LOOKING AHEAD APPLYING FOR AUTHORITY The Eastern women’s basketball team looks to Students can apply for Resident Assitant positions for define what type of team they will be during the coming season Page 8
the Fall 2014 semester on the Housing page of Eastern’s website by 4:30 p.m. Jan. 17. Page 3
Dai ly Eastern News
THE
WWW.DAILYEASTERNNEWS.COM
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013
VOL. 98 | ISSUE 56
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
Crafting his own ‘Canterbury Tale’
Council to review ‘Barn Party’ settlement L. D. & B. Investments Inc. to be placed on probation By Michael Spencer City Editor | @tmskeeper
K atie Smith | The Daily Eastern Ne ws
English professor Dr. David Raybin will travel to England in the upcoming summer to give a four-week sseminar on Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales.” The trip will include a two-day trip to Canterbury to visit sites from the story.
Professor to embark on Chaucerian journey By: Katie Smith Photo Editor | @DEN_News David Raybin’s journey starts at an airport in Kent, Ohio. His story is one that can be packed neatly – although admittedly – last minute, into a suitcase headed for London. In July Raybin, an English professor and editor of The Chaucer Review, will travel roughly 4,080 miles reliving the stories and landscapes of Geoffrey Chaucer’s magnum opus, “The Canterbury Tales.” The book, which tells the story of 29 pilgrims’ journey from Southwark to the shrine of the
martyr Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury, is not far off from the $118,000 trip Raybin has planned. He and 16 strangers will travel abroad, making stops at medieval landmarks, including Chaucer’s birthplace and site of death. Although the trip will consist of 17 three-hour morning seminars, for two days the group will embark on their own Chaucer-esque journey to a Canterbury Cathedral, Raybin said. “We’ll also take a day trip to Oxford to visit a medieval university town where one of Chaucer’s tales is set and a two-day trip to Canterbury that allows us to fol-
low the route of Chaucer’s pilgrims and visit the magnificent cathedral that is the object of their journey,” he said. Raybin said the passion he has for his research fuels his journey. “That’s easy: Chaucer is my favorite poet,” he said. The author has often been cited as the finest non-dramatic poet in English literature, Raybin added. The book’s appeal is in the tales’ range from uproariously funny to tremendously moving, Raybin said. Raybin thinks this is why the summer seminar received applications from about 150 schoolteachers.
Of those 150, Raybin said 16 will be chosen to attend. Getting to know the group of travelers is of no concern to Raybin, who has been leading similar seminars since 1998. “Our previous seminars have included many fantastic people,” Raybin said. “I see no reason to expect next summer’s group to be any different.” Beyond his enthusiasm for this literary exploration, is the fear of dealing with stress of shutdowns on travel days and other unexpected complications.
CANTERBURY, page 5
Eastern to launch online annual report By Robert Downen Administration Editor | @DEN_NEWS The university will make an interactive annual report public on its website later this week. The report, which has been in the works since early this year, will act as a “one-stop shop” for those interested in learning about the university, utilizing a combination of interactive media and digital content to concisely present basic information about Eastern to the public. President Bill Perry said this year will be the first time to his knowl-
edge that Eastern has conducted a comprehensive report of activity on campus and made it available for public viewing. “It hasn’t normally been the tradition at Eastern Illinois to do annual reports, but I thought it would be a reasonable thing to start doing,” Perry said. The choice to go digital, Perry said, was fairly obvious, as moving away from paper-based reports not only allows for wider distribution and fewer technical costs, but allows for the hosting of much newer forms of content and media. By integrating new media con-
tent such as videos, pictures and testimonials from students and faculty, Perry said he hoped to create a more inviting and engaging experience, with most of the site focusing on academic and leadership opportunities on Eastern’s campus. “We wanted it to fit around the history of the institution and five of the six themes in our strategic plan,” he said. Perry noted the only criterion not accessible on the site, “Marketing and Communication,” would already be fulfilled by the mere existence of the report. “Through the report, within 15
or 20 minutes, you can get a good feel for the university’s history and mission,” Perry said. Currently, the site hosts information on a range of different opportunities and programs at Eastern, notably with a focus on the university’s financial sustainability, affordability, diversity and new programs like the Center for Clean Energy Research and Education. Under each section, there will be some form of testimonial from a student or staff member.
ONLINE, page 5
The Charleston City Council will meet Tuesday to review a resolution regarding a settlement agreement between the city and L.D. & B. Investments, Inc., the group that rented the property to Phi Beta Sigma fraternity for the “Barn Party.” The party at L.D. & B.’s property took place in the late evening Sept. 14 and into the early morning hours of Sept. 15. The gathering turned violent when shots were fired, forcing the city to dispatch police, ambulances and fire service personnel to the property. The city of Charleston claims renting the property for the event was a violation of city ordinances and that it was the responsibility of L.D. & B. to make sure the property was not used for such a large party, Mayor Larry Rennels said. “If you have a building that is intended to be a warehouse, it does not have to be built to the same standards as a building that is going to have a large party in it,” Rennels said. In order to avoid costly litigation, the property owner and the city have reached a settlement agreement of $3183, enough to cover a moderate fine and the legal expenses incurred by the city during preparation of court documents. Additionally, the resolution states that the property owner will be placed on a one-year probationary period wherein the company will be required to produce another similar fine if another ordinance violation occurs at the property. By approving the settlement, the city will agree to dismiss all of the pending court actions against L.D. & B. for the events surrounding the “Barn Party.” Rennels said he was confident that there would be little chance of businesses being repeat offenders because of the city’s reaction to the incident. “We expect that there won’t be something like this that will happen again. The fact that this has occurred, and as public as it has been, I believe that most people are now a lot more sensitive to the issue than they were in the past and I suspect that will go a long way in preventing it from happening,” he said. Additionally, the council will meet to approve three separate resolutions to approve a mutual aid agreement that will allow several private ambulance companies to serve the city of Charleston in the event that the city’s ambulances are all otherwise engaged. Among the other items to be examined are the approvals of several road closures for the running of Eastern’s Nearly Naked Mile. Additionally, the council will decide whether or not to approve the placement of two stop signs at the intersections of Cortland Drive and Lover’s Lane and the intersection of University Drive and Sunnydale Drive. Michael Spencer can be reached at 581-2812 or at tmspencer2@eiu.edu.