Daily Egyptian

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DAILY EGYPTIAN

@dailyegyptian @dailyegyptianphoto Daily Egyptian

Enrollment drops from fall to spring LUKE NOZICKA Daily Egyptian The university released 10-day enrollment numbers for spring 2014, and numbers are down from fall’s 17,964 to 16,619; a loss of 1,345 students.

Overall student enrollment has decreased and continues to be one of the lowest enrollment numbers in 40 years. Enrollment is down from the 18,442 students in spring 2012. Chancellor Rita Cheng said from fall to spring freshmen retention rate is

86.7 percent, up from the 2012-2013’s 83.1 percent. “I’m thrilled, we worked really hard to retain the students from fall to spring,” she said. “That goes as well for retention in the future, although we have a lot of work to do.” Based on the retention percentage,

there are 2,229 freshmen still enrolled of the original 2,571 in the fall. There was a decline of 241 students compared to the spring of 2013, and an increase of 223 freshmen from last year. Cheng said fall 2013 enrollment was down 3.1 percent and spring 2014

enrollment is down by 1.6 percent. “We have been catching up,” Cheng said.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at lnozicka@dailyegyptian.com, on Twitter @LukeNozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 268.

Obama raises minimum wage for federal workers KYLE SUTTON Daily Egyptian President Obama is using his executive power to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers, such as janitors, construction workers and other employees working in government contracted buildings from $7.25 an hour to $10.10. During his State of the Union address Obama urged Congress to join the rest of the country and give America a raise. “If you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty,” Obama said in his speech. Obama is using what is called an executive order to push for the minimum wage increase, bypassing lawmakers in Congress who have opposed his agenda. “I like the ruling, I like that minimum wage is going up,” Max Schmitz, a senior from Pana studying psychology, said.

However, Schmitz said he does not agree with how Obama has used his executive power to push the agenda. “I disagree with him acting by himself,” he said. “I think there should be a system of checks and balances to keep one person from having too much power.” The federal minimum wage has not seen an increase in four years. In 2007 the wage was $5.85 an hour and increased in increments of 70 cents per year until 2009 when it reached $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Establishment of the federal minimum wage falls under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to the FLSA, the act was issued, “To provide for the establishment of fair labor standards in employments in and affecting interstate commerce, and for other purposes.”

Please see WAGE · 4

Council forms plan to fill vacant seat SETH RICHARDSON Daily Egyptian The Carbondale City Council agreed to a plan to fill outgoing Mayor Joel Fritzler’s vacant chair. Potential candidates can apply for the position between Feb. 4 and Feb. 14. The city council will then hold closed sessions to narrow the number of candidates before acting in open session. Fritzler announced his resignation on Jan. 13 effective Feb. 3. Councilman Don Monty was selected to serve the remainder of his term Jan. 21 at a special session of the city council. During Monty’s comments immediately following the vote, he distributed a tentative schedule for

filling the vacant seat in time to vote on the budget. “Our timetable is somewhat constrained, because, in my opinion, we need to have the rest of the council to act on a city budget,” Monty said. The council discussed the schedule and requirements for applying to the position at Tuesday’s city council meeting. “Even though statutorially, the acting mayor gets to put forward the name, it’s my feeling it is a decision that all of the city council should be brought in on,” Monty said. “And to that end I’ve proposed both a timetable and an application process.”

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Please see COUNCIL ·4

JAKE HAINES · DAILY EGYPTIAN

Casey Green, a senior from Batavia studying zoology, takes Herbie, a Chihuahua, for his morning walk Tuesday. Green volunteers at St. Francis Care weekly. “I really love interacting with the animals and seeing them get adopted,” Green said.

Volunteers have their day JAKE SAUNDERS Daily Egyptian Just up the road in Murphysboro, Shannon Sarillo has been helping to make animals’ lives easier for the last two years. “I had been volunteering for a few months at the shelter before noticing a ‘Help Wanted’ sign up outside the shelter,” she said. “I wasn’t really looking for a job at the time, but knew I wanted to do anything I could to help these animals find their forever homes and as luck would have it, I got the job!” Sarillo, a senior from Grayslake studying business management and entrepreneurship, is one of several SIU students who dedicate

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time at the Humane Society of Illinois, located at 95 Humane Road in Murphysboro. While Sarillo has established herself at the Humane Society, several new students have just begun their journey at the shelter. “I had no idea how easy it was to get involved,” she said. “I am a huge animal lover and began looking into volunteering at a shelter because I was missing being around animals while away at school. I didn’t live in pet friendly apartments so I couldn’t have any of my own and was looking for a way to fill the void.”

Please see VOLUNTEERS · 3

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