PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Students prepare for the ‘Miss Black EIU’ pageant during dress rehersal Page 3
PANTHERS HOST BELMONT The Men’s Basketball team looks to face Belmont at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Lantz Arena. Page 7
Dai ly Eastern News WWW.DAILYEASTERNNEWS.COM
THE
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
VOL. 97 | ISSUE 105
WEDNESDAY, February 20, 2013 charleston | FUNDR AISER
FACULT Y SENATE
Budget reduction continues into 2014 By Stephanie Markham Administration Editor
Ke vin Hall | The Daily Eastern Ne ws
Xavion Thomas decorates a bowl during “Bowls for Hope” Tuesday at St.Charles Catholic Church, 921 Madison Ave. The event was held as a fundraiser in order to raise money for the Hope of East Central Illinois.
Community purchases ‘Bowls of Hope’ By Laura Jamison Staff Reporter An attendee of a fundraising dinner bought a fruit trifle for $120 that will go to a domestic violence prevention and support group. The HOPE group is a coalition against domestic violence that provides housing, legal advocacy, free support groups and a 24-hour hotline. The Housing, Outreach, Prevention and Education group hosted Bowls of Hope on Tuesday at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. The tickets were $15 for a handmade bowl and soup or $5 for just soup. Lo-
cal restaurants donated the soups and the bowls also donated from local artists. Althea Pendergast, executive director of HOPE, said they chose handmade bowls to help local artists. She said in the past years HOPE raised $3,000 to $5,000. Jana Messer, a former HOPE employee, said she has attended this event for the past 10 years. “It’s a wonderful event, and I plan to come back every year,” she said. She said she thinks the four most important resources that HOPE offers are housing, legal advocacy, free support groups and 24-hour hotline. BOWLS, page 5
Ke vin Hall | The Daily Eastern Ne ws
Bowls were decorated and sold at the event “Bowls for Hope” hosted by Hope of East Central Illinois.
FACULT Y SENATE | FUNDING
Detective to eat hot wings for charity
By Amanda Wilkinson City Editor
A University Police Department detective plans to eat a dozen of the hottest wings at Buffalo Wild Wings Wednesday for Relay for Life. Kent Martin said he is taking on the Blazin’ Wing Challenge to raise money for him and his wife’s Relay for Life team. Martin said his wife Nancy joined a team because she is a colon cancer sur-
vivor. He said the second anniversary of his wife completing her chemotherapy treatment is this month. Martin jokingly said he is going to celebrate by eating a dozen hot wings. The wing challenge is a person attempting to eat 12 of the restaurants hottest wings without sauce or a drink in six minutes. He said Buffalo Wild Wings agreed to donate 10 percent of all food purchases to the Martin team.
The fundraiser will be from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Martin’s challenge attempt will start at 7 p.m. at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Mattoon. Martin said he and his wife thought this was a different way to get donations. He said during the fundraiser, his wife will pass around a hat for donations. “If I complete the wing challenge, then we’re going to donate the money that’s in (the hat),” he said. “If I fail or when I fail, I have to match whatever’s
in the pot.” Martin said he has heard of a lot of people saying they were going to attend the fundraiser. He said he does enjoy hot food, but he is unsure how the hottest wings will be. “I like hot stuff, but this might be a little over the top,” he said. Martin said on a scale of one to 10 with the Blazin’ Wings at the top, he had a heat tolerance of about seven or eight. DETECTIVE, page 5
Eastern might have to offer an educational experience more custom to what students want to keep up with changing technologies and competing schools, according to a report from Alan Philips, the deputy director for the Illinois Board of Higher Education. During the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday, Philips presented an analysis of the future of higher education based on state issues, changing demographics, alternative business models and other factors impacting schools and students. Philips said funding for higher education decreased 6.1 percent last year, and the governor would likely budget for a 4.62 percent reduction, or about $400 million, for fiscal year 2014. “The problem is that although revenue has increased, pensions and Medicaid have increased more, and so the state is going to be short about a billion dollars just to break even for FY14,” he said. He said the IBHE makes budget recommendations based on a realistic assessment of the monetary situation. “Our requests are based on needs and requirements, and the governor’s is based on projections,” he said. “Then we give it to the legislature, and who knows what they’re going to do with it because nothing that comes out of the legislature even closely approximates what our recommendations were.” He said the state owes Eastern $36.7 million as well as $4.1 million in MAP funds. “If you add the amount we’re paying for pensions, funding to higher education is up 22 percent, but when you take out the pensions, it’s actually decreased 18 percent,” he said. Philips said state appropriations have decreased about half a billion dollars since 2002, and tuition increases could continue to lead students to complete non-traditional methods of education. “There is no longer a standard definition for higher education or a definition of the traditional student,” he said. “Student convenience is the future; they want more options for taking courses to make it easier for them to do what they want when they want to do it.” Philips said education could be interpreted as an “elastic good” in which customers seek substitutes in response to changes in price or inconveniences. BUDGET, page 5