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Applied mathematics professor Mingqing Xiao, who was indicted and then cleared on charges of grant fraud under a Trump-era crackdown on Chinese academics, has been taken off paid administrative leave and allowed to resume teaching and advising.
Dr. Julianne Wallace, interim associate provost of academic affairs, sent an email to Xiao’s dean saying, “Please provide him with an appropriate workload assignment for the remainder of the academic year and proceed as normal when issuing a workload assignment for next year, but per agreement, with more of an emphasis on instruction and service.”
Before he was charged with
lying in a grant application for federal funds, Xiao’s duties included research and recruiting, particularly of students in China, in addition to teaching. It was a planned trip to China’s Shenzhen University that landed him in trouble.
The university created a bank account for Xaio to help him cover travel expenses, but the trip was canceled due to Covid. When he filled out the grant application and that year’s taxes, Xiao did not consider the money his, he later told FBI agents.
The federal government indicted Xiao in April of 2021, accusing him of two counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement. The indictment was part of a Trump-era program known
as The China Initiative, in which academics of Chinese heritage were scrutinized under the belief some were stealing intellectual property for the Beijing government. In October of 2021, federal prosecutors added four charges of tax fraud, because he did not check a box indicating he had a foreign bank account.
After a short trial last year, a jury exonerated Xiao of all charges in the original indictment but convicted him of the tax charges that had been added at the last minute. He was sentenced to a year of probation but no jail time. Xiao is appealing that conviction.
Faculty Managing Editor Annie Hammock can be reached at ahammock@dailyegyptian.com
As the semester nears summer break, classes speed up to cover lost ground, leaving students scrambling to keep up with essays and exams which pepper their schedules like tasteless sprinkles oozing down the side of a melting ice cream cone. As students struggle to make time for summer fun with their college friends before the fading school year takes most of the campus population with it, institutions at SIU contend with a surge of controversies and last-minute policy changes, hastily heaped atop their own “cones.” The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is no exception.
On Tuesday, USG met in Shryock Auditorium as usual, with nothing out of the ordinary on the agenda, which is always available on USG’s website, only to bring the meeting to a screeching halt after completing its initial startup procedures and presenting dramatic alterations to the body’s constitution. The amendment proposal would increase the requirements for becoming an Umbrella Organization by mandating a minimum level of registered student organizations (RSOs) to qualify, endangering the status of several already existent umbrella organizations, including the Saluki Rainbow Network (SRN) and the Hispanic Student Council (HSC), which fell under the 10 (or 7 in an alternative amendment presented) RSO requirement for continued Umbrella Organization status.
Despite the failure of USG to put the proposed amendment in the agenda for the meeting, a large group of rather displeased students gathered to argue against the proposed change, which could reduce the number of funds SRN and HSC are able to request.
“I’ve got issues, firstly, with the fact of how last minute this is we didn’t get to read the bill until the meeting started. There was no way we could have shown the agenda of anyone to talk about this,” said Isaac Ludington, former vice president of Finance for USG as well as former president of the Saluki Rainbow Network. “And it wasn’t advertised that there would be a gov. docs meeting. That’s my first frustration. My second is I worry this is a solution in search of a problem. The reason umbrellas exist is that we recognize that certain groups, certain types of events, are valuable. Not just because of the number of members that will go but because they are essential to our campus by nature of what they are. And I feel putting a number on that cheapens that.”
Ludington is currently a staff writer at the Daily Egyptian, who attended the meeting independently of that role.
As Umbrella Organizations supervising and advocating for the interests of distinct groups in the student population, the limit of SRN and HSC’s funding levels is much higher than the funding an RSO could achieve. Umbrella Organizations can request up to 20,000 dollars yearly, whereas RSOs must make requests on an event by event basis, dealing with rigorous regulations and other red tape that Umbrella Organizations assist with. Especially during the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during the last few years, Umbrella Organizations improved the durability of their constituent RSOs during a time in which many RSOs simply ceased to exist.
“As president of SRN during COVID trying to rebuild the org, we had two of our RSOs that needed heavy work, so we didn’t have time to put in fundraising for our groups or those who needed that operational money we had,” Ludington said. “Without that, they would not have happened and there would have been no events on campus at that time for members of our community, because there was no LGBTQ resource coordinator at the time. We were the ones able to open events because USG recognized the special need for our community on
campus as our umbrella stands. If we lose that we’re losing that recognition and that is something I think is valuable to keep in a time when trans rights are under attack.”
Specifically, the subject of the revisions proposed by USG is that it is a part of USGs governing documents, second in authority only to the constitution.
The section that caused the most controversy listed the following as requirements for Umbrella Organizations, “List of at least 10 Component RSO’s or Meet with OSE and the VP of Student Affairs to discuss Non-Inclusion to the RSO Requirement. Final Decisions made by OSE and VP of Student Affairs are FINAL and cannot be appealed. RSOs Can only fall under 3 2 Umbrella Organizations, Subject to Change.”
Organizations which failed to comply with this standard would lose their status as Umbrella Organizations after two semesters of noncompliance. If they are voted in unaltered, the new requirements would take place next semester. Umbrellas Orgs unable to comply would have the option of becoming Constituency RSOs, which the document defines as representing entire constituency groups on campus, such as Asian Americans. Under this status, organizations would keep their seats in USG, but would lose much of their financial and planning benefits and, technically, the management abilities an Umbrella Org has over its subsidiary RSOs. Notably, Umbrella Orgs have the ability to represent a collection of RSOs to administration, with no mention of this right for Constituency RSOs. In addition to this, rather than having a funding cap of $20,000, constituency groups are only guaranteed to be reimbursed for office expenses.
“I apologize if I sound like I’m emotional. I have been, not amping up, but trying to be ready for this amendment specifically because this right now is not gonna work,” said Johnathan Crane, a prominent senator of SRN. “Even when you proposed seven there is no way SRN, a queer based group, is going to get more than maybe 4 underneath them. That’s not because we don’t do great things. We do so many things. We do so many things that are not just big events, we don’t do huge events, what we do is we do outreach, we make sure people have connections when they need them, because on this campus, we still feel the harassment. We still deal with death threats. And the reason why I bring this up is that I need people to understand the SRN perspective.
Crane brought up recent votes in neighboring states on forced conversion therapy for transition.
“While that doesn’t seem like that affects here, it does. It makes people scared to come out. We do not wear our identities on our sleeves. Sometimes the only place that can have representation is SRN.”
The reasoning from the Governing Documents Committee was not entirely clear in the meeting, but it was briefly explained that the bill was to prevent groups from taking advantage of Umbrella Organization status to make larger requests for funds while only distributing them to a few organizations.
According to Crane, the SRN only used 3,300 dollars from USG for a full academic year, well short of the 20,000 dollar cap, money that created a community for hundreds of students.
“Yes, we should have constituencies [RSOs] underneath us and we do, we have four and we have to for a very long time because COVID was hard on us, and we got an additional two at the start of this semester,” Crane said. “We need to be here in order to have a safe space for people to come out. We should not expect them to come out just because we need more members.”
Crane noted SRN does not have anyone beside them aside from USG.
“We do not take sponsorships because usually we are making donations. Because we are a community outreach. We make sure that people are in touch.
And it’s not just for the worry of right now. It is for the worry of the future and our sustainability.”
HSC, which currently only has one RSO underneath it, was also vocal in its opposition, with some members at the meeting even questioning the intentions of USG leadership in the heat of the moment. However, despite undeniable tension, the meeting’s atmosphere remained cool-headed and conciliatory.
“In my opinion, I don’t think it’s that we were targeted, it’s just that they don’t understand the numbers,” said Alberto Juarez, vice president of HSC. “I will say as Senator Berry said that it was all statistics. If it was all statistics, having seven RSO would be difficult and considering that the Latino and Hispanic population is much smaller than the Caucasian and Black population it is, I’m not sure why he didn’t consider how small we are and how even fewer of us are going to take on the roles of being in an RSO. So it’s just more like they just don’t understand how it is to run a small group.”
Many students criticized the introduction of the amendment as odd, given that USG already has the ability to grant funding requests on a case by case basis, making it difficult for organizations to gain more funds than they require.
According to Max Berry, the USG senator responsible for writing up the amendment, USG’s reasoning for having the governing documents changed had nothing to do with funding levels.
“I mean, our biggest thing was that under the current guidelines that were in place...it didn’t give you any kind of stipulation of how many RSOs you have to have to be an Umbrella,” Berry said. “I was asked to look at what would be a number. It was more there for a guideline for individuals trying to become an umbrella organization, because when you look at a lot of USG paperwork, it’s very vague. And as a student, as a student leader, looking at vague information and trying to get down to the
answers is very difficult. So it was less trying to cut back on spending, and more trying to give a tangible step to reach for people to focus on.”
Berry said he has been on the funding board for USG previously and knows the importance of what the funds accomplish.
“I’m very glad that we have organizations on campus that do lots of good work and spend the money they need from USG, but it was like for me, it wasn’t a money thing,” Berry said.
Instead, his efforts were focused on a technical correction of the governing document itself which he said, “could do and look a lot better.”
Berry’s first version of the document had the non-inclusion clause with the RSO requirement and minority student groups in mind. Under this clause, SRN and the other organizations could have persisted as Umbrella organizations due to their unique situations.
“There is room for like, like openness, of course, but you want individuals to understand like, these are the standards you have in place and we want those standards to be easy to understand and easy to comprehend,” Berry said. “So when we’re like, giving them feedback on how to do it better, we can tell them oh, here’s point A and point B in this document that’ll help you be like help you do this better. It’s less like, ‘Oh, we’re trying to like, get rid of these people.’ No, we want to show them like, ‘here are our rules. And here’s how we can help you better.’”
Eventually, as debate continued past the meetings allotted hours, the Senate voted to lower the required RSOs to only four, qualifying the SRN, and placing Umbrella status within reach of the HSC.
Staff Reporter Daniel Bethers can be reached at dbethers@dailyegyptian.com
When driving south of the SIU Towers in Carbondale, especially in the fall, it is sometimes possible to spot a complex of buildings nestled away in the trees. Those familiar to Carbondale will recognize this as Southern Hills, a disused student housing area at Southern Illinois University. Southern Hills’ 17 buildings are overgrown this time of year and beginning to crumble.
Originally constructed between 1960 and 1962, Southern Hills provided married SIU students, staff and faculty with 272 affordable one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, playgrounds and other community-style amenities. Later expanded to be available to individual students, the apartment-community environment proved especially attractive to families and international students.
SIU alumnus Mike Ruhland, who attended SIU for graduate school in 1970, spoke fondly of his time spent with friends at the Southern Hills complex. He recalled the campus had an international, cosmopolitan feeling relative to the culture at the time, which the diverse body of residents at Southern Hills highlighted. This breadth of experiences was something
Ruhland feels students living at Southern Hills highly valued.
“It’s because these people were coming here for a purpose … there was a curiosity,” Ruhland said. “Here’s my one chance, maybe, to meet somebody from a different culture, a different race, and you know, have them over for dinner or just at least talk to them.”
The apartments themselves were designed for efficiency, not offering many amenities but affordably priced, and they included utilities. According to alumni who commented, the compact floor plans provided quite limited but reasonably comfortable space.
Over 60 years of use, Southern Hills’ buildings began to wear, as reports of plumbing and appliance issues began to increase. A change in Illinois’ statutes caused the sprinkler system to fall out of compliance, and the boiler system caused issues with air conditioning not functioning.
Altogether, these issues proved too costly to address, and maintenance expenses became too much to keep the complex running, especially as students began moving into the newer Wall and Grand Apartments. Around 2013, University Housing phased the Southern Hills buildings out of use and reported that they would soon be torn down.
Ten years later, the Southern Hills
complex is still standing, with the buildings now unoccupied and in worsening condition. Beyond the building at the entrance, which is still used by campus staff, the remaining structures are showing significant wear, and the paths between them are increasingly overgrown. On one building, metal bars show inside the bottom of the staircase leading to the second floor, with the missing concrete still laying on the ground below. Most of the buildings have several windows covered with wood, but other windows are smashed and left open.
While the exact timeline is uncertain, the Southern Hills buildings remain on Facilities and Energy Management’s demolitions list. As of publication, University Housing, Facilities and Energy Management, and the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance’s office have not responded to requests to discuss Southern Hills or other buildings on the list.
In the meantime, the buildings of Southern Hills stand as a reminder of SIU’s past and how time has changed the Carbondale campus. To those who lived and spent time there, it still provides an opportunity
to return and to look back on how it helped shape their lives and college experience.
“I would encourage you … sometime in your own life … just make a pilgrimage to the places that you grew up,” Ruhland added. “I did look, back about four or five years ago. The feeling I had was as if I was visiting a grave or a monument. A monument to a wonderful time and some wonderful people.”
Staff reporter Isaac Ludington can be reached at iludington@dailyegyptian.com
SIU’s Young Social Democrats of America (YDSA) held a rally for diversity targeted toward the Multicultural Resource Center at noon on April 19, on the campus quad.
YDSA Member Victor Ludwig said the priority should be making sure SIU is a diverse and safe space for everyone on campus, but the university is doing the contrary.
“What we’ve seen is that these spaces have constantly been undermined over the past year as coordinators are stripped from their positions at the Student Multicultural Resource Center,” Ludwig said. “We see that these spaces have become the very opposite of what they’re intended to become.”
Ludwig said he wants to make sure students know their right to seek support from campus administrators for more funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion and that SIU as a
campus is actively participating in anti-racism efforts.
Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dr. Paul Frazier offered reassurances this is not what the school is and that they are willing to collaborate with people who want to expand resources and to talk about the hiring process at the Multicultural Resource Center
“First of all, there’s a process to get people hired on this campus. I don’t necessarily like the process but it’s a long arduous process,” Frazier said.
“And I encourage you, if there are things that you say that we don’t have on this campus, [let’s sit down and talk about it].”
When questioned about rumored accusations of an ongoing harassment case dealing with one of the coordinators, Frazier said the information was confidential.
When a student spoke to Frazier about being misgendered
by staff and RAs on multiple occasions, he said he was hurt by the comment and if things like that are happening, they need to file a formal complaint.
“We’re dealing with a small contingency across campus. And so my door’s always open to discuss anything,” Frazier said.
He said there are 134 jobs that need to be filled across campus, agreeing with the students about probably needing additional funding for specific resources, but saying other places on campus that do have the resources can help someone in the meantime.
“There are other options you can go to that will eventually get your problem solved, or at least addressed. Maybe not solved but at least addressed,” Frazier said.
Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com
Two undergraduate engineering students at SIU created a high-tech birdhouse for conservation groups studying kestrel nesting patterns.
The birdhouse was made as a final project in the Capstone design class by Brad Thompson and Melissa Flores; the program allows students to utilize their skills to simulate the design process from initial talks with investors through drafting and construction.
“So as it stands, they have a bunch of these giant kestrel bird boxes set up for these birds of prey that migrate around the area this time of year,” Thompson said. “And in order to band the birds properly, they first have to make sure they’re in the box, and that can be a team effort.”
He said the primary ways of currently checking the boxes are to either bring a team of people who can climb and hold the ladder to reach the height of the box to look inside directly or to bring along a non-collapsible pole with a camera on top to peek inside, requiring a larger vehicle to transport.
“So what our project does is turn
that whole mess into a one-person job. All they have to do is open up a small box to look at an LCD display, and that display will tell them whether or not there’s activity in the box or whether it’s occupied,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the project consists of two parts, the sensor which attaches to the outside of the entrance to the box and a separate display at the base of the tree which communicate with each other through radio signals.
He said one of the issues that needed to be addressed with the prototype during development involved power consumption, as the display would use up the battery power relatively quickly without some sort of intervention.
“That LCD really likes to turn out power and heat of current, but actually the receiver, the one on the bottom with the display, will go to sleep after a very short period of time. That solution came during the programming phase, but it wasn’t on the design sheets or flowcharts or anything,” Thompson said.
Flores said another issue that presented itself was the availability of casings for the sensors. Since they
would be placed outside the box, the sensitive electronics would need to be protected from the elements.
“I had more difficulty designing the case for the sensor because there wasn’t really anything out there [we could buy]. So I used SOLIDWORKS and AutoCAD to 3D print the cases,” Flores said.
She said the type of sensor used needed to be considered as well due to the superior eyesight of the kestrels.
“The kestrels can see ultraviolet light, so we decided to get an infrared sensor so we can sense whether the bird is in or out,” Flores said.
She said the sensor reads whether or not the bird has passed through the entrance and communicates that with the lower screen at the foot of the tree, allowing them to remain undisturbed until the conservation team is able to reach them.
“I give the students a chance to come up with their own idea,” said Carl Spezia, the course professor. “They give a presentation, sort of like Shark Tank, and engage the other people. Then there’s voting to select the project they want to work on.”
Spezia said the course takes place in two parts, with the first
semester including educating on predominantly design and professional advice and the second tackling the more hands-on aspects of developing a presentable prototype of the project in question.
“One of the things I try to instill in all my students is how this is a simulation of the outside world. This seems like a simple project, but when you start into something, you can discover there are other things that need to be dealt with,” Spezia said.
Spezia said one of the things he enjoys about engineering is how creative the process can be for coming up with innovative solutions to everyday problems.
“I think what makes [our class] unique is it gives the students a chance to use their technical skills to be kind of creative, because I believe engineering to be a very creative thing,” he said.
Thompson said he went into engineering because he enjoys using his knowledge and education to ask and answer questions.
“I think it’s just the mindset, the concept of working with your hands, of understanding, of learning and asking questions. If you ask enough
questions, you get to the point where you have to figure it out and just go to school for it,” he said.
Flores said her relationship with her father, a union electrician in Chicago, helped deepen her love of engineering.
“He would always come home and talk about what he did at work and, because you had to pass exams in order to be in the union, he would do homework and I would watch,” she said. “That sparked my interest and that’s why I chose to come to SIU for Electrical Engineering Technology.”
Both students said they have jobs waiting for them after graduation which, according to Spezia, are well earned.
“These two did fine work on this,” Spezia said. “I’m not going to go on record to say they’re going to get an A yet, but I think they’re doing a good job, you know. And they both deserve to have their jobs waiting for them coming out.”
William Box can be reached at wbox@dailyegyptian.com
get new roles each day.
It’s been a year since the last convention took place at the Student Center and Saluki Con is back and better than ever again this year. From cosplays to dozens of vendors to special guests, this year’s Saluki Con is unique to no other. Hundreds of people around Southern Illinois attended this small convention to get the chance to partake in the various events happening.
This local event began five years ago which originally began as Eclipse Con and is expected to return again next year, continuing the tradition of bringing in several vendors and special guests to liven up the event for each and every person to find their niche and get the rare chance to indulge on it with like minded people.
The highlight of the event for many was getting the chance to meet two voice actors, Jason Spisak and Olivia Catherine Hack. Jason Spisak is most well known for his role as Silco in Arcane, Wally West in Young Justice, and Lux Bonteri in Star Wars: Clone Wars. He has been in the business for over 27 years and continues to try and
When asked what was his favorite role he ever played, he replied, “It’s tough because when you create a character, it’s like they’re your babies… but I definitely have a special place in my heart for two characters Wally West from Young Justice and Silco in Arcane. The story is just so brilliantly written and it’s not often that you get to just be subtle and play a villain who people can end up caring about,” Spisak said.
“I had never played League [of Legends], I had heard of it because I knew they filled eSports arenas with championships, but never actually played. One of the beautiful things about the story the directors wrote was that you don’t have to play League to love Arcane. It’s just a really good prehistory of the things that you end up seeing in the League of Legends… I didn’t have to play the game to be the man,” Spisak said.
Many voice actors have different origin stories as to how they started and why, but Spisak’s is unique due to how he came upon the idea of voice acting.
“What inspired me to get into voice
acting, well this is going to be odd. I was in college and I had never thought of voice acting as kind of a career option… and I had always done voices when I was a kid sitting too close to the TV and did voices and I saw the Animaniacs and said this is friggin’ hilarious and then I realized that I could do like all the voices in the show. So I was like maybe this is a career path and that’s when I thought that might be a cool career,” Spisak said. Spisak had the largest audience during his hour long panel at noon and shared memories and thoughts with the crowd that made them laugh and made them ponder, leaving the audience refreshed and with a smile on
their faces.
Later, Olivia Catherine Hack, most known for the voice of Ty Lee from Avatar the Last Airbender and Rhonda Lloyd from Hey Arnold, similarly had a panel where she got the chance to show others about her career and the emotions and enjoyment that went along with it.
“Playing Ty Lee in Avatar was super awesome, but I never read the scripts, so I didn’t know that Ty Lee was a bad guy… So I went to this Comic con in Australia and it was my first con ever and I was with Dante Bosch who played Zuko and we were signing all this Avatar stuff and I was asked what was it like playing a villain? And I just go, I’m a villain, and I was like, but I’m pink!” Hack said.
“One of the reasons Ty Lee is so perky was because I never read the full scripts and I just thought she was pink so I just played her pink,” Hack said. When asked whether she preferred japanese animation or western animation she replied, “traditional animation all the way, always because the thing with anime is that you are so limited and bound by time code… and you are rewriting that stuff sometimes as you are recording it. Everyone is like that doesn’t fit here at all and we got to trim 20 words off this,” Hack said.
“One of the great things about voice acting is you don’t have to remember any lines but when you do anime you kind of do because you have to watch the mouth at the same time so you’re remembering the lines, trying to fit it in there, watch their mouth at the same time, and you are just getting the
lines not the full script so you don’t really know what’s going on a lot of the time… with traditional animation it’s just so free and you can ad lib so it’s just kind of better and it’s more actor friendly,” Hack said.
Olivia Hack’s career began as a child and she similarly continues to find new roles to grow her resume and show others her voice is out there, as well as taking on screen acting jobs from time to time. Her panel made others really get an inside scoop on the acting world and how voice acting for different people can vary so much.
Saluki Con was also home to many cosplayers, the largest fandoms throughout the convention being from the game Genshin Impact, which is an open world anime inspired fantasy game as well as the popular anime Demon Slayer. Marvel and DC characters are always seen in comic cons and were no exception to Salukicon, from Batman and the Joker to Spider-man and Thor.
Other events that took place during the convention was a small chess tournament outside of the main hall of the Student Center, a maid cafe that was serving attendees snacks and performances, gaming lounges and anime viewings, as well as kid-friendly activities to entertain the little ones. It was a great turnout and allowed so many of the students here at SIU to express themselves in ways they might not have been able to in day to day life.
Staff reporter and photographer Mo Collar can be reached at mcollar@ dailyegyptian.com or on instagram @ m0.alexander
Many may not know the SIU track and field coaching staff is quietly composed of many elite athletes who have performed alongside some of the best from across the globe.
It’s unlikely that many people know the coaches combine for 20 All-American appearances, 12 conference titles, one Olympics appearance and five world championship appearances in their own athletic careers.
Yet, that’s exactly what five of these coaches did in their primes. Richard Jones, director of track and field and cross country; Stephani Perkins, associate head coach of track and field; Brian Biekert, head cross country/assistant distance track and field; Jeneva Stevens, assistant coach of throws; and Jake Brydson, assistant coach of jumps, all combine for a spectacular resume of experience for the SIU track and field team.
“You’ve got some really good caliber, and all of us were D1 athletes,” said Perkins. “I’m the least successful when I hold up my mirror to coach Jones and coach Stevens.”
Perkins had a career that is nothing to sneeze at. Five years after blowing out her knee and graduating from Oklahoma State University in 2003, she came back and ran in the 2008 USA Track and Field Indoor National Championships before hanging up her spikes for good.
“I wanted to see if I could run fast enough to make nationals… so I trained on my own while I was working three jobs and I indeed qualified for the US Nationals,” she said.
Perkins, who is in her first year at SIU, had multiple previous stops at high schools, including Ranchview High School in Irving, Texas, where she started a club team, and at BYU, where she coached several high level athletes as well as an Olympian.
Stevens, or McCall as she was known during her days as an athlete at SIU, had one of the most decorated careers for a professional athlete in SIU history. In college alone, she was a three-time national champion and three-time national runner up, as well as a semifinalist for the 2012 Bowerman award.
“I was world-class before leaving SIU,” she said.
After graduation, Stevens began her nine year professional career. Over those nine years, Stevens competed in five world championship meets and traveled to more than 20 countries to compete. She abruptly retired due to an aggravating back injury and jumped into coaching shortly after.
Jones may have achieved the biggest milestone of all, the highest mountain peak that a track and field athlete can ascend to: becoming an Olympian.
After being a national champion and earning multiple All-American titles at Ohio State University, Jones represented Guyana in the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“That experience is something you never lose… you never lose the fact of being at the opening ceremony, then the closing ceremony… nobody can ever take it from you,” he said.
Jones went on to coach at Bishop-Hartley High School, where he coached multiple state champions and collegiate athletes before moving to his alma mater, Ohio State, as a coach. His athletes there won several conference titles and conference accolades, and he had more than 40 athletes run in
national meets.
All of the coaches on staff have unique perspectives, as former collegiate and professional athletes themselves.
Perkins is brutal with herself and her experience as a college athlete. She doesn’t want athletes to end up doing what she did.
“I will honestly say that I was not a
and field, all of the coaches had different journeys to becoming a coach and ending up at SIU.
Jones said of coaching: “I think it’s just a natural progression for a lot of athletes at the end of their collegiate career or professional career. I had a very good experience as an athlete, and I want to be
coaching more than being an athlete. A lot of people looked at me crazy when I said that.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner,” she said.
Perkins says teaching is what led her into coaching.
She said, “I really liked the relationship part, and watching young people develop and grow into adults. It’s my favorite part about it.”
“I wanted to be a coach that developed the whole person… so that when they left, whatever program that I had going on, that they would be developed as a full person and be successful,” she said.
The coaches are also thankful to be here and are ready to win here.
Stevens said, “I would like to say thank you to SIU for bringing me back, for having me here in the first place and providing me with all the lessons and tools that I need in order for me to thrive in this world.”
Jones shares the same sentiments.
successful athlete, and that’s because of the things I was doing… I did not level up in college. And so I use that as a testimony and as a life experience,” said Perkins. “And I hope my athletes don’t have to go through that and have any regrets when they leave. So as a coach, I’m like, ‘no, I did everything you’re trying to do. And I don’t want you to be me. I want you to be better than me.’”
Jones’ highly successful career gave him a true appreciation for the sport and a taste of everything necessary to be elite, including experience. This goes into his coaching approach as well, as he is trying to incorporate more of his experiences that aren’t just related to his expertise.
“I am trying to do a better job, personally, sharing some of my experiences with things that I’ve done as an athlete, as a coach, and then translate to this crop of athletes,” he said.
Jones wants his athletes to go beyond just participating.
“If they can love the sport the same way I did, I believe they will really start to succeed… it’s not really work if you love what you do,” he said.
That translates into having athletes that run at the highest level of meets and seeing that they can compete, even if they are from “just” SIU.
“We’re really just trying to give them the same experiences I had, and hopefully it transforms this team,” Jones explained.
Stevens echoes that thought.
“I would like for them to experience what I experienced and even go beyond that. So when I’m coaching them, it’s not me thinking about what I lost, but only what they can gain and for them to get the same experiences that I have gotten with the sport,” she said.
Personal experience often plays a big role in how a coach forms their coaching philosophy and techniques they use as they coach their own athletes.
Jones said, “I wanted to help kids achieve and get to the highest level possible… If you want to be an Olympian, I know exactly what it took to be an Olympian. If you want to be a national champ, I know exactly what it took to be a national champion. And so my job, part of my philosophy was how can I help you get to the best of your ability.”
Stevens also leans on her experience to coach, often demonstrating proper techniques with different throwing implements.
“I still jump in the ring with them to show them what I’m talking about,” she said.
Despite a shared background in track
able to give that back.”
“That’s kind of what began getting the men and women that I coached in high school good, because I wanted them to get into college and run track and I wanted to share all of those types of things that I had,” he said.
Stevens didn’t necessarily see herself getting into coaching at first but now thinks that coaching is better than competing.
She said with a laugh, “I actually like
He said, “I’m thankful and grateful for this opportunity to be here at SIU… and really just wanting to do the best job that I possibly can in the position that I’m in.”
“I am not doing this to get another job. I’m doing it because I want to be here. I want to be successful at where I am, wherever I lay my head,” he said.
Sports Reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com
Ryan GRieseR | rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com
“I wanted to see if I could run fast enough to make nationals... so I trained on my own while I was working three jobs and I indeed qualified for the US Nations.”
- Stephani Perkins associate head coach of track and field
As of the time writing this, Saluki baseball currently stands at 23-17 after a sluggish start to the year. The team’s offense has been an integral part of winning 15 of their last 20 games, but it is not the lone factor in the Saluki’s success.
“We’re just playing defense at an incredibly high level…. we’re not giving the other team any extra outs,” coach Lance Rhodes said.
A big portion of the stout Saluki defense has been their ability to turn double plays. They lead the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) with 42, which allows their pitchers to get out of jams and erases multiple baserunners on a single play. Saluki infielders like Steven Loden are delicate in their process on these defensive plays.
“Making sure to get that first out and getting the second one if we can… it helps us get confidence and I think it helps the pace of the game go by,” Loden said.
SIU has only committed three total errors so far through 14 conference games. They aren’t giving away outs and therefore not giving away runs.
Loden is a huge contribution to that as he has played tremendous at second base this season, having yet to commit an error while being involved in many of the turned double plays that lead the conference. He reacts to the batter’s swing and positions himself accordingly in order to have the best opportunity to make a play on a ball that is hit his way. As any second baseman needs to be, his process when fielding involves him being patient and calm in order to make the plays for the Saluki pitching staff.
“I think it’s always comforting to know that you’re one good pitch away from…potentially getting out of a tough situation,” Rhodes said. “…And a lot of those double plays have just been because our infield defense has got a lot of range and we’ve got some arm strength on the infield.”
The entire SIU pitching staff has improved during its run of winning baseball and one pitcher specifically who benefits from the efficient fielding behind him is Saluki reliever Paul Bonzagni. It is a new title for Bonzagni after ramping up in the offseason and then beginning the year as a starting pitcher. But after a rough start to the season, he was transitioned to the bullpen where he has shined over the last month and a half.
“We thought he was going to be one of our better arms going into the year. And when we started him, it just wasn’t clicking for some reason and you know, we decided to make a change,” Rhodes said.
While still capable of throwing multiple innings, the move has given Bonzagni a change of scenery and the ability to be more precise with his pitches. His command has improved, being able to get more pitches over in the strike zone, which has increased his effectiveness.
“It’s helped me out a lot so far… being able to throw more strikes,”
Bonzagni said.
He has accrued the most pitcher wins (seven) on the team, while also leading the Salukis in saves (three). His 4.22 earned run average (ERA) on the year is misleading when compared to the 1.98 ERA he has posted since shifting to the bullpen. Although Bonzagni says his mindset has remained steady throughout his role change, it is rewarding for him to get the final outs of a game.
“It’s a lot more fulfilling, a lot more exciting to be able to finish the game off. You get to go dap up the catcher and it’s just over after that, it feels nice,” Bonzagni said.
Rhodes said, “You know, it’s been nice because we feel like we get to the sixth inning, we can turn it over to him and we have a chance to win the game.”
Recently, SIU has pulled out more close games, mixing in some walk off wins with clutch hitting. They have five walkoff wins with four of their last seven wins being sealed in their final at-bats at home. It is the opposite reality when the team compares itself to the early stretches of the season.
“I think when you look at the beginning part of the year…we were losing those close games. And you know, there’s not a whole lot of teams that can get off to the start that we did and come back and have a great season. And we’ve been able to do that,” Rhodes said.
He attributes a lot of it to the toughness of the players.
They just go out there and they believe that we’re going to win. You know, I almost feel like now…it doesn’t necessarily feel like there’s a ton of pressure there because we’ve been in that moment so many times,” Rhodes said. “There’s not going to be a situation whether it’s down the stretch in the regular season or in the conference tournament that’s going to put a ton more pressure on us than we’ve already been through.
But there are games where the offense doesn’t click, and it calls for the Salukis to manufacture runs and create offense on the basepaths.
“We don’t have like a ton of speed necessarily, but we’ve got a few guys that, if the opposing team allows us to steal…then we have enough of those guys that can take advantage of that…,” Rhodes said.
They have only attempted to steal 55 bases on the year but have been successful 44 times (80%). Some things they might look for are a pitcher’s time to the plate or the catcher’s ability to pop up and get the ball down to a base quickly attempting to throw out a runner stealing.
One of the guys who is known to swipe a base is center fielder Nathan Bandy. He has been the perfect leadoff batter for SIU as he holds a .449 onbase percentage and is almost perfect on steals (nine out of ten attempts). Bandy held a perfect stealing percentage up until just this past Saturday against Indiana State. Although the Salukis aren’t prone to run early in games, they are opportunistic, and Bandy executes on what the team looks for.
“I know we like to steal a lot in advantaged counts when we have guys that are going to protect the baserunners,” Bandy said.
With proven hitters down their lineup, those batter-friendly counts create a greater chance to formulate offense as the pressure is put on the pitching and defense. Baserunners look for signals from Coach Rhodes and the coaching staff and capitalize on what the opposition gives them.
“No matter what kind of hitting team you have like that to cause havoc as baserunners…finding a way to manufacture runs even if you’re not swinging it well,” Bandy said.
The combination of pitching, defense, and baserunning along with their potent offense has equated to a Saluki team that can wreak havoc in the MVC. Sitting at second place in between Indiana State and Missouri State in the standings, they have a long way to go but are confident
in their chances of earning the top seed.
“We’re only halfway through our conference season. So I think it’s just being able to continue to repeat the things that we’ve done over the longevity of the season,” Rhodes said. “We can control our own destiny, which is the greatest thing you can ask for in sports.”
Sports reporter Howard Woodard can be reached at hwoodard@dailyegyptian.com.
Prior to their annual spring game on the 15th of April, Southern Illinois football had 14 spring practices. Each year spring preparation shows the Salukis what they have improved on since last season and what they will continue to work on when summer camp and fall rolls around.
Spring practices started bright and early at 6 a.m. on March 23 and the Salukis took full advantage of the short time they had for spring training.
“Every practice is an opportunity to get better, it’s simply putting in the work each day,” said junior receiver Izaiah Hartrup.
In the 2021 season, Hartrup’s freshman year, he tied with Avante Cox for second on the team in catches, totaling 43. He posted 502 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns through the air, dabbled a little in the ground game, with 75 yards rushing, and even returned some kickoffs, with 200 return yards off nine attempts.
In the 2022 season, Hartrup was looking to be quarterback Nic Baker’s number two option behind Cox until a hamstring injury at the beginning of training camp. After missing the majority of last season, Hartrup is ready to get back on the field.
“That was probably one of the hardest times of my life, so being back here, you don’t take it for granted,” Hartrup said.
It’s given Hartrup the opportunity to become more of a leader among his teammates. After losing their top receiver and one of their biggest leaders on the team in Cox, Hartrup has a position to fill that will bring him a lot of opportunities throughout this upcoming season.
Fellow fifth year receiver, and Avante’s twin brother D’ante’ Cox, has also taken on a bigger role this spring.
“The biggest thing I improved on over spring was stepping up and being a leader. Since I have been here for three years I’m looking to lead by example,” D’ante’ Cox said.
When it comes to improvements made this spring, the spring game showcased it all. Since the beginning of spring practices, SIUs defense has learned a new scheme, with a new defensive coordinator at the helm, and the offense has been focusing on the small details like being on the same page and working as a unit.
“All these individual periods and technique and fundamentals that spring ball is really developing, now you gotta put it out their on film in the game and let us see the work that’s been put in,” head coach Nick Hill said, Hartrup followed with, “I feel like the team has improved a lot in terms of just working hard. I feel like everyone has been putting in a lot of work.”
Southern has seven starters on
offense returning from last season including D’Ante’ Cox, Hartrup, Baker, running back Ro Elliott, guards Chase Evans and Jake Green, right tackle Abdul Toure, and center Jacob Caughell.
Defensively, the Salukis also have seven starters returning including all conference linebacker Branson Combs and safety PJ Jules, safety Clayton Bush, cornerbacks David Miller and DJ Johnson, linebacker Zach Burrola and defensive tackle Kam Bowdry.
Looking forward to what they need to continue working on when summer and fall training comes around, D’ante’ Cox said that as a team they have to improve on finishing drives and executing plays.
Looking back to last season, both of these have been an issue for the Salukis. Starting last season 0-2 with a 35 point loss against Incarnate Word and then to close rival Southeast Missouri with a tough 31-34 loss that went down to the wire. The Dawgs finished their season with a four game losing streak against South Dakota, Northern Iowa, North Dakota State, and Youngstown State.
“I feel I can improve on everything, there’s always room to get better overall. Over break I’ll continue training, staying active over break is always important. I feel the team can get better at playing as one unit. Just like every other year we have a new team so it’s about to come together,” Hartrup said.
Not only is spring training and the scrimmage an opportunity for the Salukis to showcase what they have improved on since last season, it is a great way to get the community out and a way for them to interact with the team.
Before the spring scrimmage, the Dawg Pound set up a free cook out for anyone in attendance of the game and there were pre-game interviews with some of the players.
“I enjoy being able to interact with the community, if it wasn’t for them there wouldn’t be Saluki football so I appreciate all the love and support we receive from them,” Hartrup said.
In terms of this upcoming season, the Salukis are going to continue working on skills that they need to improve and putting the pieces together.
“We have the pieces to be really good and we are ready to overcome the challenges from last season,” D’ante’ Cox said.
Hartrup said, “I think the fans can expect a good football team that’s going to compete. We will determine wins and losses in the fall, but the goal, as always, is to win every game.”
Following summer training camp, Southern Illinois will start its 2023 season at Saluki Stadium with a 6 p.m. game against Austin Peay on Sept. 2.
Old Southern women say about the meanest things known to man, and completely look away afterwards without batting an eye, all while giving just about the most frightening, yet comforting, smile. They can’t help it, it’s just in their nature to be a little catty, and they don’t realize it because the women that they grew up with spoke the same way. They speak with such a melody, that you wouldn’t even know that they called you fat and told you that your shoes were ugly until you’re laying in bed later that night, and sit up and curse to yourself because you didn’t catch that sly read.
If you ever hear a Southern person say “Well idinit precious!” when meeting a small child or baby, just know that “precious” is not a compliment, and is a bit more of a southern mother way of saying the baby is ugly. Everyone knows the infamous “Oh, bless your heart,” which is just someone telling you that you are “pitiful,” which is another way someone might say that you are a hot mess in a dress.
Most of the time, I can turn a blind eye to Southern play-nice verbiage, and can read it like a book, and can even throw in a good read here and there with it flying straight over the other person’s head. I always feel really accomplished when I am set in the hostile presence of a Southern person, and the passive
aggressive showdown commences. I will never start it, but I will almost always finish it.
With my roots being all Midwestern women who have more identification with the South, I can serve up that Midwestern Southern Illinois heat, always allowing a bit of my twang show proudly when I am in need of protecting myself. If you’re overly nosey, you better believe that I am going to be just as nosey back. For example: If you ask something a little too personal, I might ask about your cousin who’s in jail for shoplifting at Walmart, all while keeping a sugary sweet composure.
Most of these tidbits are silly, and don’t have much meaning behind them other than the obvious situation you would use them in. I now, as an adult, have my own acquired vernacular made up of phrases I have heard over the years, and even some that I have coined as my own. A good portion of these nicknames and adlibs you learn are from folks who are older, and most of them have been around for generations.
Most of these silly phrases have no real good meaning, but they are almost always funny or work perfect in the situation, but there are definitely some that should not be used, and there is one that really grinds my gears.
“Well, she’s trailer park pretty” I heard someone say recently, and it piqued my interest. I had heard this term before in my childhood from numerous folks, but in my
adulthood I had never encountered this word in the wild. Of course, I have heard that Miranda Lambert song called “Geraldine,” where she says the iconic Southern sounding line “You’re trailer park pretty, but you’re never gonna be Jolene.”
This time, when hearing this phrase, the words rang out like someone had just smacked a cast iron skillet upside my head. I slightly bit my cheek in discomfort, and felt a bit embarrassed at the person who had just used this ignorant turn of phrase, but also because I had said it so many times before without really putting any thought into the words.
Blinking slowly, I allowed her to keep speaking. Though I had heard and said this 100 times, I had never really put the thought into what it actually meant, and even why it came to be.
My mind wandered after that point, analyzing the type of person that might say this, but also the women and girls that are being labeled as this.
This hurtful title very obviously is terribly classist, and there is no argument there. It very obviously has some rooting to it. There is a story being told, one about a girl who is pretty, more than likely very pretty, but in a natural way. There is no need for lots of makeup, or even a manicure, and her hair needs no doing, just a good brushing.
You see, beauty has this terrible problem with equating good looks with wealth. The standard of beauty nowadays are the Kardashians for the youth, and The Housewives for the women of the older generations, and that thought is boggling to me, as who the hell has the dime for that?
This isn’t a new thing. No, of course it has been around since the beginning of the class system. Of course the wealthy are going to set the norms; they sadly are the ones who commission things, but predictably of course, it got out of hand.
You will not meet a wealthy woman now who hasn’t had her face snatched back in 20 different directions, hoping to look like Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns (1992). I personally think that the new beauty norm is a bit frightening, almost a bit feline, and I disapprove.
Wealthy folk have also put this stigma on trailer parks and mobile homes in general, looking down upon a cost effective way of living. This thought puzzles me because what do you think one of those tiny homes that people have are? Just a cool way to live? Most people who opt to live in tiny homes, or live “the van life” have their financials abundantly stable before choosing to do so, while many people opt to live in a more financially smarter way like a mobile home or a doublewide, and they are the ones who are considered to be trashy?
The type of woman that would be considered as “trailer park pretty” are conventionally attractive, but do not have the funds for the higher luxuries in life. Growing up, I was mostly raised by women like this, those that didn’t need pedicures or brand new clothes. Just because a person can’t afford the things that society says makes you beautiful, doesn’t always mean that person even needs it.
