Wednesday April 18, 2012
Double victory
Win for Weinstein
Falkin’s performance key in win against Penn State, Ohio State
Women’s gymnastics’ all-around competitor gives flawless beam performance at NCAA regionals
SPORTS, 1B
SPORTS, 1B
The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 141 Issue 135
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Housing, LGBT center measure student interest in coed dorm
Off the sideline: J. Cole performs at the Assembly Hall
BY THOMAS THOREN STAFF WRITER
WILLIAM SHI THE DAILY ILLINI
J. Cole takes the stage at the Assembly Hall. The Roc Nation rapper performed in Champaign on Tuesday. More online: Check out a Q-and-A with Big K.R.I.T., who opened for J. Cole, and a review of the concert at DailyIllini.com.
UI celebrates, honors outstanding individuals, groups that volunteer within local community National Volunteer Week on campus encourages more involvement in C-U BY CARINA LEE STAFF WRITER
In light of National Volunteer Week, several students and registered student organizations were recognized for their commitment to the Urbana-Champaign community Tuesday. Seven undergraduate students, three graduate students and two faculty members were honored at the event at the Illini Union. Vaneitta Goines, program advisor for the Office of Volunteer Programs, said the ceremony encourages students and community members to get more involved in helping others. “People who have made a strong impact in the community and really made a difference in the lives of people who are in need helps the community in so many ways,” Goines said. “It’s always nice to recognize them.”
Those who were honored at the event had participated in activities through the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, La Linea Community Helpline and C-U at Home. Registered student organizations and service fraternities such as Alternative Spring Break, Alpha Phi Omega, Men’s Rugby and Beta Chi Theta were also recognized for their contributions. Graduate student Erin Prentiss said it felt good to help others and to receive recognition. “I was really surprised that I had been nominated for an award,” Prentiss said. “I think most people who volunteered volunteer out of the goodness of their heart, and they don’t necessarily expect that somebody would be recognized for it.” Prentiss also gave some suggestions for people interested in volunteering more. “First, fi nd something that you are passionate about,” she said. “Being helpful is a help to yourself, as well. But more importantly, you will be contributing to the communities you
live in.” Volunteer Week kicked-off Saturday with an outdoor clean-up and gardening and composting session hosted by the Channing-Murray Foundation. Other opportunities throughout the week will also be offered for students who want to get out and help the community. Volunteer Week will end Sunday with an event hosted by Students for Environmental Concerns. Volunteers will assist with environmental work at a prairie restoration and a sustainable farming site. Meghan Whalen, communications specialist at the Illini Union, said these kind of events motivate students to become more involved within the community. “It’s defi nitely beneficial to the Union, to the campus and the community,” she said. “It really helps us to be able to have people from U of I out there in the community, not just helping out on campus but making a difference in the whole ChampaignUrbana community.”
“I think most people who volunteered volunteer out of the goodness of their heart, and they don’t necessarily expect that somebody will be recognized for it.” ERIN PRENTISS, graduate student
University Housing and the LGBT Resource Center are collecting survey data to gauge students’ interest in a possible gender-neutral residence hall — a first for the campus. Some 490 undergraduate students would be able to live in a mixed-gender, suite-style setting within Ikenberry Commons beginning in the fall of 2013. The residence hall, currently called Residence Hall #2, is under construction at the corner of First Street and Peabody Drive, said John Collins, director of University Housing. The LGBT Resource Center is in favor of such gender-neutral living spaces because of the interests of many transgender students. A mixed-gender living situation would not force a transgender student to identify as male or More female. inside: Kyle Zak, president of the Read the registered student organieditorial zation Pride, said this is a about the topic of concern for cam- possibility of a pus bathrooms too. He gender-neutral said gender-neutral bath- dormitory on rooms make transgender Page 4A. or non-gender-identifying students’ lives “more bearable” on campus. “It’s a step in the right direction to make the University more trans-friendly,” Zak said. Leslie Morrow, director of the LGBT Resource Center, said she hopes the new residence hall will offer these bathrooms. She said this type of residence hall would make for a “win-win situation” because it would benefit transgender students and any other students interested in this option. Since its release about one week ago, the survey has already received several hundred responses, Morrow said. It will remain open until the semester draws to a close. While this new living arrangement could be helpful for students “either transgender or in the process of changing genders,” Collins said that is not a driving force to make the residence hall gender neutral. He said Housing is interested in the possibility because it wants to meet all students’ needs and interests. Many universities around the country already offer gender-neutral dormitories, Collins said, including the University of Michigan. Michigan State University will add the residence hall style in the near future. Residence Hall #2 will also be the first hall to offer suite-style living for undergraduate students. Currently, students interested in suite-style rooms have to live in select private certified housing residence halls. Both graduate residence halls offer suites with mostly single bedrooms and either private
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See GENDER NEUTRAL, Page 3A
CPM dispute leaves mother, son homeless BY NATHANIEL LASH MANAGING EDITOR FOR REPORTING
It was the morning of July 29, 2009, and Alicia Smith, at that time going into her junior year in LAS, was adjusting the furniture in the bedroom she had just sub-let. But 993 days later, Smith — just six credit hours away from graduating with a degree in political science — is sitting in a hotel room at the Eastland Suites in Urbana, homeless and with no idea of where to turn next. After breaking the mirrored closet doors back in 2009, Smith contacted her landlords at Campus Property Management, or CPM, asking for repairs. She said she was concerned mostly because the glass posed a danger to her son Talan, who was 3 years old at the time. Smith said that the then-property manager just had the panels removed, saying that new doors that would be less likely to break would soon be installed throughout the complex. Two years passed. The panels on
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her closet door had still not been replaced, and Smith had long since breathed a sigh of relief. She had no idea what it would cost to replace the doors, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to afford it. But in March 2011, after signing two more leases, Smith’s apartment at 1806 Cottage Grove Ave., Urbana, was inspected by a new manager, who was surprised to fi nd the two doors in her apartment missing, and alleged that a third door was damaged irreparably in Talan’s room. The following month, CPM replaced the doors, charging Smith $150 for each one, but she refused to pay. Smith said several “contentious” months passed, but she signed onto another lease in October 2011 as CPM sought a solution to the dispute. The property manager even offered to halve the charges, Smith said, but she was still unable to pay the price. Smith said they also agreed to forgive the charge if she moved out within two weeks — hardly an offer,
More tomorrow: To read more about student housing issues, check out Thursday’s edition of the Daily Illini.
she said, considering the slow pace at which she expected her housing assistance to transfer over to a new landlord. Whatever negotiations went on, neither side came to an agreement, and Smith received her court summons Feb. 21. “The doors were damaged under the fi rst lease, nothing happened under the second, I was charged on the third lease, and now on the fourth lease, I’m being evicted.”
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Gaps in the safety net Alicia and Talan are one of 1,400 families in Champaign County who receive assistance under what is commonly referred to as Section 8, a federal housing program that gives low-income families vouchers to help
See EVICTION, Page 3A
NATHANIEL LASH THE DAILY ILLINI
Alicia Smith reads with her son, Talan, in a hotel room at the Eastland Suites in Urbana. Smith, who draws most of her income from welfare, was evicted from a Campus Property Management apartment after a three-year battle over a damaged closet panel.
Po l i c e 2 A | Co r r e c t i o n s 2 A | C a l e n d a r 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | Le t t e r s 4 A | C r o s s w o r d 5 A | Co m i c s 5 A | S p o r t s 1 B | C l a s s i f i e d s 2 B - 3 B | S u d o k u 3 B