Graduation Guide: What to expect on your big day and what comes next.
SECTION C
MAY YOUR FINALS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR Just one week stands between you and the pool or your summer internship. Find out how to make it there in one piece. PAGE 5A
The Daily Illini
Friday May 4, 2012
www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 141 Issue 147
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PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM BOARD
A submission with an eagle as the center in the Chief Illiniwek dress is just one of many possible new mascots.
WILLIAM SHI THE DAILY ILLINI
Orlando Thomas, director of achievement and pupil services for the Champaign school district, knocks on a door during the Walk as One community event near Booker T. Washington STEM School in Champaign on Thursday. Volunteers walk from the school to nearby neighborhoods and drop off bags filled with fliers about collaborative community efforts and summer youth programs.
Walk As One aims to helps youth, families Volunteers roam Douglass Park, give out ‘goody bags’ to raise awareness of summer programs BY RAFAEL GUERRERO STAFF WRITER
Orlando Thomas walked up to a home near the corner of Fifth and Vine streets as a group of volunteers looked on. No one was home. But Thomas left an orange bag on the front door. Only volunteers know what’s inside the “goody
bag.” At homes one block away on Fifth Street and Columbia Avenue, the group’s luck changed. More residents opened their doors to the group. Thomas this time could hand out the orange bags in person. The contents of the bags are fi nally revealed: fl iers, a keychain, a cup — all in the name of the school district and the Walk As One campaign. More than 140 volunteers walked around the Douglass Park neighborhood Wednesday in Champaign as part of Walk As One, a school district initiative and collaboration with the
Illinois Senate votes to end legislative scholarships
Champaign Community Coalition. Thomas, director of pupil services at Champaign Unit 4 School District and part of the coalition that helped set up this inaugural event, said this was in development for months. According to a press release, the goal of Walk As One was to “inform Douglass Park residents of collaborative community efforts that improve the lives of youth and their families and to share information about summer programs for youth in our community.”
See WALK, Page 3A
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See SCHOLARSHIP, Page 3A
INSIDE
BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Several new mascot ideas have been submitted in the last few weeks to Campus Spirit Revival, a registered student organization, which pushed the deadline back a couple weeks ago. These ideas include an eagle in the format of the old Chief Illiniwek symbol and “Farm Bot,” a creation of the residents of Allen Hall in 2007, which was resubmitted to the contest. Farm Bot is a robot that shoots corn from its arms and wears a hat similar to Abraham Lincoln’s. The organization, or CSR, started the contest last year with an original deadline of April 15, but extended it to Oct. 14 in order to allow for a greater quantity of submissions. Next fall, once the group chooses the top five submissions, they will present the drawings to the administration for further consideration. The contest winner may receive a $200 gift card from the Illinois Student Senate, if approved.
BY DANNY WICENTOWSKI STAFF WRITER
» » » » » »
More inside: Turn to Page 3A for a story about the
Urbana’s Market at the Square.
See MASCOT, Page 3A
Plans for green roof over I Hotel combat environmental issues
Sweet melodies
DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
The Illinois Senate voted to end the General Assembly Legislative Scholarship program Thursday. The measure to end the program, HB3810, passed in the Senate 43-5 after the Illinois House of Representatives passed the bill in March. “As I have repeatedly advocated in the past, scholarships — paid for by Illinois taxpayers — should be awarded only to those with merit who are in true financial need,” Gov. Pat Quinn said in a press release. The program, which provides tuition waivers to college students, allowed state legislators to award two fouryear or eight one-year tuition waivers to students of their choice. In the past, some legislators have awarded the waivers to family, and the children of political supporters and donors. The scholarships also require that the recipients reside in the legislator’s district, a rule that has also been violated on mul-
New mascot contest may cause dispute
FILE PHOTO THE DAILY ILLINI
Rodney George Peacock, a dramatist and musician, plays his saxophone as vendors sell honey, jam and other produce during the Urbana Farmers Market in Urbana on Aug. 29, 2009.
Look up if you’re inside the I Hotel and Conference Center next school year; you won’t see it, but above the ceiling there will be a garden of sorts. A 3,200 square-foot area above the I Hotel roof will soon be covered in plants that will retain around 46,000 gallons of rain a year in an effort to stem the flow of polluted storm water into the Embarras river. Termed a “green roof,” the more than $50,000 project is being funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as part of a nearly $5 million state initiative designed to reduce the amount of pollution running into Illinois waterways from stormwater sources, according to a press release. “We’re dedicated to protecting our environment, and we’re always looking for ways to improve the Research Park,” said Shayan Rostam, a marketing specialist for Fox-Atkins Development, the firm that will be constructing the green roof. “We just want to make sure the
water is as clean as it can be.” Rostam said the firm hopes to begin construction in June and fi nish in July or August. The I Hotel sits upstream of the Embarras and represents a significant source of pollution, said Amy Walkenbach, project coordinator at the Illinois EPA. During rainstorms, water pours off I Hotel gutters and drain spouts and moves across parking lots and roads before ending up in the river. The journey results in significant quantities of pollutants ending up in the river. “Salt, road salt, high chlorides, (they) can be very detrimental to fish habitants, fish and the bugs that live within the river system,” Walkenbach said. “The whole food system can be disrupted by chlorides.” The roof of the I Hotel will be covered in pallets of sedum plants, which are drought-resistant, allowing them to go unwatered during summer. These plants will stop water from running off the roof.
See GREEN ROOF, Page 3A
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 3 B - 5 B | S u d o k u 5 B