Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Stretch for a Cure
CONTINUING THE TRADITION Ivan Dozier as the unofficial Chief Illiniwek
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LIFE & CULTURE, 6A
TUESDAY November 12, 2013
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Underinvestment in IT could have negative effect on the University
Honoring their fellow veterans
BY JOHNATHAN HETTINGER STAFF WRITER
The University is underinvesting in its Information Technology department, and it could negatively affect the future of the University, the University’s chief information officer told the Senate Executive Committee at its meeting Monday. Paul Hixson, who has served as chief information officer for the past two and a half years, presented the IT strategic plan for 2014-16, highlighting the strides the University has made but showing this is a “critical time� for the University when it comes to investing in technology. “We are currently underinvesting,� Hixson said. “We’ve identified five major areas that collectively represent about $7 million of recurring need that is not addressed.� According to Hixson’s presentation, these five areas are an explosive demand for mobile devices; new security challenges; current under-funding of CITES “University-funded� services; strengthening campus leadership in online edu-
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Veterans stand outside the Champaign County Courthouse during a Veterans Day ceremony at the Champaign County Veterans Memorial on Monday. The ceremony was put together by the Champaign County Veterans’ Association.
cation; and preserving campus leadership in research. An additional investment in IT could also make life easier for faculty, staff and students, Hixson said. The number of average daily wireless users has skyrocketed in the past two years, while infrastructure has only increased slightly, according to the presentation. If the current pace keeps up, the University soon won’t be able to support the number of mobile devices attempting to connect to the University’s Wi-Fi network, Hixson said. On average, students are bringing 3.7 mobile devices to campus, Hixson said. When the University’s current infrastructure was completed, Hixson said he had never heard of iPads or iPhones. The University has also seen an unprecedented number of online attacks in recent months, including a recent phishing attack of 2.2 million malicious emails in two weeks. While the University has been
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Non-tenure track faculty seek resources, specificity BY ETHAN DUNHAM CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Non-tenure track faculty members are encouraging the University to open up discussions regarding their teaching responsibilities and the allocation of resources. Non-tenure track faculty at the University comprise instructors, lecturers, senior lecturers, clinical professors, research professors and adjunct faculty, among other similarly contracted groups. Faculty in this category teach on a nine-month contract with little to no job secu-
UI study links disability characteristics to bullying
rity, said Kay Emmert, a non-tenure track teacher in the English Department. Non-tenure track contracts are what Emmert calls “bare-boned,� in that they lack any specificity as to what the job entails. Furthermore, faculty resources are essentially non-existent for the group. Emmert said he believes that a lack of funds for professional development, faculty responsibility distribution and input on curriculum are all unfair distribution of resources. University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the University feels
that this is a misconception, as the University allocates the distribution of teachers to classes using several criteria. These include instructor expertise and experience, optimal student learning, flexibility in scheduling, needs for graduate training and desires or preferences of the instructors, Kaler said. Some departments, such as the History Department, have completely eliminated non-tenure track faculty from their staff. Craig Koslofsky, chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee and a tenured professor in the History
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22.4 percent
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STAFF WRITER
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A new University study suggests that psychosocial problems associated with disabilities serve as risk factors for bullying and victimization. The study focused on psychosocial factors, such as depression, aggression, anxiety and hostility, that can predict bullying and victimization among students with disabilities. “My goal is to improve interventions for teachers and administrators within schools to support students who may have characteristics that place them more at risk for involvement in the bullying dynamic,� said Chad Rose, one of the lead authors of the study and professor of special education at the University of Missouri Columbia. One of the main goals of the study was to raise awareness of the issue regarding how students with disabilities are over-represented as both bullies and victims in other studies of peer aggression. “ T h er e are s ever a l manuscripts out there that look at mental health issues in bullying among students without disabilities,� he said. “This is one of the first times we tried to look at mental health and psychosocial factors directly related to
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bullying among students with disabilities.� Rose said not all students with disabilities are at risk of involvement in the bullying dynamic. It’s not the disability itself that serves as a predictor, but the cha racteristics associated with the disability. “If I stop saying students with disabilities are at risk and start saying ... the characteristics associated with that disability serve as risk factors, then it can start to lend itself to more appropriate and effective interventions within the schools,� Rose said. Rose, along with his co-author Dorothy Espelage, professor of educational psychology at the University, surveyed 1600 students over a period of three
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years. These students took the survey five times: once in sixth grade, twice in seventh grade and twice again in eighth grade. Of the 16 0 0 students who were surveyed, 138 students had high-incidence disabilities, meaning these students had disabilities that were proportionally higher in terms of disability diagnoses as a whole. In terms of bullying prediction, students who reported that they engaged in delinquent behaviors were 17 times more likely to bully others. Those who reported higher levels of hostility were about seven times more likely, and those with depressive
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The University shows its continual support for environmental causes with plans to elevate the Center for a Sustainable Environment to the status of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and the Environment, pending approval by the University Board of Trustees at its meeting Thursday. The center, which was established in December, is currently transitioning into the institute because of pressing global issues surrounding sustainability and concern for these issues from the campus community, said Evan DeLucia, newly named director of the institute. He said plans for the institute have also received support from Chancellor Phyllis Wise. DeLucia said the institute will have three main components that it focuses on: research, education and outreach, as well as a campus and community sustainability component. “We are launching five major research themes — it is a little unclear exactly what they are going to be because we are defining those now,� he said. Pending approval by the Board of Trustees and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the center should be able to officially call itself an institute by the end of the fall semester, DeLucia said. “I’m pretty confident that we are going to get through very quickly because a lot of people want to see this happen, and it’s
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gotten really strong support,� DeLucia said. In recent years, there have been many attempts by the University to form similar environmental entities without much lasting success. “I’m skeptical and hesitant because I’ve seen two iterations of similar things, and I’ve only been here for six years,� said Eric Green, Ph.D. student in the department of natural resource and environmental sciences. DeLucia said the institute’s broad ownership and strong research foundation will help it last — factors the other entities did not have. The institute will answer environmental questions with its research, which will also generate the finances to support itself. “(Research) is really where our educational pieces stems from; that is where we get students involved,� he said. Tyler Rotche, co-president of Students for Environmental Concerns and senior in LAS, said he would like to see the institute give equal weight to on-campus action as they do to research. “They are both integral to making a better campus that is going to reach the goals set out in the Climate Action Plan and also for transparency,� he said. Rotche said he hopes the institute will stay in touch with student groups better than its predecessor does, explaining that he would like to see the institute allow students to be more involved in their environmental efforts. He said Students
resentative, Emmert said. On the contrary, the Office of the Provost said it has begun to open up discussions with non-tenure track faculty that will help the University better define the categories of employees that fall into the non-tenure track group. Kaler also said the University will utilize these discussions to “offer guidance regarding employment practices and promotional paths for this crucial group� in the future.
Ethan can be reached at ecdunha2@dailyillini.com.
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Sustainability institute to examine possible environmental initiatives
The University’s Center for a Sustainable Environment will possibly be elevated to the status of an institute following a Board of Trustees vote later this week. Below is a selection of possible issues to be examined: Specific interest areas Q Research Q Education and outreach Q Campus and community sustainability Probable research themes Q Food security Q Sustainable agriculture Q Infrastructure Q Fresh water Q Power grids, energy storage, and transportation SOURCE: EVAN DELUCIA, DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE
for Environmental Concerns requested to be a part of the center’s steering committee, but never heard back. He added that members of Students for Environmental Concerns did not even know the center was becoming an institute. “I think any aspect of decision-making on campus should
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ing,� Koslofsky said. Emmert said non-tenure track faculty believe that the first step in resolving the issue is to open it up for discussion. The problem, Emmert said, is that the only people discussing the issue are those who are being directly affected by it. Teachers like Emmert are trying hard to advocate for the cause, but she said even the task of sitting in on a departmental meeting can be challenging. In order for nontenure track faculty to sit in on a meeting, they must be chosen by their department head as a rep-
Trustees upgrade status of UI’s environmental sustainability effort BY CLAIRE HETTINGER
BY JACQUI OGRODNIK
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Department, said this is because their department relies on the tenure system. Faculty within the department do not decide which resources those on the non-tenure track receive, but they understand that the lack of resources on these teachers can greatly hinder their ability to teach, he said. “A lot of these (non-tenure track faculty) are in departments where they don’t find out what they are teaching until a week or two before the semester starts — you know that has got to affect the quality of the teach-
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