Cha cha for charity: Business students prepare for dance competition FEATURES, 6A
PGA success
Golf alum Luke Guthrie up to par on tour SPORTS, 1B
Tuesday March 5, 2013
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 142 Issue 114
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Spring 2013 ballot goes live Tuesday BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
The spring 2013 online election ballot will go live Tuesday morning until Wednesday night and will include four referenda questions in addition to student senate, Student Organization Resource Fee board and student trustee elections. Three of the four referenda questions concern student fees and one concerns support of the status of the retired Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University, according to the Campus Student Election Commission website. The first asks students if they would support a 30-year, $25 general fee increase beginning in fall 2014 to support Assembly Hall renovations, though the finalized question does not include language stating this will be a 30-year fee. The fee would cover 17 percent of the building’s upcoming $160 million renovation, which will include the additions of air-conditioning, new seating, concessions, improved restrooms, expanded concourse space and enhanced accessibility features. The remainder will be covered by private sponsorships, donations, general public ticket fees and premium seating commitments will fund 83 percent of the renovation. A second question asks students if they would like to see the continuation of a semesterly $2
DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
The Alma Mater sculpture from graduation season in May 2012. This May, Alma will not be back in time for graduates to take photos at Commencement.
Alma Mater gone till next year
See BALLOT, Page 3A
Waiting for Chief referendum results The results of the Chief Illiniwek referendum question will not be released until the Moot Court Board Judiciary rules on a case regarding the constitutionality of the Illinois Student Senate’s resolution to create the mascot selection a survey from mid-January. Senators announced in February that they were withholding the results of the survey as well until a ruling is made. The court will be hearing oral arguments on March 13 at the law school. “If the resolution is found to be constitutional, we can release the results of that (mascot selection) contest,” said Brock Gebhardt, student body president. “If it is found to be unconstitutional, the results would be sequestered.”
Repeat candidates run in new election BY CORINNE RUFF
Restoration process will extend past Commencement BY NATHANIEL LASH MANAGING EDITOR FOR REPORTING
Graduating seniors this May will notice one familiar face not among them in the post-Commencement celebrations: the Alma Mater. The statue is now expected to return some time during the 2013-2014 academic year. After being hauled off campus Aug. 7, it was expected to return by May 4 , after conservators at the Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio repaired corrosion and water damage to the statue that had occurred since its last touch-up in 1981. But when the restoration work got underway, the studio found the statue’s internal damage exceeded the initial expectations, said University spokeswoman Robin Kaler. In a video interview provided to media outlets by the University, Andrzej Dajnowski , lead conservator with the studio, said
Twitter reacts to Alma Mater news
@kawawees — Honestly so disappointed
@rudykomaki — another excuse to delay my graduation... Alma Mater won’t be back in time for commencement; repair cost triples
#universityofillinois
@AlisonMelko — Seriously, the more I think about the Alma Mater not being back for graduation, the more depressed I get. #OccupyTheQuad @PrattCat16 — @IllinoisLoyalty: Alma Mater won’t be back in time for commencement; repair cost triples” unbelievable. @4thinlineof6
the statue has posed some unique problems for his group. “The most unique part is that the sculpture is big enough to have serious structural problems but small enough so that we cannot get in very easily,” he said. The additional work is estimated to cost another $260,000, more than tripling the
in the fact that the alma mater won’t be there for graduation. #traditionsruined
@pixeldust30 — It’s not nice to tell ur mom’s age and weight MT @NewsAtIllinois Restoring Alma Mater will take longer, cost more @GingerSnap273 — For graduation there will be a ton of mini Alma Mater statues around campus with “different personalities”. #photomontagewaitingtohappen @caitlyn___ann — Graduation without the alma mater? Is that even allowed?
original cost to a total of roughly $360,000. The project will be paid for by the Chancellor’s Fund, which is provided by private gifts from alumni and others. According to a University press release, the statue will have each of its 30 con-
See ALMA MATER, Page 3A
STAFF WRITER
Urbana citizens will have the same bipartisan choices for mayor at polling booths on April 9 as they did four years ago: Republican candidate Rex Bradfield and incumbent Democrat Mayor Laurel Prussing. Prussing, who won the Democratic primary last week, won against Bradfield in 2009 with 53 percent of the vote when Bradfield came out with 32 percent. But although the ballot will look the same, Bradfield said his campaign strategy this year will be more personal and modest in spending. He said he will be focused on face-to-face interBRADFIELD PRUSSING actions with voters, regardless of their political party. “I don’t care about the politics of everything,” Bradfield said. “I want you to elect me because I’m the right guy.” While Bradfield said he spent $41,000 out of his pocket four years ago for the campaign, he said he won’t spend any money this year and is looking for four to five significant sponsorships to donate funding. John Farney, Champaign county auditor, is a friend and supporter of Bradfield and said this campaign will be much different than the 2009 effort. “It’s not going to be a mass media campaign,” Farney said. “People need to get to know the candidate on a local level. It’s a low turnout election, so your face-to-face contact really makes a difference.” After winning the Democratic candidacy on Feb. 26, Prussing said that though she didn’t know which issues Bradfield would address in his campaign, she would continue to stick to her priority issues of city improvements. “He is a known quantity. So we’ll see,” she said. Many topics of controversy, such as the Boneyard
See CANDIDATE, Page 3A
INSIDE
YOUR VOICE
Q: How do you feel about the Alma Mater not being here for Commencement? COMPILED BY SARI LESK ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
“I’m pretty upset. I think all the seniors are looking forward to taking pictures with it in their cap and gown. They always say you can’t take a picture with it until you’re graduating, so they promised it would be back. It stinks to not get those pictures. My brother has them (and) I won’t; that’s kind of a bummer.”
“My parents are coming all the way from India when I graduate, and they would have wanted to take a picture. It’s kind of sad that I won’t be able to take the picture. ... It is what it is.” ABHIJIT MARAR, senior in Engineering
“I’m going to be staying a fifth year for my master’s, so I fortunately will be able to take that last graduation picture with it next year. So I guess my heart goes out more to my friends ... that aren’t going to really have that chance to do so their last year on campus. ”
“That makes me really sad. I never had a connection to it before, but it’s obviously just cool to take a picture with. ... That’s horrible that it’s not going to be back here, though. That sucks.” AMINAT SARUMI, senior in LAS
MICHAEL SMIGIELSKI, senior in Business
CLARE MCINTYRE, senior in Business
UC Senate supports sustainability goals BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
Faculty members are recommending that University administration make sustainability issues top priority, especially when dealing with the campus’s carbon footprint. The Urbana-Champaign Senate approved a proposal for a resolution in support of the Illinois Climate Action
Plan at its meeting Monday. The Senate Committee on Campus Operations unanimously approved the resolution at a meeting last month, said Ben McCall, chair of the committee and associate professor of chemistry. In 2008, University administrators signed the American College and University President Climate Commitment, which promised carbon neu-
trality, or a net-zero carbon footprint, on campus by 2050. Two years later, Robert Easter, interim chancellor at the time, developed the plan in response to this commitment. It lists broad goals and plans to potentially reduce the campus’ environmental impact. “Climate change is a very important issue, and it is better for the Uni-
versity to be in front of this issue in a leadership role than behind it,” McCall said. McCall said the University has made a lot of progress on these goals in recent years. All new buildings on campus are required to have Leadership in Energy and Environmen-
See SEC, Page 3A
Po l i c e 2 A | H o r o s c o p e s 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | C r o s s w o r d 5 A | C o m i c s 5 A | B u s i n e s s & Te c h n o l o g y 6 A | S p o r t s 1 B | C l a s s i f i e d s 4 B | S u d o k u 4 B