Overcoming an obstacle
THE JOURNEY OF ‘CHEX MIX LADY’
Swimmer Erica Lynn broke her back in 2009, now a team leader.
Loretta Dessen serves up snacks for barndance goers for 20 years. LIFE AND CULTURE, 6A
SPORTS, 1B TUESDAY November 19, 2013
Who was the bigger loss?
SPORTS, 1B
THE DAILY ILLINI
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Majority votes ‘yes’ to divest endowment BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
A majority of students voted “yes” to divest University endowment funds from coal in an online referendum question last week. UIUC Beyond Coal, an organization that is sponsored by the environmental organization Sierra Club, posed the sole referendum question on the ballot and released the results Friday. To get the referendum question on the ballot, UIUC Beyond Coal representatives collected more than 4,000 signatures. In the referendum ballot, out of the 2,020 people who voted, 1,730 students said they wanted the University endowment to divest. “We basically use this as an opportunity to say that we have the support of the students,” said Drew O’Bryan, co-president of UIUC Beyond Coal and junior in LAS. “It’s tough to get into the University committees and give your thoughts and opinions, so now we can move forward.” University endowment funds are typically kept private, but Peter Newman, senior assistant vice president for treasury operations, said in an email the University has an active endowment pool of $1.81 billion. He said about $5.1 million, representing .28 percent of total holdings, is invested in the “Filthy
STEVE SHENG THE DAILY ILLINI
Students formed groups to discuss typhoon relief in the Philippines after the main event at the Asian American Cultural Center on Monday. Multiple student organizations are working to raise funds to help in the destruction of Typhoon Haiyan.
Typhoon hits home from miles away Student groups work to raise money for victims BY STEPHANIE DRUCKER STAFF WRITER
Filipinos from all across the nation gathered at the University from Nov. 8 to 10 for the Filipino Americans Coming Together Conference. At the same time, relatives and friends in their homeland were being battered by Super Typhoon Haiyan, or as Filipino authorities call it, Yolanda. Justine Rich, freshman in Engineering, has many paternal relatives in the Philippines who weathered the storm. “It was a big deal over there. A couple days before, when everyone was expecting it, my entire Facebook newsfeed was fi lled with ‘Yolanda’s coming,’ ‘Be safe,’ ‘Stock up on food,’ etc.,” she said. Now when going online,
“I see pictures of the destruction, and everything is annihilated.” While typhoons are fairly common in the region, Haiyan is the second most deadly typhoon ever to hit the Philippines. The storm killed 3,982 and injured 18,267 people as of Nov. 19, according to a report from the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. About 1,600 people are still reported missing, according to the document. FACT is an annual conference that aims to build a community of leaders by uniting Filipino, Filipino-American and non-Filipino youth from across the country, according to its mission statement. This year’s conference just happened to coincide with the disaster in the Philippines. “One of our facilitators was the head of a nonprofit called ARK, the Advancement of Rural Kids, and it’s specifically Philippine youth,” said Lizah Doctor, president of the Philippine Student
Association and a senior in LAS. “She actually ended up leaving early to tend to her centers in the Philippines.” Doctor said the attendees of FACT had been raising money for ARK, as it was the featured nonprofit for the conference, and found out on Sunday that the money they raised would be used to reconstruct the centers damaged by the storm. “Right after concluding the conference, we had a meeting the very next day to talk about immediate response, immediate reaction and to spread awareness on campus,” Doctor said. Doctor stressed the importance of creating a safe space for the group’s members that had families that were affected or in regions close to those affected. Though communication has been unreliable because of power outages, Rich was able to check on her relatives in the Philippines.
How to help
Both government and nongovernmental organizations are providing relief to the Philippines. Here are the organizations that Professor of Asian American Studies, Augusto Espiritu, said in an email were on the ground in the Philippines and accepting donations: Q United Nations World Food Programme Q Save the Children Q AmeriCares Q American Red Cross Q UNICEF USA
Fifteen,” which are the largest coal companies in the U.S. He noted that $4.2 million of that is invested through passive index funds, meaning they are indirectly invested in coal companies. O’Bryan said the next step was getting support from the University Senates Conference, which represents all three campuses in the University of Illinois system. “We want to bring it to the senate with students from all three campuses, then they can advise other committees to pass it,” O’Bryan said. “Once that’s done, then we’d potentially have enough to get the Board of Trustees to vote on it.” Peter Whitney, co-president of UIUC Beyond Coal and junior in ACES, said the referendum contributed to their overall goal for the semester to have individual meetings with members of the Board of Trustees. “Everything this year has built toward getting those meetings so we can actually talk and open a serious conversation between the board about divestment, what their perspective is and what needs to happen,” Whitney said. O’Bryan said the 1,730 students who voted “yes” out of the
SEE COAL | 3A
SOURCE: AUGUSTO ESPIRITU, DEPARTMENT HEAD AND PROFESSOR OF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES
CLAIRE EVERETT THE DAILY ILLINI
Drew O’Bryan, left, junior in LAS and Peter Whitney, right, junior in ACES, co-presidents of Beyond Coal, talk at a press conference they held on the Quad on Monday to bring awareness to the results of Friday’s referendum vote for University divestment from coal.
SEE TYPHOON | 3A
International students grateful for Fulbright Ten University students From Cyprus to the U.S. awarded Fulbright Graduate student Soteris Demetriou calls his home counscholarships in ’13-14 try of Cyprus a sunny and beauBY STANTON POLANSKI STAFF WRITER
The University is one of the top producers of Fulbright scholars for students and faculty, according to a report released by The Chronicle of Higher Education in late October. The Fulbright Scholarship has given international students and professionals the chance to study in the U.S., as well as affording American students and professors the chance to study in distant countries. Last year, the organization awarded the scholarship to 10 of the University’s faculty to research in another country, tying the University with Ohio State University for the most Fulbright faculty scholarships awarded in the nation. The University has been successful in bringing international scholars to the campus as well. “Every single college on campus has an international focus,” said David Schug, director of the University’s National and International Scholarship Program. “We’re trying to promote an international world. The world’s getting smaller.” It’s the kind of program that has the power to change lives, as international scholars are offered opportunities in the U.S. they would not be able to have in their home countries.
PORTRAIT BY VICTORIA PAI
Sergeant Jay Loschen of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 70 shows his participation in No Shave November on Friday for the purpose of raising cancer awareness,
Lodge members partake in No Shave November Last year’s facial hair fun became a charitable event
$1,125, said Urbana Police Officer Daniel Bailey, president of the lodge. “We do various charitable events through the FOP, and this was another opportunity to do something in the community,” said Urbana Police Sgt. Adam Chacon, who is growing a goatee for the month. The lodge is the Urbana Police Department’s union for active and retired officers, and 24 of the 53 sworn officers are growing facial hair, Bailey said. The event unofficially began last year when a few officers grew mustaches just for fun,
BY BRITTNEY NADLER STAFF WRITER
Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 70 are breaking their uniform code this month by participating in “No Shave November” to raise money for cancer awareness. The department required each participant to donate $25 to the American Cancer Society. The lodge is matching the amount raised, which comes to a total of
SEE NO SHAVE | 3A
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tiful island in the Mediterranean Sea. But the history of conflicts between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots has cast a shadow on the country. Since he started studying at the University, he not only has had the chance to meet leaders in computer science, but he also has gained a newfound hope for his home. “I can see here in Illinois, and the U.S. in general, this is a culture that is inherently diverse and a multicultural environment,” Demetriou said. “I can see how people get past ethnic struggle, how they see past those barriers.” Because he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, Demetriou has two years of graduate school completely paid for. “Without the Fulbright Scholarship, I wouldn’t even be able to consider coming to the U.S.,” Demetriou said. “The expenses are something I could not even think of doing.” When he found out that he had been awarded the scholarship in 2012, he was beaming. “I was exhilarated. I thought, ‘Okay this is a completely new chapter of my life, and I can actually see and experience a different culture,’” he said. “Especially in my field, this is the ideal place to be. This is the country that gave birth to technology.” But getting his scholarship meant he had to rise above his fractured but beloved home country. Greeks wanted Cyprus to be
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Crossword
The Fulbright Scholarship gives scholars the chance to research or study in another country and experience another culture. Research institutions Number of awards Ohio State University
10
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Texas Tech University
10
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Comics
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Life
9
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
8
University of Florida University of Kentucky
7
University of California at Berkeley
6
University of Colorado at Boulder
6
University of Michigan
6
Boston University
5
New York University
5
Ohio University
5
Pennsylvania State University
5
University of Georgia
5
University of North Carolina
5
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
5
University of Washington
5
7
SOURCE: THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
a part of Greece. Turks wanted the country for Turkey. The conflict sparked a Turkish invasion in 1974. Many of the Greek Cypriots living in the northern part of the island were forced to relocate to the south. Demetriou’s parents were two of those refugees forced to leave their home. Because of the revolutions, military conflicts and unruly rulers, nothing was certain for Demetriou. “My parents couldn’t send me to a good school or pay for the education. But they really told
SCOTT DURAND THE DAILY ILLINI
me to work hard, though, and pursue my dreams, which is the state of mind that had facilitated my journey so far,” he said. “The most challenging part for me was growing up in an island-wide environment that was actually nurturing — either directly or indirectly — animosity between the two communities because the events in 1974.” Even the passing of decades did not soften the blow that left both groups of people covered
SEE FULBRIGHT | 3A
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