THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY November 8, 2018
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Midterm election results all over the country since voting ended at 7 p.m., the Champaign County Clerk As results for the mid- released the unofficial term election come in from results for the county. BY THERESE POKORNEY ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR
The report documented 79,552 ballots were cast, while there are a total of 124,057 registered voters, putting the voter turnout
rate at 64.13 percent. Voters were able to cast their ballot on positions on the state, congressional and county level.
Governor J.B. Pritzker
Attorney General Kwame Raoul
Secretary of State Jesse White
Representative in Congress 13th Congressional District
Rodney Davis See full election results at dailyillini.com
Vol. 148 Issue 22
Student ambassadors lower costs for brands to be in the past, and are more trusting of a message if it comes from a peer that they know, and would rather receive it in a personal and experiential way,” Meron said in an email. Meron said it is important to note companies are hiring students in addition to celebrities, not in place of them. One important component of advertising, Meron said, is the cost of hiring brand ambassadors. He said if a company has a lot of money to spend, choosing a celebrity brand ambassador can have a larger overall impact on audiences. However, hiring celebrities can be very expensive. There is also a risk associated with investing a large sum of money in a celebrity spokesperson who may get in legal trouble or say something offensive, putting the company in a bad light. Students are a safer bet, Meron said. “Student brand ambassadors are a much better value; it’s really cheap to hire student brand ambassadors, and each point of contact with a friend or peer has the potential to be really impactful,” he said. Walton is the shipping coordinator of Express at the University. She is in charge of receiving, maintaining and organizing packages. Walton promotes Express on campus by spreading the
BY JULIE KANG STAFF WRITER
When Sophie Walton, senior in FAA, received an Instagram message from a random woman asking her to work as a brand ambassador, she was skeptical. Despite this, Walton decided to proceed with the hiring process and became a campus brand ambassador with Express, a fashion company that mainly targets young men and women. As the holiday season approaches, Walton and an increasing number of University student brand ambassadors are joining celebrities as the faces of advertisements for businesses small and large. “The hiring process was a little sketchy, but Express is a well-known brand. I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t a major brand,” Walton said. The woman who contacted her works for Youth Marketing Connection, a management portal that connects students and companies. Shachar Meron, lecturer in Media, focuses mainly on brand strategy and advertising campaigns. Meron said social media plays a big role in this shift from celebrities to college students since ordinary people can develop a following now, too. “Also, millennials are more skeptical of paid brand communications (like advertising) than they used
SEE AMBASSADOR | 3A
INSIDE
Studio creates sustainable paper
University ranks No. 7 for livability
45˚ | 32˚
BY ZIHAN WANG STAFF WRITER
Though people have been making paper out of wood since the 19th century, a studio at the University is developing sustainable paper using non-wood recycled materials that can protect the environment and help protect relic books in libraries. Eric Benson, co-founder of Fresh Press Studio, said he and his colleague were inspired to make paper from agricultural materials from the corn surrounding them in Illinois and the 1,000-year history of making paper from agricultural materials in China. Mark Taylor, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, said in an email he is interested in the studio’s handmade paper and the paper is beautiful. Taylor, who is researching how to turn agricultural waste into insulation for buildings, said combining agricultural materials to create paper is important to building a sustainable future. Benson said the biggest difference between their paper and other existing recycled papers is that their paper will use no wood at all. The studio will only use agricultural products, such
BY DAVID RUVINSKIY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Awesome.” “Green.” “Diverse.” “Busy.” These are the words students at the University use to describe Champaign, which ranks No. 7 in a list of top 10 college towns. The list, published by Livability, a website that ranks cities based on an array of criterias, ranked Champaign as No. 5 in 2017 and No. 7 in 2014. Winona Dimeo-Ediger, managing editor at Livability, said in an email that “Champaign has the perfect mix of a youthful population, great job opportunities, good salaries and affordable housing (in relation to those salaries).” According to DimeoEdiger, Livability creates a Top 10 College Towns list every year. The criteria Livability uses to rank 200 college towns includes: how typical income compares to rent rates, the population of young adults SEE LIVABILITY | 3A
Running from a life as a refugee PAGE 6A
Season in full swing Thursday night PAGE 1B RYAN CHOW THE DAILY ILLINI
Anneka Vetter rebinds an old book before its eventual encasement in Fresh Press Studio’s case paper at the Oak Street Library on Friday. The studio is working to create sustainable paper.
as harvest waste from the Sustainable Student Farm, to make the paper. “Agricultural products as paper have a significantly smaller environmental footprint than paper using tree fibers,” Benson said. Compared to the traditional paper industry, Ben-
son said using agricultural material can enhance sustainability and accelerate the growth cycle of raw materials, which regenerate faster than trees. Because of the shorter growth cycle of agricultural materials like wheat, using agricultural material
can also decrease production costs associated with making paper. Benson said some companies in the paper industry are considering shifting to agricultural materials. Benson said they are
You can jive at ISM’s “Mamma Mia!” PAGE 6B
SEE PAPER | 3A
Now Leasing for Fall 2019! AMERICANCAMPUS.COM/CHAMPAIGN Limited time only. See office for details.
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