Illini football fathers Young’s dad treks from Texas to see son play SECTION C
Friday November 9, 2012
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
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Vol. 142 Issue 55
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
UI aims for affordable education Trustees focus on managing
costs to attract best students BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
Backers of the Graduate Employees’ Organization rallied outside of the Undergraduate Library on Thursday. GEO members teach 20 percent of the course hours at the University and are fighting for protection of their tuition waivers, health care and wages. Their contract expired Aug. 16, 2012, and the University administration and GEO have yet to complete contract negotiations.
GEO rallies for wages, tuition waivers Mediation between GEO, University starts Friday to continue their degrees on campus. Seven months into negotia“Without bargaining for tions, the Graduate Employees’ tuition waivers, it doesn’t make Organization again expressed sense to bargain wages,” Seaits desire to avoid a strike dur- well said. “It’s fundamental. ing its “We Want to Work” rally Without them, we couldn’t be on Thursday. here.” The rally at the UndergraduIn 2009, about 1,000 GEO ate Library came before feder- members went on strike and al mediation of contract nego- successfully won tuition waivtiations, which begin Friday. ers in their contracts . MemThe negotiation marks the bers claim the University vio22nd time the GEO will meet lated that contract by reducing with Universituition waivty administraers for gradutors for negotiate employees ations since the within the Colemployees’ conlege of Fine and tract expired in Applied Arts. August. “ P roviding “All we are tuition waivasking of the ers and other University is forms of fi nanto have a concial assistance PETER CAMPBELL, to graduate stuversation with GEO representative dents has been us,” said Peter Campbell , GEO a long-standing practice and will continue in representative. Campbell said GEO members the future, though over the want to continue their work. years there have been occaWithout a contract, more than sional adjustments concerning 2,400 teaching and graduate the details of tuition waivers assistants go to work uncertain on a department-by-departof their future wages, health ment basis,” campus spokescare and tuition waivers. person Robin Kaler said in an Tuition waivers are an email two weeks ago. important issue in this year’s The GEO is now moving forcontract negotiations, GEO ward with preliminary work spokesperson Stephanie Sea- action plans in case it becomes well said. Without tuition waiv- necessary, including taking a ers, many University graduate employees would not be able See GEO, Page 3A
As the University comes closer to recommending next year’s tuition rates, the cost of education is on President Robert Easter’s mind. The board met on the Springfield campus on Thursday, and Easter made his opening remarks on the subject, citing a 123 percent increase in tuition costs since 2002 in the face of lacking state funding. He said he believes it is the University’s responsibility to keep education affordable and accessible. “Access is truly one of the attributes that defines the land-grant University,” Easter said. “Sustaining accessibility for all young people, all who desire to enroll and are qualified to, is something that’s truly important.” Later in the meeting, Springfield Susan Koch, campus chancellor, presented the basic plan-
ning and budgeting statistics of her campus. This presentation sparked further discussion on tuition and financial aid. Christopher Kennedy, board chairman, asked Koch how the University of Illinois could attract and compete for excellent students who get offers to attend other universities for free. Koch replied that Kennedy’s question is one that is being discussed at many different levels throughout the University of Illinois, and she is unsure of an exact answer. However, she said she believes that students “understand the value of a University of Illinois degree” from any of the three campuses. “I think that we have a tremendous educational experience to offer, and our focus on excellence really does sustain us,” Koch said. “We also do offer some very fine scholarships to really excep-
See TRUSTEES, Page 3A
Urbana’s Flex-N-Gate faces fines from OSHA
BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
Factory owned by UI alumnus, billionaire Khan BY AUSTIN KEATING STAFF WRITER
“All we are asking of the University is to have a conversation with us.”
ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
Ryan Young, senior in LAS, speaks to GEO members and supporters who rallied outside of the Undergraduate Library on Thursday. The GEO is considering authorizing a strike if no progress is made at the bargaining table.
An Urbana automobile part factory, owned by University alumnus and local billionare Shahid Khan , faces a $21,000 fi ne for four violations classified as “serious.” The citations were issued to the factory, Flex-N-Gate Corp., on Oct. 30 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and claimed that the Guardian West facility was endangering its workers’ lives. The fi rst citation said the dust collectors in the plant “lacked methods of explosion protection,” while the other three focused on hazards with the conveyers, robots and other mechanical equipment that would unexpectedly energize. A “serious” violation is issued when there is a “substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which them employer knew or should have known.”
“Flex-N- Gate failed to ensure that all power sources were properly protected — were properly turned off even — in order to prevent accidental injury to their employees,” said spokesperson for OSHA Scott Allen . Guardian West declined to comment. Jackie Campbell, paint department worker at Guardian West, said the conditions of the factory were dangerous. “I love my job, but I have a lot of issues with the safety,” Campbell said. “I have concerns about the air quality. It always looked foggy, and it smells. But they say some smells are not harmful. ... There’s dust all over. If you took a magnet in there, over eight hours it’d be full of metal.” Allen said Guardian West has three choices for how to respond to the citations. “The company has 15 days after the issuance of the citations to either request an informal conference with OSHA to discuss the violations, or they can contest the violations to an independent occupation-
See FLEX-N-GATE, Page 3A
Open house offers students intern opportunities BY ILYA GUREVIC STAFF WRITER
The University of Illinois Research Park held an open house attended by approximately 100 students Thursday. The event included an introductory presentation, a tour of participating businesses and a networking reception. UI Research Park encompasses a dozen buildings with more in construction. Fox/Atkins Development is the private partner that builds and leases most of the buildings. In December 2011, UI Research Park received the Outstanding Research Park award from the Association of University Research Parks. Laura Bleill , marketing coordinator for Research Park, said the
INSIDE
purpose of the open house was to make students aware of the park’s offerings — which include internships and support for campus entrepreneurs — and to “demystify what the Research Park is.” Bleill hoped students would have the chance to become better acquainted with research park businesses and their offerings. After promotional videos and an introductory presentation by Research Park Director Laura Frerichs, students broke up into tour groups based on subjects of interest. They were taken around to the corresponding research park companies by staff. The park is home to approximately 90 companies and 1,400 employees. Bleill said the park has around
400 student interns at any time throughout the year. These internships are usually paid, and students tend to work around 10 to 20 hours during the school year and full-time in the summer. Employers spoke about internship opportunities, and student interns shared their experiences with attendees. “We teach our actuarial interns real live work,” said Scott Farris, research and development manager at State Farm’s offices in the park. He added that six of the 25 interns last year were hired for full-time, permanent jobs with the company. Alex Kessler, senior in LAS, interns with State Farm in the park
See RESEARCH PARK, Page 3A
ZOE GRANT THE DAILY ILLINI
Mark Niemeyer of Caterpillar speaks to University of Illinois students about the company’s goals and product as well as upcoming opportunities for internships and jobs. This was one of several presentations that were a part of the Research Park Open House on Thursday evening.
Po l i c e 2 A | Co r r e c t i o n 2 A | H o ro s c o p e s 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | Le t t e r s 4 A | C ro s s wo rd 5 A | Co m i c s 5 A | S p o r t s 1 B | C l a s s i f i e d s 3 B - 4 B | S u d o k u 3 B