2014 SEASON KICKS OFF
FOOTBALL COVERAGE
PAGES 2-3B
THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 143 Issue 005
BY ALEX SWANSON STAFF WRITER
COURTNEY CIMO THE DAILY ILLINI
Kampanat Induang, a graduate student in LAS, talks with a tech expert at the Mac-To-School event held in the Illini Union.
UI lands deal with MillerCoors DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Coors Light is now the official beer of the Fighting Illini, thanks to a four-year deal struck between MillerCoors and the University. The deal gives Coors Light exclusive access to the University’s athletic
logos, according to a press release. Orange and Blue Distributing Company, founded in 1898 in Champaign, serves as the regional distributor for MillerCoors. As the distributor, Orange and Blue will be able to use the University logo on its point of sale activity. “This is a big deal for us to be able to exclusively utilize the U of I marks on our point of sale, legally,” said BJ Stipes, General Manager for Orange and Blue Distributing Compa-
ny. “It’s great for us, I think it’s great for our business so we’re excited about it.” In September 2013, Koerner Distributer, Inc., based in Effingham, Illinois, purchased Orange and Blue Distributing. Koerner already acts as a supporter for other colleges and minor league baseball programs, including Southern Illinois University athletics, Eastern Illinois University athletics and Southern Illinois Miners Frontier League baseball. “We were purchased
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Engineering sees female faculty rise
An Apple a day
Coors Light is official beer of Fighting Illini in 4-year deal
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about a year ago by Koerner but we are still using (the name) Orange and Blue because of the tie to the University,” Stipes said. Stipes added that he is most excited about the size of the market the University community offers. “The city of Champaign and U of I really has everything,” Stipes said. “The sporting events are big business; football and basketball are big time. To be able to use those marks on our point of sale, gives us, I feel, an advantage.”
Since December of last year, 23 new women faculty members have joined or accepted job offers at the College of Engineering. This marks an increase in the number of women faculty by one third from 13.2 percent of the tenured system since last spring, in a field nationally know for being male-dominant. Each department within the college has added women faculty. Many students like Grace Pakeltis, sophomore in Engineering, view this as a positive step toward reducing gender inequality within the college. “The addition of these faculty members shows the growth of the University of Illinois. Having women who have dedicated their careers to STEM fields is a great inspiration to those enrolled in the College of Engineering, as well as girls in grade school,” Pakeltis said in an email. Both at the University and worldwide, there is a large gap between the number of men and women engineering students and professionals. Elizabeth Bierman, president of the national Society of Women Engineers, shared that on a national basis, women make up about 18 percent of engineering students and an even lower percentage of those in the workforce. Pakeltis offered her opin-
ion as to why, in part, the discrepancy between men and women in engineering exists. “Oftentimes, engineering seems to be a male dominated profession, but when you are able to look at all of the fields of engineering, you find that engineers save people’s lives,” she said. “Many girls, when growing up, want to be in a career that helps other people, and by showing them that they can save lives through engineering, they will begin to realize that they have a spot in this profession.” But at the University, there has been a significant increase in the number of female undergraduate engineering students in recent years, about 27 percent over the past 2 years. The College of Engineering as a whole has also grown in recent years and plans to add another 40 or 50 faculty over the next five years as an accommodation. Bill Bell, spokesperson for the College of Engineering, expressed excitement about the new female undergraduates and faculty working together. “In the recent couple of years we’ve seen a significant growth in the total number of women undergraduates that have accepted admission to the college of engineering. So, I think this is just a
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Vallas notes threat to education
Lt. Gubernatorial candidate details effects of Rauner’s budget cuts
BY BRYAN BOCCELLI AND MIRANDA HOLLOWAY ASSISTANT DAYTIME EDITOR AND DAYTIME EDITOR
Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Paul Vallas held a press conference in Champaign on Wednesday afternoon detailing a new fiscal data analysis compiled by the Quinn campaign. This analysis highlights the potential effects of each candidate’s tax programs on public education funding. The data compares Gov. Pat Quinn’s tax plan to that of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner. According to Rauner’s tax plan, he will lower the state
income tax rate from 5 percent to 3 percent. Estimations made by the Quinn campaign state that Vallas believes this tax rate reduction will cut the general funds by $8 billion, half of which would come from public school funding. Spokesman for the Rauner campaign Mike Schrimpf said in an email that Rauner’s plans to lower taxes will not take away from education as a top priority. “The truth is Pat Quinn raised taxes by 67 percent and still gutted education spending by $500 million,” Schrimpf said. “Unlike Pat Quinn whose education cuts led to teacher layoffs and
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larger class sizes, Bruce will make education a top priority and fully fund our schools.” However, Vallas said the Quinn campaign is concerned that lowering the income tax rate could potentially leave one in six teachers out of a job. “The bottom line is you can’t cut funding for education, not just elementary and secondary (education), but community colleges and universities, by 50 percent and not expect the educational system — the public school system in this state to be devastated,” Vallas said. “That’s not how you invest in Illinois’ future. That’s not how you create an environment con-
ducive to job creation and job expansion.” Recently, Gov. Quinn proposed a five-year budget plan to invest $6 billion in elementary and secondary education, a preschool program and a universal job training program to get workers in the state of Illinois trained and retrained. Schrimpf said Rauner also put forward a jobs and growth plan, one that he says “will help Illinois recover from years of failed leadership and higher taxes under Pat Quinn.”
Bryan and Miranda can be reached at news@ dailyillini.com.
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BRYAN BOCCELLI THE DAILY ILLINI
Lt. Gubernatorial candidate Paul Vallas held a press conference on Wednesday detailing the effects of Rauner’s budget cuts. Vallas highlighted cuts that would be made to Champaign-area schools.
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