THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY March 11, 2021
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 150 Issue 39
DI editor-in-chief says thanks to staff, readers had to make the tough decision to cancel print publication for the rest of the semester, but now I’m already on my way out. Being the editor-in-chief of The Daily Illini has taught me more about myself than almost anything could over the course of a year. From the late nights and early mornings spent at the office, I never knew how fast the time would fly before it was time to give up control. And now that I have to, I’m almost reluctant to leave. Every day that I went into the office, as corny as this sounds, it truly did not feel like work. We had such a lively and dynamic staff that made the long hours together much more bearable. Last, but most certainly not least, I want to thank you, the reader. You are the reason why we work hard to produce the best content we can because as the University’s independent student newspaper, we serve you. Thank you for supporting us through our mistakes, successes and everything in between. It has been the honor of my life to be the editor-in-chief of such a storied publication, and I’m more than confident that the next staff will do even greater things. I hope I’ll see you all soon.
JJ KIM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE STUDENT CAMPAIGNS
Left: Tyler Swanson and Vada Gregory stand in front of Alma Mater on a sunny day. Right: Enoma Egiebor and Nicole Arnold pose for a campaign photo.
ISG’s first COVID-era election begins Presidential tickets stress mental health improvement, inclusivity BY WILLIE CUI STAFF WRITER
Every spring semester, student candidates run for office in campus elections, all the while campaigning to make their platforms known. However, as with many things this year, the pandemic restrictions have made traditional campaigning for campus elections difficult. Enoma Egiebor and Nicole Arnold, both sophomores in LAS and Illinois Student Government senators, are running for Illinois Student Government student body president and vice president respectively. Also running for ISG
student body president is Tyler Swanson, sophomore in ACES and ISG senator, alongside his running mate Vada Gregory, junior in Media and ISG senator. In the face of increased mental health issues caused by the pandemic, both campaigns seek to improve the quality of student mental health services. Swanson and Gregory believe that the pandemic has “revealed a lot of the vulnerabilities” in the University’s mental health system. “We have a Counseling Center that, by no fault of its own really, is just not equipped to deal with the problems that students have,” Swanson said. “It’s just that there’s not the money to go around and the Counseling Center isn’t getting that money. That being said, despite that, the Counseling Center is doing a lot of great things.” Swanson and Gregory plan on raising awareness
of existing mental health services and increase ISG lobbying efforts in the state capital to obtain more funding through appropriations for the University’s mental health services. “That is something that I don’t think a lot of people consider as a being a student government power but it really is, especially when we work with other groups on campus and other organizations that are pursuing similar goals,” Swanson said. Egiebor and Arnold share these concerns over mental health funding. Egiebor and Arnold also note that the Counseling Center is understaffed and does not have enough counselors from diverse backgrounds. “I’m a first-generation immigrant, as is Nicole, and sometimes people like us seek mental health help, and sometimes there’s a cultural barrier,” Egiebor said. “They feel they can’t find someone that has their
experiences and relates to them.” Egiebor and A rnold believe that the burden of funding campus mental health services should be taken off of students, noting that the Counseling Center is largely funded through campus fees paid by students. “A lot of the problems when it comes to the Counseling Center and cultural centers’ funding … is because a lot of those resource centers rely on student fees that are charged every year,” Arnold said. “And with the onset of the pandemic, the University was seeking to cut some of those fees.” Egiebor and Arnold also want the University to take more action to protect students’ health during flu season, especially with regard to immunocompromised students. Additionally, both cam-
Given that this is the last newspaper edition as editor-in-chief, I want to start this column off by thanking my staff for being the most adaptable and hard working group of people I could have ever asked for. We would not have achieved what we did this past year without your consistency and diligence to The Daily Illini. They sacrificed so much of their lives to help make The Daily Illini the best it could be. I also want to thank my co-publishers Kit Donahue and Melissa Pasco for always keeping me in check and giving me their full support during such a crazy year. Thank you to the countless professors and mentors that helped me navigate through the murky waters of the pandemic. You all were a lighthouse in the middle of a vicious, unrelenting storm. Thank you to the families of my staff. I was very demanding of them this past year, and I’m sure there were days when they wanted to tear my head off, so I thank you for helping keep them from wigging out. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. I could have jjk7@dailyillini.com sworn that just yesterday I
Illinois abolishes money bail after activist push Bailout Coalition. “People want to be able to defend themselves when they’ve been accused of a crime.” Local activist groups such as the Champaign County American Civil Liberties Union and the CCBC worked to advance the passage of the act through advocacy and mobilizing support.
BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA STAFF WRITER
Illinois has become the first state in the nation to abolish the money bond after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation Feb. 22. The reforms came after concerted efforts from activist organizations in C-U and beyond. The Illinois Pretrial Fairness Act, one portion of the larger Illinois House Bill SEE ELECTION | 3A 3653, which passed multiple criminal justice reform measures, bans the use of money bail to hold individuals awaiting trial in jail. The money bond is utilized by states as an incentive for arrested individuals to come back to court for their court date. If the individual shows up for their court date, they receive their cash bail back. In an Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices report in 2020, the Supreme Court found that “a mere few days in jail may impose collateral consequences that attach to the loss of pretrial freedom and custodial detention.” This includes an individual losing their job due to not showing up for work, losing custody of a child or losing their home due to a lack of income. “What’s been found is that even when people don’t have a financial stake in returning to their court date, that they still go to their court date,” said Phillip Ernstmeyer, member of the Champaign County
Key parts of the Pretrial Fairness Act
UI to adopt Canvas as online learning system BY SOPHIE CASABURI CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The University of Illinois announced on Feb. 23 that it will transition from Illinois Compass 2g, a Blackboard product, to Canvas, an alternate learning management system. The migration will begin in summer 2021 and be completed in June 2022, when the University’s contract with Blackboard expires. The decision follows a two-year-long pilot program in which over 3,000 students and faculty across nine University colleges used Canvas for their classes. “Based on the fact what we had a pretty positive experience with the pilot, we had positive feedback from some of the surveys we did, plus we believed that there’s some real benefits going forward with adopting Canvas, we said that this is the right thing for a campus to do and we made the decision to make the formal change,” said Kevin Pitts, vice provost for Undergraduate Education. The University is currently preparing for the first set of courses to migrate to Canvas and has created groups to aid faculty and students during the migration process. “The Provost just charged an advisory group … to oversee the overall migration,” said Michel Bellini, director of the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning. The group includes faculty and students across the Uni-
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Source: Coalition to End Money Bond
“There’s just been widespread agreement that the old system needed to be reformed … it was not fair and it was not working. And really, it criminalized poverty,” said Carol Spindel, member of the Champaign County American Civil Liberties Union. Carol Leff, Champaign County ACLU president, says that some people misunderstand what ending money bail means. For example, being released without bail does not apply SEE MONEY | 3A
INSIDE ANGELINA CHAN THE DAILY ILLINI
versity’s colleges. Working groups are also being created to manage different aspects of the migration. Specific groups include one dedicated to the migration of course content from one Learning Management System to Canvas, one dedicated to faculty and student
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS
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• Abolishes money bond • Limits eligibility for pretrial incarceration • Reduces penalties for violations of pretrial release conditions • Reforms the warrant process • Ensures transparency and oversight through data collection and publication
support and one dedicated to essential training throughout the summer and beyond to help faculty navigate a new learning environment, said Bellini. According to Pitts, a “decent number” of courses are expected to migrate to Canvas for the upcoming fall
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semester. Still, it is up to each faculty member when they migrate, as long it is before the end of June 2022. “What I expect to see (for the fall 2021 semester) is a mix of courses still in Moodle and Compass, with new
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