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Campus, national unions struggle with similar issues SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian The Southern Illinois University Carbondale Labor Coalition — which represents the Faculty Association, the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association, Graduate Assistants United and the Association of Civil Service Employees — wrapped up a series of five film screenings at the Varsity Center of the Arts Sunday with “Struggles in Steel.� The 1996 film, based in Pittsburgh, was about racial challenges AfricanAmerican steel mill workers have faced in the United States. Jyotsna Kapur, an associate professor of cinema and photography and Faculty Association member, said the community outreach group decided to screen the films to provide the community with understanding of where the unions are in contract negotiations and how national issues in labor reflect what happening at the
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e can’t pretend this will go away.
— Jyotsna Kapur associate professor of cinema and photography and Faculty Association member
university. “We can’t pretend this will go away,� she said. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in June that a union law could take effect, which strips collective bargaining rights from state unions, taking away abilities to protect workers and negotiate for better wages and benefits for public employees. Tens of thousands of demonstrators showed support for the preservation of collective bargaining rights when the legislation was introduced in February. Similar legislation has recently occurred in other states. Indiana and Ohio both passed laws this year to restrict collective bargaining for teachers and other public workers.
Jim Clark, Illinois Education Association representative, said a general hostility exists toward public sector unions. “It has an impact on the mentality of what is happening in Carbondale,� he said. “Bargaining is about local issues, but the attitude that unions are the problem and not the solution is something that has been generated in the last couple of years by the conservative movement and people who want to do away with any kind of controls on unbridled capitalism.� The unions have gone almost 450 days without contract renewal, dating back to June 2010. Please see SCREENING | 4
LYNNETTTE OOSTMEYER | DAILY EGYPTIAN
Beverly Love, left, an assistant professor of radio and television, and Natasha Zaretsky, an associate professor of history, participate in a group discussion on the possibility of a strike Sunday at the Varsity Center of the Arts. Members of four IEA unions gathered for a screening of “Struggles in Steel: The Fight for Equal Opportunity.� The group discussed the film and the comparisons to what is happening at SIUC with contracting issues.
Dean announces retirement after 33 years at university SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian The College of Mass Communications and Media Arts will lose its dean in 2012. Gary Kolb, dean of the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts, announced at the college-wide meeting Friday he will begin his retirement June 30. Kolb has been at the university for 33 years and his decision was not an easy one.
He said there were personal reasons he has chosen to leave. He said he wants to accomplish some things in his life that cannot be done while working a full-time job. “You look at your longevity and ask ‘how much time do I really have on this earth, and what do I want to do with that time?’� he said. “Watching my father work up until the time where he was very sick and was unable to enjoy his retirement and then he died, well, I don’t want to do that.�
Kolb said he loves his job and thinks the university is heading in a good direction. Overall enrollment in his college was up 5.4 percent this semester and first-time freshmen increased by nine percent. “I like being part of that and I would like to continue to be part of that, but there is a part of me that says for myself and for my family this is the right thing to do,� he said. A photographer by training, Kolb said he wants to get back into his business and publish a book of
his photos. He and his wife will stay in the area. Rod Sievers, university spokesman, said there will be an internal search for an interim dean to serve next year, but it is too early in the process to know when a search for a permanent dean will begin.
Sarah Schneider can be reached at sschneider@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 255.
Public Safety Center roof to be Police chief’s stolen handgun possible weapon in fatal shooting repaired at no cost to city Carbondale Police Chief Jody O’Guinn’s personal handgun may have been used in the shooting of a 20-year-old Carbondale man. “My prayers and deepest sympathy go out to the family of this young man, and I grieve with them in their loss,� O’Guinn said in a statement posted Friday on the Carbondale Police Department website. According to the statement, he reported the handgun stolen from his locked vehicle in June. Officers responded to reports of gun shots at the 400 block of North Brush Street Sept. 14 at 1:55 a.m. Officers arrived at the scene to find Deaunta R. Spencer shot. Spencer was transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale where he was pronounced dead.
ELI MILEUR Daily Egyptian
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am devastated and deeply saddened that this gun, which was secured within my personal vehicle, was stolen and subsequently may have been used to take the life of another.
— Jody O’Guinn Carbondale police chief
“I am devastated and deeply saddened that this gun, which was secured within my personal vehicle, was stolen and subsequently may have been used to take the life of another,� O’Guinn said in the statement. According to the statement, the handgun was located during an ongoing Carbondale Police Department investigation. Matthew J. Jones, an 18-year-
old man from Carbondale, was charged with three counts of murder for Spencer’s death. “Although this is an unspeakable tragedy, it is comforting to know that the weapon has been recovered and cannot be used in the commission of further crimes,� O’Guinn said in the statement. Jones faces a preliminary court hearing Sept. 29.
Repairs are set to begin this week on the damaged roof of the new Carbondale Public Safety Center. City Manager Allen Gill said the repairs will be of no cost to the city. “The Public Safety Center had been given a certificate of ‘significant completion’ and the Department had moved into the building a couple days prior to the storm,� he said. “Since there was a punch list of items remaining to be completed, it was still insured by the contractor’s builder’s risk insurance.� The roof was damaged by strong storm winds April 19. The building, completed in the spring, houses the police department.
The storm caused damage across town, including other city buildings at Cedar Lake and the Southeast Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to a city press release. Insurance companies were assessing repair estimates in the five months since the storm, Gill said. Contegra Construction will be doing the repairs. Brad Barnard, supervisor of the project, declined comment. Carbondale Police Department Community Resource Officer Amber Goddard referred all calls on the project to Gill. Some parking areas at the building will be closed during the repairs, according to a city press release. Please see ROOF | 4