Fear and loathing during Rush Week: Inside your local frat party FEATURE, 6A
QB quandary
Saturday starter still unknown vs. ASU SECTION C
Friday September 7, 2012
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Wise simplifies departmental hiring process BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
University administrators are taking a closer look at the steps in the faculty hiring process, streamlining steps that have delayed bringing new faculty on board. Chancellor Phyllis Wise sent a mass email to academic professionals, civil service workers and faculty members earlier this semester, notifying them of the changes. “In the last few years, we have benefited greatly from a more controlled process that has helped us shrink our workforce and exercise financial restraint during challenging times,” she said in the email. “However, there is no doubt that the process has become overly complex and burdensome at times.” After Wise completed what she called a “listening and learning tour” last year, she found that a common concern among faculty was the complication of the search and hiring process, said Heidi Johnson, senior associate director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access. With Wise’s request to simplify and streamline the search and hiring process, the provost’s office and the OEOA worked together to recommend changes. Many of these were made effective Aug. 16. The process will undergo additional changes in the near future, Johnson said. Part of the reasoning behind these changes stems from the University’s financial state, as officials have “exercised more oversight” on the number of people being hired, said Barbara Wilson, vice provost for academic affairs. “We’ve put in a lot of checks and balances to try to make sure our hiring does not exceed our capacity,” Wilson said. “But in doing that, we’ve made it much more complicated for units or departments to do normal kinds of hires.” She said the changes made in the search and hiring process will allow the University to still exercise oversight but will give departments more responsibility for managing their own finances when hiring employees. Before the changes, many levels of approval had been gradually implemented into the hiring system. Wilson said all the steps were added for a good reason. However, she said it eventually became an “extremely long
Vol. 142 Issue 10
Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration remains devoted to closing down correctional centers in Illinois despite state prisons’ worsening conditions and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ attempts at halting the process. Arbitrator Steven M. Bierig on Aug. 31 concluded that Quinn violated the state’s contract with AFSCME Council 31 — a union that represents employees of correctional facilities in Illinois — by taking steps toward shutting down several state prisons before discussing the act with the union. AFSCME on Tuesday obtained a temporary restraining order from Judge Charles Cavaness at the circuit court in Alexander County, which the Quinn administration attempted to appeal without success.
INSIDE
FREE
Stripping down and stepping up
!
!
!
!
!
Elimination of the Hiring Request Form for most positions on campus (exceptions will focus on newly created positions that are statefunded and have not been approved in a hiring plan) Elimination of Provost’s Office approval for salary offers that are higher than the range indicated in the hiring process, except when offer is 15 percent greater or more Fewer approvals on all OEOA forms (i.e., Search, Finalist Notification, Summary, Waiver, and Appointment Change) Simplification of the Search, Finalist Notifi cation, and Summary Form content Eliminating departmental Affirmative Action Officers (search committee members will serve as diversity advocates)
Additional improvements coming soon: ! !
Simplification of the Hiring Request Form content Electronic routing for approvals of proposed salaries over $90,000 and for new administrative positions SOURCE: PHYLLIS WISE, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHANCELLOR
process” that many departments struggled with. But with the new improvements, the levels of approval have been reduced and simplified, and the “whole process was made less time consuming,” Wilson said. “In the past, we’ve required a lot of paperwork any time (a department) wanted to fill a position, even if it’s a position that already existed,” Wilson said. “Now, we’re saying there’s going to be less oversight of positions that they just want to refill because we already assume they’re important if they already existed.” She added that if a department were to propose the idea of a new position, more information and a more extensive approval process would still be required. In addition to the simplifications made to the process, Johnson said eliminating the “depart-
DARYL QUITALIG THE DAILY ILLINI
Josh Doppelt, senior in LAS, left, and Greg Colten, senior in Engineering and president of the Illini 4000, run in the Underwear Mile on Thursday on the Quad. All proceeds of the run will go to the Illini 4000, a nonprofit that raises money for cancer research and patient support services. The Illini 4000 bikes more than 4,000 miles across the country, spreading awareness and collecting portraits of those affected by the disease. About 200 to 250 people participated.
See HIRING, Page 3A
Illinois prisons already overcrowded Illinois prison population:
48,308
Homer residents concerned about proposed coal mine BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
|
Changes made effective Aug. 16:
For now, Quinn barred from closing prisons BY KLAUDIA DUKALA
High: 88˚ Low: 61˚
Anders Lindall, spokesman for AFSCME Council 31, said this restraining order prevents the administration from taking further steps toward shutting down the municipal facilities in Carbondale, Chicago, Decatur, Dwight, Joliet, Murphysboro and Tamms until the union’s safety concerns are addressed. These safety concerns stem from the “dangerously overcrowded” facilities, which currently hold nearly 15,000 above capacity, Lindall said. By closing down facilities, Quinn is making these problems worse, he said. Quinn spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said the administration’s goal of shutting down correctional facilities is necessary and that not all of the correctional facilities are needed. Kraft said the outdated, empty and worn-
See PRISONS, Page 3A
Current Illinois prison capacity:
33,704
Capacity after closures:
32,304
Threatened closures of correcional facilities will reduce capacity and cause already crowded conditions in Illinois state prisons to worsen. Illinois Department of Corrections quarterly report to the General Assembly, April 2012
BRYAN LORENZ Design editor
Despite environmental concerns from residents, Sunrise Coal Company is moving ahead with its plans to build a bulldog coal mine in Homer, Ill. The village of Homer, which is 20 miles east of ChampaignUrbana, is home to several farmers whose farms are up to seven generations old. The coal mine would extend for 20,000 acres under farmland, and coal would be extracted and washed in a surface facility. Landowners’ water supply comes from shallow groundwater wells. In order for the coal mine to function, Sunrise Coal Company has asked for 350,000 to 550,000 gallons of water a day, approximately 10 times as much water used in the four rural communities of Homer, Fairmount, Broadlands and Allerton combined. “We live in an area that doesn’t have large quantities of water,”
Po l i c e 2 A | C o r r e c t i o n s 2 A | C a l e n d a r 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | L e t t e r s 4 A | C r o s s w o r d 5 A | C o m i c s 5 A
Homer resident Suzanne Smith said. “The people who live in the area where the mine would be built have shallow groundwater wells that could potentially be contaminated by this water that leaches out of lagoons from the mine.” Tyler Rotche, chair of the Beyond Coal Campaign at the University, said washing coal on-site means putting the water into a basin that will then be discharged. “When it’s discharged, the chlorides are toxic to fish, sulfates are toxic to livestock, and, most importantly, the heavy metals can contaminate drinking water,” Rotche said. According to the village of Homer’s website, the village would need an additional source of water to fulfill Sunrise Coal’s proposed water requirements. Residents such as Smith worry about the Salt Fork River Pre-
See COAL, Page 3A
| Sports 1B | Classifieds 3B | Sudoku 5B