THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY April 10, 2014
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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70˚ | 45˚ Vol. 143 Issue 105
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Resolving pension crisis top priority BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
At Wednesday’s campus town hall meeting, Chancellor Phyllis Wise and Provost Ilesanmi Adesida addressed the “two elephants in the room” prior to discussing the state of the campus — state pension plans and the overall budget climate of the campus. As some of the changes from last fall’s pension reform legislation, SB-1, will go into effect as early as this year, Wise said she had a message for those affected: “From the Board of Trustees, to the president, to the provost and myself to all of the campus leadership, we are putting in a huge amount of time to try to figure out ways to mitigate and alleviate the impact of this (reform).” She added that resolving this pension crisis is one of the administration’s top priorities, as the University’s ability to recruit and maintain the best faculty and staff — “foundational to our ability to provide a world-class educational environment” — would be hindered without being able to provide a competitive pension program. Wise said the Board of Trustees has charged the administration with fi nding a set of alternatives for a sustainable supplemental pension plan to recommend to the board at a later date. Finance Professor Jeff Brown, head of the ad-hoc compensation review committee, presented a resolution at Monday’s Senate Executive Committee meeting that will be presented to the full Urbana-Champaign Senate at its meeting this upcoming Monday. The resolution, endorsed by SEC, supports the submission of a resolution to the Board of Trustees calling for the establishment of a flexible supplemental retirement system for all SURS-eligible University system employees. Wise also said she and administrators have been in “constant communication with legislative leaders,” adding that she, along with President Robert Easter and chancellors Susan Koch and Paula Allen-Meares of the Springfield and Chicago campuses, will meet with legislators Thursday. “In all honesty, both Provost Adesida and myself had hoped to be able to present you with very specific plans of what we were going to do (regarding pensions), and we unfortunately still don’t know the details of that and so I cannot do that at the present time,” she said. Richard Laugesen, professor and director of graduate studies in the Mathematics Department, asked Wise about the expected number of retirements this year, remarking that he has heard that the State Universities Retirement System is inundated with a record level of consultations to the point that they can no longer provide individual in-person consultations. Wise said that right now, she
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ALMA’S HOME
After two years of repairs, Alma has been returned to campus just in time for graduation. BY CLAIRE HETTINGER STAFF WRITER
After a 610-day leave of absence, Alma Mater returned to a crowd of “happy children” surrounding her base. The corner of Green and Wright streets were blocked off with barricades Wednesday morning to keep admirers at bay, as the construction crew lowered her into place. The final cost of the conservation project was $359,212. It was paid for by alumni and the Chancellor’s Fund, a pool of money from private donors. Led by director Andrzej Dajnowski, the Conservation of Sculpture and Objects Studio, based in Forest Park, Ill., completed the conser-
vation efforts on the Alma Mater statue. Dajnowski’s team placed internal bracing to reinforce the sculpture as it sits on the granite base. Conservators also waxed the internal and external areas of the sculpture to seal the surface and prevent harmful oxidation. This wax seals in Alma’s new bronze color that audience members are still on the edge about. “I’m still getting used to (the bronze color) because it has been green for so long. But I think it looks nice,” said Andrew Jensen, senior in Engineering. “You can actually see a lot of the details now that I don’t think you could see when
it was that dark green.” He said he is excited to have Alma Mater back because he is graduating this spring. He was optimistic that she would be back in time for commencement, but he “was worried there for a little bit.” Clare Curtin, junior in Engineering, is a member of the 1867 Society and has been dressing up as the “Learning” portion of the Alma Mater statue for campus events since it left campus. She said she became so used to Alma being gone that she will be doing double takes for a while, but she is pleased with the changes. “I actually like (the bronze). I think she
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20 students injured in Pennsylvania stabbing
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MVY TVYL ]PKLV VM (STH»Z OVTLJVTPUN looks great,” she said. “They did a great job restoring her.” Katie Chan, senior in Business, who dresses up alongside Curtin as Alma Mater, said it is a good feeling to have Alma Mater back in time for her graduation this spring. She said the Commencement process, with the absence of the
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Stabbing suspect, 16-year-old sophomore, taken into custody following attack at high school BY MOLLY BORN AND MARY NIEDERBERGER MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — Twenty people were injured — four critically — when a teenager wielding two 8-inch kitchen knives Wednesday morning attacked students at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville. All of the injured were students with the exception of an adult security guard. The suspect, Alex Hribal, a 16-year-old sophomore, was taken into custody after being wrestled to the floor of a school hallway and disarmed by a security guard and a school administrator. The youth was taken to the Murrysville police station, where he was questioned by officers and Westmoreland County detectives before being taken to Westmoreland Hospital for
minor injuries to his hands. After he was treated for his cuts, the suspect, dressed in a hospital gown and handcuffed, was returned to the police station. Wednesday evening, he was taken before District Judge Charles Conway in Export. Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held described Alex as quiet and said that the teen had not been talking to authorities since he was brought to the judge’s office. Murrysville Police Chief Thomas Seefeld said a motive is still unclear. “Initially, we don’t know what led up to this,” he said. A Franklin Regional student who said he knows Alex well, and who arrived at school after the incident had already began, said he was “shocked, surprised. ... I know him pretty well. ... I’ve
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never seen any anger from him, ever.” The student, who asked not to be named, called Alex “sort of a shy person. To me he never seemed like someone who would do anything violent. He never seems very upset or anything of that.” He said Alex’s interests include “hockey, video games, things like that. ... He would always share funny photos that he found on Facebook.” The attacks began before classes started Wednesday morning in a classroom in the school’s science wing when the suspect pulled out two large butcher knives and started slashing and stabbing fellow students, said Mark Drear, vice president of Capital Asset Protection, which provides security guards for the school.
DARRELL SAPP MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
People wait outside of Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Penn., where twenty people were injured -- at least four seriously -- in multiple stabbings this morning inside the high school, April 9. Most of the injured were students. Terrified, the students, some of them wounded, ran from the room with the suspect chasing them down the hallway in a chaotic scene. While running, he stabbed and slashed at other students who had been standing
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When the students who were fi rst attacked reached the end of the hallway they went to a security office and told the security guard there about the student
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in the hallway, Drear said. One of the students who realized what was happening pulled a fi re alarm to try to evacuate the school. That caused students who were in other classrooms to crowd into the hallway.
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