SHIBATA FOLLOWS DREAMS TO ILLINOIS
On an odyssey negate stereotypes
Illini hit wall in Big Ten play
Drawn across the world by hockey, transfer lands in Champaign
A University student and Greek life member brought a publication to life on campus
Illinois hopes to end 7-game losing streak against Wisconsin
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THE DAILY ILLINI
TUESDAY February 4, 2014
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
27Ëš | 21Ëš Vol. 143 Issue 71
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Students, senators look to reduce textbook costs Illinois Student Senate pushes for online textbooks to reduce increasing costs
The cost of education for students is increasing, in part because of the rising estimated cost of textbooks. Chicago
As a professor stands in front of a general education Physics 101 classroom, he explains that the class’ mandatory textbook, which normally costs $250 at the Illini Union Bookstore, is an open textbook that can be downloaded online for free. This is the Illinois Student Senate’s dream for the spring semester. The senate is now gearing up for one of its main initiatives of the semester: adding more open educational resources on campus for general education courses, which would likely lessen the cost of education for a majority of students. These open educational resources include open-access textbooks and free online classes.
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New legislation introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., aims at lessoning the financial blow that comes with buying textbooks at the start of each semester. The bill, called the Affordable College Textbook Act, is co-sponsored by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and was introduced to Congress in November. It creates a grant program that will fund pilot programs for colleges and universities around the country to develop and expand the use of opensource textbooks. The bill also requires that any open-source resources created under the grant program must be made easily available online “in a machine-readable, digital format that anyone can directly download, edit and redistribute.� ACTA is not the senator’s first piece of legislation dealing with textbooks. From travelling around Illinois, Durbin was surprised to learn many professors didn’t think it was important to question the cost of their assigned textbook. “If they liked it, they would recommend it, the bookstore would stock it and that was the end of the story,� he said in an email. “I didn’t think it should end there so I introduced my College Textbook Affordability Act in 2007 ... My goal with that legislation was to make information on college textbooks more available.� Durbin said he feels the College Textbook Affordability Act was a success, citing a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that found that students and faculty have more access to and awareness of textbook information and pricing. Now, with ACTA, Durbin is going a step further by making those textbooks free, which would reduce students’ financial burden. “Students are not only concerned about a good education but also about not ending up in debt,� he said. “The price of a textbook should not be a barrier to education.� A January 2014 study from the U.S. Public Inter-
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YOUR VOICE
How much do you spend on textbooks per year, and where do you typically buy them?
2005-06
2013-14 SCOTT DURAND THE DAILY ILLINI
SOURCE: ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
Did textbook prices impact which/how many classes you took? U.S. PIRG, a pubic interest research group, surveyed 2,039 college students from 150 campuses. Below are the results of their question from above.
COMPILED BY MEGAN JONES STAFF WRITER
NO
“I don’t really buy textbooks because I’m an art major, but this semester I’ve already spent $65 on paper, and last semester I bought Adobe Creative Suite, which was expensive.�
YES, SOMEWHAT
32%
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BY STEFFIE DRUCKER
1,400
SEE TEXTBOOKS | 3A
“I buy from the Illini Union Bookstore, and per year I spend around $150. I know science majors have to spend a lot more on textbooks, but I spend most of my money on computer software.�
Springfield
STAFF WRITER
1200
DOLLARS
STAFF WRITER
Urbana
1500
Open-access textbooks are open-license documents and differ from e-books, which students still have to pay for. Open textbooks look similar to traditional textbooks and can be downloaded to a user’s computer as a PDF, whereas e-books generally use an online interface. “A lot of students are definitely looking at this, and a lot of institutions are definitely considering more of those types of options, specifically from an affordability perspective for students,� said Jonathan Lackland, deputy director for advancement, external and government relations at the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
BY MEGAN JONES
New legislation aims to reduce textbook costs
UI system’s cost estimate of textbooks increasing
YES 52% “(As a graduate student), it’s been quite some time since I’ve bought a textbook, but I used to buy them from Amazon. I normally spent around $200 per year.�
16%
“I spend around $350 per year, and I normally go to T.I.S. Bookstore because I have rewards points there, or Chegg, which is normally cheap.�
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Frerichs announces official candidacy for state treasurer BY ELEANOR BLACK STAFF WRITER
State Sen. Michael Frerichs, D-52, officially announced his candidacy for state treasurer last week in a series of events held throughout the state, saying he sees room for improvement regarding investments in Illinois companies, infrastructure, and education. Frerichs will not face a challenge in the March 18 primary, though two Republican candidates have already announced that they are running for the position vacated by Republican Dan Rutherford, who is running for governor. If elected, Frerichs, who served on the Champaign County Board and as the Champaign County auditor for four years before becoming a state senator, would be the first person from Champaign County to hold a statewide executive position in more than 50 years. His election would also add some geographical diversity to the state’s executives. “Diversity in our elected office is a good thing. You should have diversity in gender, ethnicity and geography because they all bring differ-
ent perspectives to public service,� he said. “In terms of the Democratic party, it has been a long time since there’s been a downstate, statewide elected official.� The state treasurer is in charge of college savings plans, such as Bright Start and Bright Directions, and Frerichs has ideas on how to help students across the state make plans regarding their education. “The treasurer can do two things better: One, to make sure that we’re lowering fees paid on those savings plans, and that we have good, safe investments so that parents are able to afford college,� Frerichs said. “Two, you can use the treasurer’s office to talk to students and parents of the need to start saving for college, and to use the treasurer’s office as a bully pulpit to talk about an important issue.� He added that student debt is not just an issue for those graduating, but also for the state as a whole. With total student loan debt in the United States surpassing $1 trillion, Frerichs said the economy is being slowed down because graduates
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0$77 (',1*(5 TFOJPS JO -"4
are unable to move out of their parents’ homes, buy a car or start a family because of their college debt. In another effort to aid students, Frerichs would also focus on financial literacy. He cited the issue of new college students being targeted by credit card companies, which has led to significant credit card debt, in addition to the student loan debt. Frerichs said the treasurer’s office can play a better role in making sure students, like those who are out on their own for the first time, have all the skills and knowledge needed to be better with their money. Jaclyn Gelfond, president of the Illini Democrats and junior in LAS, said Frerichs has worked closely with the registered student organization during his career as state senator. “He had meetings on campus about college affordability and what students can do to make sure that they can afford to go to college, with finding the right loans and scholarships and trying to keep those costs down,� she said.
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University research ushers in new rechargeable pacemaker technology BY CLAIRE HETTINGER STAFF WRITER
Out of 40 million heartbeats in a year, missing just a few can end a life. Pacemakers are not always in use, but when a heart stops beating, they are everything. University researchers are developing a device — the first of its kind — with a battery that never needs to be replaced and is powered by the heart’s own motion — a simple beating. John Rogers, professor of Materials Science and Engineering, explained the energy harvesting and storage device connected to the pacemaker as a piece of piezoelectric material — onehundredth of the thickness of a human hair — that is placed on a piece of thin, orange plastic and then wrapped around the heart. “When you apply stress or strain on the material, it creates voltage currents, like power,� said Canan Dagdeviren, lead researcher and graduate student in Materials Sciences and Engineering. “So by simply using this power you can operate any bioimplantable devices.� The device generates a microwatt of power, the necessary
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CANAN DAGDEVIREN
amount to reinitiate a heart’s beating, Rogers said. The device provides minimal mechanical restraint on the heart so there are no adverse effects. “Our work is in the context of that type of technology — trying to come up with strategies for harvesting at high efficiencies in devices that are biocompatible that have very long lifetimes,�
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Rogers said. The research team chose to implement their research in pacemakers because using a rechargeable device would save patients from major surgery and surgical risk. Additionally, the device could save money by not having to pay for a replacement pacemaker.
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