HOLIDAY GUIDE SEE INSERT
THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY December 5, 2019
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
Vol. 149 Issue 28
Europa House loses housing certification BY SAMANTHA BOYLE NEWS EDITOR
A University Housing announcement in 2016 informed all housing facilities all their residents must purchase some sort of meal plan to live in the facilities. In lieu of the announcements, Europa House laid out their options. Units in the Europa House, located on 802 W. Oregon St., have their own kitchens for residents to utilize, but other than that, the facility does not have a cafeteria and, in the past, did not require students to have a meal plan to live there, putting the house at risk of losing their certification as a Private Certified Housing facility. With the three-year timeline, Robin Stemmler, president of Europa House, and Karen Perrine, general manager of Europa House, considered their options, one being the possibility of building a cafeteria. “We brought in architects,” Perrine said. We brought in designers.” Europa House was first established in 1966 by Stemmler’s parents, who came to the University from Europe. Because of this, his parents wanted a living space that catered more toward European aesthetic, he said. Since the establishment, the studio lofts and a house right down the street came under Stem-
mler’s jurisdiction. However, now the future of Europa House is unknown. After the 2016 announcement and much consideration, the requirement of meal plans for residents just did not seem logical. But no exceptions could’ve been made for the facility. The new requirement was announced and established to create consistency among student housing across campus, said Carly O’Connor, the Private Certified Housing coordinator with the Housing Information Office. A lthough O’Connor was not around when the announcement was made, she mentioned the “whole goal as Private Certified Housing is to make it as comparable as an experience to living in University Housing as possible.” Other Private Certified Housing facilities include Bromley Hall, Hendrick House, Nabor House and several others across campus. Europa House was able to house about 82 students; however, this does not mean the apartments are filled each year. In total, Private Certified Housing housed around 2,600 students as of this year. The new status of Europa House won’t be detrimental, though, because it was one of the smaller certified housing SEE CERTIFICATION | 3A
UI requests 2021 budget increase BY MICHAEL CARUSO STAFF WRITER
BRIAN BAUER THE DAILY ILLINI
Protestors demand action Students plan second campus climate strike ASSISTANT DAYTIME NEWS EDITOR
MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI
The University Board of Trustees has requested a budget of $697.3 million for the 2021 Fiscal Year. This marks an increase of $75.3 million, or 12.1%, compared to the 2020 fiscal year budget, according to a press release from the University Board. “This is the first step in the budgeting process. The request is submitted for consideration by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the governor and the legislature,” said David Mercer, assistant director of the UI System Office for University Relations. Tom Hardy, executive director of University Relations, said in an email that the final decision to approve the budget rests with the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “Both were constructive, thoughtful partners who showed their appreciation for the value of what our universities provide to Illinois during this year’s budgeting process,” he said. The University budget is primarily allocated to paying faculty and staff salaries, as well as financial aid for students and miscellaneous upgrades to University infrastructure. In particular, $10 million will be going toward financial aid for Illinois residents. Hardy said this financial aid funding would be directed toward undergraduate students who are not represented adequately at the University. The amount of financial aid has risen from $97 million in 2008 to $231 million in 2018. “A particular emphasis of this funding would be attracting underrepresented students, including students from counties which now send relatively few students to our three universities,” Hardy said. Despite the significant increase requested for the 2021 budget, it remains lower than the 2015 state funding budget when adjusted for inflation. This was achieved in part due to the two-year Illinois budget impasse from 2015 to 2017, which prevented a rise in the University’s funding for several years. “During the two-plus year state budget impasse, the University System and its three universities implemented a series of cost-saving initiatives and structural reforms in spending that remain today,” Hardy said. “The cost-saving measures included the reduction of non-
Students gather on the Main Quad for a climate strike march on Sept. 20. Students for Environmental Concerns will hold a second strike Friday, demanding action from the University.
BY CLARE BUDIN
Europa House sits on the corner of Busey Avenue and Oregon Street on Tuesday. The building has lost its private certified status following the decision to require meal plans for students living in University housing.
The University’s environmental activist group Students for Environmental Concerns is planning a climate strike on Friday to push for greater action by the University and the governor in addressing climate change. Students and local activists had previously organized a climate strike on Sept. 20 as part of the Global Week for Future movement inspired by teen activist Greta Thunberg, in which an estimated 4 million protesters gathered in over 150 countries to address grievances over policies and government inaction surrounding climate change. Just as in the previous strike, one of SECS’s main goals for Friday’s demonstration is to encourage Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign
the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which according to the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition would commit Illinois to 100% renewable energy by 2050, cut carbon from the power sector by 2030 and reduce gas and diesel vehicles from the state’s transportation sector. During the Sept. 20 strike, protestors gathered outside of the Undergraduate Library and the Siebel Center For Computer Science. The two groups then made their way over to the Main Quad and North Quad respectively. “It’s really amazing to see so many young people mobilize together and come together for a common cause,” President of Students for Environmental Concerns Abbi Pstrzroch told The Daily Illini in an article about the last strike. Another demand of the strike’s organizers is for Pritzker to ban fracking in Illinois, and the group has partnered with a local branch of the Illinois Sierra Club and Water Watch to
sign signatures “calling on Gov Pritzker to meet these demands.” In a press release, SECS reiterated its longtime goal for the University of Illinois system to completely divest from fossil fuels. “Despite claims of being a sustainable, environmentally-conscious university, UIUC invests millions of dollars into fossil fuel companies that contribute greatly to the climate crisis,” SECS representatives said. “Students demand that this money be divested and re-invested into more sustainable, ethical alternatives, such as renewable energy.” SECS is encouraging University employees, community members, labor groups and local leaders to join students in the strike. The strike will begin at 11:30 a.m. on the south side of the Illini Union, with a stationary rally and speakers planned to present at the Swanlund Administration Building at 2 p.m. claredb2@dailyillini.com
RSO pushes to clear neighborhood contamination BY KIMBERLY BELSER STAFF WRITER
University registered student organizations are working to obtain indoor vapor testing kits for Fifth and Hill, a community that is believed to contain a toxic waste. Black Students for Revolution UIUC and Students for Environmental Concerns have set up a GoFundMe to purchase the testing kits. They have currently raised $1,756 of their $3,000 goal. “Your donation will help us buy in-home testing kits and prove that the air this community is breathing is full of benzene, napthalene, cyanide and other volatile organic compounds,” reads the fundraiser page. “These chemicals have serious health effects on the neighbors - from headaches, to reproductive issues, and rare deadly cancers.” Claudia Lennhoff, executive director at Champaign County Health Care Consumers, said for current residents, it may be too late to prevent health issues. “People who have already been exposed to contamina-
tion, they might be already having health problems and sometimes those health problems don’t manifest right away,” she said. SECS also organized a Sustainable Tote Bag Sale on Nov. 21, where the proceeds were used to support the 5th & Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign. “Environmental Racism is an issue that affects Black communities in the U.S. and all over the world,” BSFR posted in a Twitter thread on Nov 14. “We’ve seen this happen in Flint and it’s unfolding right in our own backyard. We must organize to fight this injustice happening to our people!” BSFR UIUC and SECS are working in solidarity with Champaign County Health Care Consumers 5th and Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign, that is doing most of the organizing. Lennhoff said the toxic site in the middle of the residential neighborhood is “something we’ve been working on for over 12 years now.” “The neighborhood is predominantly low-income
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Lennhoff said Ameren Illinois, an electrical company, listed the property as a tox-The United States SEE BUDGET | 3A ic site with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency about 20 years “before we ever learned about it.” “The residents had no idea Africa that the fenced-in property in the middle of their neighborhood was actually a registered toxic site,” Lennhoff said. She said some of the residents lived there a long time Features: Bilingual and remembered when the schools cater plant was in operation from the late 1800s up until about to Congolese the mid-1950s. Lennhoff said community the residents were unaware PAGE 4A that there was a lot of toxic contamination and that it was spreading throughout the neighborhood through the groundwater. JACOB WARGO THE DAILY ILLINI However, in a previous Khiren Johnson , senior in FAA, speaks on his concerns about article published on Dec. 3, toxins in the Fifth and Hill neighborhood at the Bruce D. Nesbitt Dave Palmer, Ameren manAfrican American Cultural Center on Nov. 21. Of the $3,000 ager of remediation projects required, RSOs have raised $1,756 to purchase indoor vapor told The Daily Illini that testing kits. Ameren has been working on Sports: Regular investigating and cleaning up season takeaways, African American people. property is owned by Ameren the site since the 1990s. grades The toxic site, the property Illinois, which is the electriHe said there is still some is the site of a former man- cal provider for this commuufactured gas plant, and the nity,” she said. SEE ENVIRONMENT | 3A PAGE 2B Urbana, Illinois
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