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No charges in Varughese case, mother claims cover-up Sam Beard
@SamBeard_DE | Daily Egyptian
No charges will be filed in the death of Pravin Varughese, an SIU student whose body was found in a wooded area on the 1400 block of E. Main Street on Feb. 18, 2014, five days after he was reported missing. On Wednesday, Michael Carr, Jackson County state’s attorney, said the criminal investigation is now over. The grand jury came back with no indictment against Gaege Bethune, the person believed to
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Daily Egyptian THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2015 VOLUME 99 ISSUE 23
Former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon hopes to teach at SIU Luke Nozicka
have been the last one to see Varughese on the night he disappeared. Lovely Varughese, Pravin’s mother, said she is not happy no charges are being filed. She said she does not think Carr ever wanted to find the truth surrounding the death of her son. “In September I came back to Carbondale and met with him face to face,” Lovely said. “He told me, ‘I am not going to charge that boy, I will not ruin another life.’ He had already made up his mind.” Please see VARUGHESE · 2
100 SIU students were asked... Do you know what BDSM is? Yes: 79% No: 21% Have you ever participated in BDSM? Yes: 16% No: 84%
@LukeNozicka | Daily Egyptian
Former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon may soon be a more familiar face on campus. Simon, 53, daughter of the late U.S. Senator Paul Simon, said she has been meeting with Virginia Tilley, chairwoman of the Department of Political Science, about teaching courses during the fall semester. “If it works out I will teach [American government] political science and politics of diversity,” said Simon, who lost the 2014 comptroller race against the late Judy Baar Topinka. “The opportunity to put some of my practical experience in government to work by teaching students seems very exciting to me.” Simon, who was a Carbondale city councilwoman from 2003 to 2007 and lost the 2007 Carbondale mayoral race to Brad Cole, said she is supervising two SIU students for the political science department in Springfield from her home in southern Illinois this semester. While she would not disclose the students’ names, she said one interns for Lobbyist Liz BrownReeves, and the other for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association. Simon, whose husband Perry Knop is a political science professor at John A. Logan College, said she does not know when her position will be official—if at all—or what her salary would be. For the rest of this story, please see www.dailegyptian.com
Of the 84%, 35% said they would try it, 58% said they wouldn’t, and 7% gave no answer
Have you ever seen 50 Shades of Grey? Yes: 22% No: 78% Of the 78%, 42% said they wanted to see it and 58% said they did not H annaH W Hite
D aily e gyptian
Breaching the BDSM barrier Jessica Brown
@BrownJessicaJ | Daily Egyptian
The line between pain and pleasure is drawn by mutual consent. BDSM—or bondage, discipline, domination, submission, sadism and masochism—is becoming a widely discussed topic after the release of “Fifty Shades of Grey” on Feb. 13. The movie depicts college student Anastasia Steele’s erotic awakening at the hands of billionaire Christian Grey.
Steele is introduced to Grey’s world of control and sexual deviance in this unconventional love story. However, “Fifty Shades of Grey” fails to represent some of the most vital aspects of alternative sexual practices. Simon Blackfell, a longtime member of the BDSM community, said the film barely scratches the surface of the intricate process. “What you see is the activity, not the thought behind it,” he said.
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Blackfell, a graduate student in psychology from Bloomington, is an advocate for BDSM practices. He is hosting an event at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Gaia House to teach people about the lifestyle. “I’m not dissing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’” he said. “I’m doing this to make sure people are getting the proper information about how [BDSM] works in the real world.” Please see BDSM · 3
Students ask for course diversity Annual food fair brings Jessica Brown
@BrownJessicaJ | Daily Egyptian
The university’s mission statement lists inclusive excellence as one of SIU’s priorities. However, Crystle LaCroix, a senior from North Brookfield, Mass., studying English, said a lack in diverse curriculum and staff contradict this claim. LaCroix said one of her main concerns is most of the material covered in the English department was written by white males. “We do have classes that center around African-American writers, and some women of color, but as a whole, it’s not really something that’s offered,” she said.
LaCroix, a white student, attributes part of this to the predominantly white faculty. “The lack of diversity in hiring is reflective of the lack of diversity in the text,” she said. George Boulukos, an English professor, agrees a diverse staff would be beneficial to the student body. With budget cuts and a small window of opportunity, he said it may not be a realistic goal. “Our chance to shake our faculty in any regard is pretty much nothing, because we don’t hire people regularly,” Boulukos said. He said his interests in increasing diverse course material and staff
are sometimes not matched by the university’s course of action. The faculty’s means and the courses it offers are often determined by arbitrary things, such as budget issues, and not by its educational mission, he said. “Should representing diversity be a major priority? Yes.” he said. “It’s a thing I think most of our faculty are very interested and committed to. Can it translate into reality? I don’t know.” This absence of cross-culturalism is not just exemplified within the English department. For the rest of this story, please see www.dailyegyptian.com
out the community Ahmad Hicks
@AhicksSports_DE | Daily Egyptian
A truckload of nearly 20,000 pounds of food that was dropped off Wednesday in the parking lot of the American Legion in Murphysboro, will help feed 200 families in need. The annual Jackson County Food Fair took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Murphysboro Food Pantry—which typically serves 800 to 900 people per year. Jane Williams, a lead volunteer, said she loves giving back to the community and the families in need.
“Each car will get around 90 pounds of food including apples, cereal, chicken, sausage and so on,” Williams said. The food drive consisted of 60 to 70 volunteers from the SIU Arnold Air Society, senior volunteers— some over the age of 80—Feeder of the Pack and student athletes within SIU athletics. Saluki wide receiver Billy Reed, a junior from Joliet studying finance, came to the event with his teammates and said it was fun to interact with fans of Saluki football. Please see FOOD · 3