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LAWSUIT a police union. The lawsuit goes on to claim the defendants conspired to charge O’Brien for crimes for which they had no probable cause. O’Brien’s lawsuit claims the report was part of a conspiracy to “cover up wrongdoing by an SAE member and University of
Illinois athlete.” Before the second trial, the state offered to drop the charges on the condition that O’Brien have supervision for the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct from the verbal altercation that occurred that evening. Members of SA E declined to comment on the incident.
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believes the interest in the politics of higher education should concern all students and while the voice of the nois Alumni Foundation student body may not be released an action alert the loudest in the converMonday encouraging stu- sation, it should be heard dents to reach out to state nonetheless. and local representatives Tuition for fiscal year and express their concerns 2015 pays for 33 percent of regarding the budget cuts the University’s expenses, before the state’s appropri- according to the Office of ations hearing on March 19. the Provost’s FY 15 budget Dickey said he plans to report. meet with state represen“Which technically, if tatives, use the upcoming this was a company, would Lobby Day in April and make us majority sharehold a stoh o l d e r s ,” ry camM atchett p a i g n , said. “I’m not saying fo c u s i n g we should on interh a v e v i e w s m aj or it y with students talkvote, but ing about I’m saying how the we should cuts would have some impact say, a nd t h e m t h at we directly. h ave a Student responsiemploybility to be LEAH MATCHETT engaged in m e n t BUDGET TASK FORCE CO-CHAIR across this.” campus is Dickey one area compared that will likely be affected the proposed cuts to when by the cuts, Renee Romano, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyvice chancellor for student der cut higher education affairs, said in February to funding by 15 percent in The Daily Illini. 2011. Snyder later went on Leah Matchett, co-chair to increase funding each of of the task force and junior the next four years. in LAS, said she believes “The University of Michthe cuts could impact igan became a considerever yone’s university ably whiter student body experience by lessening that they admitted, and racial and socioeconomic they also became richer,” diversity. Dickey said. “I think over “If you’re in a liberal 60 percent of students at arts degree then most of the University of Michigan your degree is going to be now come from a socioecocentered around discus- nomic background where sions, and if the discus- their parents, families, sions only exist in a world earn over $100,000. We’re where everyone has enough going to continue to see money, then you get a very the funding gap made up different discussion than by bringing in more interyou would if someone is national and out of state from a different socioeco- students and I think that’s nomic background,” said just a pity.” Matchett. M atchet t sa id she cjcolli2@dailyillini.com
BUDGET
“I’m not saying we should have majority vote, but I’m saying we should have some say.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
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Ridesharing sparks concerns over driver background checks BY JANE LEE STAFF WRITER
With Uber’s recent expansion to the Champaign-Urbana area, the technology based ridesharing platform has sparked a variety of reactions. The Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association started the “Who’s Driving You?” campaign in 2014 to examine potential safety issues related to Uber. Dave Sutton, campaign spokesman, said the campaign’s goal is to make consumers and leaders aware of ridesharing companies that are undercutting public safety, while underinvesting in areas like proper insurance and criminal background checks. Lauren Altmin, Uber spokeswoman, said the company has developed a rigorous three-step screening process on county, federal and multi-state levels. “The county, the federal courthouse records and multi-state criminal database also go back seven years,” Altmin said. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a federal law, Uber can only obtain criminal
records from the most recent seven years. Drivers are also screened through the National Sex Offender Registry, Altmin said. Uber’s background checks, she added, set the standard for ridesharing companies and are consistent nationwide, unlike the taxi industry. However, Sutton said those background checks are not enough compared to the security measures taxi companies go through. He said Hirease, a private company that runs Uber’s background checks, is separate from FBI background checking. “If you think of it, a private company is no different than you or I,” Sutton said. “We don’t have access to the same type of information that government officials would.” On March 9, eight members of Congress signed a letter addressed to the CEOs of Uber, Lyft and Sidecar asking the companies to implement “comprehensive fingerprint-based background checks.” In their letter, the members pointed out incidents
of sexual assault and violence that occurred in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. These incidents are also what led the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association to start its campaign to highlight the potential safety risks that may be associated with ridesharing companies. “If you truly want to be safe, I would stay out of the vehicles until such time that they begin to (issue fingerprinting),” Sutton said. “Sometimes by saving a couple of dollars, you place yourself in a much greater risk.” Eliza Maldonado, junior in LAS, said she and her friends were 20 minutes away from campus and decided to take an Uber car back. Maldonado said users can see how the driver looks and where they’re from, but the app isn’t explicit on details about them. “I guess with the whole background (checks), that would be a lot more official, and you can check if they’re actually a good
person, rather than having some stranger,” she said. “They’re strangers either way, but it’s more beneficial for anybody riding it.” Altmin said in cities, drivers and consumers have said they want more choices, and a PR campaign does not change the facts. “The taxi industry for decades has done nothing about consumers or providing opportunities to drivers that choose to work with them,” she said. “They didn’t evolve their business model and they certainly didn’t innovate. Rather than playing catchup, they’re playing games to protect their monopoly.” Uber, Altim said, is committed to safety and has been innovating and implementing new technology for the well-being of its riders and drivers. “Uber is a technology platform, what we’re seeing is that legislators are recognizing the new and different business model and are creating regulations that account for it,” she said.
janelee5@dailyillini.com
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stressing about potentially missing assignments or rushing through to finish them,” she said. courses allow him to devote Raineri said giving stumore time to helping stu- dents options for controldents because the lec- ling the pace also helps tures are prerecorded and those with accessibiliassignments are ready at ty issues, such as sight the start of the term. and hearing impairment, Raineri emphasized that because they can rewind different online courses as much as necessary. approach teaching differHowever, Raineri said ently. For the majority of there are still worries that the underit may be g r adu tough for ate online students c o u r s who have es, t he trouble focusing. instrucTo solve tor is this probi nvolved . lem, SnodStudents do most of grass sugthe work ge s te d on their students own and read the instrucc ou rse VIRGINIA MILLER tors are schedule SOPHOMORE IN LAS there when immedistudents ately and need them. budget T h e their time summer session also allows well. students to learn time man“Online courses can be agement skills by catego- great and you can really rizing courses into self- enjoy them if you have a paced or non-self-paced flexible attitude toward this models. ‘new’ way of teaching and Snodgrass said he pre- learning,” he said. Online classes are not fers the non-self-paced model because it is more necessarily as easy as some structured and works on a students may assume, she said, and success comes schedule and timeline. Meanwhile, Virginia with dedication a nd Miller, sophomore in LAS, self-discipline. took ATMS 120 last sum“These are not ‘easy mer and enjoyed the self- grades’ to speed through paced model. and get an easy A,” Miller “Self-paced models are said. “But if you put in the nice, particularly during time and effort, they are the summer when you want exceptionally rewarding the freedom to work ahead and can even be fun.” and give yourself some extra time off ... without lyang51@dailyillini.com
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“(Online courses) are not ‘easy grades’ to speed through and get an easy A.”
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U.S. President Barack Obama meets with the Council of the Great City Schools Leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Monday in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss efforts to strengthen educational opportunities for students in city schools.
Obama searches for education support amid bipartisan struggles
BY MICHAEL DOYLE TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Monday found an ally in Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Michael Hanson. During an hourlong meeting, Obama pitched his education priorities to Hanson and other superintendents. For the school leaders and administration officials now facing some high-stakes legislative struggles, the White House session came at a key time. “We were reinforcing to him the importance of his continued support,” Hanson said, adding that Obama’s “articulated vision for what goes on in public schools gives us the room to do this very difficult work.” Hanson is a member of the executive committee of the Council of Great City Schools, which represents 67 districts serving cities that include Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The late morning meeting in the White House’s Roosevelt Room came as part of the Council’s annual legislative conference, a four-day program that features speeches, receptions and briefings. Politically, the timing was apt, as the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic White House are now maneuvering for position across several fronts. “This is a pretty polarized city,” Hanson said, standing on the driveway outside the West Wing of the White House. “You can feel it when
you come here.” This week, the polarization will intensify when House and Senate budget committees unveil budget resolutions that spell out Republican priorities on everything from education to defense. The House committee members include Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., a staunch conservative whose district stretches from Fresno County in the south to Amador County in the north. Separately, House GOP leaders have been struggling to pass a bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The bill, dubbed the No Child Left Behind Act during the George W. Bush administration, has roiled conservatives critical of the federal government’s role in education, but it has also worried educators who fear funds will be diverted away from the neediest. After failing to rally a majority on Feb. 27, Republican leaders pulled the bill from the House floor and have not yet rescheduled a vote. The Obama administration has warned that the president would veto the bill, now renamed the Student Success Act. “We are making too much progress now in terms of graduation rates, improved reading scores, improved math scores, increasing standards, increasing access to the resources the kids need for us to be going backwards now,” Obama said after the meeting with superintendents.
Nationwide, high school graduation rates for African-American, Hispanic and Native American students have increased during the past two years, Education Department records released Monday show. The nation’s overall high school graduation rate reached a record 81.4 percent during the 2012-13 school year. The Fresno district’s graduation rate of about 76 percent during that school year was somewhat lower than the national average. The other superintendents who met with Obama on Monday, serving cities like Kansas City, Mo., San Francisco and Washington, D.C., struggle with similar challenges. “The students they work with are largely poor, and they’re largely people of color,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. One specific sticking point between congressional Republicans and the White House involves the distribution of Title I funds, designed to help districts serve low-income students. The Fresno Unified School District relies heavily on the funds and currently receives about $46 million annually through Title I. The stalled House bill revises the funding through an idea called “portability,” which would attach dollars to individual students rather than to the district as a whole. If the student moved, the old district would lose the money.
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NIH: Condition of American health LAPD officer accused of trying to drive Mexican citizen across border care worker with Ebola worsens The condition of an American health care worker being treated for Ebola at the National Institutes of Health has worsened, officials announced Monday. In a statement posted on the NIH website, the agency said the patient’s status has worsened from serious
to critical. The patient has not been named, but has been identified as a clinician working with Partners in Health, a Boston-based nonprofit organization. The group has been treating patients in Liberia and Sierra Leone since November.
LOS ANGELES — A 10-year LAPD officer and a second person were charged by federal prosecutors Monday with trying to smuggle a Mexican citizen into the United States in the trunk of a car at the Otay Mesa border crossing. Officer Carlos Curiel Quezada Jr., 34, and Angelica Godinez, 31,
were stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Saturday evening when they drove a white 2014 Nissan Juke through the border crossing. When law enforcement popped the trunk, they found a man hiding in the spare tire compartment, according to federal prosecutors.
16-year-old pleads guilty in Florida high school gang rape case SANFORD, Fla. — A 16-year-old former football player at Winter Springs High School in Florida pleaded guilty Monday to gang rape and was placed on probation for five years. He is the first of five codefendants to enter a plea or go to trial in the highly charged case. According to prosecution records,
he did the least harm to the 16-year-old girl, quickly stopping when she told him “No.” He along with four others team members were arrested after the girl emerged from a patch of woods near the school on Nov. 13, in tears, telling a friend that several high school boys had gang raped her.