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FEBRUARY 13, 2012 V O LU M E 9 6 | N o. 1 9 1
EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILL. DENNE WS.COM T WIT TER.COM/DENNE WS
53rd jazz festival entertains community
OT loss ends perfect OVC record
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C AMPUS
‘Vagina Monlogues’ inspires, empowers Performance excites, attracts large audience By Robyn Dexter Campus Editor
Women expressed stories of sadness, pain and humor while reading sections of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” The Vagina Monologues were performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Eastern in conjunction with V-Day, a large-scale benefit to educate and change attitudes of violence against women worldwide. The monologues themselves are part of Ensler's Tony-award-winning book, “The Vagina Monologues” and included short stories and facts performed by women of the Eastern and Charleston community. In the introduction to the performance, Marjorie Hanft, a psychology professor, told how more than 200 women were part of the compilation that has become “The Vagina Monologues.” Some of these women, Hanft said, were shy and reluctant to share their stories. Others were outright and eager to speak.
The monologues included 16 sections performed by members of the cast that ranged from humorous monologues to sad statistics. Jennifer Clinton, a junior accounting major and a member of the cast of the monologues, said the experience has been awesome. “I didn’t realize how funny, powerful and inspiring the show could be,” she said. Clinton said she was glad she got to be a part of the show. Jenny Paul, of Mattoon, said she got involved in the show when she found out her friend was directing it. She said her experience with the show has been great and she has gotten very close with the other women performers. Angie Hunt, the director of “The Vagina Monologues” and a member of HOPE of East Central Illinois, a non-profit domestic violence advocacy organization, said this was her sixth production of the Vagina Monologues she has been involved in. “This has all been so meaningful and so powerful,” she said. “It means a lot that all these people come together and care about these issues like we do.” Hunt said she is not only a victim’s advocate, but is a survivor herself. “It’s just been a wonderful and
ROBYN DEX TER | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Kelly Knox, a junior English major, performs the monologue "The Woman Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy" as a part of "The Vagina Monologues" Saturday in the atrium of the Tarble Arts Center. The monolgues were a part of V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls.
empowering experience,” she said. Jennifer Hindes, a senior English major and the president of the Women’s Empowerment League, said her experience with “The Vagina Monologues” gave her a sense
STUDENT LIFE
of community. She said she had been to the show before, but that this was her first year actually performing. “It was about creating a community of women standing togeth-
er about issues such as dating violence, sexual assault and domestic violence,” Hindes said. Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.
COUNCIL ON UNIVERSIT Y PL ANNING AND BUDGET
Debit cards now accepted CUPB to implement at University food court pension forums Students happy with new option for payment By: Jaime Lopez Staff Reporter
Daniel Lechman was incredibly “happy and relieved” on Thursday when the cashier in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union said he could pay for his meal with a debit card. “I left my panther card in my room, and had no way to pay for my meal, but the cashier told me I could use my debit card to pay for the food,” said Lechman, freshman pre-Business finance major. “It was a relief.” The student cafeteria in the union and the Java B&B started accepting debit cards this past week. Now, students have four different methods of payment in the cafeteria: cash, chip, dining dollars and debit cards. Mark Hudson, director of Uni-
Perry presents new hybrid system for reform
“Students only see the transaction and should be aware that we are still in the implementation phase.”
By Rachel Rodgers Administration Editor
Mark Hudson, director of University Housing and Dining Services
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment in a series of pension articles.
versity Housing and Dining Services, said Student Senate’s proposal for another method of payment in the union was pitched a year and a half ago. Though students can pay with their debit cards, the computers monitoring the transactions students make have had to adapt to the new form of payment and employees are striving to make sure the systems work efficiently. “Students only see the transaction and should be aware that we are still in the implementation phase,” Hudson said. Hudson said the cafeteria’s traffic of customers fluctuates during lunch hours, noon to 3 p.m. The implementation of debit cards
might help reduce long lines because students can avoid looking through wallets for cash and change. Students taking money out of the ATMs do not have to go through so much trouble to pay for a meal in the union or the java, Hudson said. Paying with debit cards provides students with another method of payment, but it should be noted that using debit cards requires a transaction fee, whereas; a panther card loaded with dining dollars does not, Hudson said. “I encourage students to continue using dining dollars because students can still save money,” Hudson said. DEBIT CARDS, page 5
The Council on University Planning and Budget moved to implement pension discussion forums to address encroaching issues like Senate Bill 512, which proposes to require state workers to pay more toward retirement. Illinois ranks worst in the nation in regards to adequately financing public pensions, and the state faces an estimated $85 billion in unfunded pension supply. According to state law, Illinois must fund at least 90 percent of pension systems by 2045. President Bill Perry presented the Council on University Planning and Budget with the topic of developing a hybrid system for pension reform where both employees and employers would make contributions toward retirement. “We need to let people know that this is serious business, and we need to talk
about it,” Perry said. Perry distributed the document “Fiscal Sustainability and Retirement Security: A Reform Proposal for the Illinois State Universities Retirement System” to the council members as a tool to prompt discussion with faculty and staff in the university. The document was written by University of Illinois’s Jeffrey Brown, director of the Center for Business and Public Policy, and Robert Rich, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “(The document) provides a rational look at our situation referring to certain kinds of solutions that are being developed nationwide about hybrid-type systems,” Perry said. Blair Lord, the provost and the vice president for academic affairs, said he met with legislative leaders who provided a history of the pension situation and suggested that universities should become a partner in the reform. “The situation has reached a point where it is not sustainable, and something must be done to change the game for the future,” Lord said. “There are a lot of moving parts right now, and this document serves as a centerpiece for the conversation.” PENSION, page 5