THURSDAY April 15, 2021
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Student Opinions on the Electoral College Thinking about the way the president is elected in this country, would you prefer to... (%)
ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR
so the candidate with the most votes wins candidate with the most Electoral votes wins 43
Postgrad
60
39
College Grad
55
44
Some College
56
42
HS or Less
52
45 Source: Pew Research Center JONAH OZER THE DAILY ILLINI
Students weigh in on Electoral College Should winner take all? Community debates, favors reform state has a different amount of electoral votes, not necessarily based on current population density. When a citizen votes for an electorate, they are choosing someone to represent their viewpoints in a presidential race, rather than voting directly for a presidential candidate. While many in America think the Electoral College is a fair representation of citizens to vote, many others view it as an outdated system. Those who believe it’s outdated prefer the idea of a national popular voting system in which a presidential candidate must win by majority vote of all U.S. citizens, rather than by electors in key swing states. Student opinion on the topic of the national popular vote has become a divi-
BY LILY DOLAN STAFF WRITER
It has been three months since President Joe Biden was inaugurated and five months since election day. Due to the contentious nature of the election, opinions about the Electoral College were strong — a Pew research study found 60% of Americans were in favor of Electoral College reform prior to Election Day. The Electoral College represents a key divisive issue that seems to be split up by party in the U.S. The Electoral College is an American institution for voting in which all of the electoral votes from a state are awarded to one candidate running for president based on who the electors choose to vote for. Each
sive issue, with students at Illinois representing a wide range of positions. The founding fathers enacted the Electoral College through the Constitution, and since then, over 700 proposals have been introduced in Congress to reform or eliminate the Electoral College, according to the National Archives’ record. This represents a key opinion of many citizens, that an alternative to the Electoral College might be a favorable replacement. Dat Luu, sophomore in LAS, is the president of the Illinois chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. He views the Electoral College as an outdated establishment and proposes that in an ideal world the national popular vote
would be the voting system. Since becoming interested in politics at a young age, he felt compelled to see change from outdated institutions. He currently represents a key demographic of students who align with a more leftist ideology. “The founding fathers, at least in hindsight, didn’t understand that in several hundred years there was going to be a country of 320 million people and the economy is totally different,” Luu said. “So, they implemented (the Electoral College) without understanding that conditions have changed now to the point where this is doing more detriment to our society.” Luu displays a key opinSEE ELECTORAL | 3A
Candidates reflect on spring campus election BY WILLIE CUI
Preliminary Results For 2021 ISG Presidential Election
ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR
After a month of unconventional campaigning because of the pandemic, the certified results for the campus student elections this spring were finally released on Monday by the Campus Student Election Commission. According to the results, Enoma Egiebor and Nicole Arnold won the election for Illinois Student Government president and vice president with 55.10% of the vote, defeating Tyler Swanson and Vada Gregory (40.92%), and William Walton and Max Marsh (3.98%). “It was long and hard fought, and it definitely was a great run for us,” said Arnold, ISG vice president-elect. Additionally, Mariama Mwilambwe, sophomore in LAS, won the election for student trustee with 40.73% of the vote, defeating Alexis Perezchica, junior in LAS and current ISG president (35.7%); Adrian Wong, graduate student (14.43%); and Justin Huff (9.15%), junior in ACES. Egiebor and Arnold, both
Candidates
Total Votes
% of Votes
Enoma Egiebor & Nicole Arnold
2,258
55.10%
Tyler Swanson & Vada Gregory
1,677
40.92%
163
3.98%
4,098
100.00%
William Walton & Max Marsh TOTAL VOTES
they were afraid to go further due to pushback from professors in the Unit. “There needs to be a different culture in that Unit in particular,” Govindarajan said. “We need to look into why people are afraid of retaliation for bringing these things up.” Christine Fair, professor at Georgetown University, alleged in 2017 that Chakrabarty sexually harassed her during her time as a student at the University of Chicago in 2004. Koshy wrote that those accused of such allegations deserve a fair investigation, and in Chakrabarty’s case, no policies were violated during a 2018 investigation through the University of Chicago. “That said, we know the outcomes of such processes are imperfect,” she wrote. “These remain difficult issues that deserve care and consideration, and the Unit believes the best way to navigate them is through open and transparent dialogue.” Wros said it’s rare for such allegations to be false because there are no advantages for victims to go forward. She said there are implications for the department, the school and academics in general if allegations are dismissed because reputations can dissuade students from pursuing a certain degree. A similar situation happened at the Australian National University in 2018 with a speaker event involving Chakrabarty. Over 150 students signed a petition to cancel the talk, but the event went ahead. Wros said the Unit’s decision to go forward with their speaker event sends a message to sexual abuse survivors that these allegations will not be believed by University faculty and administration. “I feel like there is an implied threat to elevating and celebrating rapists and harassers,” Wros said. “It sends the message that at the end of the day, the students don’t matter, that survivors of this type of abuse don’t matter.” These issues of sexual misconduct and fears about coming forward to the Uni-
BY VIVIAN LA
Change the current system Keep the current system so the 55
Vol. 150 Issue 49
Speaker with sexual harassment allegation concerns UI students
LONGFORM
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Students in the Graduate Employees’ Organization have concerns about an upcoming speaker event with a professor from the University of Chicago who has an allegation of sexual harassment against him. The speaker discussion with University of Chicago Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty will take place on Monday via Zoom, moderated by Susan Koshy, associate professor in LAS and director of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory. The Unit is hosting the discussion. “We’re concerned about the psychological and physical safety of all members of the campus community,” said Emily Wros, master’s student in Information Sciences and GEO representative. The GEO released a statement on Saturday calling for the University to cancel the talk and issue an apology. “The GEO believes that there are no scholarly contributions that are important enough to excuse abusive behavior,” the statement said. Wros said there are many concerns among students in the GEO and that requests to cancel the event have been denied. In an email, Koshy said the Unit treats allegations of sexual harassment “with the utmost seriousness and care.” She wrote there are procedures to address these concerns and “spaces of dialogue to explore these issues in their full complexity.” Koshy wrote that her own personal experiences with sexual harassment and gender discrimination have shaped her as a person, scholar and leader. Focusing on issues of race, gender and sexuality in all conversations is one of her “her deepest commitments,” she wrote. Wros said these concerns were initially brought to the GEO’s attention by a colleague in the organization who chose to stay anonymous due to fear of retaliation. Advith Govindarajan, doctoral student in LAS and GEO representative, said when some people brought up this issue in the Unit,
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Source: Illinois Student Government JONAH OZER THE DAILY ILLINI
sophomores in LAS, are “gearing up” for the ISG transition set to occur on April 21 and are seeking staff to fill their presidential cabinet. Additionally, they have been reaching out to different RSOs in order to gauge student needs. “We really just want to hit the ground running and
make sure we have our ducks all in a row before we get into office on April 21,” Egiebor said. Furthermore, Egiebor and Arnold have been working with Asian student organizations such as the Asian American Cultural Center in an effort to combat anti-Asian discrimination, such as host-
ing workshops that teach how to respond when witnessing anti-Asian discrimination. Egiebor and Arnold also hope that with a return to normalcy, the University will be more willing to increase funding for the cultural houses on campus, which have
Features: Solarpowered home opens in Champaign
Opinions: America’s gun obsession aggravates violence
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