MONDAY January 23, 2017
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
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Vol. 146 Issue 34
Campus members watch, react to presidential inauguration BY DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Students filed into the courtyard cafe of the Illini Union on Friday morning to watch the inauguration of 45th President Donald Trump. By 10 a.m., as many as 50 students were present. Trump’s inaugural address began with him thanking former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama for their aid throughout the transition. He then emphasized how the inauguration was not just about transferring power from one administration to the next, but about transferring power from the government to the people. “January 20, 2017 will be
remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again,” Trump said. “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.” Trump then moved on to talking about his expectations for his term, including patriotism, international relations, protecting the nation from harm and more. David Hunt, a 2008 graduate in journalism, said the address wasn’t what he expected. “I was expecting more of an inthe-middle kind of speech, but it was a very decisive inauguration speech,” Hunt said. “And I actu-
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PHOTO COURESY OF LILY KATZ
Students sit in the Illini Union on Friday to watch Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, be inaugurated. Trump’s inauguration brought about a wide array of reactions from students.
State budget cuts shrink UI’s sesquicentennial celebration
At the Champaign-Urbana Women’s March:
‘Women’s rights are human rights’
BY MEGAN JONES STAFF WRITER
Plans for the University’s 150year celebration have been scaled back due to the state budget impasse, but planners hope commissioned projects will fill the void. Started in 1867 as a land grant institution, the University is planning a 15-month celebration to highlight its 150 years of accomplishments. Various major projects ranging from books, music pieces and exhibits are currently being commissioned for the Sesquicentennial Celebration for the Urbana campus. Pradeep Khanna, associate vice chancellor for corporate relations and economic development, is tasked with planning the celebration and all the coordination. Planning began three years ago by starting to commission projects that took a long time to complete, such as a book highlighting University achievements that will be published in March. A music composition for the Altgeld Hall bell towers was also commissioned three years ago. Plans for the 150th celebration were scaled back from the original ideas pitched three years ago due to budget cuts. The University was planning on hosting large conferences and inviting a large number of speakers, Khanna said. Instead of hosting and creating new events to celebrate the anniversary, the campuses are instead incorporating the Sesquicentennial into pre-existing annual events, such as homecoming. The 2017 and 2018 commencements and all New Student Programs for incoming freshmen and transfer students will have a “Sesquicentennial twist” on them. For some events, they have looked for alternate funding. Khanna said they are not trying to fundraise for the Sesquicentennial because they do not want to compete with other colleges and fundraising efforts of the campus. The campus plans to spend an estimated $400,000 on the projects and events planned for the Sesquicentennial. “We are managing with the resources that we have by being more creative and by redesigning activities so that they can still have substantial impact even when they are done with a smaller budget,” he said. For example, the University was working on a large campus-wide event in October and planned to invite high-profile alumni to attend a program about the global impact of the University. That program has been redesigned and instead will be a symposium focused on the different areas the University has had a lot of impact. Khanna said he hopes that within the next 15 months, there will be a series of discussions that celebrate what the University has done and what it could have done better in its history.
ANGELA KERNDL THE DAILY ILLINI
Men and women take to the streets and march from West Side Park to Cowboy Monkey in downtown Champaign as part of the Women’s March on C-U on Saturday. The march was one of many across the country on Saturday. Read more about the Womne’s March on C-U on page 6A.
Reformed student Accounting department struggles to keep government adds positions filled due to high turnover rates speaker of the senate position BY ANGELICA LAVITO STAFF WRITER
Three accounting professors will join the University after the Board of Trustees approved the hires at its meeting last week. All three will replace employees who left, Jon Davis, head of the accounting department, said. The new professors are Vikrant Anand, David Godsell and Christie Hayne. Replacing faculty is the norm for the accounting department, in which turnover is common. It usually sees two or three departures per year, Davis said. The supply of accounting professors is small and the market is highly competitive, so it can be a challenge to fi nd replacements. “If I just maintain our size, then I’m hitting home runs,” he said. Accountancy faces a unique challenge: it has the budget to hire, but it cannot fi nd the faculty to hire. In any given year, he said, there may be 10 or 12 qualified prospects available worldwide and 20 schools that want to hire them.
BY GILLIAN DUNLOP STAFF WRITER
Sam LeRoy, a junior in Business, is serving as the first-ever speaker of the senate for the new Illinois Student Government. As stipulated in the newly-passed constitution, the speaker of the senate position was created as a way to help establish a division of labor within the government. “What we have right now is a constitution that has a very skeletal framework of how our system will operate,” LeRoy said. “What I hope to do is set the the precedence that the role of the speaker is someone who is going to be visible in every part of the work that the senate does.” Under the previous constitution, the president presided over the weekly government meetings in addition to his executive duties. “It’s definitely bittersweet,” student body President Ron Lewis said in an email. “I loved chairing meetings, because you learn a lot with dealing with certain situations under parliamentary procedure.” Part of LeRoy’s goals for the semester is to make sure each senator feels heard in the meetings. “The speaker role is not one that dictates legislation,” he said. “The speaker’s job is to go out
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does not think he would want to hire many more to shrink class sizes. “Most of the classes are team-based and sit around in groups, so that seems to be a size perspective that’s kind of a sweet spot for delivery,” he said. “We’ve tried to go bigger, but it hasn’t worked out well.”
lavito2@dailyillini.com
GROCE
Stuck in the dark
Staying true to UI’s mission
The Editorial Board raises concerns about the Illini hoops columnist Matt Gertsmeier discusses the need for solid execution University’s new enrollment goals PAGE 6A
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS Police
Davis must be conscious of maintaining the program’s quality standards when hiring; U.S. News and World Report ranks the University’s accounting program second in the nation. Accounting is one of the largest majors at the University, and the average class size ranges between 35 and 40 students. Even if the market for professors was bigger, Davis
EDITORIAL
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THE DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTOW
Students study in the common area of the Business Instructional Facility. The Accounting Department struggles to employ professors as they frequently receive and accept other offers.
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