Daily Egyptian 9/14/2010

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SIDEWALK EXPRESSION Claire Mueller, an undecided freshman from St. Louis, draws a tree with a peace sign for Chalk 4 Peace on Monday at the free forum area on campus.

Chalk 4 Peace started in 2003 and grew to a worldwide effort in 2005. According to its website, chalk4peace.org, “Chalk4Peace is not encouraged as an antiwar demonstration; rather, it is a creative presentation for young artists of all ages utilizing the theme of peace.� Timeloyd Rich, 62, of Carbondale, brought all the chalk for the event. Rich has participated in Chalk 4 Peace since 2007. “I’m not trying to stop war; I know I can’t,� Rich said. “I’m just trying to get people to be nicer to each other.�

PAT SUTPHIN DAILY EGYPTIAN

Veterans’ education costs university millions RYAN VOYLES Daily Egyptian Chancellor Rita Cheng said SIUC would continue to support the free education veterans receive, even though a loss of state money for it will cost the university millions.

All veterans from Illinois who meet several guidelines are eligible for the Illinois Veterans Grant program, which pays for the veteran’s tuition and mandatory fees, which includes registration, student services and technology fees, according to the grant’s guidelines.

But the program was one of several to be hurt by Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget cuts in July.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which controls grants and scholarship programs for college students, was required by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget to remove $9 million given to its programs — without a reduction in the Monetary Award Program, according to the Commission’s website. It chose to remove funds from the Illinois Veterans Grant, the Illinois National Guard and Minority Teachers of Illinois programs.

But Cheng said the university would honor the veteran grant, even without state money. “We have not dropped that commitment, we are still going to be

accessible to veterans and welcome them to campus,� she said. “So between the federal support and our own campus support, we will continue to make sure that veterans can get an education.�

There were 726 recipients of the Illinois Veterans Grant at SIUC last year, which cost the university more than $4 million, according to documents from the Bursar’s Office. The state paid only $1.8 million of the costs, forcing SIUC to absorb about $2.4 million of the cost.

The university is expecting 700 veterans to receive the grant this year, according to the documents, which would cost $3.5 million.

Cheng said she encourages all

œœW

e have not dropped that commitment, we are still going to be accessible to veterans and welcome them to campus. So between the federal support and our own campus support, we will continue to make sure that veterans can get an education. — Rita Cheng Chancellor of SIUC

veterans to take advantage of grants from the federal level, “then look to state support once they have exhausted the federal efforts.�

Chris Piha, a senior from Carol Stream studying history and coordinator for the Veterans Center, said veterans do not mean to hurt the

university, but the grant is something they are entitled to use by the state legislation and the university, and that veterans deserve the grant after risking their lives overseas.

Please see VETERANS | 3

On-campus turf project vandalized during weekend SARAH SCHNEIDER Daily Egyptian A student-run turf project outside the Agriculture Building was vandalized this weekend, according to the Department of Public Safety.

Todd Sigler, director of the department, said eight vinyl signs that marked a turf restoration project were damaged, metal frames were bent or pulled out, and plastic was shredded. The estimated

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came in Monday morning and the signs had been slashed and the plastic was ripped off the metal frame ... It was clearly intentional. — Ken Diesburg assistant professor in the plant, soils and agriculture department

cost of the damage was $30 to $35, he said.

Ken Diesburg, an assistant professor in the plant, soils and agriculture

department, said the signs were put out Thursday around a fenced-off area of electric rods and a rope was put up as a boundary around the herbicide.

“As of Friday, everything was still good. The strings were still out there and the signs looked good,� he said. “I came in Monday morning and the signs had been slashed and the plastic was ripped off the metal frame ... It was clearly intentional.�

David Burrow, a senior from Altamont studying plant and soil sciences, said he and his group, the Turf Club, initiated the project in July in hopes of improving the condition of the grass

around the Agriculture Building.

He said no damage was done to the site or the soil where the seeds for the project will be planted. “We are planting the seeds next week,� Burrow said. “I would encourage people to not vandalize the area once the seed gets down, don’t ride their bikes or walk over it.�

Please see VANDALISM | 3

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News

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

PAT SUTPHIN | DAILY EGYPTIAN

Carbondale Police investigate a traffic crash Monday afternoon at Route 13 and Sycamore Street. At press time, police hadn’t released an official report on the crash.

About Us The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 50 weeks per year, with an average daily circulation of 20,000. Fall and spring semester editions run Monday through Friday.

Summer editions run Tuesday through Thursday. All intersession editions will run on Wednesdays. Spring break and Thanksgiving editions are distributed on Mondays of the pertaining weeks. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale, Murphysboro and Carterville communities. The Daily Egyptian online publication can be found at www.dailyegyptian.com.

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Mission Statement The Daily Egyptian, the student-run newspaper of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is committed to being a trusted source of news, information, commentary and public discourse, while helping readers understand the issues affecting their lives.

Upcoming Calendar Events The Path of Compassion

· Oct. 5, 6:30 p.m. in the Ohio room at the SIU Student Center · Admission is free · Sponsored by the SIUC Buddhist Fellowship RSO and Sunyata Buddhist Center in Carbondale. · The Rinpoche will deliver a talk on “the path of compassion.”

How to Love: A Chan Buddhist Perspective

· 1:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in the Illinois room at the SIUC Student Center · Admission is free · SIU Buddhist Fellowship RSO to welcome the director of NY Chan Buddhist Meditation Center to give address at SIUC

Correction In the Tuesday edition of the Daily Egyptian, the story “City Council to vote on major rezoning project today” should have said “This is the last chance for the northwest. Who knows what could be put there,” Arbor District resident Lawerence Davis said. The Daily Egyptian regrets this error.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

VANDALISM CONTINUED FROM

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Diesburg said the signs were for educational purposes and to inform the public of what the project was hoping to accomplish. He said the signs clearly stated in enhanced coloring and large print, “We hope you enjoy the change and help us by respecting the assembled boundaries.”

Sigler said there are no suspects

and is doubtful there would be any in the immediate future.

“Given the area the vandalism happened at, I am only speculating, but it was probably someone coming home from the weekend and thought it would be fun to do,” he said.

The project is in its beginning stages, Burrow said.

“Right now it just looks like dead grass but in about three weeks it will look really lush and green,” he said.

PAT SUTPHIN | DAILY EGYPTIAN

A sign that reads“We hope you enjoy the change and help us by respecting the assembled boundaries”lies in pieces Monday at Lincoln Square outside the Agriculture Building. The designated area was blocked off for the seeding of tall fescue, a turfgrass species that should upgrade the quality of the turf. The area was vandalized some time during the weekend.

News VETERANS CONTINUED FROM

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“I don’t know of too many people who have put their lives on the line to get a seat in college,” said Piha. “But the men and women who are utilizing the Illinois Veterans Grant made that sacrifice. So if the state is not paying for it — it should be on the state, not the university or the veterans.”

SIUC has already prepared for an $11.5 million shortfall in its general operating fund budget — which includes at least $3 million that will be lost due to the lack of the state funding the grant, according to SIUC’s proposed 2011 budget.

Cheng said in an email to university personnel Aug. 2 that she had asked each department on campus to submit plans for an average 4 percent reduction in its budget for the fiscal year to make up for the $11.5 million shortfall.

Carol Henry, director of the budget office, said her office saw warning signs in the past about possible cuts and were prepared to eliminate the money in the budget.

“Last year ... the Illinois Board of Higher Education, in their recommendation to the legislators, said that all the funding for the Illinois Veterans Grant be transferred to the Illinois Student Assistant Commission and that colleges not receive any funding,” she said. “Based on that sort of pre-warning, we try to anticipate a reduced level of

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he legislation took it upon (itself) to make it a law that veterans from Illinois were awarded waved tuition and fees to provide access to education. If the university is in a budget crisis, then I think the university should reach out to the state legislators and figure out why they’re not funding this mandate that they felt was so important to be implemented.

— Chris Piha coordinator for the Veterans Center

funding for this year.”

Jonathan Cape, a graduate masters in agribusiness economics from Peoria who served in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, said he uses the Illinois Veterans Grant because many of the federal grants only provide checks monthly to support veterans, while the Illinois grant goes directly toward education.

Mark Wright, a senior from Carterville studying history who served in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007, said using the grant has been important to continuing his education.

“It’s really important because from day one in the Army, I knew I would be able to get it,” he said. “And so being able to get here and go through school basically with it being taken care of and I’m able to keep my focus on paying bills — it’s a pretty important (grant).”

He said he hopes the state would find a way to fund the program in the future because it is important for the hundreds of veterans who attend college after returning from deployment.

The university would continue to be a destination for veterans despite the lack of state money, Cheng said. Military Times Edge, a magazine aimed at military personnel, named SIUC the 37th best university in the country for active duty service members.

Piha said at the end of the day, it is important for the state to decide how much it cares about its veterans.

“The legislation took it upon (itself ) to make it a law that veterans from Illinois were awarded waved tuition and fees to provide access to education,” he said.

“If the university is in a budget crisis, then I think the university should reach out to the state legislators and figure out why they’re not funding this mandate that they felt was so important to be implemented. As broke as the state is, its sad they are cutting from veterans in one way or another.”

Ryan Voyles can be reached at rvoyles@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 254.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Department surveys students, faculty on Public Safety JACOB MAYER Daily Egyptian To stay on top of safety issues on campus, the Department of Public Safety sent surveys to students and faculty for feedback on its services, said Todd Sigler.

Sigler, director of public safety, said the survey is not in response to any particular issue, but is designed to help the department gather general information about safety issues on campus and overall impressions of the department.

“We felt that it had been a long time since there had been a very aggressive effort at trying to collect that information to find out what people’s perceptions are about safety issues about campus and about service they receive from our department,” he said.

Sigler said the department, along with help from staff at Morris Library, posted the survey on Blackboard for students and sent it by e-mail to

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would rather know an area that is a concern and start to do some things to address it than to just sort of blindly go along thinking everything is just fine, because we know better than that.

faculty and staff. The survey was sent out last week and will be available until Sept. 22, he said.

Nicholas Corsaro, an assistant professor in criminology, said the department asked for him to review the questions in the survey, and he wanted to make sure the department would get feedback that would be useful for the long-term.

Sigler said he hopes to build a timeline that will show comparisons to the safety needs of the university at certain points in time.

Overall, Corsaro said he thought the survey was pretty clean and had only suggested changes to four or five questions.

— Todd Sigler director of public safety Corsaro said he is not sure what the response rate will be and who will be most likely to respond. Students who are the most happy or least happy might have a higher response rate than those who are slightly happy or satisfied with campus safety, he said.

Sigler said the department would also compare the results of this survey with the data it gathered on previous campus safety walks where department personnel walk through campus and identify any potentially unsafe areas, such as those that are not well lit.

As of last week, the department has received more than 600 responses, Sigler said.

“I’m not afraid of what we’re going to hear,” he said. “I would rather know an area that is a concern and start to do some things to address it than to just sort of blindly go along thinking everything is just fine, because we know better than that.”

Deanna Belt, a freshman from Chicago studying English, said she plans to fill out the survey and is pleased the department is taking steps to include student input.

“They’re interested in the safety of the students at the school, and I feel safer just by knowing that there is a survey about that on Blackboard,” she said.

Belt said she feels safe when she is

on campus. However, she also thinks improvements will come from the survey, including more police patrol and a faster response time during accidents.

Sigler said he hopes to be able to use the results this school year so the department will be able to identify and fix any spots that could be unsafe.

“Some things are very easy and don’t cost a lot of money; other things are going to be certainly more expensive and that’s going to take a little bit more of a long-range plan,” he said. “We’ll begin using the results this year, but some of the things may be a few years in getting accomplished.”

Belt said she hopes the survey might be another step that will help lower the campus crime rate.

“Hopefully there will be less crime on campus — hopefully,” she said.

Jacob Mayer can be reached at jmayer@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 254.

Aging gas pipe at risk of explosion nationwide GARANCE BURKE JASON DEAREN The Associated Press S AN BRUNO, C a li f. — An ominous theme has emerged from the wreckage of a deadly pipeline explosion in California: There are thousands of pipes just like it nationwide.

Utilities have been under pressure for years to better inspect and replace aging gas pipes — many of them laid years before the suburbs expanded over them and now are at risk of leaking or erupting.

But the effort has fallen short.

Critics say the regulatory system is ripe for problems because the government largely leaves it up to the companies to do inspections, and utilities are reluctant to spend the money necessary to properly fix and replace decrepit pipelines.

“If this was the FAA and air travel we were talking about, I wouldn’t get on a plane,” said Rick Kessler, a former congressional staffer specializing in pipeline safety issues who now works for the Pipeline Safety Trust, an advocacy group based in Bellingham, Wash.

Investigators are still trying to figure out how the pipeline in San Bruno ruptured and ignited a gigantic fireball that torched one home after another in the neighborhood, killing at least four people. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the pipeline’s owner, said Monday it has set aside up to $100 million to help residents recover.

Experts say the California disaster epitomizes the risks that communities face with old gas lines.

The pipe was more than 50 years old — right around the life expectancy for steel pipes. It was part of a transmission line that in one section had an “unacceptably high” risk of failure. And it was in a densely populated area.

The blast was the latest warning sign in a series of deadly infrastructure failures in recent years, including a bridge collapse

in Minneapolis and a steam pipe explosion that tore open a Manhattan street in 2007. The steam pipe that ruptured was more than 80 years old.

The section of pipeline that ruptured was built in 1956, back when the neighborhood contained only a handful of homes. It is a scenario that National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Christopher Hart has seen play out throughout the nation, as suburbs have expanded.

“That’s an issue we’re going to have to look on a bigger scale — situations in which pipes of some age were put in before the dense population arrived and now the dense population is right over the pipe,” he said.

Thousands of pipelines nationwide fit the same bill, and they frequently experience mishaps. Federal officials have recorded 2,840 significant gas pipeline accidents since 1990, more than a third causing deaths and significant injuries.

“In reality, there is a major pipeline incident every other day in this country,” said Carl Weimer, Pipeline Safety Trust’s executive director. “Luckily, most of them don’t happen in populated areas, but you still see too many failures to think something like this wasn’t going to happen sooner or later.”

Congress passed a law in 2002 that required utilities for the first time to inspect pipelines that run through heavily-populated areas.

In the first five years, more than 3,000 problems were identified — a figure Weimer said underscores the precarious pipeline system.

Even when inspections are done and problems found, Kessler said, there is no requirement for companies to say if or what kind of repairs were made. And Weimer added industry lobbyists have since pushed to relax that provision of the law so inspections could occur once a decade or once every 15 years.

Other critics complain that the pipeline plans are drafted in se-

cret with little opportunity for the public to provide speak out about the process.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is the federal regulatory arm that enforces rules for the safe operation of the nation’s pipeline system. Most state public utility agencies have adopted the federal rules and carry out inspections and enforcement.

But the system often relies on the pipeline operators like Pacific Gas & Electric to survey their own gas lines and to decide which pipelines are high-risk.

The American Gas Association disputes the notion that it cuts any corners and says the industry is subjected to stringent state and federal regulations.

“Safety is unequivocally the No. 1 priority for the natural gas transmission and distribution industry and always will be,” spokesman Chris Hogan said. “The industry spends billions each year to ensure the safety and reliability of the natural gas infrastructure.

The challenge of ensuring pipeline safety is compounded by the sheer enormity of the nation’s

natural gas network. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration says the U.S. has more than 2 million miles of pipelines — enough to circle the earth about 100 times.

The agency has only about 100 federal inspectors nationwide to ensure compliance, meaning there is no guarantee violators will be caught. “When you look at two-and-a-half million miles of pipeline with 100 inspectors, it’s not reassuring,” Weimer said. “To a grand degree the industry inspects and polices themselves.”

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Editorial Policy Our Word is the consensus of the Daily Egyptian Editorial Board on local, national and global issues affecting the Southern Illinois University community. Viewpoints expressed in columns and letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.

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GUEST COLUMN

8 6 VKRXOG VKLIW DZD\ IURP SHUHQQLDO ZDU James Anderson graduate student studying mass communication and media arts

The horrific events that took place nine years ago on Sept. 11 left many Americans asking, “Why?� The oftrepeated, dangerously reductive answer usually involved accusations of virulent religious extremism, resentment of our greatness, assumptions of fervid freedom-hating or some uncritical combination of all the aforesaid.

I don’t doubt there is an element of truth to most of those explanations, but there is a more seminal reason we have failed to address, and it is a problem that we exacerbate at our own peril. It is our sickly predisposition for perpetual war.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has initiated — on false pretenses — a war of preemptive aggression in Iraq. It increased military spending more than any other country, practiced indefinite detention and extraordinary rendition, also known as kidnapping, and utilized enhanced interrogation techniques, also known as torture. U.S. service members trained militaries with abysmal human rights records at the School of the Americas. The United States was the largest supplier of arms to countries with atrocious human rights records — Columbia, for example, used aerial drones to take out targets via extrajudicial execution, and refused to disavow the use of pernicious cluster munitions, unlike the more than 100 signatories to the Convention on

Cluster Munitions. We also remain embroiled in the longest lasting war in our nation’s history in Afghanistan.

How many of those aforementioned endeavors have made us safer? How many have fostered further anti-American sentiment? Moreover, how many have been fundamentally immoral, illegal or otherwise antithetical to the principles we supposedly stand for?

Perhaps we should question our penchant for war and propensity to pursue military solutions to humanitarian and socioeconomic problems. Maybe we should admit hegemonic militarism and placing garrisons around the globe contributes to some of those problems while creating a whole host of new ones.

For some strange reason, people in occupied countries and militarized

zones don’t always see us as benevolent liberators. They could be jealous of our Bacon and mayonnaise-dipped double cheeseburgers and hate us for our freedoms, but they could be more irked by the constant threat of becoming an inadvertent civilian casualty.

Our permanent war mentality can manifest itself in ways that ironically, and tragically, breed more terror, but also in ways that negatively impact our security in every sense of the word.

Maybe private contractors, production profiteers and a select few corporations benefit from ceaseless military engagement, but the majority of the U.S. population does not. A bloated defense budget takes money away from sorely needed domestic programs and public investments.

Rather than enriching the rich and relying on the military-industrial complex to create jobs, we could use those billions of defense dollars to bolster our economy. We could build up our infrastructure, develop alternative energy sources — which would lessen our dependence on foreign oil, and thus lessen the perceived need for exploitative imperial occupation — and provide proper funding for public education. If we did that, we could create new jobs, raise the standard of living, decrease economic disparity, and lead the world in innovation and production of new technologies instead of trying to dominate by force.

What we need is a paradigm shift, not a country predicated on perennial war.

GUEST COLUMN

3UHVLGHQW 2EDPD VKRXOG IROORZ LQ )'5¡V IRRWVWHSV Nick Taylor McClatchy Tribune As President Barack Obama weighs his options for adding jobs and pumping up the economy amid ever-louder calls for spending cuts, he might look back for guidance to former President Franklin Roosevelt.

Indeed, Obama’s experience so far resembles Roosevelt’s first uneven stabs at job creation. Roosevelt accepted the Democratic nomination in 1932, touting a plan to put a million men to work in national parks and forests. When he took office, with the unemployment rate at 24.9 percent, he created the Civilian Conservation Corps, his first jobs program.

But it was too limited to make much of a dent in joblessness. Estimates of the number of people out of work ranged as

high as 15 million. The “CCC boys,� as the young men who worked out of military-style camps doing erosion control and reforestation work were known, never numbered more than 300,000 at any given time.

Roosevelt continued his efforts with the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The agency’s first charge was to feed the hungry and see that they had clothes and shelter. In tackling that mission, it put 2 million people to work by the fall of 1933 as well.

These efforts still left far too many people out of jobs. The Civil Works Administration put more than 4 million workers into jobs during the winter of 1933 to 1934.

The CWA ended, as designed, after just five months. But unemployment remained unacceptably high. Like Obama today, Roosevelt had midterm elections

to think about. His critics accused him of socialism and fretted publicly that large deficits would ruin the country.

Despite his vocal opponents, in January 1935, FDR announced his intention to launch the massive jobs program that became the Works Progress Administration.

The president’s promise that the country would “see the dirt fly� was realized that fall, more than two years after he took office. The WPA addressed a range of long-standing infrastructure needs, including roads and bridges, hospitals and water treatment plants, and airports. By the fall of 1936, 3.3 million people were on the WPA payroll.

The stimulus provided by those jobs buoyed the economy. By the spring of 1937, after Roosevelt’s landslide reelection, the country’s unemployment rate had dropped to 14 percent.

FDR then, again like Obama, heard calls to cut spending and balance the budget. These calls were not just from his opponents; some of his own advisers also urged him to cut back.

He heeded them. He slashed WPA spending by two-thirds, from its original $4.8 billion appropriation to $1.5 billion for the year, starting July 1937.

Half as many workers — 1.65 million — would get WPA paychecks.

At the same time, Roosevelt tightened bank reserve requirements. Deductions for the new Social Security System took more money out of the economy.

Business responded with its usual selfprotective caution and stopped spending. That fall, industrial production fell, the stock market plunged and, by the end of the year, unemployment had surged, with another 2 million workers losing their jobs. Republicans called it

the Roosevelt recession.

In the spring of 1938, Roosevelt resumed spending, and soon the WPA rolls were back above 2 million, on their way to an all-time high of 3.4 million.

The lesson for Obama in all this is that stimulus works, and the sooner and more aggressive, the better. In the first round of stimulus spending, jobs were saved and some infrastructure projects got underway, but there’s still much more to do.

Of course, Obama faces challenges that his Depression-era predecessor did not. When Obama argues for a new round of stimulus, he’ll stand against a distracting background of red ink.

Still, spending on jobs would be worth the cost. An America prepared today to meet the future will be applauded long after this recession is consigned to the history books.

best possible decision, and therefore should not be bothered by the group.

On the other hand, if a woman is making a rash and perhaps selfish decision by visiting the clinic to end an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, perhaps the group would offer her hope and cause her to rethink her choice before it is too late.

For all any of us know, one or more of the members of Saluki Respect Life could have previously made such a decision in the past, and wished to stop others from making the same mis-

take. Norma Leah McCorvey, better known as Jane Roe, the woman from the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe vs.

Wade legalizing abortion, has since become a strong anti-abortion advocate. If a woman once so strongly involved in the legalization of abortion is now completely against it, then I see no harm in this group offering its opinions, as well as its hope, to those entering the clinic.

I hope it will change the minds of several women or at least make them more aware of the irreversible decision

they are about to make.

I am proud of my fellow Salukis who sacrificed their Saturday morning to pray outside of the clinic, and I wish to thank Taylor for his leadership, as well as for his diplomatic and eloquent response to the author of Thursday’s guest column, who does not seem to have a very good grasp on the intentions of the Saluki Respect Life organization.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Kudos to Saluki Respect Life for abortion clinic vigil Dear Editor: In response to the guest column published Thursday entitled, “Rights do not make humiliation right� I strongly disagree with the author, who said the actions of Tim Taylor, the director of the Newman Center, and the Saluki Respect Life RSO are “deplorable,� and that the group consists of “a bunch of holier-than-thou jerks.�

I am not affiliated with this group, but I deeply respect its effort in holding a protest outside of the Granite City abortion clinic Sept. 11.

Although I agree with the author’s point that women visiting the clinic might feel shamed or guilty upon seeing the protestors, as Taylor said in his response to the author’s e-mail, the intention of this event was not to shame these women, and the group promised it would “be praying and hoping that one of these women will choose something different for herself and her unborn child.� If, as the author suggests, a woman seeks such treatment due to a medical problem, then she should know, in her heart, she is making the

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Ali Rosenberg junior studying geography and environmental resources

Notice The Daily Egyptian is a “designated public forum.� Student editors have the authority to make all content decisions without censorship or advance approval.

We reserve the right to not publish any letter or guest column.

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New student organization offers support, networking REBECCA DULL Daily Egyptian As a student, single father and veteran, David Kirby’s challenges are different from people who come to college straight out of high school.

Kirby, a junior from Decatur studying paralegal studies, said he had been in training with the Navy and for the first time since the 1990s has had to adapt to being in a college environment.

Kristian Alton, a graduate student in educational psychology from Clinton, Ky., and other interested students met Sunday to discuss forming a student organization called Not Your Typical Student for non-traditional students like Kirby. Non-traditional students do

POTTERY PROMOTION Rachel Sonenblum, a graduate student in ceramics from Twin Cities, Mo., works with clay during a pottery display Monday in the Student Center.

The display used to help advertise the Student Center Craft Shop and its upcoming activities.

Starting next week, many workshops and multi-week classes will begin, such as ceramics, woodworking and glass staining. For more information on the Craft Shop’s upcoming programs, visit www. siucstudentcenter.org.

PAT SUTPHIN DAILY EGYPTIAN

not come to college right out of high school; some have been in the military or the work force, others are married or have children.

Kirby said he returned to school to further his education and to set an example for his daughter. He said he is excited about the new student organization for non-traditional students.

“My interest in a student organization revolves around having more people to talk to around school that have more life experiences,” Kirby said.

He said he would like to meet people who may be experiencing similar challenges.

Alton said almost 900 students indicated in a survey last spring they are non-traditional. She said one of the

main goals of the organization is to create a social connection for students on campus. She said similar student organizations exist at other universities including Northern Illinois University and Illinois State University.

Katherine L. Sermersheim, director of student development, said student organizations are good for networking and it would be great for non-traditional students to relate to one another.

“When we find people that we have connections with we feel more at home and relaxed and part of the university community as a whole,” Sermersheim said.

Sermersheim said the demand for non-traditional services is high because many people return to school to im-

prove their life circumstances when the economy is tough and the student organization would compliment services already offered by student development.

Once the student organization is in operation, Alton said she hopes to restart Pinnacle at SIU. Pinnacle is chartered with more than 140 schools and nationally recognizes non-traditional students as scholars and for their achievements in their communities.

Alton said she wants to raise money so members can attend a national conference hosted by the Association of Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education where students attend workshops on scheduling, time management and handling several priorities.

“The conference gives students the opportunity to network on a national

level,” Alton said.

Alton said she is also working with the clinical center in the Wham Education Building to start a support group for non-traditional students. She said students would receive therapeutic support from a counselor and can share their challenges with one another.

“It accomplishes two things; it helps students problem solve and it helps them feel like they’re not the only ones,” Alton said.

The group’s next meeting is at 6 p.m. Oct. 6, in a place yet to be determined. For more information contact Alton at 453-5714.

Rebecca Dull can be reached at rdull@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 273.

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Daily Egyptian

Classifieds

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Sports

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Saluki Insider He will be able to play in China, especially if Stephon Marbury can, but he will never see the court at an NBA arena again.

Salukis notch strong showing in long weekend tournament BRANDON COLEMAN Daily Egyptian Pressed against a tree and facing crosswind gusts that reached 30 miles per hour Saturday at Weihbring Golf Course in Normal, freshman Saluki golfer Cassie Rushing said she pulled off one of her most difficult shots at the weekend’s Redbird Invitational.

As if the position and wind weren’t enough, the right-handed Rushing had to swing her 4-iron lefthanded when she chipped the ball over a bunker and onto the green, head coach Diane Daugherty said.

“I didn’t have a stance, so I took a 4-iron and I used the back end and swung it like a left-handed club,” Rushing said.

All five Saluki women golfers finished in the top 25 at the MVC Preview Redbird Invitational Saturday and Sunday.

Daugherty said the team overcame stormy weather and fatigue from a 36-hole day to finish third out of 11 teams.

“When you get mentally tired that’s worse than being physically tired,” Daugherty said.

Sophomore Shaina Rennegarbe, who tied for 11th in the tournament, said wind is always an issue when they travel to tournaments up north, and it is something a golfer has to accept.

“You can hit a perfect shot and it’ll turn out wrong because of the wind,” Rennegarbe said. “You can’t prepare for something like that.”

Sophomore Meg Gilley led the Salukis with the lowest score. Gilley recorded scores of 74, 77 and 80 during the 54-hole weekend and finished 10th overall.

Junior Alisha Matthews finished 17th, while freshmen twins Ashleigh

We talking China, man. This ain’t no National Basketball Association, we talking about some basketball in China, man. I’m not even going to discuss this, man, but best of luck to him out East.

rvoyles@dailyegyptian.com

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ou can hit a perfect shot and it’ll turn out wrong because of the wind. You can’t prepare for something like that.

— Shaina Rennegarbe sophomore golfer

and Cassie Rushing finished 20th and 24th in their collegiate debut.

Daugherty said the Salukis continually made impressive shots whether they swung from the tee or chipped from a bunker, but their overall weakness was putting.

Fatigue during the first 36 holes was a reason for the team’s lack of putting strength, Daugherty said.

“We (woke) up at six in the morning. We (were) out there until dark,” Rennegarbe said. “We played for ten hours straight and that doesn’t count warm-ups.”

Cassie Rushing said playing 36 holes for the first time wore on her back.

“There’s just no way to prepare for a 36-hole day,” Daugherty said.

Rushing said she had to forget about the pain during the two-day tournament because everyone else was dealing with it too.

Daugherty said she plans to change the women’s shooting lineup to fit the team’s results at the invite.

Gilley, Rennegarbe and Matthews will shoot from the top three spots, but SIU will use a Saluki-only tournament this weekend to decide who will fill the last two spots for the Cardinal Classic Sept. 27 and 28 in Yorkville, Ind.

Brandon Coleman can be reached at bcoleman@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 269.

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Allen Iverson can’t find an NBA team who will play him, but he said he still wants to play. One option Iverson seems to be exploring is China. Will Iverson be able to rebuild his career overseas?

RYAN VOYLES

BRANDON LACHANCE

blachance@dailyegyptian.com

Daily Egyptian

I think he will rebuild his career in Europe or a Latin American country playing for Argentina, Puerto Rico or Germany.

I think it’s a shame to see a once-dominant talent diminished to playing overseas instead of in the NBA.

BRANDON COLEMAN

bcoleman@dailyegyptian.com

New Jersey fined $3 million

by NHL, loses 2 draft picks TOM CANAVAN The Associated Press N EWARK, N .J. — The cost of signing Ilya Kovalchuk got even more expensive for the New Jersey Devils.

The NHL fined the Devils $3 million on Monday and took away two high draft picks over the next four years for signing Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102 million contract in July that circumvented the league’s salary cap.

In handing down what might be his harshest penalty for a team salarycap violation, Commissioner Gary Bettman forced New Jersey to forfeit a first-round pick sometime over the

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“We have also become more flexible in our scheduling process and have been more accommodating in recent years,” Bennett said.

Phillip Bickart, a senior from Joliet studying management and entrepreneurship, has worked at the center for four years. Some students who played sports in high school and still have a competitive drive can consider intramural sports as a way to continue to compete, he said.

“I got out and told students we

COLUMN CONTINUED FROM

12

St. Louis Last week: Cardinals 17, Rams 13 Week 2 score prediction: Rams 20, Raiders 10 Sam Bradford threw 55 passes in his regular season debut — an unfathomable and inexplicable amount for a rookie QB. He did fine for the workload, leading his team to a second-half lead, but it just can’t be expected of him to go out and win the game on his own in Week 1. It’s

next four years and a third-round pick next year.

Devils president and chief executive Lou Lamoriello insisted the team didn’t break the rules.

“We were today advised of the ruling by the commissioner with respect to the Kovalchuk matter,” Lamoriello said in a statement. “We disagree with the decision. We acted in good faith and did nothing wrong.

We will have no further comment.”

It was not immediately clear if the Devils can appeal the ruling.

The NHL had the right to discipline the Devils after arbitrator Richard Bloch ruled on Aug. 9 that Kovalchuk’s free-agent contract

constituted a circumvention of the NHL/NHLPA collective bargaining agreement. The league’s biggest problem with the deal was that the 27-year-old Russian star was to be paid only $550,000 in each of the final six years.

The $3 million fine will not count against the Devils’ salary cap, a decision the league and the NHL Players’ Association reached earlier this month in working out an amendment on long-term contracts.

That amendment paved the way for the league to approve a 15-year, $100 million contract that the Devils and Kovalchuk reworked after Bloch’s arbitration ruling.

have these programs and they’re free, and they’re like ‘Really?’”

Bickart said.

Bickart said the flag football program has nicer facilities, a better-run program than before and the staff is talking to intramural players for suggestions to further accommodate the players.

Courtney Gregson, a freshman from Red Bud studying zoology, played her first game of flag football Sunday. She said her boyfriend signed her up to play football but she had already planned on joining the intramural volleyball league. It’s a chance for her to hang out with

friends and stay active, she said.

The Recreation Center offers men’s, women’s and co-ed leagues, a recreational division for those who don’t want to be competitive and a free agent league. For those who can’t find a team but would still like to play, staff will find players on the free agent league a team, Leduc and Bickart said.

“There is a league for everyone and they’re free; there is no excuse,” Bickart said.

known that Pro-Bowl runner Steven Jackson doesn’t have his best games against the Cards, but the Rams need to get Jackson rumbling early in the year to have any shot at winning more than one game in 2010. They’ll do that next week out in Jokeland, er, Oakland, and if the defense plays as well as it did against Arizona, St. Louis will enjoy its first victory in nine games.

To be honest, as a fan, I’m just glad they’re competing again.

And that they traded Barron.

Fantasy Forecast: Mark Clayton,

wide receiver — The former Baltimore wideout caught 10 passes for 119 yards in his debut with St. Louis. Clayton, the most experienced and talented receiver on the team, should be a hot target on the fantasy waiver wire this week because Bradford will continue to lean on him as long as he stays healthy.

Back with more for both teams next week.

Disagree with me? Got something to say? Email me at njohnson@ dailyegyptian.com or call me at 5363311 ext. 256.

Brandon LaChance can be reached at blachance@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 282.

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got out and told students we have these programs and they’re free, and they’re like ‘Really?’ — Phillip Bickart senior from Joliet studying management and entrepreneurship

BRANDON LACHANCE Daily Egyptian Participation in intramural sports has increased since the Recreation Center put extra effort into advertising its services, said Shane Bennett, assistant director of intramural sports and sport clubs.

For the fall 2010 semester, there are 94 teams registered with seven players per team, according to data provided by Bennett. That’s three more teams than in 2009, and 16 more than 2008, he said. The Recreation Center’s staff is making an effort to talk to other students about the free opportunities offered, he said.

Bennett said the staff ’s goal since last fall has been to inform students of services they’re paying for but not using, such as intramural sports.

Before 2009, the only poster advertisements on campus featuring the Center’s services appeared on its walls, said Kyle Leduc, a senior from Bloomington studying finance.

Leduc has officiated for intramural sports and played in flag football leagues for four years. For the second year, the staff is putting trifold advertisements in university dining halls. They are also talking to

GENNA ORD | DAILY EGYPTIAN

Nick Fischer, a junior from Breese studying accounting, struggles to escape the opposing team as he runs the ball in an intramural game of flag football Sunday. This is the second year the league has run an advertising campaign which helped raise the number of participating teams from 78 in 2008 to 94 in 2010. more people via tables at the Student Center to discuss becoming active with students, he said. “Before, it was always word of mouth,� Leduc said. “We were seeing the same people playing over and over, playing every sport, so we’re

trying to get freshmen to come out.�

Two years ago, the Recreation Center created a student employment position called the student director of marketing, which was dedicated to drawing more participants to intramural sports

such as flag football, Bennett said.

Jeanann Sundby was the first one to hold the position and Abbi Allen is this year’s marketing guru, Bennett said.

Allen did not return a voicemail seeking comment.

Bennett said the Recreation Center is willing to attempt multiple marketing strategies for intramurals.

Please see FLAG | 11

STAFF COLUMN

From robbers to Barrons, Week 1 offers many talking points First, the Lions got robbed in broad daylight. Then, the Bengals’ star duo of Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco Houdini’d into the locker room before halftime and Randy Moss ranted about his unhappiness in New England. And then, in a play that put a cherry on top of the first NFL Sunday, blun-

dering Cowboys left tackle Alex Barron hog-tied a Redskin player and nullified his team’s comeback victory in the closing seconds of the nightcap.

It’s safe to say that week 1 provided plenty of talking points, and one of Carbondale’s most popular pro teams was square in the middle of it.

Chicago Last week: Bears 19, Lions 14 Week 2 score prediction: Cowboys 27, Bears 17 Okay, so Lions defensive tackle

S

am Bradford threw 55 passes in his regular season debut — an unfathomable and inexplicable amount for a rookie QB.

Ndamukong Suh kind of screwed up my whole “run the ball down their throats� prediction, but Matt Forte didn’t care. The Bears running back got it done through the air instead. It took a little longer than expected for Chicago’s offense to get momentum, but its defense met all expectations by struggling mightily against the pass. Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson made

the game-winning touchdown catch, but had it taken away by a couple of outrageously awful lines in the NFL rulebook.

After a victory over the Redskins was literally held back by ex-Ram Barron, the pass-savvy Cowboys have a fire lit under them and will release it on the Bears next week. Look for a big day for Dallas wideout Miles Austin, who will

run unchecked through an awful Chicago secondary.

Fantasy Forecast: Matt Forte, running back — Yes, Forte made a big air delivery in Week 1 and gained 200 total yards, but he also fumbled twice. The Cowboys are also stronger and faster up front than the Lions, so if you have a better match-up at running back this week, it would be a good idea to replace Forte.

Please see COLUMN | 11