THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY March 22, 2021
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 150 Issue 42
CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
A University police officer pulls away from a scene after responding to a call on Oct. 8. The University of Illinois Police Department plans on hiring a social worker to assist with mental health concerns on the job.
UI Police seek social workers: Faculty expresses concerns BY VIVIAN LA ASSISTANT DAYTIME EDITOR
The University of Illinois Police Department is looking to hire a new social worker as a part of their plan to increase mental health services, much to the concern of faculty and students. This concern comes from members of the Working Group for Public Safety, Policing and the Justice System, a task force that discusses the role of police on campus. The task force is made up of various faculty, experts, law enforcement officials and one student.
Lack of hiring transparency claims
A. Naomi Paik, task force member and associate professor in LAS, said she heard “through the grapevine” about UIPD trying to hire a second social worker for mental health crisis calls. Rather than finding out about it from UIPD directly, Paik said she heard from a faculty member who heard it from someone else. “ Without tra nspa rent information from the UIPD, there’s no accountability,” Paik said. “We have been consistently asking in writing and in every single meeting for transparency
about these issues.” Chief Alice Cary, task force member, said the UIPD isn’t “hiding any information whatsoever,” and that it takes time to gather information to communicate to the public. A posting for a “crisis counselor,” UIPD’s title for the social workers, was added on March 1 and closed on Monday. Lieutenant Aaron Landers, head of the UIPD Community Outreach and Support Team that oversees the social workers and mental health initiatives, said they have only received two applications
which is “uncommon.” The team plans to take the job posting down and edit it to get a better response, Landers said. Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Sean Garrick said in an email that he is aware of transparency concerns and is working to ensure that information requests are received. “Data is critical for members of the working group to fully understand the landscape, as well as determine what changes could be made and the impacts of those changes,” Garrick said.
University creates energy reduction plan
CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
The Abbott Power Plant stands at 1117 S. Oak St. in Champaign on Saturday. The University plans to reduce energy usage by converting to renewable energy sources. BY ALEX CHANG CONTRIBUTING WRITER
facility delegated to Prairieland Energy Inc., a subsidiary corporation of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Prairieland Energy and Sol Systems are partnered for the construction of the site. Another possible energy generation strategy in the plan is the installation of a micronuclear reactor for experimental use and as a trial for research experiments. The plan notes that “small-scale nuclear reactors showed promise with regards to providing reliable power with low environmental impact.” Currently, “there are several faculty in the Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering Department on the U of I campus that are moving forward with an effort” to get approval for the reactor, according to Attalla. alexrc2@dailyillini.com
The aim of the REACH team is to connect students to long-term health care services, Cary said, but faculty and students have concerns about the department taking away resources from other areas of campus. “We’d eventually like to get an overall vision of having someone respond to these calls for service, but in the interim, these calls keep coming in and we keep responding,” Cary said. Patrick Wade, UIPD senior director of Com-
ASSISTANT DAYTIME EDITOR
As the campus election season comes to a close, this year’s candidates for student trustee all hope to address the lack of communication between University students and the UI System’s board of trustees. The student trustee serves as the main point of contact between the board and the student body and is responsible for hearing student concerns then communicating them with the board. “The key to a student trustee is making sure we listen to the voice of students,” said Alexis Perezchica, student trustee candidate and junior in LAS. St i l l, t he st udent trustee candidates believe there is some form of disconnect between the board
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of trustees and the student body which they hope to bridge. Adrian Wong, student trustee candidate and graduate student, seeks to establish better two-way communication between the board and different University campus groups. To do this, Wong hopes to work together with different stakeholders on campus and hold “town halls” in order to form a more cohesive plan to present to the board. “Right now, I see a lot of organizations and a lot of micro and macro communities not talking with each other enough,” Wong said. “So they’re not able to build the amount of momentum and synergy that would be required to make effective
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Student trustee candidates discuss transparency goals
G N T I HE V I
A recent Massmail highlighted the University’s commitment toward reducing the environmental impact on campus, the main goal being a 50% reduction in energy consumption campus-wide. The key to this plan is the increased expansion of renewable energy sources, continued upgrades to heating, cooling
and power generation facility efficiency, as well as a focus on reducing electricity usage for high-impact areas such as residence halls and labs. Two major renewable sources are outlined in the plan: construction of Solar Farm 2.0 and continued annual purchase of 25,000 (megawatt-hours) of wind power from the Rail Splitter Wind Farm located in Lincoln,
Illinois. One of the biggest takeaways is the proposed $20.1 million Solar Farm 2.0, the next iteration of the University’s continued development of solar power. According to Dr. Mohamed Attalla, director of Facilities and Services, “Solar Farm 2.0 accomplishes an objective in the 2015 Illinois Climate Action Plan – to generate at least 25,000-MWh per year from solar on campus.” This solar farm is planned to occupy 54 acres, generating approximately 20,000 MWh annually. “Once completed, the University of Illinois will be the third-largest user of renewable power produced on campus for all higher education facilities in the entire country,” Attalla said. Solar Farm 2.0 is a key step in reducing the net energy consumption for the University, with the operation of the
munications, said creating these mental health teams was not something discussed prior to Chief Cary’s arrival in July. “They were things that Chief Cary had implemented successfully at her previous departments, and so they were at the top of her priority list,” Wade said in an email. For some students, it’s concerning to hear that the police budget is expanding instead of investing in the community. “It ’s already widely known that our mental health services are over-
Faculty and students concerned by UIPD mental health model
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