THURSDAY August 27, 2020
THE DAILY ILLINI
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Vol. 150 Issue 2
Former Beckwith residents call for accountability BY HEATHER ROBINSON ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR
Students and their families are calling for the University to be held accountable over the closing of the Beckwith Residential Support Services Program, which provides support and amenities for students with physical disabilities. Zain Bando, junior in Media, is one of the students leading the movement. Earlier in July, Bando filmed a video expressing his concerns about the lack of available Americans with Disabilities Act-regulated rooms in Nugent Hall, which immediately gained traction on social media and quickly caught the attention of the University. Eventually, the students regained access to their rooms, but the Beckwith program remains closed. Bando and his peers along with some of their family members, met with the Beckwith administration over a Zoom call to discuss possible solutions in reopening the program. “They were basically set in their decision, which is why we decided to make the petition,” Bando said. “They were arguing that for whatever reason they thought scattering us across campus would be safer than us living in the one wing on the first floor that we’ve always lived in.” As the dispute gained media attention, the University communicated to the students and their families that the inability to reopen was due to a lack
of personal assistants, who help the students with daily living tasks. Robin Kaler, spokesperson, said that despite a great deal of effort by the University, the students and their families, they were unable to secure enough PAs to operate the Beckwith program this semester. She cited one of the causes as an extra shortage of human services workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We will continue to try to secure PAs for the spring semester in hopes we can restart the Beckwith program then,” Kaler said. “Not offering the Beckwith program this semester has been the most heartbreaking impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for all of us. But as with all of our students, the health and safety of the students in the Beckwith program has been and continues to be a top priority for the university.” Kaler added that the University assigned students who were able to secure PA coverage accessible rooms in the residence halls, but the University cannot provide the level and quality of care necessary to operate the Beckwith program this semester. Bando and his peers created a list of correspondence links found at the bottom of the petition which include various emails, legally obtained phone calls and other documents. The petition description says the program’s closing was actually due to issues of liability. Saba Ba ndo, Za in’s
mother, reached out to the director of Division of Rehabilitation Services at the Illinois Department of Human Services, Rahnee Patrick, who wrote the following to Bando: “The issue is UIUC decided not to continue the program because of liability issues to the University,” Patrick wrote in the email. “The school decided because the assistants have to provide close contact when assisting students with disabilities that the University didn’t want to be liable for continuing the program.” Bando said that as much as he loves the University, he feels they could have handled the situation more professionally and been more openly transparent with him and his peers about the whole situation. “The only thing that we got out of this was the rooms. And now the second petition is basically just to raise awareness on how the University basically lied to us the entire time about the real reason the program closed, and I just wanted people to understand that it wasn’t okay,” Bando said. The second petition titled “Wake Up U of I! Stop Discriminating Against Disabled Students,” currently has over 4,000 signatures with a goal of 5,000 total. “I don’t know why they didn’t tell us the truth. I honestly couldn’t tell you,” PHOTO COURTESY OF ZAIN BANDO Bando said. “It made the Junior Zain Bando poses for a photo on the court at State Farm Center. Bando called for the situation a whole lot worse. University to be held accountable for the closing of Beckwith Residential Support Services SEE BECKWITH | 3A
Program, which provides support and amenities for students with physical disabilities.
Carle increases its testing capacity traveling from certain highrisk countries and having specific symptoms. If all criteria was met, samples were collected from the individual and sent to the CDC for testing. Once the CDC’s testing technology was deployed to states, testing could continue in Illinois at the state level. Individuals who met travel and symptom qualifications would complete an assessment form, which would be
BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA STAFF WRITER
Through the collaboration of local health agencies, including Carle Foundation Hospital, Champaign County has made great strides in testing capacity since it saw its first case on March 15. When the pandemic first swept through the nation, COVID-19 testing was only available to the Centers for Disease Control. Individuals had to meet strict qualifications for testing, such as
SEE CARLE | 3A
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
The northern entryway to Weston Hall rests quietly on Wednesday morning. Some of the students in quarantine are currently residing in the northeast section of the first floor of Weston Hall.
Eighty students isolate in special rooms BY ETHAN SIMMONS NEWS EDITOR
According to officials at the University and Champa ig n-Urba na P ubl ic Health District, 80 University students were staying in dedicated isolation and quarantine rooms on campus and in C-U on Tuesday. Of the 80 students, 66 were staying in University Housing rooms for students who were infected with COVID-19 or were exposed to someone with the virus, said University spokesperson Robin Kaler. Another 14 students were residing in CUPHD quarantine rooms inside local hotels, said Julie Pryde of CUPHD.
Not all of these students have tested positive for the virus. In University Housing, 30 are being isolated for a positive test, and the other 36 have been quarantined due to potential exposure identified by CUPHD contact tracers. “Quarantine means you have been identified by CUPHD as someone who was in close proximity for a certain amount of time with someone who has tested positive,” Kaler said. “Isolation means you tested positive. Both categories are in the set aside rooms.” Additionally, not every student who has tested positive for the virus is isolating in University Hous-
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ing or CUPHD-held hotel rooms, Pryde said. Some are staying in their oncampus homes, or traveled back to their hometowns. However, once a student enters a quarantine room, he or she cannot return to day-to-day life for 14 calendar days since last close contact with a COVID19-positive person. A negative test doesn’t allow one to leave. “You cannot test out of it, you cannot have people in, you cannot go out of it,” Pryde said. “You only leave if you need to have emergency medical care.” Faculty and staff who test positive are also being assisted by CUPHD to find
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isolation rooms, Kaler said. Over 400 University rooms have been dedicated to students who are quarantining or isolating for COVID-19, Kaler said in a Friday briefing. The number of rooms is likely to increase, as many students opted not to return to campus this year so more rooms are available, she said. CUPHD has recently beefed up its contact tracing team. On Friday, Pryde said the district brought on 35 new contact tracers, upping the district’s total to 150 employees.
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Features: Incoming freshmen spend first semester at home
buzz: LGBTQ artist inspires others through music
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THE DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
The Carle Foundation Hospital, located at 611 W. Park St., stands tall on March 3, 2019. The saliva COVID-19 testing offered on campus is currently only available to University students, faculty and staff.
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