Illini volleyball ready for NCAA tourney match with Southern Illinois University PAGE 1B THURSDAY December 3, 2015
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
44˚ | 27˚
Vol. 145 Issue 57
|
FREE
UI group works to repair campus race relations Conference to be held by the Central Black Student Union BY ALI BRABOY STAFF WRITER
When Barack Obama was reelected in 2012, thenfreshman Nia Green and her friends ran down Green Street in excitement, only to be spit on and negatively commented about by others walking down Campus Town’s main street. Green, now president of the Central Black Student Union at Illinois and senior in AHS, is preparing for the “Our Place at a Predominantly White Institution” conference Friday and Saturday in the hopes of talking about issues black stu-
dents face and ideas on how to solve these problems Green said before coming to the University, she went to a high school that was very diverse in race and culture; if someone didn’t like someone, it wasn’t because of skin color. It was a very different experience when she came to the University. “You’re judging me upon something I can’t control,” she said. “It was a whole new thing, coming to college.” Around 200 people are registered to attend the conference hosted by the Central Black Student Union at Illinois. People from other Illinois colleges will be in attendance, including Jonathan Butler, one of the central student figures who participated in the protests at the University of Missouri. The conference will
SEE CONFERENCE | 3A
RYAN FANG THE DAILY ILLINI
Students listen to “Love Notes” for African American students in the snow at the Anniversary Plaza Wednesday, Dec 2 2015.
Students, faculty gather at rally for love and solidarity BY LILLY MASHAYEK STAFF WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF CENTRAL BLACK STUDENT UNION AT ILLINOIS MEMBER NIA GREEN
The executive board of the Central Black Student Union at Illinois poses for a picture. The union is hosting the conference “Our Place at a Predominantly White Institution” Nov. 27 and Nov. 28.
Adorned with red and black arm bands, allies of the black solidarity movement gathered on the quad Wednesday for a “Love and Solidarity” rally. Students and faculty organizations read statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and black students, faculty and community members. The event began with a statement from the host of the event, Kristina Khan, and a rallying chant of “Black Lives Matter.” One speaker outlined the history of white supremacy and white student
UI to use grant to aid women, minorities conservation improvements among Illinois’ small, rural Women and minorities communities and businesslooking to start their own es, focusing primarily on companies will now be able the manufacturing sector.” to get a little extra help “The NSF was impressed from a new program at the with iCORE, and they wanted us to pilot this program,” University. A $100,000 grant from Taylor said. “This is the the National Science Foun- first time the AWARE prodation, NSF, will be used to gram has existed.” One of the key factors fund programs for women and minorities in entrepre- influencing the AWARE neurial startup companies. program is the fact that The Accelerating Wom- women and minorities are en and underRepresented largely underrepresented Entrepreneurs, AWARE, in startup companies, said program is funded as a part Laura Frerichs, director of of the Small Business Inno- Research Park. vation “PerResearch centages branch, are very SBIR, at small of how many the NSF. ( t e c h Jed Taylor, direccompator of KARIN O’CONNER nies) are ENTREPRENEURIAL RESIDENT operafem a le WITH AWARE tions at fou nded the Techor minornology ity-foundEntrepreneur Center and ed,” she said. “Investors of principal investigator of the startup companies, which a grant, said the NSF reached lot of tech startups will purout to the University after sue, are predominantly men seeing the success of their — I think 90% are men.” Illinois Conservation of Some of the programs Resources and Energy that will be offered with(iCORE) program. in AWARE include funding According to the Illinois for proof-of-concept grants, IDEALS website, iCORE training for SBIR proposals “strives to achieve mea- and grants and workshops surable energy and water to help participants with
union organizations at the University. “From 1906 until at least the 1920s, possibly later, there existed an officially recognized Ku Klux Klan group here at UIUC,” he said. “Their pictures were in the yearbook, that’s how accepted it was.” “The original White Student Union that an anonymous coward created two weeks ago… should be treated as (a) terrorist organization,” he said. “They should not be given any platform whatsoever to organize and spread their ideology.” People attending the rally were encouraged to write their own “Love Letters”
that will be used in an antiracism art display that will debut in the Spring. Members from several organizations across campus then stood and presented their messages of support with black solidarity and the advocation for the University’s black community. A reading of the love letters written by students and members of the community followed the statements. Among the organizations present were the Champaign-Urbana Chapter for Showing Up For Racial Justice, the Ethnic Studies Union, Amnesty International and Standing With Her.
»
www.DailyIllini.com “One of the things that white students need to do the most … is come get our cousins,” said Stephanie Skora, senior in LAS and member of the Women of Pride and the Campus Union for Trans Equality and Support. “What this means is that even though you may be here as a white ally in support of racial justice, where are your friends, where is
» » » »
SEE SOLIDARITY | 3A
» » » » »
Threat left on door of Planned Parenthood center
United States’ business by gender and ethnicty
BY LILLY MASHAYEK STAFF WRITER
“We are encouraging women to come into iCORE with everybody.”
More online: Visit our webpage for more articles on race relations on campus.
DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
their startup companies. Outside of AWARE, there are other programs currently in place to help startup companies, such as the Women in Tech group that runs through Research Park, Frerichs said. The University also offers a program called the I-Start Entrepreneur Assistance Program. I-Start provides services for startup companies — such as accounting advice — that companies can apply for. “I-Start is a package of professional services that are tailored around what companies need when they’re starting out,” said Karin O’Connor, entrepreneurial resident with AWARE. While AWARE will act separately from previous programs at the University and iCORE, a lot of the same goals and ideas remain the same.
“Our hope is to create a program that can be replicated in other places,” O’Connor said. “That is how iCORE started out, and now there are iCORE programs going in a number of different places.” O’Connor said the AWARE program differs from other programs aimed at helping minorities and women looking to start their own companies, because it doesn’t try to create a “separate but equal” program. “I have seen a number of attempts; however, often times they follow a misguided pattern of creating a different track for women, sort of a parallel universe,” she said. “There are problems with that.” In order to avoid this problem, O’Connor said the AWARE program will encourage women to create start ups through main-
stream programs. “We’re not setting up a separate iCORE that’s just for women,” she said. “We are encouraging women to come into iCORE with everybody else. Same with the minorities. Why should they be in a different group? They need to be in the same group.” The AWARE program is just starting out, but O’Connor said they are already putting together programming. A panel will be held Thursday to discuss some of the struggles women face when starting their own companies. Additional workshops are planned for May that will offer more resources for startups. “With that philosophy in mind, we have a really good chance of being successful,” O’Connor said.
lmasha3@illinimedia. com
Planned Parenthood of Illinois is working with the FBI in the investigation of a threatening letter left on the door of the Champaign center, 302 E. Stoughton St., Monday. Pl a n ned P a rent ho od explained the situation in a press release Tuesday. “Our doors remained open on Monday in Champaign and across the state for the over 60,000 patients who need us in Illinois,” the release stated. “We will never back away from providing care in a safe, supportive environment that our patients rely on and trust.” However, the release stated Planned Parenthood’s top priority is the safety of its patients. Planned Parenthood’s locations will stay open nationwide with strong security measures in place. The organization also stated it will work closely with law enforcement “to ensure that our doors are open to all people who need high-quality, compassionate health care.” A representative of the Champaign Planned Parenthood of Illinois could not be immediately reached.
news@dailyillini.com
OPINIONS
LIFE & CULTURE
SPORTS
Gender pronouns
A holiday favorite
Basketball back home
Many informational forms and websites don’t allow for other gender options.
CU Ballet leaps into Krannert with a new version of “The Nutcracker.”
Basketball breaks in new State Farm Center. Check online for full coverage.
PAGE 4A
PAGE 6A
ONLINE
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS
INSIDE
Police
2A
|
Opinions
4A
|
Letters
4A
|
Crossword
XA
@THEDAILYILLINI
THEDAILYILLINI
@THEDAILYILLINI, @DI_OPINION, @DI_SPORTS |
Life
&
Culture
XA
|
Sports
1B
|
Classifieds
THEDAILYILLINI XB
|
Sudoku
XB