Want to get away? Study Aboard Office is holding an information fair today in the Illini Union. Turn to Page 6A
ACROSS THE POND
ILLINI TO FACE THEIR ATHLETIC DIRECTOR’S FORMER SCHOOL
Tyler Griffey embarks on a new journey in Austria. Turn to Page 1B
Cincinnati comes to Champaign this weekend. Turn to Section C
THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY September 5, 2013
84˚ | 55˚
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 143 Issue 7
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FREE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
UI budget proposal moves forward BY JOHNATHAN HETTINGER STAFF WRITER
Top University officials are concerned about the financial future of the University, they said at the Audit, Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee meeting Wednesday. The committee passed the proposed Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget on to the full Board of Trustees, which will meet next Thursday. The proposed operating budget for FY14 totals $4.45 billion, an increase of $52.3 million, or 1.2
percent, over FY13. Vice President for Academic Affairs Christophe Pierre said the University is currently in a strong financial position, citing the University’s stable fiscal condition, a high number of quality students enrolling and University employees receiving notable raises. “There are some significant concerns,” Pierre said. “These are not new, but we are going to face them in the years to come.” The concerns that Pierre listed are a downward trend in state
funding, tuition constraints, statewide pension troubles and a decrease in the amount of federal research funding the University has received. “We rely more and more on tuition,” Pierre said. “We have increased tuition significantly, and I think we are running out of room to do so.” Tuition accounts for $1.064 billion, or 23.9 percent, of the University’s overall revenue, and the $52.2 million increase in tuition revenue paid for all but $100,000
of the budget’s increase in FY14. With state appropriations below FY1997 levels and, adjusted for inflation, below 1966 levels, and without much room for a tuition increase, Pierre said the University may need to focus its efforts on the reallocation of funds. Trustee Timothy Koritz said he agreed. “Down the road, the biggest thing we need to decide is what we’re good at and what we’re not good at, and maybe have our activities center on our excellence
in the academic realm,” he said. “It’s just going to become more and more difficult to be able to do the scope of what we do right now, unfortunately. It’s probably not the most popular thing to say, but it’s what strikes me as the biggest take-home message here.” Pierre responded to Koritz about the difficulty of deciding where to cut and which programs to keep. “It is a delicate balancing act between the need to preserve and
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“We have increased tuition significantly, and I think we are running out of room to do so.” CHRISTOPHE PIERRE
VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
ELLNORA BY SAHER KHAN STAFF WRITER
Some of the world’s most prominent guitarists can be found in one place this weekend in Champaign-Urbana. The biennial ELLNORA Guitar Festival officially begins Thursday at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. ELLNORA, named after Herman Krannert’s wife, is a celebration of the diversity of the guitar with internationally known patrons and artists. With headlining acts such as Buddy Guy, Lucinda Williams, Johnny Lang and 24 other performers, the festival features a varied range of unique styles. This year marks the fifth anniversary of ELLNORA, which began in 2005 as the Wall to Wall Festival. This year’s events got an early start Tuesday with pre-festival events, including Local Heroes Night, a concert featuring Champaign-Urbana musicians. Today the festival officially begins, showcasing musicians from across the globe, united by their love for the guitar and its technique. Started by Krannert Director Mike Ross and his collaborator and New York Guitar festival founder, David Spellman, ELLNORA’s purpose is to provide a global perspective on music and an eclectic take on the guitar. This is achieved through the festival’s assorted lineup, with performers traveling from places as far as India and South Africa to those from the U.S. “ELLNORA is something special and something the community should take pride in,” said Bridget Lee-Calfas, advertising and public relations of Krannert. Lee-Calfas said the festival provides the community and students the rare opportunity to see huge names and talents for an affordable rate. Many of the performances are free, and the ones that are not are only $10 for students. “It’s a great opportunity to sample artistry too,” Lee-Calfas said. “Some of these people might be household names
INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LANDS AT KRANNERT CENTER
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Luther Dickinson, left, and Alvin Youngblood Hart check over their guitars prior to their performance at Ellnora Guitar Festival in 2011. The three-day, biennial guitar summit, named after Ellnora Krannert, is being held at the Krannert Center starting Thursday. and others may be artists you haven’t heard of. But it’s a great opportunity to discover them and get to see them for little or no cost and really find out something special.” In a letter on the ELLNORA website, Spellman discusses ELLNORA’s significance. “Wherever you are on your journey
with the guitar, you’ll find both familiar haunts and new destinations here at ELLNORA,” he wrote. “Travel — musical travel — enriches and changes us, and those who make the trip to this festival will leave as expanded and deepened human beings.” Lee-Calfas said that she, along with Ross and Spellman, hope ELLNORA
gives people an opportunity to discover something special and fall in love with new types of sounds and artistry. Tim Donaldson, curator of the Local Heroes Night, played at ELLNORA two years ago with his band Timmy D and Blind Justice. “ELLNORA enhances the ChampaignUrbana music community. It’s the most
BY BRITTANY GIBSON STAFF WRITER
The world’s largest brewer will be opening its first permanent residence on a university campus at the University Research Park. Anheuser-Busch InBev will open its “Bud Lab,” a data analytics center, sometime this month. Director Rafael Pinterich will oversee the lab, selecting and implementing real-world experimental problems and also working closely with students. Bud Lab researchers will focus on developing data research and innovation to find creative solutions to programs ranging from assortment optimization, social media and market trends to large scale data initiatives, according to a press release. “This campus ... is known for a history of having innovation in big data and data analytics,” said Laura Bleill, assistant director of external relations at the Research Park. “Some cam-
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Former presidential speech writer, Jon Favreau, speaks to students about his experiences working in the White House for President Obama from 2009 to 2013. The event was sponsored by the Illini Union Board and was held in the I-rooms at the union on Wednesday.
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puses are good at engineering, some campuses are good at business, some campuses are good at stats ... this University has all those things wrapped in one together.” Different students and faculty will have access to the lab, with faculty working mainly as consultants for the students. Anheuser-Busch is also offering paid internships to select students across different majors and will have recruiters at different job fairs on campus this year, Bleill said. “One of the things about opening an operation here is that it provides both students and the company with a year-round work environment,” Bleill said. “Students come and work in the summer and then they can stay working year-round in a parttime capacity.” The Research Park currently houses 15 major corporations along with many other minor companies. The State Farm Research and Development Cen-
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ter employs the most students, but companies including Neustar, Abbott, Dow Chemical, John Deere and Caterpillar also work with students and faculty at the park. “The reason that (these main corporations) are here is to tap into the talent that is here, both for students and faculty,” Bleill said. Citing Chancellor Phyllis Wise’s visit to AnheuserBusch’s operations in Brazil, Bleill explained that bringing major corporations’ operations takes “a lot of effort and time by a lot of people from all different areas of the University.” Laura Vallis, director of Global External Communications for AB InBev, said the company worked with students this summer on two key projects with four summer interns from the statistics and industrial engineering disciplines. The first project focused on social media
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vibrant music community per capita in the area,” he said. “The live music scene here is huge, so ELLNORA compliments the scene very well and brings people out.” Donaldson said festivals such as ELLNORA foster aspiring young musicians
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