Illinois football’s first spring practices mark return of Dudek, Hardee PAGE 1B MONDAY April 4, 2016
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Professor’s sudden death a shock to students stage talking with him.” The Economics DepartEconomics Professor ment sent out an email to Werner Baer passed away students within the departsuddenly from a brief ment offering its support illness Thursday. The and ensuring that the classannouncement was posted es that he taught would to the University Econom- continue “with minimal ics Department website. disruption.” “The Department and “His teaching assistants University have lost an are stepping up to lead the enormous contributor to courses under full faculthe common good: A talent- ty supervision,” the email ed scholar with a passion said. “All have worked with for teaching and research, Professor Baer extensiveand also simply a passion ly over time, and they have for life,” the the underpost said. standing “He never missed St udents and ability have voiced to carry out a lecture; the one his objectheir condolences tives for the time we had a guest course.” over different forms of Professor lecturer (Baer) was Baer social media was and around well known up there on stage campus. in the UniM at thew versity comtalking with him.” Bacon, a munity and had been junior in LAS, rememMATTHEW BACON a faculty JUNIOR IN LAS bers Baer member as an “old since 1974. school” proHe specialfessor who showed up to ized in Brazilian developevery lecture ready to mental economics and “was teach. a critical interlocutor on “I was incredibly Brazil’s economy.” shocked (to hear about his More information about death) because I knew he services for Professor Baer was an older professor, but will be announced, and when I had him he had no according to its website, the signs of any health con- Department of Economics cern,” Bacon said. “He nev- will likely hold a memorial er missed a lecture; the one in the near future. time we had a guest lecturer (Baer) was up there on news@dailyillini.com DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
DEREK WU THE DAILY ILLINI
University students and Champaign-Urbana locals participate in the 5K running competition at the Japan House on Sunday morning.
Health center holds charity 5K Participants run to raise money for uninsured BY ASHNI GANDHI STAFF WRITER
Avicenna Community Health Center, a nonprofit organization protecting those without health insure or with poor coverage, hosted a 5K run raising money Sunday morning. The 150 participants included University students, Champaign-Urbana residents and other supporters of the cause. The center was created in Champaign with the intent to help those without insurance in the community. According to Avicenna’s website, its mission is to provide health care, promote health awareness and
PORTRAIT BY RYAN FANG THE DAILY ILLINI
participated in the 5K during her freshman year. Now a senior, she hopes to make the 5K bigger and better. “Our goal is to help the clinic with outreach, making sure the University student body is incorporated into this organization as well,” Hussain said. Rashad Adil, intern at Avicenna and a junior in LAS, interned with the center’s nutritionist, Dr. Hany Youssef. Despite not getting paid for his work, he enjoys his time at the center. “I have a lot of interaction with the people who come in,” Adil said. “I have made valuable relationships with a bunch of people that I wouldn’t have made without this opportunity.” While the center was started by a local Muslim community, it has since evolved into an interfaith network with a focus on including students.
For the president of Avicenna, Irfan Ahmad, students get an opportunity to work with local physicians, specialists and other healthcare providers. “It benefits students in a way that they gain valuable experience in preparing for the next stage of their lives,” Ahmad said. “They interact and encounter demographics that they wouldn’t usually see if they were physicians.” The student body and clinic work hand-in-hand to provide service and raise awareness. Jeannelle Alford, runner of the 5k and student at the University, shows the importance of helping the campus community by donating to a good cause. “It is your community while at school, so you should try and do something for it,” said Alford.
abgandh2@dailyillini. com
Illinois professor pens book on gay, black discrimination
Tia Mowry gives insightful talk to UI students
BY LAUREN SCAFIDI STAFF WRITER
BY CLAIRE HETTINGER AND JOE LONGO NEWS EDITORS
When Tia Mowry and her husband, fellow actor Cory Hardrict, enter a parking lot, they often turn left, even when the signs say to turn right. But this took Mowry years of getting used to. As a selfproclaimed “good-girl,” she still wants to follow the arrows that tell them to turn right. However, as Hardrict points out, they don’t tell you not to go left. So they do go left, and Hardrict usually finds the closer spot. Speaking to a crowd Thursday night as part of the Illini Union Board’s March Lecture Series, Mowry, one half of the name “Sister, Sister,” credited her determination to stand out as a factor in her long, successful career in television. “If right’s not working, if left’s not working, and if up’s not working, take that
engage in preventative care through screenings. Sadia Rahman, as the wife of one of the founders, said she has seen the group grow throughout the years. “They started out by meeting in our house in the dining room with a lot of people who had the vision,” Rahman said. “People invest a lot of time, effort, energy. Everyone believes in it and they all just want to help others.” This healthcare initiative was created in the Champaign area, but also integrates itself with the University. The Avicenna Student Initiative is the Resident Student Organization directly connected to the health center. The group provides volunteers, organizes events and brings awareness to the cause. Co-president of the student initiative, Shahnoor Hussain, talked about her interest in the cause. She
NIKITHA GAJULA THE DAILY ILLINI
Actress and producer Tia Mowry giving the first Illini Union Board lecture of the semester at the Illini Union on Thursday. 90-degree angle,” Mowry said. “But, always find some type of way to stay creative, to stay fresh — to do something different.” Mowry ended each question that she answered with advice, parlaying her life
stories as tips for the college audience. She discussed many things, from diversity on television to believing in yourself. Mowry even provided
SEE TIA MOWRY | 3A
Gay, black men have been m a rg i n a l i z e d throughout history, which spurred University history professor Kevin Mumford to take action. “I have been working in the history of sexuality department since I was a graduate student, and one thing I noticed was that it was not very diverse,” Mumford said. “I just started to look for evidence and materials related to African-Americans and gay identity and gay issues, then my ideas just sort of snowballed.” Mumford just published his third book, titled “Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis.” The book takes place from the March on Washington in 1963 to the AIDS crisis that peaked in the 1980s, he said. It focuses on black gay men and casts a wide net in looking at the way they have been represented and stigmatized in popular culture. Mumford writes about men who were very
famous, such as James Baldwin, and others who were just average people trying to find a sense of their own identities. For example, one of the activists he wrote about wanted to become a scholar and completed one year of the PhD program, but subsequently quit because he believed he couldn’t be who he wanted to be, Mumford said. “I think that can happen to students,” Mumford said. “They can become discouraged and it can affect their schoolwork when they don’t feel like they can be accepted — or feel like they have to hide an aspect of themselves for the fear they’ll be stigmatized.” This stigmatization continues. North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi legislatures have all recently made efforts to pass various bills that some call discriminatory towards LGBTQ individuals. “In all kinds of cities, gay organizations would introduce this legislation that would say you can’t discriminate on the basis
of sexual orientation,” he said. “But the first time the cities introduced this legislature, they were pretty defeated.” The issue of gay rights is constantly going back and forth and solving it is something that takes a long time, Mumford said. He hopes the publication of his book will help inform people about the history of black gay men to help combat those negative stereotypes which result from a lack of information, he said. Because of this, Mumford will incorporate the book in his own curriculum. He said his objective is to try to reach undergraduate students by having his book assigned for courses in history of sexuality, African-American history and U.S. history. Mumford said he hears students throwing around some anti-gay slurs in conversations on campus. “I’m hoping people realize this is 2016, this is supposed to be a new time,” Mumford said.
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