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THE DAILY ILLINI
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Vol. 144 Issue 105
more pictures of the Holi festivities, visit our gallery at www.DailyIllini.com
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BY ABIGALE SVOBODA NEWS EDITOR
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UI officials to discuss
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University representatives will testify against Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed budget cuts for the 2016 fi scal year — which begins July 1 — in the Illini Union Pine Lounge Monday at 1:30 p.m. Chancellor Phyllis Wise and P rovost Ilesanmi Adesida spoke at a town hall meeting on Thursday, where they discussed Rauner’s proposed budget
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cuts, which would eliminate 31.5 percent of the University’s budget. Rauner proposed to cut a total $6 billion from the state budget, affecting other government programs outside of the University. representatives from local governments and other agencies will also testify. “We will handle this budget cut through both the University administration
SEE BUDGET | 3A
Swift rescue for Boneyard Creek
INDIAN TRADITION COLORS CAMPUS Asha UIUC raises money for charity at 6th annual Holi celebration
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BY EMILY SCOTT
University professor alerts city, UI of pollution in local creek BY KYLE SUMMERVILLE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
While walking through the Engineering Quad nearly one year ago, Robert Kanter, professor in the School of Earth, Society and Environment, noticed pollution in Boneyard Creek. In April, Kanter noticed the same type of pollution entering the creek through a storm drain. The persistent pollution in Boneyard Creek led Kanter to post pictures of the creek, and of the animals affected, on Facebook. Kanter said he was hoping to bring awareness of the pollution and solicit advice on how to stop it. He emailed the University’s Facilities and Services department, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the city of Champaign, which he had done without success in the past.
This time, however, Kanter said all three offices responded quickly and made efforts to get to the bottom of the issue. “We were fi rst notifi ed about it from our environmental compliance department,� said Steve Breitwieser, media communications specialist for Facilities and Services. “There’s been a strong line of communication throughout the whole process.� Breitwieser said the University worked closely with the city of Champaign to determine the source of the pollution. The city provided television cameras, which showed dye entering the storm drainage system through a broken pipe joint. The pollution in the creek came from paint that was washed down a sink in a University building. Breitwieser said the sanitary line connected to the sink
SEE POLLUTION | 3A
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
oli has always been Pratim Patil’s favorite holiday. He remembers the colorful Indian holiday as a highlight of his childhood. “Kids might look forward to Thanksgiving or Christmas,� Patil said. “For me that favorite holiday was Holi.� Patil’s favor for Holi has now transferred to his work as event coordinator for the University’s chapter of Asha, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for the education of underprivileged children in India . Asha held its annual Holi celebration Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. at the Florida and Lincoln Playing Field. The event had more than 2,500 attendees and raised more than $16,000 out of the organization’s fundraising goal of $20,000, according to the event’s Facebook page. Though the largest celebration of Holi takes place in India, the holiday is celebrated around the world in many major cities and college campuses. The holiday comes from the religious story of Prahlada , who was rescued from a fi re by the Hindu god, Vishnu. Also known as the festival of colors, or festival of love, it marks the beginning of spring. Holi begins with a bonfi re the night before, followed by a day full of throwing colors — usually corn starch with color dye — and participants chasing one other with water guns. Traditionally, Holi is celebrated after the last full moon of Phalguna, the Hindu month during the end of February and beginning of March. However, Pail said Asha UIUC moved its Holi celebration to April due to the colder weather seen in Illinois this year. “It’s just a fun event that people of any religion or any denomination can attend and have fun at,� Patil said. The bridging of the social gap
Rauner joins students for Day of Service PHOTOS BY TOREY BUTNER AND BRITT BRUCE THE DAILY ILLINI
Top: Abdul Shaik prepares to spray others with water at Asha UIUC’s Holi Festival on Saturday. Bottom: Koren Hayes, junior in AHS dumps her bag of Gulal, colored powder, on a friend’s head at the Holi celebration on Saturday. that the holiday allows is what makes it important, Patil said. He described it as a great joining force — especially in India. It’s a day when social divisions don’t matter, and everyone gets together to celebrate. The University’s chapter of Asha, which began in 1999, started hosting its own Holi celebration in 2010. Since then, Patil said the event has grown exponentially in size. He said the fi rst event had around 350 participants, but within 48 hours of launching Asha’s Facebook event page this year, 3,000 people had RSVP’d to the event. Amandeep Gargi, former president of Asha UIUC and current adviser for the organization, said he made the decision to start Holi during his presidency in 2010 because he felt “a strong need to revive� the organization. In the beginning, the main challenges were logistics and preparing for large crowds of people in a large enough space, Gargi said. “We were scared until the day of,� he said of Asha’s fi rst Holi. “In the evening when everything was fi nished, we figured out, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad.’ After that, our model was established.� With a ticket purchase — $12 for students and $15 for the general public at the gate — participants were able to use as many colors as they wanted. Patil said there were 1,200 pounds of color stored up for the day’s use. In recent years, Asha UIUC
YOUR VOICE
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Holi? COMPILED BY FARAZ MIRZA STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
BY CAELI CLEARY STAFF WRITER
To help the tornado victims in Illinois, Gov. Bruce Rauner joined the Illini Fighting Hunger and other local volunteers to package meals as a part of the University’s Community and Campus Day of Service. Sarah Zehr, director of operations at the Office of Public Engagement, said Rauner was in Champaign to help kick off National Volunteer Week. Dur-
ing the community event, Rauner worked with over 1,500 volunteers ranging from community members to students and faculty. While addressing the crowd, Rauner pointed to a van full of packaged food behind him and said the meals were going to northern Illinois to help families in Ogle and DeKalb counties who were impacted by Thursday’s tornadoes.
SEE RAUNER | 3A
LIFE & CULTURE “Throwing colors at people and targeting my friends here.� +$11$+ 6&+80$&+(5 GSFTINBO JO '""
“I’m not too fond of the colors, but I love the fact that everyone gets together, regardless of their backgrounds.� 1,.+,/ 686$5/$ HSBEVBUF TUVEFOU JO &OHJOFFSJOH
‘Country Cats’ helps strays find new homes Organization reduces euthanasia rates for unadoptable cats PAGE 6A OPINIONS
Weighing the benefits of attending law school Columnists debate cost and return of law school over other options “The vibrance and bright colors, and everyone enjoying what the celebration has to offer makes it really exciting.�
SEE HOLI | 3A
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PAGE 4A SPORTS
Baseball scores weekend wins against Purdue Illini continue on their nine-game win streak against Boilermakers
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