The Daily Illini
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The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Vol. 142 Issue 76
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GOP holds onto 13th District Republican candidate Rodney Davis wins the seat after Rep. Tim Johnson retires from public service DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
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Rodney Davis, then Republican candidate for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, left, speaks during a press conference held on the factory floor of HL Precision Machining Inc. in Champaign on Sept. 26..
Republicans held on to their seat in Congress at the end of a contentious and expensive race in Illinois’ 13th District after GOP candidate Rodney Davis won this November. “I am humbled to have the honor to serve as Congressman for the 13th District and am ready to get to work,” Davis said in a press release days after his victory.
Four-time congressional candidate David Gill did not concede the race until three days later, saying at the time that uncounted votes could turn the tide of the election. “The closeness of this race (less than 1/2 percentage point) demanded that we diligently check the numbers,” Gill said in a press release. “The incredibly close outcome of this congressio-
nal election, along with the reelection of President Obama and a Democratic Senate, have proven that knee-jerk conservative policies will not succeed in this country nor be accepted by most of the people in this district.” At 46 percent of the vote, this was the closest Gill has come to clinching the Congressional seat,
See ELECTIONS, Page 3A
“I am humbled to have the honor to serve as Congressman for the 13th District and am ready to get to work.” RODNEY DAVIS, representative-elect
No-smoking policy set for fall of 2013 BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
After more than a yearlong discussion about a smoking ban, University officials announced in October their plans to prohibit smoking tobacco on campus beginning November 2013. According to the Campus Administrative Manual, current rules state that smoking is not allowed inside any University-owned buildings and facilities or within 25 feet of entrances, windows and ventilation intakes. The new policy will build upon these rules. “We want to ensure a healthy environment for our entire campus community,” Chancellor Phyllis Wise said in a mass email. “There is incontrovertible evidence that smoking is a dangerous addiction and that secondhand smoke affects everyone.” In spring 2011, Keenan Kassar, student senator and senior in Business, proposed the idea of a “smoke-free Quad,” but the resolution never carried in the senate. From there, former student trustee Hannah Ehrenberg and Kassar worked together to create a student referendum recommending the issue be put on the fall 2011 student ballot. After 7,123 of 10,354 students voted in favor of University administration exploring the idea of a smoke-free campus in November 2011, Wise created an ad-hoc committee to discuss and consider the issue. Michele Guerra, Wellness Center director, said in October that the committee submitted a proposal to Wise in August, recommending that Wise continue to enforce the current smoking policy while also implementing a smoke-free campus. The proposal also suggested that Wise consider the options of a completely tobacco-free institution. Although Wise said there has been a lot of consultation already regarding the ban, she said there are still many steps to take in figuring out how to enforce it when the time comes. She said she is in the process of gathering members of the campus community into groups to groups or committees to cover all possible issues that may result from the smoking ban. Despite some negative feedback from students, Kassar said in October that this new policy will benefit the campus, as he thinks it reflects the opinion of most students on campus. With this policy, the University will join five other Big Ten universities that have smoking prohibited from their campuses. Kassar said this policy will result in a more positive image for campus. Renee Romano, vice chancellor for academic affairs, said in October that she believes that the smoking ban is the result of great student involvement and positive student activism. “Our goal is to make the campus as healthy as possible — to make the people on campus as healthy as possible — and we know that smoking and secondhand smoking is dangerous to people’s health,” Romano said. “So, (the smoking ban) helps us move toward a healthier environment on campus.”
Lauren can be reached at rohr2@illinimedia.com.
University, GEO agree on contract Agreement guarantees tuition waivers, raises for teaching, graduate assistants BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
The Graduate Employees’ Organization worked with the University this semester to secure a new contract for graduate employees over an eight-month period, meeting with the University more than 20 times since last April. The University and GEO agreed on a finalized contract on Dec. 7, securing tuition waivers for the next five years. Before coming to this agreement, the GEO came close to a strike, voting for the formation of a strike committee to make work action plans in late November. The principal issue for graduate students on campus during the contract negotiation process was tuition waivers. For many GEO members, tuition waivers are essential for the continuance of their work and education at the University.
“We feel that tuition waivers are necessary for access to higher education for people of all incomes and diversity. We think it’s really important that tuition waivers are maintained,” GEO member Erin Heath said. “I couldn’t afford to go here if I didn’t have a tuition waiver.” In addition to the contract, the University came out with a side agreement in which the University administration agreed to abide by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board’s ruling regarding violations of the previous contract. Those violations came in 2010 when the University reduced waivers for graduate students in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. The University has agreed to repay affected assistants with 7 percent interest. The GEO is now working to get a list of those members together, Seawell said. She said
DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
Top: ToJo Tallie, a graduate student in LAS, hugs a fellow GEO member at the Wesley Foundation Student Center after the announcement that a tentative agreement had been reached on a new contract. Bottom: Christina De Angelo, a Spanish instructor in the department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, attends the Graduate Employees’ Organization work-in at the Illini Union. De Angelo is not a member of the GEO but went to support the members. she cannot speculate how long that will take. During negotiations, the GEO hosted various work-ins, rallies and other meetings in order to raise the attention of and increase communication with the undergraduate students they instruct. On Nov. 9, the GEO hosted its “We Want to Work” rally outside of the Undergraduate Library. At “Unity at the Union,” a work-in hosted on Nov. 26, some GEO mem-
bers stayed at the union overnight as an “act of symbolic civil disobedience” at the “center of campus community at this University,” according to a GEO news release. GEO spokeswoman Stephanie Seawell said more than 30 people stayed at the Union past midnight and more than a dozen stayed all night.
See GEO, Page 3A
Rutgers, Maryland accept invites to join Big Ten academic consortium BY EMMA WEISSMANN STAFF WRITER
Rutgers University and the University of Maryland accepted invitations to enter the Big Ten’s academic consortium, The Committee on Institutional Cooperation, as its 14th and 15th members. They will formally join July 1, 2013.
Consortium provosts voted unanimously to invite the schools to become members on Dec. 2, about a month after the universities joined the Big Ten Conference. The universities will join other the Big Ten Conference Universities and the University of Chi-
BYE LEX, HELLO PCC.
cago as members, according to a news release. The consortium is composed of universities with a strong research base and large student and faculty bodies. It works to pool resources from all membership campuses and offer them to CIC students and staff across the
country, said Barbara Allen, executive director of CIC. With the addition of Rutgers and Maryland, CIC universities will collectively engage in $9.3 billion in funded research each year, an increase from its current $8.4 billion, according to the release. “(When you) connect research-
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ers and labs from more than one university, you draw upon more expertise,” Allen said. The consortium does not receive or distribute these research funds centrally; instead, the two new members individually derive
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To read about how the addition of Maryland and Rutgers will affect the sports side of the Big Ten, check out
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See BIG TEN, Page 3A
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