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NEWS
Independent
NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
NEIU Receives Emergency Funds from State Luis Badillo
Graduates Receive Empowering Speech Pg. 3
The Cubs and Sox have been red hot! Who can keep it up? Pg. 6 What About Badass Teachers? Pg. 11
How will the monies received be distributed?
USDA Awards NEIU Students Studying STEM Rut Ortiz Five students will be the chosen recipients of a $200,000 grant gifted to NEIU by the United States Department of Agriculture. The grant is set to fund “The Multicultural Scholars Program of NEIU,” a program synonymous to the USDA funding agency of a similar name. The program will support students who major in earth or environmental science and minor in a different area of STEM. “Scholars will be recruited from specific Earth Science and Environmental Science courses, including First-Year Experience courses, General Education courses, and foundation courses in both majors,” said Dr. Laura Sanders, an earth science professor in an email. “Recruiting from these courses will allow us to identify multicultural students who are committed to STEM and have demonstrated
their ability to succeed in STEM courses. “Students selected for the program will be either secondsemester freshmen or first-semester sophomores. The first participants will be selected in Spring 2017.” Sanders is the co-director of the program alongside fellow earth science professor and department coordinator Kenneth Voglesonger. The two will develop an application for students in the fall and it will be available online. Students who meet criteria for the program can be chosen or recommended by faculty. “They don’t have to be ESCI/ Envi Sci majors when they apply, but they will need to be in order to progress in the program,” Sanders said. “It’s so much fun. I love working with students and I love studying the Earth. Doing both at once is my dream job, and I feel lucky to do it at NEIU, where the students are so motivated. Our students have the potential to go
Photo by Rut Ortiz
Children Without Birth Certificates, How Does That Work? Pg. 4
Vol. 35 Issue 16
Graphic by Luis Badillo
After a nearly year-long battle to approve a state budget, Illinois lawmakers have passed a stop-gap spending bill to fund universities, allowing NEIU to temporarily suspend cuts and other cost saving measures. The bill was signed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on April 25, after the bill was passed in both the state’s assembly and senate the previous week. Illinois has been without a budget since July 1, 2015, leaving public universities to financially fend for themselves. While the Democrat controlled state advocate for spending on public and social services, Rauner has pushed for less spending, as well as a budget that would curb unions’ powers and business reform. In a statement Rauner said, “This legislation doesn’t solve our budget crisis or help our economy grow, but it does represent a first step toward compromise between Democrats and Republicans.” Despite the spending approval, Illinois universities have already suffered financially. Just a week after the bill’s passing, Chicago State University announced that it would be laying off about a third of its staff. Over 300 employees were let go, though much of the faculty
remained untouched. NEIU itself has seen its own challenges in the form of furloughs and spending freezes. Staff and faculty affected by the furloughs generally saw 20 percent reduction in payment, as many were required to take one furlough day out of the five-day work week. The spending bill approves $600 million for universities, with $170 million set aside for Monetary Award Program grants. NEIU is set to receive about $10.7 million for funding. An email on April 27 from university President Sharon Hahs to students and staff noted that the funds “falls short of what the University needs.” In that same email Hahs also announced that the university would be suspending cost-savings program and furloughs. In an interview on May 9 with WBEZ, Hahs also said the suspension is only temporary. The cuts are likely to return in July. “They can’t quit with the stopgap money,” Hahs said. “We do need a real appropriation.” The constitutional deadline for state politicians to pass a budget for the next fiscal year is May 31. Though Rauner has expressed he feels a deal is close, other lawmakers predict that the impasse may last until after the presidential election in November.
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The grant will assist students studying subjects like biology whose department heads the greenhouse on campus.
out and make real change in the world.” According to Sanders, NEIU has received three other USDAbased grants throughout the history of the college of arts and sciences. Although the USDA Hispanic-
Serving Institutions Grant program granted those three, this is the first time NEIU has received a grant through the particular USDA Multicultural Scholars Program.
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