EDITORIAL New statue will hopefully break stereotypes and encourage future female engineering students PAGE 4A
TUESDAY March 31, 2015
THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 144 Issue 98
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SEC to draft plan for potential cuts University seeks response to governor’s proposed budget cuts BY MAGGIE SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER
SONNY AN THE DAILY ILLINI
In Iok Kong, Ph.D. student in Food Science and Human Nutrition, operates the machinery used to extract yeast on March 30.
Developing hangover-free wine University researchers experiment with wine’s yeast BY MICHELLE REDONDO STAFF WRITER
Imagine waking up after a Tuesday wine night at The Clybourne without an awful hangover. This could eventually be a reality, thanks to a current research study occurring on campus. Yong-Su Jin, associate professor in the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, and his team have made hangover-free wine a possibility. Though hangover-free wine is not created yet, nor will it be for a while, Jin and his team are experimenting with genetic components in yeast that cause hangovers. They are also investigating which components can be removed or added to decrease the effects of the yeast. “The results from our
study showed that it would be feasible to make wine containing lower amounts of compounds, which are known to cause headaches, through engineered yeast,” said Jin in an email interview. Making wine with lower concentration starts at the secondary fermentation stage of wine. At this stage wine is made less bitter, but more amine compounds, like histamine, are added which can cause hangovers. “We envision that our yeast engineering technology can be applied to get rid of the secondary fermentation while making wine taste smooth,” Jin said. This research is complicated because they are working with industrial strains versus lab strains. Lab strains are specifi-
cally made for research, while industrial strains have another purpose, said Heejin Kim, a Ph.D student in Food Science and Human Nutrition department and member of Jin’s team. “Industrial strains are used in an actual industry. It’s difficult for us to engineer them and be used within its field,” Kim said. The genome knife, a tiny, new customized engineering tool created by UCBerkeley Professor Jamie Cate and his team, has made it easier to access and research industrial strains. The genome knife is the only way their team could have achieved what they have so far, said Guochang Zhang, postdoctoral research associate in the Energy Biosciences Institute and member of Jin’s team. “Let’s say we have one layer of paper that is easily cut with scissors. Now, if we have a whole book, the scissors will have a more difficult time cut-
ting through it,” Zhang said. “It’s easier to cut lab strains because they have one copy of their chromosome, but in industrial, there are multiple, like the whole book. This tool lets us manipulate even more than one chromosome now.” Although they have overcome the first hurdle, the team is still a long way from marketing hangoverfree wine. They’ll still have to introduce it to a much more conservative and cautious society. The team said after following a necessary protocol, maybe a hangover-free wine would even be sold globally. “In the end, we could even add aromatic processes in the genes for them to smell like bananas instead of wine. We don’t know if we can do it, but there’s this new possibility (with the technology),” Kim said.
mnredon2@dailyillini. com
Discussions regarding Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts continued at the Senate Executive Committee meeting on Monday. Depending on how the cuts are allocated across the system, the Urbana campus could lose anywhere between $86 million and $114 million in state funding, up to 12 percent of its state budget, said Provost Ilesanmi Adesida. Everything is on the table to cope with the cuts, he said. University administration requested that the SEC draft a response to the potential cuts to be presented at the Board of Trustees meeting in May. Nicholas Burbules, chair of the SEC’s General University Policy Committee, said that trends indicate that the state will continue to decrease General Revenue Funds.
“We can’t keep reacting to it on a year-by-year basis,” he said. There are ways to deal with the cuts over time, Adesida said, and he believes the University will eventually become semi-private. He said the University could slow hiring to offset layoffs, but it cannot stop altogether. “The world is changing,” Adesida said. “You need new, young people to bring you new ideas.” Roy Campbell, Senate Executive Committee chair, said while he is concerned about the budget, he believes the University will survive. “What I’ve learned over time is we’ve survived other budgets that are just as dire as this one,” Campbell said. “It’s a challenge, just like we challenge our students.”
mesulli2@dailyillini.com
Professors may be compensated based on MOOC development Online courses could become more accessible, after the Senate Executive Committee passed a recommendation on Massive Open Online Course compensation Monday. The recommendation will now be presented to the Academic Senate at the April 6 meeting. . . “If someone in high school who is interested in engineering takes a MOOC from one of our professors and likes that professor, that is good publicity for the University,” said Robin Kaler, University spokeswoman. The SEC voted to recommend that professors be compensated based on MOOC development, rather than for teaching a MOOC. MOOCs are not currently a large source of revenue for the University, but it’s possible that some MOOCs will bring in significant revenue
in the future. Michael Sandretto, SEC member and professor in Business, said the courses could be a good source of additional revenue for the University, especially with Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts. “If someone writes a really popular textbook, they make a lot of money— but the University does not,” said Sandretto. “A MOOC seems like a better opportunity for the University than even a textbook.” Chancellor Phyllis Wise also voiced her support of further MOOC development. “I heard a great presentation about what they’re doing in the College of Business with the possibility of starting a MOOC course that could turn into an MBA,” Wise said.
mesulli2@dailyillini.com
Enactus to collaborate with domestic violence organization
lyang51@dailyillini.com
Previewing campus life
Fewer survivors of domestic violence recieve help 60000
The number of survivors of domestic violence has been decreasing over the last eight years because of the limited resources and funding.
58000
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56000
52486 51435
52452
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51589 20 11
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52000
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52948
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54000
SOURCE: Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
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Fisher said domestic violence is important for college students to understand because women between the ages of 18 to 24 years old are at the highest risk for domestic violence, “That age group encompasses the majority of college women here at the University of Illinois, so they all should have a vested interest in ending domestic violence,” Fisher said. Education on a healthy relationship is key to protect people against domestic violence, McMurray said, “Stepping away from what the society says, stepping away from what the media says, and stepping away from what may have learned growing up, but what do you as an individual really want for yourself in a relationship and what is a healthy relationship for you,” McMurray said.
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an opportunity to help those who are trying to fix this problem.” McMurray said even she did not realize how serious domestic violence was until after she started working at Courage Connection. “Because it’s not a fun topic to talk about, often time it’s an embarrassing topic to talk about, often time it’s a topic that people just want to stay in the family type thing you know,” McMurray said. She said people of all races, classes and statuses are at risk of becoming domestic violence victims. As of 2010, there were 1,746 shelters for battered women, according to the National Census of Domestic Violence Services. In 2014, Courage Connection served 709 individual clients, 217 of which received domestic violence counseling, according to the non-profit’s annual report.
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Approximately 20 people in the United States are physically abused by an intimate partner per minute, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Marella McMurray, the domestic violence services program manager at Courage Connection, said it is a non-profit corporation which provides housing and supportive services for individuals and families dealing with homelessness and victims of domestic violence. Courage Connection is a non-profit corporation funded by state, federal and private grants, as well as 100 percent of revenue from their store in Lincoln Square. Courage Connection is also collaborating with Illinois Enactus, a registered student organization within the College of Business. Illinois Enactus will hold an event on the Quad on April 8
to help Courage Connection. “Our mission is to provide the continuum of services so that individuals and families can achieve safety, stability, and self-sufficiency,” McMurray said. Courage Connection was actually created in 2010 as a combination of the women’s shelters Woman’s Place and the Center for Women in Transition, but was given its current name in 2014, said McMurray. Maxwell Fisher, the project manager for Illinois Enactus and a sophomore in ACES said Enactus is currently working on 9 different projects, with the $1,500 grant given by the CocaCola Foundation. Its work with Courage Connection, called Uncap Opportunities for Women, is one of the projects. “Since domestic violence has become a very public issue garnering a lot of national attention, we saw
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STAFF WRITER
Number of clients
BY LIYUAN YANG
THE DAILY ILLINI
LIFE & CULTURE
From papers to plates, cafe celebrates 35 years Urbana’s Courier Cafe abounds with memories, homemade food PAGE 6A
RYAN FANG THE DAILY ILLINI
Admitted students and their parents get a taste of the University on a guided tour around campus during Admitted Students’ Day on March 3.
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