WEDNESDAY
DAILY EGYPTIAN AUGUST 21, 2013
Pension plan proposal scrutinized
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
SINCE 1916
VOLUME 99, ISSUE 3
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SETH RICHARDSON Daily Egyptian A recent report criticizes the pension reform proposal endorsed by many Illinois university presidents, including SIU President Glenn Poshard. Authored by Howard Wial and Stephen Herzenberg, the Aug. 14 “Unbalanced Pension Proposal” addresses changes to the “Universities” proposal, the pension plan under review by the Illinois General Assembly. Wial, associate research professor and executive director at the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Herzenberg, executive director of the nonprofit Keystone Research Center, claim these pension system changes would be detrimental to retirees. The “Universities” proposal seeks to alleviate Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension debt, one that is now at $100 billion and grows at a daily rate of $17 million. Proposed revisions include a cost of living adjustment to pensions. Currently, retirees receive a flat 3 percent cost of living adjustment to their pension plan each year after they retire. This annual increase is a figure used to battle inflation. The “Universities” proposal insists that the annuity be attached to one-half of the Consumer Price Index, which is used to calculate inflation. This could affect older retirees by drastically underfunding their benefits, which is one of the report’s key criticisms. “If you are retired for 25 years (under the “Universities” plan), you see a cut in your pension benefits of almost onethird of what current retirees are entitled to,” Wial said. Many “Universities” plan supporters, including Poshard, label the change as a benefit against high inflation. “Rather than the 3 percent across the board, we have said that (the cost of living adjustment) should be adjusted to half of what the (Consumer Price Index) shows,” Poshard said. “That protects people in those times when inflation is running (high).” Please see PENSION | 4
Above: Firefighters extinguish a residential fire Tuesday at 2300 Broken Handle Lane in Carbondale. Resident Judith Kalvaitis said her husband Tom Kalvaitis realized the house was on fire after going to check on a noise he heard in the garage. Right: City of Marion firefighter Aaron Pritchett walks through the scene of a residential fire Tuesday in Carbondale. According to Lake of Egypt Fire Protection District Lt. Clayton Litton, seven fire departments responded to the scene. TYLER METROFF DAILY EGYPTIAN
Recreation Center opens additional changing rooms MATT DARAY Daily Egyptian Students looking for extra privacy at the Student Recreation Center now have the means to change their clothes in peace. The Recreation Center converted its facilities during the summer to offer individual changing rooms for students, an effort that also offers transgender students an opportunity to change outside of the gender-specific male and female dressing rooms. Several university officials said this change is part of the university taking steps to build a more inclusive environment. Troy Vaughn, director of Recreational Sports and Services at the Student Recreation Center, said the rooms were created to accommodate the need for additional privacy, which both students and locals requested even before he started as director in 2012. “We’ve had some comments from a wide assortment of patrons,” he said. “These could be parents with kids who felt uncomfortable with changing in the locker rooms. We’ve had transgender individuals come to us; we’ve had other individuals who asked for more private places to change.”
‘‘W
e’ve had some comments from a wide assortment of patrons. These could be parents with kids who felt uncomfortable with changing in the locker rooms. We’ve had transgender individuals come to us; we’ve had other individuals who asked for more private places to change.
— Troy Vaughn director of Recreational Sports and Services
While the rooms have been added to accommodate suggestions, members of the university and student body also see this as a way to increase inclusiveness on campus for transgender students. Wendy Weinhold, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender and Queer Resource Center, said Recreation Center officials came to her to learn how to better meet LGBTQ students’ needs. “I’m really excited about the fact that this project is the model of the kind of collaboration and partnerships that I love to see and welcome more and more of at SIUC,” she said. Weinhold said she suggested focus groups be organized in order to find out what LGBTQ students would like to have at the gym. The focus groups led to discussions with national
experts and students, which contributed to the creation of the changing rooms, she said. One transgender student said the new changing rooms are a step forward in the university’s effort to embrace its student body. Sarah Self, a graduate student in social work from Lafayette, La., said the addition of the changing rooms is beneficial for students and staff who have asked for different options. “The changing space and, particularly, the pool access has been a barrier for me personally, and I think for my community in general for the entire time I’ve been at SIU,” she said. Self said she was thrilled that the Recreation Center staff reached out to the transgender community to find out how to improve access and comfort. The recent addition has been the largest accommodation toward the transgender
community she has ever seen at the university, she said. Other students said even though additional changing rooms exist, they didn’t have a problem with transgender students using their respective locker rooms in the first place. Alia Chaaban, a sophomore from Chicago studying business management, said she supports the addition of the changing rooms. “I support it. I mean if that’s who you are, that’s who you are,” she said. “If you think you’re a woman, then you’re a woman. If you think you’re a man, you’re a man. No one can take it away from you.” Matt Heberlie, a sophomore from Chester studying aviation flight, said he doesn’t have a problem with the new changing rooms, and he doesn’t have an issue with transgender students in the men’s locker room. “I guess not, cause really in the men’s locker room, they tend not to care about who’s in there and they just do their thing and get out,” he said. “I guess it really wouldn’t matter either way.”
Matt Daray can be reached at mdaray@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 254.