MONDAY November 27, 2017
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 147 Issue 25
Changes to campus’ ASL program bring attention to Deaf culture BY KAREN LIU STAFF WRITER
The University’s American Sign Language program will continue next semester with only one regular instructor, and the first-level ASL class will not be offered as a result. “One of the ASL instructors retired suddenly before the beginning of fall 2017,” said Karen Kirk, department head of Speech and Hearing Science in
an email. “With only one regular instructor, we are focused on ensuring that students currently completing the ASL sequence can finish it.” Kirk said the department greatly values the ASL sequence, but it is not a requirement for the department’s majors. The department must prioritize its resources to meet the needs of students in the undergraduate major
and three graduate programs due to budgetary considerations. She said the department also wants to carefully consider the sustainability of the program, given the extent of their current resources after the retirement of one of the instructors. The department is also considering hiring more teachers. Susan Dramin-Weiss, an ASL instructor who is deaf,
said through an interpreter that the program needs to hire a full-time faculty member. “We’re hoping to do that, and hoping it will be a deaf person, and we’re hoping to do that soon,” she said. “It’s my hope that the ASL program continues here. A lot of universities have ASL programs, and U of I should have one that continues on, absolutely. There are a lot of students who really
want to learn ASL, and they come up to me and they tell me how much they want to learn it.” Robert Hill, junior in LAS and president of the American Sign Language and Deaf Culture Club, said in an email that the club is grateful to have professor Dramin-Weiss, for her passion in teaching sign language and educating students about Deaf culture. “We have worked and
will continue to work together to show students the beauty of sign language and Deaf culture,” Hill said. “She really shows us much support and encouragement.” Hill said there aren’t adequate resources on campus for students who are interested in learning ASL, and it’s a shame the fate of the ASL program SEE ASL | 3A
College of Engineering combats cheating BY HEATHER SCHLITZ STAFF WRITER
JEANNETTE YAN THE DAILY ILLINI
The Illinois Student Government meets at the Pine Lounge in the Illini Union on Nov. 15. ISG executive members said they are working to complete initiatives brought up in the semester, including the creation of a sexual assault prevention task force.
With cell phone use ubiquitous on campus and cheating methods growing in technological sophistication, the University is continuing its attempts to quell a persistent problem of academic dishonesty. Even though an increased access to technology, including cell phones, broadens the opportunities students have to cheat, technology also expands instructors’ abilities to prevent and root out cheaters in a class. Many instructors make use of online resources like Turnitin or MOSS to check for plagiarism. “Every single program students submit in computer science is passed through the checkers. Every single paper you write is passed
ISG looks to increase involvement BY CORI LIPPERT STAFF WRITER
With only a few weeks left in the semester, the Illinois Student Government is looking to continue to advance progress made on initiatives throughout the past school year. Joey Domanski, vice president of ISG and senior in LAS, said he believes they are exactly where the executive board planned to be at this point in their term. “One of the things I really enjoyed was passing a new logo. It is a new face for the student government,” Domanski said. “At the end of the day we are here for the students. We are not here for
us.” Domanski wants to improve student involvement with ISG. He wants to be able to walk up to a group of students, ask their major and ask who represents them in the Illinois Student Government. “If we have a lot of people participate in the next election, for the student government, that is a good thing. That is student involvement,” Domanski said. “I really want to work on making sure student involvement is at an alltime high.” Chief of Staff Spencer Haydary, senior in LAS, will be graduating in December and wants to train the next chief of staff in the last few weeks
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of the semester. “You have a lot of people who are very passionate about the issues that they ran on and they are making sure that gets addressed, so we’ve done a lot of cool things so far,” Haydary said. Haydary said he would have liked to improve the environment of the ISG assembly during his time in ISG, adding there have been controversial topics brought up during the meetings which has subsequently caused a more tense environment. “After public comment and everything, people are laughing and people are being much more open,” Haydary said. “(I would have made) sure bul-
lying would not be tolerated. I think we have gotten to the point where we’ve all been comfortable in our positions and everyone knows how to interact with each other now.” ISG President Raneem Shamseldin, senior in Business, said she’s proud of the DACA resolution for students on campus and the changes being made involving Chief Illiniwek. Shamseldin said she emailed the Big Ten Network after they displayed Chief Illiniwek during a football game. The network apologized and will be removing all merchandise with Chief
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through the checkers,” said Umberto Ravaioli, senior assistant dean for undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering. The College of Engineering utilizes an advanced system to fight academic dishonesty. Currently in its pilot phase, the computer-based testing facility has individual workstations and computers without internet access. These are used for computerized exams, ensuring that students complete their exams in isolation, without outside help. Still, students have been caught cheating even under these highly restrictive situations, Ravaioli said. “There are only so many eyes and so many tools that
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