Thankful: Student counts her blessings after live-changing surgery FEATURES 6A
More than a number
Barrera dons No. 73 in honor of Curtis Speed SPORTS, 1B
Wednesday November 14, 2012
The Daily Illini
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www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Vol. 142 Issue 58
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Solar farms to boost University’s use of renewable energy BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Students light up Quad for Diwali RSO celebrates Festival of Light with ceremony BY ILYA GUREVIC STAFF WRITER
The Quad’s paths were aglow with tealights Tuesday night as the Indian Graduate Students Association held a ceremony in observation of Diwali, an Indian celebration marking the triumph of good over evil. Students and community members lit candles along the paths on the Quad throughout the night. A major tradition of the Hindu holiday is to light candles as a symbol of welcoming home an Indian king. As the story of Diwali goes, the demon king Ravana kidnapped the wife Sita of Lord Rama while the couple was in exile. Diwali celebrates Rama killing Ravana, symbolizing “the victory of light over darkness,” said group member and graduate student Ashish Khetan. Indian students who celebrate Diwali shared the meaning of the candles and other traditions with non-Indian students who attended the event. Group members served Indian desserts such as gulab jamun — fried dairy dough balls in flavorful syrup to
represent the sweetness of the occasion. Attendees traveled from as far away as India to celebrate Diwali in Champaign. Suranjana Sur Mukherjee traveled from Calcutta, India, to visit her son at Illinois and came to the celebration. “It was a very beautiful ceremony,” Sur Mukerjee said. “All castes, all creeds, all communities (are) coming together to celebrate. It’s a universal brotherhood.” Sur Mukherjee added that as Rama and Sita returned to his hometown, the community lit candles to illuminate their way home. The candles on the Quad recreated that scene. “We celebrate Lakshmi, the goddess of money... When we light all our lamps and ... leave the door open the belief is that Lakshmi will look at all the lighting in your house, and she will come and bless you with money and prosperity,” said Varun Goel, graduate student. “We all get together; there’s worship (and) there’s food. My parents take special care in cleaning their house.” Kavya Gundavaram, freshman in Engineering, said she valued the opportunity to celebrate on campus. “I’m from India, so Diwali is a large part of my life, kind of like Thanksgiving here,” Gundavaram said. “It’s the first year I’ve been away from my family (for Diwali).” Aside from the significance of the event, attendees also enjoyed the aesthetic appeal of the celebration.
A 20.5-acre solar farm may provid the University with 1.8 percent of its energy by this time next year. The solar farm comes as part of a $15.5 million plan approved Thursday by the board of trustees to move the University closer to its goal of having at least 5 percent of its power grid run on renewable energy by 2015. Installation on the 20.5 acres of land near First Street and Windsor Road will begin this summer after the land-lease and power-purchase agreements are signed in March. The project is slated to be done in fall 2013. While the majority of funding will come from campus administration, about $1 million will be covered by the Student Sustainability Committee and roughly $85,000 will be covered by the University’s Facilities and Services unit. “It is going to be, if not the largest, one of the largest solar projects on any campus in the country,” said Jack Dempsey, executive director of Facilities and Services. “I think it shows the University of Illinois and their students believe in renewable energy, and they’re willing to put the resources (behind it) needed to make it happen.” The panels purchased from Phoenix Solar Inc. will be lined
The Indian Graduate Student Association lit up the Quad with candles for the Indian Festival of Light, Diwali on Tuesday.
BY CORINNE RUFF STAFF WRITER
The Illinois Student Senate may add another trip to Springfield during veto session in addition to their annual Lobby Day trip. The senate will discuss the resolution Wednesday at its regular meeting. The resolution calls for the trip to be co-sponsored with the Civic Leadership Program, a University political science program connected to its Cline Center for Democracy. “With this being an election year, and with a bunch of important issues up right now, we wanted to make sure we gave students the opportunity to go to Springfield and meet the legislators,” said Jordan Hughes, chairwoman for the community and governmental affairs committee, which is sponsoring the resolution, and senior in AHS. Joseph Moseley, senator and sophomore in ACES, said there are hundreds of issues to be dis-
INSIDE
cussed from education to agriculture but said he believes the most prominent issue is the need for bipartisan efforts. “I think both sides need to answer the call to work together from the president,” he said. “It speaks volumes when (legislation) passes with a good number of Democrats and a good number of Republicans.” Moseley said he also believes the trip would be a great experience for himself as well as many other student senators considering careers in politics. “I’d like to see how it is like to be a state senator, given the nature of politics, given that some of us are aspiring politicians and are using ISS as a trial stage for the future,” he said. The resolution proposes a $580 allocation to cover the cost of a bus to transport senators to the capital. Kevin Seymour, ISS trea-
See ISS, Page 3A
in rows and tilted at a 20-degree angle for maximum sunlight absorption. “For every kilowatt the solar farm generates, that’s one less the University has to buy from the electricity grid,” said Morgan Johnston, sustainability coordinator for Facilities and Services.
See SOLAR FARM, Page 3A
“(The candlelight) makes it beautiful at night ... The fact that we live in this place and can come together and have something like this is really nice,” said Rhea Matar, senior in Education. For some, the event was not just a religious festival but a symbol of acceptance on campus. “The candlelighting is something that they do in most Indian households, so it’s kind of cool that the University is embracing it and kind of celebrating the holiday along with the Indian culture,” said Vidhan Desai, senior in Business. “I think it brings some diversity and culture to the campus.”
Solar farm will add to UI’s renewable energy plan The Illinois Climate Action Plan sets a goal of 5 percent of campus energy coming from renewable sources by 2015. The new solar farm is expected to generate 2.1 percent of campus energy by then. Projection for renewable energy
Projection for non-renewable energy
2015 5%
17.5%
2020
2025
25%
Ilya can be reached at gurevic2@dailyillini.com. 20%
40%
Source: iCAP 2010 UIUC
Senate considers trip to Springfield over veto session
Energy conservation: A 30 percent reduction in total building energy use by fiscal year 2020. Coal use at Abbott Power Plant: End all investments in the operating of coal-fueled sources at Abbott by 2017. Building standards: All new buildings and renovations are required to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Standards. Procurement and waste: The University will make more than 30 percent of food purchases from local sources — within 100 miles — by 2015. It will also commit to a “zero waste” campus policy by 2012 and a large-scale food-composting project.
BRIAN YU THE DAILY ILLINI
0%
ILLINOIS STUDENT SENATE
Other goals in the 2010 Climate Action Plan
Hampers filled with something other than dirty laundry
60%
80%
100%
BRYAN LORENZ Design editor
LAS to offer dual degree with computer science in Fall Computer skills in high demand for jobs BY MADDIE REHAYEM STAFF WRITER
ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
The Office of Volunteer Programs collected laundry baskets filled with different non-perishable items to help families in need prepare for a Thanksgiving dinner at the Union on Tuesday.
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is set to offer a new degree program for students who want to pursue degrees in LAS and computer science. Students will soon be able to receive a degree from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in a discipline such as psychology or biology and computer science, which is offered by Engineering. Rob Rutenbar, computer science department head, said the department proposed the program in January 2010, and it will be available for the Fall 2013 semester after it is approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education. “The idea of this degree is that you could do computer science plus anthropolo-
See LAS, Page 3A
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