St. Patrick’s Day: Corned beef, cabbage and green beer IN BUZZ
A time to heal Pride in yourself
Gophers loom
FEATURES, 6A
SPORTS, 1B
Read Melanie Stone’s fourth part
Big Ten Tournament begins as Illinois faces Minnesota
Despite pressure from the LGBT community about body image, some stay strong
AS A GIRL THINKS, 4A
The Daily Illini
Thursday March 14, 2013
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
www.DailyIllini.com
Vol. 142 Issue 121
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FREE
Vote results favor Chief Illiniwek
Strike over; negotiations continuing SEIU ends 3-day strike with rally in front of Union BY CARINA LEE STAFF WRITER
Negotiations between the Service Employees International Union Local 73 and the University will begin again Monday. The union ended its three-day strike Wednesday. Campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler said she is optimistic about reaching a fair deal satisfying both parties. “We are confident that our offer to the union is fair, and we are confident that we can work with the mediator and the union to reach an agreement,” she said. But Ricky Baldwin, chief negotiator for the union, which represents about 800 University food and building service workers, said they deserve more wages than what the University offered last week. “We are in a good position to expect better from the University and we deserve it,” Baldwin said. “The work they do is essential, and they are very low paid.” The strike ended with a solidarity rally at the Illini Union. Speakers from other organizations, such as the Graduate Employees’ Organization and Campus Faculty Association,
High: 39˚ Low: 31˚
Referendum shows students support Chief by 4-to-1 margin BY TYLER DAVIS STAFF WRITER ROCHELLE WILSON THE DAILY ILLINI
Building service worker Thomas Haley raises his fist in support of the Service Employees International Union Local 73. The union has been on strike for three days and will resume negotiations with the University on Monday. came to support a fair contract for union workers. Sarah Cassinelli, co-chair of the GEO, said the University needs to appreciate the union’s workers more. “I have to say that the fact that the SEIU members are forced on the picket line is a failure of a public institution,” Cassinelli said during the rally. “Workers on this campus are undervalued.” Adam Rosen, SEIU communications director, said turnout on the picket lines in the past three days was better than expected. “We’ve been out here for almost 62 hours, and they won’t stop. It’s only getting stronger,” Rosen said around noon Wednesday. “We have less than 3 percent of the membership (that) has
crossed the picket line, which is a great figure.” The University had called in volunteers to fill in for the union members until Wednesday. Kaler said normal services were not influenced throughout the period and said she did not know of any complaints. “We’ve continued normal food service — all the hours and all the choices — throughout the strike,” Kaler said in an email. “We’ve been keeping paper towels and toilet paper supplied to restrooms, cleaned every restroom in the residence halls at least once every day and emptied garbage as quickly as possible.”
“We are in a good position to expect better from the University, and we deserve it. The work they do is essential, and they are very low paid.” RICKY BALDWIN, chief negotiator for union
Carina can be reached at lee713@ dailyillini.com.
The previously withheld Chief Illiniwek referendum results show that a majority of students that voted reaffirmed their support of the mascot. The referendum question, which asked if students “support Chief Illiniwek as the official symbol” of the University, was met with 9,003 votes in favor and 2,517 against. The results had been sequestered by the Moot Court Board Judiciary, a board of College of Law students that accepts student complaints. The judiciary lifted the hold prior to hearing an appeal on the constitutionality of Illinois Student Senate enabling a campus symbol selection survey in midJanuary. The results of the survey are still being withheld until a decision is made. Justice Tyler Anthony, graduate student, said student senator Matthew Paarlberg had submitted a motion this week to remove the injunction, but it was denied. However, Anthony said this motion brought to light a defect in the original injunction; the Campus Student Election Commis-
A short history of campus mascot selections The Illinois Student Senate endorsed none of the Chief referenda questions. • Spring 2004: 70 percent (9161) of students support Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University. • Spring 2008: 79 percent (7718) of students support the reinstatement of Chief Illiniwek as the University. • 2011: Illinois Student Senate ascribes its support and co-sponsors the Students4aNEWmascot (later Campus Spirit Revival) search for a new mascot among the student body • Spring 2013: 78 percent (9003) of students support Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University.
See MASCOT, Page 3A
UI launches new farm research center College of ACES to house center for agricultural research
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY THE DAILY ILLINI
Brooke Fairbanks, senior in FAA, takes notes while her group discusses their post-conflict urban development plan of Mogadishu, Somalia.
Architecture projects focus on Somalia Students challenged to design models tailored to an unfamiliar environment BY ABIGAIL SOLANO STAFF WRITER
University students enrolled in Architecture 476 — Architecture Design and Exploration— are designing models of structures, such as permanent houses and markets, for the 400,000 refugees in Mogadishu, Somalia. The theme for this class, taught by professor Camden Greenlee, is Post-Conflict Urban Microcosms. The project is centered on demonstrating a way of rebuilding this society, which
INSIDE
has endured civil war for 20 years and has little infrastructure and a poor economy. “The goal of the studio is to challenge students to design in an environment that they are not used to at all so that they have a heightened sensitivity towards sustainability, building practices, building materials and techniques, but also the social systems that take place, such as the culture of the area,” Greenlee said. The students’ first assignment was to research the area. They
created pamphlets that graphically represent Somali culture, climate, agriculture, economy, family and social structures. The second step was to create a site model differentiating large existing structures, rubble and demolished buildings. Danielle Tellez, senior in FAA, is building a model of a market. “My project in particular focuses on how a society can effectively rebuild a market, an essential social structure in Somali culture for distributing goods,” she said. “Once more permanent forms of housing become available, the leftover material from the tent communities can be repurposed.”
Tellez said creating this model was difficult because of a lack of geographical information. “This required a lot of guesswork on our part because there is not a lot of information aside from what we can see through Google Maps,” Tellez said. Each project will respond to a problem that the students found during their research. Adam Lewis, senior in FAA, designed a graphic of foreign aid in Somalia. “What I learned was that foreign aid is so vast that the data can act as a graphic itself to form an infographic,” Lewis said. “My individual project relates
See ARCHITECTURE, Page 3A
and University representatives will provide guidance for the center. Heather Davis, head of TIAA-CREF’s global private fixed income and equity investBY ELEANOR BLACK ments, represented TIAACONTRIBUTING WRITER CREF’s at the celebration. Representatives from a “It’s an idea that was born leading financial services pro- out of a need that we found, vider joined University fac- to have quality data and deep ulty Wednesday to celebrate research in the sector,” Davis the launch of the Farmland said. Research Center. Chancellor Phyllis Wise The purpose of this center is spoke next and established to enhance farmland research herself as a supporter of and initiatives for University TIAA-CREF and the new students and the agricultural program. “I’ve always thought of community. The Teachers Insurance TIAA-CREF as where I’d a nd A n nu put my retireity Associame nt mo n tion — College ey and never Retirement realized exactly how broad Equities Fund your interests is a nonprofare,” Wise said it founded by referring to the Andrew Carnorganization. egie in 1918 She spoke for the purabout the pose of securing retirement founding of the funds for acaUniversity in HEATHER DAVIS, 1867 as one of demics by TIAA-CREF official the first univerinvesting in farmland-relatsities built on ed projects. donated land and that because The company has been of this, the University has an working on the program for obligation to help people. two or three years and gave “Learning in the land-grant the University $5 million to tradition means that ... we help create it. work on fundamental probThe new center was lems, but you make sure that approved by the board of trust- those fundamental solutions ees March 7 and will be housed get translated into applicawithin the University’s College tions that make the world betof ACES building as a special- ter and make it a better place ized academic unit, according for people,” Wise said. to a news release. She also said the new It will also support Farm- arrangement is a collaboration doc, the University’s research that has been in the works for program on the agricultural many years. sector. An advisory board See FARMLAND, Page 3A comprised of TIAA-CREF
“It’s an idea that was born out of a need that we found, to have quality data and deep reasearch.”
Po l i ce 2 A | H o ro s co p e s 2 A | A s A G i r l Th i n ks 4 A | C ro s swo rd 5 A | Co m i c s 5 A | G re e ks & C a m p u s 6 A | S p o r t s 1 B | Cl a s s i f i e d s 3 B - 4 B | S u d o ku 4 B