OVERTIME VICTORY
CORONATION KICK-OFF
The Eastern football team beat Tennessee State 25-22 Saturday.
Homecoming royalty will be crowned at 7 p.m. in McAfee Gym to begin Homecoming week Monday.
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D aily E astern N ews
Monday, October 19, 2015 “TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID” C E L E BRATI NG A CE NTUR Y OF COV E RA GE 19 15- 201 5
VOL. 100 | NO. 40 W W W . D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Administration explains university contingencies By Cassie Buchman Administration Editor | @cjbuchman Even with the state budget impasse still in place, Eastern has plans and ways to keep the school open through the spring semester and beyond. President David Glassman sent out an email Oct. 12 telling students there is no doubt the spring semester will be completed as usual. Glassman said he sent the email because he heard from a number of students and even parents who were worried about the school closing in the spring. “We are absolutely having a spring semester,” Glassman said. “(Students) have nothing to be afraid about.” Glassman said he wanted to communicate that to students, and felt the email was the best way to do it. “Shortly after I sent the email, it was all over social media,” Glassman said. Glassman said social media worked fast, especially when it came to rumors, such as the one started about the school shutting down. Glassman said certain things from the State Senate Higher Education Committee’s budget hearing were taken out of context, such as when he was asked when the university would run out of funds. Glassman said he thought this would happen in spring, which is when they would then move to contingency plans. “It’s not a matter of closing, it’s a matter of moving to different contingency plans,” Glassman said. Glassman said the contingency plan consists of doing things the school would not normally have to do if it had an appropriation. “We have plans to get through spring,” Glassman said. “That’s the end of the budget year.” The first level of contingency is getting an ap-
CHYNNA MILLER | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
President David Glassman addresses students, faculty, staff and community members about the university budget, and enrollment during the State of the University Address Sept. 27 in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.
propriation from the state and the second level is the use of reserved funds from past years. The reserved funds have already been used for several years. The third level of contingency is getting a loan. To get a loan from the bank, Eastern would
need approval from the state. Paul McCann, the interim vice president for business affairs, said this would mean asking for a new law giving the university’s authority to borrow the money. “The previous version that was passed in 2010 required us to run it by a committee that
the state established to review that borrowing,” McCann said. McCann said being a part of the state, he thought Eastern would have a good chance of getting a loan if the university had to.
CONTINGENCIES, page 5
Eastern to offer rural studies minor One suspect By Jason Hardimon Staff Reporter | @Jason_Hardimon Finance major Eric Johnson, who attended Lake Park High School about 40 miles east of Chicago, does not feel very connected to agriculture or rural issues. However, Johnson admitted agriculture probably affects him more than he realizes. Chris Laingen, a geography professor, agreed with Johnson. “No matter how urban you are, you’re still
very much tied to the rural landscape,” Laingen said. “From what you eat to the electricity that you get, to the fuel that’s in your car, to... you name it. It’s easy to overlook, but it’s really important to everyone.” Like Johnson, about half of Eastern undergraduates in 2015 attended high schools in Cook County and the collar counties, where approximately four percent of Illinois farms are located. About one quarter of undergraduates attended high schools in East-Central Illinois, where close to 19 percent of Illinois farms reside,
according to data from the Eastern Department of Planning and Institutional Research and the 2012 USDA census of agriculture. On a national level, census data suggested that many who attended high school in rural counties will move to a city or the surrounding suburbs after earning their degree, leaving fewer people with the responsibility of managing more than 70 percent of America’s land and natural resources.
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CAA approves public relations major By Cassie Buchman Administration Editor | @cjbuchman
The Council on Academic Affairs approved a new public relations major, new public relations courses and a new philosophy course at their meeting Thursday. CMN 2920 Introduction to Public Relations, CMN 3960 Public Relations Writing and Production, CMN 4919 Principles and Practices of Public Relations Campaigns, and CMN 4920 Public Relations Case Studies were all revised. The new classes were CMN 3020 Public Relations Research, Evaluation, and Measurement and CMN 3965 Advanced Public Relations Writing and Production, and A, B, D, E, Seminar in Public Relations. The new philosophy course is PHI 3080 Medical Ethics. This course will look at ethical theories in the medical field.
The new public relations major will be housed in the communication studies department. Matt Gill, a professor in the communication studies department, said a number of years ago the provost asked communication studies and journalism to deal with the fact that they each had an option in public relations. “We have been working on rectifying that issue for years,” Gill said. Public relations is already one of communication studies’ biggest options. Gill said the public relations major is growing in many areas. “It has awful high ceilings for job placement, for salaries, it’s growing not just in the United States, but globally,” Gill said. Gill said he felt the program could become very successful, even one of the best in the nation.
“Our (program) is a balance between theory and practice,” Gill said. “It is both providing the necessary theoretical and critical skills to figure out what to do and why and when to do it, but at the same time we’re also doing a lot of handson work.” The courses have been updated to keep up with the university learning goals, as well as to create an online component. CMN 3960 was revised to change the title to make it more clear. “Currently, we have three major PR courses now, which we are deleting,” Gill said. “One of the things that happened with this course is that we get to do less now.” Gill said they are able to focus the content of the course more on what the course is specifically about.
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arrested in Friday home invasion Staff Report | @DEN_News One person has been arrested and warrants are out for two others after a home invasion that occurred in the 1400 block of Seventh Street early FriBrittany Bush day morning. A press release from the Charleston Police Department lists Brittany Bush, 22, of Charleston, as arrested for obstructing justice. Monique Williams, 18, of Charleston, and Royce Hughes, 23, of Chicago, are wanted by CPD on a charge of home invasion. The suspects fled in the victim’s 2005 Dodge Caravan, bearing an Illinois license plate of 7991997. The victim at the residence reported that two black males wearing gray hooded sweatshirts, masks and latex gloves entered the residence while brandishing a firearm. The victim had a pillowcase put over his head while items were taken from the residence.