THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY January 31, 2019
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 148 Issue 37
UI racks up public record denials
Requests improperly blocked 63 percent of the time BY THERESE POKORNEY ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The University of Illinois has been found to be one of the top offenders for improperly releasing public records under the Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act, according to a recent report by the Better Government Association, a nonpartisan watchdog group in Illinois. The report stated that among the denied FOIA and OMA requests sent to the attorney general’s Public
yers, three supervisors and four support staff, receives and decides on exemptions. In total, the BGA examined how the PAC office ruled on 28,270 FOIA and OMA requests for review from April 6, 2010, to March 15. Thomas Hardy, University of Illinois spokesman and FOIA officer, wrote in an email the BGA does not explain the data reported very well. “We don’t think it accurately reflects the totality of FOIA compliance at
“A public body can claim a FOIA exemption for a number of things, but there’s a lot of loopholes.” ANNUM HAIDER CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND RESEARCH ANALYST
Access Counselor’s office for review, the University of Illinois improperly applied exemption rules 63 percent of the time. Exemptions allow public bodies to reject FOIA requests and prevent disclosure of information. The PAC office, which consists of 13 full-time law-
the U of I System, a highly decentralized organization with two major research universities that must comply with federal laws regarding student (FERPA) and patient (HIPAA) privacy, and interpret more than three-dozen state FOIA exemptions in the course of
annually processing more than 1,000 FOIA requests and providing thousands of responsive documents to requestors,” Hardy said. In written responses, Hardy said the BGA neglected to contact the University System before the release of its findings to inquire whether there are circumstances or context that might contradict those findings and more accurately reflect the system’s commitment to FOIA compliance in the letter and spirit of the law. Annum Haider, civic engagement and research analyst at the BGA, said they broke down the available data to determine how often public bodies had or hadn’t violated FOIA and OMA, according to the PAC. According to the data, out of the top 14 public bodies that falsely applied FOIA exemptions, the City of East St. Louis was in violation 100 percent of the time, the University of Illinois 63 percent of the time, the City of Joliet 58 percent of the time, the Illinois Department of Central Management Services and the Illinois Department of Transportation both 46
The University
percent of the time and the Chicago Police Department is one of the 43 percent of the time. The PAC improperly resolved requests offenders of top for FOIA reviews with the Univerimproperly releasing public records sity 17 times. Hardy said, in under the Freedom of addition to full complia nce with FOIA Information in the letter and spirit of Act. the law, the U of I System’s FOIA administrator conducts orientation sessions with administrative and academic units across the system, and all personnel engaged in processing FOIA requests take a mandatory online state training. According to the report, the PAC office determined that public bodies administered incorrect exemptions 1,345 times — 30 percent of the times the PAC issued a substantive determination on an exemption claim. To get this number, SEE FOIA | 3A
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Groundhog Day continues old traditions Champaign crawls Ancient German stories started onto list of top 50 groundhog legend in Pennsylvania bed bug cities in US BY LUIS VELAZQUEZ STAFF WRITER
When you wake up in the morning and watch the weather on Saturday, would you trust a meteorologist or a groundhog? If you lived in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, your answer might be the groundhog. If Phil the groundhog sees his shadow and returns to his hole on Groundhog Day, it is believed we will look forward to six more weeks of winter-like weather. However, if Phil does not see his shadow, it is believed that he has predicted an early
spring. Jeffrey Frame, professor in LAS, supports the celebration of Groundhog Day, but completely disregards the idea of the groundhog predicting our weather forecast. “There have been a couple historical studies looking at Punxsutawney Phil. They’ve ranged his accuracy as anywhere between 30 and 45 percent going back to the 1960s. Is there anything scientifically accurate about the groundhog’s shadow? No,” Frame said. Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Chris-
tian traditions of Candlemas. Candlemas is when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. Similar to the concept of Groundhog Day, the candles represented how long and cold the winter would be, according to History.com. Justine Paul, a first-year graduate in Engineering, is originally from Pennsylvania. Paul explained how citizens from Pennsylvania celebrate Groundhog Day. It all starts at a classroom setting for most people who live in Pennsylvania compared to here in Illinois. “When you first start school, like in kindergarten, you learn about Groundhog Day. You do
coloring activities. I think we celebrated Groundhog Day probably until the sixth grade,” Paul said. Paul said she grew up in a town where there is a big Pennsylvanian Dutch culture, which is where Groundhog Day started as a German holiday. “It was brought to the United States through the PA Dutch. So where I live, there is a lot of Pennsylvanian Dutch,” Paul said. “If you didn’t learn about it in school, then you saw it on the news or through your grandparents. It’s basically another holiday at PA.” Germans expanded this idea by selecting an animal, which was a hedgehog
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS FLOOK
Punxsutawney Phil is raised into the air on Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to ancient German traditions, if the groundhog comes out of his hole and does not see his shadow, spring will come early.
STAFF WRITER
Although insects aren’t usually seen in the winter, Champaign might not be immune to bed bugs in the cold weather; it is ranked 24th on the top 50 bed bug cities in America by Orkin, a company that provides pest control services. According to an article by FOX 55/27 Illinois, Champaign moved up two spots on the list from last year. However, Susan Ratcliffe, program manager in crop sciences, said students should view Orkin’s list as a snapshot of the company’s research due to the inevitability of spreading bed bugs in mobile populations such as Champaign. “It only moved up two points, and since we don’t know how they aggregated the data for this list, it’s very hard,” Ratcliffe said. “But it could be as simple as a few extra people in the Champaign-Urbana area decided to call Orkin rather than another treatment company. That’s why it’s so hard to look at this data with any real significance because of the fact that we don’t see the raw data.” Nick Seiter, research assistant professor in crop sciences, said people do not typically feel the bite of bed bugs, causing the infestation to spread quickly. Students can identify bed bugs by looking for the flattened shape and burnt
STAFF WRITER
The University is proceeding with plans to amplify its scholarship and leadership in mathematics by constructing a new building on the site of Illini Hall by 2022 and renovating Altgeld Hall by 2024. The University is negotiating an architect contract for the almost $100 million
project, which will hopefully be signed by spring of this year, said Derek Fultz, director of facilities for LAS. “Illini Hall and Altgeld Hall house the Departments of Statistics and Mathematics, t wo of the fastest growing and dynamic units within LAS,” Fultz said. “It is our hope that this project will
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enhance the opportunities for students within these departments, and also the large number of students from across campus that they serve.” Fultz said funding for the project is being provided by Illinois through the Discovery Partners Institute, the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment and donor
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commitments. The University is also putting forward funding. “The two buildings are being managed as one project and will be funded as one project,” Fultz said. The new building will be constructed in the place of Illini Hall, which was built in 1907 and has served as
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UI reveals timeline for Illini Hall, Altgeld project BY OLIVIA WELSHANS
reddish color of the insects themselves. However, because students can easily confuse bed bugs for other insects with a flattened shape, such as cockroaches, students should also look for red spots on their sheets or clothing, identifying that bed bugs have fed on them overnight. Seiter said although some people may experience a rash after being bitten by a bed bug, the insects are merely a nuisance. “Nobody wants to have a bed bug infestation, but one of the important things if you do find that is to not panic,” Seiter said. “They’re a part of our environment, and again, very unpleasant in nature, but they’re not dangerous in any way.” Since travel from one living quarter to another is the primary way bed bugs are spread, Seiter and Ratcliffe said vigilance is the best method for students to protect themselves against bed bugs. For example, students can visually inspect their rooms when staying in a hotel or keep their suitcase in the bathtub or shower area to prevent potential bed bugs from spreading. Chelsea Hamilton, senior assistant director for communications and marketing for University Housing, said in an email that University Housing strives to educate
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