WELCOME BACK, ILLINI!
THE DAILY ILLINI
TUESDAY January 17, 2017
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
UI continues ‘lurching along’ with additional state funding
Vol. 146 Issue 32
UI proposes in-state tuition freeze for third consecutive year
Students honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Tuition to increase 1.8 percent for out-of-state freshmen and others
BY ANGELICA LAVITO STAFF WRITER
The new year renewed old budget questions for the University. Funding from the state, allocated in a stopgap budget passed in June, expired Jan. 1. The Illinois General Assembly has begun negotiations on a permanent budget, but until anything is passed, higher education remains unfunded. The University received a $47 million payment from the state last week, University Spokesman Tom Hardy said in an email, completing “virtually all” of the $351 million payments promised in the stopgap budget. However, despite the stopgap budget, the University is still short about half of the $644 million it was promised for fiscal year 2015.
BY MEGAN JONES STAFF WRITER
JESSICA JUTZI THE DAILY ILLINI
Remodeled Chemistry Annex opens BY MICHAEL SEMACA STAFF WRITER
The state of Illinois has appropriated less money to the University as lawmakers have waged a budget war. $200
$400
2013 2014
$663
2015 2016
Classes will be held in an additional building this semester, as the University’s Chemistry Annex is ready for students for the first time since renovations began in 2014. The Chemistry Annex was built in 1930 and adds 39,000 square feet to the chemistry department’s existing facilities in Noyes Laboratory. The Annex has hardly been updated since its initial construction before undergoing renovation, said Christian Ray, the director of general chemistry at the University. “In the Chem Annex, a lot of (laboratory spaces) were the original labs, so many of them really hadn’t been touched in 60 or 70 years,” Ray said. “It wasn’t JESSICA JUTZI THE DAILY ILLINI a safety issue, but we wanted to The Chemistry Annex is a newly renovated building that started improve the experience the stu- construction in 2014 and is now open for the spring semester. dents have and actually give them a modern lab experience.” less, Ray said the department is Chemistry Annex Timeline The improvements to the lab excited to be back in the Annex. 1878 - The Chemistry spaces were the primary goal Chemistry professors contribDepartment moves into its of the renovation, Ray said. uted to the build’s design, Ray They also implemented better said. Ray and other professors own building. ADA access for disabled stu- were pleased with their level of 1902 - Noyes Laboratory is dents, overhauled the lecture input. They worked closely with hall and addressed the Leader- architects on campus to design built as an updated space. ship in Energy and Environmen- the building. 1930 - Chemistry Annex is tal Design national standards. “They took all of us that would The building now complies with be using the building quite a bit, built. It costs $335,000 and national environmental design and had us sit down with the adds 39,000 square feet specifications. architects and just say, ‘OK, of space for the chemistry “It’s a much more efficient what do you really want? Here’s department. building,” Ray said. “There was the ideas we have, what do you a lot of work put in making sure think about that? How does this 2014 - Renovations for the it was energy efficient, with new fit with how you teach your classChemistry Annex begin windows, new heating and cool- es?’” Ray said. ing systems, and things like that.” Renovations like this are part costing $21.4 million and The renovation required the of the University’s Instructionadded 42,466 square feet of chemistry department to move al Space Improvement Initiaclassroom and lab space. all of its existing facilities out of tive, said Steve Breitwieser, the the Annex and consolidate it into manager of communications & 2017 - Renovations are Noyes Laboratory for the dura- external relations at the Univercomplete and classes begin tion of the project. Though considering the move relatively painSEE CHEMISTRY | 5A again.
$600
$662
$644 $180
2017
$351
JACOB SINGLETON THE DAILY ILLINI SOURCE WALTER KNORR, CFO
In 2016, the University received 28 percent of the funding the state pledged in 2015, according to Jennifer Creasey, director of state relations for the office of government relations. “It’s just crazy,” she said. “It just keeps getting worse, snowballing the more it goes.” The University has urged lawmakers to provide funding for both 2016 and 2017 that match the $644 million pledged in 2015. Creasey hopes the state will award the money, but concedes she doesn’t think it is very likely. In the meantime, the University has prepared for the funding to disappear through “belt tightening, operational and administrative efficiencies, reliance on cash available,” and “second semester tuition receipts,” Hardy said. It has also imposed salary freezes, hiring freezes and natural attrition, or reduction, of faculty and non-instructional staff. He said the University will survive the academic year with-
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STAFF WRITER
Prior to October 2016, students living in residence halls had six months to opt out of their housing contract. Now, they only have 30 days. If a student wants to change their housing plans, he or she now has 30 days to do so after signing a housing contract. Alma Sealine, director of University Housing, said that the changes in contract were in fact not sudden, but have been devised throughout the fall semester. “It has been a change that we have put together and have communicated to the residence hall students before housing signup started in October,” Sealine said. She said that when reviewing
their data, they found that several students were holding on to preferred spaces throughout the six month time frame for room reselection that other individuals did not have access to. “We put together this process in order to still allow for a six month housing signup, but 30-day contract process in which after 30 days you are tied to the contract,” Sealine said. Alexis Kahn, junior in Nursing, said that she sees the contract adjustments as a positive change. “I know it’s what a lot of the other universities do,” Kahn said. “If it has already helped students choose housing, then it was a move in the right direction.” The contract states that after the 30 days from signing, stu-
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dents are held to their contract terms and conditions. The settlement fee for opting out of the contract is 50 percent before the fi rst day of the fall semester, and 75 percent after the fi rst day of occupancy. “This is still the most flexible contract process in the Champaign-Urbana area,” Sealine said. “With most off-campus apartments, once you sign that contract you are held to it, and if you cancel, the settlement fee is 100 percent.” These contract changes were brought about by the University in response to different factors, the most important being student experience, Sealine said.
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CRACKED SET TO OPEN IN OLD ANTONIO’S SPOT
LOSS-WIN STREAK MAY MEAN PURDUE VICTORY
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Updated housing contract limits students’ options BY JESSICA BERBEY
The University is proposing to freeze in-state tuition for incoming freshmen this fall, for the third consecutive year. H o w e v e r, graduate and i nter n at ion al students a nd out- ofstate freshmen would see a 1.8 percent tuition increase. President Timothy This would Killeen be the longest consecutive freeze in tuition rates in 40 years. The University froze tuition for four years from 1974 to 1977. The proposal was made during the Board of Trustees’ Audit, Budget, Finance and Facilities committee meeting on Jan. 9. President Timothy Killeen said the proposal reflects a commitment to affordability and was proposed despite a two-year state budget impasse that has signifi cantly reduced state funding to the University by $750 million. “Our commitment to affordability has helped systemwide enrollment grow to record highs each of the last two years, providing life-changing opportunities for students and building on the pipeline of world-class talent that is critical to moving the state of Illinois forward,” Killeen said in a press release. In-state base tuition would match the 2014-15 academic year at $12,036 a year; however, some students must pay more to cover additional costs of their major, such as students studying engineering. Killeen’s proposed Investment, Performance and Accountability Commitment bill seeks to provide predictable state funding over the next five years in exchange for completing performance goals. The bill, introduced in legislature in November, would hold tuition increases to the rate of infl ation if approved. Room-and-board costs are not expected to increase, holding at $10,612 per year with a standard double room and meal plan. Student fees are proposed to increase by 0.5 percent or $16 a year. The board will consider the proposal at its Jan. 19 meeting in Chicago.
Students participated in service projects such as blanket making to better the community for MLK Service Day on Monday in the Illini Union. They also learned about the impact Martin Luther King Jr. had on the world.
University’s state funding
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