BASKETBALL RECRUITING Illinois loses top point guard recruit Jawun Evans to Oklahoma State. SPORTS 1B
LIFE & CULTURE, 6A THURSDAY October 2, 2014
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THE DAILY ILLINI 5he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 144 Issue 024
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Gov. Quinn agrees to attend UI debate Student senate pushes for Republican candidate Rauner’s attendance as well
BY ABIGALE SVOBODA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
TERRENCE ANTONIO JAMES TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
Bruce Rauner, a Republican candidate for governor, has declined the student senate’s invitation to a debate on campus.
For most students, “midterms” simply means stress, late nights and lots of coffee. Few remember that midterms also refer to the upcoming election; statistics show that most college students don’t take advantage of the opportunity to vote. Only 48 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds registered to vote in the 2010 midterm election. Of that number, 24 percent voted, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Illinois midterm elections will be held on Nov. 4.
In an effort to change low student voting numbers, Student Trustee Lucas Frye and Student Body President Mitch Dickey invited Gov. Pat Quinn, Democrat, and opposing candidate Bruce Rauner, Republican, to do a debate at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 in Foellinger Auditorium. Rauner’s campaign declined the invitation last weekend, Dickey said, though the Illinois Student Senate is continuing to push for both candidates’ participation. Quinn’s deputy press secretary, Izabela Miltko, said in an email that Quinn is willing to attend the debate, even if Rauner HARRY E. WALKER TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE will not be in attendance. Gov. Pat Quinn says he would attend a debate held at the University even if SEE DEBATE | 3A Bruce Rauner does not come.
October Lovers Club fires up annual autumnal celebration
UI students to benefit from better economy recruitment tends to be influenced by the state’s economy. The University saw a decrease in employee recruitment during the country’s recession in 2009, he said, but now the University is seeing increasing numbers of employers come to campus to look for interns and potential workers. According to the 2013 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, new college graduates accounted for 57.2 percent of all new entry-level hires. This percentage is the highest it has been in the past 14 years. “A lot of students are engaged in this process starting their sophomore year. They’re already doing internships,” Neighbors said in reference to the student job search. “So every time they’re engaging with a company, they are no longer just a random student on
BY CAMILLE MURRAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Big Ten to NCAA: Give athletes more DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
The Big Ten is recommending the NCAA provide all student-athletes with increased academic and health benefits, the conference said in a statement Wednesday. The plan is the first landmark piece of legislation to be presented after the restructuring of the NCAA to give the “Power Five” conferences (the Big Ten, Pac 12, Big 12, SEC and ACC) more autonomy. It would only apply to the Power Five conferences, not the rest of the NCAA. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney said the changes would be made in the interest of academics, rather than athletics. “There’s some great students and some great athletes,” Delany said. “Some are more interested in academics than others, but that doesn’t change our mission, which is to make sure that the opportunity exists for a
great education for all of our athletes.” The conference made four suggestions: giving studentathletes full cost of education aid, guaranteeing multi-year scholarships, allowing scholarships for life for athletes who leave school early to play professionally and providing consistent and improved medical insurance to all student-athletes. The recommendation would only apply to student-athletes who are in good standing with their university. Under the first suggestion, student-athletes’ scholarships would match the cost of an education as determined by the federal government, including more than what is already covered: tuition, fees, books and room and board. In addition, the conference suggests requiring all scholarships to be multi-year scholarships, instead of single-year, renewable scholar-
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ships. Ryan Squire, the University’s assistant athletic director for compliance, said currently the University gives out both multi-year and single-year scholarships, depending on the sport and coach’s preferences. He said he’s never known of a studentathlete at the University to lose their single-year scholarship for athletic reasons. Squire did say, however, that sometimes single-year scholarships have benefits. For example, the men’s basketball team has 13 scholarships available, but there were only 12 scholarship athletes in the 2013-14 season. The final scholarship could be awarded to a walk-on for that season only. With multi-year scholarships, it’s not clear if excess scholarships could be awarded to walk-ons. Squire said people often associate losing a scholarship with a career-ending injury, but the NCAA already
guarantees scholarships to student-athletes who suffer career-ending injuries without counting that against the team’s scholarship total. The conference also recommends scholarships be valid for a student-athletes’ lifetime. So, if a student-athlete leaves college to pursue a professional career, the scholarship would still be honored if the athlete retires and returns to school. “The Big Ten has also agreed to address additional student-athlete welfare issues including, but not limited to, health and safety, time demands and comprehensive academic support by way of a ‘Resolution’ that creates a specific pathway and timeline for implementation,” the conference stated in a press release.
Sean Neumann and Johnathan Hettinger contributed to this report.
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SEE EMPLOYMENT | 3A
Unemployment in Illinois The unemployment rate in Illinois has seen a monthly decrease for the past 5 months.
10 Unemployment rate (in percent)
SAISHA SINGH THE DAILY ILLINI
The October Lovers Club celebrated the start of the month with a kickoff bonfire at Illini Grove this evening. S’mores and other sweet treats were served from 7-9 p.m., with hundreds of people in attendance. The club is active every year only in the month of October.
The unemployment rate in Illinois has decreased for the sixth month in a row, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In August, the unemployment rate reached 6.7 percent and employers created 13,800 jobs. Illinois has 40,600 more jobs than it did at this time last year.The highest number of jobs created in one sector was found in professional and business services, which provided 17,200 new jobs. The decline in unemployment could be significantly beneficial to students, said Brian Neighbors, senior assistant director at the Career Center. “Now all of a sudden we’re starting to see more and more employers who are coming to campus to actually do interviews for entrylevel positions,” Neighbors said. “It’s providing a lot more opportunities for students.” Neighbors said that
8.4% 7.9%
8
7.5% 7.1% 6.8%
6
March
April
May
June
6.7%
July
August
ANNA HECHT THE DAILY ILLINI
SOURCE: United States Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics
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