The Daily Egyptian - Feb. 10, 2021

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THE

Daily Egyptian Serving the Southern Illinois University community since 1916.

dailyegyptian.com February 10, 2021 Vol. 104, Issue 4

Zion Temple-COGIC church celebrates Black History Month Please see ZION | 8

Steven Robinson Jr., pastor at Zion Temple-COGIC church, closes out the service with a time of worship Sunday, Feb. 8, 2021, in Murphysboro, Ill. Leah Sutton | @leahsuttonphotography

SIU releases spring enrollment numbers, sees 3.7% decrease in attendance

Danny Connolly | @DConnollyTV

SIU announced Feb. 4 that 10,378 total students are enrolled at SIU, marking a 3.7% decrease in attendance since Spring 2020, where 10,779 students attended SIU. SIU said 60 first time students are enrolled, more than double since last year. “Unlike in previous years, we are also seeing more new students start their college careers in the spring rather than the fall,” SIU’s Chancellor Austin Lane said in a release about the numbers. “We believe that many students may have deferred starting in the fall due to the pandemic but are now moving forward to get started.” According to Kim Rendfeld,

“We believe that many students may have deferred starting in the fall due to the pandemic but are now moving forward to get started.”

Jason Flynn | @dejasonflynn

SIU estimated around an 85% retention rate for freshman students, according to the release. SIU reported its highest retention rate in 10 years of 91% in Spring 2020.

The omnibus crime bill that passed the Illinois general assembly in January, HB 3653, would eliminate cash bail if signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker, but civil libertarians worry the bill could lead to abuses in electronic monitoring. Ben Ruddell, the director of criminal justice policy at the ACLU of Illinois, said in an interview last month that the mass expansion of electronically monitored detention could be one of the unintended consequences of the bill. “It is occurring right now,” Ruddell said. “You know, more people who are required to be on electronic monitoring even after being released from prison while they’re on mandatory supervised release, and just the expansion of mass incarceration outside of the physical walls of prisons and jails.” James Kilgore, a media fellow at Media Justice and author of Understanding Mass Incarceration, said that electronic monitoring is often seen as an alternative to incarceration, but in practice is incarceration in a different form.

Please see ENROLLMENT | 2

Please see CRIME BILL | 4

- Austin Lane SIU Chancellor

SIU’s Director of Communications, Spring enrollment is traditionally smaller than fall enrollment, due to a number of students graduating in the fall. In Fall 2020, 11,366 students were in attendance and 870 students graduated.

Crime bill could expand electronic monitoring abuses


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