The Daily Illini: Volume 143 Issue 17

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SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION

ILLINI PREPARES TO FACE MIAMI

Social network theory says that we are all interconnected.

Players, coaches need to revise plan to prepare for unusual offensive scheme.

LIFE & CULTURE, 6A

SPORTS, 1B

TUESDAY September 24, 2013

THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

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Aviation to be offered at Parkland BY ZILA RENFRO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The University’s Institute of Aviation will be taken over by Parkland College for the low price of $1 a year, as fi nalized in an intergovernmental agreement signed Wednesday. The 2013-2014 school year is the last year that the Institute of Aviation will be open to University students. In September 2010, President Robert Easter called the institute’s economic viability into question after 65 years on campus, putting forth a recommendation that the institute be closed to save the University between $500,000 and $750,000 annually. In July 2011, the Board of Trustees voted 6-2 to close the institute, despite protests by members of both the institute and the Urbana-Champaign Senate. However, there is still hope for aspiring aviation students in the Champaign-Urbana community. Parkland College will open an aviation program that will allow students to obtain a two-year aviation-related Associate of Science degree. Students can take courses and complete pilot training at the University-owned Willard Airport in Savoy. As part of the agreement, the University will lease Willard’s aircraft and facilities to Parkland for just $1 a year, said campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler. Additionally, $250,000 of the institute’s funds will be given to Parkland for marketing purposes, and another $3 million will be given to the college over the course of the transition. Tom Ramage, president of Parkland College, said the University’s generous actions to help start the Parkland aviation program speaks of its willingness to provide a source of education for potential aviators. “(The University) could have decided to perhaps make a profit on the (facilities) as opposed to leasing it,� Ramage said. “That cooperation was spectacular.� He also noted that the University is starting a pathway program where students can complete fl ight training at Parkland while obtaining a bachelor’s degree at the University. The University is not the only organization helping to get Parkland’s program on its feet. Riverside Research, a not-for-profi t engineering company with a division in Champaign, is providing support to Parkland College in terms of operating and maintaining the aircraft. “One of the reasons we’re doing this is to provide a service to the students,� said Randy Sandone, who oversees Riverside Research’s collaboration with Parkland. Sandone explained that

BRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINI

Christiaan Burner, president of College Republicans and junior in finance, speaks during a debate between the College Republicans and Illini Democrats at the ARC on Monday.

Debate addresses hot issues BY ELEANOR BLACK STAFF WRITER

Leaders from the University’s Democratic and Republican registered student organizations stood before a crowd of about 40 students discussing various timely issues. Students gathered at the ARC on Monday night to watch members of Illini Democrats and College Republicans at UIUC debate on issues including gun control, the Syrian civil war, privacy and the government, healthcare, student loans and immigration. The debate was moderated by

the Political Science Club and sponsored by the local chapter of Restore Our Principles, a student-run conservative non-profit organization. Christiaan Burner, president of College Republicans and junior in fi nance, organized and proposed the event. College Republicans VicePresident Max Balkan, a junior in Business, said the debate helps bring issues to the forefront and allows the two organizations to speak to a broader audience. “I think it can be a new form of engagement ... It brings the issues up so you see people

actually having the competitive nature,� Balkan said. “For example, (Illini Democrat) meetings are all pretty much Democrats focusing on those issues, and College Republican meetings are pretty much all Republicans focusing on those issues and there’s general agreement. You can actually see some clash in this debate and hopefully actually address some of the more basic issues.� Owen Marsden, president of Illini Democrats, agreed that student-run debates helped to “highlight the contrast between the two political parties� and

have more student participation in politics. Moderator David Elfman, senior in fi nance, said that most of the topics were chosen because of their prevalence in the news lately, such as the Navy Yard shooting and the recent events in Syria. Students in attendance came to the event to hear more about both foreign and domestic issues. Alex Massey, junior in LAS, interns for George Gollin, a University physics professor who

SEE DEBATE | 3A

Kenyan forces kill 3 assailants At least 62 dead in 3-day mall standoff linked to al-Qaida

BY NICHOLAS SOI AND ROBYN DIXON LOS ANGELES TIMES

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan security forces killed three assailants from an al-Qaida-linked Somalia militia after unleashing a major assault to end the standoff at a shopping mall, defense officials said Monday. With the crisis at the Westgate shopping center in its third day, officials said 10 suspects had been arrested for questioning, including two at the Nairobi airport. The big unanswered questions concerned the number of people held by the gunmen and their welfare, after al-Shabab militants threatened to kill hostages if there was an assault. Kenyan Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said only that efforts to release the hostages were “very, very successful� and those being held were “very few.� Police officials said some hostages were released Monday, but there was no word on how many or where they were taken.

Lenku told reporters that the number of dead stood at 62, and that 50 of the 175 injured were still being treated in hospitals. A Defense Ministry spokesman said 10 bodies had been recovered from the mall in the previous 24 hours. It was not clear whether they were all included in Lenku’s toll. The Kenya Red Cross previously had reported that 69 people were killed, but later revised the toll to 62, saying some bodies had been double-counted. The assault by security forces began with weapons fire ringing out at dawn Monday. After sporadic shooting, the attack reached a crescendo in the early afternoon, with a volley of explosions and heavy arms fire. Black smoke poured out of the building as a fire raged for several hours. Kenyan armed forces chief Gen. Julius Karangi told reporters that the fire was started by the assailants as a diversion in a bid to flee the building. Officials said the building was surrounded and that there would be no escape for the terrorists. Kenyan officials earlier said that 10 to 15 gunmen were involved in the attack. Karangi said the militants came from different countries.

ZHANG CHEN MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Thick smoke rises from the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday following a string of explosions during the third day of a standoff between Kenyan security forces and gunmen inside the building. Al-Shabab, the group that has claimed responsibility for the attack, is known to have recruited foreigners, including Americans

and Europeans, to fight in Somalia. It also has recruited Kenyans.

SEE KENYA | 3A

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there is an “impending shortage of pilots� in the nation due to the retirement of the baby boomer age and an increase in air travel outside of the United States. While educating private and commercial pilots is a new endeavor for Riverside Research, the company hopes to prepare a new generation of aviation specialists, even training them on more modern aircraft with computerized navigation systems. Although the closing of the University’s Institute of Aviation was a disappointment for many students and faculty alike, the joint partnership

SEE AVIATION | 3A

Professor creates music theory app to aid in teaching BY BRYAN BOCCELLI STAFF WRITER

A University professor has created an app to aid instructors and students in the process of teaching and learning music theory. The app, Harmonia, was created by Heinrich Taube, associate professor in the School of Music, and is currently free and downloadable in Apple’s App Store. “Music theory is an intensive study, and the kinds of work that students do is both analysis and composition — you have to do both

of those things in order to learn pedagogically how music is connected,� Taube said. “You have to take it apart and analyze it, and then once you have those skills, you want to be able to compose music that exhibits those things.� He said it is very difficult to give feedback to large classes because grading these types of assignments can be time-consuming and detail-oriented. Music students also believe this app will be helpful, including Joey Neuenschwander, a junior in

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music education. “This app would be very beneficial,� Neuenschwander said. “We are taught to analyze and study scores, but we hardly ever learn how to check others’ work. As future educators, we also need to be very aware of common mistakes and how to go about fixing them.� He said he believes the app could improve students’ understanding of the content taught in a music theory class, but it should only be used as a supplement.

“The topics covered in theory may seem tedious but are very important,� Neuenschwander said. “As long as this app is used to supplement the hands-on learning and studying, I think it could be very successful.� Taube explained that music is traditionally written on paper, so in a music theory class, the teaching assistant would have to analyze each individual assignment to figure out where the problems are. He said this is not scalable with a class of more than 120 stu-

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“If the computer can understand complex music — if it can process music by Bach, by Beethoven, and it can do that in a good enough fashion, well then that analytical capability can be applied to teaching.� However useful, some students like the traditional way music theory is currently taught. Neuenschwander said there are definitely benefits to having a hard copy of music in hand because it allows

SEE MUSIC | 3A

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dents. Taube currently teaches 80 students. “What this means really is that there’s a ... lesser opportunity for (students) to learn,� he said. Taube said the basic idea behind creating the app was to use a computer to analyze the various elements of sophisticated music, which will let the user know if there are problems in the composition. He also said the computer system could save instructors a lot of time.

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