ACADEMY AWARDS Oscar nominations lacking in diversity OPINIONS, 4A
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Freshman Black shines in Illini win The men’s basketball team defeated Purdue 66-57, for complete coverage of Wednesday’s win, visit DAILYILLINI.COM
THURSDAY January 22, 2015
LIFE & CULTURE, 6A
Ride around campus with the “Hotdoggers” on their cross-country recruitment tour
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Obama proposes ‘College Promise’ BY ALI BRABOY STAFF WRITER
President Barack Obama proposed that two-year community colleges become “as free and universal in America as high school is today,” during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Obama’s America’s College Promise proposal states that students would be required to have at least a 2.5 GPA, attend communi-
ty college at least half-time and make “steady progress toward completing their program.” Preliminary plans for the program set the total cost at roughly $60 billion, to be paid over the course of 10 years. According to the University Office for Planning and Budgeting, 724 individuals transferred to the University from Illinois community colleges in Fall 2014.
The LAS Transfer Advisory Group is a Registered Student Organization that helps students who have transferred from community colleges or other four-year universities to transition to the University. Whitney Baldridge, senior in LAS and president of the group, attended Kaskaskia College, a two-year community college located in central Illinois, for one year
before transferring to the University. She said transfer students can experience difficulties transitioning into the institution, including how to meet new people and discovering what is available at the college. “It’s kind of like a whole different world,” Baldridge said. She said community colleges make an effort to help students with financial situ-
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ations; she herself received a scholarship, which allowed her free tuition to attend community college. Obama’s proposal, she added, may help those who don’t receive scholarships. “It’s really great because some people don’t have the accessibility of getting a scholarship,” Baldridge said. “But I can also see how it’s really great to earn your own.” Debra Bragg, direc-
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Daily Illini’s editorial to learn our thoughts on the proposal. 3DJH $
tor of the Office of Community College Research and Leadership and professor in the College of Education, said the proposal may help make college education more
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McMillan new board chairman
Winter wipeout
BY ABIGALE SVOBODA STAFF WRITER
SONNY AN THE DAILY ILLINI
Conrad Sienkiewikz, junior in Engineering, takes a fall as his friend, Paul Dabek, junior in Engineering, laughs vat the University of Illinois Ice Arena on Wednesday.
Campus community discusses ‘Je suis Charlie’ BY ANDREW NOWAK STAFF WRITER
More questions than answers were found at the packed “Are We Charlie? – France, Europe and the World after 1/11” forum held Wednesday. A panel of five professors facilitated a discussion that served as the campus community’s first reaction to the recent terrorist attacks in France. Discussion topics ranged from the idea of freedom of speech, a comparison between France and the United States and issues of religion and nationalism. On Jan. 7, two gunmen attacked the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, and another gunman, in a related attack, took hostages in a kosher supermarket on Jan. 9. Combined, the attacks resulted in the deaths of 17 people. The magazine was targeted after it continuously published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad,
whose image is considered sacred to Muslims. Marcus Keller, associate professor of French and Italian and coordinator of the forum, said mass unity marches held on Jan. 11 following the Paris shootings were the largest demonstrations in France since WWII. Nancy Blake, professor of comparative and world literature, spoke from the panel about her experience being in France during the attacks. She said her apartment was five minutes from the Charlie Hebdo office. “When I walked across the Seine from my apartment in Paris, I walked past the (Arab World Institute), and I saw them putting “Je Suis Charlie” in French and in Arabic on the side of it, and that just looked wonderful to me,” Blake said. Yasemin Yildiz, associate professor of Germanic languages and literatures, talked about the German
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INSIDE
The Board of Trustees welcomes new leadership. The board appointed Edward McMillan as chairman and elected Timothy Killeen as the next University president. The board’s Jan. 15 meeting began with official nominations and elections for the chair position, two executive seats and the University president. Gov. Bruce Rauner was not in attendance; however, Thursday marked the beginning of his service as an exofficio board member. Upon Rauner’s election in November, former chairman Chris Kennedy and executive member Pam Strobel chose not to run for re-election. To begin the elections, Trustee James Montgomery nominated McMillan as chairman, naming a few of McMillan’s accomplishments to bolster his nomination. McMillan graduated from the University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science in agriculture. McMillan has worked as an external advisor for the College of ACES and sat on the Board of
STAFF WRITER
MICHAEL BUNEL TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
response to the Paris shootings. Anti-Islam protestors and members of the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West have continued to demonstrate in protests that began prior to the attacks in Paris, he said. Yildiz said although peo-
ple were worried the attack might polarize Germany further, they have not increased the influence of PEGIDA, and the media and politicians from every party are against the movement. While the slogan “I Am Charlie” took off
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Directors of the University’s Alumni Association from 1995 to 2008. He is currently the principal and CEO of McMillan L.L.C, a transaction consulting firm. “It’s been wonderful working alongside him as a fellow trustee,” Montgomery said. As chairman, McMillan’s responsibilities include appointing trustees to each of the standing committees of the board, as well as naming a chair of each committee. He will also serve as chairman ex-officio of the
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Urbana to continue taser debate Monday BY FATIMA FARHA
People gather in Paris during a unity rally on Sunday, Jan. 11, in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists.
EDWARD MCMILLAN
The purchase of Tasers by the Urbana Police Department has generated much debate within the Urbana City Council, the Civilian Police Review Board and the Urbana Police Department over the last 11 months. At its Jan. 12 meeting, the Urbana City Council passed a motion to defer the decision for another two weeks, during which time community members could review the Taser policy online and raise their concerns during the Jan. 26 meeting. The council expects to come to a decision at the meeting. Alderman Diane Marlin, Ward 7, said the Urbana
Police Department has been working with community members and the Civilian Police Review Board to set up a policy that will tackle the guidelines required when it comes to purchasing and using Tasers. These guidelines require that police officers undergo crisis intervention training and list when Tasers are appropriate to use. To enforce these guidelines, the policy will require a public oversight and meeting every time a Taser is unholstered, and when it is discharged. “The two things combined provide for probably some of the strictest guidelines
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