Use your head Pick up a copy of Technograph today IN SECTION C
Wednesday February 20, 2013
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 142 Issue 105
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ILLINOIS STUDENT SENATE
Concealed carry proposal sent to Ill. Legislature BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER
SARI LESK THE DAILY ILLINI
A crowded 13 South Silver MTD bus leaves from Transit Plaza on Tuesday afternoon. MTD plans to add eight to 10 buses to the Yellow, Teal and Silver lines.
Low temperatures increase bus need More lines to be added because of record ridership BY YELE AJAYI STAFF WRITER
With an average temperature of 28.5 degrees last month, the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District saw a 16 percent increase in bus ridership for the month of January compared with the first month of 2012, when the average temperature was 31.7 degrees.
The MTD set its highest record known for the month of January, carrying more than 1 million passengers, as opposed to about 928,000 in 2012. This past month also brought all-time single-day records. On Jan. 31, when the low temperature was 6 degrees, MTD set the single-day record with 63,174 passengers. This number beat the previous record of 61,359 on Jan. 21, 2011, when the low was also 6 degrees. Bill Volk, managing director of CUMTD, attributed the increase in ridership to the cold weather and economic hardships.
“Due to high tuition fees and less financial income at home, students have no choice but to take advantage of the public transportation system,” Volk said. Because of this increase in ridership, Volk said the company is sending out an additional eight to 10 buses for morning service on the Yellow, Teal and Silver lines, which are heavily trafficked by students in the mornings. Zakia Williams, freshman in LAS, said the amount of buses seems to be adequate. “There’s a bus stop on every corner, and they are always
frequent,” said Williams, who travels off-campus frequently. “It’s very convenient for me.” Champaign Mayor Don Gerard said in an email that the greater MTD ridership will help by decreasing the demands for parking in the Campustown area. Once spring comes, Volk said he expects ridership to decrease. “We expect people to be happy to walk again once spring comes around,” Volk said.
Yele can be reached at ocajayi2@ dailyillini.com.
Police change policy on citizen complaints Champaign department must forward complaints to community relations BY CARINA LEE STAFF WRITER
Complaints against the Champaign police will receive a second layer of review after a new process announced last week goes into effect in April. The process will require the police department staff to consult with the city’s community relations office before investigating a complaint. The office will have the chance to recommend additional steps or request that the city form a review committee. Karen Foster, council member at-large, said the department, which received 18 complaints last year, has been trying to improve the complaint process for several years. “We got a new police chief last year, (and) this has been one of the items that he has been working towards: to have a more citizen-friendly complaint process,” Foster said. Lt. Jon Swenson proposed the change to the process and said it has become routine to review it regularly. “We made significant revisions in 1999, 2007 and 2010, and this (change) would be the next one in the series,” Swenson said.
“We will be continuing to tweak the process as we go on when we find better ways to do things.” Citizens who would like to discuss officer conduct must fill out a complaint form, which must be filed within 30 days of the incident and must be available for an inperson interview afterward. If an individual is not satisfied with the conclusion of an investigation, an appeal will go to the city manager. Foster said the feedback during the study session points to a positive impact of the change. “It adds another layer for someone to look on, making sure that everything that needed to be investigated is investigated,” she said. Urbana works a bit differently. Complaints in the city go through the police department, which conducts investigations when necessary. The city’s Civilian Police Review Board, a task force created in 2007, handles the appeals process for citizens unsatisfied with the results of a police investigation. Todd Rent, human resources officer for the City of Urbana, said they prefer using the civilian board versus a city office. “It is important to remember that there are several ways to approach the issue,” Rent said. “And this approach fits well with us.”
Carina can be reached at lee713@dailyillini.com.
“We made significant revisions in 1999, 2007 and 2010, and this (change) would be the next one in the series. We will be continuing to tweak the process as we go on when we find better ways to do things.” JON SWENSON, liutenant
INSIDE
The Illinois Student Senate brought legislation to restrict concealed carry on Illinois college campuses to an Illinois General Assembly judiciary committee hearing Tuesday. Student senator Christopher Dayton, senior in LAS, brought proposed changes to a concealed carry law to a House Judiciary hearing but was unable to testify. He said no individuals, other than those representing special interest group, were able to testify. The General Assembly is currently holding hearings on the issue in the wake of a federal court decision that rejected the state’s concealedcarry ban in December and demanded the Illinois Legislature adopt some form of firearms possession law. In his proposal, Dayton included letters of recommendation from the Illinois Student Senate, the mayors of Champaign and Urbana, the Urbana student trustee and three private certified housing managers. Dayton’s proposal seeks a framework for universities to restrict concealed firearm carry on their property. It would also allow cities in areas with a high student population to also enforce bans on concealed carry. In addition, Dayton’s proposal allows for similar restrictions in any
university or community college certified housing. Greek and non-Greek houses would be required to follow a chartered policy on concealed carry created by their associated institution. “The whole intent ... is the ability for us to not only tailor a policy that will fit our university and provide other universities that opportunity to tailor their system, but rather also give the ability for us to change it fairly rapidly,” Dayton said. “Approaching the state Legislature can be a very slow and laborious task.” After the hearing, Dayton approached state Reps. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, and Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, and state Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign. Dayton also gave the proposal to several other members of the Judiciary Committee. Dayton said his next step will be to get in touch with other universities and create a system based on his framework that works for all campuses. “I’m not trying to create this policy that would directly affect every campus,” he said. “It’s more or less allowing us to, as college students with the unique situations we are in, to work with our local population and to work with our local governments to create a policy that would best fit us.”
See CONCEALED, Page 3A
Children’s book sale continues
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY THE DAILY ILLINI
Katie Boucher, graduate assistant in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, looks through a book box at the 12th annual book sale Monday. “I’m a huge collector of children’s comic books adopted from graphic novels,” she said. The sale continues through Wednesday at the school’s Center for Children’s Books, 501 E. Daniel St., Champaign, Room 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Ballot to address renovation, Chief BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
A question on a $25 fee to renovate Assembly Hall and on the support for Chief Illiniwek will likely appear on University students’ spring 2013 ballot, though the questions are still up for review by a student commission. With the petitions for the referendum questions due Tuesday evening, Campus Student Election Commission chair Adam Joines said the commission will need to review signatures, approve the submitted petitions and certify referendum language before an item can appear on the ballot. The official referendum questions will not be finished until Thursday at the earliest, he said.
On the ballot, Joines said he expects to see a proposal to add a $25 fee for Assembly Hall renovations, assuming the petition received its required 2,800 signatures, as well as a question gauging the student support for Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University. He added that the language of both items considered has “not been distinctly certified yet, so we are unsure as to how they will appear on the ballot.” Referendum questions brought forward by the Illinois Student Senate for a new student government constitution and a student government fee will most likely not appear on the ballot, Joines said, as it appeared the senate was unable
to collect the required signatures. Student trustee candidates will also be listed on the spring ballot. Joines said academic deans from various colleges certify each candidate individually, checking criteria such as enrollment status, GPA and residency. In addition, Renee Romano, vice chancellor for student affairs, said she submitted two referendums to continue the Krannert Fee and the Collegiate Readership Fee, which are part of the student-initiated fees that students pay each semester. All fees within the student-initiated fee category must be reaffirmed by the student body every four years.
Lauren can be reached at rohr2@dailyillini.com.
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