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Thusday February 14, 2013
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Proposed fee aims to fix up Assembly Hall BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
With a proposed $25 student fee increase, students will be able to “leave a legacy,” as part of a $160 million renovation to Assembly Hall. If the student committee for renovations receives the required 2,800 signatures on its petition by Feb. 17, students will get the opportunity to vote on this fee on the next referendum March 5-6. So far, the petition has 1,500 signatures, according to Claudia Christy, co-chair of the student committee and sophomore in LAS. The 50-year-old iconic building is “falling behind” in many areas, Christy said. The proposed renovation plans include air conditioning for the whole building and upgrades to restrooms and concession stands, she said. The building will also be more handicap accessible. In addition, the bowl will be expanded, and a student floorseating area will be added. There will also be a new pregame meeting area for the Orange Krush student section and new entry areas, including private student entrances. Christy said additional recreation rooms in the building will be made available to RSOs and for intermural championships. Discussion of renovations has been in the works for more than 10 years, but last fall, officials finally started setting plans in motion, Christy said. Renovations will begin in 2014 and will last for three years, but basketball teams will not be displaced during this time. Next year, students will pay a total of $2,916 annually in student fees. If fees for the renovation are approved, an additional $50 will be added to that cost for the 2014-15 academic year. But student senator Keenan Kassar, senior in Business, said he is not fully convinced that plans for the fee increase have been properly communicated to the student body. He said he is concerned that students have not received
enough information about the fee to vote on it, especially with the referendum election less than a month away. Although he said he supported the idea, he wished the process had been more transparent from the start. “We’re going to benefit from (the project), so we might as well pay into it,” Kassar said. “But if they were planning to have some of our money fund the project all along, it would’ve been nice for them to reach out to students near the beginning when they started planning to use our money.” In the past few weeks, the committee created Facebook and Twitter pages to inform students of the possible increase and to encourage them to sign the petition, Christy said. Kent Brown , associate director of athletics, said many of the proposed changes to Assembly Hall will benefit the entire campus, rather than just the athletic community. The building hosts many University sporting events during the year, as well as student convocation and graduation. “It’s not just an athletics building, it is a multi-purpose building,” he said. “More than half of the events in the building are non-athletic.” Christy said the project’s “leave a legacy” campaign is intended to make students understand that they will be helping to make history if this fee is approved. Although upperclassmen may not be on campus when the renovations are completed, the University is known to have a strong alumni base. Students often return to campus after they graduate for sporting events and concerts, she said. “Nobody wants to pay extra money, but what we’re trying to make people understand is that you’re leaving your stamp on campus,” Christy said. “When you come back, you’re going to see it, and you’re going to say, ‘that’s something I was a part of. That was my legacy.’”
FILM'S STRANGE SEX SCENES
Lauren can be reached at rohr2@ dailyillini.com.
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Vol. 142 Issue 101
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Dust to dust
SARI LESK THE DAILY ILLINI
Monsignor Gregory Ketcham blesses ashes with holy water during an ash service Wednesday afternoon. Students congregated on the Quad to be marked with ashes on their forehead on their way to and from class on Ash Wednesday.
Students weigh in on wage debate Obama, Quinn want wages raised to fight poverty BY CHRISSY PAWLOWSKI STAFF WRITER
Molly Forrest, sophomore in media, makes the minimum wage of $8.25 per hour working as an I-Star, or campus tour guide, to cover her expenses while at the University. But, if Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal to raise minimum wage to $10 per hour passes, as introduced in his State of the State address Feb. 6, covering these expenses would be easier for Forrest and other students and residents like her in Champaign-Urbana. “Nobody in Illinois should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty,” Quinn said in his address. “That’s a principle as old as the Bible. That’s why, over the next 4 years, we must raise the minimum wage to at least $10 an hour.” Quinn commended Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-4, for spon-
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soring Senate Bill 37, which provided that minimum wage for employees 18 years or older be adjusted for inflation each year by the Illinois Department of Labor. Legislative session for the bill ended in 2007. President Barack Obama also called for a federal raise in minimum wage to $9 per hour in his State of the Union address Tuesday. “A full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year,” Obama said in his address. “Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line ... In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.” Forrest said she recognizes both the positive and negative effects of a minimum wage raise on the federal and state level.
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“Who wouldn’t mind making more money?” Forrest said. “But ultimately, Illinois doesn’t have the money to pay these additional expenses.” Forrest said if her job was more challenging, she would be in favor of the raise. “The work I do is by no means back-breaking,” Forrest said. “If I was doing manual labor I would want more, but for what I do, the pay suffices.” Other students, like Chelsey Lange, sophomore in AHS, feel a raise in minimum wage would only hurt employers and the economy. “I feel that by raising minimum wage they are trying to raise tax wages in the future and overall expenses as well,” she said. Lange works part-time at Franklin Middle School in Champaign and Tap In Leader-
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The highest minimum wages in the United States Q Q Q Q
Washington — $9.19 Oregon — $8.95 Vermont — $8.60 Connecticut, Washington D.C., Illinois, Nevada (if no health insurancemore is providon ed) — $8.25 READBUZZ.COM SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
ship Academy in Champaign, a tutoring and mentoring nonprofit organization. While both jobs pay minimum wage, Lange said the paycheck is enough to cover her expenses. “I feel like I am paid an adequate amount for what I do,” she said. “It’s enough to get me through my everyday expenses.”
Chrissy can be reached at capawlo2@dailyillini.com.
Negotiations for SEIU slow, but promising BY AUSTIN KEATING STAFF WRITER
BRIAN YU THE DAILY ILLINI
CEOs from local tech companies gather Wednesday night at the iHotel Conference Center for the annual Champaign-Urbana CEO Roundtable.
JOBS Act, crowdfunding act as main topics at Tech Roundtable BY JACQUI OGRODNIK STAFF WRITER
Leaders of the ChampaignUrbana technology industry discussed new investment opportunities Wednesday at the iHotel and Conference Center for the quarterly CU CEO Tech Roundtable. The purpose of these roundtables, sponsored by Research Park , is to bring together presidents, CEOs and founders of tech companies so they can learn from each other, share success stories and
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address specific subject matter, said Laura Frerichs, director of Research Park. “The businesses certainly like the opportunity to learn from each other,” Frerichs said. “It is a difficult path to be a startup entrepreneur. Being able to have this peer group to be able to call upon and to be able to network with and to ask questions has been well received.” Brian Jurczyk, chairman of the roundtable and CEO
See TECH, Page 3A
Members and supporters of Service Employees International Union Local 73 picketed in front of Ikenberry Commons and the Illini Union on Wednesday. The participants wanted to show, as the lead negotiator for the SEIU Ricky Baldwin said that they “still have a number of issues that are of a very big concern.” On Tuesday, Baldwin and other SEIU negotiators, who represent about 800 building and food service workers on campus, met with the University to negotiate the food service contract. “I think it went well,” Baldwin said. “It’s by no means settled, it’s just that we made some progress.” A major point of contention in these nine months of contract negotiations has been the campus wage program, a fl at rate percentage increase that most University employees receive to compensate for infl ation. Baldwin said that because the raise has been below infl ation, and in one case gave no increase at all, SEIU employ-
ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
Daniel Werst, senior in LAS, protests in front of the Illini Union with the Service Employees International Union on Wed. The SEIU is negotiating with the University for higher wages. ees are reluctant to accept the campus wage. He said that during Tuesday’s negotiations, the University hinted at setting a base rate raise for SEIU members. Doing so would give SEIU members something to fall back on if the campus wage was low, as was the case in the last contract. “They suggested that they might be willing to offer us
a minimum (raise) in future years,” Baldwin said. “That’s defi nite movement. It shows that they do understand what it is that we need. We need to know that we’re at least going to get something.” An official offer was not made, but Baldwin said he is optimistic about the future of negotiations. He still feels some other issues need to be addressed, such as
outsourcing facility and building service work. The next negotiating session will take place Friday and will focus on facility and building service workers, Baldwin said. Robin Kaler, campus spokeswoman, could not be reached for comment.
Austin can be reached at akkeati2@ dailyillini.com.
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