Daily Egyptian WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016
VOL. 100 ISSUE 57
SINCE 1916
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
Bill would allow SIU to sell alcohol during school events BILL LUKITSCH | @BILL_LUKITSCHDE
There’s buzz in Springfield about selling alcohol at the university. New legislation introduced last week by Sen. Pat McGuire, D-Crest Hill, in the Illinois Senate would allow booze and beer to be sold during campus-sanctioned events, such as Saluki games and concerts.
Early voting opens at SIU next week
The SIU Board of Trustees would have to approve all alcohol use if the bill passes. The board would have discretion to assess events on an individual basis and provide all guidelines for responsible sale and consumption on university property. “I suspect that the administration would have some fairly significant restrictions on the consumption of
alcohol in any of our buildings,” said Kevin Bame, vice chancellor of administration and finance. “Those are details that need to be worked out if the legislation is passed, the governor signs it and the board of trustees agrees to it.” Outside vendors could be hired or current employees would be trained to ensure state drinking
and pouring laws are followed. Chicago State University, Illinois State University, University of Illinois and Eastern Illinois University have in recent years been given legal leeway to sell alcoholic beverages during campus events deemed non-student related. Bame said he expects the administration would consult with other state universities to determine
the most responsible practices if the legislation moves forward. “This piece of legislation is very similar to what other Illinois public universities already have under today’s statute,” said Bame, who acknowledged the additional cash is the biggest incentive for the university. Please see ALCOHOL | 3
Painting in preparation for gallery launch
ANNA SPOERRE | @annaspoerre
Spring break this year means more than pools and parties — it means presidential polls. Students who plan to spend their spring break anywhere but in line at a polling booth on March 15, the day of the Illinois primary, have the opportunity to cast their vote on campus next week. Voting precincts include University Hall, Grinnell Hall, Lentz Hall and the Carbondale Civic Center. Students can also register, change their address and cast a vote for a presidential candidate at the Student Center. The polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 9 to 11. Jackson Country Clerk Larry Reinhardt, whose office runs all elections in the county, said students who missed the regular registration period that closed Feb. 17 can still register during the state grace period, which lasts until the day of the primary. Reinhardt said he has some concern that college students, who already have the lowest voter turnout rates, will show even lower participation numbers because of the overlap of many universities’ spring breaks with the election. “Traditionally the student voting population is little to none in the partisan primaries,” he said. In the past Reinhardt said only two or three votes were cast in every student precinct during the primary election. At the national level, Reinhardt said about 30 percent of voters are submitting ballots early, doubling the numbers in the last presidential election when early voting was still a fairly new concept. Please see VOTING | 3
Morgan Timms | D AILY E GYPTIAN Residential designer Mark Davis prepares to paint the exterior windowsill of Budslick Counseling and Psychotherapy Services building with primer Monday on West Main Street. Davis has recently opened Anthology Art and Design Gallery on the top level of the building and hopes to finish priming before Tuesday’s forecasted rain. Davis said people often misconstrue design with decorating when “they are really two different things.” “Design is problem solving,” Davis said. “For instance, I did a job where the home was sitting on a lake and in the afternoon the glass windows made it so bright you couldn’t see one another in the space. So I painted a perpendicular wall a dark blue-green to absorb the light so it wasn’t so glaring and bright. And people think, ‘oh, that’s a decorators wall’. Well not really, it served a purpose. And all good design does. It’s functional as well as beautiful.”
Colwell asks vice chancellors to make 12% reduction plan LUKE NOZICKA | @lukenozicka
Interim Chancellor William Bradley Colwell is asking the campus’ vice chancellors to create a 12 percent “what if ” reduction plan for fiscal year 2017, the most recent sign of financial uncertainty for Illinois’ higher education institutions during the state’s longest budget impasse to date. This is just one of at least six ways Colwell thinks the campus can preserve money in these “difficult times.” In an email to employees on Tuesday, he said the university will review incomplete, active and already approved hiring searches, freeze all
state-funded travel unless it is funded by external grants and ask vice chancellors to review expenses of more than $5,000. “We are in uncharted territory,” he said. “Be assured that while we are absolutely not at risk of closure, the lack of a state appropriation is placing significant pressure on our budget.” For more than eight months, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic Legislature have been unable to negotiate a state budget, leaving universities and colleges without funding since July 1. Hundreds of employees at these institutions have received layoff notices, including all 900 people who work at Chicago
State University. Programs have been cut. Concerned students, mostly at Eastern Illinois, have rallied at the State Capitol. “We are all in this together, and we need everyone to do what you can to conserve funds,” Colwell said. “As painful as this process will be, it is an important step that will help us communicate with our legislators and others about the value of higher education and the importance of state support as an investment in the future of Illinois.” For the rest of this story, please visit www.dailyegyptian.com.
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