THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY December 3, 2018
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
37˚ | 26˚
Vol. 148 Issue 27
UI system repeatedly denies Daily Illini FOIA requests Requests for sexual misconduct claims rejected by University Transparency effort with FOIA BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY SENIOR REPORTER
Amid allegations of sexual misconduct on campus, The Daily Illini has filed six requests for documents relating to sexual misconduct claims. All six requests have been denied, even when they were
only for an aggregate number of complaints. The requests were made to the University of Illinois System under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act over a period of eight months. “The University of Illinois (System) receives and processes approximately
1,000-plus FOIA requests each year, many quite mundane but some potentially controversial for any number of reasons,” wrote Thomas Hardy, Illinois spokesman and FOIA officer, in an email. In written responses, Hardy said requests were denied because the requested doc-
The Freedom of Information Act requires government agencies to grant the public access to their information. Information requested through this act can be granted, delayed for five business days or denied.
uments contained personal and private information. The University’s Office for Access and Equity conducts reports on misconduct claims. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the public is entitled to receive documents from the state and local governments unless they fall under certain exemptions. The recipient of a SEE DENIED | 3A
log updates ceased 17 months ago log would be updated, Rogina said, “We are working to update it.” Hardy said staffing issues and “some other issues” were to blame for their “falling a little bit behind on the log.” He added, “It’s one of our priorities.” However, Hardy couldn’t say when it’s going up.
BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY SENIOR REPORTER
The University System has maintained some transparency by creating a Freedom of Information Act log on its website, which provides a database of each public records request and response letters. But the log hasn’t been updated since July 2017. When asked when the burszty2@dailyillini.com
LONGFORM: PART 1
A passive investigation
Campus retailers combat break time sales drops BY XIN DING STAFF WRITER
As the majority of students leave campus for the holidays, retail stores on campus are expecting a drop in sales. However, they are exploring different ways they can maintain their businesses at the same level as when school is in session. Mary Mulligan, junior in LAS and employee at Apricot Lane, a clothing retail store located on Green Street, said, “The students are pretty much the heart and soul of the store. So when they’re gone, it’s typically not very busy, unless local people are looking for a nicer place to shop.” Foot traffic will reduce during break, and the store will see fewer customers, said Shannon Skulborstad, general manager of Apricot Lane. Skulborstad said the store changes its goal sales amount from $45,000 a month to $35,000 a month
during winter break. However, some local stores have found various methods to deal with reduced number of patrons over winter break. Cory Shumard, retail manager of Gameday Spirit, the official fanstore of the Fighting Illini located on Green Street, said the store’s sales will also be impacted by reduced traffic during winter break. Shumard said one of his store’s strategies is to have major sales before winter break. He said December is a good month for sales because the academic calendar keeps many students in town for finals. The amount they make from Dec. 14 to Dec. 22 will make up for two-thirds of the sales they receive for the entirety of the month. Other stores, such as Ragstock, a recycled clothing store located at the SEE SHOPPING | 3A
“In the past, (winter break) has been bad. Where there’s no students, we have no sales.” DIANA EMERY RAGSTOCK MANAGER
Diversity in midterm wins reflects progress BY SANA KHADILKAR STAFF WRITER
With a wave of minorities making historic firsts in the 2018 midterm elections, minority students and organizations express how they feel their cultures are being more represented in the government. “I think it’s pretty exciting for Muslims to be in positions of power and representing Muslims across the country,” said Isra Rahman, junior in LAS and advocacy chair for the Muslim Student Association. “I think it’s also important because the people who were
elected to power are very diverse, and the Muslim community is also very diverse, which isn’t usually reflected across the country.” Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib were the first Muslim women elected to Congress. Rahman said Omar and Tlaib represent how the Muslim population is made up of people from around the world. Omar is a Somali refugee and Tlaib is an American. She said she views Omar and Tlaib’s wins as progress, but feels that because Muslims vary widely in
Minority Facilities & Services employees call 2017 work environment report a “sham”
BY AARON NAVARRO CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The stroke
Melvin Boatner drives every day from Bloomington, Indiana, to ChampaignUrbana, Illinois, for work, a three-hour commute. He estimated he leaves each day at 5:30 a.m. and gets home between 8:45 and 9:15 p.m. Hours before his drive back on Nov. 8, 2017, he suffered his first stroke. Boatner serves as the associate director of Facilities & Services human resources, employee relations and payroll. His stroke happened minutes after a meeting with F&S leadership. After falling and being helped by other employees to a nearby conference room, Boatner had no idea what was going on. “I sat in that room, and I was crying,” he said. “I was sitting there crying, going, ‘Something is really wrong here, but I don’t know what it is.’” F&S leadership team members Helen Coleman, Eric Smith and Maureen Banks were all present at the meeting before Boatner’s stroke in the hallway. Banks and Smith went after to check in with Boatner. It’s here, Boatner said, they showed negligence by not suggesting any further medical help, and Banks suggested he leave 15 minutes early. “You telling me I can go home right now when I’m obviously in some kind of distress wasn’t really helping the situation,” Boatner said. “And then Eric said, ‘Well he’s coherent, so he must be OK.’ They showed no caring at all.” Due to medical public Health Insurance Portabil-
CONSTANCE SARANTOS THE DAILY ILLINI
Melvin Boatner is the Facilities & Services associate director of employee relations, human resources and payroll. He said a stressful and hostile workplace culture led to him having a stroke in November 2017.
ity and Accountability Act laws, University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said in February she couldn’t speak explicitly for the University regarding the stroke. She said normal practice for when an employee is in physical distress is “to reach out and try to assist that person as best we can, or to at least offer assistance. Whether they take it or not, we can’t control.” Nicole McCurry is an F&S human resources worker who filled in for Boatner while he was recovering. She said while F&S employees do not receive training for what to do when an employee has a stroke, she thinks an ambulance should have been called. “I’m pretty sure that peo-
ple felt bad that an ambulance wasn’t called. Knowing that what happened to him after the fact, it was too late of course,” she said. Coleman said in an email response to Boatner the University strongly disputes that it or any of its employees were “negligent” in regard to his version of the Nov. 8, 2017 events. “First and foremost, I want to be clear that we care deeply about the health and well-being of our employees, including yourself. I encourage you to continue to seek appropriate healthcare as needed,” Coleman wrote. After driving home, Boatner visited the doctor and stayed in the hospital until he could continue rehabilitation at home. He was absent
Facilities & Services workforce race and ethnicity breakdown (1,140 total employees) White - 912 Black/African American - 124 Asian - 38
SEE DIVERSITY | 3A
INSIDE
Unknown - 31 Hispanic - 20 American Indian/Alaska Native - 7 Multiple Races - 4 International - 3
Tournament journey continues into Sweet 16
Throw your hands up and say ‘wah!’
PAGE 1B
PAGE 6B
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS
INSIDE
Police
2A
Native Hawaiian - 1
SOURCE STEVEN BREITWIESER
@THEDAILYILLINI, @DI_OPINION, @DI_SPORTS |
Opinions
4A
|
Letters
4A
|
Crossword
SEE F&S | 3A
CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI
THEDAILYILLINI 5A
from work for nine-and-ahalf weeks. Other F&S employees agree with Boatner about the workplace culture and describe it as hostile due to a lack of accountability and retaliatory acts toward employees who speak out. To Francine Ausley, F&S human resources specialist, Boatner has shown a history of voicing the concerns of others who feel they’ve been discriminated against. In 2014, after an incident of a canceled promotion for a minority coworker, Boatner voiced his disagreement with his immediate F&S boss and director of shared administrative services, Curt Taylor. Ausley said they didn’t see “eye to eye on how that all went down,” and Taylor held it over Boatner’s head for almost two years. In January 2016, the F&S executive management team decided to alter its search procedures for job vacancies by no longer having F&S HR staff have a vote. They said the F&S HR staff member will instead serve as an adviser to the hiring manager and committee chair. “HR was the only department at F&S committed to ensuring that diversity candidates were even considered. Now that opportunity has been taken away,” Boatner said, according to a set of Smith’s emails regarding the investigation that were obtained by The Daily Illini through the Freedom of Information Act. Ausley said the workplace culture was a contributing cause to Boatner’s stroke. “I would say on a stand ... a witness stand, that they are the cause of this. Because they have systematically taken roles and responsibilities away from him because he stands up for what’s right,” she said.
|
Life
@THEDAILYILLINI &
Culture
6A
|
Sports
THEDAILYILLINI
THEDAILYILLINI
1B
4B
|
Classifieds
|
Sudoku
THEDAILYILLINI 4B
|
buzz
6B