MONDAY April 5, 2021
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Vol. 150 Issue 46
CU community protests anti-Asian sentiments BY VIVIAN LA ASSISTANT DAYTIME EDITOR
Angered by the recent rise in Asian violence across the country, the ChampaignUrbana community gathered in downtown Champaign last Tuesday to rally against racism and hate. Dozens of people — ranging from families and children, to students and individuals — showed up to express support for the Asian American Pacific Islander, or AAPI, community. People met on the corner of Walnut Street and University Avenue holding posters and chanting “No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here,” while passing cars occasionally honked in support. “I think things like this, rallies, are an important gesture in the fabric of our country to show our displeasure to utilize our right to petition,” said Aaron Chun, Champaign resident and high school psychologist. The rally was organized by the Champaign-Urbana chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of social issues to the local community. Emily Chen, senior in LAS, said she attended the rally because it’s important to do more than post about these issues on social media.
She said the shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. that left eight people dead, including six Asian women, left her feeling very emotional, but not completely shocked. The nationwide and community support she’s seen since then is welcome, Chen said, but there needs to be more, especially when it comes to understanding AAPI history. “There really isn’t going to be any change in America unless something extreme happens,” Chen said. “It’s really important to learn about the history beyond just the past couple of years, or COVID, or whatever the past president has said.” Ham Gadel, 20 year-old Savoy resident, had similar thoughts. Gadel said it’s great to see this support but wonders where it was in the past. “We’ve been facing these kinds of issues for years and years, but it seems like it’s just never been talked about on a national scale until now,” Gadel said. Gadel said this issue particularly affects them as someone in the AAPI community and that they have general fear these days because of the rise in hate crimes. “It’s just that uncertainty that’s very scary,” Gadel said. “Every time someone is unnecessarily rude or just
CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
A little boy walks across North Walnut Street at the #StopAsianHate rally on Tuesday. The Champaign-Urbana community recently gathered in downtown Champaign to protest against the increase in hate crimes against Asians.
treats me different from my white colleagues, it makes you stop and think ‘Oh, did they have a problem with me as an Asian person?’” Chun said recent violence makes him think about the murder of Yingying Zhang, a Chinese scholar visiting
the University in 2017. “I can’t help but think that her race and how Asian women are portrayed in our society, I can’t help but think that was a factor in why this man killed her and why he chose her specifically,” Chun said, referring to
stereotypes of Asian women as passive targets. Yaguang Lian, research engineer at the University and president of Chinese American Association of Central Illinois, said there hasn’t been much Asiantargeted violence in the C-U
community. But Lian said he has still heard of stories about verbal attacks in grocery stores. Ashley Cho, counselor at Urbana High School, said recent violence has awakSEE SENTIMENTS | 3A
UI expands saliva tests to local community University cancels study BY ALEX CHANG STAFF WRITER
The University has announced the offering of saliva-based COVID-19 testing to families of the University and schools in the C-U area under the new SHIELD CU program, expanding testing beyond just the University. Originally, testing was slated for rollout last Friday, according to University staff and the SHIELD CU website. However, a bug “preventing family members with Android devices from being able to enroll in the program” has now
caused the program to be delayed until a later date, according to a Massmail sent out Friday. According to a Massmail sent out on March 23, “all household and family members of faculty, staff and students who are eight years old or older are eligible” for the test. The initiative is co-sponsored by the University of Illinois and OSF HealthCare, with the University providing the expertise behind the testing procedure and OSF HealthCare providing aftertest care and information to those who test positive,
CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
on the Safer Community app in a similar manner to the current Safer Illinois app. Schools which will receive the pilot program of SHIELD CU include Urbana High School and Stratton Academy of the Arts. For University family members, each SHIELD test will cost $10. However, students and faculty that attend schools enrolled in the pilot program will be able to test for free under a Rockefeller Foundation grant covering testing expenses for them until June, according to Neal Cohen, professor and Director of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute at the University. A big question for the SHIELD CU program is equity issues in schools, according to Sullivan. “Who’s got access to a cell phone, a smartphone, these are all issues we have to consider,” Sullivan said. Equity issues and privacy issues stemming from the handling of data from minors means that schools will not be using Safer Community, Sullivan said. Instead, schools will obtain test results from the SHIELD CU program and will directly notify students of test results, including potential infection status. Currently, there are future plans to expand the program “to one or two schools in Rantoul as well,” Sullivan said.
abroad programs for fall
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The University announced on March 23 that all study abroad programs will be suspended through December due to health and safety uncertainties. “Despite positive developments in some areas, significant uncertainty remained with regard to the impact on health and safety for students and local communities, vaccine rollouts and travel requirements,” said Joy Phaphouvaninh, director
alexrc2@dailyillini.com
JONAH OZER THE DAILY ILLINI
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of Illinois Abroad and Global Exchange team. In attempts to accommodate courses that were originally conducted abroad, the University has implemented virtual global experiences and global classroom courses in order to adapt to this online format. Students can sign up for either of these courses and programs in the upcoming fall semester since the University is still collaborating
BY ALIZA MAJID
G N T I HE V I
Jose Hernandez spits into his saliva sample tube in order to detect if he has COVID-19 on Feb. 1. The University of Illinois has been working on upgrading the saliva test to include family members.
according to the program’s website. A central component of the initiative is the rollout of the Safer Community app, an application built upon the same Rokwire platform that the current Illinois and Safer Illinois apps are built on. “Rokwire is this open source system that we released which would allow anyone to build an app for their community, and we are using our campus as a testbed to explore various services that could be put into the app,” said William Sullivan, professor and director of the Smart Healthy Community Initiative. “The Illinois app and Safer Illinois app are part of this platform.” People enrolled in the Safer Community program who are eligible due to University family status will have to link their Safer Community app to the UIN of a Universityaffiliated sponsor. After entering this information, sponsors have to authorize the Safer Community account as a linked account before they can get tested. State Farm Center is currently the only testing site available for SHIELD CU members. Additionally, only “select lines designated for SHIELD CU” may be used, according to the Massmail. A list of testing locations and times can be found on the SHIELD CU website. Once tests are processed, results will be displayed
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