LIFE & CULTURE, 6A
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SPORTS, 1B
SPORTS, 1B
WEDNESDAY April 16, 2014
THE DAILY ILLINI
WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
55˚ | 39˚ Vol. 143 Issue 108
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Clery Act rules under review BY JESSICA RAMOS STAFF WRITER
E C R O F E H T G N I JOIN STANTON POLANSKI THE DAILY ILLINI
University Police stop a man on Fifth and Green streets on Friday night. He had an open alcoholic beverage in the vehicle.
Reporter rides along with a campus narcotics officer on a Friday night BY STANTON POLANSKI STAFF WRITER
Editor’s note: Sgt. Joe McCullough is a narcotics and street crime officer for the University Police Department. Due to the dangerous nature of his work, he asked for certain personal- and work-related information to be left out of the article. His team is a part of a federal task force and other officers in his team keep their identities secret. He agreed to let The Daily Illini tag along for the night as he patrolled campus town. It’s around 9 p.m. on a Friday night when Sgt. Joe McCullough hears a dispatcher over the radio mention something about a robbery at University and Fifth streets in Champaign. Worstcase scenarios creep into my head as McCullough turns to me to say we should check it out. After shaking hands in the lobby of the University Police station, McCullough led me through a hallway and out to the back. He opened the trunk of a black SUV and handed me a bulletproof vest. It’s just part of their policy, McCullough assured me,
in case we encountered a dangerous situation. I slipped on the vest and noticed how surprisingly light it felt. McCullough said it’s so flexible and thin that he can crumble it into a ball. But it will stop a bullet from penetrating the chest. “Getting shot with the vest on is like getting hit with a Major League home run in the chest,” McCullough said. “There will be bad bruising and the offi cer’s body may feel terrible, but they’ll still be alive.” McCullough himself has never been shot, nor has he ever had to use his gun. But the potential for a highly dangerous situation has been clear to him. “We fi nd a gun in a waistband, or we fi nd a gun under the seat, or we serve a search warrant at an apartment and see a loaded gun next to drugs,” he said. McCullough passed me a waiver form to sign. The University Police Department would not be held liable should something happen to me. Then, we hopped into McCullough’s undercover SUV and drove off. Now, we’re closing in on
University and Fifth. I ask McCullough whether he had gotten nervous in the 14 or 15 years he had been an officer. “Man, we still do,” McCullough says. “When we’re dealing with people who have potentially been armed in the past or have a history of arrests — and we’re dealing with them — it’s always uneasy. We always remind ourselves that we don’t ever, ever want to be complacent. Ever. There’s probably an issue if there’s no nerves in some of those things.” We see a couple other patrol cars driving around when we get there. McCullough says that the other officers will handle the theft and that he doesn’t want to overcrowd the area. As we leave the area, fuzzy updates come through McCullough’s radio. The officers were looking for a man who stole a purse and went through an alley. At the time of publication, the thief had not yet been caught. Weaving our way around campus, McCullough talked about his job between cellphone calls from other officers and constant radio calls. He says he’s noticed an uptick in harder drugs on campus — DMT, MDMA (known as molly), cocaine and heroin. When he mentions heroin, he
Senate bill could erase state education funding inequalities BY ALEX SWANSON STAFF WRITER
A bill is now on the Illinois Senate floor which, if successful, could completely overhaul the way the state funds public education, distributing money to school districts based on need. State Sen. Andy Manar, D-48, is the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 16 or the School Funding Reform Act of 2014. He and a group of other legislators introduced the bill to the Illinois Senate on April 2. The Senate Education Funding Advisory Committee released a report recommending a new formula for state funding for public schools in Illinois on Jan. 31. Manar said he felt this legislation was both a continuation of the committee’s effort, as well as something he’s been working on since he was sworn into office. Manar said Illinois has the second least equitable public school funding system in the country. Currently, only about 44 percent of education state funding is distributed based on district need, according to Manar’s website. Manar wants to raise that figure to 92 per-
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cent. This new funding formula would be phased in over a fouryear period. Currently, the other 56 percent of state funding goes primarily to programs like special education, transportation and vocational training, according to State Sen. Michael Noland, D-22, a cosponsor of the bill. Manar added that the 56 percent of state funding that is going toward specialized programs is distributed regardless of whether or not the district can pay for those programs independently. “The formula would better account for the needs that school districts face today in Illinois,” Manar said. “Currently, the formula that we use today was created in 1997, the state has changed dramatically since 1997, but the funding formula has not.” Noland emphasized that student access to education should not be dependent on geographic location. “It’s rather cliche by now, but the quality of your education should not be dependent on your zip code, or your area code, and where you live in the state
of Illinois,” Noland said. “We should have equitable funding for education, need-based funding throughout the state.” This sentiment was echoed by Jaclyn Gelfond, president of Illini Democrats and junior in LAS. “I don’t think that the value of students’ education should be based on the neighborhood that they live in and the economic stance of the neighborhood that they live in,” Gelfond said. “I think the way that our schools are funded right now does lead to very large inequalities.” Max Balkan, vice president of Illini Republicans and junior in Business, said this bill is a step in the right direction, though he is concerned that it won’t be enough. “There is much more than basic state funding that (is) necessary for schools to be successful including parental involvement, dedicated teachers, and local support, which needs more than just legislation,” Balkan said in an email. Evan Keller, the reporting director for Illini Democrats and freshman in LAS, said these inequalities between wealthy and poorer school districts are
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says it’s one of the most damaging drugs to a person’s life. When someone commits a robbery for only $20 or $30, people joke about how stupid it seems. But to the addict, McCullough explains, that was what they needed for their next fi x. As a narcotics officer, these are the types of people he deals with: addicts, along with drug dealers, cartels and gangs. When he and his team complete a drug bust, the narcotics unit gets a portion of the money that was seized. He says the equipment, vehicles, drug dogs, computers and even guns have been bought with this money. This is a great idea, McCullough says, because it eliminates citizens from paying taxes for these things. We pull up in front of Joe’s Brewery on Fifth Street and park while a couple other cops stand with a man outside his car. They give him a breathalyzer test and fi nd an open alcoholic drink within the car. While we watch, the country station that McCullough listens to plays a love song. McCullough says University police are not out to get student drinkers. As long as the drinkers aren’t giving police the fi n-
SEE POLICE | 3A
A new draft of campus safety rules, under the Clery Act, will require college campuses to further report campus crimes and to record stalking, domestic violence and dating violence as part of the Violence Against Women Act. The Clery Act, monitored by the Department of Education, requires colleges to record crime information on and in the vicinity of their campus. The act requires them to do the following: keep an annual security report and a crime log, give timely warnings when students and faculty are in danger and record crime statistics in eight categories. The Clery Act became law in 1990 and has been modified periodically since then. Every four to five years, the Department of Education releases a new handbook and sometimes reinterprets what falls within categories. Currently, campuses are reporting on murder, negligent manslaughter, sexual offense, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft and arson. “We need a better coordinated effort on all university campuses to educate students and employees around sexual assault — prevention, stalking and domestic violence,” said
SEE SAFETY | 3A
Over the past nine years, there has been an increase in total disciplinary cases each year.
2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0
-10 0-11 -12 2-13 -08 8-09 -07 -06 -05 09 11 0 1 1 07 06 05 04 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
SOURCE: OFFICE OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Operational funding budgets differ greatly for public school districts across Illinois. The map also includes available information about graduation rates, college readiness, low-income students and English learners. $11,046 operational spending per pupil 27 percent ready for college coursework 64 percent graduation rate
SENECA, IL
NEW TRIER TOWNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL SCHOOL DISTRICT 203 $20,423 operational spending per pupil 93 percent ready for college coursework 98 percent graduation rate 3 percent low income students
AVERAGE OF 2 DISTRICTS
CHICAGO, IL
$25,289 operational spending per pupil 29 percent low income students 91 percent graduation rate 42 percent ready for college coursework
$13,175 operational spending per pupil 95 percent low income students 23 percent English learners
PEORIA, IL
AVERAGE OF 4 DISTRICTS $12,469 operational spending per pupil 75 percent graduation rates 33 percent ready for college coursework 39 percent low income students
BUNKER HILL SCHOOL DISTRICT 8
$7,234 operational spending per pupil 54 percent ready for college courswork 84 percent graduation rate
MADISON SCHOOL DISTRICT 12
AVERAGE OF 3 DISTRICS
apparent within the population of the University. “Downstate students are very underrepresented as well as inner city kids,” Keller said. “That’s a direct product of the funding allocations that haven’t
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Campus unit to count bikes DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
been changed since 1997.” He and Balkan both acknowledged that the bill has gained bipartisan support. Mary Fergus, a spokesperson
A census of all bikes on campus will be conducted on April 23. Facilities and Services hopes 40 volunteers will count bikes on campus from 10-11 a.m. The census is a group effort between the University and Champaign County Bikes. “I hope we could be as accurate as possible. I think the peak number of bicycles is a really important number to have especially when it comes to having that infrastructure,” said Andy Kopp, bicycle planning intern. Volunteers count all unattended bicycles. The census provides the University with information necessary to making infrastructure changes such as the amount of bike parking. Approximately 5,500 bikes
SEE FUNDING | 3A
SEE BIKE COUNT | 3A
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CHAMPAIGN SCHOOL DISTRICT 4
$11,585 operational spending per pupil 44 percent ready for college coursework 86 percent graduation rate
PARIS, IL
AVERAGE OF 2 DISTRICTS
$9,239 operational spending per pupil 43 percent ready for college coursework 83 percent graduation rate
$15,050 operational spending 7 percent ready for college coursework 88 percent graduation
SOURCE: IL STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Q Action resulting in bodily harm, +11.11 percent increase Q Physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, -21.15 percent decrease Q 1,2,3,4 or 5 sexual misconduct violations, + 45.45 percent increase Q Failure to comply with police, -20.63 percent decrease Q Theft or possession of stolen items, +8 percent increase Q Deconstruction or damage to property, +50 percent Q Illegal downloading, -52.83 percent decrease Q Illegal possession of drugs, +4.29 percent increase Q Sale or distribution of illegal drugs, +57.89 percent increase Q Minor in possession or consumption of alcohol, -16.02 percent decrease Q Use of fake ID or another’s ID to obtain alcohol, +147.95 percent increase
University Police Department addresses further reporting crime rates
Illinois public school district funding allocation
ROCKFORD SCHOOL DISTRICT 205
The following violations have either increased or decreased during the 2012-13 school year
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