council on University Planning and Budgeting was charged with program analysis, and the charge was to identify cuts that would rectify budgeting problems, but it failed in that mission. “The administration’s response to this was to ignore the vast majority of the document and pick out things that were consistent with what they were already doing and go with that.” Sterling said last spring the state took back a substantial amount of funds they had previously allocated to Eastern. “Of course, as Jon has already pointed out, the state has not finalized the budget from this current year,” Sterling said. “There is no chance we can expect a flat budgetary allotment from the state.” Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or cjbuchman@eiu.edu.