THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY October 12, 2017
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The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 147 Issue 14
Students on ‘Page of Shame’ speak out BY OLIVIA WELSHANS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Transit company Suburban Express has a page on its website entitled “Page of Shame.” Personal information of certain customers is listed, including their name, email, phone number and address. Entries on the list date as early as 2009. The webpage says, “think of this as a review site, where we review what we consider to be bad customers.”
The “Page of Shame” is divided into three sections: “dishonored payments,” “fare cheaters” and “banned,” with each division having infringed on a different policy of Suburban Express or having been found guilty of conduct of which the company disapproves. According to the Chicago Tribune, the company’s owner Dennis Toeppen filed over 120 lawsuits in 2013 against students for various violations of his
company’s policy. However, charges were later dropped. Kevin Thompson, sophomore in Engineering, said he chose to take Suburban Express back to his home in the suburbs despite what he heard about the company. “I knew that they had bad records and sued students and stuff. I didn’t think that I’d have a problem with it, so I just bought tickets anyway,” he said. Thompson said he had no trouble on the bus ride
to his home, but as he was trying to board the bus to return to the University, he found he had bought a ticket for the next weekend. Instead of saying that he could not ride, Thompson said that the overseers of the bus discussed the situation and decided to allow him to ride. “They ended up saying we’re not going to kick you off, just don’t tell anyone we let you sit,” he said. Despite being allowed to ride the bus, Thomp-
son is now labeled a “fare cheater” by the company. A “fare cheater,” as described by the “Page of Shame,” is anyone who alters a ticket or “tries to cheat us by passing off a cheap ticket for an expensive ride.” Mick Wright, senior in ACES, is listed under “dishonored payments” after an incident that happened his freshman year at the University. Wright said he did not experience any difficulties the first time he rode with
UI students aid after Mexican earthquake BY NIANI SCOTT CONTRIBUTING WRITER
After a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City last month, Vedhus Hoskere, graduate student in Engineering, and Michael Neal, senior in Engineering, flew to action. Just 10 days after the earthquake, Hoskere and Neal arrived ready to volunteer with the College of Civil Engineers in Mexico City alongside 400 other volunteers, a majority of who came from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the biggest university in Mexico. Their volunteering included inspecting buildings throughout the city to determine their state of damage. The College of Engineering in Mexico City “were organizing the effort to carry out the inspections, and the volunteers were divided into 45 zones throughout the city,” Hoskere said. Together, Hoskere and Neal used one drone to do rapid post-earthquake inspections, using a field manual similar to the Applied Technology Council’s. “(The) rapid visual inspection determines what percentage of the building is damaged, whether it is safe to be used, unsafe or needs further inspection,” Hoskere said. A rapid post-earthquake inspection takes about 20 to 30 minutes to do and is done right after a disaster happens, said Neal. The types of buildings the team inspected varied from residential, commercial, hospitals to hotels. “ My resea rch is focused on methods to speed up and improve the process of infrastructure SEE DRONE | 3A
Suburban Express. When he tried to board the bus on his second trip, he was told that he was no longer able to use the company. “As I’m walking away from the bus driver he says, ‘Wait, you have to get off this bus. You’re banned.’ And I’m like,‘Wait, what?’,” Wright said. In the process of buying the ticket for his first trip, Wright said he noticed he had clicked the wrong desSEE SUBURBAN | 3A
Hazing a continuing issue on campus BY HEATHER SCHLITZ STAFF WRITER
PORTRAITS BY SABRINA YAN AND HANNAH AUTEN THE DAILY ILLINI
Clockwise from top, Michael Neal, senior in Engineering, traveled to Mexico City after the earthquake in September; Vedhus Hoskere, graduate student in Engineering volunteered as well; alongside other volunteers, the students used drones for damaged building inspections and collected data for research.
As rushing for Greek organizations draws to a close and new members are welcomed, the Interfraternity Council said it has a tight grip on the prevention of hazing at the University. Ross Bessinger, vice president of public relations for the IFC, said they have not had any problems with hazing during the council’s 2017 term. “I’d say we have a pretty good control over it,” Bessinger said. “I don’t foresee it being a problem.” However, according to a 2013 survey of University of Illinois students conducted by the University of Maine, 28.1 percent of students belonging to a fraternity or sorority have reported being hazed by their organization. The report has not been upated in the past four years. Jonathan Drougas, freshman in Engineering, remembers how his experience while rushing a fraternity changed abruptly once he began initiation. “They had us drink a lot and go on these weird scavenger hunts and steal stuff,” he said. “I remember they wanted us to steal something impressive.” Natalie Maltby, junior in LAS, said she’d heard similar stories of hazing in University fraternities. “I think there was a situation freshman year where there was a lot of forced drinking and stuff like that which can be dangerous,” she said. Caitlyn Schneeman, junior in Social Work, said she heard of people being forced to walk around in their underwear and drink a lot as well. “I definitely could see it getting out of hand,” she SEE HAZING | 3A
Proposed state bill may restructure UI admission system BY AARON NAVARRO ON-AIR NEWS EDITOR
A retooling of the higher education system in Illinois is in the works. Illinois’ Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet) and State Rep. Daniel Brady (R-Normal) recently introduced their Higher Education Strategic Centers of Excellence Plan, which aims to keep Illinois high-school graduates in Illinois universities by making the application system easier. Creating a streamlined, uniform online admission process for all public Illinois universities is one of the plan’s goals. “What we’re looking for is trying to be more efficient in our applications to our schools to make it more universal,” Brady said. “Instead of each school making its students
require an application, application process fees, transcript fees. For (high school students) to stay in Illinois, we have to make it easier for them to do so.” In addition, any new programs created at all Illinois universities will be put through “economic efficiency review.” With this, the Illinois Board of Higher Education will analyze any new programs at all public colleges in order to decide which programs get financial support, and where other funds could be cut. On Sen. Brady’s website, he specifically calls out the University of Illinois at Springfield for adding a new $82.6 million STEM building to its campus. Though the proposal by the University of Illinois Springfield campus offi-
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cials states that their building is looking for $65 million, Brady mentions on his website that other Illinois colleges such as Northern and Western Illinois have their own STEM programs that need funding. “The decline of public education funding, higher education, has been seen over the last few years,” Brady said. “What funding they are getting, they’re appropriating directly to different things other than maybe the use of technology to help streamline their application process.” The Executive Director for the Office of University Relations Tom Hardy says that the University of Illinois has had a 5.2 percent decline in state funding from 2005 to
Where do Illinois high school grads go? Number of Illinois students attending out-of-state colleges
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