Illinois Commitment: What are you really committing to?
By Claire O'Brien, Longform Reporter
July 15, 2020
The housing spiral burst and the economy was in a downward spiral, leaving many in a devastating financial situation; Max Williams was in elementary school when both parents lost their jobs during the Great Recession. With his mom a secretary and his dad a welder, they would work odd jobs to get by i...
Profile: A political punk’s path to a PhD and tenure
By Chantal Vaca, Longform Reporter
June 29, 2020
Fueled by the righteous rage of punk, then 16-year-old Mimi Thi Nguyen organized her first protest against the first Gulf War in 1991 outside of her high school’s administration building in the northeastern San Diego suburb Rancho Peñasquitos with seven or eight students during a lunch period while wit...
Congressional candidate Stefanie Smith runs an unapologetically working-class campaign
By Matt Troher
April 10, 2020
On the night of March 17, Stefanie Smith sat on her couch playing video games with her 13 year-old daughter. Tonight’s game of choice: Towerfall. Videogames are one of Smith’s go-to methods for unwinding after a stressful day, but tonight was special. It was election night. The candidate for I...
Unseen, unfed: Breaking the cycle
By Zainab Qureshi, Staff Writer
March 9, 2020
Wedged between Stoughton and Fourth streets, the County Market’s location, 24-hour accessibility and lack of competition is why many students shop there. For those who do not have cars on campus or who are not on a meal plan, reasonably priced groceries can be hard to come by. While some may catch...
Unseen, unfed: Seeking help
By Zainab Qureshi, Staff Writer
March 2, 2020
Taylor Chism, senior in FAA, was on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program program during her sophomore and junior years but was no longer eligible after her job wages increased to $11 an hour. Kenji Pantin, recent doctoral graduate in LAS, made $18,000 a year from teaching at the University,...
Unseen, unfed: Addressing the stigma
By Zainab Qureshi, Staff Writer
February 27, 2020
A big part of the problem of food insecurity has to do with the stigma it carries, especially in a campus setting. The lack of awareness on college campuses combined with the psychological anxieties makes the issue that much more complex. Jessica Delost, the campus and community connector at University...
Unseen, unfed
By Zainie Qureshi, Staff Writer
February 24, 2020
When Kenji Pantin was an undergrad at the University of Central Florida, she couldn’t afford a meal plan. Despite her scholarships, there just wasn’t enough money. Her mom encouraged her to take out a loan to purchase the recommended meal plan. But it was 2013, a couple years after the recession...
A long way to go
By Taylor Howard, Staff Writer
February 14, 2019
Fifty years later University students are still fighting for what was proposed to administration 50 years later. Alumnus and then-student leader Bradley Harrison said the United States is racially divided, especially when it came to interacting with other students at the University. “I wou...
A long way to go
By Taylor Howard, Staff Writer
February 11, 2019
A few short months after Project 500, an initiative to recruit more black and brown students to the University, was implemented in 1968, minority students claimed they were still being discriminated against by administration through housing, funding and lack of equitable resources. Although students pl...
A passive investigation
By Aaron Navarro, Contributing Writer
December 6, 2018
“I had to kill a snake.” From Apr. 6, 2015 to Sept. 14, 2015, F&S carpenter Joe Williams had one source of ventilation in the basement of the Material Science and Engineering building. A small window with a fan in front, right next to a pipe with hanging asbestos, would pump air out. It was ...
A passive investigation
By Aaron Navarro, Contributing Writer
December 3, 2018
About a year and half since a University report and investigation on illegal discrimination and harassment in the Facilities & Services department was released, minority workers claim the investigation was a “sham” and are coming out with their own experiences of discrimination and harassment ...
Lacking lactation spaces
By Jessica Peterson, Contributing Writer
October 22, 2018
Syeda Fauzi traveled to campus during the week with three separate bags: one for her books, her lunch and her breast pump after her son Fakhry was born in April 2015. Fauzi is entering her final year as a Ph.D. student in Human Resources Development at the University. Every morning, she’d pack up her supplies,...
