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SEAHAWKS PREVIEW
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Ag research center closing its doors State budget woes force shuttering of Shabbona facility By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Lack of state funding will result in the closing of the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center in DeKalb County, which conducts research related to crop production and employs two people. The University of Illinois has cut support and programMonica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com ming for four of its seven extenThe University of Illinois plans to reduce off-campus crop research and sion research facilities includshut down several agriculture centers, including the Northern Illinois ing the Northern Illinois center located in Shabbona. Agronomy Research Center in Shabbona.
The center was established in the mid-1940s and sits on 160 acres of land dedicated to crop science and crop production research, said Neal Merchen, associate dean for research at the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences. “State funding provided through the state budget to University of Illinois … has been dwindling since 2003,” Merchen said. “Those reductions have been modest in some years and significant in others.” This year, the university
Pope stirs excitement in Washington
faces a 7.5 percent budget reduction, which translates to about $3.7 million, he said. “Until now, with the exception of some minor changes, we have not had to inflict this kind of reduction to off-campus centers,” Merchen said. “But we simply can’t get by without doing that any longer.” The reductions will affect four crop research facilities, including the St. Charles Horticulture Center, the Brownstown Agronomy Research Center, the Northern Illinois Agronomy Research Center
and the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center, Merchen said. The Dixon Springs research center will retain its research of beef cattle and forestry. Crop production research was the only program at the Northern Illinois center, Merchen said. The focus was on developing farming recommendations based on conditions typical to the DeKalb County area, such as how production is affected by soil types, fertility levels and weather.
See CLOSING, page A5
EMBRACING DIVERSITY AT NIU
By JULIE PACE and NICOLE WINFIELD The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Cheered by jubilant crowds across the nation’s capital, Pope Francis forged common cause Wednesday with President Barack Obama on climate change, immigration and inequality, as the popular pontiff signaled he would not sidestep issues that have deeply divided Americans. On his first full day in the United States, the pope also reached out to America’s 450 bishops, many of whom have struggled to come to terms with his new social justice-minded direction for the Catholic Church. He gently prodded the bishops to forgo “harsh and divisive language,” while commending their “courage” in the face of the church’s sexual abuse scandal – rhetoric that angered victims he may meet with later in his trip. Late in the day, Francis – the first pope from the Americas – canonized Junipero Serra, the famous 18th century Spanish friar who brought the Catholic faith to California. The 78-year-old pontiff’s whirlwind day in Washington enlivened the often stoic, politically polarized city. Excited crowds lined streets near the White House to catch a glimpse of the smiling and waving Francis as he passed by in his open-air “popemobile.” He seemed to draw energy from the cheering spectators, particularly the children his security detail brought to him for a papal kiss and blessing. In keeping with his reputation as the “people’s pope,” Francis kept Obama and other dignitaries
Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
NIU students residing in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, Ally cluster in New Hall West on campus gather in their common area Tuesday before a resident meeting.
Supportive housing choice NIU students find community in LGBTQA dormitory cluster
See POPE, page A5
By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shamedia.com
AP photo
Pope Francis arrives Wednesday in the popemobile at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington for the Canonization Mass for Junipero Serra.
DeKALB – Margaret Hitchcock was nervous aboutmoving from Chicago Heights to DeKalb for her first year of college because she wasn’t sure if she would be accepted. “I was kind of thinking, ‘What kind of adversity am I going to see in this environment?’ ” she said. “I don’t have reasons based on my life so far to be too scared, but … I didn’t want my sexuality to play a factor in an already tough transition.” Hitchcock, a first-year Northern Illinois University student, is one of 12 students who live in the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, Ally Community,
which is one of the 15 “Living-Learning” communities offered for on-campus housing. The LGBTQA house is located in New Hall West, where students’ rooms are clustered around shared common areas. The LGBTQA community is new this year and has proved to be in demand, About 40 students were put on a waiting list, because only 12 spots in the hall were available. The opportunity to find other people who identify on the queer spectrum and feel accepted has been welcome for many. “Coming to a new place, moving away from home, I wanted to make sure my differences were embraced,” Hitchcock said. “You walk in here and know you can make friends.” The ability to find commonality among fel-
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low students on a big campus is something that can be challenging, especially for freshmen, said Jordan Cores, community adviser for the LGBTQA group. “The thing that’s nice about this kind of living situation is the common interest,” he said. “You don’t have to really go out and find someone. It’s easier for one person to meet someone else and then that growth [of community] can happen.” As the community adviser, Cores is charged with organizing events during the semester to allow his housemates to spend time together. The roommates already tend to spend quite a bit of time together watching
See HOUSING, page A5
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