Batavia capitalizes with 2nd-quarter run

Published: December 23, 2009
Kane County Chronicle

ELGIN – After a disappointing start to the Elgin Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament, the Batavia boys basketball team is still in the running for something, at least.

The Bulldogs knocked off Glenbrook South, taking the Titans down, 67-58, on Wednesday to advance to the consolation bracket championship game against Highland Park at 3:15 p.m. Saturday.

Batavia senior forward Ricky Clopton dominated, racking up 28 points for the Bulldogs (7-4), including the better part of a 10-point run that stole the lead from Glenbrook South in the second quarter.

The game was hardly in the bag, with the Titans intensifying their man-to-man defense and muscling into the paint. But the Bulldogs had an answer.

“We changed to a 3-2,” Batavia junior center Elliot Vaughn said. “That way they couldn’t get a bunch of three-pointers and they had to go in the middle.”

There the Bulldogs forced the Titans into some some difficult looks. Batavia outscored Glenbrook South 20-8 in the second quarter, and maintained the lead the rest of the afternoon.

“It was a big win for us,” Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. “They’re a very well-coached group of guys... [and] we hung in there with them.”

Communication was the key to the victory, said Roberts, who praised the way the Bulldogs played off each other.

Clopton said his big day came with the aid of his teammates.

“The guys did a good job of setting up the basket and letting me score,” he said. “I just took advantage of what they were doing.”

Vaughn and junior guard Jesse Coffey followed Clopton with 12 points each. Both players also hit all of their free throws.

Batavia’s second straight win at the tournament was almost enough to shake off the disappointment of Monday’s tournament-opening loss against Rolling Meadows. Almost.

“I wish we would have won the first game because we wanted to play Neuqua,” Clopton said.

Even still, the win was still worth savoring as the Bulldogs look to return to sturdier footing after a recent lull.

“We’re just getting better every day, every game,” Clopton said.

Saints’ run comes to end

Published: December 22, 2009
Kane County Chronicle

WHEATON – At the start, it looked like St. Charles East, an unseeded team in the Bill Neibch Girls Basketball Holiday Tournament, would continue their Cinderella streak of success.

Waubonsie Valley, however, had other plans.

By the final buzzer, the Warriors had pounded out a 55-49 victory over the Saints, leaving them to play for third place against Elk Grove tonight at 6 p.m.

The Saints (9-5) took an early lead in the first quarter, looking cool and confident throughout compared to Waubonsie Valley’s sloppiness. In the first quarter, the Warriors had seven team fouls and were in the double-bonus with four minutes left in the half.

But Waubonsie Valley’s quickness and athleticism came out in the last three minutes of the second quarter, reversing a five-point deficit to end the first half with a 27-23 lead thanks in large part to sophomore guard Becky Williford’s three three-point baskets.

“I’m a little bit regretful that we didn’t, in the second quarter when they were in such foul trouble ... we didn’t pound the ball like I would have liked to,” East coach Lori Drumtra said. “When you’ve got the team on the ropes with the fouls, you’ve got to go for the jugular.”

Waubonsie came out even better in the second half, extending their lead to double-digits. But the Saints powered back, with senior guard Lexi Baltes scoring 10 of her 14 game points in the fourth quarter.
Senior Kara Schnier led the Saints with 15 points while keeping the Warriors from racking up points in transition.

“We forced them to work for their shots,” Drumtra said.

Still there were some disappointment in the loss, especially after beating No. 1 seeded Hinsdale Central in the first round and No. 8 Lyons Township in the second.

“We’re disappointed because you get so close to the championship game” Drumtra said, “but we want to finish strong.”

“I think it [was] a character-building game for us,” Schnier said, pointing to Baltes’s strong performance in the fourth quarter, along with their unexpected wins. “The tournament’s not over yet.”

Nor is this the last time they’ll play their fellow Upstate Eight Conference contenders.

“We’re going to see Waubonsie Valley again,” Schnier said. “I think it was a good little preview of what it’s going to be like next time ... hopefully with a different outcome.”

UIS braces for budget cuts

The UIS Journal

Admins cautiously reassure community about university finances

December 9, 2009
By Andrew Mitchell
Copy Editor

In the wake of the statehouse's ongoing budget stalemate, the University of Illinois system is bracing itself for a possible fiscal emergency this school year and budget cuts for the next.

No one is hitting the panic button yet, but in an e-mail sent by former University President B. Joseph White last month, all three campuses were encouraged to prepare themselves.

“Whether the Governor and General Assembly will make downward adjustments to our current budget is unknown and may not be known for several months,” he wrote. “Given this possibility, however, we must take steps now to manage as prudently as possible.”

The problem, according to the e-mail, is that the state has been slow in paying out money it allocated to the University in their budget for Fiscal Year 2010. (A fiscal year starts in July and ends in June and is named for the end year.)

According to UIS Provost Harry Berman, out of the approximately $343 million budgeted for the University this semester, the state has only around paid around $400,000.

“It puts everybody in a bind,” he said.

Half of the school's funding comes from the state, while the other comes from tuition. Unlike Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, who recently had to appeal to the state for funding just to make payroll, the U of I system has, “more flexibility…more capacity to endure,” said Berman, because of tuition, research funding and other sources of funds.

“But it can't go on forever,” said UIS Chancellor Richard Ringeisen. Which is why he and others in the university are nervous to see how the state will try to get out its $12 billion budget shortfall when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

Despite the general uncertainty, the university is planning for a 10 percent budget cut from the state, which would mean a five percent cut to their overall budget. Students could see that budget cut in a variety of ways, from fewer sections of a certain class and less supplies, to bigger class sizes for general education courses.

“We will be able to offer the required classes you need to graduate,” said James Ermatinger, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UIS, “it's just that you may not get the courses you want, meaning that instead of say four elective opportunities, you may have a choice of three.” He added that instead of having the option to take a class at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m., there may be only one time available.

Tuition will also almost certainly rise to make up for part of the difference.

But Ringeisen and Ermatinger both say there is some hope in UIS's growth on-campus and online; more students attending means more tuition dollars added to the budget.

University employees can also pin some hope on the fact that President White said there were no plans for any unpaid furlough days this calendar year.

“Furloughs are the next to last thing I want to do, with the first being layoffs,” Ringeisen said.

Under the planned scenario, Ermatinger said there was no danger of anyone losing their job, but the number of adjunct professors would likely decrease and the university will hesitate to replace any professor planning to retire.

Until the state government takes action or delivers on their funds, Ringeisen says the university will do all it can.

“When you're a big ship at sea, and a big storm is coming, you don't shut your engines off,” he said. “You move forward or else you get washed ashore.”

Vikings pull out win despite sloppy effort

Published: November 28, 2009
Kane County Chronicle

GENEVA – After starting their season with a pair of dominating victories, the Geneva girls basketball team showed it could still come out ahead even when the tempo did not always swing in its favor.

But it was not as confident of a victory as the Vikings would have liked, despite the 45-32 win over St. Charles North in the semifinal of their own invitational tournament.

“It was kind of a sloppy win,” said junior Kat Yelle. “We weren’t in sync.”

Luckily for them, their struggles came in the second half, after establishing an impressive 28-13 lead to finish the second quarter, with Yelle scoring 12 of her game-leading 20 points.

St. Charles North (2-1), who struggled with the absence of starter Jenna Bell because of illness, picked up its tempo in the second half and kept the Vikings (3-0) at bay. North outscored the Vikings, 19-17, in the second half, thanks to the hustle of junior Taylor Russell (eight points, five rebounds) and senior Dana Sibley (10 points, six rebounds).

“We saw some sparks,” North Star coach Colleen Brennan said. “Second half was much better than the first.”

Geneva coach Gina Nolan credited North’s invigorated defense at the half for keeping her team from opening the game any farther.

“St. Charles North took us out of our running game a bit today,” she said. “They hustled back on defense. Hopefully we can take that back again [tomorrow].”

The Vikings’ own defense responded well enough to keep North from chipping away at their lead too much, with senior Lauren Wicinski at the basket, earning nine rebounds and scoring four points for the Vikings.

Yelle too took advantage of North’s turnovers with a couple of steal-induced lay-ups in the third quarter.

“When we needed the big stopper to get our team settled, Kat definitely was there,” Nolan said.

Geneva plays Oswego at 2:30 p.m. today, after the Panthers edged out Rosary, 53-49. North plays Rosary for third place at 1 p.m. today. For both teams, it’s a opportunity to iron out any early season wrinkles made evident from their game.

Brennan took North’s second-half performance as a sign of potential.

“Absolutely, we’re ready [for Rosaray],” she said. “There’s no question this is a great team I’m working with. They’re still learning about each other. They’re still working with different combinations on the court. … They showed me a little more depth today.”

The Vikings, meanwhile, go into the invitational championship with goals of making their team gel as well as they did last year. Yelle said the team is working on improving its scoring in the wake Taylor Whitley’s graduation.

“Me and Taylor worked really well together, so I miss that,” she said. “But we’re actually doing pretty well so far.”

Nolan also joked about the recent holiday potentially playing a part in the game’s pacing.

“Now that the turkey is long gone, hopefully everyone will come in a little sharper and ready to go,” she said.

State budget in crisis: Why you should care about where your money goes

From Beyond: The Journal 's biannual magazine

November 17, 2009
By Andrew Mitchell

It's generally safe to assume that the average college student does not know, nor really cares to know, much about Illinois's budget. But everyone, including them, is feeling the pinch of the current fiscal crisis gripping the state.

Take the recent controversy surrounding financial aid for low-income students. The summer before the fall 2009 semester, Governor Pat Quinn signed into a low the budget for fiscal year 2010. Roughly half of the funding for the Monetary Award Program, better known as MAP grants, was cut from the budget. This meant that many of the 138,000 students who depended on the financial aid in the fall, would have missed out on the funds the following spring, putting their college careers in jeopardy.

Students from all over the state, outraged by the cuts, organized to demand the money be reinstated. They wrote and called lawmakers. They gathered signatures and sent petitions. Their protests hit their climax on Oct.15, when bus loads of students, some estimates saying more than 2,000 students, teachers and activists from all over the state, rallied both inside and outside of the Capitol, chanting, “We want MAP!” to lawmakers inside, attending to veto session business.

Their calls were heard loud and clear that day, as lawmakers quickly passed an appropriation of $205 million to fund MAP grants for the spring. Even Governor Quinn praised the move and the students' to pass get the funding back – this despite him signing the budget that cut the program in half in the first place.

But students should not have gone home completely satisfied. Sure, the legislature approved use of millions of dollars, but actually getting the money to the schools? That was another problem, and not an easily solved one. Currently, the state's debt is more than $10 billion. Bills are still waiting to be paid. Other financial obligations, like funding Medicaid and the state's pension system are on shaky ground because of this. How can the government find the money to pay for college students?

“One day at a time,” is how Governor Quinn told reporters he would handle this. What about next year's MAP grants? “We'll work on next year when next year comes.”

Some students seemed even less likely to care about that detail as well. David Ballard, a senator-at-large for the UIS Student Government Association said in UIS video posted on Youtube, “I don't know how we're going to fund it, but that's my concern.”

And that, in a nutshell, is one of the bigger problems with the state's current state of finances. There is not enough money to pay for the services the state provides; yet the services are still in demand. Furthermore, when facing a problem of this magnitude, the state seems more likely to put a small band-aid (usually via borrowing money) on the problem, which only worsen things down the line.

Now the state's deficit is at an all time high, and with gubernatorial primaries on the horizon, candidates will expound on how they would fix the state's fiscal fiasco.

It is time to for students, and the rest of the state, to start paying attention.

State Budget for Dummies

In the same way an average family plans out how best to spend their money, so too does the state government organize its own finances. However, the annual budget proposal the governor presents each year is different, because it serves as political statement, showing how a particular administration wants to prioritize state programs.
Money comes to the state in a variety of ways, but the two largest sources of revenue come from the state income tax and the sales tax. Because of this, Illinois has seen its revenues shrink as the recession swept over the nation – because when people make less money, they pay less income tax, and when people want to save money, they spend less on goods, which means less sales tax revenue.

The state also gets money from the federal government, with the recent stimulus money being cited as one of the reasons things are not as bad as they could be economically, and legalized gambling. Kent Redfield, professor at UIS's Institute for Legal, Legislative & Policy studies says recent efforts to expand and rely more on gambling for revenue are misguided.

In fact, by looking at the data from the State Comptroller's office, the budgetary balance at the end each fiscal year, after lapse period spending (money spent on bills obligated during the fiscal year after it has ended), jumps from surplus to deficit with the economy.

“We've been here before,” Redfield said, “We have a revenue structure that doesn't keep pace with our services.”

Because of this, Illinois suffers from a “structural deficit,” as much as it does an economic one. It is a fair claim to make that much of the state's woes comes from the problems of the international economy. No one anticipated the credit collapse a year ago. “Even if we did everything right,” Redfield said, “we'd still be on the margins.”

But the state's seemingly inevitable decline was made worse by years of bad decisions.

UIS professor and political scientist Ronald Michaelson placed some blame in ousted Governor Rod Blagojevich. During his campaign, Blagojevich pledged that he wouldn't raise taxes, and did everything to keep that promise, even at the determent of the state. The previous administration of George Ryan had left a then-record $1.2 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2002.

A more responsible governor might have gone back on the no-tax promise, Michaelson said. “He should've said, 'I had no idea things were this bad... we've got to do this.' He could have said it was Ryan's fault. I'm sure he could've sold that. But he didn't.”

Instead, Blagojevich expanded health care spending (Medicaid already being one of the biggest expenses in the state budget), and proposed one-time revenue sources, like selling the Illinois Lottery to a private company and forgoing payments to state worker's retirement pensions.

Other legislators and government officials only compounded the problem by not being more vocal about the problems. “You could see the wheels falling off,” Michaelson said. “but no one was saying, 'Hey, this is absurd.'”

Because of this, Governor Quinn entered office during a fiscal year with a new record $3.4 billion deficit. That it continues to multiply has people like Redfield and Michaelson tensely waiting to see who will fix it and how they will do it.

The “who,” will be answered soon enough in the upcoming primary and general elections for governor, and the “how,” sounds simple enough at first; cut spending, say no to any new spending and increase taxes. But that last particular point is especially difficult to sell in an election, and there isn't $9 billion of waste spending.

Such a message is difficult to convey to the public. In a recently released poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, based in Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, a majority of Illinois voters know there is a problem with the budget and think cutting out waste is the only way to fix things; they just have no idea what specific cuts should be made.

Nearly two-thirds of those polled opposed raising incomes taxes as well, which puts the state in a catch-22; people want the services and programs the state provides but do not want to see their taxes, which would pay for the programs, rise at all.

But many economic and political experts say that solving the state's fiscal problem requires both, no matter what the candidates say.

“Anyone that tells you that all we need is more revenue is just nuts,” Redfield said. “You can't raise enough money.”

Michaelson cited the governor's election of 1968, when the two candidate, Richard Ogilvie and Samuel Shapiro met and decided not to talk about income taxes in the campaign, so that whomever got elected would have an easier time raising it once elected.

However, the problem is perhaps far too big now to ignore in the general campaign, and the costs of fixing it are still not politically popular. “If you're really going to solve the problem, you need to acknowledge that you'll be a one-term governor,” Michaelson said.

Student radio station still a work in progress

New internet-based station holds possibilities for UIS community

November 4, 2009
By Andrew Mitchell
Copy Editor

There aren't many people sitting behind the microphone at the Prairie Star, UIS's online streaming campus radio station.

But that's soon going to change said Associate Professor Jim Grubbs. The veteran broadcaster is putting the finishing touches on the studio and audio lab to prepare for students taking his Introduction to Radio class this spring.

“It's almost like I've gone full circle,” he said from his desk in the audio lab. Grubbs first came to campus as a media technician back when UIS was called Sangamon State and the Student Affairs Building was the library. The studio and lab is located in what used to be the library's receiving area.

“I started here and now I'm back here,” he said. But this time, the room is equipped with new carpeting, a new coat of paint, computers, headphones and microphones ready to be set up and played with.

Photo by Andrew Mitchell Communication professor Jim Grubbs sits in the main studio of the Prairie Star, UIS’ campus radio station. Grubbs hopes to have students in the hot seat as early as next semester.

Grubbs signed on to organize the station after student interest he said reached, “a critical mass.” The Prairie Star officially signed on from its original location, a small room in University Hall, on Valentine's Day, 2008.

The station didn't feature a lot of UIS voices that day. Grubbs had set up the station to be a fully automated music station, playing almost everything from current hits to music from the 1960s on up.

“It was as much as anything just to prove the point that it could be done,” he said. The station remained on automation from then and through Grubbs's academic sabbatical last year.

Now in its new location, Grubbs hopes to provide an open door for students interested in getting into radio, whether as a career or for general fun.

“Certainly students are most interested in music programs,” he said, “but there is almost an infinite number of possibilities.”

Other stations close by include National Public Radio member station WUIS, or WQNA, the community station operated out of the Capital Area Career Center on Toronto Road.

Grubbs said the Prairie Star can differentiate itself by focusing primarily on campus and school related issues and concerns.

“Our difference is we're the UIS campus radio,” he said. “WUIS is a service for the community at large.”

Randy Eccles, WUIS's Development Director, sees the situation similarly. The station employs current UIS students and gladly accepts volunteers, he said. They are also looking to get more students involved in their new HD radio station. But still WUIS does not primarily cater to the university.

“We want to serve the campus, but we also serve the broader community of central Illinois,” he said.

Plus, with the limited number of opportunities for students to get on the air at WUIS, Eccles thinks the Prairie Star can serve as a great entry point for students looking for more experience.

Grubbs hopes to get things fully operational for next semester so he can provide students with valuable radio experience, try things out and help turn the Prairie Star into the student-run station it can potentially be.

New technology enhances online learning

October 28, 2009
By Andrew Mitchell
Copy Editor

It used to be that anyone who wanted to listen to UIS Biology Professor James Bonacum's lecture had to actually show up to his class. But now, his lectures are just one of several educational podcasts available on UIS's own iTunes store.

UIS content has been available through iTunes U since 2006, which meant that students and faculty had to log in to access audio content. But this year, podcasts are now available for everyone on or off campus via the iTunes store, easily found by searching “UIS.”

This puts UIS with some impressive company, said Munindra Khaund, multimedia education coordinator for ITS. “UIS is now listed alongside Berkely, Cambridge, MIT, Stanford, Yale, museums, and [other] public media organizations,” he said.

So far, the most popular downloads come from Professor Michael Cheney's course, “The Beatles: Popular Music and Society.” Other features include a column for UIS “Staff Favorites,” programs from public radio station WUIS, recordings from the ECCE Speaker Series and “Illinois Springfield Originals,” original work created by UIS faculty staff and students.

Khaund says that the growth of UIS podcasts, from a single course in the fall of 2005 to the thirteen now widely available, shows how well its been received by students.

“I continue to receive requests from students who would prefer to have course-related content delivered via podcast,” he said.

The podcasts can also be used as a recruiting tool for UIS now that its content is available for everyone, Khaund added. But he also stressed that iTunes won't be replacing the buildings on campus anytime soon.

“We provide the means of sharing course content with students in a manner that helps our students learn more,” he said. “[But] technology is a tool and podcasting is not going to replace classroom instruction.”

Online portal opens possibilities

Classroom technology became easier this year in another way with the introduction of the my.UIS portal, which boasts a single sign-on feature for many student needs.

“Before my.UIS, students had to login to Blackboard and then again if they wanted to check their DARS report and again if they wanted to check their grades or their student account,” said UIS Director of Education Technology, Tulio Llosa.

“With my.UIS, students just need to sign in once and can navigate their way easily to the applications they most use.”

Perhaps more exciting, Llosa said, is the customizable features for students my.UIS home pages. Users can design their portals to feature yahoo accounts, RSS feeds or other websites they frequent.

Llosa added the portal is still a work in progress, with new features still to come, such as easier eDoc distribution and announcement listings.

“We are hoping to convert email distribution lists such as 'campus announcements and UIS Student - Official Information DL' to portlets,” Llosa said. “So when an email is sent to them the message goes to the portal instead of the inbox.”

But the customization of portals is what Llosa says could unlock my.UIS's greatest potential. “Maybe we should hold a contest for most innovative student portal design,” he said.

For a guide on making the most of your my.UIS page, go to this link.
http://bit.ly/uE26z

UIS's iTunes store can be found at http://itunes.uis.edu