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Wednesday April 25, 2012

The Daily Illini www.DailyIllini.com

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

World Vision Acts spreads word on sex trafficking child-soldiering.” Advocates wore t-shirts that Students bound together read “sold” or “abducted” in by black paper chains may an effort to educate students have caught the attention of about human trafficking. The students passing through the t-shirts are being sold for $8, Quad on Tuesday. which is considered the fair The campaign advocates trade certifi ed value . This awareness for human traf- price was chosen to ensure that ficking and is called the those who produced the shirts, Human Wrong Initiative. It which were made in Honduwas undertakras, would not en by the Unibe exploited. versity chapViviana ter of World A fa n ador, Vision Acts . member of After partnerWorld Vision ing with othActs and sophomore in LAS, er groups on described the campus, this registered stucampaign as dent organihaving a twofold cause. She zation focuses on tackling said the campaign intends issues such as poverty, hunto raise both VIVIANA AFANADOR, ger and human fu nd s a nd member of World Vision Acts tra ffick i ng. awareness, but the group Tuesday was members’ prithe first of four days during which mem- mary focus is on awareness. “The reason oppression is bers of World Vision Acts are working on promoting the allowed to continue is because campaign. people who have power choose According to the World to stay silent,” she said. “As Vision Acts’ website, “mil- college students, we are privlions of children around the ileged enough to have an eduworld are trafficked and cation and to have resources enslaved through forced labor, sexual exploitation and See SEX TRAFFICKING, Page 3A

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Vol. 141 Issue 140

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Noyes gets brick face lift

BY SARI LESK

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

“The reason oppression is allowed to continue is because people who have power choose to stay silent.”

WILLIAM SHI THE DAILY ILLINI

A construction crew refinishes the outside of Noyes Lab on Tuesday. Dust and shavings from the red bricks can be seen all around the building.

Pending board of trustees vote, Police Training Institute set to close after losing certification BY STEVEN VAZQUEZ STAFF WRITER

After 57 years of service to the University and the state of Illinois, the Police Training Institute, or PTI, will close its doors, pending a vote from the board of trustees. A board meeting will be held May 31 in Chicago to make a final decision. University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the expectation for the meeting is that there will be an item on the agenda proposing the closing of the institute, but she said it is not on the agenda yet. The PTI was set to close in 2010

amid the budget crisis due to a lack funding and a project team report from that year that ruled that the institute did not directly connect to the University’s mission. Kaler said it has been difficult to keep it open because it does not receive funding from the state or training board. She said the PTI cannot charge a high enough rate either to pay for itself. “The reason the University said it needed to close was because it was not able to stay afloat financially,” she said. “And the only way to make it stay afloat financially

is to charge our own undergraduate students for it. That’s where you get this not aligning with the mission thing because it isn’t appropriate to charge students to train police officers in the state of Illinois.” In March, the Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board, or ILESTB, voted not to certify basic law enforcement courses offered at the PTI. “When you are not certified to have courses, it is pretty dif-

“When you are not certified to have courses, it is pretty difficult to have an institute.” ROBIN KALER, University spokesperson

See PTI, Page 3A

Obama travels to college campuses to talk student loans SARI LESK THE DAILY ILLINI

Group members of the registered student organization World Vision Acts stand bound together by black paper chains to raise awareness about human trafficking on the Quad. Tuesday was the first of four days in which the group will work on this campaign, called the Human Wrong Initiative.

Without legislation, interest rates set to double for students BY MATT RICE STAFF WRITER

Without congressional action, federal subsidized loans issued after July 1 will double in

interest. The rates, currently at 3.4 percent for undergraduate loans, will increase to 6.8 percent if Congress does not extend legislation passed in 2007 to lower the rates. The rate is already fi xed at 6.8 percent for unsubsidized loans and only students demonstrating fi nancial need are awarded subsidized loans. The

increase in interest rates would come at a time when millions of students need federal loans to pay for their education, and the amount of student loan debt has even surpassed credit card debt among Americans. “What we’re doing is going to schools to talk to students directly about the critical importance of the possibility that 7.4 million students with federal stu-

dent loans would see their interest rates double on July 1 unless Congress steps up and does what it needs to do,” said President Barack Obama during a conference call with college reporters Tuesday. Obama held the conference call while en route from the University of Colorado at Boulder to

See STUDENT LOANS, Page 3A

YMCA holds forum to discuss Quinn’s pension program plan Public forum allowed citizens to express their thoughts on the pension program; plan proposes raising retirement age, employee contributions BY CARINA LEE STAFF WRITER

Students, faculty and staff concerned with Gov. Pat Quinn’s recent proposal for an updated pension program spoke out at a public forum Tuesday night. The forum was hosted by the Campus Faculty Association, or CFA, at the University YMCA to discuss the proposal. Key changes to the plan include raising the retirement age to 67 and increasing employee contributions to pensions by 3 percent. Members of CFA expressed concerns at the meeting, saying that the proposal would hurt the University in terms of its ability to recruit and retain top faculty and staff. The keynote speakers of the event were Amanda Kass and Ralph Martire of the Chicagobased Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, or CTBA. They have done extensive research on pension funding and suggested

INSIDE

that a revised state tax structure could be a possible solution to the pensions crisis, according to a press release. Susan Davis, communication director of CFA, agreed that the state should try to find other ways to alleviate the financial situation. “The state has an 83 billion dollar deficit in the pension fund because the legislature has been not funding the pension fund for the last three decades,” Davis said. “We do not think that the public employees, the teachers, the faculty members and other workers at the University should be paying for the mistakes that the legislature made.” Davis added that faculty members have paid their share to the pension program, and it’s time for the state to give back theirs. “We are very concerned about what this will do to the University of Illinois,” she said. Kass, research and policy specialist of CTBA, said the deficit

could be a burden later on if it continues to increase. “We think the deficit is probably up to $10 billion; its a huge problem,” Kass said. She said because of the deficit, the majority of Illinois citizens aren’t able to have adequate access to resources such as education, health care and public safety. After Kass’ presentation, audience members asked questions regarding the newly proposed pension plan. Brian Thomas, professor in Engineering, said the event served as a good chance to come to the event and share his thoughts on the governor’s decision. “The state did not fund the pension systems according to what it needed to do,” Thomas said. “The state has a huge debt problem and this is just one piece of the debt ... they are not balancing their budget every year.”

WILLIAM SHI THE DAILY ILLINI

Amanda Kass, research and policy specialist at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, is seen in the monitor as Channel 17 news covers the meeting at the YMCA on pension funding and state debt Tuesday.