GREEK WEEK RETURNS
DIFFERENT STATES
Members of sororities and fraternities on campus have been preparing for this year’s Greek Week, which will kick off on April 7 and continue through April 15. PAGE 3
The Eastern women’s tennis team does not have a player from Illinois, but the members agree that their varying backgrounds have helped them grow together. PAGE 8
THE
D aily E astern N ews
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID ”
CE L E B RATI NG A CE NT UR Y OF COVE RA GE
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VOL. 102 | NO. 133
W W W . D A I L Y E A S TE R N N E W S . C O M
Charleston underwater BROOKE SCHWARTZ | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Todd Bruns (left), the institutional repository librarian and biological sciences professor Billy Hung (right) sit at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday in Booth Library.
BROOKE SCHWARTZ | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS THALIA ROULEY | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
The area next to Lefty’s Holler on Seventh Street, was filled with water after the thunderstorms on Tuesday.
Provost Jay Gatrell (left) and C.C. Wharram (right), the director of the Center for Humanities, attended the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday at Booth Library. The meeting looked at Gatrell’s college reorganization plan, which was revealed on Monday.
Stormy weather causes major Faculty Senate raises flooding around city, campus some concerns with college reorganization By Olivia Swenson-Hultz Associate News Editor | @DEN_News
Flooding filled the streets of Charleston following severe thunderstorms on Tuesday. Around 4 p.m. Tuesday, Cameron Craig, an instructor and climatologist at Eastern, said 4.3 inches of rain had fallen so far, but another inch and a quarter is expected. This exceeded April’s average for rainfall in Charleston, which is 3.74 inches. The west side of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, including the Food Court and the bowling alley, were closed as a result of the flooding. They reopened around 3 p.m. Tuesday. “We had to shut down some electrical equipment because water was getting near it. We’ve got some leaks and water running into buildings, but that’s normal from heavy rain,” said Paul McCann, interim vice president forbusiness affairs. Eastern’s Physical Science building lost electricity around 11 a.m., getting it back later that day. Coles, Edgar and Douglas counties are under a flood warning until 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, Craig said. The rest of Charleston suffered from road closings and flood damage as well. Flooding, page 5
Members say issue is with ‘aggressive’ July 1 start date for the plan By Brooke Schwartz Administration Reporter | @brooke_schwartz
ANALICIA HAYNES | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Rushing water pushes through underneath a bridge on Seventh Street Tuesday evening. Severe thunderstorms caused major flooding throughout Charleston and Mattoon on Tuesday.
THALIA ROULEY | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
The area behind Lefty’s Holler on Seventh Street was left completely flooded after the thunderstorms on Tuesday.
The Faculty Senate raised concerns with Provost Jay Gatrell’s college reorganization plan, which was first proposed Monday, at its meeting on Tuesday. The plan involves the creation of a new College of Health and Human Services, as well as combining the current College of Arts and Humanities with the College of Sciences to create a new College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A big concern for the senate was the aggressive start date Gatrell has planned for; he hopes to have new colleges started by July 1. Philosophy professor Grant Sterling raised the concern of a possible violation of senate bylaws, as it is written that before a big administrative change is made, the senate must have 90 days in advance to discuss the change. Gatrell said he was not aware of the bylaw. Senate members eventually decided the provost had given them as much notice as he had been able to,
given the long planning process that went into the reorganization plan. The timing of the plan, whether in violation of a bylaw or not, was still a problem for Sterling and other senators. “Faculty Senate will have no opportunity to discuss this plan. We only have one meeting left,” Sterling said. “It bothers me that a really major reorganization is proposed at a time when Faculty Senate has no opportunity to see it, think about it and discuss it.” Biological sciences professor Billy Hung said he agreed, especially considering much of the implementation of the reorganization plan will fall into the summer months. “Regardless of the 90 days, the feedback period did overlap with the period where the school is not in session,” Hung said. “That does bring issues about how to bring the comments to (Gatrell’s) attention, or to (Eastern) President Glassman’s attention in a way that would make a meaningful impact as the initial plans are laid out moving forward.” Some senators, such as history professor Bailey Young and family and consumer sciences professor Nichole Hugo, said they did not mind the timeline Gatrell had laid out.
Senate, page 5