Today: High: 70, Low: 47 Saturday: High: 67, Low: 43 Sunday: High: 68, Low: 70
Daily Egyptian FRIDAY
COLUMN, PAGE 4: Gus Bode says chill out.
OCTOBER 2, 2009
VOLUME 95, NO. 28
Students prepare for Lobby Day Stile T. Smith DAILY EGYPTIAN STS34@SIU.EDU
Members of Undergraduate Student Government and Student Trustee Nate Brown met with students Thursday to discuss Lobby Day in Springfield Oct. 15. The rally will allow students to speak with state legislatures about restoring the Monetary Awards Program grant. The grant is awarded by the state through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission to undergraduate students. It covers mandatory tuition and fees and does not have to be repaid. Dave Loftus, a USG senator and chairman of the internal affairs committee, said students should be urgent about restoring the grant. “This isn’t just losing the grant for the spring,” Loftus said. “This is losing it until the General Assembly can fund it.” Loftus said a note would be given to students’ professors to excuse them from attending class if they want to attend the rally. Brown said it is crucial students understand the importance of restoring the grant. “We need to spread the word all around,” Brown said. “There’s an awareness factor here. A lot of students don’t know what’s going on here, and there’s a time factor here.” Brown said Gov. Pat Quinn
DAILY EGYPTIAN NICKJ39@SIU
SUZANNE CARAKER | D AILY E GYPTIAN Dave Loftus, pro-tempore of the Undergraduate Student Government, and Krystin McDermott, USG chief of staff, talks to students community members and fellow senate members about the Monetary Award Program grant and the efforts being made to get the grant back for the spring semester. would be on campus at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday to talk to students about the grant, but the location is yet to be set. Loftus said hundreds of students have filled out postcards explaining how the loss of the grant will affect them. The postcards
will be sent to state senators and representatives so they see how much the loss of the grant affects students. Loftus said students wanting to attend the rally would meet at 8 a.m. Oct. 15 in front of the Student Center. He said they would
get a box lunch upon arrival and then meet with legislators until 4 p.m., before eating dinner and arriving back in Carbondale at about 7 p.m. See MAP | 2
as high as it is because emotions trical and computer engineering from the Sept. 11 attacks have department. “With the economic condisubsided. “Where you can really see it, tions, there is actually some dealthough it’s not fully relieved, is crease in our international enin issuing visas to international rollment,” Viswanathan said. “Of course, we students to come graduated a lot here,” Goldman of students last said. “They’re still here you can year.” fairly difficult to really see it ... Interim Proget in some areas is in issuing visas to vost Don Rice depending on the country, but international students said a large number of inthat has eased to come here. ternational stuconsiderably.” — Sam Goldman Goldman said SIUC Chancellor dents attending the university the United States is the country of choice for inter- are at the graduate level. “Students are getting their national students to attend college. Ramanarayanan Viswanathan, undergraduate degrees in their interim dean of the College of own country, and then they’re Engineering, said the university coming for their graduate and traditionally has a large masters specialization,” Rice said. Of the 1,435 international stuprogram in electrical and computer engineering, especially with dents on campus, 1,043 are graduate students. international students. Viswanathan said while overall international enrollment increased, it decreased in the elec- See INTERNATIONAL | 2
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KEVIN TRUJILLO| D AILY E GYPTIAN Takako Onoyama and Satomi Yamada, both international students from Japan in the Center of English as a Second Language, take a break from classes in Faner Hall Thursday. DAILY EGYPTIAN STS34@SIU.EDU
International enrollment increased by 285 students this year and is at its highest point since 2003.
State releases non-violent offenders Nick Johnson
International enrollment increases
Stile T. Smith
12 PAGES
There are 1,435 international students enrolled at SIUC, which is the most since 1,458 in fall 2003. Chancellor Sam Goldman said international enrollment could be
The state’s decision to release 1,000 non-violent offenders who are within one year of their release date will put strain on local community service providers, said John Markley, CEO of the H-Group, a social service and halfway house in Marion. The majority of the released offenders will come from adult transition centers, such as the Southern Illinois Adult Transition Center located in Carbondale, said Januari Smith, spokesperson for the Department of Corrections. The state will allocate $2 million to fund support services for the released offenders and will decrease prison spending and overcrowding, according to an Illinois Department of Corrections press release. Markley said the state is opting for a quick fix instead of addressing the real problem.
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t becomes more dangerous to the community.
— John Markley CEO of the H-Group
Many of the released offenders have substance abuse problems and will come back through taxpayerfunded systems, negating any money initially saved, Markley said. “The reason why they’re incarcerated is because they have these issues,” he said. “They’re not addressing those issues in prison at all. They’re very understaffed in those areas, and there’s no component, no resources, for that (treatment).” Smith said the state would increase services to make sure those who are released early will become productive citizens. The $2 million is specifically allocated to provide substance abuse and alcohol counseling, anger management and other support services, Smith said. “It’s also important to point out that these are non-violent, lowlevel offenders who are within one year of their release date, so they are coming back into the community anyway,” Smith said. But Markley also said the release of offenders will eventually overload the H-Group’s emergency services. The group will have to wait until a person has an episode and the hospital contacts them to provide treatment, he said. “It becomes more dangerous to the community,” Markley said. See OFFENDERS | 2