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THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 144 Issue 001
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Students stage sit-in for Salaita
Senator, child bond in race
BY JOSH WINTERS STAFF WRITER
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Students crowded the hallway in an impromptu sit-in outside a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees on Friday, August 22 at 2 p.m. Trustees met to consider “pending, probable and imminent” University appointment-related matters. Although the agenda for the meeting contained no specific topics, two mass emails were sent out before and after the meeting regarding Steven Salaita, a former professor at Virginia Tech who posted controversial tweets about Israel earlier this month. Between 10 and 15 students attended the meeting in hopes of speaking in favor or Salaita’s reinstatement at the University but were asked to leave before they could give a statement on the issue.
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0RUH LQVLGH For our
editorial board’s opinion on Salaita’s detenuring, turn to Page A4
Wise around 1 p.m. on Friday explaining her rationale behind a previous email she sent to Salaita on Aug. 1. The email informed him that the University no longer supported his appointment to AIS, and that an affi rmative vote from the Board of Trustees to hire him was unlikely. Wise’s email was followed by a second mass email from Christopher Kennedy, chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Robert Easter, University President around 4 p.m, the same day expressing their support for Wise’s decision. In Friday’s email, Wise wrote that the University’s withdrawal of support for Salaita was unrelated to his beliefs; however she wrote the University is committed to creating,“a welcoming environment for faculty and students alike,” in which they can freely explore and debate controversial topics. “What we cannot and will not tolerate at the University of Illinois are personal and disrespectful words or actions that demean and abuse either viewpoints themselves or those who express them,” Wise wrote.
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FOLAKE OSIBODU THE DAILY ILLINI
Senator Mark Kirk talks with the family of 12-year-old Jackson Cunningham (second from left). Kirk and Cunningham struck up a relationship after Kirk suffered a stroke in Jan. 2012 and Cunningham wrote to him about his own stroke. On Monday, the two raced on the Memorial Stadium field to celebrate Cunningham achieving his goal of running again.
University sets new world record with tomato spread BY ANDREW YOON STAFF WRITER
Nutella no longer holds the Guinness World Record for largest container of spread — the title now belongs to the University of Illinois for the largest jar of tomato spread. University Housi ng employees and several onlooking students poured five-gallon buckets into the 4.6 foot tall container, which holds 105 gallons, on the Ikenberry Commons Quad. More than 1,100 pounds of peaches and 1,250 pounds of tomatoes were used from the Sustainable Student Farm and other local producers. Food preparation took place over
three days, during which sugar, water and balsamic vinegar were added to enhance the fl avor. “We exchanged ideas with Guinness halfway through the second semester,” said Carrie Anderson, executive chef of University Housing. “Initially, it was supposed to be the largest container of BBQ sauce, but that didn’t work out. I suggested a tomato spread after that and that’s what we went with.” After being divided into batches of 20 servings each, the record-breaking spread will be transported in portions to all of the University’s dining halls in hopes that students can
ZOE GRANT THE DAILY ILLINI
University Dining staff members pour tomato sauce to break the Guinness World Record for largest container of spread, previously held by Nutella.
taste and enjoy the University’s success. “My job is to expect the unexpected,” said Michael Empric, adjudicator for the Guinness Book of World Records. “It’s cool for freshmen who grew up reading the Guinness World Record books to fi nally be a part of that to start their college experience.” Empric flew back to New York Thursday night and announced that the University of Illinois broke the previous record. The University has annually broken a record during Welcome Week since 2011. Pooja Bag, senior in Engineering, was one of the people on-site during the event. “It’s fun to always set a world record as a collective group,” Bag said. “It’s cheesy but I like it, especially the ‘spread the news’ part.” She said she would like to see the University attempt to break the record for the largest flour taco. Adrian Brandemuehl , freshman in Engineering, stood in the rain as he watched bucket after bucket pour into the container. His high school unsuccessfully attempted to break a world record. Upon breaking the world record, Brandemuehl had a smile of satisfaction on his face.
American Indian Studies program casts no confidence vote in Wise
University Housing continues to break world records
Each year, the University Housing staff coordinates with Guinness World Records to add another record on its back. Here is a look at previous records broken since 2011. 2011: World’s largest smoothie (weighing 330 gallons) 2012: Greatest number of people husking corn at one time (3,463 participants) 2013: World’s largest serving of salsa (weighing 6,840 pounds) 2014: World’s largest jar of spread, beating previous record-holder Nutella
On Sunday, AIS faculty casted a vote of no confi dence in Wise, stating she did not consult with the AIS program or college before making the decision. “The faculty of UIUC’s American Indian Studies program also joins the thousands of scholars and organizations in the United States and across the world in seeing the Chancellor’s action as a violation of academic freedom and freedom of speech,” wrote AIS faculty. AIS faculty further alleged that, “Chancellor Wise’s decision was in fact made in response to external pressures that sought to block Prof. Salaita’s hire, coupled with her objection over the content and tone of his personal and political tweets over the subject of the Israeli bombing of Palestine.”
Board of Trustees send mass mail in support of Wise’s decision
University students received a mass email from Chancellor Phyllis
Sit-in forms outside executive session Chairman Kennedy and President Easter, along with 11 trustees and other members of administrative staff, expressed support for Wise’s “philosophy of academic freedom and free speech tempered in respect for human rights.” However, t r uste e s refused to grant a group of students attending the Executive Committee meeting time to voice their opposition to the withdrawal of Salaita’s position before the executive session began. These students see the University’s move to rescind
SEE SIT-IN | 3A
“It was a memorable fi rst twenty-four hours. Maybe next year they can have the spiciest salsa,” he said.
Andrew can be reached at ayoon4@dailyillini. com.
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Committee to form for monitoring tenure hiring BY ANGELICA LAVITO STAFF WRITER
Members of the UrbanaChampaign Senate Executive Committee agreed to move ahead with a resolution to form a committee for instances in which the chancellor or provost fi nd a reason not to proceed with a tenure-track hire that has already been approved by department and college committees at its meeting Monday. This comes after Chancellor Phyllis Wise rescinded an offer of employment on Aug. 1 to American Indian studies professor Steven Salaita. In August, Salaita posted several politically charged tweets regarding conflict in Gaza.
The University has statutes dealing with hiring, but the new task force will specifically explore the process when the provost or chancellor does not agree with a hiring decision despite approval from the department. In conjunction with the Office of the Provost, the SEC Chair will create a task force composed of tenured faculty members and appropriate administrative officers. The group will be tasked with developing a new process, although they can also conclude that the current process is effective. “What we’re facing in this situation is an extraordinary, literally extra ordinary set of circumstances,” said Nicholas Burbules, SEC
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member and professor of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership. “It’s a perfect storm of problems that all converge at the same time.” Joyce Tolliver, SEC member and associate professor of Spanish, agreed that the hiring process is sensitive. Because of this, she said the University should have a detailed process for rescinding offers of employment when the chancellor does not agree with a department or college committee’s recommendation for hiring. “[Detenure] is something you hope never happens and in fact very, very, very rarely happens,” Tolliver said. “In a situation where you do think it might be necessary,
you do need a very detailed procedure to deal with it.” The Provost and Chair of SEC will meet in the future to talk about the selection process of those on the committee. “The critical issue is putting together a group that won’t be criticized for being unfair or biased,” said Kim Graber, SEC Vice Chair and professor of Kinesiology and Community Health. Burbules added that he does not think anybody anticipates situations like this to come up, but if it does “I hope that we have thorough guidelines of what to do.”
Angelica can be reached at lavito2@dailyillini.com.
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JOSH WINTERS THE DAILY ILLINI
Students stand outside of the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee meeting on Friday, August 22 to speak out against the University’s decision to withdraw Steven Salaita’s appointment as a professor for the American Indian Studies program. Trustees denied Salaita’s supporters a chance to speak at the meeting.
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