SIU admin, faculty seek clarity as ‘multiple’ international students affected by visa crackdown
Jackson branDhorst
@JacksonDothtml
While it is still unclear exactly how many Southern Illinois University students in Carbondale have had their visas revoked, the university now confirms that several have been impacted by the federal government’s sweeping crackdown on international students.
At an SIU Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday, April 15, Provost Sheryl
CARDBOARD
Tucker told concerned faculty members that “multiple” students had been affected – though she declined to give an exact number, citing federal privacy laws under FERPA.
“There are multiple students,”
Tucker said. “But because of FERPA, we would not confirm the number of individuals at this time.”
This marks the first acknowledgment from SIU that more than one international student has
been caught in the federal dragnet. Previously, the university had only confirmed a single case – a student whose visa was revoked and who has since left the country.
The crackdown has sent ripples through the campus community, leaving international students anxious, faculty seeking answers and administrators under pressure to address growing demands for clarity. With few details and no
BOAT REGATTA | 50 YEARS
formal explanations from the federal government, SIU – like many institutions nationwide – is struggling to navigate a shifting legal and political seascape.
Since U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared late last month that he would be intensifying efforts to revoke the visas of international students who act counter to U.S. foreign policy, the total number of students affected nationwide has been
‘If you can build a good cardboard boat, you’ve done something’: Founder reflects on 50 years of the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta
SIU will mark a milestone this year as it hosts the 50th Great Cardboard Boat Regatta on Saturday, April 26. The races will begin at 1 p.m. at Campus Lake’s Becker Pavilion.
The event first launched in May 1974 as a challenge for students in Design 102 — then called Design Fundamentals. According to longtime regatta organizer and current SIU chemistry professor Mary Kinsel, the course’s instructor, Richard Archer, asked students to build
boats using only cardboard, tape and other basic materials that could carry them across the lake.
“We are now celebrating the 50th running of the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta,” Kinsel said. “It’s been 52 years since the first event, since we took breaks during COVID because students weren’t here in 2020, and we were only partially back in ’21.”
Larry Busch hasn’t missed a single regatta and can regale you with tales from his memory bank of a half-century of
races. A retired faculty member, Busch helped coordinate the event for decades.
“A design faculty member went on sabbatical, which required us to move teaching positions around, and the regatta started in class I taught for several years, but I moved on to teach somebody else’s classes,” Busch said. “And Archer, who was also a very young faculty member, moved in to teach my class, and he and I conferred on, what are you going to do? And so forth and so on. He came up with the idea of challenging students to build
cardboard boats.”
It began as a simple class assignment, never intended to become a campuswide event.
“We agreed this would be a worthwhile project, and didn’t ask permission, because we didn’t know what it was going to be, and just did it,” Busch said. What started as a class project for first-year design students quickly grew beyond expectations.
“This was just a class project for
reported by multiple news outlets to now be in the thousands.
These actions have caused chaos within many university entities, not only among international students, but also within university administration, faculty groups, legal scholars, student organizations and the public.
The sporadic nature of these revocations and the unprecedented
silence on visas rattles campus
The trees on campus are budding with the promise of a new season, and the sun shines down on students preparing for finals and the end of the semester. For the international students on our campus, the end of this semester has brought fear and uncertainty as students around the country face revocations of their visas and the threat of deportation. SIU administration, faculty and students, now is not the time to remain silent.
On March 28, SIU confirmed with the Daily Egyptian that an international student’s visa was revoked. Since then, the university has gone cold. After weeks of reporting, we now know of three students who have had their visa revoked or their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System status terminated. University communications officials stated that the school would not release any information regarding the revocation of student visas to “respect their privacy in this sensitive situation,” and that silence has rattled campus. These revocations are new territory for the university, which only adds fuel to the
Photo of the first Boat Regatta in 1974 provided by SIU Special Collections Research Center.
three or four dozen students who were first-year design students. And it came off extremely well,” Busch said. “It worked very well, but obviously it was meant to be a one-time deal. The guy from sabbatical was coming back, and everybody was going to go back, and we were all happy before, but Archer and I afterwards were talking. He asked me, ‘That was a lot of fun. Do you think you’ll do it again?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, we’re going to do it again.’”
With the regatta’s return, they made adjustments that helped it evolve into an institution.
“I got rid of that, defined what we meant, wrote the rules, and interestingly, that is what you copyright. You do not copyright ideas, not even an event,” Busch said. “Anybody can build a cardboard boat, but we wrote the rules.”
Eventually, other universities began replicating the idea.
“After a while, we became famous enough that we invited the University of Illinois design department to come and take the challenge. They came and liked it so well, they went home and started their own cardboard boat regatta, which is high praise,” Busch said.
Over the years, other races have taken place that have rules similar, or even identical, to Busch’s.
“The rules have been plagiarized, and I’m delighted,” he said. “I’ve gone to the University of Illinois and read my rules. I wrote those and it’s on their bulletin.”
As the race’s reputation grew, so did its cultural presence.
“We came up with the Titanic Award, and it was a little plastic cup, and ironically, it leaked,” Busch said. “Over the years, people have competed for their Titanic Award. ‘I want to get the Titanic Award. I want the best sinking.’”
He recalled one student that he thought was going to win the Titanic Award, but the judges didn’t go for it.
“He paddled out to the middle of the lake and had his boat rigged with some sort of minor explosive charges,” Busch said. “He stood up in his boat. Was jumping up and down, yelling ‘Damn it. Damn it,’ and out went the bottom of this boat. The crowd went crazy.”
In the early years, Busch and Archer even joked that the race could determine final grades.
“Archer and I jokingly called this the final exam, but it was just another project, a group of projects for the semester, and we somewhat tongue-in-cheek said, ‘If you win the race, you get an A in the class,’ right?” Busch said. “Which was true, but if you could win the race, you were already an A student. You didn’t know how to do it, but you were a proven problem solver.”
The objective of this project and other interactive activities in the design class was not just to have fun.
“It can be silly. It can be fun, but if you build a good boat, you really have done something,” Busch said.
Students had the chance to prove their creativity, teamwork and problem-solving skills — using nothing more than cardboard, tape and a little determination.
“Part of going to college is having fun. I don’t know why some of my stuffy professor friends go
‘You’re here to sit in the library and read,’” he said. “You can do that at home. You’re here to socialize, meet people, so forth and so on. And if you can build a good cardboard boat, you’ve done something fun.”
Though Busch retired 25 years ago, his work with the regatta and its educational model has continued to make an impact.
“I still am giving lectures on what we did in that class where people pay me to come in, take their class and do what I did here,” he said. “I’m an old man, and I’ve had at least 100,000 people in these workshops, from third grade to graduate school to corporation to the military.”
Busch credits Archer for helping bring national attention to the race.
“He called up ‘Good Morning America’ and said, ‘You have funky presentations. I’ve got a spot for you,’” Busch said. “They came here with the entire crew and their star cast got in cardboard boats and broadcast ‘Good Morning America’ from Campus Lake… now that’s entrepreneurship from your professor.”
The class that started it all no longer exists in its original form.
“The day I walked out of Art and Design, everybody’s very pleasant. The class died, the race, everything was put in the dumpster, moving on,” Busch said. “Fortunately, a chemistry student had done the boat race and went to Mary (Kinsel) and said, ‘The students need something fun. I’ve got a suggestion,’ and they took it over brilliantly.”
That’s where Kinsel, longtime regatta organizer, stepped in.
Boats still follow many of the original rules, but Kinsel said organizers have made adjustments for safety and competition.
“Modern boats are constructed of cardboard, tape, and students can use, like, cups. They can paint the
boat,” Kinsel said. “There was a time in the...early ‘90s, like 1991, that we had 58 students in a boat,” she said. “So we had to impose a rule: a maximum of 10 students in the boat.”
The racecourse spans about 300 yards, starting at Campus Beach and ending at the Buchanan Pavilion. There are five competition classes, with trophies awarded for time and creativity.
Kinsel, like Busch, sees the regatta as something bigger than a quirky race.
“What did I get out of this personally?” Busch said. “It is an immense amount of work… but 100,000
people came to workshops that were built around this. I had 25,000 students sign up for an elective class… and my favorite comment…was ‘this is the first class I’ve had in which I had to think.’” Busch said, “It started with a design program, and it can be viewed as a serious academic undertaking, or it can be viewed as a fun day. Both are true.”
For more information visit the SIU Cardboard Boat Regatta website.
Staff Reporter Annalise Schmidt can be reached at aschmidt@dailyegyptian.com.
Photo of the first Boat Regatta in 1974 provided by SIU Special Collections Research Center.
rule-bending from the federal government has fostered a process that lacks transparency among all parties involved.
This dilemma – at the federal, state and university levels – has propagated a culture of fear within higher education systems in the United States.
With the federal government supplying little information to students and universities about the reasons behind these actions, understanding this issue has become increasingly difficult –lost in legal greywater that continues to grow murkier.
Here’s how it all works
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program, overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the Department of Homeland Security, manages international students studying in the U.S. through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.
This centralized database, also known as SEVIS, tracks enrollment status, addresses, academic progress and other relevant data about international students.
SEVIS Designated School Officials at universities typically update and monitor these records. Under standard procedures, visa terminations occur due to explicit violations, such as non-enrollment, unauthorized employment or criminal convictions. However, the recent spate of revocations are much different than in years past.
“There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason as to who is being targeted,” Tucker said to the Faculty Senate. She added that while some students have clean records, others only have minor violations, such as traffic tickets.
“There are others on some campuses that have been involved in or that have social media posts about some of the events in the Middle East,” Tucker said. “But there is no consistency, it appears, which is more frightening.”
Ambiguity in enforcement
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, students have been receiving generic, vague emails from the exchange program.
“I’m very sorry to inform you that your SEVIS record is now marked as ‘terminated’ by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), indicating that the U.S. government believes that you are no longer maintaining valid immigration status,” read one email obtained by the Daily Egyptian.
In the email, which is similar to emails sent to international students across the country, the reason given for termination is ambiguous, stating simply: “TERMINATION REASON: OTHERWISE FAILING TO MAINTAIN STATUS - Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their visa revoked. SEVIS record has been terminated.”
Rubio said in late March that student visas
Palestinian people and a ceasefire in Gaza, but it is unclear if that conduct is what the U.S. considers to be “movements that run counter to the foreign policy of the United States.”
On Wednesday, April 9, the U.S. said it will begin monitoring immigrants’ social media pages for antisemitism.
Under this new directive, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will consider social media content that indicates an immigrant “endorsing, espousing, promoting, or supporting antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, or other antisemitic activity” as a negative factor in any USCIS discretionary analysis when adjudicating immigration benefit requests.
Tucker said that they are not notified when a SEVIS record is terminated or if a student’s visa status is in jeopardy. It is only when a student reaches out or if a government entity, such as ICE or SEVP, seeks clarification or assistance from the university that the school becomes “officially notified.”
However, university officials can become aware of these terminated student records during manual checks of the SEVIS system.
If a university official sees that a student’s SEVIS record has been terminated, the record shows that the visa revocation is due to an immigration status violation. No additional information or details for the termination reason are provided by the government in the system and students cannot check their SEVIS status themselves.
It appears to be unclear to even the most expert legal scholars as to how a SEVIS termination and visa revocation actually coincide.
Federal government representatives say that terminating students’ SEVIS records does not actually mean that those students’ legal status in the U.S. has changed, but immigration lawyers are skeptical.
Legal confusion and growing challenges
The ACLU of Michigan is representing four international students from Wayne State University in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking that the court reinstate the students whose immigration statuses were terminated.
“There is a difference between an F-1 student visa and an F-1 student status,” argues the nonprofit civil rights organization.
A report from Inside Higher Ed highlights these key legal distinctions: terminating a student’s SEVIS record does not automatically mean that their visa has been revoked. Zak Toomey, assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan, argued that SEVIS is merely a database and “does not control or even necessarily reflect” a student’s legal immigration status.
Similarly, DHS official Andre Watson stated in an affidavit that neither the statute nor federal regulations give SEVP the authority to revoke nonimmigrant status by altering SEVIS records. That authority, he noted, belongs solely to the State Department.
“I am concerned that deportations are being used/misused as spectacles for TV audiences.”
Laurel Jean Fredrickson SIU Professor and Faculty Senate member
they will be tracked down by ICE and placed in detention centers.
What we know about SIU
When it comes to the cases at SIU, it is unclear whether or not the students affected will be able to challenge their termination, nor is it clear what exactly they did wrong, how many of them there actually are, what they should do now or who will be next.
Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for SIU Jeff Harmon told the DE that
written permission, the university should release anonymized data – without student names or identifying information.
FERPA is a federal law that was enacted in 1974 that safeguards the privacy of student education records in the U.S. FERPA applies to all schools that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Education and sets strict limitations on how schools can share student information.
At the Faculty Senate meeting, Sen. Julia Rendleman questioned Tucker about
are being revoked because select international students came to the U.S. to study, but instead engaged in “activist movements that are disruptive and undermine universities,” through protests on campus, specifically those that “are supportive of movements that run counter to the foreign policy of the United States.”
That includes those cases involving students at other universities who call for support of the
While immigration experts agree that a terminated SEVIS record alone doesn’t constitute a visa revocation, they question why the government would void these records if it weren’t also revoking students’ legal status.
As it currently stands, the federal government is treating SEVIS terminations as grounds for deportation. In many cases, they are giving students just 15 days to leave the county or
“I am hoping that each of us will speak up and insist that we are a university community that upholds the values of academic freedom, justice and democracy. The least we can do is dissent.”
Jyotsna Kapur
SIU Professor
there has been “one visa revoked” and “two SEVIS hits,” but even those numbers, that process and their definitions are being contested nationwide.
SIU is aware of one Carbondale student with a revoked visa that has already returned to their home country. Sources close to the student, who asked to remain anonymous to prevent further jeopardization of their citizenship or their education, told the DE that they speculate it is for a previous misdemeanor from nearly 10 years ago.
“One of the initial students will be able – it appears – to complete their degree at a distance. They’re at the (PhD) dissertation phase and fairly well along,” Tucker said in the Faculty Senate meeting.
“The other students at this time – I am not aware of those conversations. They start with the Center for International Education, with resources, etc. and then we’re involved on the academic side regarding what we can do to assist them with potential degree completions,” Tucker said.
Legal uncertainty: FERPA
Tucker cited FERPA — the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — at the faculty senate meeting as to why the university will not disclose the exact number of students affected at SIU.
SIU professor William Freivogel said that while FERPA bars university disclosure of a student’s visa status unless the student gives
transparency regarding the number of affected students: “I think the numbers would help with the other senators’ concerns and I just don’t understand how knowing the number affects student privacy. Like how can FERPA apply since it wouldn’t reveal any information?” Rendleman asked.
Tucker replied, “For us to give out a number and create cause and concern amongst our students – it doesn’t make any sense for us to do that because we are not receiving official notification as an institution.
“So I don’t want to comment on what we may be reading out of a system when we have not been officially notified. We do not confirm for the media, etc. on those individuals because it is their right to privacy,” Tucker said.
Freivogel, who specializes in media law, said that FERPA is no excuse for not releasing the numbers.
Students and faculty at SIU say that, because there are no specific reasons from the federal government as to why these terminations and revocations are taking place, they want to know as much as possible.
“It is crucial that the State of Illinois and Southern Illinois University Carbondale be transparent about what is going on,” said SIU Professor and Faculty Senate member Laurel Jean Fredrickson.
“We have been given no names or descriptions of the circumstances of the students we have lost,” Fredrickson said. “Not being open will
The Pulliam Hall clocktower is illuminated in the evening April 9, 2025 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Lylee Gibbs | @lyleegibbsphoto
fire of uncertainty. Jeff Harmon told the DE that it was one visa revocation and two SEVIS terminations, while Provost Sheryl Tucker said it was “multiple” before declining to give an exact number.
All of this, we’ve heard time and time again, is unprecedented. The actions from the federal government — this crackdown on international students — have stunned those involved.
Officials at SIU had hardly even heard the term “SEVIS” before, let alone knew how it worked.
Administrators across the country, including those here in Carbondale, have said they can manually check the SEVIS system to see if a student’s status has been terminated — but that was never a routine practice in years past. Blindsided, they’ve clearly struggled to communicate these issues, not just to the public, but to the very students involved.
Their explanations have contradicted each other. They say they won’t reach out to students unless approached first — yet in the same breath, they suggest they might reach out if they see a SEVIS termination on their end.
What qualifies as “official notification” seems to lie at the heart of the confusion. It appears that, at the hands of the federal government, the university has been thrust into a bureaucratic purgatory — caught between protecting student privacy, complying with unclear regulations and trying to make sense of a system they barely understand themselves.
Many students and faculty have shared their discomfort at public meetings like the Faculty Senate and Undergraduate Student Government. SIU professor and Faculty Senate member Laurel Jean Fredrickson said in a statement that it is crucial that both the state and university be transparent with international students and show students they are protected, and how we must show them that we are protective. SIU professor Cinzia Padovani, who also voiced her concerns at the Faculty Senate meeting, said she can relate to the sense of uncertainty and precarity that international students face because she was an international student herself.
“Students want the upper administration to show support for international students — not just send cautionary notes,” said SIU professor Jyotsna Kapur, referring to an email the director of International Student and Scholar Services sent to students on March 28.
It’s not just students and faculty that long for a campus response, but also the Carbondale community. Hundreds of comments have poured into our social media posts regarding visa revocations, containing words from alumni who hope the university will stand for the students and community members wanting to know more.
While faculty have begun to voice their concerns, international students hesitate to speak out in fear of being next. SIU leaders have warned international students to carry documents with them, exercise discretion at demonstrations and protests, watch the things they say on social media and be wary when traveling. This heavy atmosphere of fear lingers in the classrooms and on the minds of our international students. While our students cannot focus in the classroom, our administration remains silent.
It is heartbreaking. The students we pass on campus or sit next to in class, the ones who have come to America for an education at the same university we are privileged to have just minutes or hours from our home, are fearful they will be targeted next. Nobody should be so distraught over their place on this campus that they cannot focus on their assignments. Maybe the SIU administration is silent because they have to be, or maybe they are scared themselves. We have no idea how much they know or what the federal government
is telling them. We ask them now to be as transparent as possible.
With the lack of information from the administration, the Daily Egyptian has turned to filing requests for records pertaining to visa revocations through the Freedom of Information Act which have been returned with three denials, one agreement to dismiss and one request for extension.
Some of our FOIA requests resulted in overwhelming numbers, like one that returned 13,000 results after we requested any correspondence that contained terms such as visa or deportation. We admit that is an overwhelming number. After each denial, revisions were made to the requests in an attempt to narrow down the information to a reasonable amount. However, we were met with more denials.
SIUC’s FOIA officer, Holly Rick, called a Daily Egyptian reporter on Wednesday, April 16 to express skepticism about the public’s interest in the revocation of student visas, stating that she doesn’t think the public cares for any of this information. Two stories containing information about visa revocations at SIU are in the top three of our most viewed stories in the last year.
Rick told the DE that it seems as though our staff is always looking for something suspicious that the university is doing and that we need to report on more “good news,” which she admitted is subjective.
As an independent newspaper, our job is to report on the news, whether that be positive or negative. Our weekly newspaper cover-tocover contains a handful of positive stories, such as our coverage of the university’s newly acquired R-1 status or the upcoming boat regatta.
From northern Illinois down south, through all universities in between, schools have been impacted in the same manner. The Daily Egyptian had spoken with other reporters from universities around the state who echo similar sentiments of silence around their campuses. Just up the road, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has had eight international students who have lost their visas. When the DE asked for confirmation on SIUE’s numbers, Catie Sheehan, the SIU System’s executive director of marketing and communications, sent them over within minutes of asking.
With a quick text, we had access to the information that SIU Carbondale will not provide. We are not asking for the students’ names or identifying information – we just want to know how many have been impacted and why.
The nation’s oldest and most wealthy university is leading by example. After Harvard University said the campus would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism, the federal government said it would freeze $2.2 billion in grants, according to the Associated Press.
The New York Times reported on April 17 that the Trump administration threatened to block Harvard from enrolling international students unless the university provides detailed records about the student body. Sarah Kennedy O’Reilly, a Harvard spokeswoman, said to the NYT that Harvard will not relinquish constitutional rights.
Unlike Harvard, we do not have a sea of money at our disposal, but we need to make our best attempt to follow suit in any capacity we can. We are encouraging the voices on this campus who can stand up and take action to do so. Now is not the time to remain silent on the issues that are affecting the lives of international students on this campus.
As we navigate these unforeseen circumstances, what message does this send to the international students who were interested in coming to SIU prior to these circumstances? Will our enrollment numbers dip? Does this lessen the appeal of the Carbondale campus?
VISA CRACKDOWN
harm SIU in multiple ways – morally and financially.”
Fredrickson, who is a Duke-educated historian of contemporary and modern art, said she considers this an extremely important issue.
“I am concerned that deportations are being used/misused as spectacles for TV audiences,” Fredrickson said. “And as immoral/amoral demonstrations of the power of the extreme right.”
SIU professor George Boulukos, a Cambridge graduate whose expertise involves British and American literature, shared a similar sentiment.
“I am very concerned about the ongoing visa revocations on our campus,” Boulukos said. “Especially given the complete lack of transparency from the federal government.
“These actions represent a threat to freedom of speech, the mission of higher education, basic human rights and to the survival of many universities, especially those like SIU that lack huge endowments,” he continued.
SIU professor Cinzia Padovani, who also asked questions at the Faculty Senate meeting, was an international student herself, and says that she can relate to the sense of uncertainty and precarity that international students face.
“The situation is unbearable and unacceptable,” Padovani said. “We do not have information, from what I read, about the reasons why a certain student’s visa here at SIUC has been revoked. But what we have been witnessing on other campuses is extremely concerning.”
The fight for information: FOIA
According to Freivogel, this lack of transparency stemming from aberrant circumstances across the country is where the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, comes into play.
“The university should release the number of students affected by the visa revocations under FOIA,” Freivogel said.
Federal and state FOIA laws allow anyone to request records from U.S. and Illinois government agencies and public institutions.
To request information, individuals submit a written request describing the desired records. Federal agencies typically have 20 business days to respond by either providing the documents, explaining any redactions or denying the request with justification, while Illinois institutions have just five days.
If denied, requesters have the right to appeal, and ultimately can challenge the decision in federal court.
However, the FOIA process can be arduous, and requests are often rejected.
At the federal level, agencies such as ICE and DHS have consistently refused to provide clear justification or transparency regarding the criteria or rationale behind these terminations. Universities, amid their own battle to obtain information, also face the threat of losing federal funding.
SIU has denied the DE’s recent attempts to obtain records related to visa revocations via FOIA. The university has cited both FERPA law and claimed “undue burden” due to the volume and effort it would take.
While the DE acknowledges that some of the requests were certainly painstaking –the university said that one request returned 13,000 records – these denials highlight the tension between public accountability and institutional reluctance.
On a phone call Wednesday with the DE, SIU’s FOIA officer, Holly Rick, explicitly expressed skepticism about the public’s interest in these issues, saying that she doesn’t think the public wants to know any of this information.
DE website data shows that, within the past year, stories containing information about visa revocations at SIU are some of the newspaper’s most popular.
Rick told the DE that it seems as if the outlet is always looking for something suspicious that the university is doing and that the DE needs to report on more “good news,” which she admits is subjective.
In response to these comments, Catie Sheehan, the SIU System executive director of marketing and communications, told the DE that the university is committed to processing the FOIA requests that they receive to the fullest extent possible.
“There are some legal restrictions on the information that can be released through FOIA, but we respect the role that FOIA plays in government transparency,” Sheehan said.
In exploring other routes to obtain information regarding this developing situation, Freivogel said that there may be workarounds.
“If the university is concerned that a student is losing their visa without the government presenting adequate reasons, the university can ask the student if it can disclose the information,” Freivogel said.
What’s next?
During the April 15 Faculty Senate meeting, SIU professor and Faculty Sen. Lichang Wang expressed concerns regarding the increasingly anxious atmosphere within her chemistry labs.
“International students from my program were so worried that they couldn’t focus on their research,” Wang said. “They want to know, not particular personal information, but the reasons as to why the visas are being revoked.”
Tucker said the Center for International Education has reached out to all international students, likely referring to the email SIU sent out earlier this month.
“They are having sessions weekly, where students can get together and share information,” Tucker said.
“I just don’t know what to say because it’s so unpredictable, and I really sympathize and empathize with the individuals in this situation,” Tucker continued. “It’s hard to focus when you don’t know what’s going on.”
Padavoni asked if there was a way for lawyers associated with SIU to help.
Tucker explained that when the student receives official notification, they typically reach out to the CIE for support.
“We don’t know what is going on because we’re not receiving official notifications. So when we see something in the system, we don’t know whether the student is aware of the situation at that time either.
“I know. It makes no sense,” Tucker said.
Another Faculty Senate member suggested legal assistance. “Can we offer some, you know, attorney services to the international students if they need to pursue the cases?”
“We cannot,” Tucker answered. “We can
guide them to immigration lawyers like we work with at Dunn law firm, but it is the individual’s responsibility.”
Despite these challenges, Tucker stressed the university’s willingness to support affected students academically.
“When we become aware of the situation, we work with the student to determine if there’s opportunities for degree completion,” Tucker said.
At the SIU System board meeting on Thursday, April 17, SIU Edwardsville officials announced an alternate tuition rate for degreeseeking full-time international undergraduate students enrolled on an F-1 or J-1 visa.
Although not conceptualized amid the current climate on college campuses, this announcement comes at a pivotal time for
international students.
The new tuition rate for international students at SIUE will be equal to the in-state tuition rate.
SIU Carbondale has not committed to a similar tuition change.
Professor Jyotsna Kapur has urged the community to use this time as a moment of unity and strength, advocating for collective resistance against actions threatening academic freedom and university autonomy.
“We have come past the time of Pastor Martin Beinmoller’s famous lines on the Nazi Holocaust, ‘first they came for ...and I did not speak,’” Kapur said.
“I am hoping that each of us will speak up and insist that we are a university community that upholds the values of academic freedom, justice and democracy. The least we can do is dissent.”
Kapur said that SIU and Carbondale could own this time.
“Always a little off the mainstream, a union town, one that is both international and grounded in the beauty of the Shawnee forest… we could be different,” she said.
Many on campus hope that the future will provide clarity, but with little information flowing from the federal government, SIU remains adrift in uncertainty.
The DE will continue monitoring the ongoing battle for information and transparency concerning international SIU students and their citizenship status.
If anyone has information regarding visa revocation incidents or any other cases of immigration-related challenges faced by SIU students, please email jbrandhorst@ dailyegyptian.com or visit our website to fill out our Google Form.
Staff reporter Jackson Brandhorst can be reached at jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com.
The Pulliam Hall clocktower is illuminated in the evening April 9, 2025 at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. Lylee Gibbs | @lyleegibbsphoto
Wanted: Easter egg hunt ends with grand-prize egg undiscovered
Contestants were taking apart the furniture and climbing on the exercise equipment to get a higher vantage point. After 45 minutes of searching, the residents of The Reserve at Saluki Pointe had still not found the final egg, which held the grand prize: noise-canceling Beats headphones.
The egg hunt is an annual event put on by The Reserve at Saluki Pointe. It was held inside the clubhouse this year because of the rain.
“We do an egg hunt usually every year,” Rachel Riggs, a community assistant at The Reserve, said during the event on April 19. “Sometimes they’re outside, but this time since it was supposed to rain, they’re just hidden in the clubhouse.” Riggs helped put the event together.
“We wanted to do some fun spring events, especially since it’s getting close to the end of the semester for our student residents and we like to just do nice things and have fun prizes — keep morale up,” she said.
“And I think it’s going pretty well so far. We still have three eggs remaining, including the big prize.”
Some of the residents were successful in finding one of the 15 eggs and winning a prize, while others were not. Alec Lane came to the event and won a waffle maker.
“I got a notification that the egg hunt was happening, and I did it a few years back. So, I was like, ‘I gotta go again,’” Lane said.
It was Yulia Negreskul’s first time at The Reserve’s egg hunt.
“I was wanting to win some prizes, and I never went on an egg hunt before,” Negreskul said. “So I thought it would be fun, and I wanted to meet more people, see who lives here.”
Negreskul wasn’t as lucky and hadn’t found any of the last three eggs yet.
Hours after the egg hunt
had concluded, The Reserve posted on Instagram the final egg’s location — hidden inside the rent drop-off box in the clubhouse foyer.
Photo editor Enan Chediak can be reached by email at echediak@dailyegyptian or on Instagram @enanchediak
Easter decorations sit on display at The Reserve’s Easter egg hunt April 19, 2025 at the clubhouse at The Reserve at Saluki Pointe in Carbondale, Illinois. Enan Chediak @enanchediak
Karen Herrera, right, and Isabella Gomez, left, smile as they search for eggs during The Reserve’s Easter egg hunt.
Karen Herrera looks for eggs in a cupboard during The Reserve’s Easter egg hunt.
Residents at The Reserve look for Easter eggs.
Isabella Gomez, left, and Karen Herrera, right, pose for a photograph.
DE staff Peyton Cook, left, and Yasmin Martinez-Powell lift the treadmills to look underneath them.
Saluki baseball bear down against Belmont and sweep Bruins
Nick PfaNNkuche
After a rough weekend in Terre Haute and dropping the following midweek matchup with Arkansas State in extras, Saluki Baseball was desperate for a bounce-back weekend with the Belmont Bruins coming to town.
The Salukis got exactly what they were looking for, taking all three games in the series that wrapped up on Friday evening.
Game 1 on Thursday, April 17 saw Tyler Timmerman start for the Dawgs. Timmerman went 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs in the process, before the ball was handed to Gavan Wernsing. Wernsing got another 10 outs for SIU, but gave up a solo shot that tied the game at four. Sam Frizzi pitched two perfect innings and got the win with his work.
Offensively, the Salukis were led by Matt Schark, who knocked in three runs with a bases-clearing double in the second. They also got productive nights out of Jordan Bach, who reached base in four of his five plate appearances, notching an RBI with a walk in the second, and Tate Lewis, who went two-for-two, with two singles, a hit-by-pitch and a run
scored. But it was Matt Simay, the lone underclassman on the roster, who was the player of the game, driving in Gabe Petrucelli with an infield single in the 10th to walk-off the Bruins by a score of 5-4.
With heavy rain in Saturday’s forecast, Friday, April 18 was the last day of the series with two games on
the docket.
For Game 1 of the doubleheader, the ace of the pitching staff, Alec Nigut, was on the hill for the Dawgs. Nigut was able to work around base runners and got through five innings of work with the only damage he was responsible for being a three-run third. Those proved to be the only blemishes
in the run column as Jackson Payne picked up three scoreless innings, and Frizzi got his second save of the series with a scoreless ninth.
The only scoring for the Salukis came in the second. With the bases loaded, Jaxon Holder brought in John Lemm with a sacrifice fly. Bach then followed him up with a three-
run homer to get the other two runs across, but it was all the Dawgs needed in the 4-3 victory.
With a sweep of the Bruins in their sights, head coach Lance Rhodes gave the ball to Meade Johnson to start the second game on Friday. Johnson pitched eight-plus shutout innings before he was taken out for Matt Irvine to close the book on Belmont.
SIU got production throughout the lineup in the series finale, with eight different Salukis coming across the plate to score all eight runs. Lemm and Petrucelli each drove in two and left the yard with solo shots, and Mason Schwalbach and Cecil Lofton had the other two RBI, also with solo home runs.
With the sweep of Belmont, SIU improves to 27-12 overall and 10-5 in the Missouri Valley, which is currently good for third place in the conference. The Dawgs will be at SEMO on Tuesday, April 22 before getting to come back home for Alumni weekend against the second place Redbirds of Illinois State.
Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at npfankuche@dailyegyptian.com.
Conservative watchdog group recruits SIU students to investigate ‘liberal bias’ on campus
Campus Reform, a conservative national media organization focusing on higher education, sent recruitment emails to several SIU students.
Their attempts to contact students have been sporadic, with some students receiving recruitment messages as early as February. According to the recruitment email that a recipient provided to the Daily Egyptian, they are looking for students who have experienced or heard about “liberal bias” on college campuses.
In its mission statement, Campus Reform describes itself as a “conservative watchdog in the nation’s
higher education system.” Its articles, or “opinions” as they are called on the publication’s website, are largely written objectively and in a neutral tone but focus almost exclusively on sticking points of conservative policy and ideology, such as LGBTQ+ identities and student activism.
Campus Reform is operated by the Leadership Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on training and mentoring conservative leaders. The Leadership Institute has trained many leaders in the American conservative movement since its founding in 1979, including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Included in the Campus Reform
recruitment email sent to SIU students are job descriptions for two positions offered by the publication. The first is as an investigator, who researches examples of liberal bias on their campus and is paid for every tip they provide that is used in a published opinion. The second is a correspondent, a term that typically refers to a journalist who reports on or from a remote location or region.
Correspondents for Campus Reform do the work of an investigator, but write the articles to be published on their website, rather than submitting them as tips. The recruitment emails did not disclose how much these positions would be paid.
In an email sent to the Daily Egyptian responding to a request for comment, Campus Reform editor-inchief Zachary Marschall wrote, “The Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform recruits college students across the country to investigate and report on leftist bias in higher education as part of our Young Journalists Program.
“These students receive mentoring and training in journalism best practices and ethics from Campus Reform’s professional staff. The more than 170 alumni of the Young Journalists Program currently working in media are a testament to the strength of the skill-building and networking opportunities students take advantage
of while working for Campus Reform.”
During the fall semester, flyers were posted around SIU with a QR code leading to an online survey, advertising an Amazon gift card giveaway. Those who completed the survey, like SIU student Adaline Tucker, would be signed up for a Leadership Institute mailing list as well as receiving a Campus Reform recruitment email.
“When I was taking (the survey), the questions were about how I felt about the political climate on campus and whether or not I felt that you could comfortably express Christian values on campus,” Tucker said. “It seemed like the audience for this survey was not
The SIU Baseball team celebrates on the field after emerging victorious in extra innings April 17, 2025 at Itchy Jones Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. Jason Isele | @iselephotography
by Dominique Martinez-Powell | @d.martinezphoto
A Gus Bode for one is a Gus Bode for all
Dominique martinez-Powell @D martinezPowell
I remember the first time that I was introduced to Gus Bode. I was working for the Daily Egyptian during my first year and my photo editor at the time would leave post-it notes around the office of Gus Bode sayings. They usually referenced something that was said in the office between employees. The concept of Gus was explained to me a little while before the notes became a regular thing that would cover the backs of our office computers.
Gus Bode was first introduced into print April 13, 1956 when the Daily Egyptian was just the Egyptian. Gus is the DE mascot, yes, but he is also more. Gus was meant to be a voice for us. An outlet for us students when we couldn’t say what we wanted to say. I remember doing research about Gus and flipping through the archives and old editions of the papers we had that had been sitting in the archive room. Gus has done and said some interesting things in his time and his past iterations really speak for the state of the times and the positions of the students using him as a voice.
I remember looking at the Gus Bode design in 2021 and feeling a bit of a disconnect. As a Nicaraguan Black woman that grew up in the early 2000s the representation wasn’t there for me in the same way it is in current times. I grew up having to find ways to relate to white main characters in media and books who didn’t look like me or have similar home or life experiences.
The older Gus Bode designs very clearly allude to a white male college student and one thing I am not is a white male college student. When I first became aware of Gus Bode in 2021, our staff was majority Black as well and Gus did not feel representative of any of us, and if we used Gus, he was meant to speak for us. While overall the situation isn’t all that serious, historically that kind
of thing doesn’t play out well. When white voices tell Black or people of color stories, something is always lost in translation.
I started to draw iterations of a modern Gus Bode in my notebooks in class. I softened his features and drew his hair in a way that could indicate any kind of curl pattern. It was a way that I had drawn my own hair in the little simplified personas many artists tend to draw of themselves. I wanted him to feel more ambiguous in terms of gender and race. I also made him softer mostly because of my own personal preference of softer shapes and lines.
My idea was that this new Gus Bode was meant to be Gus Bode’s child. This is a reference to a comic panel made in the past where Gus Bode was pregnant. Gus Bode would finally graduate undergrad and become a forever master’s student instead while his kid took over in his place. I called it
B.G. Bode (Baby Gus Bode).
Eventually, I introduced the concept to the editor-in-chief at the time, Oreoluwa Ojewuyi, who loved the design and the choices behind
it but decided that if he were to be released it would just be a reskin of Gus rather than his kid, as Gus is supposed to be a forever college student.
After some more consideration, the new Gus design was put into publication in the 2023 academic school year. He continues his tradition of popping in to speak every once in a while in print and can be seen on a myriad of post-it notes drawn by different reporters or photographers with his pinnacle phrase “Gus Bode says.” I am very happy that everyone still has the love for Gus that has been seen in the past alum of the Daily Egyptian. I hope this design will live on for a while longer and I am excited to see what the next iteration of Gus Bode provides for the next generation of Daily Egyptian employees.
Student managing editor Dominique Martinez-Powell can be reached through email at dmartinezpowell@ dailyegyptian.com or on Instagram @d.martinezphoto
Faculty Managing Editor: Alee Quick aquick@dailyegyptian.com
Business Manager: Amy Dion businessmanager@dailyegyptian.com
Editor-in-Chief: Lylee Gibbs lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com
Design Chief: Peyton Cook pcook@dailyegyptian.com
Photo Editor: Enan Chediak echediak@dailyegyptian.com
Ad Chief: Kassity Lee klee@dailegyptian.com
Student Managing Editor: Dominique Martinez-Powell dmartinezpowell@dailyegyptian.com
News Editor: Carly Gist cgist@dailyegyptian
Sports Consultant: Ryan Grieser rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com
Digital Editor: Bhayva Sri-Billuri bsri-billuri@dailyegyptian.com
About Us
We distribute 7,000 printed copies every Wednesday across the SIU campus and surrounding communities, including Carbondale, Murphysboro, Carterville, and Marion. We have expanded with limited distribution to surrounding towns and in Springfield.
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
@2025 The 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 their year and major. Faculty must include rank and department. Others include hometown. Submissions should be sent to editor@dailyegyptian.com
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April/May 2025
WEDNESDAY (4/23)
PKs : Trivia Night, 8 p.m., 21+, Free
Thursday (4/24)
Booby’s: Collage Club Happy Hour (Supplies Provided), 6-8 p.m., All Ages Marion Cultural and Civic Center : Ozark Mouth Daredevils, 6 -8:30 p.m. SIU: Urinetown the Musical; 24-27th. Thus-Sat at 7:30 pm; Sun at 2:00 p.m .(Adult $25) (Seniors $20) (Student $10)
FRIDAY (4/25)
Tres Hombres : Josh Morrison & Friends, 6 p.m., 21+, Free Booby’s : Ace Wave & Friends, 21+, $5
SATURDAY (4/26)
PKs - Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship (STL electro-comedy) / Whoa, Coyote / Ivy June, 9 p.m., 21+, Free Varsity Center : FILMS: Kill Bill Vol. 1, 7 p.m., Vol 2, 9:30, $8 Booby’s - 70’s Disco and Funk Night with DJ Messie Bessie and DJ 86 Pants, 21+, $5
Sunday (4/27)
Knights of Columbus - Glo Bingo, 4 p.m.
MONDAY (4/28)
PKs - Meg & The Wheelers (Chicago country western), 7 p.m., 21+, Free WEDNESDAY (4/30)
PKs - Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy (Wichita), 8 p.m., 21+, Free Booby’s - Open Mic Comedy
THURSDAY (5/1)
Booby’s: Karaoke, 8:30 p.m., 18+, free
FRIDAY (5/2)
Tres Hombres: Chris Chamness, 6 p.m., 21+, Free Varsity Center : FILMS: The Wizard of Oz, 7 p.m., $8 Varsity Center : Musicans United in the big room, 10 p.m., all ages, $5
SATURDAY (5/3)
Tres Hombres: Ethan Stephenson Band, 9 p.m., 21+, free Varsity Center : The McDaniel Band, Tawl Paul, Snowbird Street Band, 7 p.m., $12
Alto Vineyards: The Ol’ Fishskins; 2-5 p.m., 21+
SUNDAY (5/4)
Alto Vineyards: Wine Down Sunday with Ivas John, 2-5 p.m., 21+
WEDNESDAY (5/7)
PK’s: TRIVIA with Alee, 8 p.m.
THURSDAY (5/8)
Booby’s: Karaoke 18+ free 8:30
PK’s: Tim Crosby happy hour show; 6-9 pm
FRIDAY (5/9)
Varsity Center : FILMS: Labyrinth, 7 p.m., $8
Varsity Center: After Credits Comedy Show; 8:30 p.m., $10
SATURDAY (5/10)
Alto Vineyards: Regina Coley/Vintage Station Band, 2-5 p.m., 21+
Blue Sky Vineyards: Reds, Whites, & Blues Celebration; “Hats Off” to the new graduates featuring Award-Winning Wines, Live Music, Local Artisans, Burgers & Brats from the Grill & More; Diamond Dog Band, 3-6 p.m., all ages SIU: Graduation Commencement, 9 a.m., 1 p.m., Free
SUNDAY (5/11)
Alto Vineyards: John Drake, 2-5 p.m., 21+
WEDNESDAY (5/14)
PK’s: TRIVIA with Alee, 8 p.m.
THURSDAY (5/15)
Varsity Center : Bluegrass concert: Grammy-winning Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, 7 p.m., $15
Booby’s: Karaoke 8:30 p.m., 18+ Cornerstone Reformed Church: Hyink Strings Concert, 7 p.m., free
FRIDAY (5/16)
Tres Hombres: Edwin Linson, 6 p.m., 21+, free
‘Every team needs an Emma Austin’:
How the senior slapper is essential to Saluki Softball
Ryan GRieseR @RGRieseR@dailyeGypitan com
Saluki softball’s Emma Austin is, quite simply, confident.
Head coach Jen Sewell even thinks it is one of Austin’s best traits.
“Emma is 100% a big personality, but in such a good way. Looking from the outside, it comes off like a diva, but it’s not like that at all. It’s a kind, mature, confident human being who likes to take her teammates with her,” Sewell said.
Austin, who is known for wearing pearls while on the field, didn’t always exude the diva energy though, especially when she was a little kid and hanging around with her brother’s baseball team.
“I was always the little sister that was in the dugout, that was wanting to dress like them. Such a big tomboy, and so whenever I was old enough and I figured out that was the thing to play, I was pretty much on it,” Austin said.
Austin was initially a gymnast as a child, but recognized that she wanted to play softball when she saw how it united her family.
“It brought my family together. We always had something to do in the summer, we always had a place to travel to. We had so many friends, so many people that we met through it,” Austin said.
Austin, who is from Brookport, Illinois, and went to Massac County High School, didn’t travel far to go to school — just an hour northwest.
“I originally did not think that I wanted to go so close to home,” Austin said. “And I honestly had not heard much of SIU. Obviously I’m from around here, but never heard of the school, never really heard of the softball.”
Austin was eventually informed of how good Saluki softball was, and after she came on a visit realized that “it was just so ideal for me and checked all the boxes.”
While her mind was changed about going to school close to home, her approach to the game was not. Austin honed in on the things she was good at, harnessing her elite speed and embracing a different type of approach in the batters box: slap hitting, which both her dad and a former coach, Terry Pierce, convinced her to do.
“(Slap hitting) was such a skill that you don’t understand it until you do, and it’s not going to feel good until it does. So once slapping finally clicked for me when I was younger, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is awesome,’” Austin said.
While Austin is a smaller player, standing at only 5-foot-2, don’t assume that she slap hits only because she doesn’t have the size to hit for power.
“I don’t think everyone realizes she is a beast in the weight room, so her actual strength is off the charts,” Sewell said. “Pound for pound she is one of the strongest players I’ve ever coached.”
As Austin, a center fielder, has developed her physical approach to the game, her ability to make in-game changes, including to her batting, has evolved, too.
“This year, she has really made her adjustments super quick,” junior shortstop Jackie Lis said. “That’s kind of why I think she’s had a lot more success, because she’s adjusted a lot faster than in previous years.”
A final part of Austin that has changed as time has gone on? Her leadership.
“With having a lot of younger people this year, she has kind of gotten a little bit more serious… she’s
definitely taken more of a leadership role,” Lis said.
“For our team, she really is a mom — she hugs and encourages but she also delivers the truth and has hard conversations with her teammates and her coaches,” Sewell said.
Though their record certainly doesn’t show it now, the Salukis started the year 2-13, and during that time, Austin was struggling at the plate. But once she woke up, the rest of the Dawgs did, too, and they haven’t looked back.
“She is a true spark plug — in personality and to the lineup card,” Sewell said. “If she’s on base, then we are rocking and rolling as an offense. And the catches she makes in the outfield she makes look easy — those are not easy, she’s making them look that way. If you are pitching, you want to turn around and see Emma behind you. She’s going to get there.”
Austin is always back in center field, having started 148 games and counting, though she’s doing more in the outfield than just playing outstanding defense.
“She teaches little girls that are watching that it’s OK to be yourself and to shine and have confidence. She’s a big-time personality and athlete in a little package, so for all the girls out there playing sports that have been told they are too small, Emma is a great example for them,” Sewell said. Austin’s talent and accomplishments, including being a two-time All-MVC Second Teamer, have led Sewell to give her some
lofty praise when talking about her legacy as a player.
“She is and will be forever one of the best center fielders SIU softball has had, and there are a lot of great outfielders that have come through this program. Every team needs an Emma Austin,” Sewell said.
Sports reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com
Lis said, “She’s always going to lighten the mood and have fun with it. And that is something you don’t always see in softball. It’s also fun to just watch her in center field in the middle of the game, just doing a dance out in the outfield, and I’m just laughing… but that’s just how she is all the time, and it’s always entertaining.”
Austin doesn’t shy away from drawing attention either, even saying that she’s trying to prove a point.
“I’ve worn the pearls, I’ve worn the hoop earrings, I’ll make sure my hair looks good and my makeup looks good… I just want to leave the impression that seriously, anybody can do it, no matter the body type, height, stature, build you are, whether you’re a girly girl, anything. Anyone can do it,” Austin said.
Austin’s approach to her appearance and the game often draws admirers who want to emulate and watch her.
“I’ve had girls that come and watch me and their parents are like, ‘Oh my gosh, she remembered when you had the pearls on and she remembers when your hair was done all cute, and she’s wanted to watch you ever since,’’’ Austin said. “And as little as that may sound, I think that’s just kind of what I want to be remembered for, just keeping it fun, keeping it lighthearted, being who you are out there.”
Sewell knows that Austin — who gives lessons to these admirers and many others — and her style naturally lend themselves to her being a role model, too.
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Emma Austin (21) runs through the team before the game against Wisconsin’s Badgers, Mar. 8, 2025 at the Charlotte West Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois. Emily Brinkman | erb_photo_
Oak Street Art prepares for its 10th annual fair
Kristin Borchers JrnL 316
Cathy Schmidt, a local leather worker in Murphysboro, never considered herself to be an artist. That was until the women of Oak Street Art Fair took notice of her work. Immediately, the founding members encouraged her and gave her that boost of confidence to begin selling her art.
Being completely self-taught, she would source fabric and quilts from local thrift stores and learn their inner workings by unstitching them. When Schmidt is producing her leather works, she doesn’t use any machines. Now crafting and selling a variety of art from leather bags to leather quilts, she constructs her pieces completely by hand.
“I do it by hand because it’s soothing. I get out of my head, or I get into my head,” Schmidt said. “It’s like yoga, it’s very flow.”
Now a current board member of eight, Schmidt is preparing for Murphysboro’s 10th year of the Oak Street Art Fair. On Saturday, April 26, at 16th and Oak streets, the handcrafted event will be back for a packed day full of over 40 art vendors and five bands, accompanied by food and wine for sale. The event is supported by the help of the Murphysboro Tourism Commision, John A. Logan Museum and the overwhelming support of southern Illinois residents.
“Our overall mission is to get art out into the community,” Schmidt said. “We are not one-dimensional beings; we’re not just humans doing. Art touches so many other parts of you, it’s emotional and visual and tactile, it’s all of your senses.”
In addition to Schmidt’s
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necessarily me. It was definitely pushing an agenda for the right.”
Tucker describes the “opinions” on the publication’s site to be “sensationalist,” particularly their headlines.
The organization has reported on events at SIU since 2016, most recently covering Kaitlynn Wheeler’s appearance at a Turning Point USA event on Oct. 10, 2024. Wheeler appeared at the event as an ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center at the Leadership Institute.
The organization was founded in August 2024 and, according to Gaines’ website, seeks to recruit those “targeted by the left” and train them to “defend America’s founding principles.” The center and their ambassadors have
creations, another group of Murphysboro artists will have their art for attendees to enjoy at the lively event.
Based out of the Douglas School Art Place, Jan Thomas and Cameron Smith have been blowing glass in The Doug since 2000. Thomas, a graduate of SIU’s glass blowing program, sourced the Doug as her studio of choice to create many different types of glass creations.
“[It’s] being so involved in something that the rest of the world goes away, and you’re in a state of flow and glass blowing is like that, you’re really in the moment, you’re really in the medium and
focused heavily on women’s sports, specifically on calls for and attempts by transgender women to participate in women’s sporting events.
Although content since the inauguration of President Donald Trump has largely focused on universities not complying with federal mandates, many older articles focus on the actions of individual professors and student organizations.
An article posted on Sept. 27, 2024, for example, focused on the Saluki Furry Society, an SIU group dedicated to the furry fandom and people who enjoy anthropomorphic animals.
The post features a picture of the organization’s flier and a quote taken from a Daily Egyptian article on the group becoming an officially registered student organization in March 2018. Beneath every Campus Reform
not worrying about all the things that are worth worrying about,” Thomas said.
From ornaments, to aliens, cups, bowls, vases, functional lamps and what Smith has named as “planetary spheres,” the duo creates a wide array of fine glass creations.
“For me, it’s the transformation of the material, you know, we’re taking raw sand and other fluxes and melting it into; making it into the glass,” Smith said.
Sourcing local fairs to set up shop is important to Thomas and Smith. The pair have been at numerous outdoor shows, but they continue to come back to the one in their backyard.
“opinion” is a public recruitment form, beginning, “Conservative students on college campuses are marginalized, threatened, and silenced by threatening students who oppose their views, or radicalized leftist professors or administrators.” This is a common opinion among conservatives, as shown by an Associated Press article in October 2023, which claimed at the time 9% of conservative students believed they could speak their minds on college campuses.
“I thought that was really inappropriate and pretty surprising to read,” Tucker said. “So I went on the website that it mentions in the email, and I saw that the Campus Reform group had a long list from all of the examples of what they wanted, essentially, from all over the country, other articles that were submitted by
“Oh, we love Oak Street. The people are great, they’re just like, you know, sweet local people wanting to do a good thing for the community and for the artists and they’re smart,” Thomas said.
Glass creations and hand-stitched leather works aren’t the only type of art you’ll find at Oak Street. Live music sets the scene for taking the unique arrangement of goods.
Ryan Harper, Tanner Troutman and Blake Bramlett, members of local band Pity Thy Neighbors, are one of five bands performing at the fair. Taking inspiration from old country songs, bluegrass and Americana, they’ll be kicking off the day at 10 a.m.
these so-called student journalists.”
Alex Mahadevan is the director of MediaWise, a project of the Poynter Institute dedicated to empowering people to identify misinformation and practice media literacy. Mahadevan warns to think critically when engaging with media platforms such as Campus Reform.
“I would definitely not call Campus Reform a legitimate news site,” Mahadevan said. “I could not find a single article that offered anything that had any semblance of legitimate journalistic ethics. The reporting is incredibly biased, not only in the language and the subject matter but also the sources that are quoted. I did not ever see a source quoted from the other side of the aisle.
“As you start reading an article, just make sure you read the ‘about’ page
“We feed on, even if we can just see someone tapping their foot, we’re like ‘yeah, they’re into it’ and it really kind of fills our cup. (If) we see somebody really vibing to it, we’re gonna play harder and try to be tighter every time we see people getting into it. For me personally, music has made the biggest impact in my life and being able to, through playing it, just interact without even words with an entire venue of people,” Harper said.
“There is nothing like the rush of just people really into what you’re doing...it’s an adrenaline rush, every moment of it, and it’s awesome.”
The local band has been playing at the Oak Street Art Fair since the event first began. With Harper and Troutman growing up in Murphysboro, they take great pride in performing their music for southern Illinois residents. Harper explained that the stage they perform on at Oak Street is his favorite place they have the pleasure of returning to and jamming at on an annual basis.
“It’s really bringing a spotlight to the area in a good way. Growing up in Murphysboro (25 to 30 years ago), it didn’t have the best reputation and through proper leadership in the town and through people genuinely caring like the crew that puts on Oak Street Art Fair, I have seen a massive regentrification of my hometown, and really the pride of people who live there day in and day out I feel over past 20 years or so, has risen just an exponential amount, and it’s because of people like the Oak Street Art Fair team who really go and procure all these cool artisans from the area,” Harper said.
and find out more about who owns the outlet and then you can really find out more about the bias that might be coming through in the articles,” he said.
“The reason news and media literacy are really important right now is because you have these websites like Campus Reform that might on their face look like a legitimate news site but if you have news and media literacy skills, you have the ability to follow links to the original source, you know how to investigate the journalist that wrote something or the outlet itself, how to kind of follow digital breadcrumbs, then you can quickly identify these sites for what they actually are, which are these kind of propaganda outlets.”
Staff reporter Morrigan Carey can be reached at mcarey@dailyegyptian.com.
Photo from the Douglas Art School Place, provided by Cameron Smith.