THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY October 18, 2018
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
58˚ | 38˚
Vol. 148 Issue 16
BY MADALYN VELISARIS
UI seeks to adopt reusable straws
STAFF WRITER
BY MADELYN FOSTER
RSOs differ in midterm pre-election approaches Multiple partisan and nonpartisan student groups on campus are working on voter registration and campaign efforts as the midterm election approaches. Combining resources, Illini Democrats is working with an Illinois Student Government task force, a nonpartisan group, creating a space where students can come together to discuss the midterm elections and register to vote. Illini Democrats is also planning to put up directions on where to vote for certain voting locations, such as the fourth floor of the Illini Union, since it may be difficult for students to locate, according to Audrey Dombro, president of Illini Democrats and junior in ACES. Other midterm election efforts from the organization include participating in Get Out The Vote, a nationwide effort to increase voter registration, and knocking on doors in the ChampaignUrbana area to canvass. “Our first approach has been registering voters, and so we’ve been in campus residence halls this past month working on getting voters registered either here in Champaign, at their new places of residence, or at their home place of residence,” Dombro said. As an out-of-state student at the University, Dombro felt she did not have adequate information on how to vote. As a result, she makes it a priority for students to
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
but said there is no guarantee of an allergen-free beverage due to shared equipment being used throughout the store. “Now if someone has a specific allergy, we’ll take one of our pitchers to the back and sanitize it with hot water and sanitizing solution,” Hong said. Krti Tallam, senior in ACES and president of University Vegetarians, has experienced a rise in concerns with her orders at Starbucks as a vegan. “I’ve noticed that unless you say you are allergic, there is very little respect for that kind of decision,” Tallam said. “So there is very little concern for what’s going in the drink.”
The 2015 video of marine biologist Christine Figgener pulling a straw from the nostril of a sea turtle while it bled circulated the internet, gaining more than 30 million views on YouTube and inspiring conversations and legislation to ban single-use plastic straws. Now, Espresso Royale and the University are joining the movement. Douglas McCarver, regional manager of Espresso Royale, said the company is looking for a permanent solution to eliminate plastic-straw usage, but it has run into issues with suppliers of environmentally friendly straws. “The main obstacles currently are suppliers not being able to keep up with the sudden and sharp rise in demand for compostable and paper straws,” McCarver said in an email. McCarver also said Espresso Royale customers may have already started to notice compostable straws in stores and will see more in the future. Compostable straws are straws made entirely out of renewable resources. “We currently do use a mix of plastic straws and compostable straws, as we are in (the) process of looking for a consistent, permanent solution and supplier to eliminate the plastic straws entirely,” McCarver said. Madeline Armetta, junior in Media and member of student sustainability group Act Green, said she thinks Espresso Royale’s choice to eliminate plastic straws will have a big impact on campus. “There are people who buy iced coffee or another beverage every day that use a plastic straw, and them seeing the campaign and
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Drew Hong, sophomore in LAS, uses a milk pitcher to make a drink at the Illini Union Courtyard Cafe on Monday. The company’s removal of milk pitcher labels has the public worried about cross-contamination.
Milk label removal sparks concern Students worry over Starbucks’ policy change BY YOOJIN SON CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Starbucks began enforcing a policy change in early July that removes labels from milk pitchers behind the counter, raising concerns about crosscontamination in its drinks. The unannounced policy change was brought into the public spotlight on July 10 when a Washington Starbucks barista, Coralee Snow, alerted customers with dietary restrictions and food allergies through a Facebook post. “The removal of the sticker was consistent with, and fur-
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ther emphasizes, our stores’ use of shared equipment throughout our store,” said a Starbucks spokesperson in an email. Starbucks’ past allergenfriendly stance has been removed from its website since the announcement of the policy change, said Drew Hong, sophomore in LAS and Illini Union Starbucks barista. However, Hong does not believe the newly enforced policy drastically changes the safety of Starbucks beverages. Even prior to the no-label policy, equipment could not be ensured to be allergenfriendly, Hong said. Though milk pitchers were labeled for specific liquids, Hong has seen baristas forget and grab the wrong pitcher through-
out her time working at Starbucks. “If you don’t specify that you have an allergy, we might forget or it will go to the back of our minds,” Hong said. Equipment cleaning is an element that also raises concerns of cross-contamination and sanitation. After each use, the pitchers are steamed with the only present steam wand attached to the store’s espresso machine. Then, pitchers are wiped with a sanitizing towel that sits in a bath of a chlorine-based sanitation solution, which is changed every hour. Starbucks applied the new policy to establish a transparent relationship with its customers, according to the email. Starbucks advises customers to communicate with their barista about concerns
Illini Tower residents call for resolution of flooding BY ZIHAN WANG STAFF WRITER
Three weeks after several floors were flooded at Illini Tower, students whose rooms were affected still have no idea when they will be able to return to their original suites. They are frustrated by the housing facility’s response. The first to fourth floors of Illini Tower, a private certified housing facility, flooded the night of Sept. 25. Students living on these floors were moved to different locations on campus, and some are living with students they’ve never met before. Ronnie Davis, general manager of Illini Tower, said the flood was caused
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Roots & Folk comes to C-U PAGE 6B
by a sprinkler in a student’s apartment, and Illini tower was only able to turn the fire alarm system off once the fire department came. “We have a number of students impacted by the flood, so we worked to try to make the impact as minimal as possible,” Davis said. Yuhan Li, freshman in Media, said carpets on the affected floors were wet, and the walls, soaked with water from the flood, bulged. Li said she spent the first two days after the flood living in the Illini Union hotel, and then she stayed at Illinois Street Residence Halls for a week. Since then, she has been living in a separate SEE ILLINI TOWER | 3A
CONSTANCE SARANTOS THE DAILY ILLINI
Water damage on the second floor of Illini Tower on Oct. 11. The first to fourth floors of the residence hall were flooded on Sept. 25 by a sprinkler in one of the apartments.
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