ROCK OUT UNDER THE MOON Inaugural festival combines music and the environment
ILLINOIS SNAGS A 42-34 WIN OVER WKU
Once again, the Illini perform in the 4th quarter
September 8, 2014
Donors shouldn’t have had an effect on Wise’s decision
SPORTS, 1B
LIFE & CULTURE, 6A
MONDAY
Salaita controversy
OPINIONS, 4A
THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 143 Issue 009
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Wise clarifies how Salaita situation evolved Chancellor directly meeting with departments BY TAYLOR ODISHO ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Chancellor Phyllis Wise’s plan to sit down with campus colleges began on Thursday with the College of Media faculty, providing a chance to listen to faculty concerns and correct misinformation about recent controversy surrounding Steven Salaita’s rescinded job offer. “I made a pretty unilateral decision to let (Salaita) know of (his unlikely approval) and tell him that he should act accordingly,” Wise said. “What I did not do is follow all of my principles
CU’S 1ST PRIDE PARADE BY REBECCA JACOBS STAFF WRITER
There was a sense of pride and cheerfulness in the air on Saturday in downtown Champaign. People of all ages walked around the streets. Customers sat outside local restaurants to watch the parade. Kids picked up Tootsie Rolls and Dum Dums tossed from the floats, and rainbow flags covered storefronts on Neil Street for Champaign-Urbana’s first pride parade. The cities have hosted CU Pride Festival for five years, but without a parade until this year. “This community wasn’t like this four years ago,” said Micah Heumann, board member of the Uniting Pride Center Board (UP Center) and a co-facilitator for the University. The Uniting Pride Center ran the festival once again this year. “The festival is growing in a positive way. The community stepped up,” said Heumann. Bud Light, a sponsor, started off the parade line, which had 24 participants. The Twin City Derby Girls
roller-skated in the parade and familiar companies, like Kraft and Starbucks, brought their teams to the festival. The participants were enthusiastic, dancing and singing as they moved along the street. Local organizations made appearances, such as Transgender Support of C-U, Planned Parenthood IL and Community United Church of Christ. Champaign Mayor Don Gerard rode through the parade in a convertible. “It’s an absolute honor to be a part of this celebration,” Gerard said. “I’ve always felt Champaign has been such a wonderfully diverse and inclusive community. It’s wonderful when we can all come out and support each other and really have a celebration of all the people in our community.” The parade traveled mainly along Neil Street and lasted about 15 minutes. People sat along curbs or stood, and cheered as parade participants marched and danced by. “The pride parade is something near and dear to my
REBECCA JACOBS THE DAILY ILLINI
TOP: Pride parade participants march down Neil Street. BOTTOM: The cities of Champaign and Urbana have hosted the CU Pride Festival for five years, but this was the first year there was a parade as well. heart,” said Debra Hart, 58, who came from St. Joseph for the festival. “I came to support my friends. And who doesn’t love rainbows?” “This is awesome!” Carol Young, 58, of Champaign, exclaimed as the parade came to an end.
val, although she had attended the festival before. “This is my third year coming. I’ve loved it ever since I started coming,” Wilson-Danenhower said. While she loved the parade, she said was disappointed that this year the dancing and drag performances were held at local bars for people age 21 and older. Wilson-Danenhower said she enjoyed when the dancing used to be in Lincoln Mall in Urbana for people of all ages. “I plan on going to C-Street (Chester Street Dance Club) for Carnivale Debauche tonight,” said Lucas Zimmerman, 27, from Westville. “I enjoyed the festival. It was all so good. I even got some beads.” While the drag show was held at night, drag queens attended the festival and marched in the parade for all to see. “I’ve never seen so much color and drag queens,” said Haorui Yang, graduate student in biotechnology. Yang is from China and was a vol-
“It’s wonderful when we can all come out and support each other.” DON GERARD
CHAMPAIGN MAYOR
Local residents and people from out of town came for the festival. Grace Wilson-Danenhower and Alicyn Koontz, both 16, also came from St. Joseph. “This is my first time attending,” Koontz said. “It’s really amazing, and I plan to come back for years and years and years.” Like Koontz, WilsonDanenhower had a big smile on her face about the festi-
SEE PRIDE | 3A
Pride Festival includes clothing drive for 1st time Event provides free clothing for all gender expressions BY BRITTNEY NADLER STAFF WRITER
For trans* people, finding clothing is not as easy as taking a trip to the nearest department store. That is why, for the first time, the CU Pride Festival began on Saturday with a clothing swap, welcoming individuals of all gender expressions. “Trans* folks have a really hard time getting clothes,” said Stephanie Skora, senior in LAS. “Our bodies are changing, and we need different clothes for different points in our transitions, if we do transition. So clothing drives are really, really helpful to find people whole wardrobes.” Skora said they did not — and could not — have an
estimate of how many people were expected at the event. “We don’t know because it’s very hard to count trans* people,” she said. “We’re very good at hiding.” All items were donated by the community and were completely free. Multiple workshops also took place that included topics such as legal rights, sexual violence, tolerating differences, HIV prevention, sex education and a belly dancing class. Kari Little-McKinney has been a belly dancing instructor for more than 30 years and was excited to teach basic techniques to new dancers, she said. “This is my third Pride,” she said. “I’m also a drag performer, so I’ll be performing tonight. My wife and I always try to make Pride every year. People love belly dance, and it’s a fun exercise for everybody.” Chris Mayer, workshop
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Faculty petition shows widespread support for Wise DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
University professors are starting to show support for Chancellor Phyllis Wise after multiple departments cast votes of no confidence last week in Wise’s decision to rescind Professor Steven Salaita’s position at the University. An online petition in defense of Wise’s decision has been signed by more than 400 academics on campus as of press time and continues to gain support. “We trust her judgment and recognize that she often must make difficult decisions based on information and perspectives that cannot immediately be shared with all of us,” the online petition states. “In those extraordinary events, she always strives to help the campus community understand the context and reasoning behind decisions, and she always takes responsibility
for her decisions.” On Sept. 4, the Department of Animal Sciences submitted a letter of confidence in Wise and her decision to rescind Salaita’s job offer. “In true measure of leadership, Chancellor Wise made a tough decision,” the letter stated. “As expected, faculty are not always going to agree with every decision but this is no reason to deprive our campus of a talented, thoughtful and decisive leader. It is time that the silent majorities who support the Chancellor stand up and be heard.” University President Robert Easter served as the head of the Department of Animal Sciences from 1996 to 2001 and Wise also has a background in animal sciences, including a Ph.D. in zoology. The letter was also signed by Animal Science Professor Matthew Wheeler, former chair of the Senate Executive Committee.
Rising cost of tuition a burden on average family UI study: Financial aid falling short of costs of education BY ALEX SWANSON STAFF WRITER
A University professor recently published a study that found college is becoming less affordable and financial aid is falling short of tuition costs. Jennifer Delaney, assistant professor of education, examined three major components that feed into college affordability: tuition,
family income and financial aid. Tuition has risen significantly over past decades, and Delaney said the increase is a direct result of decreased state funding. “Higher (education) is very often one of the first places to be cut when the states face financial difficulties,” Delaney said. “And part of that is that institutions of higher ed can raise tuition, and there is another revenue stream coming in.” She said states often cut
SEE TUITION | 3A
Cost of higher education throughout the years University professor Jennifer Delaney’s recent study showed that college has become less affordable over the past 30 years. Tuition at the University has also risen significantly in the past 25 years. Cost of attendance portrayed as a percentage of national average median family income
BRITTNEY NADLER THE DAILY ILLINI
The CU Pride Festival held its first clothing drive on Saturday to provide free clothes for attendees of all gender expressions. All items were donated by the community. coordinator, said she was looking forward to all of the information being presented. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to ... come together as a community to celebrate how cool we are, to celebrate our differences,” Mayer said. For Skora, the combination
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of the first clothing drive and parade made this year the Pride Fest’s best year so far. “We decided to step it up — bigger, better and queerer,” she said.
Brittney can be reached at banadle2 @dailyillini.com. THEDAILYILLINI
University of Illinois tuition
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Festival celebrates diversity, inclusion within community
of consultation.” Wise sent Salaita a letter stating she wouldn’t forward his appointment to the Board of Trustees, as he was unlikely to receive approval after posting controversial tweets regarding the conflict in Gaza. After many departments at the University gave Wise a vote of no confidence, Wise decided to hold department meetings to discuss the issue with faculty. As of Sunday, a total of 11 departments had issued similar votes. Wise said her major regret surrounding the issue is not taking a few days to consult with people, and she said her decision would have been wiser if she had.
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ANNA HECHT THE DAILY ILLINI SOURCE: The Role of State Policy in Promoting College Affordability by Jennifer Delaney
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