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The Daily Illini
Friday April 13, 2012
www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 141 Issue 132
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Search for new UI mascot to continue until fall ‘12
University’s Climate Survey results soon to be released for public scrutiny BY LAUREN ROHR STAFF WRITER
Results from the fi rst ever University-wide Climate Survey will soon be available to students, faculty and staff. The results are being fi nalized by the Survey Research Laboratory on the Chicago campus and an analytical report will be released on uillinois.edu/climatesurvey at the end of April. Despite the “volumes and volumes of data” received from the survey, Marilyn Marshall , director of University academic programs and services, said she is confident that they will get the information on time. She added that the laboratory will continue to analyze the data after the information is released. The climate survey was initially emailed to 106,000 University students, faculty and staff of all three campuses on Oct. 26, 2011. When the survey closed about a month later, about 16 percent, or 17,000 people, had participated, Marshall said. According to a University news release from Nov. 2011, University President Michael Hogan began planning the survey in November 2010 in correlation with the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, which funded the survey. Soon after Hogan initiated the idea, a subcommittee studied similar questionnaires from other universities to formulate questions. It was designed to “measure student and employee perceptions of the academic, working and social environment.” Hogan, although familiar with a presidential position, was new to the University when he began conducting the survey. Tim Johnson , director of the laboratory, said he believes Hogan was interested in getting a “baseline measurement” of the climate on all three campuses among a variety of students, staff and faculty. That way, he added, Hogan could focus on improving those identified issues for students and employees. “I think it was a sincere attempt on his part to understand what the climate was like, and to understand the scope of the problems at
Some students still hope to bring Chief back BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Campus Spirit Revival, a registered student organization, is giving students more time to contribute their ideas for a new mascot. While the original art contest deadline was April 15, the group has decided to extend the deadline to Oct. 14 in order to allow for more submissions to . Thomas Ferrarell, president of Campus Spirit Revival, emphasized that the organization’s goal is to get people excited about finding a new mascot and not to take any stance on the Chief debate. “There’s a silent majority of people who are interested in this,” Ferrarell said. “The students need to prove to the administration that they want a new mascot. Everybody definitely has a stake in it.” The Campus Spirit Revival’s goal is to have five student-submitted ideas to vice president and chancellor Phyllis Wise by the Oct. 14 deadline. At that point, however, the issue will be solely in the hands of the administration, Ferrarell said. Some mascot ideas that have been submitted include Colonel Kernel; Lean Mean Mr. Soybean; Trouble, the tractor, and a currently unnamed white-tailed deer. Winners of the contest will receive a $200 Amazon gift card, which may be funded by the Illinois Student Senate, which voted in support of the group in December. Student body president David Pileski said the general consensus of the senate was that if students are passionate about getting a new mascot, then they should be supportive of the new mascot process. “It’s important for this to be dealt with on a student-to-student basis rather than something handed down from the administration,” Pileski said. Karen Sixkiller, treasurer of Campus Spirit Revival, said the organization is taking steps to move past the conflict in a “positive way.”
WILLIAM SHI THE DAILY ILLINI
From left to right, Prateek Arora, Sahil Handa, and Karan Uppal eat at Zorba’s during the restaurant’s reopening on Thursday.
A year later, the classic restaurant returns to serve the community more gyros and grins BY JACK PREIS
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DAYTIME ASSISTANT EDITOR
little over a year after Green Street fire on March 23, 2011, Zorba’s owner Matt Mortenson reopened the gyros stand that has been serving campus since 1973. Thursday’s customers were greeted by an all new layout. The kitchen is now on the southwest corner of the restaurant, which means the larger seating area is
now off to the left. Additionally, a new wheelchair ramp leads customers from the door to the counter, where they will pass new customized lighting fixtures. Mortenson’s Block I-shaped collage of Illini sports clippings is still there, as it was salvaged from the fire along with two campus-themed murals, which are now hung on the eastern wall. In addition to some of the same decor, Zorba’s customers will also fi nd the
same menu. Mortenson said there was never a time when he considered not rebuilding Zorba’s, though it involved a long process of dealing with insurance companies and the landlord to make sure the building was up to code. For example, the basement ceiling was not high enough at first, so he had to have the floor dug deeper. The community has been very encour-
See ZORBA’S, Page 3A
See SURVEY, Page 3A
See MASCOT, Page 3A
UI looking to combine cultural centers Three separate drawings were discussed for new building plans BY THOMAS THOREN STAFF WRITER
NATHALIE ROCK THE DAILY ILLINI
Helen Kessler, President of HJKessler Associates, writes down sustainability ideas for a possible collective cultural center at the Illini Union. Directors of the centers met Thursday to view three building ideas.
While the University’s cultural centers and gender and ethnic program offices are currently spread out on campus, the organizations are contemplating coming together in a single building. For the fi rst time, University students and faculty saw concep-
tual drawings regarding the feasibility study for a unified facility after four months of discussion. The centers’ directors and other faculty and students met again Thursday at the Illini Union with the study’s architectural consultant, Moody Nolan, Inc., who presented three conceptual drawings for the building.
The architectural fi rm began working with the University at the end of last summer. At that time, they “had to go through a de-mythicizing” process with students and faculty about the status of the building plans and funding, both of which do not yet exist, said Renauld Mitchel l, director of operations and architect at Moody Nolan’s Chicago office. His fi rm based its designs on student and faculty discussions held in December and again last week. Prior to the fi rm’s presentation, Rory James, director of the Bruce
D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center, assured attendees that Moody Nolan’s presentation was only “a conceptual framework” for the proposed facility. “By no means are we saying this is a blueprint or anything of what’s to come,” he said. Mitchell added that his fi rm’s process of designing the best facility possible for their feasibility study is “dialogue driven” and “dead on arrival” without faculty and, especially, student input.
See CENTER, Page 3A
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