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The Eastern football team takes on Northern Illinois Saturday in Dekalb in a battle of undefeated teams. Page 7
views of this weekend’s upcoming events, including the Emmy Awards. Page 1B
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Friday, Sept. 20, 2013
VOL. 98 | ISSUE 25
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
C AMPUS | ADMINISTR ATION
Perry, Lord react to ‘Barn Party’ shooting, aftermath By Seth Schroeder & Bob Galuski Editor-in-Chief & News Editor @DEN_News The task force currently evaluating safety policies for campus events will have recommendations by next Wednesday, and will be acted on by next Thursday, President Bill Perry said. After the policy changes have been enacted, Perry said all scheduled campus events will be able to continue, though they may have to make adjustments. Dan Nadler, the vice president for
student affairs, sent out an email Tuesday informing various RSOs about the suspension of parties at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union until the conclusion of the investigation. Nadler said he was busy with handling the off-campus event, but recommended speaking to Pat Early, the assistant vice president of communications, marketing and brand strategies. Early said the email originally sent out by Nadler should have included all on-campus locations being suspended, and said he did not know why the orig-
inal email only specified the Union. Perry said only one event was canceled and was rescheduled because of the suspension: a performance by dance group Rhythm and Xtacy. He said the group’s adviser was consulted ahead of time. In an email sent out Thursday addressing the “Barn Party” shooting that resulted in the suspension, Perry said student safety is Eastern’s highest priority. “Concern about safety is one of the reasons we opted to have a brief pause in late-night events on campus,” Per-
ry said in the email. “That pause is designed to give us time to re-examine our existing policies and determine whether any additional measures are required to enhance safety.” The safety policy revisions would mostly affect on-campus events, though the “Barn Party” was an off-campus event. Perry said on-campus parties generally have not had many safety concerns, but they would like to review the policies put in place nonetheless. Regardless if an Eastern event is planned on-or-off campus both Perry
and Blair Lord, the vice president for academic affairs, said students have to make the administration aware of what they are planning through the student affairs office. Neither specified if the administration knew of the “Barn Party” before it happened. Perry said the task force, led by Dan Nadler, the vice president for student affairs, would look at the safety policies at other universities for ideas, though they will only adopt ones that fit Eastern’s culture and student body. SHOOTING, page 5
Comedic relief
C ampus | REAC TION
Students protest party suspensions By Bob Galuski News Editor @DEN_News Sitting in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union food court, dressed in a black shirt, not buying anything, LaJuan Berry said she was in support of the Union boycott Thursday. The boycott and sit-in at the Union was started after an email sent out by Dan Nadler, the vice president for student affairs, stated all late-night parties at the Union were suspended until after the investigation of the “Barn Party” shooting. In the email, Nadler only specified parties at the Union as being placed under suspension. However Pat Early, the assistant vice president of communications, marketing and brand strategies, said the email should have included any oncampus party. Berry, a member of the NAACP, said she was not involved with the boycott because of the email, but because of the atmosphere she has experienced since coming to Eastern. “People have tried to throw eggs at me, people have pulled over and called me all types of racial slurs, and I feel like all of these events we’re having – we’ve had town hall meetings, we wrote letters, I’ve wrote plenty of letters to President Perry and I’ve never gotten a reply, so if they’re not going to listen to me, I’m going to make a stand,” she said. “I’m not going to continue to be voiceless.” The idea to wear black and not buy anything from the Union circulated around social media websites, such as Instagram, which is how Berry, a junior health studies major, found out about it. Berry stressed that her participation in the boycott and sit-in did not stem because of the suspension of Union parties. “It was never about the parties – it was more so about what was being said about the AfricanAmerican community as a whole, because a lot of the students don’t do things,” she said. She pointed out that the two people the Charleston Police Department have arrested in connection to the “Barn Party” shooting did not attend Eastern, but were merely visiting. Sean Copeland contributed to this article. Bob Galuski can be reached at 581-2812 or rggaluski@eiu.edu. For the in-depth version of this article go to:
dailyeasternnews.com
Chynna Miller | The Daily Eastern Ne ws
Comedian Sean Larkin jokes about the effects of tattoos during his show in the 7th Street Underground Thursday. Larkin joked that women with obscene phrases tattooed on their bodies would make for interesting conversations with their future grandchildren.
C AMPUS | SERIES
Firm seeks to increase enrollment
By Rebecca Ayers Staff Editor @DEN_News Editor’s Note: The following is part of an ongoing series regarding enrollment at Eastern. The Strategic Enrollment Plan, formulated by Noel-Fitz, a corporation of higher education consultants, will end in three years, with the goal being to raise enrollment to its institutional capacity of 11,800. Mary Herrington-Perry, the vice president for academic affairs, said the combined efforts of Noel-Fitz and outreach programs have slowly helped alleviate Eastern’s sluggish enrollment. A division of this program is Financial Aid Allocation and Scholarship
Development. In the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school year, more than $2.3 million was spent on merit scholarships to help improve yield and increase students’ academic profile. The success of this program can be credited to additional scholarship funding along with technology, Herrington-Perry said. Adaptations of the admissions website have made it easier for students to navigate scholarships, she added. Herrington-Perry commented that a large reason enrollment is down is because of the fact that students are unable to afford tuition. The implementations of additional scholarships and technologies have given students easier access to knowl-
edge of financial aid. The MyEIU Prospect Relationship Management system allows the enrollment program to determine key influences in student’s admissions progress, and boasts a predictive modeling system that is 92 percent accurate in determining how likely students are to enroll at Eastern. However, a pertinent problem, Herrington-Perry said is the competition between other state universities. Eastern’s largest competitors include Illinois State University, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Southern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and University of Illinois-Chicago. “We have made an amazing amount of progress in 18 months,” Herrington-Perry said in regards to
the seven-step program. Out of all incoming students accepted by Eastern, 500 students chose to attend other universities instead. Until this year, most students who were accepted at Eastern but did not attend the university chose instead to enroll at Illinois State University, Eastern’s largest competitor for incoming students, Herrington-Perry said. Herrington-Perry said she visits to Eastern’s campus are often a key influence in bringing students to the university. She also said the largest gatherings of prospective students occur at open houses. “Interacting with faculty and other students, it becomes much more personal,” Herrington-Perry said. ENROLLMENT, page 5