THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY October 10, 2019
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Visit our website! Vol. 149 Issue 14
Denial of information leads UI to potential lawsuit BY SAMANTHA BOYLE NEWS EDITOR
After filing and being denied several requests for reports of sexual misconduct happening on campus, a graduate student turned to the Champaign County Circuit Court for further action. On Sept. 23, John Bambenek, doctoral student in Informatics, filed a complaint with the circuit court claiming these documents, requested through the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, are public records and should be required to be disclosed. Additionally, Bambenek claims in the drafted lawsuit these denials were made in bad faith and represent a pattern which prevents the public’s knowledge of information, specifically regarding matters of facultystaff sexual misconduct related to the University. “The University of Illinois has a reputation in the State of Illinois of basically denying all FOIAs because they can,” Bambenek said. However, when a denial is received, the requester has the right to file an appeal
with the Public Access Counselor, a part of the Attorney General’s office. According to the PAC’s 2018 report, over 3,372 requests for review were submitted to the PAC.
FOIA REQUEST
strong exceptions “to several inaccuracies” in Bambenek’s claim. “The University is absolutely committed (to) transparency and accountability in every phase of our operations,” she said. “Our
A report from the Better Government Association, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Illinois, found the University of Illinois improperly applied exemption rules to FOIAs 63% of the time. However, Bambenek did not decide to apply for a review with the PAC. “You can go to the attorney general to file an appeal, but that can take a couple of years,” he said. “Or you can go directly to court and resolve it in a couple of months. So, I opted for the latter.” In a written statement to The Daily Illini, University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the University takes
compliance with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act is an integral part of that transparency.” Additionally, Kaler wrote the University has processed around 1,000 requests and provides more than 190,000 pages of responsive documents.
CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI
to 2016.” However, he believes the request was not burdensome. In the filed lawsuit, Bambenek is named as an expert in digital forensics and computer crime investigation, and he has served as an expert witness regarding digital evidence. “I teach a class on digital forensics,” he said. “I literally teach people how to find this stuff. It’s really not hard.” Bambenek also claims in his lawsuit the “denial and unduly burdensome nature of searching for the documents is a thinly veiled manner in which their intent to deny the public visibility to the scope of the problem is in search of an exemption for which to justify the cover-up.” This claim partially came from a ProPublica article in which it was found that seven University professors were facing harassment accusations but few consequences were given. Kaler said in her written statement the University does not tolerate such
“We work diligently to respond to all requests in a timely and accurate manner that fully adheres to the rules and processes dictated by the law as administered by the Office of the Illinois
Attorney General,” she said. “As is often the case, the University made numerous efforts to work with this requester to adjust the filings to make them less burdensome and more manageable.” One FOIA request Bambenek filed was initially submitted on July 19 where he requested all final reports for any sexual harassment investigations, from Jan. 2014 to July 2019, in which a policy was found to be violated. The request was denied on July 25 for being “unduly burdensome.” Bambenek was invited to refile his request for “no longer than one-year durations for 2016 onward, and no longer than sixmonth durations for prior
SEE LAWSUIT | 3A
Glass recycling finds Tensions rise as a result of green card bill funding on campus BY ALIZA MAJID AND PHILLIP ZELDITCH CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
BY LUIS VELAZQUEZ STAFF WRITER
A glass recycling bin located in the Illini Union Courtyard surprised associate director of Facilities and Services for Sustainability Morgan White because she thought the University does not partake in recycling glass. Although many bins around campus only have places for plastic, paper, cardboard and scrap metal to be recycled, the University Housing Dining Services still funds glass recycling. More than 3,000 recycling bins are available throughout campus in dorms, as well as public facilities where plastic bottles, paper, cardboard and scrap metal can be recycled.
An immigration bill that was being discussed in the Senate resurfaced when Sen. Dick Durbin posted a comment on Twitter discussing his meeting with members from the University. Comments were made from various sides urging Durbin to block or pass the bill, which would have major changes to the immigration system if passed. The bill in question is called the S.386 Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which is the result of a related bill, HR 1044 Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act. The main function of the S.386 bill is to remove the 7% country cap, a maximum number of immigrants allotted from a particular country, which would allow green SEE GLASS | 3A card applicants to have their applications reviewed regardless of country of origin. This would also give priority to those who have been stuck in the backlog. Sen. Mike Lee, who proposed the bill, said the cap is oppressive against countries with larger populations, like India and China, because a literal 7% cap would mean that no country can obtain more than 7% of the available green cards. Sports: “The bill would increase Peters brings family-based immigration winning experience to 15%, and as a result, create faster immigration services for our center since the numPAGE 1B ber of immigrants would
“A few times in the past 30 years, we have reviewed the materials that go through the F&S Waste Transfer Station, and we found that there is a very small amount of glass,” White said in an email. “Recently, Waste Characterization Studies were done for (eight) buildings on campus, measuring the exact amount of waste materials produced by each of those buildings.” According to W hite, Dave Guth, interim senior associate director of operations at the Illini Union, said, “This is probably one of the last remaining fiberglass bins we have in the building. The old containers had a separate stream
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Zoë Foote, Immigrant Services Coordinator at the University YMCA, discusses the S386 Big Tech Green Card Bill on Oct. 2. The main function of the S.386 bill is to remove the 7% country cap, allowing green card applicants to have their applications reviewed regardless of their country of origin.
potentially increase,” said Zoë Foote, Immigrant Services Coordinator at the New American Welcome Center. The NAWC works primarily with immigrants coming from low-income backgrounds. Currently, there are 24,000 people in the Champaign-Urbana area, and 10,000 are international students, Foote said. With the number of immigrants being altered with this bill, the NAWC would have to
adjust its services to the changed number of immigrants coming into the C-U area. At the moment, there is a backlog of immigrants from China and India due to the increasing demand for green cards and visas from those countries. If this bill is enacted, green cards would be reallocated to these specific countries and delay others in the meantime, Foote said.
The main highlight of this bill is that the backlog will take priority in future green card approvals when in reality it’s only a temporary shift in the issue. There are only a certain number of green cards available in the employee-based category, and people in the backlog may still need to wait for at least a decade to receive approval. SEE IMMIGRATION | 3A
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