The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

    Public attention needs to be redirected

    When I saw the DI’s headline this morning (“Still Searching for Leadership”), I thought that the fiscal and leadership crisis here at the U of I was finally getting the attention it deserves. But I was wrong: just like yesterday, the paper carried an important article on the slow destruction of our university— with a headline in tiny type, buried beneath the fold.

    Big banner headlines instead directed the reader to the really important issue: the basketball team. (Ironically, the article under the fold was about the faculty begging for “public attention” to the problem.) You know the facts: hundreds of millions of dollars the state owes the university, furloughs and a rapidly decaying infrastructure. Jared Hall’s excellent editorial on the inanity and insanity of our state legislature should have been on the front page, and showed why students should care. The future of the state is at stake, and the DI should step up and fulfill its basic mission of creating an informed and engaged citizenry.

    Robert A. Rushing,

    associate professor of Italian and comparative world literature

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