THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY March 12, 2020
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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NEWS EDITOR
Students studying abroad in Europe were sent an email Tuesday strongly advising them to return to the U.S. The University is not suspending programs at this time and is not requiring students to depart. The University is continuing to monitor the situation in Europe and has the ability to suspend programs if necessary. “While we prefer not to make such decisions, the health and safety of our students is always our first pri- sjboyle2@dailyillini.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Several events canceled because of coronavirus Alexis Perezchica and Chris Ackerman-Avila celebrate with each other after winning the Illinois Student Government election at Illini Union Rooms B and C on Monday. Perezchica and Ackerman-Avila are the new student body president and vice president, respectively.
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Sports: NCAA releases coronavirus statement PAGE 1B
Police
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All domestic student spring break travels (which require air travel) have been canceled.
BY ETHAN SIMMONS SENIOR REPORTER
According to preliminary vote counts, A lex is Perezchica, sophomore in LAS, and Chris AckermanAvila, senior in FAA, are the new president and vice president of the Illinois student body for the 20202021 academic year. The pair prevailed in a hotly contested fourway race for the executive positions, riddled with ele c t ion c ompl a i nt s against them and two other tickets. A handful of complaints were written by presidential candidates against their opposing tickets. Some Illinois Student Government officials doubt the allegations could result in a disqualification for Perezchica and AckermanAvila, though it may lead to vote penalties that would tighten a close race. Several students filed c om pl a i nt s against Perezchica for allegedly passing out campaign flyers before some of her classes, which would violate code 7.10 in the Campus Student Election Commission’s official elections guide. The r ule prohibits campaigning in classrooms,
Travel restrictions were implemented on all University-affiliated trips to Iran, China, Italy and Daegu region of South Korea. Some professors are beginning to make class attendance optional with no penalty for absences. The “Osaka City University Exchange Symposium” event has been postponed. MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI
The “Rubisco Oxygenase: 50 Years of Progress and Looking into the Future” event has been postponed.
Bridget Glass (left) and Ian Katsnelson listen as the Illinois Student ballot results are announced at the Illini Ballroom on Monday evening. Katsnelson filed a complaint against 24 ISG candidates for slating and defamation, though he faces election complaints of his own.
including “pre-class or post-class announcements” in favor of cer ta in candidates. Other complaints were leveled toward candidate pairing Aisha Shekara, junior in LAS, and Mike Van Wagner, sophomore in AHS, for directing students to unofficial “polling locations” with the candidates’ personal computers and distributing flyers in forbidden locations like the Illini Union. Presidential candidate Ian Katsnelson, sophomore
CEAPS Speaker: Fumitoshi Yoshizawa "Rethinking the Movement for Protesting Normalization of Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea" event has been canceled.
in LAS, received complaints for emailing students asking for their election support. Complainants were unsure where Katsnelson obtained the email addresses and whether he v iolated information technology rules in doing so. A common allegation toward the Aisha-Mike and Alexis-Chris tickets was “slating,” indicating support for candidates in other races in official campaign communications.
Starbucks temporarily halted the use of all personal-use reusable cups. The Chinese Student Scholars Association canceled all events leading up to Feb 9. Source: Illinois News Bureau, Daily Illini
SEE COMPLAINTS | 3A
CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI
Downtown Champaign becomes historic district This past January, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service certified much of downtown Champaign as a national historic district. This district takes up about 19 and a half acres, contains 52 contributing buildings and 11 non-contributing buildings. Owners of properties within the district are granted a 20% incometax credit for keeping their properties up to par with the National Parks District’s standards. TJ Blakeman, senior planner for economic development for the City of Champaign, said a major benefit of this historic district is that property owners are not required to do anything with their properties that they don’t want. “If you want to make alterations to your building or, heaven forbid, tear it down, you could do that,”
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INSIDE
All 852 exchange students and faculty in Italy and South Korea were required to return to campus.
Election complaints linger
STAFF WRITER
Features: RSO cultivates creativity for artists of color
All University-sponsored international spring break programs have been canceled.
MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI
BY SALEM ISAF
INSIDE
ority,” the email stated. Suspensions of programs could take place if a country’s travel advisory rises to Level 3 or 4, if there is significant spike in infections across cities or countries students are in, if there are cancellations of flights between Europe and the U.S. or if there is a continued cancellation of in-person classes. This follows as students, staff and faculty were required to come home from Italy and South Korea last week.
BY SAMANTHA BOYLE
KELLY JOHNSON
kellymj2@dailyillini.com
Vol. 149 Issue 47
Students urged to leave Europe
To staff, leaders, readers: Thank you During my time as editorin-chief, I have many people who have worked with me, taught me, criticized me and praised me. Every single person has impacted me and how I run the newspaper, and as this is my last paper as editor-in-chief, I wanted to take the time to thank the people who have helped me through this time. Here are my thank you notes. The most important thank you I have to give is to my staff. The paper would literally be nothing without them. They traded going to the bars for covering protests, working on their homework for editing stories, even their mental stability a few more times than they would like to say to make sure we always had a paper come Monday and Thursday. I want to thank the professors who have taken the time to critique us and give us their insight. They have helped us become better as paper, even if, at the time, we couldn’t see it. I want to thank the professional staff that works at The Daily Illini. While we are a student-run newspaper, we would not be able to run without them. Our staff changes every year, but the professional staff doesn’t. They are a constant here at Illini Media Company, and the potential for our success would not be possible without them. Thank you to my family for the hours they have spent listening to me cry about DI, laugh about it and be proud of it. Thank you to all The DI families. From supporting your students or friends who work here, you help us run just as much as if you were writing here. I want to thank everyone who has been featured in an article. Whether you were a source, your RSO was featured in some way or your photo is in The DI. We need people like you to be in the story for us to have sources and be able to fully tell each story. Lastly, thank you to the readers. We could not and would not print our paper or have a website if you guys weren’t here. Thank you for caring. Thank you for wanting to stay informed and supporting student media. Thank you.
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Blakeman said. “If you want the credit, you have to follow the rules. If you don’t want the credit, it doesn’t add any additional regulatory burdens on property owners.” Blakeman pointed out that if the district were to lose enough of its integrity, then the National Parks District would move to delist it, but he said doesn’t see that happening anytime soon. “Hopefully people will use this to preserve their buildings, but there have been instances where a building has been torn down or altered significantly,” Blakeman said. The process to certify downtown Champaign as a national historic district was actually started by an owner of many of the properties downtown, Janet Bubin. Initially, she was looking for extra funding to renovate her property at 30 E. Main St. to move one of her businesses, Kofusion, to that location.
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CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
A man receives a haircut at Depot Barber Shop located at 100 N. Chestnut St. Friday. SEE HISTORIC | 3A The street, located in downtown Champaign, is now part of the certified national historic district.
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