ILLINI GET SPEARED BY THE SPARTANS
KANT WAIT GRADUATE CREATES START-UP GROCERY DELIVERY COMPANY
Michigan State wins 42-3, Illinois falls apart during second half
See Page 5A
SPORTS, 1B
THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY October 28, 2013
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 143 Issue 35
|
FREE
Alma Mater will return for Commencement
Take a Chance with The Rapper
BY CLAIRE HETTINGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Panelists assured that Alma Mater will be back on campus in time for 2014 Commencement at an event held Friday. Spurlock Museum hosted a discussion panel regarding Alma Mater’s progress and the specific renovations that were necessary. This talk was led by a panel consisting of the main conservator, as well as four University officials who have worked closely with this project. When Alma Mater was lifted in August 2012 to be moved to the conservation studio, Christa Deacy-Quinn, the collections manager of the Spurlock Museum, said she climbed under and looked up into the statue and was surprised at what she saw. “We thought it was just a surface problem, but when we looked inside we saw bolts were failing and we realized it was in a lot worse shape than we thought it was,” she said. She then went on to explain the treatments that Alma has been receiving since it left campus; first, an x-ray was done that revealed that 60-80 percent of the bolts that hold the different parts of Alma together were either gone, missing or in bad shape. Andrzej Dajnowski, director of
»
64˚ | 36˚
the Conservation of Sculpture & Objects Studio and lead conservator, said the failing bolts made him decide to take apart the 48 pieces that make up the statue, even though it is very unusual to take apart a statue when completing its restoration. “At the beginning I didn’t want to take it apart, but then we realized that if we didn’t it would be a nightmare,” he said. Danjonwski said the old bolts are being replaced with bronze bolts specifically created for Alma and they “should last forever.” The internal structure will continue to be sound and should not cause a problem in the future, he added. The second treatment that Alma is undergoing is a laser cleaning of her entire structure, Deacy-Quinn said. The process is reasonably new but it is becoming the most accepted method of cleaning statues and Danjonwski is the leader of this technology, said Jennifer Hain Teper, head of the conservation unit for the university library at the University. Melvyn Skvarla, campus historic preservation officer, said laser cleaning takes off the layers of corrosion that have accumulated on Alma Mater like the white and black mold that was growing on it. He said the blue color that
Alma turned over time comes from a naturally found chloride that is very corrosive and not good for the sculpture. The panelists said they decided to return Alma to a cocoa-brown color after the restoration. “It is returning to the bronze that (Lorado) Taft (the creator) intended,” Skvarla said. Danjonwski said that many parts of the restoration process are rewarding. “If you replace the bolts, you know it is safe, and if you clean the surface then it is esthetical and those are pleasant changes as well,” he said. The panelists said they plan to treat and clean Alma Mater every year so that she never has to be restored to this extent again. The project is expected to cost $360,000, over two times the original estimation of $100,000. Skvarla said all the money that has paid for Alma Mater comes from the Chancellor’s Fund, a pool of money from private donors. Student funds or other university funds have not been used for this, he said. “This is the symbol of the university,” Deacy-Quinn said. “So we must preserve it.”
Claire can be reached at hettngr2@dailyillini.com.
» » » » » »
0RUH LQVLGH Flip to
features to read a review of Chance The Rapper’s performance Page 5A
HASAN KHALID THE DAILY ILLINI
Chance The Rapper performs at Fluid Events Center in Champaign on Friday. The show was sponsored by Alpha Epsilon Pi and was part of Chance’s first solo tour.
» » » » »
» »
Champaign City Council passes measures to make Prospect Avenue safer for children BY ANGELICA LAVITO STAFF WRITER
The Champaign City Council passed three measures in hopes of making Prospect Avenue safer for students walking to South Side Elementary School. The council voted to install a school zone with a crossing guard at the intersection of Prospect Avenue and Daniel Street, update the city’s inventory of school zones and develop crossing guard criteria. The city will also consider eva lu at i ng ac c essibi l it y improvements to the Prospect and Green intersection during evaluation of the city’s capital improvement plan. “I feel this will go a long way in making travel to and from school safer,” said Bill Taylor, principal of South Side Elementary School. The measures were passed following an accident in
September when a car struck a 7-year-old student on her way home from school, leaving the student with a broken leg. Although the accident brought safety concerns to light, Taylor said he was concerned about students crossing Prospect even before the accident. “There’s nothing stopping the cars from Green Street to Kirby (Avenue), so they get going really fast, and we have small children and families in the morning to get here and crossing it to go home in the afternoon,” Taylor said. “With the speed of the traffi c and the amount of the traffic, it’s a dangerous situation.” The accident prompted Taylor, the victim’s parents and other community members to urge the Champaign City Council and the Champaign Police Department to make Prospect Avenue safer for
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY FACILITIES & SERVICES
students. Included in the council report was a picture the victim drew of herself in a cast and crutches with a crossing guard holding an American fl ag in one hand and a school zone sign in the other. At the top of the page, she typed “I got hurt on Prospect. Please make it safe!” Mayor Don Gerard knows the dangers presented by Prospect Avenue because he grew up near it. Also, his two children attended South Side Elementary School and crossed Prospect Avenue on their way to and from school. “When I had my kids, oftentimes it felt safer and easier just to drive them a few blocks,” he said. “Granted, I was on my way to work. But when we did walk, it wasn’t just cross the street and go
SEE PROSPECT, PAGE 3A
University looking into possibility of merging Labor, Employment Relations, larger college BY DANIELLE BANKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The status of the University’s School of Labor and Employment Relations as an independent school could change, pending a decision by administrative officials. The University has proposed a merger of the school with a larger college, such as the College of Business. Michael Carrigan, co-chair of the Labor Education
Advisory Board and president of the Illinois AFL-CIO union, said in an email that his labor union unanimously opposes the merger. Unions enroll their members in a program at the school, and he believes a merge could result in less participation and deterioration of the program. “In almost every case where a university has merged a Labor Program into a School of Business the program has been
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS
INSIDE
Police
2A
destroyed,” he said. “The Business school is not as interested in maintaining the same areas of interest, strategy or purpose and the labor programs are compromised.” At a House Economic Development Committee hearing held on Oct. 14, Provost Ilesanmi Adesida spoke on behalf of the University. “We are working with the
SEE LABOR, PAGE 3A
Panelists at a presentation at Spurlock Museum on Friday said that Alma Mater will return by May 2014.
University acquires former Illinois poet laureate’s literary archives BY JACQUI OGRODNIK STAFF WRITER
The University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library recently acquired the work of Gwendolyn E. Brooks, who in 1950 became the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize. She was also appointed as Illinois’ poet laureate as Carl Sandburg’s successor until her death 32 years later. “We’re very excited about this acquisition because Brooks is one of the most important American poets in the 20th century,” said Anna Chen, curator of the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. With financial assistance from the President’s and Chancellor’s offices, the library purchased Brooks’ literary archive from her daughter, Nora Brooks Blakely. The collection includes 150 boxes of Brooks’ works spanning more than six decades, including poetry and prose she wrote as a teenager, annotated photographs, notes recording her daily life, her thoughts and current events that she had jotted down as well as extensive correspondence with other writers. As a great American poet, Gwendolyn Brooks’ archives allow researchers and scholars to get a sense of how she worked and what she thought, said Valerie Hotchkiss, direc-
Horoscopes
2A
|
Opinions
4A
|
Crossword
5A
tor of the library, in an email. “We’ve already had people contacting us who are interested in the collection to see if it’s ready,” said Marten Stromberg, another curator of the library. “It’s a wealth of information about Gwendolyn Brooks. You don’t know what you’ll be able to get out of this collection until you start working with it.” The library serves the community of scholars from the University and beyond who are interested in researching a writer’s creative process and the historical context of the periods in which these writers were working.
|
Comics
5A
|
Life
&
Culture
“Brooks was very devoted to nurturing young poets,” Chen said. “We are also very interested in involving not just University students but also primary and secondary students who are exploring her poetry and her creative process.” Chen said the curators of the library are currently involved as archivists to account for all of Brooks’ materials. “We will rehouse and inventory the entire collection so that scholars and students can easily identify items they would like to study
SEE BROOKS, PAGE 3A
@THEDAILYILLINI
THEDAILYILLINI
@THEDAILYILLINI, @DI_OPINION, @DI_SPORTS |
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
5A
|
Sports
1B
|
Classifieds
THEDAILYILLINI 3B-4B
|
Sudoku
3B