THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY January 26, 2017
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
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Vol. 146 Issue 35
Students campaign to bring Obama to campus UI looks to former president for 2017 commencement BY GILLIAN DUNLOP STAFF WRITER
HANNAH AUTEN THE DAILY ILLINI
Graduating students from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences walk onto stage during the fall convocation ceremony. A petition is circulating among students to bring former President Barack Obama to commencement.
For many students, former President Barack Obama is the ideal candidate for the Spring 2017 Commencement address, according to a petition circulating campus. “Barack Obama is one of the people a lot of people wanted,” Vice President Alex Villanueva said. “It’s going to be a symbolic homecoming (for Obama) to Illi-
nois and it is perfectly timed with our birthday.” A campaign was launched Wednesday with the goal of inviting the former president to campus. Student body president Ron Lewis, Villanueva and Mark Schaer, Illinois Student Government press secretary, lead this operation. “We approached some other student leaders at Illini Union and Student Alumni Ambassadors and tried to get in contact with different cultural houses,” Villanueva said. “We’ve been communicating about social media strategies and event planning.” The strategies behind this campaign included writing handwrit-
LONGFORM
BY MICHAL DWOJAK
MANAGING EDITOR FOR REPORTING
Ruby Rivera did what she had always been told. The Illinois shortstop had a hunch to play closer to second base on a sunny Saturday in the fall of 2013. She knew the runner at first base was fast. The batter swung and missed; the runner sprinted toward second. The runner’s left knee jammed into Rivera’s chest, causing her to flip — the way she thinks her brain did in that instant. The moments after the incident were unfamiliar: walking was hard, her balance was off, she couldn’t see through one of her eyes. It was just the adrenaline, she thought.
BY MEGAN JONES STAFF WRITER
Interim Provost Ed Feser’s departure leaves another hole in University administration that Chancellor Robert Jones hopes to quickly fi ll. Jones hopes the new provost will be announced by Feb. 6 in order to allow time for the new provost to work with Feser, who will leave in late February. Jones reached out to all deans and various constituencies, such as members of the Senate Executive Committee, for interim provost nominations. Feser himself gave Jones replacement suggestions. Feser announced on Jan. 9 he was leaving the University for Oregon State University, where he will serve as provost and executive vice president starting Feb. 28. He served as interim provost since September 2015 after former provost Adesida Ilesanmi resigned in wake of an email scandal. Jones plans to begin the search for a permanent provost as soon as possible, said Chris Harris, senior director of strategic communications. Harris said Jones would like to have someone in place as early as September, but more realistically by January 2018. A search
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PORTRAIT OF RUBY RIVERA BY MITCHELL FRANSEN THE DAILY ILLINI
Illini for Bernie rebrands following election cycle BY MICHAEL SEMACA STAFF WRITER
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UI to hire second interim provost
Afraid of the unknown
On Mar. 11, 2016, Richard Daniels wasn’t expecting that he and the rest of Illini for Bernie Sanders, an RSO dedicated to helping Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders win the presidency, were about to get a huge helping hand in their “get out the vote” efforts. It was early in the morning when they received a message from an unexpected source: Sen. Sanders himself, a mere four days before the Illinois Democratic primary. “I got a message on our leadership group on Facebook: ‘Bernie’s coming to campus. Like, tomorrow,’” Daniels said, senior in FAA. “And everyone was like ‘Jesus Christ, what do we do?’” Illini for Bernie snapped into action, coordinating with Sanders’ campaign office in Urbana to get the event set up. Thousands of supporters lined up, some arriving as early as 5:30 a.m., to see Sanders speak at the ARC. The RSO’s then-president, Matt Pasquini, even had the opportunity to speak at the rally. While the rally had a massive turnout, Sanders was defeated by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Illinois Democratic primary the following Tuesday. As Clinton won state after state, it became clear that Sanders would not be the Democratic nominee for president. Instead of completely disbanding, Daniels,
ten letters to Obama, sending formal invitations and mobilizing on social media. “We’ve been in contact with people who have worked in the White House and (our campaign) is a full out assault online with social media,” Villanueva said. “It’s a big way for us to communicate to leaders like Tammy Duckworth and of course, we’re communicating with Facebook.” Lewis posted a letter he wrote to Obama on his Facebook page, encouraging people to share it and write their own. Lewis encouraged the movement by using the hashtag #ILLINOISInvitesObama.
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Bats find new caves in Urbana houses PAGE 8A
KAROLINA MARCZEWSKI THE DAILY ILLINI
Senator Bernie Sanders hosts a rally at the ARC in March 2016 during his presidential campaign. Pasquini and the rest of Illini for Bernie decided the RSO would rebrand as Illini Progressives after the election. Now, as the president of Illini Progressives, Daniels said the group wanted to continue pro-
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moting the ideals Sanders campaigned on and to harness the energy the campus showed at the rally. “What we’re doing is building off of what Bernie did for young people,” Daniels said. “I
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think that excitement needs to be tapped into more by a group that reflects his values and his vision.” To achieve this goal, Daniels said that the RSO will be actively
Culture
IOTW: The best ever? PAGE 1B
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