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Instructor researches influence of ancient Egyptians on photography
OC TOBER 18, 2011 V O LU M E 9 6 | N o. 1 3 4
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. D A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M T WIT TER.COM/DENNE WS
Panthers make 3-set comeback Page 8
Page 3 CORONATION
CIT Y COUNCIL
SAE wins 4th consecutive year Aaron Wiessing wins King; Timery Jackson crowned Queen
Council to vote on rental ordinance By Sara Hall City Editor
By Samantha McDaniel Activities Editor
For the fourth year in a row, a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity has won the title of Homecoming King. Aaron Wiessing, a senior management information systems major and a member of SAE fraternity, was crowned king Monday at the Homecoming coronation. Wiessing said it was an amazing experience. “To come here where there are thousands of students to run against and to win is incredible,” Wiessing said. For a second year in a row, a member of the Black Student Union w o n t h e t i t l e o f Ho m e c o m i n g Queen. Timery Jackson, a senior elementary education major and a member of the BSU, was crowned the 2011 Homecoming Queen. “I was just like ‘Wow,’” Jackson said. “I didn’t realize people would like me enough to vote for me.” Out of 13 pairs of candidates for king and queen, Wiessing and Jackson were crowned because they had the most points. Wiessing said he has become involved on campus since attending Eastern and believes that helped set him apart from other candidates. “I join as many organizations as I can and get different experiences,” Wiessing said. “I reach out to different groups. Having that knowledge base of the campus and just having those experiences that I could talk about during the interview just set me aside.”
DANNY DAMIANI | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Aaron Wiessing, a senior management information systems major, stands with Timery Jackson, a senior education major, after they were chosen as 2011 EIU homecoming king and queen Monday during Coronation in Mcafee Gym.
Jackson said she believes she did a good job on her applications and interview. She also said she is active on campus and feels like a lot of people know who she is. “I think everyone did well,” Jackson said. “I would say my personality and my work on and off campus set me aside.” Jackson’s little sister, Imani Muhammad said she is happy her big sister won. The Homecoming Prince and Princess were also crowned at the coronation. Semhal Hailu, a sophomore biological sciences major and a member of the African Student Association, was crowned the Homecoming Princess and David Sims, a senior kinesiology and sports studies major and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, was crowned Homecoming Prince. Hailu said she felt her story is
TRIAL
what set her apart from the other princess candidates. When Hailu was 9 years old she came to the United States and won a visa lottery. A visa lottery is when a person fills out a form and they are then entered into a system. Through that system at random a person is drawn and given the choice to be able to come to the United States. She said she took advantage of the opportunities she has received at Eastern. Hailu said she has made a lot of connections with people on campus, had a lot of support and could not have won without their help. Sims said he believe he won because he exemplified the qualities the judges were looking for. He said he is involved on campus and likes to help students and believe the students connected with that. All the winners said students
who run for Homecoming court next year should be more involved on campus and should try to better connect with the students. In order to receive points toward a Homecoming court position students, faculty and staff vote on the nominees, and each vote counts as a point for that candidate. Then each candidate has an interview where judges give points based on answers a nominee gives to different questions. Wiessing said he cannot wait to celebrate the rest of Homecoming week. Jackson said she is grateful to have been nominated and even more grateful to win. “I’ll represent Eastern to the fullest,” Jackson said. “Go Big Blue!” Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.
The City Council will vote at today’s meeting on an ordinance to allow residential rental management offices in residential areas. Mayor John Inyart said this measure will allow landlords to set up office buildings in any unrented spaces in their rental complex. Inyart said he views this measure to be positive because it will increase landlords’ availability and allow for better communication to tenants. “This would improve the landlord’s service and improve the property and lives of the tenants,” he said. “As long as it wasn’t used to disturb tenants or residents, it could actually improve services for tenants and neighbors.” Inyart said landlords will still have to apply for a conditional use permit issued by the zoning board with the council’s approval. “We want to know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it,” he said. “It’s just an extra step that property owners need to ensure the use that they have in mind for property is allowed.” The council will also vote on an ordinance to amend building regulations of the Charleston City Code. Charleston is currently operating under 2003 building codes. The council proposed at the Oct. 4 meeting to update one and two family residential homes to 2006 codes and all other buildings to 2009 codes. Inyart said the ordinance, which will affect only new buildings being built, was put on file after the Oct. 4 meeting for public inspection, but so far he has heard no response from the community. COUNCIL, page 5
VISION CONFERENCE PHASE
Child pornography Strategic Planning enters new phase trial extended By Amy Wywialowski Staff Reporter
By Doug T. Graham Staff Reporter
The trial of a university employee charged with child pornography was extended at least another two months by a Coles County judge Monday morning. Eric Knuth, an Information Technology Services employee, appeared in court Monday morning with his attorney, Chris Wetzel. Wetzel told Judge James Glenn the defense was in talks with an expert witness for the case. The date of the case’s 10th pretrial hearing is Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. According to the case record at
the circuit clerk’s office, Knuth is charged with displaying an image of child pornography on a laptop in December 2008. The record states: “(Knuth) displayed on an Apple MacBook Air an image of two girls (Knuth) knew or reasonably should have known to be under the age of 18...depicting the unclothed genitals and partially developed breasts of the girls.” Knuth’s case was first brought before a Coles County judge in November 2010. Doug T. Graham can be reached at 581-2812 or dtgraham@eiu.edu.
The Collaborative Strategic Planning process, which started in October 2011 has recently entered its fourth of five phases known as the Vision Conference phase. William Weber, vice president for business affairs, is a co-chair of the steering committee for the Strategic Planning process. “In this phase we are trying to create a shared goal for Eastern and come to a general agreement what we want it to look like in five years,” Weber said. He said after forming goals, they are now asking the questions of what changes need to made and what they would look like.
In order to form this plan, the steering committee held a day-long conference on Sept. 27. Weber said there were 50 to 60 people at the daylong conference along with the steering committee, and they also invited a wide assortment of people who will be affected by this plan. He said these people included: two members of the board of trustees, students, parents and alumni. It also included local business leaders including the presidents of First Midwest Bank and Trust, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System and Lakeland College as well as local school officials and the chamber of commerce members. “I was really impressed by the interest of the community members in Eastern’s success,” Weber said. The conference was broken into
three parts including: Establishing Shared Knowledge, the stakeholders’ review and the shared vision part that pulled the conference together, he said. At the conference five to six goals were generated to correspond to the six original themes created in the previous phase. After the conference, Weber and fellow steering committee members used the goals to craft a vision statement which is currently in the drafting process and is available in rough form online, he said. The committee hosted four open sessions to get feedback on the process. Weber said he will present the feedback to members of the Council for University Budget and Planning on Friday to get their feedback as well. PHASE, page 5