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Monday February 15, 2016
NorthernStar
.info
Volume 116 Issue 39
Alumna nominated for Grammy award Morgan Carrigan Staff writer
DeKalb | NIU alumna Lori Henriques, producer and writer, released “How Great Can This Day Be” in 2014. The children’s jazz album is nominated for a Grammy for Best Children’s Album in the 58th Grammy Awards which will premiere at 7 p.m. tonight. Henriques received her masters at NIU in 1997. Her music is available on iTunes and at lorihenriques.com.
Scott Nicol | Northern Star
Briana Smith, junior corporate communications major, talks about her need for MAP grants at the Unity Rally for a State Budget on Thursday in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center. Other speakers at the rally included NIU President Doug Baker and DeKalb Mayor John Rey, among others.
Baker: Employees will not see immediate cuts By the numbers
Scott Nicol Staff writer
DeKalb | Despite more than 200 positions remaining unfilled since September, NIU faculty and staff are not in immediate danger of being laid off because of the state budget impasse. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Fiscal Year 2016 proposed budget includes a reduction in funds to public entities, including NIU’s $93 million in allocations for FY 2015 being cut to about $64 million in 2016. A lack of agreement on the proposed budget has resulted in a sevenmonth impasse. As of September 2015, there were a total of 228 positions unfilled because of 389 terminations or retirements, and only 161 new hires for all staff at NIU primarily due to the state budget impasse, said NIU Spokesman Joe King.
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If I do not receive the MAP grant, I will not be able to graduate... .” Briana Smith Junior corporate communications major
The positions unfilled include 112 civil service employees, including janitorial and cafeteria staff and grounds crew, 93 supportive professional staff and 23 other faculty members, according to a chart developed by NIU Human Resource Services. King said there have been several cuts involving staff since September
As of September 2015 there are... 228 positions unfilled because of... 389 terminations or retirements and... 161 new staff hires due to the state budget impasse. Of the unfilled positions... 112 are civil service employees, 93 are supportive professional staff and 23 are other faculty members. Source: NIU Spokesman Joe King 2015, but an updated employment chart has not been provided because Human Resource Services is thin on employees. NIU faculty and staff are not in immediate danger due to a budgeting process overhaul NIU underwent two years ago, said NIU President Doug Baker at the Unity Rally for a State Budget on Thursday. The rally, held in the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center, brought together leaders from the community, including Kishwaukee College President Laurie Borowicz, DeKalb Mayor John Rey, students from NIU and Kishwaukee College and local business owners, to call upon state legislators and bring the budget impasse to a halt. “We have lost over, approximately, half of our state funding in inflation adjusted dollars since 2002,” Baker said. “That dramatic drop in state funding for our operating budget led to some tuition increases. That
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has led to affordability concerns for students, and has led to students going out of state for school.” NIU credited $20 million in MAP grants to 5,700 NIU students for the 2015-16 academic year. “I come from a single-parent household where my mother makes less than $10,000 a year,” said Briana Smith, junior corporate communications major. “The MAP grant is a piece to the puzzle of my financial life. If I do not receive the MAP grant, I will not be able to graduate because I will not be able to continue my education.” If no state budget is passed, an estimated 125,000 students in Illinois will not be able to receive their MAP grants, Baker said. “We believe that ultimately we will get a budget from the state and it will have MAP funding in it,” Baker said. “We will use that money to then go back and cover the credits that we have for students.”
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Q: What’s next in your music career? A: I got a grant to write some charts, so that way I can fly anywhere and find musicians. The way the world is and the Internet is I can find musicians, and I can thank the Grammys for that. It is so fun to play with new people. My absolute wish is to be able to travel and be with a quartet and play music. There isn’t a lot of that type of music for kids and I feel a little bit of a missionary to bring ensemble to children. I also have been realizing there is a space opening for family jazz festivals. I would love to be able to be a part of that movement of adding a family element to a jazz festival. So many articles are being written with the question ‘Is jazz dead?’ But I think people are still falling in love with jazz. I would just love to be a tiny part of family jazz festivals. Q: Can you explain some components of your musical journey? A: Yes, so this is my third album of original songs. My very first was a classical piano album. My child, [who] was two at the time, ... had a hard time going to sleep. So I would play for my own comfort and meditation. I had some writer’s block too when I had a baby. But I really played softly not to wake up my baby, but then I realized ‘God this could be a good album!’ Most classical albums had these big crescendos, but I figured I could just play softly and make this a lullaby album. This was my first kid album, that came out in 2008. [In] 2013 I put out the second album. Now this album came out in 2014. This third album is the first time I took the time and money to [arrange] a jazz ensemble and [pay] people to come play my music. This album really makes a difference to me. Q: How has NIU influenced
The Grammy Awards
The 58th Grammy Awards will air 7 p.m. today on CBS. To read columnist Alexis Malapitan’s predictions, go to Page 6. your music career? A: NIU has a really great music department. But actually one of my piano teachers during my undergrad studied under one of the main piano teachers at NIU, so many students at that time wanted to go to NIU. His name was Donald Walker, who unfortunately passed away years ago. He was a treasure NIU had, so musical and so kind. He was always building you up. I often think of him. I have this hunch he knew I would move on from classical music to jazz. Q: So would you say Walker had a lot of influence in your music career? A: Yes, absolutely. It’s funny, back then I graduated in 1997 and I remember this to the day there were phones but nothing like we have now. I mean even emailing back and forth wasn’t really going on. He was one of the few people after graduation I saw, and I am not kidding I turned my phone around and took a selfie with him. It is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever taken. It was just he and I in a quiet hallway, but we were laughing so hard and that just summarizes what type of person he was. He had such a zest for life. I could say it a hundred times but he was just so great. I used to get so nervous playing my music and I remember he always said, “You get nervous because you care.” He said it so Julliard and dramatic but it’s so true, that saying is such a great thing to remember. He was so supportive in my life, and even though he isn’t with us any longer, I still feel supported by him. Q: What would you like NIU students to know about your experience? A: This is a huge defining point in my life. We really do have to get jobs and pay bills, but there is such a benefit to following your itch. Even if it sounds crazy; you’re the only one who knows what you’re called to do. I want people to know follow your curiosity ultimately.
Bill to allow athletes to protest The Campus Demonstrations Policy Act, SB2279, will prohibit any institution of higher learning from revoking a student athlete’s athletic or academic scholarship as a result of protesting. Read more on Page 3.