MIXING IT UP
TAKING THE LEAD
Starting Fall 2013, McKinney Hall will offer coed floors as a housing option. Page 3
Forward Sherman Blanford speaks about his past on the men’s basketball team and his recent success.
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D ai ly Eastern News WWW.DAILYEASTERNNEWS.COM
THE
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
VOL.97 | ISSUE 91
WEDNESDAY, January 30, 2013
C AMPUS | PIZZA WITH PREZ
C AMPUS | MEE TING
Students to speak on racial issues Amanda Wilkinson City Editor
contribute after the student receives grants or loans, he said. Perry said once families know that process, they may be able to receive more grants or loans. He also brought up the idea that many classroom materials cost money because they are copyrighted materials. Perry said he wanted to talk to the Blair Lord, the provost and vice president for academic affairs, about the possibility of making classroom texts into Adobe PDF files so students could view them on a computer or print the texts out themselves.
A group of students hope to bring other students, faculty and the Charleston community together to help thwart discrimination. The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.-Ominicron Delta and the EIU Youth and College Division of NAACP are hosting a meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Coleman Auditorium. The meeting, titled “Blue Alert: ‘Are We EIU?’” was organized after a shooting at the Penalty Box, 1419 4th St., on Jan. 26. According to a press release sent by the Charleston Police Department, a large fight broke out at the Penalty Box. Shots were fired during the fight. Police arrested Dionte McWillis, an Eastern student, on charges of battery, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct. The person who fired the shots remains under investigation. Kristina Graves, a junior English major, said her sorority wanted to do something about what happened after the incident. She said after the incident, the same press release was posted on CPD Facebook page. Graves said there were more than a hundred comments on the Facebook post. She said many of the comments were racially discriminating. Graves recalled a post that said, “we need to take our neighborhood back and shoot these n****rs.” She said many people see what others do and put blame on the whole black community in Charleston. “It’s crazy the way we get treated,” Graves said.
PIZZA, page 5
ISSUES, page 5
OLIVIA DIGGS | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Aseret Gonzalez, a graduate student, shakes hands with Imani McDaniel, a freshman English major, at Pizza with the Prez on Tuesday.
OLIVIA DIGGS | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
President Bill Perry answers student’s questions during Pizza with the Prez on Tuesday in the Andrews Hall Basement.
DOMINIC BAIMA | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
University President Bill Perry talks with students during Pizza with the Prez program Tuesday.
Students bring issues to President Perry Amanda Wilkinson City Editor More than 20 students gathered in the Andrews Hall basement to eat pizza—and meet the president of the university. Pizza with the Prez is a meet and greet event put on by student government to give the student body the opportunity to meet President Bill Perry. The social is used to help students voice their ideas, opinions or concerns directly to someone in the administration. The new display boards on campus were one of the topics discussed at the gathering. Rachel Theesfeld, a junior busi-
ness management major, said she thinks it helps her job as a resident assistant to have the display boards. “I think it helps RAs for them to see what’s going on on campus,” she said. Perry said the display boards will be primarily used to get important information to the students and faculty. “It’s not like you have to have something up all the time, just special events,” he said. Perry said he did not expect everyone to on campus to love the display boards. “We didn’t expect people to like them or not like them,” he said. Perry said the administration is working on a plan to make Eastern
more technology savvy. “We should be able to give anything to anybody, anywhere, on any device,” he said. The idea of having financial aid cover classroom expenses was also brought to Perry. Several students at the social said they had to pay extra expenses for classroom materials or manuals. Perry said many students and families do not know the financial aid process, and that is where money can be lost. He said all the expenses and tuition a student may have to pay is calculated. When a student submits their FAFSA, the federal government calculates how much the family will
RENOVATIONS | PANELS
Plastic sheets to protect Doudna glass, students By Stephanie Markham Administration Editor Sheets of plastic will be adhered to the glass panels in the east wing of the Doudna Fine Arts Center this summer to prevent any more from falling. Doudna contains several glass panels throughout the building,
including black, red, mirrored, opaque and frosted glass. Two of the frosted glass panels cracked and fell from the walls of the main theatre on Aug. 3, 2011. The Board of Trustees approved the installation of safety film for $310,786 by Illinois glass Solutions during its Jan.18 meeting. Rex Hilligoss, the university ar-
chitect, said installation of the plastic coverings would be a six-week project beginning May 1. “This window of opportunity is that six weeks where there are basically no public activities, so we can have an opportunity to work,” he said. Dwight Vaught, the assistant dean of Doudna, said no events
would be scheduled in the east wing during that time period to give the contractors space to work. Hilligoss said the panels that fell were made of tempered glass, which can expand once it becomes settled into its place in a building. “All the glass, with the exception of the mirror glass in Doudna, is tempered glass,” he said. “Tem-
pered glass has a construction flaw that has a little piece embedded in it that tends to grow when the glass becomes acclimated to the condition,” he said. The tempered glass can eventually break if it contains the embedded flaw, Hilligoss said.
GLASS, page 5