THURSDAY September 17, 2020
THE DAILY ILLINI
Visit our website!
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 150 Issue 8
Big Ten reinstates 2020 football season BY GABBY HAJDUK SPORTS EDITOR
Big Ten football is back. The conference announced in a press release on Wednesday it has voted to start its college football season on Oct. 23-24. “The Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) adopted significant medical protocols including daily antigen testing, enhanced cardiac screening and an enhanced data-driven approach when making decisions about pr ac t ic e/c omp e -
tition,” the release said. “The COP/C voted unanimously to resume the football season starting the weekend of October 23-24, 2020. The decision was based on information presented by the Big Ten Return to Competition Task Force, a working group that was established by the COP/C and Commissioner Kevin Warren to ensure a collaborative and transparent process.” The press release indicates all “student-
athletes, coaches, trainers and other individuals that are on the field for all practices and games” will undergo daily testing starting Sept. 30. All studentathletes that test positive for COVID-19 will have to “undergo comprehensive cardiac testing” and cannot return to competition for at least 21 days following a positive diagnosis. The Big Ten will monitor positivity rates of the virus both on campus and on the teams. Com-
petition must stop for at least seven days if a team has a positivity rate of 5% or higher or if the population positivity rate is 7.5% or higher. After voting to postpone the season on Aug. 10, the conference presidents re-voted and decided to have a fall college
football season, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel early Wednesday morning. The decision comes after two successful weeks of college football, including one week of Power-5 games. Speculation intensified on Tuesday morning when a video surfaced on Twitter of the University of Nebraska president getting caught on a hot mic before a news conference saying “We’re getting ready to announce the Huskers and Big Ten football tonight.” Optimism for a fall season started over the weekend after a comprehensive plan was presented to the Big Ten presidents with an
emphasis on medical protocols that had changed in recent weeks and became available to the league. Players, coaches and fans have been expressing their eagerness for a fall season ever since the season was originally postponed. This included a petition started by Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields and multiple Big Ten head coaches making formal statements on their desire for a fall season. The Big Ten said updates regarding other fall sports and winter sports will be announced shortly. @gabby_h11 ghajduk2@dailyillini.com
THE DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
The Illini Football team erupts in celebration after defeating the Michigan State Spartans on Nov. 9, 2019. The Illini won 37-34. The Illini now have the chance to build on the success in 2019 as this season is set to start Oct. 23-24.
International enrollment drops BY MONA ALRAZZAQ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rather than enjoying a normal senior year on the University campus, Sarah Kishta attends virtual classes from Zagazig, Egypt, a time zone seven hours ahead of Champaign, Illinois. “I had to flip my sleeping schedule to keep up with my deadlines and homework and also be able to keep track of everything,” Kishta said. “In the Egypt time zone, my classes start from 4:30 p.m. to 12 a.m.” According to the University’s newest numbers, 576 fewer international undergraduates chose to continue their enrollment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign this fall. For the remaining international undergrads, the COVID-19 pandemic has created myriad challenges, ranging from time difference adjustments to social sacrifices. Jiwon Lee, sophomore, resides in Daegu, South Korea. Lee had to also adjust her sleeping schedule due to a class that meets twice weekly at 4 a.m. Korean Standard Time. Other big plans had to be
put on pause due to the pandemic. Lee was selected to be a resident advisor at a dorm on campus, but was unable to return and accept her position due to the global pandemic. Lee was disappointed because the RA position relieves a lot of financial burden. Maintaining social interaction and meeting people during the pandemic has also been difficult for international students. Jana Barghouthni, freshman, currently lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, nine hours ahead of Champaign. “Not physically seeing anybody makes it hard to put yourself out there and makes it much more difficult to make friends,” Barghouthni said. Despite the social and academic struggles that arose due to the global pandemic, some international students find returning to campus next semester unlikely with rising COVID-19 cases in the United States. However, other international students were almost forced to return to the U.S. due to the currently retracted policy to cancel visas for international students announced by the Trump administration
prior to campus’s reopening. When Lee first heard the news, she worried over the increasing COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and feared a mandated return. “It was too dangerous, so I did not want to go back, but since I did not want my visa to be canceled, I had no choice because it was almost a forced thing to go back,” Lee said. Lee was grateful for the lawsuit filed by universities all over the country that resulted in the retraction of the policy which she said “gave freedom for international students to stay safe and take their courses online.” While students like Lee feel secure staying home, other students, like Kishta, are hopeful that circumstances will get better and they will be able to return to campus in the spring. “I will mainly focus on my internship to be able to graduate, but I am also willing to live some memories I didn’t get to experience as a senior.” Kishta said. “I would like to explore campus and places that I never had the chance to go to before.” monaa2@dailyillini.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH KISHTA
Sarah Kishta looks over lecture slides at 2:15 a.m. from her home in Zagazig, Egypt. Kishta has had to adapt to virtual classes through a seven hour time zone difference.
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS
INSIDE
Police
2A
@THEDAILYILLINI, @DI_OPINION, @DI_SPORTS |
Life
&
Culture
4A
|
Crossword
5A
ETHAN SIMMONS THE DAILY ILLINI
Rebecca Lee Smith, professor in AHS at the University, explains the recent peaks in COVID-19 cases. She shared the data during a Senate Executive Committee meeting on Monday.
Modelers optimistic about COVID-19 data BY ETHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
New data displayed at Monday’s University Senate meeting revealed two trends about the on-campus spread of COVID-19: spikes in cases correlate to weekend exposure, and most of the spread is taking place in off-campus housing. Rebecca Lee Smith, professor in AHS at the University, showed how the peaks of new cases on campus — around Aug. 25, Aug. 31 and Sep. 8 — came almost exactly one week apart from each other. Given the virus’s incubation period, these upticks in cases all correlate to weekend exposure, Smith said. Likewise, any spread from last weekend would appear in tests conducted from Monday to Wednesday. Smith displayed another data set obtained from McKinley Health Center: new student cases across dorms, Greek houses and offcampus housing over time. While new cases in dorms and Greek life were reigned in within a week of the late August-early September spike, cases haven’t fallen as quickly in off-campus apartments.
THEDAILYILLINI |
Opinions
6A
“On-campus housing has come down remarkably, beautifully,” Smith said. “Offcampus housing has not come down as much as we would like.” Some behind the University’s testing efforts were worried the drop in cases was from a lower proportion of undergraduates getting tested, but this data shows genuine student improvement, said physicist and lead modeler Nigel Goldenfeld. “We are cautiously optimistic about the way things are going,” he said. As for the student restrictions lifted Wednesday, Goldenfeld said it’s too soon to
Letters
6A
|
SEE OPTIMISTIC | 3A
INSIDE
Opinions: Trump may face prosecution after presidency
Sports: Illini voice support for saving gymnastics
PAGE A6
PAGE B2
@THEDAILYILLINI |
make a plan for the rest of the semester. “It depends on how we relax the measures that we’re currently taking,” Goldenfeld said. “And so we will obviously be analyzing these data in the next day or so, and coming to some conclusions as a team about what is the right way to do this.” Smith said University modelers are looking to obtain data from ChampaignUrbana Public Health District on where students are getting exposed to the virus, instead of where exposed students live.
Sports
THEDAILYILLINI
DAILYILLINI
1B
4B
|
Classifieds
|
Sudoku
THEDAILYILLINI 4B
|
buzz
6B