UIUC 5 Year Plan

At a recent town hall event at the Illini Union, the University unveiled it's "The Next 150" vision going forward, including it's 5 year plan:

In UI's 'Next 150,' 'we are planning to tear down many academic walls'
...
On the first day of Black History Month, University of Illinois Professor Ruby Mendenhall cited the civil-rights leader as she and a half dozen other UI faculty members explained Friday how they hope to fulfill the goals of the campus strategic plan, "The Next 150."

"We are planning to tear down many academic walls and engage the community in unprecedented ways that will transform Champaign-Urbana and hopefully the larger society," said Mendenhall, a professor of sociology and African-American studies and assistant dean at the new Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

A crowd of several hundred people gathered at the Illini Union for the launch of the five-year plan, which calls for an emphasis on diversity and public service in key areas such as the arts, data sciences, the humanities, globalization, food security, undergraduate education, health sciences and sustainability...

The plan includes two key principles:

— That the diversity of the campus is its most powerful asset, so removing any barriers that limit access to opportunity, financial or otherwise, is a priority.

— The UI's service mission, making a positive impact on the community, should be part of "everything we do," Cangellaris said. "As a public university, it should be the centerpiece of our mission."

Full article here, including some community response from local governments. There was also an article previewing the event with more details here in Friday's News-Gazette here. An excerpt:

"The Next 150" was developed over 18 months, with brainstorming sessions involving more than 700 people across campus. A dozen working groups were asked to flesh out priorities in specific areas and come up with detailed recommendations.

Some build on initiatives that emerged from the previous strategic plan — the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Initiative, for example, which will be elevated into full-fledged academic centers.

Other initiatives include: expanding cancer research and data-driven agriculture; seeking new partnerships with the Mayo Clinic and others; building on the new Discovery Partners Institute and Illinois Innovation Network; developing a campus center for academic student support; re-examining general education requirements; expanding online courses and continuing education; and encouraging every student to take a capstone course, internship, research project or study-abroad experience.

Full article here.

UI Board of Trustees meeting

The polar vortex weather may have shortened the new UI Board of Trustees work, but it did not cancel the meeting altogether. The News-Gazette had coverage of the various issues raised and new members appointed. Here's an excerpt of one article that also had brief profiles of each of the appointees:

Former state Rep. Jakobsson among Pritzker's 5 picks for UI trustees
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is appointing former state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson of Urbana to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, giving Champaign-Urbana two representatives on the governing body.

Pritzker is set to announce five appointments to the board today ahead of its meeting in Chicago.

They include current Trustee Don Edwards, a Democrat appointed by Bruce Rauner who had yet to be confirmed by the Senate, and two Chicago Democrats who served on the board from 2011 to 2017 — noted attorney Patricia Brown Holmes and human services executive Ricardo Estrada.

The fifth appointee is attorney Kareem Dale, former special assistant to the president for disability policy and associate director of the Office of Public Engagement in the Obama White House, who is now senior counsel at Discover Financial Services.

More at the full article here, including the appointee profiles and an overview of the agenda ahead of the meeting. The announcement came right before the meeting and some of the appointees weren't able to attend the first meeting. In a followup article they note the selection of the chairman (with brief audio excerpt of his statement) and some of the items voted on:

UI trustees continue tuition freeze for in-state freshmen
...
Just two of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's five newly appointed trustees were on hand at the board's meeting in Chicago — former UI Trustee Ricardo Estrada, who served from 2011 to 2017, and Trustee Don Edwards, who was originally appointed by Bruce Rauner in 2017 but never confirmed by the Senate.

Edwards, an Illini golfer and 1985 UI graduate who founded the Chicago private equity investment firm Flexpoint Ford, was unanimously elected to a one-year term as chairman during the board's annual meeting today. He promised to make the UI system "a model of higher education in the United States."

...

The board also approved:

— Honorary degrees for former UI Chancellor Michael Aiken, actor and science educator Alan Alda and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.

— Renaming the UIC Pavilion in Chicago as Credit Union 1 Arena through a 15-year, $9.3 million naming rights deal with the Rantoul-based company, which also operates in Chicago.

— A new $8.5 million Illini baseball training center for Illinois Field, to be named after longtime donors Susan and Clint Atkins, who contributed $3 million for the project.

More at the full article, including more details on the tuition freeze approved here. There was also an additional article explaining the tuition freeze and other fee details ahead of the vote here.

White Nationalist Paperings

 

In a more disturbing bit of local government news, there was another incident of a white nationalist group papering an area with fliers promoting white nationalist themes and advertising a possible new local chapter. From the News-Gazette earlier this week:

White-nationalist group's flyers pop up again in downtown Champaign
A white-nationalist group posted flyers on lampposts in downtown Champaign, the second time the group has done so in the area in recent months.

The flyers were from an organization called Patriot Front, considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League...

Watchdog groups say Patriot Front is a splinter group of Vanguard America, a self-proclaimed fascist group that supported white nationalism but disbanded after the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year, where one protester was killed.

One of the group's flyers has an anti-immigrant message, and another espouses the group's view that European-Americans conquered America and the country belongs to their descendants.

Kris Koester, spokesman for the Champaign Public Works Department, said light poles "are a combination of responsibilities."

But he said, "if our staff saw them, they would probably take them down. We don't allow postings of any particular messaging."

More at the full article here. A previous campus papering also had volunteers and staff removing posters placed where prohibited in a balance of limits and protections on free speech rights. From the News-Gazette last October:

UI students, staff scrape down white-nationalist stickers plastered across campus
More than 200 stickers from a white-nationalist organization were plastered on lampposts and signs around the University of Illinois campus last weekend...

UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler said the campus removes flyers and other posts when they violate the rules.

"It has nothing to do with the content," she said. "People have a First Amendment right. It doesn't matter what it says, if it's in a place where it doesn't belong," it gets removed, she said.

Courts have ruled that universities and other government entities can enforce "time, place and manner restrictions" on speech but not the content itself.

Facilities and services spokesman Steve Breitwieser said administrators asked that any illegal stickers be removed, and staff members, mostly painters, found about 60 across campus. The majority were on stop signs and street signs, including several near the UI Ice Arena, one adjacent to Lincoln Hall, and others at Sixth and Green streets and Goodwin Avenue and Green Street, he said. 

That older article is available here. More on the evolution of the group from its neo-Nazi roots to their recent papering campaigns across the country at the SPLC here. A recent post on campus bias tracking and possible new rules to stop harassment of teachers, including by white nationalists here: Campus Bias Update. There was also recent news on the local white nationalist terrorist attack with guilty pleas by two of the suspects. More on those attacks and the resulting loss of surgical abortion services in the area here: White Nationalist Terrorists Plead Guilty.

Measles Update: New Case

In addition to a previous case (more information and possible points of contact list here) a second case of the measles has been identified in the area with more possible points of contact. If you suspect you may have symptoms, they emphasize limiting your exposure to others due to the highly contagious nature of the illness. From today's News-Gazette:

Second case of measles confirmed in Champaign-Urbana
The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is reporting a second local case of measles, with both of the infected people connected to the University of Illinois.

But there's no reason to believe they know each other since the virus lingers in the air for two hours after the infectious person has left, said health district Administrator Julie Pryde...

Possible sites of measles exposure

URBANA — Public health officials have released possible measles exposure sites for the second person confirmed to be infected:
➜ Jan. 18: 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at McKinley Health Center, University of Illinois.
➜ Jan. 27 to 31: Maywood Apartment Building, 51 E. John St., C.
➜ Jan. 28: 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at UI School of Social Work.
➜ Jan. 29: 3 to 6 p.m. at UI School of Social Work.
➜ Jan. 31: 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Carle Foundation Hospital Emergency Department.

More at the full article here. Additional information on the measles from the Illinois Department of Public Health here. WCCU looked into information on the number of area people who may be at risk due to a lack of vaccinations and found it to be very small: Most, not all local students vaccinated for measles.

Previous testing had been negative for new infections and it was hoped that the outbreak could be declared over on February 9th. In an article earlier this week the News-Gazette had some additional information for people experiencing measles symptoms:

The hotline can be reached at 217-902-6000, and it's available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Carle patients can check on their measles vaccination history through the hotline and through the MyCarle system, she said.

Carle also has staff members posted at the doors of its clinic locations handing out facial masks to patients walking in with symptoms of contagious illness, according to Mullin.

Christie Clinic is encouraging people to call their doctors' offices first if they are experiencing a rash and fever or suspect they have measles, according to clinic spokeswoman Jenna Koss.

Full article here. More information on the measles, including symptoms, from IDPH here.