2007-03-02

              The Illinois Wesleyan
University Board of Trustees
approved a 5.38 percent
increase in the comprehensive
fee for the 2007-2008 school
year at its regular monthly
meeting Feb. 12.
The increase marks a small
rise over last year's tuition
increase of 5.29 percent but is
below the six percent average
increase for all private institu-tions
nationally and the 12
percent increase at state uni-versities
in Illinois, President
Richard Wilson said, citing a
USA Today report.
“The tuition increase
results from increased costs
that the university anticipates
in the coming year in several
key areas,” Wilson said. “56
percent of the university's
budget is devoted to salaries
and benefits for faculty and
staff, and a portion of the
increased funds from tuition,
endowment growth and alum-ni
giving
will be used
to provide
salary in-creases
for
those two
groups.”
According
to a 2006
report from
the Illinois
Board of
Higher Edu-cation,
the
average sal-ary
for IWU
p r o f e s s o r s
was $65,200. A report from
the American Association of
University Professors states
that faculty salaries at bac-calaureate
degree-granting
institutions went up by an
average of 3.2 percent from
2005 to 2006.
Wilson did not disclose
how large the salary raise
would be but said because
such a large percentage of the
budget is allocated for per-sonnel
expenses, the tuition
increase out-paces
the
United States
Department
of Labor's
reported 2.5
percent na-tional
infla-tion
rate for
last year.
“Things like
health care
increases and
other benefits
impact us
more than
some sectors
of the economy,” Wilson said.
“Unlike manufacturers that
can put together programs to
sell more products, reduce
their unit costs and increase
their revenue, universities
cannot take advantage of
economies of scale without
negatively impacting the edu-cational
experience.
Having more students “gen-erally
means higher costs for
institutions like ours that
place a high value on small
class size,” Wilson continued.
“We also have significant
operating expenses associated
with buildings and technolo-gy,
including debt service on
existing buildings and utility
increases that increase our
costs to a greater degree than
SPORTS, PAGE 8
Titan women
earn invite
to the big
dance
First Class
Permit 30
THEARGUS Illinois Wesleyan University
A
MARCH 2, 2007
State takes
wrong turn
with proposed
driver’s ed
rules
OP/ED, PAGE 4
Weekend
Weather
Sunday
Courtesy of
www.weather.com
High: 31
Low: 24
Saturday
VOLUME 113 ISSUE 19
High: 28
Low: 20
IWU Meets World
In this Issue
On the Web
www.iwu.edu/
~theargus
argus@iwu.edu
Last week, a group of
Illinois Wesleyan University
students became world digni-taries
— without leaving the
Midwest.
Two groups of IWU stu-dents,
led by associate profes-sor
of economics Diego
Mendez-Carbajo, represented
South Korea and Spain at the
Midwest Model United
Nations conference in St.
Louis from Feb. 21- 24.
“It's a process that can
sometimes be tedious and tir-ing,”
said first-year Monica
Shah, a representative for
Spain. “You learn that proce-dures
only work through coop-eration
and collaboration.”
Senior international studies
major Patrick Beary and
senior European studies major
Marissa Holloway headed the
teams of delegates. Other stu-dents
were selected based on
the position papers they had
previously submitted to
Mendez-Carbajo.
After being selected, the
students were assigned to the
General Assembly or the
Economic and Social Council
and split into committees
based on their interests and
strengths. The committees
included in the General
Assembly were Disarmament
and International Security,
Economic and Financial,
Social, Humanitarian and
Cultural and Special Political
and Decolonization.
“It's interesting to be in a
room full of other delegates
discussing the opinions from
the perspective of the country
we were representing,” said
Shah, who served on the
see INCREASE p.2
see UN p.2
Oscar fashion:
A red carpet
rundown
FEATURES, PAGE 3
IWU tuition to rise 5.38 percent
Two-time world champion slam poet Buddy Wakefield performs his work as the
keynote guest at Friday night’s Poetry Slam at Hansen. ANDY NELSON/THE ARGUS
Writers whet skills at
Tongue & Ink conference
E M I LY O R N AT
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
Illinois Wesleyan Univers-ity
hosted the third annual
Tongue & Ink writing confer-ence
Feb. 23-24, during
which students wrote, shared
their work, talked to profes-sionals,
tried new writing
approaches and met other
writers.
Over 50 students from
IWU, Illinois State Univers-ity,
the University of
Chicago, Heartland
Community College and
Lake Forest College attended
the conference, which was
themed “The Art of the
Hoax” and featured keynote
speakers Kent Johnson and
Davis Schneiderman.
The conference kicked off
Friday afternoon in Hansen
Student Center with poet Rob
Telfer. In his session, “Slam
Poetry and the Poetry Slam:
How to Write Poems People
Will Like,” Telfer talked
about the new age of poetry
and how to keep up with the
quick-witted competition that
poetry has partly turned into.
Later that night Telfer host-ed
a poetry slam featuring
S A R A H K E I S T E R
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
2007-08 comprehensive fee
increase breakdown
•Yearly tuition: incresed $28,986 to $30,580
•Room fee (double occupancy): $4,104 to $4,330
•Board fee (basic plan): increased $2,610 to $2,700
•Student Senate activity fee: increased $150 to $170
K I M S TA B O S Z
S TA F F R E P O R T E R
seeINK p.2
On Sunday, Feb. 22, the
Council for Latin American
Student Enrichment (CLASE)
sponsored a Caribbean Dinner
in Memorial Center's Main
Lounge.
The event, which was free
to students and was advertised
as “bringing Latin heat to the
cold winter,” featured tradition-al
Caribbean food and live
Latin music for attendees to
enjoy.
CLASE is an active organi-zation
on campus comprised of
students passionate about the
promotion of campus diversity
and cultural awareness, specifi-cally
focusing on Hispanic her-itage.
It is headed by Damaris
Ortiz and Dino Mendez, who
serve as president and vice-president
of CLASE and were
the principle organizers of the
event. The dinner was a suc-cessful
way for group members
to publicize the organization
itself while promoting its core
values in a fun, lively atmos-phere.
“It was a great turnout, but
just a little overcrowded,” said
CLASE secretary Stephanie
Valentin.
Over 100 people attended
the dinner, building long lines
to the buffet, but most students
were happy to chat and enjoy
the music during the wait. “It's
a Sunday night - where else do
I have to be?” said Anne
Marquette.
Other students agreed that
the food was well worth the
wait. The meal featured tradi-tional
rice, beans, salad and
flan, but fried plantains proved
to be the hit of the night.
“I couldn't believe they had
that,” said Ann Chang. “It was
delicious.”
Upon entering the lounge,
students were greeted with a
room full of round, clothed
tables and colorful decorations.
The dinner was served buffet-style,
which encouraged atten-dees
to walk around and social-ize
during the meal.
A sizable area in front of the
band was also cleared of tables
so that anyone unable to resist
the call of the upbeat Latin
band would be free to salsa or
meringue the evening away,
though not many people did.
“I think you could have
CLASE offers students a taste of the Caribbean
seeCLASE p.2
IWU Lab Theatre
production rouses
censorship talks
Assistant Professor of
Theatre Arts Sven Miller
received a rude awakening
Monday with the announce-ment
of the possible censoring
of his lab theatre production
“Into an Unlulled Sleep.”
The play, which Miller
directed and co-wrote with
senior Illinois
We s l e y a n
U n i v e r s i t y
acting major
Nolan Ken-nedy,
drew ire
for its use of
nudity and
blackface to
help portray a
history of
oppression in
the United
States.
“The play
is somewhat
controversial.
There were some students who
had issues with it, and there
was some communication
from parents about it,” said
Matt Kurz, IWU Vice
President for Public Relations.
“Some people were unfamiliar
with the situation and wanted
to ask some questions about
it.”
Kurz also said one student
from the theatre department
had asked to be removed from
the project, which is loosely
based on Barbara Ehrenreich's
book “Nickel and Dimed.”
The concerns prompted a
c o n f e r e n c e
call with
P r e s i d e n t
R i c h a r d
Wilson, who
was out of
town, Provost
R o g e r
Schnaitter and
r e p r e s e n t a -
tives from the
theatre depart-ment.
The
concerns were
then relayed
to Miller and
the members of the produc-tion.
“There was a need for clari-fication,”
Miller said. “The
D A N A R M S T R O N G
N E W S E D I T O R
ABOVE: IWU students
Amanda ReCupido (front),
Matt Katch (middle) and
Kim Stabosz (back) react
to the poetic stylings of
Buddy Wakefield at the
poetry slam Feb. 23 in
Hansen.
RIGHT: Poetry slam emcee
Robbie Q. Telfer performs
an original piece for atten-dees
of Tongue and Ink
2007. Over 50 students
from around the state
attended the slam Friday
night.
ANDY NELSON/THE ARGUS
“In my entire theater
career, I've rarely
seen people leave
the theater with such
stunned faces.”
SVEN MILLER
DIRECTOR,
“INTO AN UNLULLED SLEEP”
seeSLEEP p.2
L I N D A M A R T I N
S TA F F R E P O R T E R