Daily Egyptian

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Daily Egyptian THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015

VOL. 100 ISSUE 8

SINCE 1916

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Randy Dunn: The university will operate this spring BILL LUKITSCH | @Bill_LukitschDE

The university will continue to fund MAP grants through spring in anticipation of reimbursement from the state once a budget is passed. SIU System President Randy Dunn told students the SIU System will be fully operational through next semester during the State of the Student Address on Wednesday in Guyon Auditorium, despite the absence of state appropriations. This fall, the university funded the needbased grant 4,766 eligible undergraduate students. “We will do what we’ve done through the fall semester and continue to carry that support into the spring,” Dunn told attendees, adding that the university does not want to lose students because “the state hasn’t done its job.” Without the expected $200 million in state appropriations, Dunn said the university has little wiggle room with respect to maintaining operations. “We’re a state university,” Dunn said. “That means, by virtue of our operating model, we need some state support to do our work.” Interim Chancellor William Bradley Colwell said funding the grants was the right thing to do and the university cannot afford to lose students who depend on state aid. But the question of how grants will be funded is still in question. “Our financial aid is generous to the point that we’ve overspent,” Colwell said of MAP grants and graduate assistantships at SIUC. “Honestly, after looking at all of the finances: We’ve given what our financial means can afford to give.” Illinois has disinvested in higher education in the last 12 years, and with Illinois current finances, Colwell said cuts are a matter of when and how much. MAP funding in 2002 fully covered the costs of attending a state school for lowincome students in Illinois. Since 2009, the grant covers roughly 35 percent of the average cost of tuition and fees and is received by 37 percent of eligible students. Although the university has prepared for an 8.75 percent cut in state appropriations for fiscal year 2015, Colwell said inaction by state politicians have left the university’s financial future uncertain. Even with preventative cuts that have been made, Colwell said he is not certain exactly how the university will pay for MAP funding. “It could very easily be that we don’t see state money till the end of April [or] May,” Colwell said. Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Speaker of the House Michael Madigan are scheduled to meet in November to discuss the budget face-to-face for the first time in months, but state leaders don’t expect the impasse to end any time soon. “We’ll figure it out and we’ll make this work for students, but the state’s not making it easy,” Colwell said.

Photo provided by Saluki Athletics

Kill calls it quits BRENT MESKE | @brentmeskeDE

For Jerry Kill, football is life. “I know somebody will ask, ‘Coach, what are you going to do?’ I don’t know,” Kill said in a press conference Wednesday announcing his retirement as coach at University of Minnesota. “I ain’t done anything else. That’s the scary part.” He said he doesn’t have anymore energy, per ESPN. Kill has suffered epileptic seizures for more than 15 years. Kill, 53, formerly coached SIU football from 2001 to 2007. Roger Lipe, volunteer chaplain for Saluki

football and friend of Kill, said the two talked about his retirement for weeks, weighing the pros and cons. He said Kill was unsure of leaving in the middle of the season. Lipe said the decision is best for Kill’s longterm future. “I used to shout at him, ‘Hey! Do you want to be around long enough to see your grandchildren?’ We need to make hard decisions here about your health,” he said. “If this occupation is going to kill you, it is not worth it. We’re more interested in Jerry than coach Kill. We want him to do well long term.” During the 2005 season Kill was diagnosed with kidney cancer after coping with epilepsy

for years before his diagnosis. He had surgery in 2005 to treat the cancer. He was cured in the same year. “He refused to take time off, even though we wanted him to take care of himself,” said Sharon Lipe, Kill’s secretary from 2000 to 2007. “He knew the moment he found out, [the cancer] wasn’t going to defeat him. He was going to fight it with everything he had.” After the cancer diagnosis Kill and his wife Rebecca started the Coach Kill Cancer Fund, which is administered through the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation. It is now known as the Coach Kill Fund. Please see KILL | 3

Green Fund promotes a more sustainable campus ANNA SPOERRE | @ASpoerre_DE

The SIU Green Fund has invested almost $1.8 million to creative and sustainable minds on campus since students proposed the Green Fee in 2009. Applications for Green Fund projects for the 2015-16 school year are being accepted through March 1, 2016. Proposals can be submitted by students, faculty and staff working together or independently. The Green Fund is financed by the student Green Fee, which is up to $10 per semester, said SIU Sustainability Coordinator Geory Kurtzhals, whose position is also funded by the Green Fee. The fund has provided financial assistance to 133 projects since it was established six years ago. Areas of research include energy, water, waste, buildings, transportation, grounds, social

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equality or food and dining, according to a university press release about the fund. Austin Little, a graduate student in horticulture from Quincy, got involved with the Green Fund as an undergraduate and has since worked on green fee-funded projects, including the campus green roof. Karen Midden, associate dean of the College of Agriculture, started the green roof project to install a garden system on top of the Agricultural Building. She said the roof is home to a variety of plants, including wildflowers and fresh produce. She said it has benefits such as managing storm water, reducing urban heat, providing insulation and improving air quality. “A lot of students were saying they wanted to learn about green roof technology and they wanted to have a green roof on campus,” Midden said.

In fall of 2010, she, along with more than 120 students, spent five days installing the roof, which is still used for demonstrations, public tours and gardening. “The psychological [aspects] are extremely invaluable of connecting people with nature in any way they can,” she said. Little said he is involved with maintenance and community outreach. He also uses the rood for a research on various topics, including urban agriculture and green roof fertility management. “The green fund has provided me with the green roof where I’m able to carry out my research, so that is a big benefit,” Little said. As part of his fertility management research, Little is conducting comparative fertilizer trials on sweet Hungarian peppers and charentais melons. He also received funding from

the Green Fee to attend Cities Alive, an annual conference in New York hosted by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a not-for-profit organization working to promote green roofs and other forms of green architecture in America. “In a way, the Green Fee is paying to encourage more research and hopefully we can apply it to SIU and the greater community after that,” Little said. Midden has been involved with other projects since the roof, including green walls in the Agriculture Building and Recreation Center. She said the Agriculture Building wall, which provides insulation and absorbs sound, involved more than 70 students who designed and installed it. “[The walls are] a way to get nature into urban areas, even if grown abnormally,” Midden said. Please see GREEN | 2


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