MONDAY April 10, 2017
THE DAILY ILLINI
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The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 146 Issue 54
Student trustee vote rescheduled BY GILLIAN DUNLOP ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
200 agencies, which include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and any kind of emergency feeding programs. Okrent said before the event they expected 1,300 volunteers from the campus community. The event ended up attracting around
The official results of the 2017 spring student elections were released on March 13; however, the student trustee winner was noticeably absent from the report. An email released on Friday from Dean Renée Romano to all candidates explained that she has been “carefully reviewing the student trustee election in the context of Trayshawn Mitchell’s complaint that his name was left off the ballot.” Mitchell claims the Campus Student Election Commission purposely kept him off the ballot. The Commission stated that Mitchell did not submit the required documentation to prove he is a student of the University. However, Mitchell said he had technical issues when trying to submit the forms and informed the Commission before the deadline. In the email, Romano said that she conducted an investigation into Mitchell’s complaints. She spoke to each student trustee candidate about their experience during the election as well as their concerns. “I also consulted with the University Counsel, whose expertise is to look at the process from the perspective of clarity and a systematic approach to the principle of equal access for all students,”
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Sam Okrent, junior in Engineering, packages food during the fifth annual campus and community day of service on Saturday. Two thousand others came to Memorial Stadium to package meals for those in need.
Community packs 150,000 meals BY KAREN LIU STAFF WRITER
Two thousand community members came together at Memorial Stadium on Saturday with the intention of packing 150,000 meals for local food shelters during the fi fth annual Community and Campus Day of Service. Community members packed
150,000 meals for local food shelters during the fi fth annual Community and Campus Day of Service at Memorial Stadium on Saturday. “We do 1,000 meals for every year this school is established,” said Sam Okrent, vice president of operations at Illini Fighting Hunger, an RSO which provides
meals to those in need. The ready-to-boil meals will be sent to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank for distribution to its clients. The food bank also provides a list of recipes to meal recipients. Kristen Costello, development and relations manager at the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, said the food will be given directly to
Former UI student sentenced 10 years in prison BY JESSICA BURSZTYNSKY NEWS EDITOR
Former University student Lindsay Johnson pleaded guilty to endangering the life of her child and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Johnson suffocated her newborn son on March 13, 2016. On April 12, she was criminally charged with first-degree murder, child endangerment and concealment of a homicidal death. Because Johnson pleaded guilty to endangering the life of a child, the other charges were dismissed. She originally faced 20 to 60 years in prison. If Johnson displays good behavior in prison, she could be eligible for parole in five years, according to the ruling. The case began on March 13, 2016, when University police responded to a call that a student had been in a Bousfield Hall restroom for several hours. Johnson dismissed the police by saying she had the stomach flu. The police returned about two hours later at 7:30 p.m., after
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CINDY OM THE DAILY ILLINI SOURCE MCKINLEY HEALTH CENTER
Student healthcare costs to rise BY LUKE COOPER STAFF WRITER
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The Board of Trustees approved a proposal on March 15 to increase undergraduate and graduate student health insurance costs by 24 percent beginning in fall 2017. The cost per semester for student insurance for the campus will rise from $320 to $397 for undergraduates and $409 to $508 for graduate students. The student health service fee for the University, however, is expected to remain at $231 per semester. “Unfortunately, this goes with the trend of rising health costs across the state and nation,” said Collin Schumock, the University’s voting-student trustee. “This isn’t something that’s unique to the University of Illi-
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Kiana Sherlund finds success after transferring to Illinois
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receiving another call about a woman who might have given birth in the dorm’s bathroom. Police found Johnson less than an hour later in the Music Building. They took her to the University’s Public Safety Building, where they questioned her about the incident. During questioning, Johnson revealed she had been carrying the deceased infant in her backpack. She stated that the baby had been stillborn. Johnson then said the infant was born alive, and she used a towel to stop him from crying. She admitted to hiding her newborn son under her bed when the police were first questioned her in Bousfield Hall. Johnson said she was unaware that she was pregnant until she went into labor. However, phone records revealed that she has previously searched online about home abortions and ways to hide pregnancy.
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University club pushes for Middle Eastern cultural house
Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pay less for
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nois by any means.” The insurance spike for the campus was justified by a higher rate of “in- and out-patient visits and prescription drug benefits,” according to the Board of Trustees. Schumock said the Board identified this increase in utilization as a result of the greater access to health care due to the Affordable Care Act. United Healthcare, the University’s underwritten healthcare provider, has been losing money on its contract with the University. The company’s insurance claims were priced too low in comparison to what students have been using this year. Schumock said that United’s loss ratio was estimated at around 113 percent.
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The University had consulted with student advisory groups for health insurance to arrive at the determined student insurance rate. The preliminary proposal for the University would have raised the insurance rates by 40 percent, but the University’s advisory group was able to negotiate the increase down to 24 percent. Schumock said that the University would usually enact a Request for Proposal — essentially a bidding process to seek out more competitive insurance plans from other providers — but the uncertain future of the Affordable Care Act under the Trump Administration deemed it too risky, and could lead to the University getting stuck
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