Top-secret chef: Local restaurants have specialties only known to a few FEATURES, 6A
Living his dream
Former Illini guarantees PGA card SPORTS, 1B
Wednesday September 26, 2012
The Daily Illini
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 142 Issue 23
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UI programs try to bring together all religions, ethnicities Vice chancellor wants students to find success in diverse world BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
Jason Huang, right, a sophomore in AHS, talks to a girl at the Cans Across the Quad food drive at the Union on Tuesday. The food drive aims to support the Eastern Illinois Foodbank and help with food insecurity in Champaign County.
ONE CAN AT A TIME
Food drive hopes to help with hunger, food insecurity in Champaign County BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
In order to combat hunger in Champaign County, the Office of Volunteer Programs held its fifth annual Cans Across on the Quad event Tuesday. The fundraiser, which was moved to the Courtyard Cafe because of rain, benefitted the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. From there, the donations are distributed to surrounding food pantries, said Vaneitta Goines, pro-
gram advisor for the Office of Volunteer Programs. The group was about 200 cans away from reaching its goal of 2,500 donated cans at about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Although the number of people in Champaign County who earn salaries over $100,000 has increased 90 percent over the last 10 years, the county still has the third highest extreme poverty rate in Illinois, according to the United Way of Cham-
Illinois Student Senate may sponsor basketball team, give out free tickets BY CORINNE RUFF STAFF WRITER
Although many members of the Illinois Student Senate know not all students are into politics or University policy, senator Damani Bolden thinks they should be and wants to help students relate to the Illinois Student Senate in a more personal way — through men’s basketball. The junior in ACES wrote a resolution proposing that the senate would increase its campus visibility by becoming a sponsor of the University’s men’s basketball team. “Some students don’t know who we are or even that our school has a student senate,” he said. “Here’s an opportunity, from students to students, on a level they can fully understand, to let them know we’re here.” Bolden is working with Fighting Illini Sports Property, which oversees all athletics sponsorships, to put this plan into place. “They are eager to work with
INSIDE
ISS and figure out what we can do while staying in the constraints of our budget,” he said. The overall budget for this marketing effort would be $11,400. The proposal includes four 15-second videos promoting ISS that will be aired before every basketball game this season. In addition, when students look up the basketball schedule online, there will be a link to the student senate’s website. The resolution also calls for ISS to purchase and distribute 200 tickets to games. “We’d like to engage the students on the Quad with a quick game or something and give them free tickets to the game,” Bolden said. “One thing we should always do is support our student-athletes.” The initiative is on the senate’s agenda for its regular meeting Wednesday. Also on the agenda for Wednesday is a plan to for ISS
See SENATE, Page 3A
paign County’s 2011 Community Report. Goines said high-paying University and corporate jobs are creating a greater divide between high- and low-income groups. “Those jobs that allow people with a lower educational level to work for a living wage are starting to disappear from our economy and not be replaced in the same level,” she said. “More people at the lower end of the economic spectrum are moving toward extreme poverty, and many of those are families with children.” In Champaign County, an esti-
mated 24.9 percent of the population for whom poverty status is determined is below poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey. Goines said north Champaign is one of the areas that is hit with a “food desert,” which is when people do not have grocery stores within a mile of their homes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s defi nition of food insecurity is a “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or
See CANS, Page 3A
In an effort to bring together students of all races, ethnicities and religions, University units and organizations have been working to implement campuswide programs that celebrate diversity. Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, said these programs are also a way for students to prepare themselves for working in diverse environments throughout their lives. “I want our students to really be able to be successful in the multicultural, diverse world they’re going to fi nd when they graduate,” Romano said. One of the campus’s newest diversity programs is the Academic Talent Search College Prep program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Romano said the University’s Office of Minority Student Affairs implemented this program to encourage middle school and high school students with disadvantaged backgrounds to attend college.
Inclusive Illinois upcoming events Nov. 9: 27th Annual
Celebration of Diversity
January 18-26: Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Day campus and community events January-February:
Sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation March 28: Seventh Annual Inclusive Illinois Women’s Leadership Program April 3-5: Women of Color in the Academy conference SOURCE: 2012 IMPACT REPORT FOR INCLUSIVE ILLINOIS
This program is directed especially toward students who are the first in their families to go to college. “If your parents didn’t go to college and you’re a first-generation college student, that means your parents may not know all the ins and outs about applying and getting fi nancial aid and helping you get into college,” Romano said. Readying Illinois Students for Excellence is a new program that allows support to continue after a fi rst-generation, low-income student has been accepted to the University. RISE gives those students the chance to move in to residence
See DIVERSITY, Page 3A
Altgeld Hall’s bells go silent in observance of Silent Day, International Week of the Deaf event
Family ties
DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
JEREMY PORTJE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rajmohan Gandhi, center, discusses the 1857 Revolt in India with Sanjeva Reddy, left, and A.T. Saravanan before speaking at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, on Friday. Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi is an author and professor at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. An active peacekeeper, Rajmohan Gandhi led the Indian delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990.
Students may notice an unusual silence on Wednesday while walking across the Quad. The bells of Altgeld Hall, which usually ring 10 minutes to the hour and at the hour to signify passing periods, will not ring all day in support of Silent Day and International Week of the Deaf. Silent Day is sponsored by the department of speech and hearing Science. “When people realize the bells aren’t (ringing), that will be an accomplishment in itself,” said Matthew Dye, assistant professor of speech and hearing science. Dye said the chiming of the bells is something that most people take for granted, and the goal of the silencing of the bells is to catch the attention of students and faculty. As part Wednesday’s event, students will also seek sponsorship to remain silent, using only sign language, gesture and writing from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. The event aims to help students attain a sense of what daily life is like for people in the deaf community. It will also serve as a fundraiser for the Illini Chapter of the Illinois Association of the Deaf and for the Illinois Foundation for
See DEAF, Page 3A
Po l i ce 2 A | Co r re 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 | C ro s swo rd 5 A | Co m i c s 5 A | H e a l t h & L i v i n g 6 A | S p o r t s 1 B | Cl a s s i f i e d s 3 B | S u d o ku 3 B