WRESTLING Illini head to St. Louis for NCAA championships PAGE 1B
THURSDAY March 19, 2015
THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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UI promotes Amtrak to save on transportation BY FATIMA FARHA STAFF WRITER
PORTRAIT BY SONNY AN THE DAILY ILLINI
Forty years later, Easter ready to retire BY ABIGALE SVOBODA STAFF WRITER
Standing at his retirement party at the Colonnades Club in Memorial Stadium in 2009, President Robert Easter was asked if he could wait just a few more months. Former Chancellor Richard Herman asked if he could serve as interim provost for the Urbana campus, and Easter thought, “It would be an interesting way to go out.” However, during Easter’s time as interim provost, the now infamous admissions scandal broke, leading to the resignation of the majority of the Board of Trustees and some University administrators. Consequentially, Easter was asked to stay just a little longer — this time serving as interim chancellor until Chancellor Phyllis Wise was hired in 2012. Easter was then able to retire. But, just for five months. On a Sunday afternoon in March 2012, he received a phone call from then-Board
of Trustees chairman Christopher Kennedy, asking him to come back to work at the University. This time, as president. “So that’s it. It’s an accident. The accidental president,” Easter said. Easter will now retire on May 17, after almost 40 years of working at the University. He planned to cap his career at 33 years after he served for the College of ACES as a professor, department head, interim dean and dean — Easter’s favorite position. “The really fun job was dean of agriculture. In part because I was at a level that I could impact things, both within the college and also externally,” Easter said. “And it was a time that we weren’t really in desperate financial shape, so we could do some good things.” While he deems himself “accidental,” Robin Kaler, campus spokeswoman, said Easter is the opposite — a visionary who brought the University stability and fixed its reputation.
Easter said he hopes his legacy will show that he helped the University return to a state of normalcy. Easter himself is an Illini. He earned his Ph.D. at the University in animal science in 1976. He did not expect “University president” to be something on his career path. While Easter was completing his doctorate degree, a faculty member left to work for Purina. The department asked Easter to serve as a lecturer, and he ended up staying for four decades. Ironically, current chairman of the Board of Trustees Ed McMillan was the executive who recruited the leaving faculty member. “So I told (McMillan), ‘It’s all your fault!’” Easter said. McMillan’s fault or not, Easter said he thinks ultimately he made the right choice — to work at the University over another job offer at Texas A&M, where he earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Now that Easter can final-
ly retire from his six days-aweek, 19 hours-a-day job, he said he’s excited to rest and spend time with his wife and family. Easter said the job is really a team effort, with his wife, Cheryl, leading the pack. She works as much as he does, Easter said, between hosting and attending all the other events that accompany being president. “When I was asked to take this role she said, ‘Well this is something we can do together,’ and I thought: ‘what a great way to end a professional career,’ Easter said. Although he enjoys sports, Easter’s true hobbies are reading, farming, building and repairing. Cheryl is the sports fan of the couple — “a fanatic,” according to her husband. The Easter family lives on a farm where he has four different fruit trees and a garden that he enjoys tending to in the warmer months. Easter also has a workshop but claimed not to build any-
SEE EASTER | 3A
University employees are being encouraged to take the Amtrak more often during travels to and from Chicago in support of the recent executive order issued by Gov. Bruce Rauner to reduce unnecessary travel. Executive Order 8 addresses Illinois’ fiscal crisis by recommending that state agencies require employees, whenever possible, to take public transportation or carpool when traveling. The state hopes this action will reduce travel reimbursements in gas money. The University’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) and the Chicago campus’ Office of Sustainability are working together to encourage employees to use Amtrak when traveling between campuses to save money and help the environment. Grace Kyung, graduate intern for sustainable transportation at iSEE and graduate student, said the department has been promoting
travel by Amtrak because it would help the University reduce its carbon footprint. “We’re working toward understanding how people are choosing their mode of transportation and how we can work together in reducing unnecessary travel,” Kyung said. “Our goal is to ultimately become carbon neutral over time.” On its website, the Office of Business and Financial Services shows a discount available for University employees. Travel cost between Chicago and Champaign via Amtrak can be as low as $14, compared to $78 for a trip made in a personal vehicle. The website also recommends scheduling meetings that work around the Amtrak schedule, so employees can easily take the train. Cynthia Klein-Banai, associate chancellor for sustainability at Chicago’s Office of Sustainability, said she began to encourage Amtrak travel when the office’s sustainable transportation commit-
SEE AMTRAK | 3A
SONNY AN THE DAILY ILLINI
Passengers line up to board the Amtrak train at the Illinois Terminal on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading along, helping us grow and learn JOHNATHAN HETTINGER Editor-in-chief
O
ut of the hundreds of stories I’ve written for The Daily Illini, this is the most difficult one to put into words. Over the past year, The Daily Illini staff has spent countless hours putting out 126 papers. We’ve written thousands of stories, which received mil-
lions of views from hundreds of thousands of readers. But time’s up. This is my last publication as editor-in-chief. When we come back from spring break, Megan Jones will be editor-in-chief, and I’ll be a has-been. I’ve been dreading (and looking forward to) this day for 365 days now. I credit almost everything I know about journalism to The Daily Illini. The people I work with on a daily basis are amazing. They
would do anything for a good story, and I would do anything for them. I’ve met some of my best friends here, and it’s sad to see it all come to an end. But the thing that brought me the most joy over the past year was seeing someone reading The Daily Illini — people laughing, people learning, people crying. I want to thank you for the opportunity to do this. You didn’t have to read anything, but you did. You chose to spend your
time reading the things we poured our hearts and souls into. You validated everything we did. We can write and write and write, but none of it matters unless you read it. And you did. You read about the controversy surrounding Steven Salaita. You read about the process of finding a new University president and adding a new medical school. You read about the struggles of the football and men’s basketball teams. You went to us to
find out what to do this weekend. You read our opinions, even if you didn’t necessarily agree. We’re just a bunch of college kids trying to learn how to write, how to edit, how to put out a newspaper. We’re learning news judgment. We’re learning storytelling. We’re learning how to manage each other. We’re learning how to be adults. And we’re trying to balance it all with classes. The Daily Illini is in good hands going forward.
SPORTS
OPINIONS
LIFE & CULTURE
LIFE & CULTURE
Illini to head to Big Tens
Furthering the Making the most discussion on race of Spring Break
Illinois gymnasts at Michigan for championship meet
Columnist weighs in on Tuesday’s editorial about campus racism
While some students vacation, these volunteer
Chinese students seek US culture
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A young staff is taking over. They have a lot to learn, but they’re extremely talented and dedicated. I know they’ll be able to continue the momentum we’ve built up this year. Well, I guess, 126 papers later, that’s it — that’s all I’ve got. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. Thanks for reading.
Johnathan is a senior in Media. hetting2@dailyillini.com @jhett93
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