University lays out plans for fall break, spring return
By Payal Rathore, Staff Writer
October 22, 2020
In the last two weeks before fall break, University students will be asked to restrict their movements significantly in preparation for their returns home. “Students who plan to travel during Fall Break should limit themselves to essential activities only, such as attending in-person class, testing...
Questions for the Chancellor Oct. 20
October 22, 2020
How do alumni donations that have been made this year compare to last year’s donations? We know this has been a difficult year for so many, and we are grateful for the generosity of our donors. Alumni and supporters of the university have given charitably to the university about 20% less than t...
Positivity surges statewide; Champaign County remains steady
By Ethan Simmons, News Editor
October 22, 2020
All 11 Illinois regions are experiencing rising positivity rates for COVID-19, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker noted at this week’s press conferences. Region 5, which takes up much of southern Illinois, has moved into increased mitigation with the temporary closure of indoor dining and bar service and limi...
UI cancels spring break, postpones start of semester
By Ethan Simmons, News Editor
October 20, 2020
The UI senate has agreed on a revamped spring semester, with week-late start, three more non-instructional days and no spring break. Campus officials passed the resolution 129-13 at Monday’s meeting, after several proposed amendments to modify the number and nature of the non-instructional da...
LSAT prep takes on different level of stress during COVID-19
By Elizabeth Sayasane, Features Editor
October 19, 2020
Mikaila Beauchamp, senior in Business, has her sights firmly set on law school. As every pre-law student knows, that means she has spent the end of her junior year and beginning of senior year with her mind focused on the LSAT. For the first time since the LSAT’s creation, though, pre-law students mus...
“A tall order”: Inside UI’s COVID testing lab
By Willie Cui, Staff Writer
October 19, 2020
Every hour, vans marked “Test Delivery Vehicle” criss-cross the campus, collecting their cargo — boxes of COVID-19 test samples — from the University’s 14 testing sites. From there, they speed off toward the south of campus, where the University’s Veterinary Medicine Basic Sciences Buildi...
Illinois excludes UI from regional COVID data as positivity climbs
By Ethan Simmons, News Editor
October 19, 2020
The Illinois Department of Public Health has begun separating University tests from regional data, instead of excluding Champaign County as a whole. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state health officials have said that the high volume of campus tests — around 55,000 per week — is clouding virus trends ...
Campus COVID-19 spread continues to slow
By Ethan Simmons, News Editor
October 19, 2020
Last week was the University of Illinois’ best week in controlling the spread of COVID-19, recording fewer than 100 new cases for the first time since the summer. In all, during the week that ended on Friday, 85 people on campus tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time, with another 54,000...
UI student heads effort to bring dictionaries to prisoners
By Alexandra Gergova, Contributing Writer
October 15, 2020
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the difference between the amount of dictionaries requested by incarcerated people and the amount received has been exacerbated severely. To combat this growing issue, Kate Shanks, sophomore in LAS and volunteer with UC Books to Prisoners, organized a community-w...
Campus recreation slowly expands operations
By Elizabeth Lebeau, Contributing Writer
October 15, 2020
Although the University has two recreational centers for students, CRCE and the ARC will remain closed for the rest of the fall to be used as a COVID-19 testing center. Meanwhile, the ARC is gradually regaining operations as the semester goes on, with live facility counts, a mask requirement and ...
Travel restrictions sting CU barbershops
By Chieh Hsu, Contributing Writer
October 15, 2020
Months after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stay-at-home order on March 20, the majority of barbershops and salons reopened at the beginning of June. Nonetheless, their operations are by no means the same. Moreover, for barbershops that used to provide service primarily to international stud...
Professors highlight issues with University’s COVID-19 predictions
By Salem Isaf, Assistant Daytime News Editor
October 15, 2020
As COVID-19 cases on campus surge past the administration’s expectations, many have called into question the transmission and prediction models used by the University to set those expectations. As of Monday, the Illinois SHIELD Team reported 2,645 positive cases on campus since Aug. 15, when student...
