Eastern News
Tuesday
“Tell th e t r u t h a n d d o n ’ t b e a fr a i d . ”
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APRIL 17, 2012 V O LU M E 9 6 | N o. 1 3 9
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. DENNE WS.COM T WIT TER.COM/DENNE WS
Groups to bust moves for best dance crew
Panthers finding offensive grove
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Performing parables
Former Gov. Jim Edgar to visit campus Staff Report
SETH SCHROEDER | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Rich Jones and Michael Bower perform as Jesus and Judas during a dress rehearsal of “Godspell” Monday in the Sanctuary of the Wesley United Methodist Church. “Godspell” will open at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the church and there will also be a performance 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
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Former Gov. Jim Edgar will be visiting his alma mater to highlight how the education he received from Eastern enabled him to maneuver the political world of Springfield. During the 7 p.m. “Unobstructed Views: Lessons Learned from Charleston to Springfield” presentation, Edgar, who received his bachelor’s in history, will talk about how his extracurricular activities paved the road for his governor position. According to an article in the Nov. 30, 2010 issue of The Daily Eastern News, Edgar was quoted as crediting his experience at Eastern and as the student body president with his career later in life. “I don’t think I would have been governor if I didn’t go to Eastern,” Edgar said. “Here I was able to be elected as student body president, which I don’t think I could have done at bigger universities.” This presentation will be a continuation of the Edgar Speaker Series that began in 2007, started by Edgar and his wife Brenda Edgar. The presentation will take place in the Lecture Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center and will also include a reception. The event is free and open to both Eastern and Charleston community members.
FUNDING
Professors propose Speaker informs students pension reform of rape, dating violence By Robyn Dexter Campus Editor
Students will have a chance to get informed about the problems of victimization, dating violence and rape at the “Engaging Bystanders” training session. Anne Wend, the community educator and director of education at Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Services, will be speaking about topics surrounding victimization and helping spread awareness that these problems do exist. Wend’s talk will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Martinsville Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. “The whole purpose of the bystander intervention is to promote awareness and victim empowerment through education and action,” Wend said. “We aim to shatter the silence of sexual violence through targeted social and educational tactics.” Wend said she will explain the different types of bystanders and what it means to be one. “A bystander is a person who
witnesses an act of violence or sexual activities that occur without the victim’s consent,” Wend said. “We see this all the time on college campuses.” She said she will talk about different circumstances in which outside factors play a role in bystander intervention. “Students will come away with an understanding of what a bystander is and when it is appropriate to intervene, as well as identifying situations they can intervene in safely,” Wend said. She said she wants to bring an end to sexual violence at parties and other social gatherings and to better define situations so students know when victimization is occurring. Past examples, such as a case from 1964, will also be brought to light. In the Kitty Genovese case, Wend said 38 people witnessed the brutal rape and murder of Genovese and did not call for help. “All these people were standing around while this woman was being beaten an eventually killed,”
“Engaging Bystanders” • What- Training session • When- 4 to 6 p.m. • Where- Martinsville Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Wend said. “On college campuses, people see these things happen, but they just don’t intervene.” The bystander effect will also be explained, which Wend defined as when more people stand by and witness an event, the less likely they are to call for help. “I think people just aren’t aware of when to intervene and don’t know what to do about it,” Wend said. She said people worry about endangering themselves or think they cannot do anything to help. “When in doubt, trust your gut instinct,” Wend said. “If you think you need to intervene, you probably should.” Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.
By Rachel Rodgers Administration Editor
Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment in a series of articles about public pensions in Illinois as the General Assembly grapples with a budget crisis. As Illinois ranks 50th in the nation with adequately funding public pensions, two professors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created a pension-reform proposal suggesting a hybrid retirement system. Robert Rich, a professor and the director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, and Jeffrey Brown, a finance professor and the director of the Center for Business and Public Policy, explained their proposal on pension reform during a forum Monday to a crowd of about 50 faculty, staff and annuitants. The pension forum was the second of three scheduled by the Council on University Planning and Budget. President Bill Perry said the state pension issue facing employees breaks the triangle of trust between the employee, employer and the state. The proposal of a hybrid system serves as a tool to start discussion with a problem that would affect the entire
university, he said. “If you break one side of that triangle, then it is not going to support anything,” Perry said. “For those who put in their blood, sweat, toil and tears, pension provides a floor of compensation for them.” The hybrid system proposed by Brown and Rich, like those in Rhode Island and Georgia, would combine pieces of the defined benefit and defined contribution systems. One of the hybrid suggestions is providing a 1.5-percent replacement rate for each year of service instead of 2.2 percent, which would be a one-third reduction to generate cost savings for the state. This system would rely on contributions from the employee and the employer, being the university. Brown said they do not expect the General Assembly to wholly adopt their proposal, but their hope is to influence the debate. “I really think we are in the worst of all worlds right now in the situation where the state has honored up to pay for all of these benefits, but there is so much political risk and uncertainty around it that those promises are not credible right now,” Brown said. REFORM,page 5