THURSDAY March 15, 2018
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 147 Issue 49
Dogs, puppies and trainers, oh my!
Data shows grad success
49˚ | 27˚
Farewell from the editorin-chief
BY MADELYN FOSTER
LILLIAN BARKLEY
STAFF WRITER
Illini Success, an annual survey of University graduates, has released its first three-year trend data, which shows trends for employment, higher education and alternative paths for all undergraduate degrees. The survey showed from 2014 to 2017, between 84 and 89 percent of graduates have secured a first destination. Approximately 73 percent of the students participated in the survey, on average. The campus-wide Illini Success initiative collects data by graduation year and from graduates in August, December and May. Julia Panke Makela, associate director for assessment and research at the Career Center, said Illini Success was developed to more thoroughly track what students were doing after graduation. “We find that this data is incredibly important for academic programming on campus, program review and is also important for our campus as we talk about accreditation, government relations and how the University contributes to the state,” Makela said. She was surprised by how quickly the whole university got behind the effort. “I thought it was going to take a long time, but it felt like I was selling chocolate,” she said. “It takes a campus-wide initiative to pull off something this big.” Illini Success has been working to compile a three-year trend to put the data in context. The trends show a strong and steady picture of graduSEE SUCCESS | 3A
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
D
iversity was my main focus for this past year — increasing our diversity in our opinions, our staff and our coverage as a whole. Reflecting on the year, I don’t think I accomplished my goal. I am a person who is committed to integrity. I stand by my word and follow through on promises. That’s why my lack of dedication to the goal I promised hurts. Editing was my first job here, and it’s what I’ve done most. I had to edit my plans, even though it meant cutting my focus. At the end of May, the News-Gazette’s printing press shut down. It meant The Daily Illini also needed to conform to new deadlines. As students, everyone here SEE LILLIAN | 5A
INSIDE
Ocean pollution on the rise
Department of Energy funds biofuel research BY SAMANTHA BOYLE STAFF WRITER
The University received a $10.6 million grant from the Department of Energy to form new methods of creating biofuels that might reduce dependence on oil as a source of fuel. “You’re no longer at the mercy of the oil market,” said Stephen Long, director of Renewable Oil Generated with Ultra-productive Energycane project. ROGUE will work to create bioenergy in a more efficient way through Geneti-
cally Modified Organisms in plants. Donald Ort, deputy director for ROGUE, said the project is looking to use sugarcane-related plants instead of soybeans to create a more productive way to make biodiesel. “Most of the biodiesel right now is coming from soybeans or canola oil,” Ort said. Instead of having the plants create sucrose like they normally do, Ort said, SEE BIOENERGY | 3A
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Police
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HANNAH AUTEN THE DAILY ILLINI
Kate MacDuff, senior in Engineering, visits with Illini Service dog, Alma, on Wednesday. Illini Service Dogs hosted an event on the Main Quad called St. Patrick’s Day Pat-A-Pup to raise money for their dogs. Illini Service Dogs is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that trains service dogs. After a dog has been fully trained, it is given to an individual with a disability free of charge. Each dog has a dog team composed of one or two primary trainers and four to six other trainers. Each dog lives with its primary trainer from acquisition to placement.
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ICE to conduct searches in CU BY YASMEEN RAGAB STAFF WRITER
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in Champaign-Urbana at the beginning of March and began to conduct searches for undocumented immigrants, Brian Dolinar said. Dolinar, an author and activist at the Independent Media Company in Champaign, has documented more than 100 incidents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since August of 2015. One undocumented immigrant was found and taken in by ICE at Siam
Terrace, a restaurant in downtown Urbana, and numerous others are often taken in as “collateral,” Dolinar said. Detainees are then taken to the ICE office in St. Louis and then to the Pulaski County Detention Center in Ullin, Illinois. The 2017 Fiscal Year ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Report summarizes the activities of ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations from the year. “ERO identifies, arrests and removes aliens who present a danger to national security or a threat to
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Illini golfer in PGA Tour
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public safety, or who otherwise undermine border control and the integrity of the United States immigration system,” according to the report. The report cites a 30-percent increase in administrative arrests from the fiscal year of 2016 to 2017. Dolinar said ICE tracks the Champaign County Courthouse website and arrests undocumented individuals who have DUI offenses. “About 60 percent of (those taken in by ICE)
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