The Daily Egyptian - SIU Special Edition

THE

Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916.

DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM APRIL 21, 2021 VOL. 104, ISSUE 14

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About Us The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale on a weekly basis. Fall and spring semester editions run every Wednesday. Free copies are distributed in the Carbondale, Carterville, and Springfield communities. The Daily Egyptian can be found at www. dailyegyptian.com or on the new Daily Egyptian app!

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Chancellor Lane and hope for SIU’s future

Keaton Yates | @keatsians

Over the past eight months, Chancellor Austin Lane has conducted a listening and learning tour, which was where Lane met with the SIU community to learn more about what SIU was excelling at and what could be improved.

“As you can imagine, I got the good, the bad and the ugly,” Lane said. “I ended up meeting with about 105 groups [...] The idea was to create a shared vision.”

Lane discovered the areas SIU was more passionate about were student engagement, research innovation, sustainability and partnerships.

“It came out loud and clear among the groups I talked to about how important it is for us to have an environment that is filled with diversity and equity and inclusion so all can thrive,” Lane said.

Along with SIU system President Dan Mahony, Lane has hosted “Conversations of Understanding,” diversity initiatives encouraging the SIU community to come together

to discuss systemic racism, issues facing the LGBTQ community and to discuss solutions.

SIU has been struggling with an enrollment decline for a few years now, but its future became even more uncertain in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic emerged.

Back in the fall due to COVID-19, Lane said the school was worried about going completely online because of the chances of students pausing their studies or not wanting to take certain classes because of remote learning.

Lane said he expected enrollment to decline around ten percent, but it turned out only to decrease by two percent. Since last spring, SIU has maintained 90 percent retention.

Amanda Sutton, interim director of undergraduate admissions, said despite the challenges with COVID-19, the admissions team and all of faculty and staff across campus have been innovative and creative when it comes to interacting

with students.

There are currently discussions about what the university may look like post-COVID-19, but admissions haven’t completely decided what the plan is.

Recruiters have been attending virtual college fairs and have been meeting with new students individually, but they have started to prepare for in-person visits. SIU has also been boosting social media to show new students what the school has to offer.

“There is value in some of the virtual opportunities we offer in a post-COVID world,” Sutton said. “I think the more we can be adaptable and creative in how we present content and answer student questions, I think that’ll only add to successes.”

Staff reporter Keaton Yates can be reached by email at kyates@ dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @ keatsians.

Buckminster Fuller: Southern’s innovator and inventor

Jeremy Brown

This story was originally published on March 4, 2019.

Richard Buckminster Fuller was the inventor of the geodesic dome and a professor at SIU from 1959 to 1970.

Fuller’s geodesic dome is a structurally secure sphere built out of equilateral triangles. This design has been used in various fields of study including architecture, astronomy and counterintelligence.

His other inventions included the Dymaxion car, a progenitor to a possible “Omni-Medium Transport” which could traverse land, air and water.

Another was the Dymaxion house, a prototype building would have a rotating structure on top of the house. In theory, the structure would rotate around a central mast and have natural wind for cooling and air circulation.

“In April 1960 Buckminster Fuller assembled his geodesic dome home in Carbondale, Illinois and lived in it with his wife Anne until 1971,” according to the RBF Dome Home website. “Considered to be one of the strongest and most efficient structures known to humankind, the geodesic dome is Buckminster Fuller’s most enduring legacy.”

Fuller patented the dome home in 1954 as a solution to humanity’s need for safe, affordable and accessible housing, according to the site. “This original dome home was constructed by Pease Homes, a company who licensed Fuller’s 1954 patent in hopes

of stimulating a dome home construction boom.”

He was born July 12, 1895 in Milton, Massachusetts. He attend Harvard University and was affiliated with the Adams House, a dormitory designed to provide high-end accommodations for wealthy Harvard undergraduates.

He was expelled for spending all his money partying with a vaudeville troupe.

Later readmitted, Fuller got expelled again due to irresponsibility and a lack of interest. He said once he was a nonconforming misfit in the fraternity, according to Martin Pawley’s book titled ‘Buckminster Fuller.’

Fuller was a professor in the Art and Design department at SIU from 1959 to 1971.

“Bucky is a unique figure in Carbondale history, and a grandfather of the green movement,” according to the site. “He produced some of his most important work during his time as a distinguished University Professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1959 to 1971.”

While a professor at Southern, Fuller made the cover of Time Magazine and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Additionally, during his twelve years in Carbondale he produced some of his most influential writing; more than a quarter of his 23 patents and was bestowed of nearly half his 48 honorary doctorates.

He would travel constantly because of his global popularity.

It is said he wore three watches

simultaneously at any given time– one for his office in Carbondale, one for whatever timezone he was in and one for whatever timezone he was going to next.

During his tenure at SIU, Fuller’s geodesic domes were used to house radars that detected possible Soviet bombings known as the Distant Early Warning line.

The FBI knew of Fuller’s involvement in the project, and kept a dossier on Fuller because of his possible Soviet connections.

According to the FBI file on Fuller, an official from the American Soviet Science Society released a membership list from October 1946 which had Fuller’s name on it and categorized him in mathematics and engineering.

Fuller’s connection to the DEW Line and an older Russian science society was not the only reason the FBI kept tabs on him. They also monitored his time with an SIU student in 1965, whose name was redacted in the files, because the student was a suspected Soviet agent.

The FBI file said Fuller was very cooperative with federal agents about his contact with the suspected agent. “[REDACTED] planned to contact Fuller,” the FBI file said. “[Fuller] volunteered information concerning his contact not only with [REDACTED] but with other Soviets over a period of years.”

While there were no details of an apprehension of the suspected Soviet, Fuller was never targeted as an enemy of the state.

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A History of SIU’s relationship with the government

Danny Connolly | @DConnollyTV

SIU’s decline is partially political in nature with rapidly declining enrollment, a staff exodus, a lack of funding and over two years of imbalanced budgets to blame.

As a public university, SIU is a part of the government, its funding, programs and the people who run it have been a political talking point for both parties.

A major division between SIU and other institutions of higher learning and the Illinois government was the state budget impasse between fiscal years 2015 and 2017.

Under Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, the budget was balanced and included a partial temporary income tax hike. His opponent, Republican Bruce Rauner, campaigned heavily on levying taxes and won the Nov. 2014 gubernatorial race.

Governor Rauner, along with former governor Jim Edgar, was invited to be the keynote speaker at SIU’s spring 2015 graduation ceremony. Over 2,700 people signed a petition on change.org to replace Governor Rauner with a different keynote speaker for commencement after his $44 million cut from SIU Carbondale’s budget.

“How can anyone be expected to celebrate progress when our keynote speaker is someone who only intends to set us back?” Emily Neal, the creator of the petition, wrote.

Rauner announced at his first state of the state a “Turnaround Agenda,” a pro-business proposal aimed to increase jobs across the state, freeze property taxes and enact term limits.

The democratic legislature, led by Illinois Speaker of the House Mike

“I’m so proud to see the SIU system on the rise. After years of neglect, my administration is stabilizing higher education so all can succeed.”

- JB Pritzker Illinois governor

Madigan, opposed the turnaround agenda and wanted to increase taxes.

The legislature passed budget bills before the fiscal year deadline in June 2015. Rauner vetoed nearly all the bills, including the ones funding higher education.

“Students need to realize how much our university does receive from the state of Illinois,” Adrian Miller, the SIU student trustee for the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 academic year, said in a 2014 article for the DE. While a formal budget wasn’t approved, in April 2016, Governor Rauner signed into law a higher education funding bill that only gave 34% of the funding marked for education.

As reported by the DE, for FY 2016, SIU received $58 million from the stopgap bill. According to a 2016 article from the Daily Egyptian, then-SIU President Randy Dunn was expecting $140 million more from the state.

Enrollment for Fall 2016 dipped below 16,000 students for the first time in 50 years a seven and a half percent decrease from Fall 2015. As reported in the DE, then-Chancellor Brad Cowell attributed one of the factors of the enrollment decrease to the budget crisis.

The Illinois House overrode Rauner’s veto of the House’s budget on July 6, 2017, ending the stalemate and providing funding for state services again.

Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has not yet had issues negotiating a budget with the Illinois state legislature.

Pritzker has visited the SIU campus four times so far in his term; once in August 2019 for a political breakfast, once in Jan. 2020 to unveil new plans for the Communications Building, once in Feb. 2020 to announce a DCFS facility and once in August 2020 to talk about Jackson County’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m so proud to see the SIU system on the rise,” Pritzker said in Feb. 2020. “After years of neglect, my administration is stabilizing higher education so all can succeed.”

Some state officials who currently serve in the state government who graduated from SIU include Rep Will Davis of the 30th district and Illinois’s director of agriculture Jerry Costello II. A variety of presidents have visited SIU’s campus. Most of them have visited for their campaign, including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy,

Richard Nixon for his unsuccessful campaign in 1960, Jimmy Carter, George Bush as vice president for Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.

Clinton spoke at SIU outside Pulliam Hall on Sep. 11, 1995 for a national speech about federal student loans and urged Congress to not cut funding for higher education. He credited then-Illinois senator and Makanda native Paul Simon for passing federal student loans.

“We have worked hard in the last 2 and a half years to expand scholarships like Pell grants for deserving students, and we have worked very very hard on the direct loan initiative,” Clinton said. “This year, I learned at this campus, you went to the direct loan program and 11,000 students got direct college loans. And they didn’t have to spend so many hours filling out forms or a day waiting in line at the bursar’s office this year because the program works.”

Then Illinois Senator Barack Obama was the keynote speaker at SIU’s Agricultural Innovation Day on April 23, 2005, and highlighted their 50 year anniversary and the advancements the School of Agriculture made in the half-century.

“The work you’re doing here not only has the potential to improve the

lives of people in Illinois and across the world; it offers the opportunity to develop new ideas that will lead to new jobs and a new competitive edge for America in the 21st century,” Obama said to students at the event.

“This is the way we can win in the global economy, and here at this school in this Illinois small town, you’re helping us get there.”

Other prominent political figures who visited campus include president William Howard Taft, vice-president Adlai Stevenson, three-time presidential candidate and secretary of state William Jennings Brown, former long-term senator of Massachusetts Ted Kennedy, and Cheryl Brown Henderson and John Stokes, two plaintiffs in Brown v.

Board of Education, the Supreme Court case which declared segregation unconstitutional.

Some government officials who earned a degree from SIU include representative for Illinois’s 12th district William Enyart, former ambassador to the United Nations Donald McHenry, Illinois congressman and SIU president Glenn Poshard.

Staff reporter Danny Connolly can be reached at dconnolly@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @DConnollyTV

Dick Gregory: Paving the way for racial equality Jeremy Brown

This story was originally published on March 4, 2019.

“I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that.” -Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory was a standup comedian, civil rights activist and SIU alumnus. He became a breakout hit in the 1960s for his comedy sets which tackled racism and bigotry repeatedly.

Carbondale’s history of discrimination and segregation was changed partly because of Gregory’s leadership with other SIU black students.

Setting records with the fastest mile times in the country, Gregory was offered scholarships to various universities, choosing SIUC in 1952.

Gregory stood against the white-only policy found in the Outstanding Athlete Award at the university and the segregated seating at Carbondale’s only movie theater.

He then became the first Black student to receive the Outstanding Athlete Award in 1953, the same year segregated seating at Carbondale’s movie theater came to an end.

His role as activist began in 1951 when he was denied the Missouri State Mile Championship Title because he was Black.

“Baseball is a great sport for my people; it’s the only sport in the world in which a negro can shake a stick at a white man and not start a riot.”

- Dick Gregory Comedian, civil rights activist

His time at SIU was put on hold when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954.

His commanding officer encouraged him to pursue comedy. During his time in service he entered and won several talent shows for his comedy.

When Gregory returned to SIU after being discharged, he chose to drop out because he felt the university wanted him there for the wrong reasons. “[SIU] didn’t want me to study, they wanted me to run,” Gregory said according

to African Americans in the Performing Arts

by Steven Otfinoski.

Gregory was one of the first Black comedians to break into the white audience.

Much of his comedy was current-events based and questioned the way society operated. Nothing from segregation to baseball was off-limits.

“Baseball is a great sport for my people; it’s the only sport in the world in which a negro can shake a stick at a white man and not start a riot,” Gregory said in an early 1960s routine.

Gregory attributed his success in mainstream comedy with white and Black audiences when Hugh Hefner discovered him in Roberts Show Bar in Chicago. He said once there hadn’t yet been a healthy race joke yet in America.

“They were all derogatory to one race or another,” Gregory said. “[I] gave the country a new way out, healthy racial jokes.”

During the 1960s Gregory was also a civil rights activist. He was in Selma, Alabama on “Freedom Day” on Oct. 7, 1963. Along with campaigning for African American rights, Gregory was a Native American activist and feminist.

Gregory also ran for the presidency in 1968. In an interview with David Letterman

in 1984, Gregory said he got a million and a half votes. He said it was a fine experience, and at the time told secret service agents he didn’t want them.

“I told them I didn’t want them,” Gregory said. “They’ve been around everybody who get hit.”

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Southern Illinois University President Delyte W. Morris at his desk in the inner office of the President's Office when it was located in Shryock Auditorium. This is during his first year as President of SIU. Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Delyte Morris Era: SIU’s Thriving History

Elena Schauwecker | eschauwecker@dailyegyptian.com

The 1950s and 1960s were a thriving era for SIU. Under the direction of Delyte Morris, one of the most productive presidents in SIU’s history, the school’s enrollment skyrocketed, new additions were rapidly constructed and equality was heavily advocated.

For many, the mid-twentieth century is a nostalgic time. Patricia McGill, an alumnus who graduated from SIU with an English degree in 1967, said she has plenty of happy and wholesome memories, from a grilled cheese stand that sold sandwiches for 28 cents to dressing up on Sunday nights to eat at Lentz Hall.

Like many other students in Illinois, McGill came from a lower middle-class family and struggled to find a school she could afford. She said SIU gave her an opportunity to get a great education without having to worry about the cost. She paid off her tuition with scholarships during a time when the full cost of room and board was $333 per quarter.

“We were looking at private

schools, and I really couldn’t afford it,” McGill said. “My family was very working-class, and it was up to me to figure out how to pay for my college. My counselor thought that SIU would be a good fit for me, and she was right. It was really the best time of my life.”

Closing the financial gap in education was one of Delyte Morris’ most important initial goals. His wife, Dorothy Morris, spoke in an interview in 1981 about his decision to come to Southern Illinois.

“He must have quickly realized that Southern was the only institution of higher learning in the area and realized the different phases of education that were lacking here, and what a missed opportunity many children had in not being able to afford to go North for school. He had insight into the geography of the area and the number of people here and how few people went on to college,” Dorothy Morris said.

In addition to the financial gap, Morris was breaking down barriers in race and gender. SIU was an integrated school long before Brown v. Board of Education, beginning

in 1869 when its first two black students graduated. Norma Ewing, a black woman who attended SIU in the 1950s, referred to Morris in a 2018 interview with The Southern as a “wonderful man” and said he created a welcoming environment.

“Many of the African Americans that attended the university during his presidency time have gone on to be outstanding individuals in many different ways,” Ewing said.

“It had to do with the nurturing environment that permeated the entire campus.”

Morris also paved the way for students with disabilities, opening Camp Little Giant, the first university-affiliated camping program for people with disabilities in the US, at Touch of Nature in 1951. In 1968, SIU alumnus William Freeberg helped organize the first Special Olympics in Chicago.

“We had a lot of handicapped students too at the time I was there. We had a lot of people that had cerebral palsy and stuff that were in wheelchairs, and we had a couple that lived on the first floor

that had attendants that would help them and stuff too,” McGill said.

“SIU was kind of known for that.

Anybody could go there and get a good education.”

Largely because of this welcoming atmosphere Morris created and because of new recruitment efforts he put into place, enrollment at SIU rose rapidly. A Daily Egyptian article from 1949 was entitled “Southern Has Less Than Half Space Per Student Needed.” This increase can also be partially attributed to a rush of veterans who had just returned from WWII to attend college.

“The plain truth is that Southern’s student body is continuing its regular rate of growth, but we have not had buildings constructed to keep up with the rate of growth,” said Orville Alexander, who was then chairman of the legislative committee, in the 1949 article. “We must have not one or two buildings, but a major building program to catch up with the student body we now have.”

Delyte Morris heard this request loud and clear, and a series of construction projects began soon

after. When Morris arrived, SIU had only one residence hall— Anthony Hall—and about 3,000 students. In 1962, Thompson Point was constructed, and by 1968 all three of the East campus towers were complete.

In addition to living space, the increasing student population required more learning and studying space. Morris Library was built in 1956, and the first iteration of the student center opened in 1961.

The university’s power plant, the Physical Plant, was also built during this time to provide electricity to all the new buildings.

With all the added space, SIU’s enrollment continued to rise, and new educational programs became necessary to allow the school to keep growing. In 1951, the Vocational Technical Institute, which later became the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, was founded.

The university also opened its doors to postsecondary education, establishing the graduate school and the first doctoral programs in Please see MORRIS | 5

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

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The statue of Delyte Morris on Southern Illinois University’s Carbondale campus is framed by a spring bloom tree April 9, 2021 in Carbondale, Ill. Morris had a long history with SIU, working with the university from 1948 until his retirement in 1980. He transformed the teacher’s college into a nationally recognized research institution during his tenure with the university Nicholas Galindo | @ngalindophoto

Morris

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political science, education and psychology.

McGill said she got a fantastic education due to the way SIU set up its school year as well as the “life-changing” professors she learned from.

“We were on the quarter system at the time. We had a fall, winter and spring quarter, and we covered as much material in each of those quarters as people do in semesters now. It was like we got an extra year of college. I learned so much.

They had a core curriculum, and I got 30 hours of science classes that I took because they wanted everyone to be well-educated,” McGill said.

Morris also oversaw the addition of the SIU campus in Edwardsville, where he traveled every other weekend to make sure he was present regularly on both campuses. During the majority of the year, he lived on the Carbondale campus on Thompson Street with his wife and two sons. Dorothy Morris said her husband wanted their home to be open to everyone.

“Delyte was never one to say, ‘I’m having a meeting with somebody and I may bring them to lunch.’ He’d just bring them over. And whatever we had, we shared,” Dorothy Morris said. “Delyte used to like to see everything that was going on.

When they were digging a hole through the library, he was over there practically all the time seeing

what was going on.”

Morris’ positive attitude and open-door policy created a pleasant student life experience.

Though SIU has always been well known for being a “party school,” none of the riots or violence that would later put a damper on the festivities were present.

“They had parties out there, but we just remember having a good time,” McGill said. “We just had fun. There was nothing violent, it was just crazy things that happened that we still laugh about today.”

On any given weekend, students could be found attending any one of the sporting events to support the successful teams.

The Daily Egyptian from 1949 is littered with headlines like “Maroons Triumph Over Cape in 25-13 Thriller.” SIU’s gymnastics team also won four NCAA championships, and the 1967 Saluki basketball team won the NIT championship in New York.

Just like today, Morris’ SIU was receiving significantly less funding than universities in northern and central Illinois, and Morris fought the Budgetary Commission not just for Southern, but for all Illinois state schools to receive more. In 1949, he and the presidents from four other Illinois universities challenged the governor’s allotted budget, successfully earning a 100% boost in funding for SIU. According to the Daily

Southern Illinois University’s Morris Library was named after former president Delyte Morris and is a centerpiece of the university’s Carbondale, Ill. campus April 16, 2021. The library opened in 1956 with recent renovations being completed in 2016. Jared Treece | @bislao

Egyptian article “Southern Has Less Than Half Space Per Student Needed,” the school had just over 3,000 students when Delyte Morris came in 1948. When he retired in 1970, enrollment was nearly 20,000.

Morris’ SIU was not without its challenges, just as SIU today has plenty of work to do. With enrollment taking a hit the past year due to COVID-19 and scarce funding, there is plenty of room

for upward mobility.

However, SIU remains enriched by all the programs he put in place, and his desire to offer a quality, inclusive education to all students remains part of the university’s mission statement today.

“The most notable aspects of the university are its superior teaching staff and its large student body,” Morris said in his first speech. “We have here the core of a great university: a strong,

vigorous section of Illinois.

Southern, I feel, has one of the most challenging opportunities afforded by any higher educational institution in the country, and I assure the people of Illinois that I shall do everything in my power to help the school realize its fullest potentialities.”

Staff reporter Elena Schauwecker can be reached at eschauwecker@ dailyegyptian.com.

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SIU’s History of Parties and Riots

File photo | Daily Egyptian Elena Schauwecker | eschauwecker@dailyegyptian.com

SIU has long had a reputation as a “party school.” While these parties began in the early 1900s as family fun celebrations, by the end of the 20th century the festivities began to go too far, even erupting into violent riots.

Between the 1970s and the early 2000s, it was not unusual to see a protest on the SIU campus. Many of these were of a serious political nature, as they occurred in the midst of controversies like the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.

In 1968, the Agriculture building was bombed, a case which was never solved. In 1969, Old Main building, which President Morris saw as a symbol of the campus he had helped to transform, was burned down.

Emeritus professor Marvin Kleinau told the Daily Egyptian in 1999 these incidents were both likely the result of anti-war sentiments.

By 1970, anti-war protests grew so violent the school had to be shut down temporarily, after over 400 students were arrested.

Even after the Vietnam War, riots continued in Carbondale, the most violent of which typically occurred during Halloween celebrations when students would “take the Strip,” an event which happened almost annually that resulted in damaged property and fights with police officers.

Jeff Doherty, who was then the Carbondale city manager, told the Daily Egyptian in 1996, “Over the past several years, we have dealt with a lot of crowds who took the Strip in the downtown area. After seeing it myself—and those who were involved from the law side also

agree—this group was mean with more of an agenda to damage public property and be violent toward police than I have ever seen.”

Scott Miller was a student during the 1996 “taking the Strip” to which Doherty referred. He said he recalls the violence of the students as well as the controversial crowd-control tactics of the police, which he witnessed after taking refuge from the riot in the Corner Diner.

“The police started to tear gas the crowd outside, but the tear gas started coming in the restaurant under the door. We were shoving wet towels under the door to try to stop it. Everyone in the diner moved away from the picture windows because people were throwing bricks. I saw a car on fire—it was the Mothers Against Drunk Driving car—flipped over and engulfed,” Miller said.

Chris Novy, who was then the systems analyst of Morris Library, responded to the riots in a 1996 edition of the Daily Egyptian.

“Perhaps, if the students on the Strip this past weekend spent less time partying and more time studying, their classes wouldn’t seem as hard, and their lives would become less stressful,” Novy said.

The police force’s use of mace and tear gas to control these riots led to protests against police brutality, many of which strongly resembled the current Black Lives Matter movement. Bobby Buckley, a former SIU student, wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Egyptian in 1996, suggesting the riots may have been more politically charged than they appeared.

“While Martin Luther King Jr. waged a non-violent revolution, he was thanked by dying a violent

death. While Gandhi was protesting against European domination in India peacefully, his children and his brothers died violently. Can anyone see a pattern? Non-violent protests are not effective against European domination,” Buckley said.

Many students shared Buckley’s concern about racism and violence in Carbondale. Ricky Hayward, a Black man who graduated in 2001 after playing for SIU’s football team for four years, said his coaches often warned him to be careful off campus.

“Certain groups spoke up for racial equality,” Hayward said.

“As we all know, Carbondale and surrounding towns are not kind to people of color.”

With so much tension and violence, SIU needed to shut down the riots. Beginning in 2000, the university began placing restrictions on parties. Bars on the Strip were shut down and students were sent home over Halloween weekend, and there was no tolerance for wild celebration. The death of Halloween ultimately led to an end of SIU’s party school era.

The end of this era came as a disappointment to many students.

Having been included in Playboy Magazine’s 1987 list of the country’s “top good-time schools,” students from all over the country were drawn in to attend the university’s famous parties. Beginning in the year 2000, SIU began to see a decrease in enrollment, which some attribute to the loss of the party school reputation.

“SIU attempted to distance itself from the party school image. They curtailed the parties and moved everyone into the bars. They also attempted to raise the admission

standards. SIU moved away from what made it successful,” said Andrew Magdy, an SIU alumnus from 2004.

Others believed shutting down Halloween was an overreaction and the ability to go out to bars and parties was an important part of their college experience of which current students are now deprived.

“I think an even mix of school and partying is the college experience that all kids need and want. It plays a huge part in deciding where to attend school. Should kids be able to party like we did back in 9801? It definitely wasn’t healthy, but it was the best times of my life,” Hayward said.

Still, there were many who felt the restrictions were necessary, both to the students’ safety and to the school’s reputation.

“The cover photo showing a lad giving the finger to a police officer not only demonstrates his total lack of respect for the law, but it also sends a message to outsiders saying ‘SIUC is a joke,’” Novy said in his letter.

In the wake of the party school era, much of Carbondale was working to repair its reputation.

Detours, a popular bar in the early 1990s, was converted into a new bar known as Smiling Jack’s.

“Before, the emphasis was on cheap drinks and packing the place,” Martin Todd Lewis, the manager of Smiling Jack’s, told the Daily Egyptian in 1996. “There will be less emphasis on crowding people in here.”

Despite the eagerness of many to leave the party school reputation behind, the “party school era” was a very successful time for SIU. Enrollment reached its peak in

1991 at nearly 25,000 students, and because of this boom, both the medical school and the law school were founded.

This increase in students also prompted new construction projects shortly following those of the Delyte Morris era. The Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center was established, and the Student Recreation Center opened.

The party school era also attracted a number of talented student athletes; in 1983, the Salukis won the NCAA I-AA national football championship title. The SIU basketball team also made ten appearances in the NCAA tournament between 1977 and 2007, and they made it to the Sweet Sixteen three times.

Modern SIU has begun to regain the appearance of the party school era, with considerably less violence. Restrictions on Halloween festivities were lifted in 2015, and students can once again walk down the Strip and celebrate at bars.

SIU also remains an activist school and serves as host to many peaceful student-led protests, such as the march for Breonna Taylor which took place in March.

“SIU is not about ‘taking the Strip,” Miller said. “SIU is about life. You are paying to attend. Make the most of it. Meet new people.

Talk to people you wouldn’t in high school. Go and support things in town—restaurants, businesses, bars.

Email the chancellor and introduce yourself. Go volunteer on campus.

Find your passion. That’s where the memories are made.”

Staff reporter Elena Schauwecker can be reached at eschauwecker@ dailyegyptian.com.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

News

Page 7

Solar Bear partygoers cheer as someone dives into the pool Saturday, Aug. 27, 2016, at The Reserve at Saluki Pointe. | Branda Mitchell for DailyEgyptian.com

Beer cans and plastic cups rest on a picnic table as partygoers mingle at a Polar Bear gathering Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Beta Chi house on Cherry St in Carbondale. Rana Schenke | rschenke@dailyegyptian.com

Patrons party and dance at Levels’ “Pucking Polar Bear” event Sunday, Jan. 26. Elizabeth Biernacki | Daily Egyptian

Martell Ruiz plays beer pong during a Polar Bear gathering on Saturday, Jan 26, 2019, on West Main Street in Carbondale. Ruiz said that he is “just having fun.” Isabel Miller | @Isabelmillermedia

News

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Ebun Daley, a senior from Chicago, works on her senior fashion line Twisted Swim as part of the fashion design and merchandising program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. April 1, 2021. “I think I’ve learned a lot in such a small amount of time, since I didn’t enter the program until my sophomore year and I didn’t even know how to sew,” Daley said. “Now that I’m able to do all of this, from not even being able to sew, I think is pretty good.” Daley hopes to mass produce her own swimwear line after graduation. Nicholas Galindo | @ngalindophoto

Outstanding salukis: SIU’s unique majors

Nicolas Galindo | @ngalindophoto

From automotives to fashion, Southern Illinois University stands out by offering rare majors to students. SIU is one of only a handful of colleges in the nation to offer an automotive technology degree and the only public school in Illinois to offer a fashion design degree.

SIU’s automotive technology program started in 1938, according to department chair Michael Berhmann.

The university was offering non-credit training until 1952, which is when an associate’s degree began to be offered for the completion of the program.

Since then, the automotive technology program at SIU has grown into a full, four-degree program offering graduates opportunities to work with major automobile manufacturers and auto components.

The automotive technology program is located in the Transportation Education Center by the Southern Illinois Airport and offers students facilities to work on gas powered vehicles and diesel semitrucks .

Students are afforded the opportunity to do more than be an automotive technician, which other programs, such as Universal Technical Institute or Wyoming Technical Institute, offer their students.

“When you look at our classes, sometimes it appears that it looks like we’re training individuals to become technicians, but we’re going much further,” Behrmann said. We’re getting

into the ‘why’ factor. Instead of just how do you go about diagnosing and repairing. Our graduates are going to be the ones that are going to be developing the diagnostic procedures that technicians around the world are going to be following.”

Only 12 other universities in the nation offer a program similar to SIU’s, according to Behrmann.

“Another unique piece about SIU automotive is that we’re the only automotive technology program in the world that’s part of a major research institution,” Berhmann said.

Of those 12 schools, only three to four draw the major automotive companies to recruit from, with SIU being known for the quality of the education produced, according to Berhmann.

“Not only are we teaching the latest and greatest, part of our mission is connecting our students with our faculty and our industry to be working together while they’re in school to be developing the next cutting edge. The next latest and greatest,” Behermann said. “That’s what we do at SIU. We’re not only teaching about what’s going on in the industry we’re working with the industry to be developing the future. That’s what it means to be a research institution.”

SIU is referred to as the premier automotive program in the industry, according to Behrmann.

“If anyone in the automotive industry is recruiting at university, typically, they’re recruiting here at

SIU,” Berhmann said.

Xhorxhino Pali came to SIU’s automotive program after obtaining his associate’s degree because he wanted to pursue other opportunities.

“I already got an associate’s degree, but I feel like it wasn’t enough to get to what I want and to get jobs that I would like to do,” Pali said. “getting a bachelors here at SIU is giving me more opportunities.”

Morgan Belsley, a freshman from Athens, Ill., switched to the program after initially coming to SIU for the physiology program.

“I switched to automotive this semester because my step-dad really got me interested in cars,” Belsley said.

“I’m more hands on. I definitely like it better because you can do more than just sit and do biology work all the time.”

The automotive program at SIU isn’t the only major offering students handson knowledge to students. The fashion design and merchandising program gives students the opportunity to learn about and design clothing.

“Fashion is one of those things where nobody ever thinks it’s important,” Laura Kidd, the program director for fashion design and merchandising, said. ““if you don’t think clothes are important, take ‘em off.”

While other schools in Illinois offer a fashion design program, SIU’s is the only one offered by a public university in Illinois, which sets it apart from the other opportunities available to students.

SIU’s fashion design and

merchandising program started in the 1940s, according to Kidd.

At the time it was part of the College of Home Economics and in the 1980s the university dissolved the college and the clothing and textiles program, which was what the program was known as at the time. In the early 2000s, the program landed under the school of architecture and design.

Initially, the school only offered fashion design and merchandising tracks to students, however in 2011 a fashion styling track was added, according to Kidd.

“That’s the really unique one. I’m not sure there’s any school anywhere, that offers a separate specialization in styling,” Kidd said. “That’s not incorporated into our name yet.”

In the next few years, the school will change its name to fashion studies to better reflect the addition of the new degree track.

In total, the program offers three tracks students can pursue.

The merchandising track offers has students focused more on the economics of fashion and an understanding of what items people buying.

“As a merchandiser, you have to understand who you’re selling to,” Kidd said.

Students can also take the stylist track within the program, where the focus is more working with clients, understanding who you’re shopping for and their tastes.

However, stylists can also end up working on television shows or movies.

“If you happen to get a job on a television show, you have to be able to understand the character, what they would, what they wouldn’t wear, that type of thing,” Kidd said. “A lot of it is that type of behavior.”

Stylists work with clientele to create an image of what you’d like to look like and help to create who you are, according to Kidd.

The design track offers students opportunities to design their own clothes and bring their own fashion designs to life.

In the senior year of the design track, students have to create a garment collection, from concept, pattern drafting and model sourcing.

“Some of them might not have ever seen a sewing machine before and by the time they’re graduating they’re doing a garment collection for their senior show,” Kidd said.

Students who come to SIU to pursue a degree in fashion design and merchandising will be put into fashion classes right away.

“There are some schools where you do your gen. eds. For two years, then you get into your major. I think that’s waiting too late,” Kidd said. “What happens when you think your major is one thing, then all of a sudden you’re a junior, what’re you going to do?”

SIU’s fashion design program has quite a few advantages over other university’s programs, according to Kidd.

“If you look at most fashion departments, you’ll see that there are more departments that focus and

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

News

Page 9

Morgan Belsley, left, from Athens, Ill., and Chase Schaber, from Memphis, Tenn, conduct electrical system tests on a vehicle in the automotive technology department in the Transportation Education Center at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale April 1, 2021. “I majored in physiology before I came here,” Belsley said. “I switched to automotive this semester because my step-dad really got me interested in cars. I’m more hands on.” Nicholas Galindo | @ngalindophoto major in merchandising than they do in design,” Kidd said.

SIU’s program stands out since students are able to do more design work, if they choose, than merchandising.

Another difference is the program doesn’t fall under older, home economics or family and consumer sciences core tracks. SIU’s fashion design and merchandising students don’t have to take child development or food and nutrition classes since the program is its own, unique major, as opposed to other schools.

“It’s kind of nice, if you say you’ve been in fashion, it’s nice to know that your degree has the word ‘fashion’ in it,” Kidd said. “That’s very attractive to a lot of students.”

The personal attention and instruction SIU’s fashion instructors provides “I had one student who came here for a year, went up to Columbia, and then back,” Kidd said.

The student came back because she felt as though she wasn’t learning anything since the instructors wouldn’t spend much personalized time with the students, according to Kidd.

Ebun Daley, a senior from Chicago chose to come to SIU’s fashion design program after researching programs online before making a decision.

“I saw that they had a really good program,” Daley said. “I know they were in the top 50 for universities to have a fashion program, so I decided to come here” Daley came into the program as a sophomore and didn’t even know how to sew. Now, as a senior working on her senior fashion show, she has sewn together and designed a line of

swimwear titled Twisted Swim.

Paige Gower, a senior from Robinson, Ill. initially came to SIU to pursue a degree in social work before switching to fashion design.

“I decided I wanted to do something where I could work with my hands everyday,” Gower said. “I feel like fashion is always changing and I feel like it’s always going to be something different, so I think it’ll keep me interested for my whole career, hopefully.”

If SIU students are looking to do something outdoors, then the school’s outdoor recreation program offers opportunities to enter the outdoor industry.

“The unique thing about the outdoor recreation program, specifically here at SIU is the availability we have to the natural resources,” Brian Croft, a professor in the outdoor recreation program, said. “Having the Shawnee National Forest, Giant City State Park, Touch of Nature, provides us with opportunities to teach rock climbing, mountain biking.”

The access and availability to the resources southern Illinois provides helps to set SIU’s program apart from others in the state.

Colleges from the Chicago area, central Illinois, Indiana and Missouri, have partnered with SIU’s program since the amenities don’t exist elsewhere in the Midwest, according to Croft.

“Everyone comes here because of the access we have to natural resources,” Croft said. “that’s what makes this place and our program so special.”

There’s a lot more to outdoor

Jade Cochran, a senior from Paducah, Ky., works on her senior fashion line, Butterfly Baby, in Quigley Hall as part of the fashion design and merchandising program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Carbondale, Ill on April 1, 2021. “It’s the only school that has a program like this, unless I wanted to go to New York or Chicago or somewhere out west,” Cochran said. “But for the price of this university and for this program, you get quite a bit.” Nicholas Galindo | @ngalindophoto recreation than just taking groups on hikes or rock climbing. Trail building, guiding, teaching people about the plants and animals in a certain park and land management are all aspects in the outdoor recreation major.

“It seems like such a narrow field, but the more you get into it, it’s obscenely employable,” Croft said.

Noah Large, a senior from West Dundee, Ill., came to SIU for the forestry program before finding the outdoor recreation program.

“I actually learned about outdoor rec through one of my advisors and just sounded like [something] I’d

love to do,” Large said. “That’s what inspired me to switch over to outdoor rec, because I just have a massive love for the outdoors.”

If a student from another major is interested in the outdoor recreation program, the school offers rec. 200 classes, which offer college credits for a weekend class.

“I tell people, try one of our rec classes,” Croft said. “It’s just one credit, take it for fun, if anything, it de-stresses you and you get a credit for going canoeing or rock climbing. But you never know, it might be something that you’re looking for and you just

don’t know it yet.”

SIU stands out from other universities in the state and nation, with some of the programs it is able to provide its students.

“Education opens up doors of opportunity,” Berhmann said.

“Whether you’re getting a certificate, associate degree, baccalaureate degree, a graduate degree, it doesn’t matter, education is opening up additional doors of opportunity.”

Managing Editor Nicolas Galindo can be reached @ngalindophoto@gmail.com

Page 10

News

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Ronan Lisota | @r_lisota

It costs how much?!

News

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Page 11

In 1956, tutition was $60 a semester.

Tutition reached over $1,000 in 1991.

Tutition is $9,638 in 2021

$

$

$

Cost Breakdown of Expensizes at SIU in 2021 Tutiton / $9,638 Fees / $5,466 Room & Board / $10,622 Books & Supplies / $1,100 Living Expenses / $2,941

If I work the min. wage part time, can I afford a year at SIU? Nope.

If I work the min. wage full time, can I afford a year at SIU? Nope.

$7.25 (Federal Min. Wage)

$7.25 (Federal Min. Wage)

x 20 hours a week

x 40 hours a week

x 47 weeks

x 47 weeks

$6,815

$13,630 Source: SIU | The Daily Egyptian

Chloe Schobert | @chlo_scho_art

Page 12

Sports

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Saluki Athletics: 150 years, 51 Olympians Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam

Throughout 150 years in Southern Illinois’ history, several athletes have made their mark — not just in Carbondale, but on the international stage.

In track and field alone there are 20 athletes, consisting of 14 men and six women have made it to the Olympics, representing Southern Illinois University.

Phil Coleman was the first Olympian from SIU, competing in track and field.

He tried his luck in the 3,000 meter steeplechase in both the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. While he did not medal in the Olympic events, he did finish first in the 1959 Pan-American Games, setting a record time for Americans with a mark of 8:56.4 Coleman participated on Southern’s track and field team until graduation in 1952, leading the track team to 24 consecutive dual meet wins. He was honored for his contributions to Saluki athletics with an induction into the hall of fame in 1981.

Cameron Wright is the most recent of men in Southern’s track and field team to compete internationally for the United States.

Wright competed in the Olympics in 1996 in the high jump, but failed to reach the finals in the long jump in the one year he competed.

Wright was a five time All-American during his time at Southern, was a fourtime MVC champion in the high jump

and is apart of the 2011 class for SIU’s hall of fame.

In women’s track, six have reached the Olympic level heralding from Southern.

Connie Price-Smith is one of the most recognizable names among women’s track at SIU. She is a four-time Olympian competing in the shot put and discus throw in 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000.

In 1992, Price-Smith became the first woman Olympian in 32 years to win both the shot put and discus at the Olympic trials. In 1996, she finished fifth in Olympic games in Atlanta finishing just four inches short of a bronze medal in the shot put.

Price-Smith then coached track and field in Carbondale for 15 years, coaching her last season in the 2015-2016 season.

She is now the head coach at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi.

DeAnna Price is the most recent Olympic competitor from the university, competing in the Summer 2016 Olympics.

She competed in the hammer throw for the United States and placed third in the Olympic trials just behind both of her teammates.

Price finished eighth in the 2016 games and is on track to compete again in 2020, setting an American record at the 2018 national championship with a hammer throw of 78.12 meters.

Price competed for SIU from the 20112012 season through the 2015-2016 season, winning back-to-back NCAA championships in the hammer throw in

2015 and 2016.

Track and Field is not the only sport Southern has generated Olympic level talent, swimming has produced 23 Olympians — 19 men and four women.

Mazen Aziz joined the national stage for the 2012 Summer Games in Egypt, competing in the men’s ten kilometer open water finishing 24th.

Aziz swam in Carbondale from 20092012 under head coach Rick Walker who recently announced his retirement.

Aziz swam in ten meets his senior year at Carbondale in 2012, finishing second in the 500 freestyle in the dual meet against Evansville.

Across the women’s side for swimming there has been four women athletes to compete at the International level, including Pamela Benitez in the 2012 Olympics.

Benitez competed for El Salvador in the Olympics swimming in the 800 meter freestyle, coming to the university in the spring season of 2012.

She competed from 2012-2015 earning first team all-conference selections each year, posting 17 top-three finishes in her final season at Southern in 2015.

SIU had a men’s gymnastics program from 1956 until the program was cancelled in 1989, yet in the programs 33 year history it produced two Olympians.

Fred Orlofsky was a member of the 1960 Men’s Gymnastics team for the United States, his team finished fifth that year. He competed for Southern from

1960 through 1963, in 1961 he won an NCAA title in rings and parallel bars, and finished second for all-around. Orlofsky was honored for his achievements in Carbondale by earning an induction into the hall of fame in 1980.

Rusty Mitchell was also a member of the SIU men’s gymnastics team and he competed in the Olympics for the United States in 1964. Mitchell’s best finish in the 1964 Olympics was his team’s seventh place finish in the men’s all-around.

During his time at Southern, Mitchell specialized in tumbling and he was a three-time NCAA champion, the last two years tumbling was an NCAA event.

After his Olympic and SIU career, Mitchell went on to coach at the University of New Mexico for 33 years bringing the gymnastics program to national relevance compiling a winning percentage of 71.3% in dual meets — helping lead New Mexico to 11 Western Athletic Conference championships.

Mitchell was honored for his accomplishments at Southern and gymnastics as a whole with his induction into the SIU hall of fame in 1978.

Across Southern’s 150 year history 51 Olympic athletes have called Carbondale home ranging from track and field to gymnastics, including wrestling and even bobsled.

Sports editor Adam Warfel can be reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

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SIU outfielder J.T. Weber poses for a photo on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at Itchy Jones Stadium at SIU. Weber tied a Salukis’ baseball record driving in eight RBIs in a single game, the 8th time for an SIU player to do in the program’s history. Weber went 3 for 5, homering twice, including a grand-slam. Jared Treece | @bisalo

From the ‘Sandlot’ of Metropolis to the lights of Itchy Jones JT Weber reflects on journey to SIU

Adam Warfel | @warfel_adam

Three cities have marked the career of Saluki baseball junior outfielder J.T. Weber, the last being his current city of residence in Carbondale.

Weber, who studies civil engineering, grew up in Metropolis, IIl., and was where he met fellow Saluki junior pitcher Noah Farmer.

“I remember playing AAU baseball with Noah, playing travel ball with him,” Weber said.

“Just running around, hanging out together, we hung out all throughout high school. There’s a lot of good memories with sports and off the field too.”

Saturday mornings in high school for Weber and Farmer served as opportunities to take out their frustrations of the week on each other.

“Every Saturday morning in high school, we would meet up, and we played paintball together,” Weber said. “Me, him, and some other guys would get together in the woods, run around and play paintball.”

When hearing the stories of both Farmer and Weber, one might think of the movie Sandlot, where a group of friends would get together every day and play baseball.

“Our high school field was kind

of a Sandlot vibe in itself, just a small high school, it’s an all dirt field, no lights or anything like that,” Weber said. “Outside of just practice and everything we never played any pickup, a lot of wiffle ball games at my house in the summer.”

From wiffle ball to baseball fields, Weber and Farmer have played together as early as the age of eight for the West Kentucky Outlaws, a travel baseball team located in Paducah, Ky. “[We] play[ed] with our travel team when we were younger from the ages of like eight to 13. [It was] called the West Kentucky Outlaws,” Farmer said. “That was the first big baseball team I was involved with in terms of travel. We both played the outfield a lot.”

In high school, Weber and Farmer began playing for an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in Nashville, Tenn., called the Nashville Knights, there they found themselves also playing with junior infielder Grey Epps.

“I live with Grey now, and I’ve known Noah my whole life pretty much, We’re pretty close,” Weber said. “Being able to meet and play in summer ball at a high level at a young age was neat.”

In his time with the Knights, Weber played with several other athletes that ended up playing for

several other division one schools in the NCAA for baseball.

“We had guys on our team that are at Vanderbilt now, guys that are at Baylor, guys that are at Tulane, some other guys at mid majors like Belmont,” Weber said. “Pretty much the whole team was going to be playing at the division one level or a higher level, D-II or junior college.”

His time with the Knights allowed for Weber to get the exposure he needed as an athlete to be seen by coaches in the NCAA. “Exposure-wise it helped me a ton, always playing around college coaches,” Weber said. “Playing at a higher level and playing with teammates at a higher level was something that really boosted our level of play.”

Weber said playing for the Knights is ultimately what landed him in Carbondale.

“I would not be here today if I did not go play for that team. I would say Noah and Grey could say the same,” Weber said. “Being from a small high school, to be honest with you, it doesn’t matter how well you do there. I think I probably hit around .400 in my career there. If I didn’t play for the Knights, I don’t think I’d be here.”

Despite growing up in the southern Illinois region, Weber at

first did not see himself spending his college baseball years in Carbondale.

“I kind of wanted to play in the SEC from a younger age, as I got older I realized that probably wasn’t going to happen,” Weber said. “SIU wasn’t ever really in my mind, I had never thought about the baseball program much, just because I had not seen or heard about it a lot until I was about 16, one of the coaches saw me play.”

Weber arrived on campus at Southern as a freshman in 2018, having played third and first base his first two years here, it was not until the COVID shortened season in 2019 that he moved to the outfield.

“I’ve alway kind of been a utility player, I’ve played everywhere on the field,” Weber said. “ I would say I can play anywhere on the field. I think it’s helped just being able to fit in the lineup wherever I’m needed.”

Since his freshman year here in Carbondale in 2018, he has steadily raised his average as a hitter from .200 in 2018 to now hitting .302 as a fourth year junior due to the season being cancelled last year because of the pandemic.

His defensive production has improved as well: even though he’s been moved around a lot, his fielding average sits at .963 this season in left field and only two errors, compared to his freshman season playing mostly first base with an average of .710 and nine errors.

The outfield duo of both Weber

and sophomore Tristan Peters together have accounted for four outfield assists on throws to home plate to get the runners out. ”He’s just been guiding me through too. He’s been with me the whole time,” Peters said. “He kind of lets me do what I’ve done. He’s seen that I’ve had success in the past.”

Weber, even in some of the tough games this season, has had a positive effect on Peters this season.

“Say we had a rough game, we’ve been hitting poorly, he’ll just remain positive which honestly just lifts you up,” Peters said. “Then you don’t get so down on the fact that we’re losing, he just makes it sound like we can win this game, even if we’re down a lot.”

From Metropolis, to Nashville, to Carbondale, if there’s one thing Weber could say to the freshman at Metropolis currently is to enjoy the process.

“I would just say to enjoy it.

If they’re looking to play college baseball, I would say you’re going to have to put in a lot of extra work, a lot of work on your own,” Weber said. “Go outside your comfort zone and play somewhere else where you can be seen and develop your skills.”

Sports Reporter Adam Warfel can be reached at awarfel@dailyegyptian. com or on Twitter at @warfel_adam.

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Sports

Jonathan Thompson, cornerback, tackles a Southeastern Louisiana University player on Saturday, April, 17, 2021 in Carbondale, Ill. Bryon Hetzler

Saluki Football makes FCS playoffs Ryan Scott | @RyanscottDE

SIU is in the FCS playoffs, and they will play against Weber State on April 24 at 3 p.m.

Southern Illinois football (5-3,3-3 MVC) earned the spot with their final win by a score of 55-48 over Southeastern Louisiana on April 17.

Head coach Nick Hill spoke after finding out that SIU made the playoffs.

“I’m really thankful for the committee recognizing all the hard work from this program and really the players. That’s where it starts and really ends, the support staff and the opportunity to play but these players 18to 22-year-olds really put everything on the line and have done it the hard way and are getting rewarded for that,” Hill said Senior offensive lineman Ze’Veyon Furcron discussed his reaction to making the playoffs as well saying he and the other seniors have been waiting for this moment.

“To see our name up there, It’s a feeling that we haven’t experienced yet and it’s a feeling I can’t really describe,” Furcron said.

Furcron said just missing the playoffs in 2019 was one of the worst feelings he’s had.

“Working so hard and just falling short by

inches. That day after we walked out of there, our main thing that I wanted to preach to the team was leave no doubt. This year we’ve had our ups and downs but the committee took into consideration the games we’ve had and the opponents we’ve had and I’m thankful that they gave us the opportunity to be in,” Furcron said.

SIU got their fourth win over a ranked team in that game, adding on to their wins over North Dakota State, Southeast Missouri State, and Northern Iowa. This is the Salukis first playoff bid since 2009.

Hill said he thinks the team needed to play as many games as they did to get in.

The Big Sky champions Weber State (5-0, 5-0 Big Sky) will look to stay undefeated on the season as they host the Salukis in Ogden, Utah.

SIU is on the same side of the bracket as South Dakota State, who beat them 44-3 on March 20 in Carbondale. The Salukis would play them again in the second round if they both win their first round games.

Sports reporter Ryan Scott can be reached at rscott@dailyegyptian.com or on Twitter @ RyanscottDE.

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

Last week’s:

Study Break

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

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CONGRATULATIONS!!

1st Place in districts at National Student Advertising Advertisting Competition Competition Student The School of Journalism congratulates AdLab on their first place win at districts. Good luck at Semi-Finals!

Bridget Lescelius Advisor

Samantha Oxford Advertising

Gannon McCarty Advertising

Chloe Schobert Art and Design

Jacob Jurinek Radio, Television, and Digital Media

Magdalena Granados Public Relations

Mikaylan Roach Advertising

Jacob Boehme Cinema and Photography

Bethany Heyde Journalism and Advertising

Ryan Edwards Advertising

Not photographed: Nicole Gray (Marketing) | Emma Selitzky (Advertising) | Matthew Sebalija (Marketing)

Semi-Finals: May 6 & 7