Illini of the week: Hockey’s Eric Cruickshank steps up PAGE 1B WEDNESDAY September 23, 2015
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Gender-inclusive housing becoming a reality DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Allen Residence Hall will offer gender-inclusive housing to students starting fall semester of 2016. The residence hall introduced gender-neutral bathrooms this fall in response to student and residence feedback from several focus groups conducted last year. The bathrooms are only in Allen One North, which is where the new gender-inclusive rooms will be located. Logan Weeter, an Illini Media employee, is a freshman resident of Allen Hall.
He said that although at first he wasn’t sure what the gender-inclusive environment would be like, he has had a positive experience so far. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Allen, the community is really great,” Weeter said. “I went in a little concerned (gender-inclusive bathrooms) would be awkward, but if you treat it like a normal bathroom you don’t even notice a difference.” Kirsten Ruby, associate director of housing for communications and marketing,
said students were given the option to live in the genderinclusive wing this fall. Students could live with each other in rooms regardless of their gender identities. “The next step that was along this planned path is that next year the rooms will be identified as genderinclusive,” Ruby said. “That means that any two individuals that choose each other will be able to share a room in that one community,” Ruby said she hopes this will serve as a testimony to the University’s efforts
toward a more accepting campus. However, the University isn’t the fi rst to incorporate gender-neutral housing, as 197 universities in the nation currently have such housing available to students according to Campus Pride. The University isn’t even the fi rst of the three university campuses to incorporate gender-neutral housing, as the University of Illinois at Chicago incorporated gender-neutral housing last fall. While the University has
offered co-ed housing by door — female students live next to male students — in Nugent, Saunders and Bousfield Halls, gender-inclusive halls are not limited by traditional notions of gender. By not incorporating gender into housing considerations, non-binary identities or identities that are not exclusively male or female will no longer have to conform to traditional restrictions. The University’s incorporation of gender-inclusive housing, comes at a time
when transgender individuals have fought for the right to use their preferred bathrooms, despite cities and states across the nation proposing “bathroom bills,” which would make it illegal for a person to use a bathroom that is not assigned to their biological gender. “This really shows University Housing’s and University of Illinois’ commitment to be inclusive of everyone, regardless of their identity,” Ruby said.
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UIPD reports two sexual assaults in two weeks A recent survey conCampus Safety Notices ducted by the Association have been issued for two of American Universities sexual assaults on campus revealed one in four college women reported experiencsince Sept. 10. According to a notice ing unwanted sexual conissued Monday, a student tact during their time in was sexually assaulted college. The survey gathin an Urbana apartment ered information from Sunday. The offender was 150,000 students across 27 known to the victim. The U.S. universities. safety notice issued Sept. Across the board, 11.7 10 told of a similar incident. percent of students surThe notice reported a sex- veyed reported experiencual assault occurred early ing non-consensual sexual the morning of Sept. 9 in contact while enrolled at a University-certified pri- their university. vate residence hall. Again, On average, 23 percent the offendof college er was w o m e n known to repor ted the victim. experienc“ W e ing unwanted sexuknow that al contact there is w h i l e what a lot enrolled of people at thei r refer to as the red particuz one at lar Unithe beginversity; n i ng of on averthe school age five y e a r PAT WADE percent UI POLICE SPOKESMAN where stuof me n dents are repor ted the same. particuW a d e larly vulnerable to sexual assault,” said he believes awaresaid Pat Wade, UI Police ness as a community is cruspokesman. “We’re very cial in addressing the “red sensitive to this and that’s zone” and campus assault why we do a lot of commu- in general. nication with students at “I think we’re doing a the beginning of the year better job of being aware telling them about what are that it does happen and it some of the red fl ags to look happens here at the Univerfor, what are some of the sity of Illinois,” he said. “I things they can do to either think just being aware and respond to or support sur- talking about what we can do to prevent it, taking it vivors of sexual assault.” The “red zone” of cam- upon ourselves to say somepus sexual assault refers thing when we see certain to a heightened number of red fl ags. It’s really on all assaults during the fi rst of us to come together as a six weeks back on cam- community and try to stop pus. Wade said vigilance this.” and communication is key news@dailyillini.com during this time. DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOYCE SEAY-KNOBLAUCH
Veterans talk at the Chez Family Foundation Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education.
Wounded vet center opens BY SAMANTHA JONES TOAL CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Veteran and student Garrett Anderson is excited for veterans on campus to have a “one-stop shop” to find resources, guidance, counseling and more on campus. The Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education is hosting an open house for veterans on campus Thursday. “In the military you’re very structured. So when you throw these guys into college, they don’t have a set schedule so it’s hard for them to conceptualize how to set their own study routines,” said Anderson, a graduate student in AHS. “So what we are going to do here is teach them those skills.” The new facility will serve the approximated 350 veterans on campus as well as 150 dependents. “We’ll be introduced to the center and be able to use it (Thursday),” said Jennifer Warning, a veteran and junior in LAS. “We’ll be more informed after the open house.” The center offers transition and academic services, counseling, employment services and other
programs aimed at helping veterans succeed in college and in the workforce. “Our goal is to help student veterans with a disability to stay enrolled, perform academically well and to graduate and go into meaningful work,” said Nicholas Osborne, interim director for the center. He said the center, located at 908 W. Nevada St, Urbana, cost $14 million. The project was mainly funded through private gifts, such as a $6 million donation from the Chez Family Foundation. The state also contributed $4 million under former governor Pat Quinn. One program offered to the veterans is a two credit hour course that focuses on their transition from the military into college life. “I’m in the veterans transfer class going into school from the military. They tell us about opportunities out there that will help us adjust,” Warning said. “It’s a helpful thing in order for veterans to transition successfully back into civilian life.” Many veterans stress the difficulty of attending college after years of military service.
According to the 2015 Veteran Economic Opportunity Report, 48 percent of veterans participating in the GI Bill complete degree programs. “A lot of veterans haven’t had any pure education for five to seven years,” Anderson said. “When they get
here, it’s like throwing them from a pond to a lake or an ocean because they’re overwhelmed.” Other programs include a live-in residency option on the third floor, which can house up to 12 veterans.
SEE VETERANS | 3A
PORTRAIT OF GARRETT ANDERSON BY TYLER COURTNEY
OPINIONS
LIFE & CULTURE
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Illini coach needs to recruit star class
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“We know that there is, what a lot of people refer to as, the red zone at the beginning of the year where students are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault.”
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