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TECHNOGRAPH SEE INSERT THURSDAY November 15, 2018

THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

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Vol. 148 Issue 24

Suburban Express faces default judgement BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY SENIOR REPORTER

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is accusing Suburban Express and its owner, Dennis Toeppen, of stalling and is seeking a default judgment against the transit company. Madigan sued the Champaign-based transit compa-

ny on April 23 over alleged discrimination and harassment, and the two have been negotiating a settlement. But a motion filed by Madigan on Nov. 2 says Toeppen has not responded to multiple forms of contact since he sent an email on Oct. 9. A default judgment can occur when one party is

not responsive to the other or has failed to perform the court-ordered action. Madigan is asking a judge to rule in her office’s favor and provide a ruling against Toeppen, even though he isn’t present. “The defendants have not responded to any of the State’s communications.

Instead, the defendants have made every effort to delay this matter, and prolong the scheduling of further settlement discussions with the court,” according to the report. “Based on the content of the defendants’ Oct. 9 email message to the State and the defendants’ apparent unwilling-

ness to communicate further regarding settlement terms, and instead merely delay this matter, the State does not believe further settlement efforts will be productive even in light of the recent appointment of settlement counsel for the defendants.” Toeppen declined to com-

ment, saying in an email, “You are wasting your time analyzing a meaningless and inconsequental (sic) filing.” Records from the Attorney General Office show Toeppen originally asked for their settlement conference SEE SUBEX | 3A

Dining expands dietary options BY SAMANTHA BOYLE ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR

Students who are vegan or have any kind of egg allergy can now expand their diets with a new egg substitute, which has been added to the menu at the LAR dining hall. Made from only plants, the egg substitute comes in a liquid form and a patty form. The liquid form can be used to make scrambled eggs and the patty can be used in meals such as breakfast sandwiches. The University has adopted both versions in the LAR dining hall, said Jenna Cameron, who works on the food partnership team for JUST, the company that developed egg and other food substitutes. “We've already been working with the University for a couple years with our other products,” Cameron said. “We do a great line of mayos and dressing, edible cookie dough, baked cookies for food service.” Cameron said as soon as the new egg product launched, she was contacted by the dining services at University to get samples, which debuted at LAR on Oct. 17. “When we were there we got a lot of requests from students for the other dining halls where they said there weren’t a ton of options for them, and they really wanted something like the JUST Egg

GIANNA SOBIESKI THE DAILY ILLINI

Patrons study and relax with their beverages in Caffe Bene, located on the corner of Gregory Drive and Nevada Street on Thursday. The two Caffe Bene locations on campus are replacing plastic cups with biodegradable cups, while keeping the price of their products the same.

Caffe Bene to adopt biodegradable cups Coffee shop aims to reduce plastic waste starting next year BY BENEDICTE MULUMBA YENYI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Both campus locations of Caffe Bene will be switching to biodegradable cups, after exhausting their current plastic cup inventory, in 2019. Samuel Ham, owner of Caffe Bene on Green Street, was inspired by posts on social media urging people to stray away from singleuse plastics, such as the coffee cups Caffe Bene uses. Ham said Caffe Bene

decided to switch to a biodegradable cup option to avoid the trouble of the inevitable switch down the line. “Both Caffe Bene’s on campus are switching to biodegradable, but I don’t know about other businesses,” Ham said. When biodegradable cups decompose, they return to the food cycle as fertilizers or other organisms in the food chain, said Tyler Courson, sophomore in ACES and president of Red Bison, a reg-

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STAFF WRITER

University students and local community organizations are working to help families in need celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional holiday meal. Katie Thomas, director of Wesley Food Pantry, said November is typically their busiest month of the year. “A lot of people are expecting friends or relatives for Thanksgiving, which is why there is an increase in the number of people who come in during this month,” she said. Thomas said more than 400 families come to the pantry in November, while between 300 and 400 families come in the other months.

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“Escape” to CU Adventures PAGE 6B DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS Police

tics cups, Ham said Caffe Bene will proceed with the change and hopes to eliminate all plastic cups by 2019 without raising the price of the products. “The price of items is still going to be constant, but biodegradables do cost more than plastics,” Ham said. “But if it means to save the environment, then it’s not a big issue to spend a little money.” Courson said in order for businesses to continue making a profit using biodegradable options, more companies manufacturing the cups need to make the change to push the price down.

“A lot of people don’t care about the environment, but it will be nice to be a little portion of companies that take part in the change,” Ham said. Ham said he thinks when people learn Caffe Bene is using less plastic, customers may be more likely to come, use and buy the products. “Sometimes customers do come in and ask if we have biodegradables cups. If we do they stay, and sometimes if we don’t they leave, it kind of draws or pushes customers, that’s what I have noticed,” Ham said. bm15@dailyillini.com

SEE EGGS | 3A

Organizations help Fulbright fellowship supports spread holiday joy students’ international work BY JULIE KANG

INSIDE

istered student organization primarily focused on the restoration of natural areas on and near campus. Courson said unlike biodegradable cups, plastic cups can only be recycled a certain amount of times because plastic molecules begin to break down and cannot be reheated in order to be recycled. “If there are 30 people in the cafe, that’s 30 cups. If they have, like, 200 cups a day and after years it’s going to be thousands of cups, and that’s a lot,” Courson said. Although the price of biodegradable cups tends to be more expensive than plas-

For Thanksgiving, the pantry works to purchase food from the food bank that can make up a common Thanksgiving dinner, such as mashed potatoes and canned corn. The University is also running a Thanksgiving Basket Drive with Stone Creek Church to compile any necessary nonperishable items a family may need into a basket to have a Thanksgiving dinner. Dementro Powell, assistant director of student programs and activities at the Illini Union, works as the liaison between the University’s Office of Volunteer Programs and the church. The Thanksgiving Basket

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Two doctoral students in LAS were awarded the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, which funds 100 doctoral students to do field work in countries that use languages not commonly taught in the United States. When Cassandra Osei, doctoral student in LAS, got the acceptance email to go to Brazil, she said she couldn’t believe it. Osei is studying AfroLatina involvement in black and feminist movements during the mid-20th century in Southern and Southeastern Brazil. She

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Cassandra Osei, one of the winners of the Fulbright-Hays fellowship, will conduct field work for her research in Brazil.

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