The Daily Egyptian

The Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916

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WEDNESDAY, september 16, 2020

VOL. 103, ISSUE 30

$2.8 million grant allows on campus COVID-19 testing Sara Wangler | @mosbytamar

SIU is now offering COVID-19 testing on campus to students, staff and faculty.

The university, SIH and the Jackson County Health Department worked together on getting the grant in the summer.

The grant comes from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The $2.8 million grant was divided among SIU, SIH and the Jackson County Health Department and allowed a broader testing program for the SIU campus.

Rosslind Rice, communications coordinator for SIH, said this makes testing more convenient for the university.

“The grant enabled us to test on campus,” Rice said. “We were already working with SIU to test athletes, and it’s much more convenient now.”

Rice said SIH applied for the grant in accordance with the Jackson County Health Department.

“With the grant, we can now provide COVID testing two days a week for students, faculty, and staff,” said Rosalind.

Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for SIU Rae Goldsmith said testing will be available on campus two days a week.

“Mondays at the Becker Pavilion by Campus Lake and Wednesdays at the southwest corner of Rinella Field across from the Student Health Center and near the Towers,” Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith said testing will be by required appointments. There

SIH staff wearing personal protective equipment perform Covid-19 tests at a drive-thru test site run by the SIH Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, located at the former Regions Bank building, Rt 13 and Poplar Street (500 W. Main Street), Carbondale, IL, Wednesday, July 29 ,2020. Angel Chevrestt | @sobrofotos is currently a website available with times as well as information about how to make an appointment.

“There is also currently drivethru testing for faculty, staff, and students at 500 W. Main St. in Carbondale,” Goldsmith said.

“Priority days for SIU students and staff are Wednesdays and Thursdays, although drivethrough testing is also available on other days.”

Goldsmith said there is a phone number to call as well as online

scheduling that is coming soon.

“Students with symptoms should still call the Student Health Center, but everyone else including those without symptoms can set up appointments for either oncampus or drive-through testing,” Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith said work has been in progress since summer to provide more testing to campus but resources weren’t available.

“For example, most students without symptoms have had to

go off-site for testing,” Goldsmith said. “The grant makes it more convenient for everyone to get tested.”

Goldsmith also said people who are getting tested are asked to bring their insurance cards, but no student, faculty or staff member without coverage will be turned away. Testing is conducted

by Southern Illinois Healthcare, which indicates that results will be available within 24 to 48 hours Goldsmith said.

“It is important for people to make their appointments using the phone number that will be specifically provided for SIU faculty, staff, and students,” Goldsmith said.

Staff reporter Sara Wangler can be reached at swangler@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @sara_ Wangler.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Contact Us

Email: editor@dailyegyptian.com Editor-in-Chief: Kallie Cox (618)536-3397 kcox@dailyegyptian.com Managing Editor: Rana Schenke rschenke@dailyegyptian.com Desk Editor: Brooke Buerck bbuerck@dailyegyptian.com Desk Editor: Tāmar Mosby tmosby@dailyegyptian.com

Photo and Multimedia Editor: Leah Sutton leah.sutton@siu.edu Student Advertising Chief: Hannah Combs hcombcs@dailyegyptian.com Design Desk Editor: Chloe Schobert cschobert@dailyegyptian.com Business Office: Arunima Bhattacharya (618)536-3305

About Us

The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 43 weeks per year, with an average weekly circulation of 12,000. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday.

Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale and Carterville communities.

The Daily Egyptian can be found daily at www.dailyegyptian.com for the most up to date news.

Mission Statement

The Daily Egyptian, the student-run news organization of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.

Publishing Information

The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and functions as a laboratory for the School of Journalism in exchange for the room and utilities in the Communications Building. The Daily Egyptian is a non-profit organization that survives primarily off of its advertising revenue. Offices are in the Communications Building, Room 1259, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill., 62901.

Copyright Information

©2020 Daily Egyptian. All rights reserved. All content is property of the Daily Egyptian and may not be reproduced or transmitted without consent. The Daily Egyptian is a member of the Illinois College Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Advisers Inc. and the College Business and Advertising Managers Inc.

Submissions

Letters and guest columns must be submitted with author’s contact information, preferably via email. Phone numbers are required to verify authorship, but will not be published. Students must include year and major.

Faculty must include rank and department. Others include hometown.

Submissions should be sent to editor@dailyegyptian.com.

Dustin Clark | @dustinclark.oof

A letter from the editor: The Daily Egyptian newsroom is on lockdown Kallie Cox | @@KallieECox

As of Sept. 11 the Daily Egyptian newsroom is on lockdown.

A member of the DE staff began to feel sick on Sept.

7 and began to self quarantine. They were tested on Sept. 10. and received their positive test result on Sept.

11 As soon as the DE was informed of the positive test result on Sept. 11 we immediately went into lockdown and initiated our COVID-19 plan.

For the next 14 days no one will be allowed into the newsroom and all staff members who were in the office during this time were instructed to be tested unless they were otherwise cleared through our contact tracing efforts.

For the most part, our staff has been working remotely throughout the semester and those who have

entered our office have written their names down in a book with the time, date and their temperature.

Any staff member with any COVID-19 symptoms is required to go home immediately and report to their editor.

As of publication, five of our staff members have been tested, three received negative results and two are still awaiting results and as a result of these negative tests, five other students have been cleared through our contact tracing efforts.

The only DE staff members who will be permitted to cover any in-person events during this quarantine are those who have been cleared.

We value the safety of our community and staff and we are taking every precaution.

Editor-in-Chief Kallie Cox can be reached at kcox@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @KallieECox.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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Resident assistants speak out against work conditions, pay Keaton Yates | @keatsians

Editor’s Note: The identities of some of the sources in this story are anonymous because the resident assistants involved feared retaliation and losing their jobs.

SIU RA’s say they are being overworked and underpaid and claim the university is not adequately protecting their health during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Daily Egyptian tried to contact Jon Shaffer, director of housing, for comment on this story six different times via voicemail, leaving a message with his assistant and four emails. He did not respond.

Student housing employees say they have been instructed not to talk to the media.

According to the Housing Student Employee Agreement, housing employees are not to represent housing to the press or media unless they are told to do so directly.

Because of this agreement, RA’s have been told not to speak to the media and have expressed a fear of retaliation for speaking publicly to the Daily Egyptian, and have asked to remain anonymous now and in the past.

Examples of this include the DE’s story on RA’s being instructed to keep quiet about COVID-19 outbreaks on campus and RA’s who spoke out about their desire to hold a second job.

Phynix Huhn-Simmons, a former RA who spoke out against housing policies, said in an interview with the DE that housing fosters “a culture of silence” and that RAs were not allowed to talk to the media.

“They tried to silence me and my co-workers and people who thought like me,” Huhn-Simmons said.

“Housing definitely has this culture of silence and I understand where the rule came from, it was to protect students and abide by the FERPA law but they took it and used it to silence their student employees.”

Sally Jones, a RA that requested to be anonymous, said if RAs were told they would face “major repercussions” if they were caught discussing COVID-19 precautions.

“All of us assumed that they would fire us,” she said.

Jane Doe, a RA who requested to be anonymous, said this year in particular has been hard for RAs. “We’re still required to do a lot of stuff that doesn’t seem safe,” she said. “Housing is prioritizing helping the freshmen make friends over RA’s safety.”

There are not many mandates in place to keep RAs safe from the coronavirus other than face masks, Doe said.

Jane Doe said while she is uncomfortable going to the dining halls because of the coronavirus, she is required to go to a house meal once a week regardless of whether or not her residents come.

Jones said house meals are the responsibility she’s most uncomfortable with.

“They’ve told high risk students that they have no choice but to go to the dining hall because the computer system can’t handle it or we can’t afford it,” she said.

Jones said housing has told worried students that they will not be accommodated and that they will have to “make sacrifices”.

“Students should not be having to sacrifice when they want to eat just because housing won’t help

them,” Jones said.

Resident assistants requested hazard pay during move in and were denied by Shaffer, Doe said.

Eight different RAs were told they would lose their jobs if they informed others that there is a COVID-19 case on campus.

As long as no personally identifiable information is given, schools are allowed to release general information such as the number of cases, according to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Jones said during training week superiors were allowed to use video calls to ensure social distancing, but RAs were not.

“They didn’t care about our safety and jammed at least 17 of us in one room for training and then made us gather for move in,” Jones said.

“We didn’t get paid enough to deal with the major possibility of getting sick.”

Jones said masks are the only protection and instruction they are given by housing.

Jones said Shaffer wanted to make RAs work three hours in the dining halls without pay because they are understaffed, but hall directors discouraged the decision.

“That would have started an outright riot with the RAs,” Jones said. “We already don’t feel safe or appreciated and then they were going to force us to work like that putting us in the most high risk area to get infected.”

Jones said RAs were given the opportunity to get paid to deliver meals to quarantined students, but it made her feel like housing is putting RAs at risk to make their own jobs easier.

according to the release.

A warning is triggered if a county has over 50 new cases per 100,000 county residents; last week, Jackson County had 254 cases per 100,000 residents.

The weekly test threshold is a 7-day positivity rate above 8%; Jackson County’s test positivity rate was 9.6%.

“This warning helps to amplify the continued need to practice social distancing, wear face coverings, stay home when you are ill, and to cooperate with public health officials when they contact you during contact tracing efforts,” Bart Hagston, Jackson County public health administrator, said.

Additionally, the health department said people should stay home while waiting for test results and not put more people at risk.

As of Sunday, there have been 1,169 confirmed cases in Jackson

County and 24 deaths, according to the release and 1,030 individuals have been released from isolation in accordance with CDC guidelines.

Franklin and Williamson Counties reported 31 cases on Monday.

Williamson County remains at warning level status this week.

IDPH announced 1,373 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths statewide on Monday.

As of Monday, there have been 262,744 positive cases in the state of Illinois and 8,314 deaths.

As of Sunday night, 1,431 people in Illinois are reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19, with 335 in the ICU and 131 patients on ventilators.

John Smith, another anonymous RA, said he does not think he gets

paid enough.

“I get paid about $124 a month which is interesting because some people get paid a lot less than me,” Smith said. “I have the same position, I filled out the same contract as them, but they get paid less than me.”

Jane Doe said she gets paid $118 a month while working the required 20 hours a week and it covers very few of her necessities especially when she is unable to go to the dining hall.

“We would ask [housing] about [unequal pay] and they would say ‘it’s a difference in taxes’, but we all opted not to have taxes taken out,” Doe said.

Sally Jones said for the work RAs do they are not paid minimum wage. Resident assistants make approximately four dollars a day which adds up to roughly $120 a month. If paid minimum wage, $10, they would receive $300 a month.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, student residential assistants are exempt from minimum wage because they receive reduced room and dining charges.

“If I was solely surviving off this salary there’s no way I’d have enough money for anything like food, pads, or laundry detergent,” Jones said.

John Smith said instead of paying RAs more they should cut back on the jobs they are given.

RAs can only have a second job on campus and the only job that is discussed is working five hours at Trueblood, he said.

In May of 2019, RAs were given the option to have a second job anywhere on campus up to five hours a week.

RAs were only given five hours because SIU only allows student workers to work 20 hours a week.

According to the student employment handbook, during summer semester and breaks student employees are allowed to work 37.5 hours a week. RAs can work five hours at an on campus job and academic peer advocates can work 10 hours a week.

John Smith said he works 20 hours a week, but broke 70 hours during training week. Jane Doe and Sally Jones said they work about 40 hours each week.

Jones said when on duty, RAs are basically working for 24 hours because they have to be on call if students need them.

There is no way for RAs to keep track of their work hours and they get paid by what housing thinks they deserve, Jones said.

“It seems like a lot of this job is more than necessary, but it’s a lot worse than what I expected,” John Smith said. “They expect us to do bulletin boards and stuff like that off the clock and we don’t get paid extra for it.”

Jane Doe said her biggest problem is she feels housing has no respect for RAs and does not see them as people.

“A lot of my frustrations that are building recently is because of the pandemic they’re adding so many more extra responsibilities to RAs who get the same amount of pay,” she said.

Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached by email at kyates@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @ keatsians.

COVID-19 update: Jackson County reports six new cases, Franklin and Williamson report 31 Staff Report

Update: This story was updated at 4:28 p.m. on 9/14/2020 to reflect updated case numbers.

Jackson County Health Department reported six new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

These cases include one teen, two in their 20s, two in their 30s and one over 100 years old.

Jackson County was declared to be at a warning level this week by the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to a Jackson County Health Department press release issued Friday.

A county is considered to be at warning level status when it reaches two or more risk indication thresholds for measuring COVID-19.

Jackson County exceeded two thresholds, new cases per 100,000 people and weekly test positivity,

The Jackson County Health Department asks all residents to follow public health guidelines by wearing a mask in public, maintaining social distance, avoiding social gatherings, washing hands frequently and working with health department officials as they conduct contact tracing.

If you are experiencing fever,

cough, difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle aches, loss of taste or smell, nausea or diarrhea, you should contact your healthcare provider for further guidance.

The Daily Egyptian’s News Desk can be reached at 1-618-536-3329, by email at editor@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @dailyegyptian.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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Saluki Safety Panel provides monthly COVID-19 Updates Tiffany Young | @tiffany_young__

On Monday, Sept. 14, the Saluki Safety Panel met to update students on campus COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and university events.

This Saluki Safety meeting was livestreamed over Youtube to inform students about SIU’s COVID-19 testing plan.

The Saluki Safety Panel started on Aug. 7, 2020. and will continue to provide live updates every month about the fall semester and COVID-19 safety protocols.

“Starting today, Monday, Sept. 14, students, faculty, and staff, will be able to get COVID-19 tests on-campus two days a week thanks to our partnership with Jackson County Public Health and SIH,” Benjamin Newman, SIU chief of police said.

Individuals who are planning on getting tested will need to schedule an appointment in advance. To schedule an appointment, one will need to call 833-457-3072.

“Online scheduling will be available soon on our website,” Newman said.

Monday’s COVID-19 testing was held at the Becker Pavilion from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Parking for Monday’s testing will be available in lot 37.

COVID-19 testing will also be available on Wednesday’s from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

at the Rinella Field. Parking for Wednesday’s testing was available in lot 45.

If inclement weather occurs during COVID-19 testing, testing will be moved inside the Becker Pavilion.

“Students with symptoms should go ahead and contact the Student Health Center at 618-453-3311. Students without symptoms and faculty and staff regardless of symptoms should call the SIH hotline at 833-457-3072 to schedule an on-campus or drive-though appointment with SIH,” Newman said.

While registering for COVID-19 testing, one will be asked for their name, address, insurance information and a time that works best for them to get tested.

Those who are getting testing will need to bring their student ID, driver’s license and insurance card to confirm their identity.

Results will be available within 24 to 48 hours after testing. Students will be notified through the Health Service while faculty and staff will be notified by an SIH provider.

Positive test results will be delivered to the Health Department. After the Jackson County Health Department receives a positive result, they will contact the person who was tested.

Local health departments are responsible for any contact tracing needed to be done in the area.

“Students without symptoms and faculty and staff regardless of symptoms should call the SIH hotline at 833-457-3072 to schedule an on-campus or drive-though appointment with SIH.” - Benjamin Newman SIU chief of police

“We gather information, and then take appropriate actions to limit the spread of disease,” Bart Hagston, administrator at Jackson County Health Department said.

“When a Jackson County resident tests positive for COVID-19, Jackson County Health Department is notified of the Lab Result via a statewide electronic disease reporting system,” Hagston said.

The system is monitored daily, positive cases are then assigned to trained contact investigators.

These investigators call the individuals to notify them that they tested positive.

Those who test positive will need to speak with the health department to discuss their health and COVID-19 symptoms. Positive individuals will then be ordered to isolate per CDC guidelines.

“The contact tracer also conducts a structured interview with positive individuals to find out who they may have been in close contact with and locations they have visited since they potentially became infectious,” Hagston said.

“The CDC defines a close contact as any individual who is within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before illness onset or for asymptomatic patients, two days prior to the positive specimen collection,” Hagston said.

If one was within very close proximity of the infected individual, they may be considered a close contact, even if they were exposed for under 15 minutes.

“Public health officials are allowed to provide minimal information to employers or schools to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases,” Hagston said.

JCHD is required to notify SIU officials whenever a student, faculty, or staff member tests positive.

The Department of Public Safety and the COVID-19 positive individual both assist the JCHD in identifying close contacts. Public Health contact tracers then communicate with the potential close contacts to discuss the interaction they had with the positive individual and to decide whether the individual needs to be quarantined or not.

Individuals who test positive will be checked on by the Health Department frequently. The JCHD as well as SIU will provide positive individuals with the resources they may need.

“If there were to be a potential outbreak situation on-campus, and many individuals needed to be tested at once, then there is a linkage between the university and Southern Illinois Healthcare to deploy mobile testing elements which could then lead to further isolation and quarantine as needed,” Hagston said.

SIU encourages its students, faculty, and staff to use the online reporting form to report any suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 on-campus. All reports submitted

to the online form are confidential and held within legal standards.

SIU’s website also features a weekly dashboard of active COVID-19 cases. The dashboard includes the number of positive oncampus students, positive off-campus students, and positive faculty or staff members. Active cases include quarantined individuals.

As of publication, SIU reported 47 offcampus students, nine on-campus students and one faculty/staff member had tested positive.

These numbers are updated weekly on Wednesdays, however they are not comprehensive and as it is optional for students and staff to declare their affiliation with SIU, additionally, if anyone in the SIU community does not live in Jackson County and commutes to work at SIU, as many of our faculty and staff members do, they will not be included in the SIU count if they test positive for the virus, according to the Williamson County Health Department.

These numbers also don’t specify location or include the number of students in quarantine or awaiting test results.

The panel also briefly discussed the process for holding student events and reviewed student conduct guidelines.

University events must go through an event approval process. The proposed event forms will be reviewed by a vice-chancellor then approved by the emergency operations center personnel.

“The event plans work in compliance with the governor’s Restore Illinois Plan and CDC and IDPH guidance” Newman said.

If a student violates SIU’s social distancing guidelines, that student will have to go through a discipline process.

In August, the university adapted its code of conduct to include new rules about student behavior during the pandemic.

These include, but are not limited to, “failure to wear a face mask in public or in a university classroom, failure to social distance, attending, holding, or sponsoring a gathering with an attendance greater than permitted by law and university guidelines” and “failure to isolate or quarantine as ordered by a public health official or the university,” According to a release from the university about the new policies.

Off-campus students who are quarantining will need to stay in their rooms while oncampus students will need to quarantine in their residence hall rooms.

Those who test positive will be moved to SIU’s isolation space until their test results are negative.

Staff reporter Tiffany Young can be reached at tyoung@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ tiffany_young__.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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Meet Ray Lenzi: Q & A with Illinois 12th District Candidate

Matthew Alleyne | @matt_alleyne

Editor’s note: Some of these answers have been condensed for clarity.

Ray Lenzi was a former SIU student and SIU’s executive director for the office of Economic and Regional Development from 1994 to 1999, then the vice-Chancellor of that same office from 2002 to 2007.

He’s been a coal miner, professor, husband and father. Lenzi said he never seemed to see a candidate that shared his views when it came time to vote, so he chose to be that candidate and is running to represent Illinois’ 12th district in the house of representatives.

Lenzi will be running against incumbent Mike Bost.

DE: What is the main goal that you’re hoping to accomplish if elected to the House?

Lenzi: Lenzi said that the main focus for his campaign was getting universal healthcare for all citizens, not just those that can afford it.

“Ultimately, I would like to see a system based on everyone participating through taxation based on income.

Everyone has health insurance, and if we have to take certain steps to get there through the public option or

Medicare for all, that would be my ultimate goal,” Lenzi said. “That we have a system like much of Western Europe has, where everybody is in the system, everybody can know that their health care needs are going to be taken care of.”

DE: What other issues do you intend to tackle on your path to getting elected?

Lenzi: “[Healthcare and the economy] are the two big issues that the country faces. It’s that, and other issues of course are climate change, where I recognize that global warming is real,” Lenzi said. “My opponent seems to be going along with Donald Trump’s idea that it’s a hoax. So we have to urgently get ready to move to address climate change, promoting renewable energy. I am championing on that and will continue to do it.”

Lenzi said another issue was incumbent Mike Bost’s nonresponsiveness to the citizens and their issues. Lenzi then spoke on what he intends to cover in relation to education, as well as his background in education.

“I would like to emphasize that I am an educator. I served at virtually every level of education from preschool to

Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois’ 12th District Ray Lenzi takes Mike Bost to task for refusing to participate in a televised debate on WSIU-TV. Lenzi, flanked by “Chicken Mike Bost” spoke to the media and a group of supporters during a rally Tuesday morning in front of Bost’s campaign office. Sept. 15, 2020, Carbondale, ILL. Leah Sutton | @leahsuttonphotography K-12 , to being a professor where I was tenured at the University of Missouri I’m a strong proponent for education.

I would support universal tuition free college education, if that came up for a vote,” Lenzi said. “I would support whatever the strongest measure is to increase funding and support for education at all levels, so that is a big issue, particularly to me as a lifetime educator. I started the SIU Research Park, which has about 500 jobs now out there, and I was the founder of it, so we think that stimulation of the economy and support for higher education are mutually inclusive.”

DE: One of the things that we saw when looking into your campaign was the trading of civil service, or military service, in place of paying for tuition to go to college. Would that account for someone getting hurt in that military service?

Would they be covered for that as well?

“Everyone

would be covered, especially those that get injured in serving their country,” Lenzi said.

DE: An additional thing that you have on your campaign to accomplish is remediation of incarceration. How will you plan to go about that if elected? How do you plan to present that to the house and get that done?

Lenzi: “Well, I say as far as remediation of incarceration, we need to first of all address the issue of nonviolent offences that might be related to the drug laws so that people aren’t being sent to prison for this violation, it doesn’t make sense,” Lenzi said. “The other thing though is it really gets back to the economics of it. We really need more money for jobs. More jobs, particularly in low income and minority communities where unemployment is high, because there is a relationship between income and job availability, and people turning to crime. So we definitely need more physical stimulus.”

Lenzi said the minimum wage should be increased to 15 dollars an hour. Lenzi also mentioned that things were “out of wack” when it came to income, equality, and economic justice.

“Economic justice goes to the heart of the question of incarceration. We obviously need better programs for people returning to society, because right now there’s minimal avenues and this just increases the number of people that go back into crime because they don’t have the options and haven’t been trained for the jobs or even have jobs that are available,” Lenzi said. “So those are issues that relate to mass incarceration. I will say I support Black Lives Matter, and I’ll say that phrase, and my opponent doesn’t seem to care, so those are issues that we intend to work for.”

DE: That covers the questions we had. Is there anything else that you

want to add that we didn’t ask about?

Lenzi: “Well, we’re going to be going on the offensive next week, really calling Mr. Bost to the carpet for his apparent fear,” Lenzi said.

Lenzi said that he would offer any means, whether on zoom or in person, to debate with Bost in all 12 counties, on all the issues he’s mentioned here and on his campaign site.

Lenzi ended and said, “what is [Bost] afraid of?”

More info on Ray Lenzi and his campaign can be found here, and his campaign can be reached at raylenziforcongress@gmail.com.

Staff reporter Matthew Alleyne can be reached at malleyne@dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram at @matt_alleyne.

All of the stories in this edition and more can be found at:

www.dailyegyptian.com

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

COVID-19 restrictions weigh on fraternities and sororities

Jamilah Lewis | @jamilahlewis

With recruitment just around the corner, SIU fraternities and sororities are making adjustments to their rushing process due to COVID-19.

Several meetings have been held between Campus Fraternity and Sorority Life Coordinator Rachel Dunning, Greek Council members and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to plan how recruitment will take place this semester.

Interfraternity Council Vice President of Recruitment and Retention Patrick Murphy said that going into this semester for recruitment would contrast to the way it would go every other year.

“As a council and greek community, we all realized that it would be quite different this semester for everybody,” Murphy said. “We were constantly updating and seeing what the new guidelines would be, and seeing how we would work around those.”

Murphy said organizations such as the Interfraternity Council, College Panhellenic Council,

“We were constantly updating and seeing what the new guidelines would be, and seeing how we would work around those.”

- Patrick Murphy Interfraternity Council vice president of recruitment and retention

Multicultural Greek Council, and National Pan-Hellenic Council have held their own meetings to see how they should adapt to the new guidelines.

Just like any other RSO who wants to hold an event on campus, Greek organizations have to fill out a COVID-19 approval form which requires a two weeks notice prior to the event.

Once the university approves of it, they must follow the common guidelines of social distancing, wearing masks, and using hand sanitizer.

The SIU Greek Life Organization created their own set of safety requirements with the main item

stating that if fraternities and sororities have any events it states the maximum number of people with social distancing requirements, and how to stay safe for fraternity and sorority members that are living in their houses.

It is still being decided whether events dealing with philanthropy, brotherhood, and sisterhood and chapter social gatherings will be held face-to-face.

The Fraternity and Sorority Life 2020 Health Requirements discusses how each fraternity and sorority house has to provide a set of information at the beginning of the year concerning house addresses, the number of rooms and bathrooms in

the house and if they are shared or singles, and contact information for the chapter’s property manager.

The requirements said failing to comply with the health and safety guidelines that the university put in place will possibly result in going to student rights and responsibilities, event probation, and any other penalties made by the councils or the university.

Interfraternity Council President Paxton Morse said he has been in his position since the beginning of this year and didn’t expect COVID-19 to affect things like school so quickly.

“There was always a big worry about how we would get new students to find out about greek life,” Morse said. “How we can get them to join our organizations and how we can get members engaged while not breaking the social distancing guidelines.”

Because most of Greek life decided to do recruitment over Zoom, Morse said the recruits would first meet the active members and learn what the sorority or fraternity is about, then meet alumni and discuss how joining greek life benefited them. Recruits are also given an informational.

Both Murphy and Morse said of the big events Greek life participates in on campus, the most looked forward to are Theta Xi, Greek Sing, homecoming week and the Greek Barbeque.

“The fall semester is the main semester for fraternities and sororities as far as recruitment goes,” Murphy said. “It’s just because that’s when a lot of freshmen will be coming in and it’s a good time to go out there and recruit young new college students into organizations.”

Murphy said he feels all of Greek life has done its best to adapt to the new guidelines that have to be followed.

Spring recruitment is also planned to be virtual and will only change depending upon state guidelines.

“I hope that it will be easier next semester,” Murphy said. “Right now the university is following a policy that is essentially stating that the spring semester will play out exactly as this semester is going, depending on what the Illinois guidelines are.”

Staff reporter Jamilah Lewis can be reached at jlewis@dailyegyptian.com or on twitter @jamilahlewis.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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1 in 4 LGBTQ youths prefer pronouns outside gender binary Amber Koteras | @AmberKoteras

One in four, LGBTQ youths identify with pronouns outside of just she/her or he/ him, according to the Trevor Project’s 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

Personal pronouns are a topic that the world is becoming increasingly familiar with, and gender-neutral pronouns have become especially prevalent.

When asked what identifying as non-binary meant to them, Dylan Jihan, an individual who identifies as non-binary, said, “Personally what it means to me is just feeling totally comfortable in who I am without needing to fit into a box of male or female because I personally feel like I’m a little bit of both and a whole lot of neither.”

Neal described identifying as non-binary as not fitting in as just a man or just a woman on any given day and said somedays they might feel like one or the other, or neither.

Assuming one’s pronouns is quite the commonality in society. “As we’re growing up, we use pronouns, and we’re told that we can look at somebody and gauge their pronouns,” O.J. Duncan, vice chair on the board of directors at Rainbow Cafe, said.

“We see people as on a binary between man and woman, so there is masculine on one end and feminine on the other end. Non-binary people don’t necessarily see that as the only two options, and they don’t necessarily see themselves as somewhere in the middle,” Duncan said.

Despite this practice being a norm in society, Duncan said this assumption can be harmful.

Duncan said by wrongly labeling someone whose gender identity doesn’t match their gender expression one can induce gender dysphoria — the distress felt when biological sex doesn’t match gender identity.

Gender identity and expression, though sounding similar, have two entirely different definitions. Gender identity represents one’s sense of where they lie on the gender spectrum while gender expression is the way someone publicly expresses themselves in terms of gender.

Duncan suggests leading with your own pronouns when introducing yourself to someone, giving the example, “Hi, my name is O.J., my pronouns are he, him, and his.

What are yours?”

The goal is to keep comfort and inclusivity in mind by making sure nobody feels singled out, Duncan said.

“The best way to ask for people’s pronouns is to just ask,” Tori Neal, a volunteer for Rainbow Cafe who identifies as non-binary, said, “It may seem like a scary thing [...] but it is not an intrusive question.”

With a growing base of pronouns in use, there are likely to be cases of misgendering, or using the wrong pronouns. Duncan said to be sensitive in this situation and ensure that no one feels called out or put on the spot in an uncomfortable manner.

“Generally if I use the wrong pronouns when I am speaking about somebody, I just really quickly apologize and correct myself,” Duncan said.

He said by dwelling on the mistake, the hurt is taken away from the individual who was misgendered, and it becomes about the person who made the original mistake.

Neal expanded on this and said, though it might be embarrassing, it isn’t about you in this situation and it is best to quickly move on and use the correct pronouns.

The same method applies to correcting someone else using the wrong pronouns.

A quick correction that doesn’t emphasize the mistake is a simple and effective way to approach the situation.

Jihan noted that the best way to learn was to always be willing, and to keep an open mind to new information.

“Heteronormativity is telling us that it’s really important that we know if someone is a man or a woman so that we know who they can mate with, and so we have a lot of things in society built around that but we shouldn’t have our society built around who we want to mate with,” Duncan said.

Staff reporter Amber Koteras can be reached at akoteras@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ AmberKoteras

Ronan Lisota | @r_lisota

SPORTS BRIEF

Athletic director gives specifics on budget situation Janae Mosby | @mosbyj

In a follow up conversation with SIU athletic director Liz Jarnigan, Saluki athletics is continuing to mitigate the impacts of lost revenue.

Jarnigan informed the Daily Egyptian in an interview on Aug. 25 about the current status of the budget and how they plan on fixing it, and on Sept. 11 Jarnigan provided more specific numbers on how they are handling the situation.

“We have cut three million from our operating budget [and] we have not replaced 13 positions. We are operating on a skeleton crew here,” Jarnigan said.

According to Jarnigan, the Chancellor plans on discussing the cuts that the athletics department has made with the board of trustees.

“For football, we cut $250,000 out of

their operating budget. Our sports operating budgets have all been cut by 25% or more this year,” Jarnigan said.

Jarnigan said a cut in the operating budget means that the Salukis would not be able to play a full schedule in the spring.

But, Jarnigan said on Aug. 25 that spring play will be conference-only for SIU. While the athletic department has implemented some cost saving opportunities, they have also taken some hits on the revenue side, Jarnigan said.

“Our NCAA distributions are less, our multimedia rights partner is struggling to provide us with contractions payments.

Enrollment continues to go down and that impacts our portion of student fees,” Jarnigan said.

Though the athletics department is saving some money from the postponement of fall

sports, Jarnigan said it is not enough to cover the expenses for this year.

“We struggled with our funding for a long time, even before COVID. We’ve been working on it since I arrived here. We’ve been working on identifying areas we can realize cost efficiency,” Jarnigan said.

Jarnigan is working on sponsorships to help raise money for the athletic department.

“We are already working on sponsorships and continuing to make good on sponsorships.

Sponsorships really require us to be playing, that’s when people will provide sponsorship dollars and we are working hard on that,” Jarnigan said.

The athletic department is also working on plans for a fundraising campaign to help raise money.

Even with the possibility of having basketball in the winter will not help cover

the deficits of the postponement of football season, Jarnigan said.

“If we were able to get the ticket revenue for basketball, that would just help us maintain our previous level of ticket revenue from previous years. There is no real way to make up for the lost revenue from football during the basketball season,” Jarnigan said.

The revenue made from men’s basketball will go toward covering the cost for the men’s basketball programs.

“The overall end goal is to achieve a place where we are funded and bringing in revenue for us to maintain our current level of excellence,” Jarnigan said.

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ mosbyj.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Page 8

Four fall activities to enjoy in, around Carbondale area

Janae Mosby | @mosbyj

Fall is right around the corner and there are many activities within and near the Carbondale area that will help you get into the “spooky season” spirit, even in the midst of a pandemic.

The small drop in temperature during fall creates the perfect weather for outdoor activities, but if you prefer to stay indoors, there are plenty of fun activities you can participate in without leaving the house.

Below are four local, and at home, activities that are perfect for fall in Carbondale.

Rendleman Orchards If you love fresh fruits and flowers then Rendleman Orchards is the perfect place for you.

Rendleman Orchards has some fall activities planned that will get you even more excited about the season.

Rendleman Orchard manager, Michelle Sirles, told the Daily Egyptian in an interview on Aug. 29 that fall is their busiest time of the year.

“We have a big fall coming up; fall is our busiest time of the year. We have all kinds of great photo ops that we’re planning,” Sirles said.

The orchard has many special features planned for the fall season.

One in particular is a sunflower field.

This field contains different varieties of sunflowers.

They will have traditional, mammoth and dwarf sunflowers.

Sunflower season will be held in mid-to-late September.

“This year we’ve added a couple of varieties [of sunflower] and one of them is a mammoth giant. We have the traditional sunflowers and teddy bear, which is a dwarf sunflower with a really unique bloom,” Sirles said.

Another fall attraction that Rendleman Orchard will have is a U-pick pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch will be open in late September through Oct. 31.

You can stroll through the patch and pick any pumpkin you want, weigh it and pay by the pound.

Rendleman Orchards is a beautiful place that would be great for family photos. The zinnia field is open and the red, pink, orange and yellow flowers provide a bright and picturesque background.

You can also pick the Zinnias yourself, pay for them and take them home with you.

Some fall foods that the Orchard will be selling are apple cider donuts, apple cider slushies and peach smoothies.

Shawnee Wine Trails In the fall, leaves change from green to bright colors like orange, yellow and red. The Shawnee Wine Trail is one of the best local venues to visit and take these changes in.

The Shawnee Wine Trail is surrounded by the Shawnee National forest and is composed of 11 wineries on a 40-mile trail.

Besides enjoying the great taste of

Lane Noble, 3, of Pomona, attempts to pet a goat through a fence at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto wine, the wine trail has many other attractions like the Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour, which is a zip line tour over 83 acres of the Shawnee National Forest.

Also in Shawnee National Forest is the Little Grand Canyon, a good place to hike and enjoy the fall weather. This 3.6 mile trail has scenic views of the Big Muddy River and the Mississippi floodplain.

Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch For those who enjoy the company of animals, Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch is a great place to visit during the fall.

The Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch is a family owned ranch in Makanda, Ill. You can take guided tours of the ranch where you will interact with the alpacas and get to have the hands-on experience of learning how the owners raise them.

They will be hosting their Fourth Annual National Alpaca Farm Day on two weekends in September, the 18-20 and 25-27. This is a free event that can be enjoyed by anyone.

At Home Activities One very common fall activity you can enjoy from home is pumpkin carving.

Once you pick your pumpkins from Rendleman Orchards, or Walmart if you can’t make the trip, you can take it home and make jack-o’-lanterns.

All you need for this activity is a pumpkin, spoon, marker and a knife. Walmart also sell childrenfriendly pumpkin carving kits that come with scoops and cutters.

Baking is another fun fall activity

Ronan Lisota | @r_lisota

you can enjoy indoors with family or roommates.

Some yummy and easy fall dessert recipes you can make are apple pie, pumpkin pie, caramel apples and pecan pie.

If you aren’t a carver or a baker, you could even just curl up and watch your favorite fall movies with a roommate or loved one.

Whatever you decide to do, be safe by adhering to public health

guidelines and wearing a mask and have fun.

Staff reporter Janae Mosby can be reached at jmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @mosbyj.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Page 9

Carl Jackson, left, looks for a sunflower to cut for his wife of 49 years Diane, at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. “I just love coming out here and seeing all the different things they have to do” Diance Jackson said. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto A car passes behind the Rendleman’s Orchard sign located on Illinois Route 127 in Alto Pass on Sept.

12. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto

A butterfly rests on a sunflower at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto

Alaina Dillow, 8, cuts a sunflower stem with help from her mother, Stephanie Dillow, at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. “We like it out here,” Stephanie Dillow said about her trip to Rendleman’s. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto

Hattie Dillow, 3, pulls a wagon with a sunflower in it while her mom, Stephanie Dillow, looks to check on her daughter at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ ngalindophoto

Wyatt Popejoy, left, and Kasey French walk under the entryway to the sunflower field at Rendleman’s Orchard in Alto Pass on Sept. 12. “It’s our first time here,” Popejoy said. “It’s lovely, very lovely here. We can’t wait to explore the rest.” Rendleman’s offers flower fields to walk through, goats and chickens to pet and apples for sale through the fall season. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto

David Williams, left, and Tony Stein, eating Razzles at Flamm Orchards in Cobden, Ill. They try to come as often as possible to eat Razzles. Nick Galindo | @ngalindophoto

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Page 10

A light for the Carbondale community: Women For Change

Matthew Alleyne | @matt_alleyne

Women for Change is a Carbondale organization that, as stated by the organization’s president Gingerye Sanders, was born from tragedy. From the tragedy that was that loss of life, Sanders found a calling that needed to be answered.

Born and raised in Carbondale, Sanders worked in Chicago the majority of her life as a case manager for the Office of State Guardians before retiring and moving back to Carbondale.

On March 9, 2017, as covered by the Daily Egyptian, a young man was shot near the Eurma Hayes Community Center in the Northeastern side of Carbondale.

Sanders’ own grandson had been across the street from the incident, and had put his own life at risk to rush to the aid of the injured person.

Sanders only found out when the police escorted him to her home.

“I was angered and outraged, and I went to the mayor because I felt this needed to stop,” Sanders said.

She reached out for support from the community, and Sanders said all of it came from women.

Women for Change was created to help inform, educate, and advocate for the northeastern part of Carbondale.

They’ve held forums for different candidates here in Carbondale so that citizens could learn about the officials they were voting into office, and elect people that represented the things they wanted to see change for the better.

Kate Heist is a member of the organization who helps teach both sewing and gardening and has been with the organization since its inception.

Heist informed the DE of some of the events and projects that have come from the organization over the past three years including Project Compassion where they delivered gifts to families in the community during the 2018 Christmas season, and the Graduate Party, which they host for 8th graders to congratulate and celebrate them as they prepare to start high school.

“We’ve held a unity in the community march from Hopewell Baptist all the way to Attucks park,” Heist said.

Heist also said that this march invites citizen related groups to table so they can share info with the community.

Women for Change’s VicePresident, Deborah Woods, said this summer the organization focused on feeding those in the community that needed it, and the organization gave out around 50 meals a night.

This lasted for five weeks, after which they switched to weekend snack bags for children.

“It’s been hard for families that [weren’t] in the school system with everything closed to feed their children,” Woods said.

Woods said they had hoped to do

more dinners, but only got half the funding they were looking for.

“We go as far as we have money,” Woods said. “So we couldn’t provide as many as we hoped, but we provided quite a few.”

With COVID-19 still a high risk for many, the organization hasn’t been able to do any of their regular classes where they teach sewing, but have continued to maintain the garden they have at 511 E. Larch St. Heist said with aid from the Food Autonomy Initiative, Women for Change was able to get the Little Red Hen Garden running to help provide fresh produce for anyone who visits, both people in the community and Carbondale in general.

Women for Change also plans to continue with their march happening Sept. 19, now taking the form of a motorcade for the health and safety of those that attend.

At the end, they plan to give away free plants and harvested produce from the Little Red Hen Garden, to both help feed and provide beauty to the neighborhood.

“We are the glue of the community,” Sanders said.

Even with the pandemic, they intend to continue to provide and advocate for the community, and make a change for the better.

Women for Change intends to host “The Big Event: March for Unity” Saturday, Sept.

19.

It will be a motorcade, with the line-up beginning at 10 a.m. at Rock Hill Church, and the event ending at Little Red Hen Garden, where they will be giving away plants and harvested produce.

Staff reporter Matthew Alleyne can be reached at malleyne@ dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram at matt_ alleyne.

The Women for Change Garden features fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, and green beans.

The garden encourages its visitors to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kate Heist (pictured) covers her plants to keep the deer from eating them Sept. 10, 2020. Tiffany Young | @photographybytiffa

Women for Change’s Vice President, Deborah Woods, picks out weeds from the Women for Change Garden Sept. 10, 2020. Tiffany Young | @photographybytiffa Right: Kate Heist (pictured) pulls out the herb drying rack on Sept.

10, 2020. She is in charge of the Women for Change Garden. This community garden is open every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Carbondale. Tiffany Young | @ photographybytiffa

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Page 11

Dustin Clark | @dustinclark.oof

Page 12

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Newest skate shop: Q&A with owner of Slabz Skate Shop

DE: How do you expect businesses to be in a college town, do you expect to cater a lot to students?

Sears: “Being in a college town, you always have to consider that the population grows tremendously during the school year,” Sears said, “There is a big enough skate scene without the university but throwing the university into the mix of that, it’s definitely a market that we are trying to reach.”

Sears said the main focus of the shop is geared towards the city outside of the university. He said there is a nice skate scene here that you only know about if you’re a skateboarder.

Amber Koteras | @AmberKoteras

Editor’s note: Some of these answers have been condensed for clarity.

Slabz Skate Shop recently opened in Carbondale, with a soft opening on Aug. 29.

The Daily Egyptian spoke over the phone with owner Austin Sears, who shared his vision for the local skating scene.

DE: What brought you to Carbondale, and what brought you to open the shop here?

Sears: Sears said he came to Carbondale in 2014 to get into school and the general area. Opening the shop was a goal of his, and he emphasized that the community really needed one.

“Southern Illinois needs a shop because there’s just nowhere down here to get skate stuff. There is the one bike shop that carries some necessities but besides that there is no designated skate shop.

I felt that it was definitely something that needed to happen in the community,” Sears said.

DE: What would you say you bring to Carbondale?

Sears: Sears said he hopes to grow the local skateboarding scene, pointing out that Carbondale’s location is optimal as it is between many major cities and accessible by many interstates.

“I would love to start doing some competitions and just put a little spark into the community with skating and make this area a little hub in the midwest for skateboarding.

The goal is to just start some events, hopefully bring in some money to the community, and just make this a little area that is known for skateboarders,” Sears said.

Austin Sears, 29, the owner of the newly open Slabz Skate Shop poses for a portrait Sept. 9, 2020. He opened up the shop in late Aug. The shop contains several skateboards along with other skateboard accessories. The shop is located on Illinois Ave in Carbondale, IL. Jared Treece | @bisalo DE: Where will people be able to find out about these events?

Sears: “We will be advertising them on our social media. I haven’t gotten too far into that right now just because of everything that’s happening with COVID so it’s more or less just a waiting game until we feel that it’s safe for everyone to gather and have enough people in a public place that we don’t feel like we’re all going to get sick,” Sears said.

DE: How was the experience of opening a business during COVID-19?

Sears: Sears said opening the shop during

COVID-19 has been extremely difficult. With many businesses still being open when he first rented the shop, he wasn’t worried, however finding that production of products was so far behind made things difficult.

“I have been able to get linked up with some good companies that are seeing the potential that we have in the shop and kind of being in a dead zone area down here for skateboard products. There are a lot of companies who want us to carry their products because there’s no one else carrying them down here so in the future, I see that being a very good thing for our skate shop,” Sears said.

DE: The shop opened recently, when was the opening and what will store hours be like?

Sears: “I have our hours just from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. right now just to feel out the customers and more or less the rushes that we get at certain times but hopefully in weeks to come we’ll be staying open a little later to cater more to the people who don’t get off work until five,” Sears said.

The shop had a soft opening on Aug. 29 with business hours from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m, with changes to come.

The upcoming change in hours has not been decided on yet, however Sears said the shop will keep everyone updated on their social media. The shop uses both Instagram and Facebook with the handles Slabz Skate Shop.

Staff reporter Amber Koteras can be reached at akoteras@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ AmberKoteras

Income tax amendment to be on ballot in November Ryan Scott | @RyanscottDE

This November, Illinois voters will vote yes or no on an amendment to decide if the flat tax rate in Illinois will be changed.

The Illinois Constitution currently guarantees that every tax payer in Illinois pays a flat income tax of 4.95% regardless of income.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker ran on changing the income tax during his campaign for governor in 2018.

On May 1, 2019, the Illinois State Senate voted 40-19 to put the amendment on the ballot. The Illinois House of Representatives then voted 73-44 to add it. The amendment was jointly proposed by all Illinois Senate Democrats Ballotpedia’s breakdown of the amendment said both houses needed a 60% vote to put the motion on the ballot and they both cleared that threshold. Both houses of the assembly voted straight down party lines, with every Democrat voting for the proposal and every Republican voting against.

The proposal in November will require a simple majority of 50% plus one vote to go into effect.

Pritzker named the amendment the Fair Tax Amendment. When the proposal was announced in March

of 2019, he said that “it’s wrong that I would pay the same tax rate as someone earning $100,000 or, even worse, pay the same tax rate as someone earning $30,000.”

The amendment has received pushback from Republican lawmakers.

They think that the income tax hike will hurt the economy and cause many wealthy people to leave the state.

“People looking to buy a house or locate a business in Illinois will look elsewhere, driving down the real estate demand,” Jim Durkin the Minority leader in the House Of Representatives said.

Currently the amendment has raised over $79 million with over 58 million in support of the amendment for advertising in support of the amendment. Currently over 56 million of the 58 have been donated

by Pritzker.

20 million of the dollars to stop the amendment has been donated by hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin.

John Jackson at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute said that Southern Illinois will be less impacted by this as opposed to Northern and Central Illinois, because there are “relatively few” high income earners in Southern Illinois.

From a study by Ag update in 2017,

Southern Illinois has four of the five poorest counties in Illinois. Jackson County which includes Carbondale is one of those five poorest counties in Illinois.

“The taxpayers who earn up to $250,000 a year in taxable income will pay either the same or less taxes in the new plan than they do currently under the flat rate,” Jackson said.

Only the top 3% of taxpayers would currently be affected under the tax increase.

These are the tax brackets that will be instituted if the graduated income tax amendment passes directly from Illinois Senate Bill 687: • Up to $10,000 4.75% marginal rate Up to $10,000 4.75% marginal rate • $10,001—$100,000 4.90% marginal rate $10,001—$100,000 4.90% marginal rate • $100,001—$250,000 4.95% marginal rate 100,001—$250,000 4.95% marginal rate • $250,001—$350,000 7.75% marginal rate $250,001—$500,000 7.75% marginal rate • $350,001—$750,000 7.85% marginal rate $500,001—$1,000,000 7.85% marginal rate • Annual income of $750,001 or above 7.99% on net income instead

Ronan Lisota | @r_lisota

of marginal rates Annual income of $1,000,000 or above 7.99% on net income instead of marginal rates.

Information and exact calculations can be done on this website “Fair Tax

Calculator” on Illinois.Gov Sports reporter Ryan Scott can be reached at rscott@dailyegyptian.com or on twitter @RyanscottDE.

Page 13

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Africana Studies adds faculty

Staff members speak on the importance of studying race Tāmar Mosby | @mosbytamar Zach Kramer | @zrkrameraolcom2

After nearly being eliminated from the university course catalog, the Africana Studies Department at SIU has managed to sustain itself and recently brought in a new hire this semester.

Dr. Father Joseph A. Brown, a professor in SIU’s Department of Africana Studies said in 2017, the university administrative staff presented feasibility studies, with the first item being the elimination of the major of Africana Studies.

“As you may know both President Mahony last week, and Chancellor Lane this week, made a public announcement that they were going to highlight and privilege a number of initiatives dealing with diversity and equity among them was the initiative to have three new faculty tenure track and to start that hiring process now,” Brown said. “We not only have an opportunity to finally start having faculty, as we have been asking since 2007, but it is going to be at least a significant addition.”

Brown said the university has begun to look at inequity among departments as far as staffing and resources.

State mandated program reviews in 2006 and 2012 said the department should have seven to 10 faculty to be viable, Brown said.

The program currently has four faculty members, including the newly hired faculty, and nine affiliated faculty members.

“We have enough people to offer the major, but Dr. [Leonard] Gadzekpo has been pushing quite hard the last few years to to have a graduate certificate in Africana Studies and he has been having more positive conversations about moving that certificate proposal along,” Brown said. “So there people now, at least a few, who are saying that after two decades of neglect, we are now going to see the university start looking at where our deficiencies are and try to do something that is in the line with equity.”

Dr. Loren Jonathan Collier is one of the first new hires for the department of Africana Studies this semester, as he was brought on as an assistant professor of practice.

According to the SIU Africana Studies information page, Collier “is a historian of African Diasporic Creative Expression” and earned his doctorate degree in African diaspora history, along with a master’s degree in U.S. history with a focus on contemporary

African-American history.

Collier earned both degrees from Howard University.

Collier said he has had a lifelong history of Africana Studies, mainly beginning with being born of African descent.

Growing up in Chicago, Collier said he spent time learning about subjects tying into Africana Studies outside of his classroom in high school.

After taking some classes in dealing with Africana Studies while an engineering undergraduate, Collier said he then went back to school and spent a year learning from faculty members at Howard University who all had their Ph.D. in Africana Studies eventually working under them while he earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in history.

Collier said the opportunity to convey certain knowledge correctly through Africana Studies is what led him to be interested in teaching the subject.

“There is a large wad of knowledge and a lot of information that is not being properly conveyed and not being conveyed in academic institutions nationally and internationally.

There is a lot still and it can only be addressed within the view frame that Africana Studies provides,” Collier said.

Collier said the view frame of Africana Studies is interdisciplinary and allows him to move from, enhance and work on competencies and skills in psychology, sociology and other skills combining to allow him to see the ways in which people of African descent, and those who are labeled as Black, have been affected by various factors.

The ability to do more for people of African descent and oppressed people who, “have been displaced from the diaspora ancestrally” and addressed things he had seen first hand are what Collier said led him to another career.

“Because most academic disciplines do not encapsulate a wealth of information that is still out there it has still not been properly documented and has not been explored to the fullest extent. That is the thing that brought me from another career at management level in aerospace, to address these things that I have seen in the aerospace world that affect things far beyond the academic world,” Collier said.

Prior to arriving at SIU, Collier spent three to four years teaching Africana Studies.

Brown said that knowledge and understanding about race is a crucial part of

studying all aspects of American history.

“If you’re going to read the constitution of the United States of America, which all my students have to do, you will understand that right at the beginning in Article One, Congress is empowered to call forth militia to help put down insurrections [...]. You have poor white people who were fighting George Washington over the whiskey tax. You had Native Americans who wanted their land back, and you had African enslaved people and other indentured servants who wanted their freedom, so you had to have a militia,” Brown said. “If you are going to be doing anything in economics, political science, or business you need to know how the system of America was set up and designed to make sure that black

who can teach specific courses has become problematic in regards to workload.

“We have a number of classes, maybe six [to] eight that are sitting there on the waiting list waiting for faculty to arrive here to be hired here to teach those classes again. That puts anybody’s department or their major programs in something of a risk,” Brown said.

According to Brown, the workload for the Africana Studies staff is not specifically dealing with how many classes are handed out to each member, but how many faculty members are there and what classes they teach.

“Each of us is hired to teach in a certain area of our expertise and specializations. So part of the problem we have is, if we don’t have people in psychology teaching psychology in race, that

“If you are going to be doing anything in economics, political science, or business you need to know how the system of America was set up and designed to make sure that black people were economically deprived of their ‘constitutional rights.’”

- Dr. Father Joseph A. Brown SIU Department of Africana Studies professor

people were economically deprived of their ‘constitutional rights.’”

Brown said it is imperative that college students working toward a degree have an understanding of the consequences of racial matters like reparations.

“It is a very interesting fact that a number of people nowadays are calling for reparations to pay back people for their ancestors’ enslavement. The only large scale reparations effort that was ever made in this country dealing with anything about slavery was during the immediate years after Lincoln was assassinated to give compensation to the former slave owners and members of the confederacy. So, we’ve had reparations in this country for 160 years but it was not to the enslaved people who had been oppressed and left defenseless. It was to the people who had done the oppression. I can’t see how you can have a college education today without understanding all the implications and consequences of racial matters in the United States and in the world,” Brown said.

Chairman of the Africana Studies department, Leonard Gadzekpo, said having an understanding of race and different kinds of people helps individuals to understand the reality of others and prevent conflict: this is what they prepare students for in their courses.

“What we make sure that the students understand is that Africana studies is not about race, it is about humanity,” Gadzekpo said.

This semester Gadzekpo said the department is teaching 10 classes, with two being independent studies.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gadzekpo said there is currently a mixture of online and in-person courses within the department.

“It is a mixture as of now, we have four in person courses. We will be moving to online because we made it hybrid,” Gadzekpo said.

Brown said the departure of four department staff and the limited amount of professors

class isn’t being taught,” Brown said.

Brown said that the workload for himself and other faculty members in the department is larger due other responsibilities given to them outside of the classroom.

“As far as workload goes, it has been classically said over and over for the last 40 years in higher education that so-called ‘minority’ faculty are always overworked with committee responsibilities. Dr. Gadzekpo and I are on a number of master’s and dissertation committees because lots of other departments don’t have people with our expertise, and counseling and advising are also part of the workload of service to the community. So when you talk about teaching, research and service, yes I think that we have quite the workload,” Brown said.

Gadzekpo said depending on the number of individuals that are participating in face-to-face courses and the size of the classrooms, classes with students can be a little bit more difficult.

The reason for hiring Collier, according to Gadzekpo, was to have someone to teach history courses, as he himself has taken on teaching a history class.

“It’s been interesting, but that comes along with being incorporated into any new environment,” Collier said of his experience being a new hire. “Putting it in the regard of coming into a new environment, it’s nothing unexpected: it’s just a matter of learning the environment, learning the in’s-and-out’s and where the resources are, and understanding the culture.”

Editor Tāmar Mosby can be reached at tmosby@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ mosbytamar.

Reporter Zach Kramer can be reached at zkramer@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @ zrkrameraolcom2

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Student-athlete led group focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion Madison Taylor | @aylorm08

This fall, SIU Athletics has introduced a new Saluki Unity program, a student-led organization focused on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

This group will focus on four topics: racial and social justice, LGBTQ issues, women’s empowerment and mental health.

Currently they are made up of more than 10 student athletes and 30 members of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

Saluki Unity was created to help

the community and SIU student athletes become more involved in the community.

“Saluki Unity is a diversity and inclusion committee that helps run, push issues and solve social justice,” Ramond Chucky Sullivan, a senior studying journalism and SIU footballs defensive end said.

Sullivan, Rodrick Campbell and Hannah Becker are all student athletes who are apart of Saluki Unity.

“Some initiatives the group plans to have will be a coat drive and a lake run where the proceeds go to different charitable

foundations across Carbondale communities.” Rodrick Campbell, a fifth year student studying health administration and a football cornerback said.

Campbell, who previously attended Northwestern University in (In Evanston, Illinois), said the university there had a similar program, and both he and Sullivan brought this idea to SIU and other groups added into it.

Hannah Becker, a senior studying criminology & criminal justice and the SIU volleyball teams outside hitter, said after Campbell and Sullivan

brought the main components, other groups added on their ideas.

“We’re just trying to make it a better place or for future athletes and non-athletes to come into a better environment,” Becker said.

Becker is also the president of the LGBTQ student union within Saluki Unity, so that encouraged other student unions to join as well.

“Saluki Unity will help the Carbondale community, but I especially think it’ll help the athlete community first because it’s run by student-athletes across a multitude of sports to give us a voice to

continue to make change and talk about the things that need to be talked about,” Campbell said.

Saluki Unity is an organization that wants to be proactive and reach the community.

“Saluki Unity is an entity of its own in the sense that it will help bring mass change across SIU’s campus in a multitude of ways is simply not a diversity and inclusion group” Sullivan said.

Staff reporter Madison Taylor can be reached at mtaylor@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @taylorm08

Heart injury spurs call to screen college athletes Bloomberg News

Doctors recommend cardiac screening tests for competitive athletes who have recovered from COVID-19 after a small study found heart damage in 1 in 7 college sports competitors, including in those whose coronavirus infection caused no obvious symptoms.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging on 26 competitive college athletes who had either a mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection found four, or 15%, with signs of inflammation of the heart muscle. These suspected myocarditis patients were males in their late teens and early 20s, including two who experienced no COVID-19 symptoms, doctors at Ohio State University in Columbus reported Friday in a research letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that the pneumonia-causing coronavirus is also resulting in damage to the heart, as well as other organs. While little is known about the long-term cardiac consequences, screening for heart complications may identify people at risk of further injury, the researchers said.

“Myocarditis is a significant cause of sudden cardiac death in competitive athletes,” Saurabh Rajpal, an assistant professor of internal medicine, and colleagues wrote.

“Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging has the potential to identify a high-risk cohort for adverse outcomes and may, importantly, risk-stratify athletes for safe participation.”

Evidence of myocardial inflammation seen on cardiac MRI scans has been associated “with poor outcomes, including myocardial dysfunction and mortality,” the authors said.

Athletes with probable myocarditis should be asked to rest for three months to recover, based on

exercise, they need to go slow and increase gradually and obviously report any symptoms,” he said. “For people with more moderate or severe COVID, you need to be much more conservative than that.”

Ideally, such athletes should undergo cardiac imaging, plus a blood test for troponin -- which may indicate heartmuscle damage -- to rule out ongoing myocardial damage that would predispose the heart to additional strain, Jennings said.

Worries around heart inflammation and other possible side effects are dominating conversations with athletes, said Julia Iafrate, an assistant professor of rehabilitation and regenerative medicine and director of dance medicine at Columbia University in New Trinity College women’s volleyball head coach Jen Bowman processes COVID-19 paperwork in Memorial York. Iafrate tries to remind Field House at Trinity College on Wednesday. Trinity coaches and athletic staffers are helping run the people that they are seeing school’s COVID-19 testing center. Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/Tribune News Service research unfold in real time and what is accurate today current guidelines, Rajpal said in which athletes not affected by the a medical professional. might not be accurate in a an email. Additional research is coronavirus will also be assessed for However, emerging knowledge few months time, she said. needed to determine whether that comparison. More research is also and cardiovascular MRI A study in July of 100 recently can prevent further injury, he said. needed to understand the long-term observations “question this recovered COVID-19 patients in None of the athletes -- who were consequences of COVID-19 on the recommendation,” the Ohio Germany found that more than football, soccer, lacrosse, basketball hearts of young athletes, he said. researchers said. three-quarters experienced some and track competitors -- had known Concerns about still unknown Heart Failure heart problems and 60% suffered heart disease when they underwent health effects caused two major Though most cases of myocarditis ongoing myocardial inflammation, post-COVID-19 testing.

An collegiate athletic conferences in result in “a good degree of recovery,” regardless of any preexisting additional eight athletes, or 31%, the U.S. to halt their upcoming some patients will suffer scarring and conditions and the severity of their showed signs of prior heart-muscle sports seasons. Others have potentially severe complications, coronavirus infection. insult which, Rajpal said, may also pressed forward.

College said Garry Jennings, a cardiologist The risk may extend to infants, have been the result of athletic football is already underway and and executive director of Sydney too. Doctors in Ankara reported cardiac adaptation. Highly trained professional football started its Health Partners, an Australian direct SARS-CoV-2 damage endurance athletes are 10 times season Thursday night. medical research group. Longer- last month in a fatal case of more likely than non-athletes to The American College of term problems include abnormal viral myocarditis in a 2-year-old have signs of heart stress, a cardiac Cardiology’s Sports and Exercise heart rhythms, chronic heart failure otherwise healthy boy.

MRI study last week found.

Cardiology Council in May and even sudden death.

Being young and healthy is not Long-Term Consequences developed guidelines for letting Jennings recommends that a reason to brush off the novel The Ohio study wasn’t designed athletes return to play. They vary athletes who test positive for coronavirus, Iafrate said. “We to identify the prevalence or risk based on the severity of a person’s SARS-CoV-2 without COVID-19 know you’re better off not getting of myocardial injury in athletes illness, recommending anyone who symptoms rest for two weeks then COVID,” she said. with a recent history of SARS- tests positive to rest for two weeks undergo a medical check-up before CoV-2 infection, Rajpal said. and those who experienced mild or resuming training.

Further studies are planned in severe symptoms to be evaluated by “Depending on the level of c)2020 Bloomberg News

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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Wednesday, September 16, 2020

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