ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
COMIC RELIEF Mark Waters’ passion for comics led him to open Midgard Comics at 102 W LIncoln Ave., 21 years ago. PAGE 2
SALUKIS SOAR The Southern Illinois-Carbondale football team handed Eastern its first reguar-season loss since 2011 Saturday at O’Briend Field.
Wacth a video documenting the experience at the Eastern football game satuday. DAILYEASTERNNEWS.COM
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Dai ly Eastern News
THE
W W W .D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S. C O M
Monday, Sept. 8, 2014
VOL. 99 | NO. 11
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
New budget cut areas target reductions, class sizes By Bob Galuski Editor-in-Chief | @BobGaluski
CHYNNA MILLER| THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Top: Small Time Napoleon performed Saturday in the Black Box of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. Left: Dan Harden, the lead singer of Small Time Napoleon, sings during the band’s concert Saturday in the Black Box of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. Right: Small Time Napoleon also entertained the crowd with banter between sets.
Small Time Napoleon mixes styles By Stephanie Markham News Editor | @stephm202 The bright, burnt orange left-handed guitar wore a short strap, and combined with the group’s dark gray business attire and neatly-combed hair, Small Time Napoleon resembled a rock band from the ‘60s. However, the group sonically resembled everything from surf-rock to ‘70s bluesrock to bluegrass, all with the organic fullness of a jazz-trained band. Next to Jeff Thomas on electric guitar was Dave Neill, who casually swayed his upright bass back and forth to the cadence of the music, and every so often, he would bang out a note with the attitude of a metal band, even jumping with the large instrument still balanced against his shoulder. On the far right was Dan Hardin playing an acoustic guitar and managing most of the vocals. Fitting in perfectly with the small-studio feel and echo-rich atmosphere of the Black Box Theatre, Hardin sang the band’s
assortment of jazz standards as well as select numbers from its own self-titled EP, which it was selling and signing after the show Saturday night in the Doudna Fine Arts Center. Some classics heard during the night include “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra and “I Wanna Be Like You” from the movie “The Jungle Book.” Hardin’s voice carried a subtly raspy e d g e a n d w o u l d s u m m o n d e e p e r e m otions during breakdown moments of certain songs when it reached a nearly soulful pitch. Sitting slightly behind the other members was Ryan Fowler playing his modest drum set and wearing an orange tie that matched Thomas’ guitar. The simplicity of Fowler’s drums, however, did not stop him from impressing the audience. Fowler broke into a solo later in the evening when he beat the drums and cymbals with his bare hands and continued with maracas on the song “Airship,” which also featured some lyrics in Spanish.
Terri Biggs, a retired health studies professor, said she enjoyed the way the musicians interacted as a group. “You can tell they really enjoyed playing together,” Biggs said. The musicianship of the group was not the only entertaining aspect of the performance, though. Members of Small Time Napoleon also had the audience laughing with their comical banter between songs. The band mentioned several times that the set had to be modified because Thomas’ voice was hurt, and he could not sing harmonies as he normally did. About five different explanations were offered as to how this happened. In one account, Thomas blew up the band’s car tires using his own lung capacity, and in another, he was on the Amazon River shooting the movie “Anaconda” with Jennifer Lopez. And according to Neill, he ordered a glass of “H2O” at Los Potrillos, following
NAPOLEON, page 5
President Bill Perry released an email Friday detailing three additional areas that will be acted on to alleviate the $7 million budget cut, as well as saying no more personnel reductions. The combined results of the new actions being taken, plus the recommendations from the Council on Planning and Budget would cut $8.5 million for the fiscal year, according to the email. The email listed a salary freeze — “except those specified in collective bargaining agreements, which we will honor,” a reduction in library materials, travel and equipment and an enforcement of minimum class sizes as areas to help the budget. In the email, Perry also commented on personnel reductions. Perry said on Sunday that the amount of personnel reductions were fewer than five, and did not affect faculty. He added that positions will become vacant as semesters change and faculty leave, which happens every year. As for the reduction in library materials, equipment and travel, Perry said the overall goal was the important objective. The equipment budget will reduce by 50.9 percent; the library books budget will reduce by 18.7 percent and travel will reduce by 31.2 percent. While attrition did help alleviate the budget, Perry said in the email the hiring freeze could result in positions not being filled. Despite using funds and reserves to help with the budget, Perry said in the email that low enrollment is forcing the budget to minimize for the next two fiscal years. Perry said the funds and reserves came from the New Science Building Capital, which amounted to $8 million. Perry added the reserves would help the university for the next two fiscal years, and said the board of trustees approved it in June. The email also recapped the previous recommendations by the CUPB, which were presented to Perry and the board of trustees at the end of last semester. The CUBP recommended instituting a hiring freeze for the next two fiscal years, along with investing selectively in programs that produce “sustainable, quality enrollment increases” and a reduction in personnel and operational expenses. Along with those recommendations, the CUPB also suggested reducing information technology costs and structure with a goal to reduce expenditures by $500,000. Scholarship programs will be analyzed with the goal of optimizing the recruitment yield, and a review of reassigned faculty time will take place, all with the goal of optimizing faculty assignment. Finally, the CUPB recommended last semester that there be a reduction in staff to faculty ratio over time and an increase in online offerings. Perry announced the $7 million budget cut last year. Bob Galuski can be reached at 581-2812 or rggaluski@eiu.edu.