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Tuesday December 4, 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 67
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GEO to initiate contract ratification vote BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
The Graduate Employees’ Organization secured another five years of guaranteed tuition waivers in its tentative agreement with the University, according to the document, obtained by The Daily Illini. The bargaining units reached a tentative agreement Nov. 27, which the GEO brought back to its general membership that evening. The next step for the GEO will
be to initiate a contract ratification vote, which will begin during a general membership meeting Tuesday. The vote will continue until Thursday at several campus polling stations. GEO spokeswoman Stephanie Seawell said the results of the vote will be announced late Friday. The guarantee of the tuition waivers marks a victory for the GEO, which was on the edge of striking until the agreement was
set last week. In the tentative agreement, tuition waivers appear as they did in 2009: in a side letter as opposed to in the contract. “The tuition waiver issue was the No. 1 issue for us, so without the kind of assurances that we felt we needed to protect tuition waivers, we wouldn’t have been able to sign a tentative agreement,” said Natalie Uhl, a member of the GEO’s bargaining team and graduate student.
Campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the University declined to comment until the GEO had voted to ratify the agreement. According to the tentative agreement, in the first year of the contract, assistants will be paid no less than $15,190 per year for a standard, 50 percent appointment on a nine-month service basis, which is a 2.5 percent increase in wages from the contract that expired in August. Assistants must
be employed by the time the agreement is made effective to receive this minimum wage. From 2013 and on, assistants will see 2.5, 1.5, 1.5 and 1.5 percent increases respectively each year for a final wage of $16,281 per year in 2017, when the contract expires. “We did get increases to the minimum, just not increases that bring us up to the living wage published by the University,” Uhl said.
The University estimated annual graduate student expenses to be $16,618 for the 2011-12 school year. “Negotiating means that you can’t have everything that you want,” Uhl said. “There were some areas where we were hoping to make more movement, but in this case, we knew what the No. 1 issue was, so we were happy to
See GEO, Page 3A
U-C SENATE
UI approves center for sustainability BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
The Urbana-Champaign Senate unanimously approved a proposal at its Monday meeting to create a Center for a Sustainable Environment, an umbrella organization that will lead campus environmental groups, academic units and the Office of Sustainability. There was no discussion on the matter. The center will cost the University $450,000 annually, with additional funding coming from an endowment from the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund. It will have an annual budget of $495,000. The goal of the center is to bring together campus units geared toward sustainability to develop related initiatives. Stephanie Lage, assistant to the director of the Office of Sustainability, said the office started discussing the CSE during the Spring 2012 semester and began creating a proposal soon after. Nicholas Burbules, chair of the University General Policy committee, presented the proposal to the senate at the meeting. “The area of sustainability is something that I think is a major concern,” Burbules said. “Because so many different units on campus are involved in sustainability issues, it makes sense to see a campuswide center for such issues.” Provost Ilesanmi Adesida said the proposal for the CSE is in line with the Visioning Excellence goals established by Chancellor Phyllis Wise after her “listening and learning tour” last year. The area of sustainability was one of the most common concerns among the campus community. “Hopefully, from establishing this center, we can grow stronger in areas of energy and the environment,” Adesida said. The CSE, which will eventually merge with the Office of Sustainability, will be advised by a steering committee. This committee will consist of students, faculty and staff in charge of leading projects and activities within the CSE. Lage said the next step is to appoint a faculty member as the leader of the project, who will also be in charge of an interim steering committee that will lead the planning of the center.
See SUSTAINABILITY, Page 3A
HASAN KHALID THE DAILY ILLINI
'Gianni Schicchi', a one-act opera production, was performed by professional opera company Opera Venezuela, in Smith Recital Hall on Sunday evening.
Opera Venezuela hosts one-act opera Opera seeks to provide entertainment for all socio-economic levels in free shows BY CORINNE RUFF STAFF WRITER
Champaign-Urbana welcomed its first professional opera company — run by University students — with two free productions on Sunday. The company, Opera Venezuela, performed Gianni Schicchi at Smith Memorial Hall for its first one-act opera.
John Gomez, doctorate student in opera, started the company two years ago. In creating Opera Venezuela, Gomez gathered a wide variety of artists from the University, which he said he believes makes the company so special. “You need different flavors and different colors, and Opera Venezuela is
that,” he said. “We are a product of mixed cultures and majors.” The opera came together as a production by University students who created the lighting, set, orchestration and voice ensembles, all of which they did voluntarily. “No one is getting a salary,” Gomez said. “It’s about helping others. Making others smile is the pay-off.” Although James Blachly, graduate student in orchestral conducting, had never conducted a full opera, he said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity
See OPERA, Page 3A
U-C SENATE
Giving a helping hand
Senate proposes campus integrity statement BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
KELLY HICKEY THE DAILY ILLINI
Nate Overman, a sophomore volunteer on the Parkland golf team, helps Keegan Andrews, 4, pick out presents for his mother, father and brother at the Crisis Nursery Holiday Shop in Urbana on Monday. The shop, located in the Lincoln Square Mall, lets young children to do their own holiday shopping with volunteers.
INSIDE
when Gomez asked him. “It was tremendous,” he said. “It was thrilling and challenging, and I think putting an opera together in the short period of time meant every moment of rehearsal was riveting — and slightly terrifying.” Stephen Fiol, retired artist and opera director, was the stage director of the production. He described the company as representing local art at its very best.
As a result of University scandals in recent years, the Urbana-Champaign Senate is recommending that Chancellor Phyllis Wise put together a committee to create a campuswide integrity statement. The senate unanimously approved a resolution to do so at its meeting Monday with no discussion, after it was passed to the body from the Illinois Student Senate. Not an academic policy, the integrity statement will list ethical guidelines for members of the campus community, said Keenan Kassar, student senator and senior in Business. “I’m not looking for more policy because we have plenty of that,” he said. “But I think it would be productive to have a one-page statement that sets out our priorities as a University in regards to integrity.” After the Illinois Student Senate passed its resolution
regarding this issue in October, Keenan and fellow student senators Jim Maskeri, senior in LAS, and Carey Hawkins Ash, graduate student, created a resolution to present to the academic senate. “The resolution ... does not suggest that current efforts to remain ethical have failed; rather, it is our hope that the statement will serve as a formal supplement to the campus’ continuing commitment to ethical practices,” Maskeri said. “For now, all I can say is that we will be looking at this in the near future,” said Ilesanmi Adesida, vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost. Kassar said the committee would ideally consist of faculty, administrators, students and staff, as the integrity statement would affect everyone at the University. Over the past few years, the University “has been affected by scandals in recent years, including last year’s transgres-
sions at the highest echelons of university governance,” as stated in the resolution proposal. Other Big Ten schools have integrity statements similar to the one Kassar hoped for, including Purdue University and Ohio State University. This resolution states such an integrity statement does not exist in any University statutes. Kassar said creating a list of integrity priorities would give the University a “cleaner image.” Ideally, he said, the statement will be posted online, in the administrative manual and within the student code for increased visibility. “I think (an integrity statement) is a piece of inspiration to do good and behave ethically,” Kassar said. “It’s a cultural statement, really. We’d be creating a culture of integrity.”
Lauren can be reached at rohr2 @dailyillini.com.
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