Daily Egyptian 9/20/11

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Jacinto Huaroco, left, of Makanda, and Juan Campos, right, of Cape Girardeau, hang the Mexican and American flags Saturday before the PurĂŠpecha Festival in Cobden. The festival celebrated the indigenous PurĂŠpecha culture from the

BROOKE GRACE | DAILY EGYPTIAN

state of MichoacĂĄn, Mexico and featured traditional food, music and dancing. Southern Illinois has a large PurĂŠpecha population due to migrant patterns dating back to the 1950s.

Mexican city with local ties fights drug cartel, government BROOKE GRACE Daily Egyptian While many Cobden residents celebrated the Mexican people’s culture at its PurÊpecha Festival Saturday, others were focused on events nearly 2,000 miles away. Many Cobden and Alto Pass residents have ties to Cheran, Mexico, where townspeople are locked in a violent struggle with loggers they believe are backed by a drug cartel. Fed up with violent drug cartels,

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heran has developed a community governing system in which all the decisions are made by members of the community. Other towns in Mexico who are facing similar issues are watching Cheran closely. — Pedro Tomas leader of DeMigrates Cheran

loggers illegally deforesting their land and a government that failed to help them, the people of Cheran barricaded the roads to town.

Townspeople said the loggers were clearing nearby pine tree lands, which are important to their PurĂŠpecha culture, and they accused drug cartels

of helping and providing loggers with weapons. Details are hard to pin down because communication between relatives and family in Cheran has been limited. Someone sabotaged communications towers, which cut off phone and Internet service for several weeks to the town of an estimated 18,000 people about 200 miles west of Mexico City. But people with family and friends in Cheran said residents are trapped behind their own barricades.

“They don’t have any justice ,and they cannot buy food,� Adelina Fabian, of Alto Pass, said of her family in Cheran. “The food they had is gone.� Fabian has worked at Rendelman Orchards in Alto Pass for 11 years. With one of her six children translating, Fabian said family members believe they will have to guard the town for at least another year. Please see CHERAN | 5

University shifts efforts in academic early-intervention program JACQUELINE MUHAMMAD Daily Egyptian An early-intervention program has been revised to better assist first-year students, which could ultimately increase retention. University officials will distribute self-assessment surveys and monitor grades

of first-year students through learning tools as students adjust to fall classes. Lisa Peden, director of Learning Support Services, said the program that helps acclimate first-year students to university life was developed through Learning Support Services and has been implemented in some of

the first-year experience courses, but it will be implemented for all incoming students fall 2012. Assembled with members from other academic advisers and support programs such as Saluki Cares, the program will use surveys and a retentionmanagement system to ask students their semester

expectations and track their courses. Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, associate provost for University College, said the intervention program is currently restricted for first-year students, and it is one component of the university’s overall approach to create a culture which supports students.

She said the university will see positive results in other areas as long as students have support. “A positive bi-product of focusing our attention on students success is that ultimately enrollment and retention will increase,� Payne-Kirchmeier said. Please see INTERVENTION | 5


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