Wolverines wallop Illini
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No. 2 Michigan defeats Illinois 74-60 SPORTS, 1B
The Daily Illini
Monday January 28, 2013
High: 54˚ Low: 43˚
www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Vol. 142 Issue 88
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SEIU: We ‘really, really need more’
Union members vote 91% in favor of strike authorization BY AUSTIN KEATING STAFF WRITER
After eight months of unsuccessful negotiations with the University, Service Employees International Union Local 73 members voted overwhelmingly Thursday and Friday to authorize a strike. Ninety-one percent of union members voted in favor of the strike authorization. The union, which represents about 800 food and service employees at the University, will now assemble a committee that will make the final decision. SEIU lead negotiator Ricky Baldwin hopes this vote will show the University that members “really, really need more” in reference to wages. The SEIU is also opposed to the University’s insistence that the SEIU participate in the campus wage program, which the provost uses to determine pay increases adjusted for inflation. Campus wage program raises were about 2.5 percent last year and about 3 percent in 2011. In the two years prior, campus wages did not increase. “(Union members are) angry basically because of the way they’re treated and also because they know the University has money” and they think the University can afford better wages, Baldwin said.
Baldwin said that during the last bargaining session, the SEIU negotiating team made a proposal to the University that made several concessions in contested areas like wages. That proposal wasn’t accepted. “We’re ready to try to reach an agreement with the University, and we hope that they can get serious,” Baldwin said. “We need something to change.” When the bargaining team convenes Feb. 12, Baldwin hopes to make progress in the standstill. “If we feel that we’re making progress in negotiations, then we won’t give them the 10-days (strike) notice right now,” Baldwin said, referring to the notice to strike required by state law. “If it looks like they’re going to be stubborn and dig in their heels, then we’re going to have to.” Campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said in an email that she expects the SEIU and University will reach a compromise. “We will continue to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement,” Kaler said. “We remain confident that if both sides continue to work together, we can reach agreement on the remaining issues.”
ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
University President Robert Easter speaks at the memorial held for Carl R. Woese at the Levis Center on Saturday. Woese was a distinguished faculty member known for his work in molecular biology.
Campus remembers Carl R. Woese Late MCB professor famous for discovering 3rd branch of life BY JACQUI OGRODNIK STAFF WRITER
Family members, colleagues and friends of the revolutionary professor, Carl R. Woese, gathered at his memorial Saturday. Woese is renowned for his discovery of archaea, the third domain of life, and adopting a “molecular approach to classifying organisms.” Woese died at 84-years-old on Dec. 30. The Institute for Genomic Biology, or IGB, along with oth-
Austin can be reached at akkeati2@ dailyillini.com.
Chancellor Phyllis Wise. Guests were also encouraged to share their stories about the influential professor. Easter said he is confident Woese’s story will be remembered. “It was the characteristics of the University, the honest dialogue, mutual support, academic freedom and tolerance for revolutionary ideas that made it possible for Woese to prosper here,” Easter said. “The challenge for those of us who remain is to sustain that culture, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. We owe him nothing less than that.” Larry Gold, longtime friend
er departments in the University held the memorial at the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St. Gene Robinson, IGB director, opened the memorial and introduced each speaker. He said not only did Woese change the course of biology with his discovery of the “third domain of life,” he also was a deep and inspirational influence to several people. The memorial featured many speakers including University President Robert Easter and
Campus comes out for ‘Gays on Ice’ LGBT students, allies attend social event People began trickling into the Ice Arena on Friday night to lace up their skates and glide onto the ice. Soon after, a DJ began playing Lady Gaga’s hit song, “Born This Way,” an anthem for many LGBT students. The event, “Gays on Ice,” was a collaborative effort between the LGBT Resource Center and the Illini Union Board to create a diverse and welcoming social environment for all types of students. “LGBT (resource center) brings people out from their community, and Illini Union Board has a different reach,” said Snegha Ramnarayana ,
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ISS increases budget for off-campus travel BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
The Illinois Student Senate is requesting more than $800 from its financial committee to send an observer to two off-campus University Senates Conference meetings. The University Senates Conference, which is made up of the faculty senates from all three University of Illinois campuses, acts as an advisory body to the board of trustees. At the Wednesday student senate meeting, senators voted 20-2 in favor of appointing a permanent senator observer to attend monthly senates conference meetings. “I’m very happy the student senate recognizes the importance of sending students to the University Senates Conference to act as our eyes and ears to the shared governance process,” said senator Jim Maskeri, senior in LAS and sponsor of the resolution. The committee on financial affairs originally allocated $160 for travel and hotel costs for the Feb. 19 meeting at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “To say that someone is staying somewhere close to UIC for $100 is unrealistic,” said senator Damani Bolden, junior in ACES. “Being from Chicago, I know that number is very unrealistic.” During discussion Wednesday, Maskeri amended the resolution to also allocate money for the senates conference meeting in April at the Springfield campus. At that meeting, the allocation was talked up to $842 because of many senators’ fears that $160 was not enough. “If we’re going to do something, let’s do it right; let’s do it with some class,” said Bolden, who was a main proponent of
HASAN KHALID THE DAILY ILLINI
STAFF WRITER
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ILLINOIS STUDENT SENATE
A student skates at the "Gays on Ice" event held at the Ice Arena on Friday. The LGBT community and allies came together for a night of free ice skating and hot chocolate.
BY MADDIE REHAYEM
of Woese and professor from the University of Colorado Boulder, also spoke at the memorial. The friends, who met when Gold was 19, talked about how the professor loved young people because they were “like sponges who were able to absorb knowledge easily.” He also described Woese as having an “impish sense of humor” because of how he liked to play jokes on others. Gold told a story about a time when he tried to hire Woese, but when his interviewers laughed at how Woese recited the ribosomal RNA sequences, Woese scolded the interviewers.
Director of Cultural Programs at the IUB and sophomore in Engineering, who organized the event. “They bring them out and have people interact with each other.” Students came to the event regardless of their sexual orientations. Lauren Mason, junior in Business, said she is gay and attended the event with her transgender friend and with her roommate, who is an LGBT ally. Mason is a transfer student and fi rst heard of the LGBT Resource Center when she received a Facebook invitation to the event. “I don’t really know anybody else on campus that’s LGBT, so it’d be nice to talk to different
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people here and just see what their walks of life are,” she said. “I’m from this town, but as a new student here...it’s kind of cool that there’s events like this.” Josh Jochem , senior in Engineering, came to “Gays On Ice” because he said events like it bring out members of the gay community that normally are not very active, and that there are a surprising amount of gay people on campus. “(Without LGBT events) there would be absolutely no way of knowing who is gay as when you people-watch on campus,” he said. Gay or not, the event provided a friendly social environ-
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ment to all students in attendance, said Tearria Beck-Scott, program advisor for the IUB who helped organize the event. “There needs to be an attempt to show unity amongst all students on campus and bringing a safe space for our LGBT community to not only socialize with each other but with other people on campus,” she said. Not only did students of all orientations attend “Gays On Ice,” but they also attended regardless of their skill on the ice. “I’m excited to fall on my ass a few times,” Mason said.
Maddie can be reached at rehayem2@dailyillini.com.
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ISS may send student senator to California The Illinois Student Senate hopes to send a senator to the rest of the University Senates Conference meetings this year. To pay for travel costs for the two off-campus meetings, the Illinois Student Senate’s committee on financial affairs recommended allocating $160. But while deciding to allocate money for an additional meeting at its last meeting, it raised the amount to $842. Original recommendation: Bus/train travel (Quantity: 1) — $60 Hotel room (Quantity: 1) — $100 Subtotal — $160 Illinois Student Senate response: Planes, trains and automobiles (Quantity: 2) — $330 Hotel room (Quantity: 2) — $200 Per diem, or daily allowance for expenses, for two days per meeting (Quantity: 4) — $28 Subtotal — $842
upping the allocation. Despite majority approval of the funding request, some senators were still unhappy with the final number. “Let me tell you, it does not cost more than $1,000 to spend a weekend in Chicago,” said Matt Gold, senator and senior in LAS. Senator Max Ellithorpe, grad-
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