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Former Storm, Spartan, Kougar Teri Cain returns home for softball tourney / B1
June 27-28, 2015 • $1.50
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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Fair: State funding cut will not be a problem
SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM COME TO A HEAD
POLICY DEBATE RAGES
Organizers mull reducing prizes, entertainment budget By KATIE SMITH ksmith@shawmedia.com
Illustration by R. Scott Helmchen – shelmchen@shawmedia.com
A wider reach for public speech can damage reputations By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – David Gunkel thinks that businesses and universities need to formalize social media policies and soon. A wider audience for public speech has created vulnerabilities – and liabilities – for all involved. Social media is somewhat altering discourse on free speech, said Gunkel, a Northern Illinois University communications professor and author of numerous books and articles about culture, new media and ethics. “The clearer we can be upfront the better,” he said. “The real problem is that we are operating in a vacuum and making it up after the fact.” As corporations and colleges try to manage their reputations, employees may feel the need to censor themselves – lest they find themselves out of a job. It gets more complicated when you add the concept of academic and intellectual freedom into the mix, Gunkel said. Universities in particular have to be cautious when considering social media policy, specifically to protect those intel-
lectual freedoms, Gunkel said. “It’s more complicated, especially with professors that have been granted tenure and the freedom to engage in intellectual freedom, to do research that is political or critical of government or other organizations,” he said. ”What they publish in academic journals is protected. … But what they do on social media doesn’t have that same protection. There is a disconnect.” Northern Illinois University, one of DeKalb’s largest employers, doesn’t have a policy specific to social media, although a lengthy code of ethics encompasses the idea of academic and intellectual freedom. “Collegiality is not congeniality nor is it conformity or excessive deference to the judgements of colleagues, supervisors and administrators; these are flatly oppositional to the free and open development of ideas,” the code reads. “Evidence of collegiality is demonstrated by the protection of academic freedom, the capacity of colleagues to carry out their professional functions without obstruction and the ability of a community of scholars to thrive in a vigorous and collaborative intellectual climate.”
Hans-Joerg Tiede, professor and chairman of computer science at Illinois Wesleyan University and a member of the American Association of University Professors committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, also sees that disconnect and believes it’s not right. “Recently it’s just the medium that has changed. There is no difference between writing an editorial for a local paper or speaking on Twitter. There shouldn’t be different standards applied based on where you speak out,” he said. Earlier in June, the AAUP put the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on their censure list over the case of Steven Salaita, who became notable after the university rescinded a job offer following Salaita’s political tweets concerning Israel. “We certainly hope the censure of the university is a signal to other institutions that we will continue to be watchful of this conduct,” Tiede said. Academic freedom involves the ability to speak, research and teach freely, even if
See DEBATE, page A5
SANDWICH – The Sandwich Fair should go off without a hitch despite looming state budget cuts, fair board President Larry Dannewitz said. The fair draws from 190,000 to 240,000 people to the fairgrounds annually, and operates mainly with funds from the previous years’ admission fees, eliminating any panic about not receiving state funding, Dannewitz said. “I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but a lot of fairs are not in the same situation that we’re in,” Dannewitz said. “We draw some pretty good crowds.” Gov. Bruce Rauner on June 12 listed funding to cover fair building rehabilitation and prizes as part of his proposed cuts should the Republican governor and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly fail to hash out a budget deal by the July 1 start of the 2016 fiscal year. Democrats call the threats symbolic because the money would cease flowing anyway without a budget. Rauner on Thursday vetoed most of the budget proposals from the Legislature, although he has signed an education funding plan for public schools. The legislature’s had a deficit of more than $3 billion. Planners for the Sandwich Fair generally try not to rely on state funding, and planning for next year’s fair won’t be any different, Dannewitz said. “We’re going into this year assuming we’re not getting any state funds,” he said. “If we get them, wonderful. If we don’t,
“We’re going into this year assuming we’re not getting any state funds. If we get them, wonderful. If we don’t, we’ll have to work around it.” Larry Dannewitz Sycamore Fair board president we’ll have to work around it.” Smaller cash prizes, or premiums, and “lower entertainment goals” are the two largest foreseeable changes should the fair not receive state funding, Dannewitz said. “I think we’re going to have to look at the premiums again and we’re going to have to adjust the premiums,” he said. “We do have a disclaimer saying that if for some reason the state ever does not come through, we have the right to lower the premium.” However, changing prize values would be an uncomfortable compromise for the fair’s board members, Dannewitz said. “If we’re telling you we’re going to give you $100 to win a prize we want to give you $100,” he said. Currently, state funding for the Sandwich Fair is only about 10 percent of its budget, Dannewitz estimated. “Hopefully ... we’ll be able to provide the entertainment we’ve provided for many years,” Dannewitz said.
• Shaw Media reporter Kevin P. Craver contributed to this story.
Landmark ruling legalizes gay marriage By MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Samesex couples won the right to marry nationwide Friday as a divided Supreme Court handed a crowning victory to the gay rights movement, setting off a jubilant cascade of long-delayed weddings in states where they had been forbidden. “No longer may this liberty be denied,” said Justice Anthony Kennedy. The vote was narrow – 5-4 –
Inside Q Marriage ruling means Illinois couples recognized elsewhere. PAGE A6
Voice your opinion Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com. but Kennedy’s majority opinion was clear and firm: “The court now holds that same-sex
couples may exercise the fundamental right to marry.” The ruling will put an end to same-sex marriage bans in the 14 states that still maintain them, and provide an exclamation point for breathtaking changes in the nation’s social norms in recent years. As recently as last October, just over one-third of the states permitted gay marriages. Kennedy’s reading of the ruling elicited tears in the courtroom, euphoria outside and the immediate issuance of
marriage licenses to same-sex couples in at least eight states. In Dallas, Kenneth Denson said he and Gabriel Mendez had been legally married in 2013 in California but “we’re Texans; we want to get married in Texas.” In praise of the decision, President Barack Obama called it “justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.” AP photo Four of the court’s justices weren’t cheering. The dissent- Elaine Cleary of Chicago, who goes to college in Ohio, reacts Friday as ers accused their colleagues of she hears the news outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.,
See RULING, page A5
that the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the U.S.
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NIU video game summer camp teaches young girls coding / A3
Smithsonian to open 1st wing on innovation and business history / C1
Ex-DeKalb-Sycamore coach gets probation in sex abuse case / A3
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