BY CAMILLE MURRAYSTAFF WRITER

The number of Illinois resi-dents who applied for permits to carry a concealed firearm this past year was significant-ly lower than projected by Illi-nois State Police officials.

According to a report by the Illinois State Police, there was a total of 91,651 active applications in 2014. The num-ber is about four times lower than the estimate of 400,000 applicants projected. The esti-mate was based on the num-ber of people who already possessed Firearm Owner’s Identification Cards, which is a requirement for Illinois res-idents who wish to apply for a concealed carry permit.

The low number of appl ic a nts may be due to a few key factors, said John Boch, president of Guns Save Life, a region-al organi-zation that aims to edu-cate the pub-lic about the benefits of fire-arm ownership.

“Probably first and fore-most is the combination of the nation’s strictest and most difficult to overcome train-ing requirement of 16 hours,”

Boch said. “And the second aspect is the $150 application cost, which is one of the high-est in the nation itself.”

Despite overall numbers being lower than initially projected, the Illinois State Police report showed a surge in the number of applications received in January 2014, when the law went into effect.

Mark Esposito, an instruc-tor at the Urbana-Champaign Immediate Action Defensive Training, noticed the down-ward trend in his training classes for concealed carry applicants.

“There were a lot of peo-ple who wanted to get their conceal and carry license,”

Esposi -to said. “ B u t now as the year w o u n d d o w n , w e ’ r e noticing a sharp decrease in the amount of people that actu-ally want

to get the license.”In Champaign County,

there was a total of 1,330 concealed carry applicants. According to Boch, this total is on trend with numbers seen across other Illinois counties.

However, he added that the number of concealed carry license holders in Illinois overall is significantly lower compared to other states.

“We’re way below the national average of about 5 percent of the adult popula-tion either having a carry license or being eligible to carry a concealed firearm,” Boch said.

In 2013, Illinois became the last state in the U.S. to legal-ize the carrying of concealed firearms.

Now that concealed fire-arms are legal in Illinois, Boch believes one of the next steps for firearm advocates will be to lobby for the right to carry concealed firearms in certain places where they are currently prohibited. Areas where concealed firearms are still forbidden include schools, government build-ings, courts, public transpor-

tation, amusement parks and public libraries.

Danae Behr, a senior in media and president of Illi-ni on Target, a Registered Student Organization cater-ing to student interest in pis-tols and rifles, agreed that the location restrictions for concealed carry should not necessarily apply to college campuses. She said the only reason she does not currently have a concealed carry per-mit is because it would not be useful on a college campus.

“I don’t think it’s justi-fied. Concealed carry is for defense, and to take that right away from someone just because they’re going for their education is unfair,” she said. “When it comes down to it, it’s about my personal safety.”

Camille can be reached at cmurra24@dailyillini.com.

BY SEAN NEUMANNSTAFF WRITER

The Illinois football pro-gram announced Monday it has signed a three-year agreement to play at Sol-dier Field.

The Illini will play in Chicago against North-western in 2015, 2017, and 2019.

Illinois will face North-western on Nov. 28 this sea-son. Both teams will again face off at the historic Chi-cago Bears stadium in 2017 and 2019. These games will take the place of Illinois’ home games against North-western in those seasons.

“I’m pleased that the

Fighting Illini will be returning to Chicago, pro-viding an opportunity for players, coaches, students, fans and Chicago alumni to gather in the country’s greatest and most-spirited sports city,” Chicago May-or Rahm Emanuel said in a press release. “From the NFL draft to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Champi-onship tournament, Chica-go is solidifying its position as a first-class sports and tourism destination.”

Illinois last played at Sol-dier Field on Sept. 14, 2013, in a 34-24 loss to Washing-ton. The Illini last played Northwestern in Chicago

on Nov. 20, 2010 when Illi-nois won 48-27 at Wrigley Field.

Illinois is 4-6 against Northwestern in the past decade.

Memorial Stadium sea-son ticket holders will be offered a special price for the game, Illinois athletic

director Mike Thomas said in a press release Monday. The Soldier Field game will be sold separately from season ticket packages.

Sean can be reached at spneuma2@dailyillini.com and on Twitter @Neumannthehuman.

-

INSIDE P o l i c e 2 A | H o r o s c o p e s 2 A | O p i n i o n s 4 A | C r o s s w o r d 5 A | C o m i c s 5 A | L i f e & C u l t u r e 6 A | S p o r t s 1 B | C l a s s i f i e d s 4 B | S u d o k u 3 B

THE DAILY ILLINITUESDAYFebruary 10, 2015

37˚ | 30˚

WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM he independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871 Vol. 144 Issue 54 | FREE

@THEDAILYILLINI, @DI_OPINION, @DI_SPORTS THEDAILYILLINI THEDAILYILLINIDAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS @THEDAILYILLINI

College of Medicine vote moves to Board of Trustees

Rivalry returns to Chicago

Concealed carry applications fall short of state predictions

No leads on Zamora case

BY CHARLOTTE COLLINSSTAFF WRITER

There has been no further evidence in for the search for former University stu-dent Cristian Antonio Zamo-ra, who has not been seen since Dec. 31, according to Champaign Police Depart-ment Detective Sergeant Dennis Baltzell.

Zamora, who graduated from the University in May 2014, was last seen on sur-veillance footage, Baltzell said.

However, the footage does no provide any infor-mation to police on where Zamora was that night.

Baltzell said Detective Patrick Funkhouser is working on subpoenaing more footage from local businesses to help find Zamora on tape. Zamora was last seen in the 500 block of West University Avenue, north of the Ken-tucky Fried Chicken and the Dunkin’ Donuts, around 8:05 p.m.

His cell phone was picked up by a cell phone tower in Urbana, but has not been traceable since.

The police department has conducted several searches in surrounding areas, including Crystal Lake Park, Busey Woods, the County Fairgrounds and a saline branch drain-age ditch, but has not been able to obtain any new information on Zamora,

Baltzell said. “However, (Crystal Lake

is) frozen over right now, so we hope to, once it thaws, put in a boat that has side-scanning sonar and take a look at the lake again once the weather improves,” he said. “Talking to members of the search-and-rescue team that are trained in those types of searches, a lot of times people are found around bodies of water.”

Zamora’s mother, San-dra Carrion, said her son had big plans for his life after graduation. She can not imagine any reason why her son would leave on his own accord and not tell anyone.

“He just disappeared,”

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE

Senate approves engineering-based medical school

Football signs to play Wildcats at Soldier Field over next 5 seasons

Despite investigation, former University student still missing

Cook

County Number of Applications

Population Percentage of County that Applied

Will

Dupage

Lake

Madison

Kane

St. Clair

McHenry

Winnebago

Sangamon

Tazewell

Peoria

Champaign

McLean

Macon

23,921

6,134

5,577

4,252

3,301

2,873

2,642

2,555

2,142

2,081

1,916

1,862

1,330

1,316

1,302

5,240,700

682,829

932,126

703,019

267,225

523,643

266,955

307,409

290,666

199,145

136,352

188,429

204,897

174,647

109,278

0.46%

0.90%

0.60%

1.24%

0.55%

0.99%

0.83%

0.74%

1.04%

1.41%

0.99%

0.65%

0.75%

1.19%

0.60%

Top 15 Illinois Counties for Concealed Carry ApplicationsChampaign County has the 13th highest total number of concealed carry applicants for 2014

SOURCE: Illinois State Police

DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTOFireworks shoot over Soldier Field in Chicago during the Illinois vs. Washington football game, which was the last time the Illini played in Chicago. Illinois signed to play Northwestern at Soldier Field three times during the next five seasons.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SANDRA CARRION

SEE ZAMORA | 3A

Attendance qualmsThe Illini have had trouble with Memorial Stadium attendance over Thanksgiving break games. This year, Illinois reported a season-low 35,172 tickets sold.Illinois averaged a net revenue of $946,019 per home game in 2014.

The Penn State game on Nov. 22, which was the final home game of the season and came over Thanksgiving break, brought in $812,328. The team’s last game at Soldier Field against Washington in 2013 brought in $1,969,800.

Valentine’s Day isn’t the only holiday on Feb. 14 — it’s also the video

sharing site’s 10th birthday.

OPINIONS, 4A

AN ODE TO YOUTUBE

BIG TEN BASEBALL PREVIEW

PERFORMING IN “THE CENTER OF

THE MUSIC WORLD” See how the Big Ten stacks up for

the 2015 baseball season.

The Daily Illini talks with student and pianist Moye Chen about playing at Carnegie Hall.

SPORTS, 1B LIFE & CULTURE, 6A

BY ABIGALE SVOBODA STAFF WRITER

After several months of deliberation, the academic senate voted in favor of an Urbana College of Medicine on Monday. The proposal will now move forward for approval by the Board of Trustees at its March 12 meeting.

President Robert Eas-ter is expected to report back on his own study on whether a new bioengineer-ing medicine college should form in Chicago or Urbana.

Gay Miller, chair of the committee on educational policy, said the committee has been reviewing the proposal since the Univer-sity received preliminary approval in September.

Prior to the presenting the proposal, the commit-tee received support from the Committee on Univer-sity Statutes and Senate Procedures and the Bud-get committee, as well as a letter signed by all cam-pus deans.

Provost Ilesanmi Ade-sida said the proposal is something that has been percolating on the Urbana

campus for 50 years. Adesi-da said creating a new col-lege would be historic for many reasons, as the Urba-na campus has not creat-ed a new college in over 60 years.

Carle Health System has committed $100 million to

Timeline for Urbana College of Medicine approval Board of Trustees will

vote on College of Medicine proposal on March 12

If approved, the proposal will be sent to the Illinois Board of Higher Education

Following Board approval, the University would submit an application for accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in 2015

If the University receives accreditation, the creation of the college would begin in 2017

Following accreditation, Provost Ilesanmi Adesida said a dean would be hired to begin the process of building the college curriculum and faculty

SEE SENATE | 3A

“We’re noticing a sharp decrease in the amount of people that actually

want to get the license.”MARK ESPOSITO

DEFENSE INSTRUCTOR

2A Tuesday, February 10, 2015 THE DAILY ILLINI | WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM

WEATHERPOLICE

Champaign Criminal damage to

property was reported in the 200 block of East Healey Street around 4 a.m. Sunday. According to the report, an unknown suspect broke the vic-tim’s apartment window.

University A 22-year-old male

and a 24-year-old male

were issued notices to ap-pear in court near the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

According to the re-port, an officer investi-gating a reported suspi-cious parked car said the subjects admitted to pos-sessing cannabis when questioned.

A 24-year-old male

was arrested at the Illi-nois Terminal, 45 E. Uni-versity Ave., around 12 p.m. Friday.

According to the re-port, the offender was ar-rested on the charges of domestic battery, theft and violating an order of protection. Compiled by Miranda Holloway and Megan Jones

HOROSCOPES

BY NANCY BLACKTRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

Today’s Birthday Partnership generates fortune this year. Cement old bonds as new ones form. Many hands make light work, especially with seemingly impossible, huge or entrenched goals. Miracles arise in collaboration. Income surges after 3/20. Step into a new direction with research after 4/4. A shared ! nancial opportunity arises after 10/13. Come together for community thriving. Share your heart.To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging.

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19) Today is a 9 — Spend time with your crew today, close to home. Play with friends and family. Take care of something you said you’d do. Check to be sure your message gets through. Keep it simple and to the point.

TAURUS (APRIL 20-MAY 20) Today is a 9 — Do simple work now. Productivity reaps extra reward today. Focus on providing excellence. Short-term priorities hold your focus. Take one step at a time, with attention to detail. Winning is fun, and possible. Do the homework.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20) Today is an 8 — Studying and practicing something you love goes well today. Changes are apt to work out in your favor.

Results are positive. Your discipline is impressive, too. Avoid a controversial topic. Play for a good cause.

CANCER (JUNE 21-JULY 22) Today is a 7 — Take care of urgent matters ! rst. Conditions seem unsettled. Don’t overlook an important task. Let family help you streamline your routine. Allow extra time for unexpected circumstances. Choose an astute partner. Learn from a child.

LEO (JULY 23-AUG. 22) Today is an 8 — You’ve got the gift of words today. Use them with someone close to you. Deepen friendships. Create better sales talk. Talk to your team, and listen. Consult with a respected mentor. Choose the message.

VIRGO (AUG. 23-SEPT. 22) Today is a 9 — Focus on immediate objectives, and rake in the dough. The situation could seem delicately balanced. Be careful not to stumble. Hold your head up. Never let them see you sweat. Put in the effort and pro! t.

LIBRA (SEPT. 23-OCT. 22)Today is a 9 — You can get whatever you need. Be very careful now. Don’t get cocky, or you could miss an opportunity. Go ahead and play the hero... someone appreciates the help. Enjoy a little friendly competition.

SCORPIO (OCT. 23-NOV. 21) Today is a 7 — Recharge your batteries while you review the plan. Finesse the details. Think things through to their logical

consequences. Maintain some mystery. Broaden your horizons and push boundaries. Prepare but don’t go yet. Peaceful rest rejuvenates.

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22-DEC. 21) Today is an 8 — Talk to your friends for greatest impact today. Make and receive promises. Work together to handle a job that’s coming due. Get social, either in person or online. Connect with your circles.

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19) Today is an 8 — Take charge, but be nice about it. Assume authority, and schedule commitments rigorously. Delegate what you can. Use what you’ve got. Lively music sets the tone. Focus on one action at a time, and pro! t.

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20-FEB. 18) Today is an 8 — Explore a lesser-known part of your own backyard or neighborhood. Discover new " avors and sensations. Try on new ideas. It doesn’t need to be expensive in time or money. Savor a short excursion. Learn new tricks.

PISCES (FEB. 19-MARCH 20) Today is an 8 — Handle insurance or ! nancial paperwork. Make repairs to valuable equipment. Save spare parts. Put on some good music and get into organizational productivity mode. Invite your partner to join in. Your relationship grows stronger with time.

The Daily Illini is online everywhere you are.

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In the Feb. 9, 2015, edition of The Daily Illini, the article, “Program honors historic, unique trees in Urbana,” stated that Joseph W. Sim served as Urbana mayor, lawyer and judge in the 1970s and 80s. The article should have stated that Sim served in the 1860s and 70s. The Daily Illini regrets the error.When we make a mistake, we will correct it in this place. We strive for accuracy, so if you see an error in the paper, please contact Editor-in-Chief Johnathan Hettinger at (217) 337-8365.

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Pick up your copy of the student engineering magazine TECHNOGRAPH this Wednesday inside the DI!

Pick up your copy of the

engineering

UNEQUAL ACCESS

People living with disabilities hit

dead end in food accessibility.

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THE DAILY ILLINI | WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM Tuesday, February 10, 2015 3A

Tech fuels privacy fears

States look to put tax on e-cigarettes

Confusion grows in Alabama over gay marriage licenses BY MICHAEL MUSKAL, TIMOTHY M. PHELPS AND MATTHEW TEAGUETRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Ala-bama began issuing mar-riage licenses to same-sex couples after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to block gay mar-riages and some local offi -cials decided not to heed a last-minute order from the state’s chief justice against issuing the licenses.

It was a day of confu-sion as some local probate judges, who issue marriage licenses in Alabama, grap-pled with confl icting orders on the issue that has divid-ed communities, especial-ly in the Deep South. With Alabama, 37 states and the District of Columbia now have legal gay marriage.

The Supreme Court had decided to take on the issue on a national basis after four federal appeals courts struck down state bans on gay marriage and one allowed such bans to stand. A ruling in that case is expected by early summer.

Supporters of gay mar-riage argue that the mat-ter is a question of con-stitutionally protected individual rights. Oppo-nents say states should have the right to determine their own policy especially in places such as Alabama, where voters overwhelm-ingly voted to limit mar-riage to a union between a man and woman.

Monday’s 7-2 decision may have sent a strong sig-nal that a majority on the

high court will back strik-ing down bans on gay mar-riage and that even judi-cial conservatives think the fi ght may have come to an end.

“This acquiescence may well be seen as a signal of the Court’s intended res-olution of that question,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his dissent in the case. “This is not the prop-er way to discharge our . . . responsibilities. And, it is indecorous for this Court to pretend that it is.”

Thomas went on: “Today’s decision repre-sents yet another example of this Court’s increasing-ly cavalier attitude toward the States.”

Justice Antonin Scalia also dissented from the majority decision.

BY TY TAGAMITRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

ATLANTA — Schools are harnessing high-powered computer networks and sophisticated software to improve education, but pri-vacy advocates warn they may be putting students at risk.

The fear is that their personal information can

slip out of school district hands when it’s entrust-ed to corporations. With fraud and identity theft ris-ing and advertising becom-ing increasingly targeted, the challenge is to protect student privacy without undermining the education-al benefi ts of 21st-century technology.

School districts typically

lack the resources to build sophisticated systems, so they are entrusting stu-dents’ personal informa-tion to education technology companies that can harvest details about everything from a child’s academic ability to his or her personal interests. The trade-off has led to fears among parents and privacy advocates: Are companies using the infor-mation to target advertising to children?

Forsyth County north of Atlanta has ventured fur-

ther into educational tech-nology, hiring a company to provide tailored curriculum on computing devices. Tech-nology chief Marty Bray said he’s comfortable with safety measures in the con-tract, including a require-ment to eventually delete the data. “We tightly control how that data is used,” Bray said. Students would suf-fer most if these practices were prohibited or circum-scribed, he said, “because we do rely heavily on tech-nology to do instruction.”

BY ELAINE S. POVICHTRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

SUNSET, Utah — Taking a long inhale and blowing a cloud of vapor, Jason Jones, who has owned the Vapor Mania store here since 2011, considered what a tax would do to his business, which includes selling electronic cigarettes as well as manu-facturing a wide variety of fl avored nicotine liquids to go into them.

“I think we’d be out of business, or at least it would make it much harder to do business,” said Jones, 34. “I think it would drive people back to cigarettes because they would be cheaper.”

With an eye on the twin concerns of public health and raising revenue, Utah is one of many states consid-ering taxing electronic ciga-rettes, the battery-powered devices that deliver vapor-ized nicotine and provide the look and feel of smok-ing without the smoke and tar of traditional tobac-co products. Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, sparked this year’s debate when he included a foot-note in his budget counting on $10 million from taxing e-cigarettes.

“I feel strongly that we should tax electronic cig-arettes similar to the way we tax other tobacco prod-ucts,” said Herbert, calling it a “public health issue.” Herbert and supportive law-makers say a tax would slow

the growing use of electron-ic cigarettes while raising revenue for the state.

“There are some who think these new products are not harmful, but just like traditional cigarettes, they contain nicotine and other toxic and addictive substances,” Herbert said. “Flavoring and marketing targeted to make these prod-ucts enticing to youth is par-ticularly concerning.” With-out being specifi c, Herbert called for a tax on e-ciga-rettes “similar” to the tax-es on cigarettes, cigars and snuff.

But e-cigarette users say the devices should not be subject to the excise taxes levied on traditional ciga-rettes. They argue that the devices are healthier, and liken them to nicotine patch-es and nicotine gum, which help smokers reduce their dependence on cigarettes and are not subject to excise taxes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is in the pro-cess of writing regulations for electronic cigarettes. In the meantime, a hand-ful of states have prohibit-ed their sale to minors and have passed laws banning their use in public buildings. The debate has gone national as well, with the American Vaping Association, based in New Jersey, on the side of the e-cigarettes and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids organization opposed.

Students’ personal information could be used by corporations

Legislators believe taxes could raise public health and revenue

KEVIN VONGNAPHONE THE DAILY ILLINI The DeBono Improv troupe performs a musical act based on the word “unicycle” during Monday Night Comedy at the Illini Union Courtyard Cafe on Monday. The troupe specializes in musical forms of improvisation.

Carrion said. “He just said he was going to get some-thing to eat, he started walking, he went to get his food and never came back. (His friends) were expect-ing him back, and he never showed up.”

Zamora had plans to write a book and was work-ing with one of his former economics professors at the University, Carrion said.

She said Zamora was also waiting to hear back from a job opportunity in Chi-cago, his hometown. She believed her son had plans for coming back home to visit around the New Year, as well.

Law enforcement and Zamora’s family are both urging anyone with infor-mation to come forward with whatever details they may have.

“Every little piece of

information helps us in put-ting his timeline together and determining where he was last, or who may have talked to him and what his mental state was at the time, or what his intentions were,” Baltzell said.

Carrion has enlisted the help of LostnMissing, an organization that aims to help raise awareness to find missing persons. The organization also worked on raising awareness for the disappearance of Uni-versity student Vicente Mundo, whose body was recovered by the Cham-paign County Sheriff’s Office last week.

Carrion said the family is offering a $5,000 reward for Zamora’s return.

“He’s a great person, and I need him back. I need him back,” Carrion said. “He’s got a future planned, and I need him to go through it.”

Charlotte can be reached at cjcolli2@dailyillini.com.

ZAMORAFROM 1A

SENATEFROM 1A

Improv for the ears

NEWS BRIEFSTRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Supreme Court allows gay marriage in Alabama despite chief judge’s objections

Drew Peterson charged with plotting to kill Will County State’s attorney

Twitter’s government requests for user data, content removal greatly increased

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Mon-day refused to block gay marriages from beginning in Alabama, though some county court offi cials are not heeding the ruling, cit-ing an order from the state’s chief justice telling them not to issue licenses.

In the capital of Montgom-ery and in Birmingham, pro-bate judges began to issue same-sex marriage licens-es Monday morning. Offi -

cials from both cities did not provide estimates for how many marriage licens-es they expected to hand out on Monday.

But in Bibb and Tuscalo-osa counties, probate court offi cials said they would continue to refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

“Right now we’re not going to do it,” said probate Judge Jerry Powell. “We have direct orders from the state Supreme Court here in

CHICAGO — Convicted killer Drew Peterson was charged Monday with try-ing to put a hit on the prose-cutor who sent him away for 38 years, the Illinois attor-ney general’s offi ce said.

Peterson was charged in Randolph County, which is home to the maximum-security prison that has housed Peterson for nearly two years, with one count of solicitation of murder for hire and one count of solici-

tation of murder, an attor-ney general’s offi ce news release said.

Peterson is accused of trying to arrange a hit on Will County State’s Attor-ney James Glasgow between September 2013 and Decem-ber 2014, the release stated. Glasgow successfully pros-ecuted the retired police sergeant despite a largely circumstantial case built around hearsay statements.

NEW YORK — Twit-ter Inc. said government requests for user data and content removal jumped in the second half of 2014, especially in Russia, Turkey and the U.S.

In its twice-yearly trans-parency report, Twitter said it received 84 percent more requests for content remov-al and 40 percent more requests for account infor-mation from governments worldwide from July 1 to

Dec. 31, compared with the fi rst six months of the year.

The report is part of a broader effort by the San Francisco-based company to shed light on government surveillance of its members. Twitter last year fi led a law-suit against the U.S. govern-ment, claiming that restric-tions on the information the company makes public about surveillance demands violate free-speech rights.

BRANT SANDERLIN TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICEElizabeth Shields, a 5th grader at Cumming Elementary School, uses a tablet linked to itsLearning, a company that provides a variety of classroom tools for teachers and students, on Jan. 27 in Cumming, Ga.

fund the college, but any additional funding will need to be raised by the school. Chancellor Phyllis Wise said the University will receive no additional funding from the general revenue fund to create the college.

Joe Barkmeier, a radiol-ogist at Carle Foundation Hospital, said the hospital is a tertiary hospital for over 1.5 million people in the Eastern Illinois region and serves over 70,000 peo-ple in the emergency room annually.

Marty Burke, a biochem-istry department affiliate who trained at Harvard University, called the proposed college a game changer.

“This is an opportunity to do something that will be absolutely unmatched in the entire world,” Burke said.

Burke said Urbana’s strength and leadership in both engineering and the basic sciences will make the proposed college a dou-ble threat.

Following Burke’s state-ments, John Caughlin, a com-munica-tions pro-f e s s o r , v o i c e d s upp o r t for the c o l l e g e on behalf of the c om mu -nication’s d e p a r t -m e n t . C a u g h -lin said the University was ini-tially a leader in the field of health communica-tion but is starting to fall behind. Prospective stu-dents turn to alternative schools when they realize the Urbana campus does not have a College of Med-

icine for them to further their research, he said.

Michele Mariscalo, dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Illi-nois’ Chicago campus, said the college has been pres-ent on the Urbana campus

for 45 years now. Mar-iscalo said the facul-ty on all of the Uni-v e r s i t y ’ s c a mpuses work hard and may be negatively affected if a College of Medicine is created on the Urbana

campus. In response, Adesida

said the Urbana college will have a new and differ-ent curriculum, which will not integrate well with Chi-cago’s current curriculum.

“Illinois is a leader,” Adesida said. “We take

risks and we lead.”After over an hour of

discussion, the senate addi-tionally approved the Illi-nois Faculty for Academ-ic Freedom resolution by a 51-41 vote. The resolution was written by history pro-fessor Bruce Levine and submitted by 13 Universi-ty members. It urged the chancellor, president and Board of Trustees to imple-ment all of the Commit-tee on Academic Freedom and Tenure’s recommenda-tions promptly, including to appoint a committee in the college of LAS to investi-gate Steven Salaita’s case.

The University is cur-rently facing a lawsuit from Salaita and the possibility of censure from the Asso-ciation of American Univer-sity Professors. University professor in English Cary Nelson said the AAUP will vote about censure in June.

Abigale can be reached at asvobod2@dailyillini.com.

“This is an op-portunity to do something that

will be absolutely unmatched in the

entire world.”MARTY BURKE

BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT

OPINIONS4ATUESDAY

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS | opinions@dailyillini.com with the subject “Letter to the Editor.” The Daily Illini reserves the right to edit for length, libel, grammar and spelling errors, and Daily Illini style or to reject any contributions. Letters must be limited to 300 words. Contributions must be typed and include the author’s name, address and phone number. University students must include their year in school and college.

THE DAILY ILLINI

EDITORIAL

REBECCA KAPOLNEK

Opinions columnist

CAMRON OWENS

Opinions columnist

Happy birthday to You(Tube)

GARY MCCOY CAGLE CARTOONS

The arts is a field that has been looked at as nonessen-tial in school-

ing for years now. It is a field that has strug-gled to maintain its stan-dards because of finan-cial cuts and students choosing other career paths. This is something that can be seen national-ly and throughout all lev-els of education. On our campus in particular, we pay more attention to our STEM fields, and more specifically, our Engi-neering programs. But we have previously ex-pressed that the arts car-ry immense value for students and are some-thing we need to main-tain where and when pos-sible.

On our campus in par-ticular, the Krannert Center is the jewel of the performing arts com-munity on campus with six stages, including the Foellinger Great Hall, the Tryon Festival The-atre, the Colwell Play-house, the Studio The-atre, the amphitheatre and Stage 5. As such, the construction being done to maintain and preserve the building is something that is welcomed and ap-preciated.

The Krannert Center is in the process of being renovated in an effort to revive the arts at the University. Contrary to what some may think, the exterior of Krannert will not be changed drastical-ly. Instead, the project is aimed at maintaining the building’s structure. A few of the renovations are increasing insulation, as well as putting down new concrete between Krannert’s exterior and interior walls.

Krannert is 45 years old and has become an important icon of the arts on campus. With these new renovations, it is the hope that the build-ing will maintain its icon-ic status for another 50 years. As the symbol of the arts on campus, there are performanc-es going on almost every day in styles that range from classical ensem-bles, such as the Jupiter String Quartet, to art ex-hibits and various types of dancing. In keeping with the idea of reviv-ing the arts, construction will not delay any perfor-mances at the Krannert Center.

It is important to main-tain the art community on campus. College is a time of exploration that allows students to delve into their interests and even discover things out-side of their interests. The arts contribute to how well-rounded stu-dents are, and various art programs allow opportu-nities for students to ex-pand their horizons and look at more interdisci-plinary areas of study.

The Krannert Center provides a place for stu-dents to experience and explore their own artistic talents, as well as view the creative work of oth-ers, and we are excited to see it thrive for another 50 years.

Keep alive Krannert and

the arts

I’m sure many of you are aware that this Saturday, Feb. 14, is

a special occasion. While most of us love the day, there are some who do not. Nonetheless, it is an annual event that will be here soon.

I’m talking, of course, about the birthday of the website YouTube. As we prepare to gather around our computers, phones, iPads, smart TVs and other web enabled devices, I want to raise a glass, or at least an opinions column, to the website that has done so much for me and many others.

YouTube, where do I begin? I still remember when you were born back in 2005. Amer-ica was still recovering from the Janet Jackson/Justin Tim-berlake Super Bowl half-time show, an incident that would later play a part in your formation.

The year 2005 was just as ruthless. It was a year when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anis-ton divorced, Tom Cruise was jumping on Oprah’s couch and 50 Cent was trying to take us all to the candy shop.

It was a different time back then, a time when we needed you most so we could replay some of these memories for years to come.

When you appeared, the world had no idea what it meant to “Broadcast Your-self.” You didn’t have much to show and many of us were unsure of what you would become. Some were skepti-cal of the content you would host while others embraced you with open arms. I, for one, always subscribed to your way of thinking. You were an outlet for people to share and discover vid-eos while they neglect-ed to do things that were prob-ably more important.

Like a time-lapse video, in what seems like a short amount of time, I’ve spent years witnessing you grow into the global sensation you are today, right before my eyes.

That isn’t to say you haven’t had some obstacles to over-come along the way. You’ve endured some pretty dark and disturbing comments, a very public dispute with Viacom and some racy Nicki Minaj music videos, but through it all, you’ve prevailed.

There is so much you’ve shown and taught me in your 10 years of existence. Every-thing from practical life knowledge like how to tie a tie

or solve math problems to fun lessons, such as how to play the theme song to “The O.C.” on the piano.

Being co-created by a for-mer University student, it is easy to see why you contain so much information (Go Illi-ni!). You’re an online class-room where anyone can learn anything.

With all of this unforget-table knowl-edge, you’ve also never shied away from making me consider the hard ques-tions. Philo-sophical ques-tions like: Will it blend? What does the fox say? And what

happens when you mix Diet Coke and Mentos? These are all thought-provoking inqui-ries that you’ve assisted us in seeking answers to.

It wasn’t just me who you were inspiring. You inspired the world. If it weren’t for you, we would not have footage of some of the most important historical events and news clips at our fingertips. Bet-ter yet, you usually let us see an auto-tuned version of that footage.

Along with news, it would be wrong of me not to bring up your work in politics. Even Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 could not provide politi-

cal insight the way you do. You’ve influenced elections from around the world, pitted prominent leaders in epic rap battles and helped us decide which 2008 presidential can-didate we should have a crush on. This is a pretty impressive feat for a 10-year-old.

This isn’t to say you aren’t without your faults, dear You-Tube. I’ve spent time with you when I should’ve been doing something more impor-tant and we were all pretty despondent when you start-ed showing advertisements before your videos.

But as dancing has evolved, I suppose we must all con-tinue advancing toward the future.

YouTube, I hope you have a wonderful birthday that is spent enjoying some choco-late rain with close friends like Google and listening to music provided by Vevo (after a short advertisement of course). Who knows, maybe even the distant MySpace will make an appearance.

The world would be a dark-er place without you, You-Tube. In honor of you, I hope everyone will take time this Saturday to dance on tread-mills, leave Britney alone and bite Charlie’s finger.

After all, its not like there’s any other major event going on this Saturday.

Camron is a junior in LAS. He can be reached at cowens8@dailyillini.com.

I want to raise a glass, or at least an opinions column, to the website that has

done so much for me.

Sometimes it isn’t about the journey, it’s the desti-nation that truly matters.

Over the last four years in my sorority, Sigma Kap-pa, I have seen this idea live up to its meaning when it comes to spring or “informal” recruitment.

Taking the nontraditional route and joining a sorority informally might not be the norm, but in the end, becoming a part of your sorority is what is most important for those who are interested.

Currently, certain sorori-ties in the Panhellenic commu-nity are partaking in infor-mal recruitment during spring 2015. This process includes hosting informal events to recruit potential new members who might not have wanted to go through formal recruitment in the fall, or decided later on that they wanted to be a part of the Greek community on campus.

It usually involves casu-al outings and activities, like bowling, cookie decorating or ice skating, where potential new members can come in and chat with the active sorority members. This makes it much truer to everyday sorority life.

Being an informal recruit-ment girl myself, joining my sorority in the spring of 2012,

I can attest to the importance of the process. When I decid-ed to go through recruitment, I was skeptical. However, in the end I was blown away with how relaxed and friend-ly the environment was, which is why I see the value in this spring process.

As freshmen, girls often struggle with the decision of whether to go through formal rush. Coming into college, I, too, was intimidat-ed by for-mal recruit-ment and was still not sure if I belonged in a sorority.

Formal recruitment entails two weekends of rounds where potential new members visit various houses to get to know members. Bid day marks the end, announcing which soror-ity rushees will become a part of. This whole process can be intimidating.

However, come Thanksgiv-ing break my freshman year, I realized that being Greek was something truly missing from my college experience.

After watching my room-mate and her friends go off to exchanges, formals and phi-lanthropy events, I realized that I wanted that for myself.

There is no right way to join a sorority. Formal or

informal, the destination, in the house you are meant to be in, is what matters.

Giving up two weekends right when you come to col-lege, talking to hundreds of girls and having to run from house to house can be daunt-ing, and it is OK to abstain from this process.

I firmly believe that formal recruitment is not for every-one, but everyone should

give the Greek system a try if they believe — even a little bit — that they could fit in.

Joining a sorority means you will more than likely gain a support sys-tem much big-ger than you can ever imag-ine, which

makes the process worth it. Every woman who has ever

considered joining a soror-ity should attend an infor-mal recruitment event at one of the sororities partici-pating because it will help aid in the decision of wheth-er to go Greek. By reaching out to your affiliated friends and asking any questions you might have, you will be able to get a better idea of wheth-er sorority life is for you.

In addition, every woman on campus should consider learning more about Greek life, even if they have never considered it before.

Becoming Greek is how I met my best friends. If I had not joined Sigma Kappa, I would not be half the woman I am today. I would not have met all of my sisters and I never would have met all of the fraternity men I am hap-py to call my best friends.

Joining a sorority is a life-long commitment that you will never regret making and, just because you did not choose to go through formal recruitment, does not mean it is too late.

Regardless of age, major, interests and talents, I firmly believe that there is a place for everyone in Greek life here at the University. Infor-mal recruitment is just as important as formal recruit-ment and I believe that wom-en need to remember this throughout the year.

With both fraternities and sororities engaging in vari-ous types of rush and recruit-ment, all students should con-sider attending these events. Many sororities are setting up tables around the Union or those who are interest-ed could simply reach out to someone they know in a certain chapter. In addition, more information about infor-mal recruitment activities can be found on sorority or fraternity websites.

Remember, there is no wrong way to join a sorority.

Rebecca is a senior in LAS. She can be reached at kapolne2@dailyillini.com.

It’s never too late to find a Greek home

There is no right way to join a sorority. ... the destination, in the house you are meant to be in, is

what matters.

THE DAILY ILLINI | WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM Tuesday, February 10, 2015 5A

EDUMACATION JOHNIVAN DARBY

BEARDO DAN DOUGHERTY

DOONESBURY GARRY TRUDEAU

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31 32

33 34 35 36 37 38

39 40 41

42 43 44

45 46 47 48

49 50 51 52 53

54 55 56 57 58 59

60 61 62 63

64 65 66

67 68 69

56 Like loamy soil60 Spot for a shot61 Walked63 Start to catch up to64 Thanksgiving dessert65 School attended by Lord Grantham on “Downton Abbey”66 “Same here”67 “___ Your Dog, Charlie Brown” (1968 TV special)68 Spreadsheet con-tents69 Mortise inserts

DOWN 1 Betty who appeared

in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”

2 “It’s all gone wrong!” 3 Small songbirds

4 Fierce way to fight 5 Estée of fragrances 6 Sign up, to Brits 7 “Little Women”

woman 8 Speak Persian? 9 Contacted via

beeper10 Sporting arenas11 Cheerful disposition12 “Ouch!”13 Hall of fame21 ___ Starling, “The Si-

lence of the Lambs” protagonist

23 Comoros or Barba-dos

25 Gap subsidiary27 Somewhat28 “Roll the ___”29 Wilson and Hoover,

but not Eisenhower31 Image often accom-

panying the phrase

“Legalize it”34 Pro-___35 Deli loaf37 Biblical partner of

47-Across38 Like morning grass46 Rammed like a ram48 Charles Schwab

competitor49 It has axes50 Spine-tingling51 Somewhat, infor-

mally53 O.K.55 What fans do57 Really liking58 Nut job59 Grandson of

47-Across and 37-Down

62 Molecule hidden in 4-, 11-, 23-, 25- and 29-Down

The crossword solution is in the Classified section.

ACROSS 1 Wine store purchase 7 Sound investments?11 Business with monthly memberships14 Neighbor of a Hoosier15 Ham or lamb16 Winning tic-tac-toe row17 Traveling, as a band18 Exercise with a cobra pose19 Possess20 Lab research as-sistant, maybe22 “Hooray for us!”24 Word on a red-and-white name tag26 “Frozen” studio27 Like a case before the court30 Mont Blanc, e.g.32 ___ mode33 Place for a hoedown34 Passion36 Somewhat39 Modern cash regis-ter device40 Like many mouth-washes41 Beige shade42 Where Graceland is: Abbr.43 1-10, e.g.44 Result of a king vs. king endgame45 Pat47 Biblical partner of 37-Down48 “The best is the ___ of the good”: Voltaire49 Einstein52 1945 conference site54 House tour giver

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

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If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you.

The Board of Directors of Illini Media is looking for undergraduate and graduate students to serve a two-year term on its board.

Illini Media, a non-profit, student-run media company, publishes The Daily Illini, Buzz weekly, Illio yearbook and Technograph magazine, and operates WPGU-FM. Among other essential duties, the Board establishes general guidelines for the operation of the company, selects student managers, sets rates and

schedules, approves and oversees the budget and provides oversight.

For information or an application, please contact publisher & general manager Lil Levant at publisher@illinimedia.com

Applications are due by Friday, February 20, 2015 at 5:00pm.

Daily Illini Independent student newsorganization

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me, I think because there were some famous concert pianists (such as Frederic Chiu and Spencer Myer) that joined my recital and it sold out, it was a very important experience in my life.

(I brought) the execu-tive director Mark Ern-ster (from the World Pia-no Competition) and my wife, and I played works by (Domenico) Scarlatti, (Edvard) Grieg/Mozart, (Franz) Liszt, (Alexan-der) Scriabin and (Sergei) Rachmaninoff. It is hard to say a favorite but for me ... (it’s) Rachmaninoff, Scri-abin, Beethoven and (Cés-ar) Franck. Every concert I like to add some Scriabin pieces. In Carnegie Hall, I loved every piece, but may-be Scriabin’s “Valse (in A-flat Major, Op. 38).”

DI: What was the most chal-lenging part of performing at Carnegie?MC: New York is the center of the music world, so you have to play your best level at Carnegie Hall. You have to convince the audience and try your best to attract

them to like your perfor-mance. I think this was very challenging for me because you have to try your best to do everything, know every piece. You have to prepare it very well.

DI: What’s in store for your future performances and other plans? MC: Next month, (I will) perform in the Conservato-ry of Music at University of Cincinnati. I need to contin-ue my competition career, and also I need to complete my doctorate here.

DI: What is your advice for aspiring pianists?

MC: I have two sugges-tions; one is especially for young pianists. Try to use your heart and soul to per-form and understand the piece. The second is to do some research when you learn a new piece, because research is really helpful to understand the compos-er’s intention. I encourage students to try Cincinnati’s next World Piano Competi-tion. As a previous winner, I know they provide a very good opportunity for all con-cert pianists.

Annabeth can be reached at aecarls2 @dailyillini.com.

“I don’t know in what capacity, but I think that there is absolutely no way that we are the only life in this universe,” she said. “There has to be something besides us.”

Jones said she supports Brunner’s intuition on the possibility of life on other planets is not completely unbelievable; however, when asked whether or not she ful-ly believes there is already life in outer space, Jones said she cannot be fully certain until she’s received all of the scientific facts to back it up.

Theory vs. speculation

This uncertainty is wide-spread. With much of the population questioning this scientific theory, Brunner said the skepticism is due to the limited access humans have to areas outside of earth.

“We are limited by the speed of light,” he said. “So it makes sense that we aren’t being visited because they’re so far away. And one blurry photo of a UFO doesn’t prove anything.”

This, combined with what he calls an “innate curios-ity,” is what interested Brun-ner in astronomy and teach-ing the class. He said he believes most people confuse the meanings of theories and hypotheses, which is why they are hesitant to accept that there are other civiliza-tions besides our own.

“In science, a theory is anything that we can prove 100 percent because there is evidence to support that,

such as gravity,” Brunner said. “People take the popu-lar use of the word ‘theory’ and apply it to science, and this forces them to believe scientific fact may not be right despite evidence.”

Astronomy 330 is a class that attempts to help stu-dents appreciate the scien-tific process. Brunner claims that the major issue today is the fact people believe sci-entists know what they are talking about, but when it comes to believing what sci-entists say, there is a gap.

“What scientists say is true is based on scientific method; however, the public will say that maybe it’s true, and that’s an issue,” he said.

Brunner states that the class is not merely an astron-omy class; although the foundation is astronomical, subjects such as evolution, biology, geology, culture, his-tory, paleontology and soci-ology are examined due to the fact that each of those factors are involved in life in general.

“There really is a lot of

uncertainty,” he said. “We emphasize that each of these terms shows us where to find all of the evidence that other civilizations in the universe do exist.”

The students participat-ing in the class understand and appreciate the fact that science is the core of this course; therefore, their confusion or skepticism about extraterrestrial life is justified.

“I still haven’t come to a conclusion because I still don’t have all of the solid evidence to say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” said Aamodini Gupta, fresh-man in LAS and current stu-dent in the course. “It’s still a maybe.”

Astronomy 330: Extrater-restrial Life is backing up the intrigue of science fic-tion by using real, complex scientific facts.

Brunner states, “We are addressing and contem-plating the questions that humanity has had forever.”

Rachel can be reached at rbass2@dailyillini.com.

SARAH PINA THE DAILY ILLINIProfessor Brunner engages his students to participate in his course Astronomy 330: Extraterrestrial Life, held in Everitt Laboratory from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

ALIENSFROM 6A

BY ROY WENZLTRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WITCHITA, Kan. — Before she got hate mail and death threats last Christmas, Ashlyn Sullivan was just a 20-year-old Wichita waitress working tables at a Buffalo Wild Wings.

But on Dec 22, Sullivan said, six drunken customers taunted her with racial slurs after she told them she dates a black man. Sullivan is white. She thought about saying nothing, walking away. But she decided to make a stand.

She got up mad the next morning.

She found a photo of her-self with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend’s neck.

She stuck it up alongside a fiery, poetic rant, as she calls it, that she composed on her

personal blog.Her blog post, “I am not

dating a racial slur,” went viral almost instantly, collect-ing 300,000 page views that first day. More than a month later, it had 192,112 shares and more than 1.8 million page views.

In her original post, she denounced the drunks for snarling the “N” word at her. She described boyfriend Ra’Montae Green in lines that sound like blazing, chantlike poetry.

“I am dating a man with the smoothest brown skin, and curly hair. I am dating a respectable, hardworking man that would do anything to make me smile at the end of the day. I am dating a man who helps me buy groceries, wash laundry, and even clean

my apartment even though he has other things to do, works 40 hours a week, and it’s not his job.”

The death threats began immediately. She had nev-er received more than 181 page views on any blog post before; she’s just a waitress with a fondness for the writ-ten word. She has no journal-ism or other formal training in writing; she wants to res-cue children as a social work-er someday. So she knows, she said, that her blog went viral in part because hate groups shared her blog with fellow haters.

She got death threats. Hate notes. “And I got Bible vers-es,” Sullivan said Wednesday. “Verses from the Bible telling how God doesn’t want humans laying with animals.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFREY HOLMES The Cincinnati World Piano Competition presented Moye Chen, 2014 Gold Medalist in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall.

CHENFROM 6A

Blog post on an interracial relationship causes viral stir

TRAVIS HEYING TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICEAshlyn Sullivan and her boyfriend Ra’Montae Green have been dating for a couple of years. After she responded angrily to a few drunk guys harassing her at her waitressing job at Buffalo Wild Wings, she wrote a personal blog “I’m not dating a racial slur,” that went viral.

6A | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2015 | WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM

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or students who have always sus-pected the exis-tence of life beyond Earth, a class offered

at the University strives to prove these speculations using a scientific basis. Astronomy 330: Extrater-

restrial Life is designed to study the scientific foun-dation of how life forms begin and are able to survive on Earth, prov-ing that there is life on other planets.

Robert Brun-ner, professor of the course, said he believes the possi-bility of civilizations in other parts of the universe must be acknowledged. Brun-

ner went on to discuss how his lifelong inter-

est and curiosity about how the universe works

inspired him to study obser-vational cosmology.

“I’ve been led to grand questions such as, ‘What’s out there?’ ‘Where do we come from?’ ‘Are there things beyond our physical hori-zon?’” he said.

The Drake Equation as the syllabus

According to Brunner and other scientists, the exis-tence of life on other plan-ets can be proven. The basis of the course is centered on the Drake Equation, a for-mula designed 54 years ago by Dr. Frank Drake when he was asked to ponder the pos-sibility of life in outer space. The equation addresses a number of terms that must be recognized to determine how life outside of Earth may be sustained.

The questions are meant to build off one another: How many stars are born each year? What’s the likeli-hood there’s planets around those stars? How many of those planets could support life? What’s the fraction of

life that can evolve? What’s the fraction of intelligent life that can communicate?

Brunner said he will wrap up the class by asking his stu-dents to consider the final term of the Drake Equation, which he believes is one of the most important questions to address: to calculate the lifetime of a civilization.

Students are forced to think historically, currently and futuristically to conclude whether or not the average lifetime on Earth is compara-ble to civilizations that may exist elsewhere. Through these questions, Brunner has come to his own conclu-sion that there are up to a few thousand civilizations in the universe.

“That’s generally mind-blowing to students,” Brun-ner said. “The universe is so enormous that we cannot wrap our heads around it.”

In order to promote the importance of question-ing and verifying, Brunner makes the class extremely interactive. Although it used to be a small discussion, a sparked interest compelled the University to expand the class size; once a class of 30 students, it is now one of 150. Real-world, current technolo-gy, such as Twitter and Apple TV, are employed as tools for the class. Students are able to watch videos that address the topics they’re discussing, tweet their questions, ideas and discoveries to Brunner, all of which make class pre-sentations creative and fun.

This is not merely a class for students who believe in aliens, but for students who question with genuine sci-entific interest how Earth could be the only planet able to maintain life.

Casey Jones, freshman in LAS and astronomy major enrolled in the course, said she hopes to walk away from this class with a better under-standing of Earth’s evolution to verify her belief that life may exist in other parts of the universe.

BY ANNABETH CARLSONSTAFF WRITER

On Monday, Moye Chen sat in the dim lobby of the Krannert Center for the Per-forming Arts. He appeared to be a typical 31-year-old doctoral student, wearing a black hoodie and a black backpack, as jazz music played in the background. But just a month ago, on Jan. 19, he sat on stage in front of the sold-out Weill Recit-

al Hall of New York City’s Carnegie Hall. In front of over 250 audience members, he played piano as a part of the grand prize for win-ning the 2014 gold medal in the Cincinnati World Piano Competition.

Since winning the annu-al competition in June, Chen prepared for over six months for his “debut recit-al” in New York. Yet Chen — currently a Universi-

ty doctoral student after graduating with a bachelor’s and master’s from Shang-hai Conservatory of Music — isn’t new to performing in front of noteworthy audi-ences. Across the U.S. and China, his home country. Chen has performed and won numerous national and world competitions over the last decade.

The Daily Illini sat down with Chen to learn about

his experience at Carnegie and his work as a competi-tive pianist.

Daily Illini: How did you know you wanted to become a concert pianist?Moye Chen: I studied the piano at age seven, but from age 13, I began to study the piano seriously. Before that I never thought I could be a concert pianist; maybe in my undergraduate period. ...

(Now,) I am a doctoral pia-no student. The full name of this degree is DMA, Doctor-al of Musical Arts.

DI: How did you get the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall?MC: (It depended) on my winning at the Cinncinna-ti piano competition; it was my first time. This was part of the first prize, a debut at Carnegie Hall.

DI: How did you feel when you won that competition?MC: It was very exciting of course, and I think this com-petition provides a very good engagement for the winners, because Carnegie Hall is one of the most important concert halls in the world. I think it is excellent expe-rience for any pianist. For

University doctoral student performs at famed Carnegie Hall

L I F E B E YO N D E A RT Hsearching for extraterrestrial life

BY RACHEL BASSSTAFF WRITER

SEE ALIENS | 5A

“The universe is so enormous that we cannot

wrap our heads around it.”

ROBERT BRUNNERPROFESSER

SEE CHEN | 5A

ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRYAN LORENZ AND CHRISTINE HA THE DAILY ILLINI

BY NICHOLAS FORTINSTAFF WRITER

Austin Colbert’s contri-butions might not be the most notable on the stat sheet, but his hard work has paid off.

Although fellow sopho-mores Malcolm Hill, Ken-drick Nunn and Jaylon Tate have taken most of the publicity with their play of late, Colbert has played meaningful minutes after working his way into for the Illinois men’s basket-

ball lineup. Both his teammates and

coaches have credited Col-bert’s improved play as a factor in the Illini’s recent success.

“(Colbert) made some plays, really contribut-ed, and helped us win the game,” head coach John Groce said after Illinois’ win over Penn State on Jan. 31.

Recent injury woes have boosted Colbert into more minutes with the sec-

ond unit. But there was a time earlier in his Illinois career in which Colbert found it hard to get on the court at all.

Colbert, a four-star recruit out of New Jer-sey, came to Illinois as one of seven newcomers to the team last year. He played in 22 of the Illini’s 35 games and averaged 1.3 points per game during his freshman year. Groce said his play, along with that of the other freshmen, was based on need and not on merit. Illinois’ depth was an issue throughout the 2013-14 season.

Through the ups and

downs of his fi rst year, Colbert kept up his enthu-siastic attitude and contin-ued to encourage his team-mates from both the bench and the fl oor, an attitude that has carried over to this year.

“We love his attitude,” Hill said. “He’s always excited for us. He talks to us, even when we’re on the bench, and tells us to keep our heads up when things are down. He’s been a real-ly great teammate.”

In the nonconference portion of this season, Col-bert saw more consistent

SEE COLBERT | 3B

After a subpar conference season, the Spartans made it into the semifnals of the Big Ten tournament before losing to eventual tournament champion Indiana. Michigan State returns senior Blaise Salter, who was named a preseason All-American by the NCBWA . During his six years at Michigan State, head coach Jake Boss Jr. has a record of 194-137. The 194 wins are the most over a six-year span in program history .

After a short run in the Big Ten tournament, the Buckeyes look to make the improvements needed to compete in the Big Ten. Ohio State returns seven position players and four starting pitchers. Big Ten Freshman of the Year, starting pitcher Tanner Tully, returns to the mound after fi nishing with a 2.22 ERA, fi fth in the Big Ten . The Buckeyes also return sophomore Ronnie Dawson, who was a second-team All-Big Ten last season .

SPORTS1BTUESDAY

Preview Breaking down the Big Ten outlook for the 2015 Baseball season

BY MICHAL DWOJAK ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Head coach: Joe Litterio 2014 Record: 30-25, 14-9 AAC Postseason: Lost in third round of AAC tournament

Head coach: Rob Cooper 2014 Record: 18-32, 5-18 Postseason: None

Head coach: Doug Schreiber 2014 Record: 13-37, 6-18 Postseason: None

Head Coach: Greg Beals 2014 Record: 30-28, 10-14 Postseason: Lost in second round of Big Ten tournament

Head coach: Erik Bakich 2014 Record: 30-29-1, 13-11 Postseason: Lost in Big Ten tournament semifi nals

Head coach: Paul Stevens 2014 Record: 19-33, 7-16 Postseason: None

Head coach: Darin Erstad2014 Record: 41-21, 18-6 Postseason: Runner-up in Big Ten tournament, Lost in NCAA tournament

Head coach: John Anderson 2014 Record: 27-24, 13-11 Postseason: Lost in second round of Big Ten tournament

Head coach: Jake Boss Jr. 2014 Record: 31-26, 11-13 Postseason: Lost in Big Ten tournament in semifi nals

Head coach: John Szefc 2014 Record: 40-23, 15-14 ACC Postseason: Lost in ACC tournament, lost in NCAA Super Regionals

Head coach: Chris Lemonis2014 Record: 44-15, 21-3 Postseason: Big Ten tournament champions, lost in NCAA Regional Finals

Head coach: Rick Heller2014 Record: 30-23, 10-14 Postseason: Lost in third round of Big Ten tournament

Head coach: Dan Hartleb2014 Record: 32-21, 17-7 Big TenPostseason: Lost in third round of Big Ten tournament

The Scarlet Knights enter their fi rst year in the Big Ten with a young team — they only have three seniors on the roster. Rutgers won 11 of its last 14 games last season before falling in the AAC tournament. It will have nine freshmen to go, along with three transfers who are eligible to play this season. With such an inexperienced team, the Big Ten season could be rough for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers

The Nittany Lions fi nished last in the Big Ten and failed to qualify for a postseason tournament last season. It’s still a work in progress for second-year head coach Rob Cooper . He will need to rely on upperclassmen leadership as he welcomes eight freshmen to the team. Cooper will need to build a team culture in Penn State as he continues to try to draw recruits and build a winning program in State College, Pennsylvania .

Penn State

The Boilermakers were 9-16 in 25 games that were decided by two runs or fewer last season. They couldn’t compete consistently last season, entering its fi rst home game with a 3-16 record. This season, Purdue looks to make improvements: it returns six starters and almost its entire bullpen . The team only has seven freshmen, but head coach Doug Schreiber will need them to have an impact if Purdue wants stronger play this year.

Purdue

Ohio State

The Wolverines look to be one of the top teams in the Big Ten in 2015. They return with juniors Jacob Cronenworth and Travis Maezes, both of whom have been named preseason All-Americans. Wolverines infi elder Drew Lugbauer and pitcher Jayce Vancena were also named the 37th and 48th best freshmen in the nation, respectively. Michigan should be a team that contends for the top spot in the Big ten.

Michigan

Not much went well for the Wildcats last season. The team failed to make the Big Ten tournament. Head coach Paul Stevens welcomes eight freshmen this year, many of whom will have an opportunity to play this season. Northwestern returns All-American fi rst basemen Matt Hopfner, who led the team in numerous categories, including batting average, hits, runs and starts. The Wildcats are still a few key players away from competing in the Big Ten .

Northwestern

The Huskers had a successful regular season in 2014 , fi nishing second in the standings and fi nished second in the Big Ten tournament, losing to Indiana in the championship game. Nebraska looks to continue where it left off last year. The team has strong leadership with eight seniors retuning. It returns top hitters Blake Headley, Ben Miller and Ryan Boldt, as well as pitchers Josh Roeder , Jeff Chesnut and Chance Sinclair, a preseason All-American. With the College World Series being played, as always, in Omaha, Nebraska, this team will be hard-driven to make sure to get there .

Nebraska

After a successful regular season, the Golden Gophers lost both of its games in the Big Ten tournament and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Head coach John Anderson’s team is seeking redemption after a quick postseason departure. The team will rely on veteran leadership, particularly in the infi eld. Seniors Michael Handel and Tony Skjefte and junior Connor Schaefbauer form an experienced infi eld that has played together for multiple years. Opponents will have a hard getting anything past the infi eld, which will allow the Gophers to compete in the Big Ten.

Minnesota

Michigan State

Maryland

Maryland enters its fi rst season in the Big Ten as the favorite to win the conference. The Terrapins boast a strong group of players returning in what is a highly anticipated season in College Park, Maryland . Two All-Americans return, infi elder Brandon Lowe and pitcher Mike Shawaryn, along with starters Jose Cuas, Kevin Martir and LaMonte Wade . Many websites have named Maryland a favorite to host a regional, and they’re ranked as high as No. 14 by D1Baseball.com.

Indiana enters a new era under fi rst-year head coach Chris Lemonis after Tracy Smith left for Arizona State . With the departure of team leaders Kyle Schwarber, Sam Travis , Joey DeNato, Jake Kelzer and Dustin DeMuth to the pros, the Hoosiers will need new faces to fi ll in their ranks. Indiana returns three starters who hit above .300 last season, including fi rst-team All-Americans Brad Hartong and Scott Donley .

Indiana

Coming off of a 30-win season, second-year head coach Rick Heller has four All-Big Ten selections and two-thirds of his starting rotation returning. The Hawkeyes have four quality starters — Calvin Matthews, Tyler Peyton, Blake Hickman and Ryan Erickson — competing for the team’s three starting positions. College Sports Madness named seniors Jake Mangler, Nick Day and Dan Potempa to the All-Big Ten second-team. With such an experienced team, the Hawkeyes will be on of the top teams in the conference .

IowaIllinois

Illinois is generating a lot of buzz heading into the season. The pitching staff, which head coach Dan Hartleb called the best he’s had during his time at Illinois, returns starters Kevin Duchene, Drasen Johnson and John Kravetz . Closer Tyler Jay has been named a preseason All-American by three separate sources. With the bats of senior outfi elders Will Krug, Casey Fletcher and junior catcher Jason Goldstein returning , Illinois is ready to contend for a Big Ten championship .

Colbert sees more minutesBRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois’ Austin Colbert attempts to contain Rutgers’ Myles Mack during the game against Rutgers on Feb. 3.

Power rankingsDAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORTEditor’s note: Every week, The Daily Illini basketball staff ranks the basketball teams in the Big Ten 1-14 and compiles the lists into its own Big Ten power rankings.

7. MICHIGAN STATE (4)Michigan State dropped a close one to Illinois in its only game last week, but the Spartans still lead the conference in rebound differential.

2. OHIO STATE (2)Ohio State dropped a nail-biter to Purdue before knocking off Rutgers in convincing fashion, 79-60.

5. INDIANA (6)The Hoosiers are stagnant after losing to No. 5 Wisconsin and barely beating Michigan.

1. WISCONSIN (LAST WEEK: 1)The No. 5 Badgers are on a six-game winning streak and have improved to 9-1 in Big Ten play in the process.

4. IOWA (8)The Hawkeyes have handily beaten both Michigan and No. 19 Maryland in the past week.

8. MINNESOTA (10)Leading the Big Ten in both steals and turnover margin, Minnesota is on a two-game win streak after beating Nebraska and Purdue.

10. MICHIGAN (5)Currently sitting at 11th in the Big Ten in scoring offense, the Wolverines are on a three-game losing streak and are struggling to score.

3. MARYLAND (3)The No. 19 Terrapins have been inconsistent, beating Penn State by six points but dropped their last game to Iowa by 16.

14. NORTHWESTERN (14)The Wildcats have lost nine straight games, and have dropped to 12th in scoring offense in the conference.

12. PENN STATE (12)The Nittany Lions have split their last two games but have only improved to 3-8 in conference.

13. RUTGERS (13)Having lost their last game by 19 points to Ohio State, the Scarlet Knights are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.

6. ILLINOIS (11)The Illini are in the midst of a three-game winning streak after beating Penn State and Rutgers at home and Michigan State on the road.

11. NEBRASKA (9)In a loss to Penn State last week, the Cornhuskers only managed 43 points.

9. PURDUE (7)The Boilermakers have split their last two games but are excelling on the defensive end — they lead the league in blocked shots.

Sophomore stepping up in teammates’ extended absence

Which Illinois team is truly the best?

If you asked Illini fans which sports team is the most successful at

Illinois, the most common answer would be men’s basketball.

After pondering this question throughout my time on campus, I decid-ed that my internal debate could prompt an interest-ing column.

To simplify this ques-tion, I decided to focus on which team has had the most success over the last 10 years.

There are three teams you can build a strong argument around why they have been the best team of the decade, but before I get to the big three, I want-ed to talk about the honor-able mentions.

6. (Honorable mention) Men’s Basketball

Some people might feel slighted by my selection for the sixth-best team over the past decade. But after 2005, the men’s bas-ketball team hasn’t really done much to claim the praise of a “top-three” team on campus. That’s not to say that it isn’t the most popular team, because it is. But the team’s recent success has been minimal compared to other teams on campus.

If we were looking at a scope of 15 years instead of 10, men’s basket-ball would have a stron-ger case, considering they were Big Ten regu-lar season champions in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. Those four cham-pionships in a five-year stretch of dominance still does nothing to counteract the fact that, in the last nine years, the team has not been a Big Ten regu-lar season or tournament champion once.

Six NCAA tournament appearances in the past 10 years doesn’t sound too bad at first, but with an average seed of 6.3 and only eight tournament wins, the Illini have left a lot to be desired. You might argue that it’s hard to take out their best year, considering how good they have been, but it’s impor-tant to point out that since 2005, they haven’t won more than one game in a single NCAA tournament.

5. (Honorable mention) Baseball

The baseball team also squandered a lot of poten-tial over the past 10 years, but its recent success has made its resume more impressive than the men’s basketball team.

First off, the Illini have won the Big Ten regular

season title twice — 2005 and 2011. In 2011, they also won the Big Ten tour-nament, and in 2013, they added an NCAA tourna-ment at-large bid.

Even though the basket-ball team has more NCAA tournament appearances over the last 10 years, I saw it fit to rate the base-ball team higher because it has had stronger teams on average. The men’s basketball team has not been consistently good since 2005.

4. (Honorable mention) Soccer

Of the three honor-able mentions, the soc-cer team is the only one I considered putting in the top three. The team has eight NCAA tourna-ment appearances and has made the Sweet 16 three times (2006, 2008, 2013).

Coach Janet Rayfield’s team also claimed the Big Ten tournament champi-onship in 2011. Consisten-cy-wise, it had an excel-lent decade, but the lack of a deep tournament run dropped soccer to fourth on my list.

3. VolleyballThe volleyball team

started the past decade off pretty poorly, miss-ing the NCAA tournament for three straight years. The Illini started a dras-tic turn-around in 2008, which led to six NCAA tournament appearanc-es. The turnaround can be attributed to head coach Kevin Hambly, who arrived in 2009.

In his six years with the Illini, Hambly has led the team to a 140-59 record. The team made it to the Sweet 16 each time it made the tournament, and in 2011, it made it all the way to the championship, fall-ing to UCLA. The volley-ball team hasn’t quite put all the pieces together to bring home a champion-ship, but the last decade has provided it with the most chances and champi-onship expectations every season.

2. Men’s GolfThis is where things

get tricky. In my opin-ion, there are two teams that have been consider-ably better than the rest of Illinois athletics over the past 10 years. These are the men’s gymnastics team and the men’s golf team. Both teams have had a huge amount of success and have not only been in the top-tier on campus, but incredibly successful nationally.

With that said, the sec-ond-best Illini team over the past decade goes to the men’s golf team. Starting in 2009, the team rattled off five-straight Big Ten championships. In 2013, the team was the runner-up to Alabama in the NCAA Championship. Not only have the Illini succeed-ed as a team, but former Illini golfers Scott Langley and Thomas Pieters were named NCAA individu-al champions in 2010 and 2012, respectively.

1. Men’s gymnasticsThe golf team put up a

fight in claiming the “best team over the past decade title,” but it’s the men’s gymnastics team that deserves the accolade. The most important thing is that the Illini were the only University team to win a National Championship (2012) over the past decade. Illinois athletics had mul-tiple opportunities to add to its trophy case, but only this team brought home a national title.

Also, the Illini won four-straight Big Ten Cham-pionships (2009-2012), despite the Big Ten being the toughest conference for gymnastics. Not only have the Illini had major success as a team, but in the last decade, the men’s gymnastics program has seen seven different ath-letes become NCAA indi-vidual event champions a total of 12 times.

Kieran is a sophomore in Business. He can be reached at hampl2 @dailyillini.com and on Twitter @KHampl95.

DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO Illinois’ Paul Ruggeri competes on the rings on March 2, 2012. Men’s gymnastics won the National Championship in 2012.

KEIRAN HAMPL

Sports columnist

SONNY AN THE DAILY ILLINIIllinois’ Kyley Simmons attempts to sink a 3-pointer during the match against Minnesota at State Farm Center on Thursday. The Illini won 95-69.

Illini softball endures tough start to new yearBY COLE HENKESTAFF WRITER

The Illini softball team started the season with a 1-4 record after its opening weekend — the worst open-ing weekend record in team history. It is quite the con-trast to last season, when the Illini posted the best start in team history (8-0).

Head coach Terri Sullivan was disappointed about the weekend, but still thinks she saw improvement.

“If you judge a team by how they do in their first weekend, then we wouldn’t be doing what we do,” Sul-livan said.

Of the Illini’s four oppo-nents, only one (Geor-gia) was from a power conference.

The Illini not only started the season on a rough note, they also consistently found themselves behind early in most of their games.

Illinois did not hold a lead in a game until the first

inning of Sunday’s match-up with Coppin State. Pitch-ing was a major contribu-tor to this problem. Senior Shelese Arnold struggled this weekend, surrender-ing at least one run in the first two innings of each of her three starts.

Offensive and defensive struggles

The Illini were outscored on the weekend 26-20, but that number is misleading due to the 13-0 victory over Coppin State. In their four losses, the Illini were out-scored 26-7. Junior second baseman Allie Bauch said the team is searching for some consistency on the offensive end.

“We just have to be more consistent,” Bauch said. “You don’t get away with mistakes against top teams like Georgia and Murray State.”

Through five games, the

Illini’s team batting average is sitting at .246, compared to their opponents’ .287.

The offensive struggles have stemmed from not get-ting hits at the right time. The team put runners on base, but couldn’t bring them home. The Illini left 30 runners on base over five games. Sullivan was disap-pointed in her team’s offen-sive effort.

“We couldn’t get the clutch hits when we needed to,” Sullivan said. “You can’t win games when you can’t get it done on either end.”

Illinois set a school record last season for double plays turned, but defense was not a strong point this past week-end. The Illini committed five errors, and five of the runs scored by the Illini’s opponents were unearned.

Cole can be reached at cehenke2@dailyillini.com or on Twitter @cole_Henke.

Junior guard Simmons leads team by exampleBY JOEY FIGUEROASTAFF WRITER

It’s no secret that the Illi-nois women’s basketball team has shooters all over the floor. Even Illinois’ two best post players, freshman center Chatrice White and sophomore forward Jacqui Grant, have each attempted at least 55 3-pointers on the season.

Head coach Matt Bollant is well aware of Illinois’ shooting depth and has chal-lenged junior guard Kyley Simmons to lead the other shooters by example.

“Sometimes as a point guard, it’s hard because you’re trying to get every-one else involved and you forget that she’s our best 3-point shooter,” Bollant said. “She makes big shots every game.”

Bollant said he challenged Simmons to take 10 shots against Minnesota last week and she responded by drain-ing a career-high six 3-point-ers against the Gophers. In her last three games, Sim-mons has shot a scorching 60 percent from long-range, and her 15 made 3-pointers in that span are more than a quarter of her entire out-put from beyond the arc this season.

Simmons’ recent fearless shooting sets an example for some of Illinois’ younger shooters who have yet to find their groove on offense. For Simmons, hitting open shots just comes down to trust.

“It’s all about trust,” Sim-mons said. “It’s trusting that my teammates are going to get me that wide open shot

or it’s trusting that if I get them the ball, they’re going to knock it down.”

Crawford still settling in

Illinois’ loss to Northwest-ern on Sunday was senior guard Ivory Crawford’s third game back from a knee injury that sidelined her for almost three weeks. Despite a near triple-double perfor-mance in Illinois’ win over Minnesota, Crawford may still be shaking off some rust.

In her three games since returning, Crawford is shoot-ing just 39 percent from the field and has fouled out twice. Crawford said she keeps her mind clear of the injury and hasn’t used it as an excuse for her slight struggles.

“I‘m not worried about the injury at all,” Crawford said. “The moment you think about it, bad things happen. Just getting better — that’s my mindset right now.”

Bollant said Crawford is close to being 100 percent and the coaching staff is challenging her to be a more consistent leader for a rela-tively inconsistent team.

“I think she’s getting clos-er,” Bollant said. “The condi-tioning is a part of it, and her confidence is growing. We’re just trying to challenge her to be more consistent as our leader who shows up every day and plays as close to 40 minutes as you can.”

White going through rough stretch

It’s pretty clear by now

that freshman center Cha-trice White is having a suc-cessful first season for the Illini. She has three Big Ten Freshman Player of the Week honors under her belt and is fifth in the Big Ten in blocks per game, while scoring nearly 15 points per game. Since her emotional return home to play Nebras-ka, though, White has gone through a rough stretch.

Over the Illini’s past three games, White is averaging barely over nine points per game on 33 percent shoot-ing from the field. She was held to just two rebounds in 21 minutes before foul-ing out against Wisconsin. She fouled out again when Illinois hosted Minnesota and picked up four fouls at Northwestern.

Because of the heightened frontcourt competition White has seen of late, Bollant doesn’t seem too concerned with his prized recruit’s recent play and wants to cre-ate more looks for her in the paint.

“We need to get a lot of touches inside,” Bollant said. “Chatrice said she didn’t do a great job of posting, and our guards didn’t do a great job of finding her to get enough touches in there.”

Since Indiana has just two players as tall as 6-foot-2, Wednesday’s game against the Hoosiers may be White’s best chance to avoid foul trou-ble and get back on track.

Joey can be reached at jfiguer2@dailyillini.com and on Twitter @joeyfigueroa3.

Forget about basketball, it’s time to give credit where credit is due

playing time, only missing the Missouri game.

But as Illinois’ entered Big Ten play, Colbert fell out of the rotation. He didn’t see the court in the team’s first six Big Ten games.

“It has definitely been challenging,” Colbert said. “Just trying to figure everything out as far as playing time and my role on the team. At the same time, it has been a good test because it shows how men-tality focused you are.”

Colbert realized he need-ed to provide consistent energy, both in games and in practice, if he wanted to play more. So he started to work harder and took prac-tice more seriously. The coaches took notice and Colbert started to get reg-ular minutes.

After seeing the floor against Purdue on Jan. 21 and not playing when the Illini traveled to Minnesota on Jan. 24, it looked as if he would be riding the bench for the remainder of the season. But Colbert per-formed well against Penn

State and hasn’t looked back — he’s built confi-dence along the way.

“(The coaches) want me to keep playing hard and keep doing what I’m doing,” Colbert said. “Until every-body gets back in the full rotation, they just want me to remain consistent and keep working hard.”

During Illinois’ current three-game win streak, Colbert has tallied four points, snagged seven rebounds and recorded an assist in 28 minutes of play-ing time.

After the Illini’s win over Rutgers last Tuesday, Groce commended Colbert for his defensive presence and unselfishness. Colbert finished the game scoreless but contributed to the win with three rebounds and an assist on the night.

“Colbert was really good,” Groce said. “He had great awareness tonight defensively. Good length. I thought he did some good things.”

Hill added that Colbert’s improved play has meant a lot for the Illini, who have had to regroup after los-ing both Rayvonte Rice and Aaron Cosby to injury and suspension earlier in the

season.“We need everybody,”

Hill said. “For him to come in and make contributions on the court, that’s big for us.”

For Colbert, the extra time is a positive, but not something he’s taking for granted. After dealing with infrequent playing time for a majority of his first two years, Colbert’s continuing to work as hard as he can to get quality minutes and help his team improve in the process.

“I’m just trying to do everything that I can to stay on the floor and be positive in my production and get as many wins as we can,” Colbert said.

Nicholas can be reached at fortin2@dailyillini.com and on Twitter @IlliniSportsGuy.

COLBERTFROM 1B

“For him to come in and make con-tributions on the court, that’s big.”MALCOLM HILLSOPHOMORE GUARD

2B Tuesday, February 10, 2015 THE DAILY ILLINI | WWW.DAILYILLINI.COM

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B O T T L E A M P S G Y MO H I O A N M E A T O O OO N T O U R Y O G A O W NP O S T D O C W E D I D I T

H E L L O D I S N E YA T B A R A L P A L AB A R N A R D O R A T A DI P A D M I N T Y N U D ET E N N S C A L E D R A W

D A B E V E E N E M YG E N I U S Y A L T AR E A L T O R F E R T I L EA R M T R O D G A I N O NP I E E T O N I D O T O OH E S D A T A T E N O N S

Illini hockey steps up during Olen brothers’ absenceBY MATT GERTSEMEIERSTAFF WRITER

While center John Olen and goaltender Joe Olenhave been representing Team USA at the World University Games in Granada, Spain, Illinois has gone 3-1. The Olens have been gone for two weeks and head coach Nick Fabbrini has joked that maybe they should stay in Spain.

“I sent them a text the other day messing around that maybe they should just stay over there,” Fab-brini said. “But, obviously when you can get two of your best players back, that’s going to be a boost, especially if the rest of these guys keep playing and competing and con-tributing the way they have.”

During the Olens’ absence, some Illini have discovered talents that haven’t been utilized as

a result of relying on the Olens.

Winger James Mcging, Illinois’ leader in assists, has scored four goals in the past four games. Mcging said that with John Olen away, he has had to take some of the scoring load. Mcging scored the game-winning shootout goal against Lin-denwood on Friday night at the Big Pond.

As well as Mcging, winger Eric Cruickshankand goaltender Zev Gru-met-Morris have stepped up without the Olens. Cruickshank has scored four goals in the past four games and Grumet-Morris has saved 89 per-cent of the 110 shots he’s faced.

“A lot of guys are fi nd-ing things within them-selves they might have taken a back seat natural-ly because we rely on (the Olens) so much,” Mcging

said. “It’s good when they come back, (because) a lot of guys maybe will now realize the potential everyone has.”

Saturday night struggles continue

Illinois’ Saturday night loss to Lindenwood marked its fourth home loss this season. All four losses have occurred on Saturday, following a Fri-day night win.

At home, Illinois is 14-4-0. In Friday home games Illinois is 9-0-0, while in Saturday home games Illinois is 5-4-0.

Forward Jon Langan said the Illini don’t wor-ry about Saturday loss-es too much and that the team’s last two were close games that could have gone either way.

Against Lindenwood on Saturday, Illinois entered the third period tied 2-2,

but two defensive zone breakdowns resulted in Lindenwood taking a 4-2 lead to win the game.

“It’s not something that’s bugging our guys,” Langan said. “We know we can win every night, it doesn’t matter if it’s Fri-day or Saturday.”

Illinois will have one last chance to break out of its Saturday slump when Eastern Michigan comes to the Big Pond in three weeks.

Shootout no problem for Grumet-Morris

Friday night’s shootout was the third shootout for Illinois this season. It was Illini goaltender Zev Gru-met-Morris’ fi rst time in net for one in college.

One goal snuck by Gru-met-Morris, but he made two close, diving saves, which helped secure the 3-2 victory.

“I love shootouts, I think they’re so fun,” Grumet-Morris said. “I didn’t really think about this is my chance to make my mark or anything, I just wanted to win really badly — so did everyone else.”

Even though it was Grumet-Morris’ first shootout at Illinois, Fab-brini knew he would per-form under pressure.

“We have a lot of con-fi dence in Zever,” Fab-brini said. “He’s played great for us all year. You

can’t say enough about him keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win.”

Matt can be reached at gertsme2@dailyillini.com and on Twitter @MattGertsmeier.

ZOE GRANT THE DAILY ILLINIEric Cruickshank tallied an assist in Illinois’ loss to Lindenwood on Saturday. The Illini lost 4-2. Cruickshank has had to fi ll a void left in the Olens’ absence.

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Sports columnist’s mailbag: Sorry Northwestern SAM SHERMAN

Sports columnist

Chris asks: Where does Rayvonte Rice fit upon his return?

If you told me before the season that the Illini would lose Rayvonte Rice midway through the season, I would slap you across the face out of frustration. After slap-ping you, I would ask how you knew this information.

“Are you from the future?” I would ask.

“Do I actually start work-ing out in the future, like I said I would for my New Year’s resolution?”

After this person explains to me that it was merely a hypothetical ques-tion and that they aren’t actually from the future, I would apologize for the slap and tell him that I actual-ly have been working out, despite what my previous question implies.

Illinois was 0-2 in Big Ten play after losing in over-time at Michigan and get-ting beaten down at Ohio State. Things weren’t look-ing all that great for John Groce and his staff early on in Big Ten play. Rice, on the other hand, was hav-ing a strong season. Rice was averaging 17.2 points, almost seven rebounds and two assists. Rice played like we had come to expect him to after a strong first season in Champaign.

The day before Illinois was set to host the red-hot Maryland Terrapins, the team announced Rice had broken his hand in practice.

I was already down on Illi-nois basketball, but when I heard this news, I just about made up my mind about the team’s chances to make the NCAA tournament. The Illi-ni had trouble scoring in the first place, so losing their leading scorer certainly wasn’t going to help.

In the first six games without Rice, Illinois kept its head above water, going 3-3. This was largely due to the emergence of Mal-colm Hill. The sophomore had shown flashes of talent in his short time in Cham-paign, but in Rice’s absence, Hill showed why he appears to be an absolute stud. Fel-low sophomore Kendrick Nunn also proved to be a solid scorer.

About an hour before Illi-nois was going to take on Penn State, a press release came out. This was not a fun press release about bobbleheads or fireworks. This press release stated Rice and fellow guard Aar-on Cosby were suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. They had recov-ered from their injuries, but would not return anytime soon. Illinois beat Penn State that day, and Groce stayed true to his announce-ment, repeating that his players would be suspended indefinitely.

College basketball is wacky, especially in the Big Ten. To make a long story short, Illinois is 3-0 since the suspension. It beat Penn State and Rutgers at home, and traveled to East Lan-sing to take down Michigan State.

Wacky.At the time of writ-

ing this mailbag, nothing

has been announced about whether Rice and Cosby will return from their sus-pensions Thursday night against Michigan. Groce sat them against Penn State and Rutgers, which wasn’t surprising. But sitting them for a tough road matchup against the Spartans sent the loudest message.

When Rice returns, I would use him off the bench. Don’t panic, Rice is still a lethal scorer and an important piece for this team. I think it might be risky to break up a starting five that has been effective. Nunn, Hill, Jaylon Tate, Leron Black and Nnan-na Egwu have built strong chemistry. They have been fun to watch and brought the team back from the dead in terms of NCAA tournament discussion. Now imagine, the first man off the bench: the train, the bull, the beast that is Rice.

He will still play plenty of minutes. His presence will let primary scorers Hill and Nunn not have to play the entire game, which, believe me, is a good thing.

Sit back, relax and watch the Illini win the NCAA tournament with Rayvonte Rice coming off the bench.

Alan asks: Will Northwestern ever make it to the big dance?

There are two ways I could answer this question. I could tell you about my hatred for Northwestern athletics. Every Northwest-ern student that I met has a superiority complex (OK, most students I have met). Yes, you go to an outstand-ing school, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that your basketball program is

historically awful. You are the only Big Ten team to have never made the NCAA tournament (even Rutgers has been there).

The other way I can answer this question is using an unbiased, journal-istic approach. I could tell you that head coach Chris Collins is beginning to bring in some solid recruits and that the tide is turning in Evanston.

I will attempt the objec-tive approach for as long as I can.

Ok, so Northwestern went 9-4 in nonconference play with their supposedly improved roster. That’s uh, not great. Well, maybe the Wildcats put it all together for conference play?

I’m just going to glance at their schedule for a sec-ond, let’s see ... they beat Rutgers in their first con-ference game. Hey! That’s something. Sure, Rutgers is the worst team in the Big Ten, but a win’s a win, right?

After that Rutgers game, they lost nine games in a row, leading us up to today. The Wildcats have actually played some tough games and lost multiple heart-breakers this season. I’ll give credit where credit is due, and they appear to be playing a tougher style of basketball than they ever have.

Why has Northwestern lost so many heartbreakers this season? Why have they not been able to get over the hump that is the NCAA tournament?

Simple. Because they are Northwestern, and North-western will never make the NCAA tournament.

The final question I have is for myself:

Sam asks: Sam, oh mighty mailbag author, what was the greatest Twitter battle to ever occur in the history of time?

Well, Sam, this is pretty simple. The greatest Twit-ter battle to ever occur in history was when Cham-paign Mayor Don Gerard battled it out with ESPN commentator Dan Dakich

over a controversial call in the Illinois vs. Michi-gan State game. Seriously, props to Mayor Gerard for not only providing excellent entertainment on a Satur-day afternoon, but also for donating to Dakich’s char-ity to show it was all in good fun.

Sam is a senior in Media. He can be reached at sshermn2@dailyillini.com and on Twitter @Sam_Sherman5.

JULIAN H. GONZALEZ TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICEIllinois’ Malcolm Hill makes a jump shot over Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine in the second half on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich. The Fighting Illini won, 59-54.

New women’s gymnastics assistant leads to quick successBY ASHLEY WIJANGCOSTAFF WRITER

The Illinois women’s gym-nastics team has only com-peted in five meets this sea-son, but that’s been enough to prove the Illini’s worth as an uneven bars team.

Bars is the only event the Illini have scored a 49 or higher on every meet so far this season. They even tied the fourth-best bars score in program history in Sat-urday’s win over Minnesota at Huff Hall with a 49.375. This recent success is largely attributed to assistant coach Jacob Lee.

Lee, Illinois’ bars coach, was hired in July after for-mer associate head coach

Jay Santos left the program to become the head coach at Eastern Michigan.

Previously, Lee spent two years as an assistant coach for Iowa’s women’s gym-nastics program. He left because of the Illinois wom-en’s gymnastics program’s potential, the chance to be part of a team that can con-tend for both Big Ten and NCAA Championships and the opportunity to work with head coach Kim Landrus.

“After my interview, I just thought that everything real-ly aligned,” Landrus said of her interview with Lee. “His coaching philosophies were such that I thought he would be a very good fit for our

program.”Lee is looking more and

more like the right choice every meet with the bars scores Illinois has posted, but along the way, he has helped individual gymnasts succeed.

In Illinois’ home opener against Central Michigan on Jan. 11, sophomore Sarah Lyons won the bars title with a 9.850 in her debut, making it her first collegiate title.

The next weekend, Illinois swept the bars podium in its home opener against Rut-gers. Senior Sunny Kato tied her career high on the event with a 9.925 to take first place. Sophomore Mary Jane Horth placed second with a 9.900, while Lyons scored another

9.850. Horth also won the bars

titles in Illinois’ last two meets against Penn State and Minnesota. She set a career high each time, with her lat-est high being a 9.975.

Before they’re able to suc-ceed competitively, the gym-nasts must go through differ-ent levels in training with Lee.

“The first level would be difficulty, to make sure they all started at 10.0,” Lee said. “Once they have the difficul-ty, then it just depends on our meet schedule. So then I got to get them endurance-wise prepared for our meets, but then I also can’t burn them out. ”

Whatever balance Lee has set appears to be for the best. He’s aware of the success Illi-nois has experienced on bars so far and feels he’s done a good job. The Illini are No. 8 in the GymInfo rankings for uneven bars.

Interestingly enough, Lee didn’t intend on taking on a coaching career in gymnas-tics. He competed in the col-legiate level for Minnesota, but coaching was just a back-up plan when he graduated with an Applied Econom-ics degree in 2007. Lee went on to work for Wells Fargo for about eight months, but realized he “hated sitting in front of a cubical for 40 hours a week.”

It was then that Lee started coaching. He began at TAGS Gymnastics in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, before heading to Iowa.

Now, at Illinois, Lee is doing more than just making the gymnasts better techni-cally. He has also pushed the Illini raise their expectations.

“We are now a complete bar team, which I think is wonderful to be a part of,” Lyons said of what Lee has done for the team. “He knows what we’re capable of, and he won’t settle for anything less.”

Ashley can be reached at wijangc2@dailyillini.com and @wijangco12.