FALL DINING GUIDE SEE INSERT THURSDAY September 29, 2016
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Arrest warrant issued for suspect linked to shooting “Yesterday, after consultation with the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s office, an arrest warrant was issued for Robbie Patton, a male from Champaign, on the offense of first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm,” said Lt. Dave Shaffer with the Champaign Police Department. Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz said that the minimum sentence would SEE SUSPECT | 3A be 45 years, and the maxi-
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CPD is searching for primary suspect Robbie Patton, 18, of Champaign.
Victims of Sunday’s shooting
The Champaign Police Department released the name of the primary suspect in the Sunday morning shooting that resulted in multiple victims and the death of George Korchev. A press conference was held at the department headquarters on University Avenue on Wednesday morning to provide updates.
George Korchev, 22-yearold male of Mundelein, was shot in his back and left chest area. He was pronounced dead at 1:02 a.m. at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. Erik Lasaine, 22-year-old of Champaign and graduate student, was shot in his back. He was discharged from the
hospital Sunday. The bullet remains lodged in his back because doctors said the surgery would be more damaging to remove it. Robbie Shepard, 22-yearold of Champaign and research assistant at UI, was shot in the arm. He was discharged from the hospital. Shepard went to Mundelein High School with Korchev and was hanging out with Lasaine
and Korchev when the shooting broke out. A 20-year-old male of Champaign was shot in the arm. He was discharged from the hospital. He is not affiliated with the University or Korchev’s group walking by. A 19-year-old female of Round Lake was struck by a vehicle while running away from gunfire. She has been discharged from the hospital.
Safe spaces trigger free speech debate on college campuses BY GILLIAN DUNLOP CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The phrases “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings recently became a highly debated topic in academia. The Dean of Students at the University of Chicago, Jay Ellison, sent the incoming class of 2020 a letter stating that the university “does not support socalled ‘trigger warnings’” and that they “do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces.’” Although undefined in the letter, trigger warnings are generally thought of as a statement alerting an audience that the following information might be distressing. Safe spaces are typically thought of as a space where groups of people can meet without feeling uncomfortable, unwelcome or unsafe due to their sex, race, religion or any other affiliation. To Gioconda Guerra Pérez, director of La Casa Cultural Latina, a safe space is not necessarily a place where the conversation is one-sided, but rather a place where students feel comfortable expressing many different opinions. “The word ‘safe’ has become, for some people, a way to protect or to enclose a group of people,” she said. “But to me that is not what safe means. Safe means, ‘I feel comfortable,’ ‘I feel like I belong,’ ‘I feel safe,’ in terms of physical and mental and emotional health.” Much of the debate surrounding safe spaces is due to the potential restriction of free speech that they present. A traditional public forum is a place where the government cannot limit speech, such as a park or the Main Quad. A limited public forum, however, is a space the government opens up but only for specific speakers or subjects. A public university is allowed under the constitution to have a limited public forum, but they cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination. This means that the University cannot provide a space to a group it may favor and not allow a group it disfavors access to same space. The Main Quad is a traditional public forum, so it cannot become a safe space unless there is viewpoint neutrality. What often happens is controversial issues end up being viewpoint-based, which then limits free speech in a traditional public forum and becomes a direct violation of the First Amendment. Daniel Johnson, member of Men of Impact and sophomore in Media, echoed Guerra Pérez’s sentiments. “(The University) does a good job of trying to include everyone, but safe spaces are essential,” he said. In Ellison’s letter, he argues that safe spaces make it so “individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” thereby inhibiting academic growth. Not all faculty members at the University of Chicago, as well as other universities agreed, including Guerra Pérez. “I don’t think a student is not going to get what they need academically if they decide
RYAN FANG THE DAILY ILLINI
Students light candles to show support for the victims of the tragic Sunday shooting during the vigil on Tuesday. George Korchev was killed and three others were injured. The Illinois Student Senate held the event at Anniversary Plaza.
Vigil strives to honor George Korchev, unite UI community BY MADELEINE HUBBARD CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A crowd of over 250 students lit candles and observed a moment of silence for George Korchev and the other victims of the Sunday shooting on Green Street. Some students bowed their heads; others tearfully looked to the sky. Erik Lasaine spoke in memory of his longtime friend. Korchev, who was friends with Lasaine since middle school, was in town visiting Lasaine last weekend. Lasaine was also shot Sunday morning as he was walking back to his apartment with Korchev. “His high-pitched laugh, his comical demeanor and his overall positive vibe were only some of his best qualities,” Lasaine said of Korchev. The candlelight vigil held on the Main Quad Tuesday night was organized by the Illinois Student Senate as an act of solidarity. Student Trustee Collin Schumock gave a eulogy for George
Korchev, who was an innocent bystander caught in the cross-fi re. “George was described as skilled, empathetic and selfless,” Schumock said. “George is a man that we should all admire and strive to be more like.” Korchev was planning on starting his career as a registered nurse on Sept. 27. Ultimately, Korchev was working to become a hospice nurse; he wanted to help people near the end of their lives. “The best we can do in these incidents is share anything we know with the police, support one another and seek out University resources if we need them,” Vice Chancellor Renee Romano said. After Romano addressed the students, Rabbi Shlomo Schachter and Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel spoke. Korchev and several of those who were shot belong to the Jewish community. Schachter encouraged students in the midst of the dark time.
Rabbi Tiechtel, focusing on hope, led the students in humming the tune of “Amazing Grace.” “One of the ways that we can hold all of our feelings of pain, of sadness, of fear and grief and of hope and of love is to join together and open the doors of our hearts,” Tiechtel said. “And one of the great ways we can do that is by singing together.” Ron Lewis, student body president, concluded the evening. “The moments, the times, the scenes, the victims — they will now always forever be etched in our heads,” Lewis said. He said the vigil was just the beginning of unity for the University. “It could have been you. It could have been me,” he said. “It could have been anyone on this campus that was affected or was injured.” “It’s pretty impressive how the Illinois community, being such a tight knit community, comes togeth-
er when something like this happens … I was literally quite moved,” University Police Department Chief Jeff Christensen said. The shooting was caused by a fight that broke out in an apartment on Green Street. “If you see a fight going on, just try and calm it down. Just try and be there for people,” Lasaine said, reflecting on the night of the shooting. “My general outlook is positive. Because I’m optimistic, I can get through this and continue on with my life and always keep George in my memories,” Lasaine said. Romano and others encouraged students to seek help if they need it. The University Counseling Center can be reached at 217-3333704. Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call Champaign County Crime Stoppers at 217-373-TIPS where they will remain anonymous.
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SEE SAFE SPACES | 3A
Tech improves teaching, distracts classroom learning BY OLIVIA OKOCHA
Student use of digital devices during class for non-class purposes
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CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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Percent of students Alyssa Vogt The Daily Illini
Source: Journal of Media Education
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University students are less social than in the 1970s — at least that’s what it seems like to one former student, Lex Tate. Now as a journalism professor, her students come to class early and sit quietly on their phone instead of talking to one another. “People (are) sitting around and not having these long conversations into the night. I think has been replaced by a lot of people pouring out their hearts onto a screen,” Tate said. But Tate is not alone. According to a Journal of Media Education study, students used about one fifth of class time on their devices, doing things completely unrelated to school work. The study also said that students go on their devices at an average of 11.43 times
during class. However some students do take the old-fashioned route. Despite being a staff member at Technology Services, Jackson Turner prefers paper and pen to a phone or laptop when taking notes. “When you’re on a laptop you try to catch too many words,” Tate said. “You act like a stenographer in a courtroom as opposed to somebody who’s alert and paying attention and then thinking in a very brisk way, ‘What did you hear?’ and then writing that down.” Although technology has increased distractions and brought a transformation in the social atmosphere, it has also influenced the structure of the standard class setting. Professor Karle Laska teaches multiple Statistics classes with a total of up to 1,100 students, so grading all homework assignments
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and quizzes would be nearly impossible for her to do on her own by hand. “Technology has allowed us to create different tools that help us be successful in teaching so many students,” Laska said. “We are able to do things like make tutorial videos, pre-lecture videos, have discussions on homework questions, display large amounts of data, etc., because of technology.” Laska considers her classes “blended.” She uses tech-
Illinois’ top crimes of the year
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nology, but still likes when some things are done by hand. She and a team of graders all grade her 1,100 students’ exams by hand. “We do this so that the students can see the exams during the next class and see exactly what they did wrong,” Laska said. “If we used scantrons, it wouldn’t be as personalized and they wouldn’t get any feedback or partial credit.” Laska also provides a guided workbook for stu-
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