SOMEONE STILL LOVES YOU BORIS YELTSIN Locally signed artists to hit Mike ‘N Molly’s Saturday night to promote new release “Fly By Wire.”
UNDER THE LIGHTS Illinois football will try to snap a 15-game Big Ten losing steak this Saturday. See Section C
LIFE & CULTURE, 8A
THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY October 17, 2013
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
62˚ | 41˚ Vol. 143 Issue 31
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Shutdown over; debt ceiling raised Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on an 81-18 vote Wednesday night. Twenty-seven Republicans joined Democrats in backing the bill. About two hours later, the measure moved to the House of Representatives, where it was approved 285-144. Eighty-seven Republicans joined 198 Democrats in voting yes. All 144 no votes were Republicans. “We fought the good fight. We just didn’t win,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said hours
BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS, LESLEY CLARK AND JUSTINE MCDANIEL MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON — The nation stepped back from the brink of default Wednesday as Congress approved a bill to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling. President Barack Obama signed the bill later that night. Earlier, the Senate approved the proposal crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and
before the vote. The partisan bickering and acrimony that enveloped the House during the 16-day shutdown was largely replaced by softer tones and talk of bipartisanship prior to Wednesday’s vote, perhaps to soothe and reassure the markets. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., former chair of the House Financial Services Committee, asked colleagues, “For one night let us talk about what is good for this country and not about the other
First-generation students face hard transition STAFF WRITER
College of Media senior Rachel Loyd has a photo from her movein day freshman year, showing she and her mother smiling as she was dropped off for school. Upon closer look, her mother has tears in her eyes, overwhelmed with emotion over her daughter — the youngest of three — beginning college. Rachel is the first in her family to do so. “(My mother) didn’t have the opportunity to go to college and so her youngest daughter (going) to college and attempting to make something out of herself was really overwhelming for her,” Loyd said. “She was just ecstatic.” Loyd is a first-generation college student, or a student whose parents did not graduate from a four-year institution. According to data provided by campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler, this year’s freshman class has a higher percentage of first-generation students than all other classes. About 23 percent of all students with freshmen standing, including first-time, transfer, returning and continuing freshmen, are first-generation students. In both applying to the University and attending college, first-generation students face challenges not faced by students whose families have a tradition of higher education, officials said. First-generation students identify themselves as such when they fill out their applications to the University, said Director of Admissions Stacey Kostell. This information is then taken into account when reviewing the application, she said. “There are a number of personal characteristics that we take into consideration when we’re reviewing an application,”
and said he would sign the measure “immediately,” to reopen the government and “begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people.” Obama’s remarks came before the House vote. He said he would have more to say Thursday, declaring, “There’s a lot of work ahead of us, including our need to earn back the trust of the American people that’s been lost over the last few weeks.”
Obama suggested his focus will return to a stalled immigration overhaul, passing a farm bill and the federal budget. “We could get all these things done even this year, if everybody comes together in a spirit of, how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us?” he said. Obama thanked congressional leaders for reaching a resolution,
SEE SHUTDOWN | 3A
FREEDOM OF THE PAPER
UI-funded Free Press turns crops into paper
Kostell said. “We know that a student who is a first-generation student (is) kind of navigating the college selection process and the application process from maybe a different perspective from a student who has parents who have gone to college.” To help target potential firstgeneration applicants, representatives from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions visit high schools with large firstgeneration student populations and holds special programs and application workshops. They talk to students about what the University looks for in essays, activities, test scores and advanced courses, Kostell said. “It’s always helpful to have access to students as early as possible to engage and just have that ... conversation that college is possible,” she said. Though she does not come from a tradition of higher education, Loyd remembers her mother offering support for her education at a young age. “I remember hearing all throughout elementary school and middle school my mom would always say, ‘Oh Rachel’s going to college’ because she knew that I was serious about my education,” Loyd said. Although she was a serious student, Loyd said she didn’t think about college seriously until her senior year of high school. But once she made the decision to go, she ran into the problem of how to pay for school. It was not until the summer before starting her freshman year that she learned she had been accepted to the Illinois Promise scholarship program. This scholarship covers the full cost of education for students whose families live below the poverty level and have net assets
BY MIRANDA HOLLOWAY
party” before he voted for the measure. “I’m pleased that cooler heads have finally prevailed,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. “This legislation must be supported but it should not be celebrated. No highfives or spiking the football. ... It’s not a win for anyone, particularly the institution of Congress or the president, for that matter.” Obama, who spoke after the Senate vote, thanked Democrats and Republicans for their work
CLAIRE EVERETT THE DAILY ILLINI
Megan Diddie, graduate student in Fne and Applied Arts and research assistant at Fresh Press, pulls cotton paper pulp through a wooden mold while demonstrating the sustainable paper-making process on Wednesday.
How Fresh Press makes its paper, in 10 steps:
1. The agricultural product (say, prairie grass) is put into a wood chipper. 2. The chipped prairie grass is soaked in an 11 gallon pot of water overnight. 3. The next day, the grass is cooked on a burner powered by propane, but they are looking to use renewable energy sources in the future. 4. The product in the pot goes into a paper beater for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on fibers and desired paper texture. 5. The beaten agricultural product, now called “pulp,” is suspended in a vat of water.
SEE STUDENTS | 3A
6. The papermaker shakes his or her hands in the bottom of the vat to “charge” the pulp. 7. A screen, or wooden mold, is pulled through the pulp, forming a sheet of fiber on the top of the screen. 8. The sheet of fiber is transferred onto a piece of felt. 9. Another piece of felt is put on top of the fiber to form a sandwich, and that goes into a paper press. 10. Once pressed, the majority of the water is drained from the paper, and it is set to dry for about 12 hours. SOURCE: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ERIC BENSON
BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Inside a small, yellow, metalsided building on the University’s South Farms, two professors and two research assistants are converting crops and agricultural biproducts into sustainable paper. The project, called Fresh Press, began as a collaborative effort between graphic design associate professor Eric Benson and assistant professor Steve Kostell two years ago. Last year, it received funding from the Student Sustainability Committee, the University’s Research Board and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. “We call ourselves the microbrewery of paper,” Benson said. “We follow the model where if it’s in season and harvestable, we use it.” The sustainable papermakers get the majority of their agricultural products, like corn stalks, miscanthus and prairie grass, from the Sustainable Student Farm. This season, about one
thousand prairie grass seeds were planted for Fresh Press at the farm. Benson said they also use any unused miscanthus grass from biofuels projects on campus and prairie grass from a fellow artist’s backyard. Megan Diddie, research assistant and graduate student in Fine and Applied Arts, said the paper made in Fresh Press’s studio also creates less of an impact on the environment in terms of transportation. “We have the material here in the Midwest, so why would we ship parts of another country’s trees to the United States?” Diddie said. “It just seems like we could just make that process so much more efficient, create so much less waste and bring these industries back to the states.” There are several different formulas that have been created, adding the right mixture of agricultural by-products with cotton
SEE PAPER | 3A
Percentage of first-generation students increases The freshman class of 2013 has a larger percentage of first-generation students than the three other classes.
7,872
7,360
7,912
Women’s rowing preps for top regatta
9,150
Students in class
BY CHARLOTTE CARROLL CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Freshman* Sophomore
Junior
number of first generation college students SOURCE: CAMPUS SPOKESWOMAN ROBIN KALER
Senior
*includes first-time freshmen, transfer freshmen, returning freshmen and continuing freshmen
SCOTT DURAND THE DAILY ILLINI
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It’s 5 a.m. and darkness is coupled with cold. These elements, which normally drive people to seek the warmth of their beds, are instead the conditions that signify the start of another practice for the Homer Lake Forest Preserve’s guests: the Illinois women’s rowing club. Though not immune to the weather, the focus isn’t on the crisp chill of the air or how tired these women are from lack of sleep. Certainly these concerns come before and after their gettogethers as a team, but more importantly as friends, where the extent of their plans can
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sometimes be complaining of fatigue. But for now, the women are preparing for the Head of the Charles Regatta, which is perhaps the biggest event of the team’s fall season. The event takes place Oct. 19-20 near Cambridge, Mass. With more than 9,000 athletes and 300,000 spectators, the Head of the Charles Regatta is the world’s largest two-day rowing event. Drawing competitors from all levels and from all corners of the globe, this two day regatta has become a pinnacle motivating force for the Illinois’s women’s rowing club. Such renowned worldwide acclaim has made the chance to compete in this regatta highly
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desirable, but difficult to attain. In order for new teams to qualify, there is a lottery drawing. First attempting to enter two years ago, the Illinois women’s rowing 4-plus team did not
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receive a spot. Trying again, they were picked and were able to compete for the fi rst time last year. By fi nishing in the top half
SEE CLUB ROWING | 5A
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ILLINI ROWING
Illinois’ Mel Schick, Meridith Kisting, Marissa Josupait, Tessa Copple, and Sam Sanders race in the Quad City Classic on Saturday. This boat will be representing Illinois at the Head of the Charles this weekend.
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