JACQUELINE BARBA
CLASS COVERAGE
The work I have written within the classroom
WORK I HAVE DONE FOR JOUR 210: NEWSGATHERING ACROSS PLATFORMS
This is a compilation of three articles I wrote over the course of my second semester, during which I had the privilege of being taught by Professor Alison Davis.
GUN VIOLENCE RATES CONTINUE TO RISE IN CHAMPAIGN; THE COMMUNITY FIGHTS BACK
As Willy Ann Hoff describes the night her only son died, her voice cracks. She breathes in a shaky breath, pausing throughout the story. As she speaks, she seems to go back in time, back to the fateful night that changed the course of her life permanently.
Years later, grief laces her words as if it were only the morning after that very night.
On May 16, 2016, in the dark dusk of five o’clock in the morning, Hoff awoke to the sound of banging on her door. Outside of her home, a Champaign police officer waited with the news that earlier that night, Hoff’s son, Statesman Hoff, had been shot and killed at a local party.
“He said, ‘there was a party that he was at, and he got shot,” Hoff said. “That’s when my whole life changed.”
Hoff’s story has become increasingly more common in Champaign, which has seen a rise in gun violence in recent years, according to data amassed by the city.
In 2021 alone, there was 259 shooting incidents, up 37% from the year prior.
To Hoff however, Statesman was more than a crime statistic. She shares how she chooses to remember him as he was before that fateful night, even sharing the nickname that she called him by.
“I called him my State-ie,” said Hoff.
Statesman was attending a party in northwest Champaign when gunfire broke out. As he was attempting to leave, Hoff says Statesman was hit with a bullet to the abdomen, causing extreme hemorrhaging and ultimately, his death. He was 22 years old.
Hoff remembers the final moment she shared with her son, late in the evening of the night before what would become his last.
“I said I love you.. And I went to bed,” Hoff said.
Unbeknownst to Hoff at the time, those would become her last words to her son.
Statesman left behind two children, both under four years old. He also left behind dreams, his mother shares, of opening his own business, likely an auto-repair shop, because of his love of cars.
A pillar in his family, Hoff says, the reverberations of his untimely death were felt throughout Statesman’s web of loved ones.
“Not only was he my son, he was a father. He was a brother. He was a nephew. And he also was a grandson,” said Hoff.
As she describes Statesman, she laughs fondly.
“He was playful. He was very playful. He got along with everybody. He had this smirk on his face. And he could just light up a room when he walked through,“ said Hoff.
Since the time of Statesman’s untimely death, the number of gun violence issues has only risen. 77 individuals were struck by gunfire in Champaign last year; the number is a record high for the city.
In 2015, officials in the Champaign, Urbana, and University of Illinois police forces established a street crimes task force, in partnership with the Champaign County Sheriff’s office. Specifically focused on reducing the number of guns on the street, the force was created in response to the community’s growing concern over gun violence incidents.
According to the task force’s archive, their last press release was for an arrest in July of 2020, for the unlawful possession of a handgun.
The issue of gun violence has pervaded the University of Illinois campus as well. Earlier this year, students received an Ilini Alert that warned them of an attempted aggravated assault on Florida Avenue.
Shaunak Narain, a resident of Florida Avenue Residence Hall, was walking home from a friend’s around 2 a.m. the night of the altercation. The next morning, he received the alert, informing him that just 27 minutes earlier, at 1:23 a.m., witnesses heard the three shots that alerted police to the incident, the shells of which were found near Maryland Avenue.
“It’s scary, because you think, if I had left my friends dorm just a little earlier, I would’e been in the area when it happened,” Narain said.
For students, Narain says, it can be hard to feel safe away from home when campus feels unsafe. Narain, as an out of state student from California, says he is not used to having violence so close to his home.
“At home, I live in a generally safe area,” Nurain said. “I’m not used to being so close to any crime, let alone having shootings near where I live.”
Due to the violence that is prevalent both on campus and off campus, community members have united to combat gun violence in the Champaign-Urbana area as a whole. HV Neighborhood Transformation, a local non-profit of which Hoff is a member, is focused on raising gun violence awareness, specifically within the African-American community.
After the death of her son, Hoff fell into a depressive state. For years, she says, she stayed on her couch, unable to eat or drink.
“The connection of him, it was gone. It was taken away from me. So I stayed on my couch,” Hoff said. “I wanted my son back. I wanted to be where my son was.”
Hoping to get out of her depression, she says she turned to her faith, and she began going to church services. After a fellow member of her church suggested she attend an event with HV Neighborhood Transformation, Hoff found a part of the community she wanted to get involved in.
“I came out to one of their events, and I loved what I saw. I enjoyed what I saw and decided right there and then I wanted to be a part of that,” Hoff said.
Through a variety of events, the organization’s mission is “entrepreneurial education, skill-building, gun violence awareness and outreach,” according to their website.
The sit also includes descriptions of their programs, including “The Awakening” and “Safe Haven.”
“The Awakening” hopes to lead young African-American men through an “incredibly open, honest, practical, impactful, and different” discussion on gun violence and its ties to the concept of manhood, according to the page.
“Safe Haven” is aimed at acknowledging the mental health impacts of incidents with gun violence, ranging from mass shootings to unintentional shootings. The site lists different healing strategies for those who may need them.
The organization, founded by formerly incarcerated Champaign-Urbana residents, seeks to educate future generations on how they can bring peace to the community while also educating themselves on gun violence awareness.
“HV Neighborhood Transformation is looking to bring awareness to everyone that gun violence can hit anybody,” Hoff said.
For Hoff, volunteering with HV Neighborhood Transformation has given her an outlet to keep her son’s memory alive, while also giving her an outlet to do her part in helping other mother’s avoid having to do the same.
“I'm here so other moms will not go through the same feeling I went through,” Hoff said.
Nearly six years after Statesman’s death, Hoff says that her volunteer work helps aid her in navigating a world without her son.
“It's not easy every day, but being here is like therapy for me. And it helps me day by day,” Hoff said. “I have my good days and I have my bad days, you know, but I’d rather be here.”
LAUREN ARONSON PASSES ON PASSION TO SERVE UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITIES
(This piece was then edited and published in The Daily Illini. That version can be found under The Daily Illini tab of this website. )
Lauren Aronson walks through the double glass doors of the office. In her hands, she holds a cup of tea and eight files, bursting at the seams with sheets of paper. As she walks through the office, she distributes the files, handing certain ones to the students she passes on the way to her office, picking up files from others, exchanging folders with others.
She greets everyone warmly, the flutter of paper and the clacking of keyboards underscoring the flurry of activity that her arrival has brought to the space. Finally, now holding nine files, she arrives at her office, takes a deep breath, and prepares to start another day.
As a Professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Aronson oversees the Immigration Law Clinic. Despite her passion for her profession today, Aronson shares that she avoided immigration law as a law student.
“I actually stayed really far away from immigration law while I was in law school, because I thought it would be too sad, too hard of an area. So when I graduated law school, I actually took a job in a tax practice,” Aronson said.
After graduating from University of Virginia with her law degree however, Aronson left school with the distinct feeling that she had made a mistake in attending law school. Her first job in law came from, as she says, the need to pay off her student loans.
“I thought, well, I'll go take this job in this law firm, this fancy New York law firm, where I’ll get paid lots of money, and then I'll work to pay off my loans. And then I'll like, figure out what I actually want to do,” Aronson said.
A few months into her job, however, the 2008 recession hit, and the company she had worked for let her know they did not have work for her any longer, though they did offer to keep her on the payroll for 19 months, with the promise to come back onto the team when there was work for her again, if she so chose. Aronson took the time to study abroad in Spain.
She returned fluent in Spanish and looked for jobs where she could use her skill. She heard back from one — an Immigration Law Clinic at Harvard University.
From there, Aronson dedicated herself to the profession, eventually finding her way to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Today, she oversees the eight students involved in the Immigration Law Clinic every semester. The clinic, available to second and third year law students, provides help to those who are in the country without documentation while offering hands-on experience for students.
“We help immigrants in any part of their legal immigration journey. So we have clients who have started from nothing, have no status at all, no legal right to be in the country, but then we also are helping people who have green cards apply to become citizens. [It’s] really the whole spectrum of immigration relief,” Aronson said.
Besides providing those without documentation legal aid, the clinic also functions as a hands-on learning experience for law students. Aronson shares how the clinic helps students to apply what they learn in the classroom within a real-world setting.
“So not just the abstract ideas about practicing law and learning the laws themselves, but actually applying them. So the law clinic exists to, first and foremost, teach law students how to be lawyers, but then also to serve the community,” Aronson said.
For Analy Ayala Blanco, a second year law student at the University of Illinois College of Law, the clinic has been a welcome addition to her studies. As an immigrant herself, she says the clinic has provided her with a way to gain firsthand experience in a field she is passionate about studying in.
For Ayala Blanco, Aronson has served as a role model and guide as she learns the ins-and-outs of immigration law.
“Professor Aronson devotes herself to the clinic, her students and our clients. I know that I can count on her for anything, including non-clinic-related matters,” Ayala Blanco said. “She is someone who I deeply value as a mentor and I hope to be like her when I am attorney.”
While the work that the clinic does for clients is meaningful in its own right, Aronson shares that the impact she has on her students is just as important to her. She hopes that her students not only take away the benefits of first hand experience, but a passion for serving the community.
“Something that feels really great is that I'm passing on not just the knowledge and the ability to practice law, but also the passion and the will to serve this community, and just in general, to serve underrepresented people,” Aronson said.
Despite the highlights of her work, Aronson says that it can be particularly hard to have to reject clients, or let them know their case cannot move forward.
"Secondary trauma is a real thing, and having to constantly disappoint people by saying,‘there's nothing I can do to help you,’ it's hard,” Aronson said.
Many times, cases can involve harrowing stories of survival, and Ayala Blanco says that listening to those stories can cause many attorneys to become desensitized. However, Aronson assures her students that complicated emotional responses are normal and should be addressed rather than ignored.
“She ensured us that it is normal to feel emotional and upset about the things that our clients have lived through. As attorneys, we often become numb to certain situations because we deal with difficult circumstances so often. At the end of the day, though, we are still human,” Ayala Blanco said.
Client meetings can be particularly difficult, Ayala Blanco says, but Aronson is always there to offer support.
“She also checks in with us after client meetings, particularly those that were difficult to listen to due to violence, trauma, abuse, and always made sure that we felt comfortable in those situations,” Ayala Blanco said. “This is an area of law that can weigh very heavily on you, especially when you do not receive the news that you were hoping to get for a client, but she is always very encouraging.”
Aronson emphasizes that in spite of the emotional drain that comes with the job, she is lifted by successful cases.
“I will say that the rewards are so big that they really do keep you going. The sort of like, visible help that you're giving to people. No, you can't help everyone, but you know, nobody can help everyone,” Aronson said.
Among the strategies that Aronson uses to deal with the difficulties of her work is therapy. Due to the nature of her work, Aronson cannot discuss cases with just anyone. Having a confidential space where she can share the emotional fallout of her work, Aronson says, is crucial to her own wellbeing.
“Therapy really helps you with processing some of the tragic information that you have to hear from your clients, which can can be really heavy,” Aronson said. “I have to have a confidential space to be able to do that. And that is genuinely very helpful.”
Focusing on the small things that bring her joy has also aided Aronson in navigating her work.
“Knowing what makes me able to stay healthy myself, and to stay mentally sound, in order to be able to best serve my clients helps. So for me, it's, you know, doing yoga and going on long walks, and being with my kid and my husband, and having friends and being able to talk with colleagues about the cases,” Aronson said.
Ultimately, she says the biggest reward is the role that the clinic plays in the community. Providing legal representation to those who would otherwise be forced to navigate the system alone is what she identifies as the most meaningful part of her work with the clinic.
“The biggest sort of reward overall, is providing legal services to people who would otherwise not have representation. Filling a void in the community, even if we aren't winning the case, or getting relief,” Aronson said. “It's the ability to provide all of the people in the community that we're able to with due process and actual representation, so that they're not having to navigate the legal system of a different country, often in a different language, by themselves.”
COVER LETTER FOR MY FINAL ARTICLE
As I went through and wrote this article, my biggest concern was getting a human face to go along with the story. The easiest part was finding the data, and while I felt that was important, I wanted to humanize this story, because it is such a humanity-based story. Despite reaching out to C-U at Home multiple times, I was unable to connect with anyone who was or is currently homeless. I tried to write a version of this story that did not include a human face, but felt like it was missing a crucial element. It was this first draft that also did not include the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen. I reached out to them after this first draft, because I wanted to speak to an organization that was local but outside of the bounds of just a shelter. Undoubtedly, they too would be impacted by the pandemic, especially in the sense that they would lose much of their face to face contact with clients. I wanted to put that into the story, and I was really lucky that Yvette was able to contact me and bring her perspective into this piece. After her interview, I was still missing a human face. I reached out to other organizations to no avail, until finally, I decided I would go to Green Street and ask the people who I had seen asking for money there. It was there that I was able to connect with Kim, who kindly shared her story with me. Kim was the final piece of the puzzle for me. Having her story start the piece immediately made it better, because it gave the piece a human face. The first draft of this story was incredibly data-based, because that was all I had. My final draft, however, shifts the focus onto the people who are at work here, the humans behind this issue. And I think that makes it all the more better.
POST-PANDEMIC: HOMELESSNESS PERSISTS IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
Kim Bennett sits outside of the Green Street Noodles and Company, shaking a clear plastic cup. Inside, there are two pennies.
“Spare change? Spare change?” Bennett asks as pedestrians pass by, often avoiding her gaze. On occasion, a few customers from the restaurant drop change into her cup as they leave.
Bennett has been jobless since the pandemic began. Currently, she is only able to pay her bills because of financial help from the local Cunningham Township. During the pandemic, she says, she had to find a new way to keep homelessness at bay.
“I was doing donations for plasma. That's what got me through the pandemic,” Bennett said. “It's hard, because you can't go to work, you got to do everything indoors.”
Bennett is not the only Champaign County resident whose home-situation has become precarious since the pandemic.
According to a Point-In-Time Count of homelessness by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, a total of 140 individuals were identified as homeless in 2020, down from 151 individuals in 2019.
The survey looks at areas throughout Champaign County, including downtown Champaign, Campustown, and Mahoment, among others.
Thomas Bates, Coordinator of the Champaign County Continuum of Service Providers to the Homeless, helped work on the count. He explained the differences in the definition of homelessness across programs, including the one that is used for the count.
“We're required to use the US Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of homeless, which is very specific in that it's only people who are literally homeless. People who are living on the street, in a place not meant for human habitation, or in an emergency shelter or transitional housing,” Bates said. “There is another definition and use by schools, which allows for people who are couchsurfing.”
While numbers have gone down, the issue of homelessness continues to persist. For shelters like C-U at Home that cater to both definitions of homelessness, the pandemic brought an influx of clients that continues to persist, says Melissa Courtwright, executive director.
“The numbers of people that we see or serve in a day increased exponentially,” Courtwright said. “Honestly, it was very crowded. We had a lot of fights, drug overdoses, because we were trying to just take everybody in. We didn't want anybody on the street.”
For many homeless people in Champaign County, however, the streets are the first or only option. Bates estimates the number of homeless people on any given night in Champaign County.
“I am going to say there are, in a ballpark, on a given night, somewhere around 135 to 145 people who are experiencing homelessness in Champaign County,” Bates said.
The pandemic only further exacerbated many homeless people's access to resources. During the day, those without homes will often go to public spaces like a library, or a soup kitchen, but during the pandemic, those places had to close their doors, leaving many with no place to go.
Yvette Whiteley, Vice President of the Board for the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Champaign, saw firsthand how things changed at the beginning of the pandemic. In a single day, she says, the soup kitchen had to close its doors and move to a take-out model. Sticking to their mission, she says, was crucial.
“Our primary mission is feeding people. We serve a hot meal and a sack lunch to anyone who comes to the soup kitchen. No questions, no income requirements, no judgment,” Whiteley said.
However, Whiteley also shared that the move to a take-out model made it difficult for volunteers working at the soup kitchen to connect with clients the way they had prior to the pandemic, but adapting to their new model was crucial to bringing about that interaction again.
“It is clearly different, '' Whiteley said. “However we have people working outside monitoring the line who know and interact with our guests.”
Beyond just changing models for serving clients, the shelter system has faced a post-pandemic reality that has brought about a reduction in financial resources in a time where more space is needed.
“Everybody was getting stimulus checks, and so we saw kind of an increase in donors giving towards organizations, and then we also had a lot of federal dollars kind of funneled through the state. And those dollars are starting to disappear as well,” Courtwright said. “We won't, you know, God willing, have another pandemic, right, so we won't see that money again.”
Currently, C-U at Home offers 48 beds for men, and 14 beds for women, according to Courtwright. The shelters include a space to sleep, shower, do laundry and get case management services. As Courtwright says, the pandemic has proven that more beds are needed, despite the assumption of many that people are getting back on their feet in a post-pandemic world.
“What we've determined as we actually do need additional space, even post pandemic. We really haven't seen a change in the need. We do need additional shelter space in our community,” Courtwright said.
As Courtwright says, data such as the Point-In-Time count may show a decrease in homelessness numbers, but in Champaign County, those numbers are still high. And as the numbers of those who need shelter rises beyond the capacity of the shelter system, more and more residents will find themselves in the street.
“A lot of the trends seem to say that it has kind of leveled out, but that level is high,” Courtwright said. “When we closed down our temporary winter shelter, April 15, that left a lot of people displaced. And then you know, they're back out on the streets. They're in dangerous situations.”
If you or a loved one is experiencing homelessness in the city of Champaign, visit https://champaignil.gov/emergency-shelters/
WORK I HAVE DONE FOR JOUR 200: INTRO TO JOURNALISM
This is a compilation of three articles I wrote over the course of my first semester, during which I had the privilege of being taught by Professor Chris Evans. This was the very first journalism course I took at UIUC.
CECILIA MILMOE SHARES LOVE OF CREATING HAUNTED HOUSES
Red lights flash as smoke curls in the air around Cecilia Milmoe’s hiding spot, located in the front room of the haunted house. Her breath stills as she listens for the pitter patter of the footsteps of visitors, her eyes unblinking behind her mask. Her white gauze covered body hides behind a table, her makeup, applied over the course of two hours, glowing white in the dark corner.
When Milmoe was 13 years old, her family entered the Kane County haunted house competition for the first time. While they had always loved Halloween, they never expected to one day create their own haunted house, complete with actors and multiple rooms, in their front yard, much less that their work would one day go on to win awards.
For Milmoe, the most exciting part of Halloween has become acting in her families haunted house, scaring neighbors and visitors from across the county.
“I always loved it. I have always, always, always, loved Halloween,” Milmoe said. “That's kind of why I'm always in the front room, because I'm super, super into it. My whole family and all the actors really enjoy it. But, I am really, really into it.”
Milmoe’s mom, Shannon Milmoe, saw the ad for the competition in the local park districts fall activities. From there, the family would participate in the contest for the next six years.
“It was free to enter and I really had no idea what to expect. I thought we had some cool decorations so I figured why not,” Shannon said.
In addition to planning and setting up the haunted house, Milmoe also worked as an actress. Maxx Davis, Milmoe’s friend since middle school and a fellow actor in the haunted house, spoke to Milmoe’s character as a factor in her role.
“She’s very inquisitive, never afraid to learn more about anything, and just very willing to just do her own thing and enjoy it,” Davis said.
Milmoe’s work, she said, takes a great deal of creativity. Her mother shares Milmoe’s particular affinity for designing her costume each year.
“She always had great ideas for costumes and has her entire life. I don't think I was ever able to just go buy a costume for her. She always had bizarre ideas of what she wanted to be and we did our best to create her vision,” Shannon said.
Two to three months of preparation is needed to make sure everything is ready for the competition, usually held in mid-October. The affair, as Milmoe says, is a family effort.
“We start working on it early August. And it definitely is a big family thing,” Milmoe said. “At dinner, through August and September, we'll be coming up with ideas. It is a big collaborative approach, without a single one of us it wouldn't work.”
The haunted house is open for two nights, the first serving as a practice round. The second is when the county judges arrive, usually deciding on winners of different awards — such as Best Actor, which the family won this year.
“My room had two other people in it, two of my good friends who have also helped out in previous years. So we test out ideas like okay, we can try this, give you a little action here,” Milmoe said.
Davis had participated in the haunted house since its first year. He spoke to the process of what preparing for his role was like.
“It was just a lot of getting into character and thinking about what we could do to scare someone, and in between it was just casual friendly banter amongst a really great group of people,” Davis said.
Due to Milmoe and her friends being away at college, this past Halloween was the last year the family is going to participate in the competition. Milmoe reflected on how being involved in the haunted house shaped her tastes.
“It definitely got me a lot more interested in Halloween. I always liked Halloween but now it's like, I have Halloween decorations in my room year-round. It definitely got me more into that it and it just got me into horror as a genre,” Milmoe said.
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SHARE EXPERIENCES, CONCERNS WITH ONLINE DATING APPS
With the return of students to campus this year has come the return of online dating. Apps like Tinder, Hinge and Bumble are commonly used by University students, sometimes for the purpose of online dating and other times to hookup.
According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, “about a quarter of Americans (23%) say they have ever gone on a date with someone they first met through a dating site or app.”
While some users may use online dating apps for dates, student users also share that they are often used to just hookup, rather than for serious connections.
Jordan Copeland, a freshman in the Division of General Studies, downloaded Tinder during her first week on campus. For Copeland, the divide between people looking for relationships versus flings has been even.
“It’s like a mix. People are very clear in their profiles what they’re looking for,” Copeland said. “I would say it’s 50/50.”
Brian Parilla, a freshman in the College of Informational Sciences, disagreed, stating that most users he had encountered on Tinder were looking to hookup rather than develop commitments.
“I would say the majority are looking to hookup,” Parilla said.
Another study on Americans opinion of online dating done by the Pew Research Center found that 26% of Americans had a negative view of online dating. Of that 26%, 10% criticized the platforms for “encouraging casual relationships and hookups.”
Another concern for those who disapproved of online dating was safety. The study on the virtues and downsides of online dating found that 46% of overall Americans “believe these platforms are a not too or not at all safe way of meeting people.”
Concerns for safety, Parilla shared, have shaped his decision as to where his first meeting with someone he has met on Tinder will take place.
“It can be a little sketchy. I always try to meet somewhere public first so I don’t get abducted,” Parilla said.
Safety concerns are of particular importance to women. The study found that six-in-ten female users between the ages of 18 and 34 said someone on the app or site they used kept trying to contact them after they said they weren’t interested.
19% said they had someone threaten to physically harm them on the apps or sites they were using.
“I know for me I’m very careful about people I choose to hangout with. I know I’m safe about it,” Copeland said.
However, lies and misconceptions can also be common in the online dating scenes. A concern that the study found 37% of those who online dated had.
“People can be very different from what they’re showing in their profiles, so it’s not always safe,” Copeland said.
71% of online daters said it was common for platform users to be dishonest to make themselves appear more desirable, the study found.
However, Parilla shares that overall his experience has been positive. The app, he said, has served as a way for him to meet new people on campus.
“The people I’ve met have been pretty chill,” Parilla said.
For those who are interested in online dating, Parilla said, keeping concerns about safety and dishonesty in mind was important. However, the app could still serve as a way to make connections and meet new people on campus.
“Try to go in with an open mind and with no expectations,” Parilla said.
MARIA MARING VOTED CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
The Committee for Environmental Sustainability had a meeting on Nov. 2; the meeting, which took place over Zoom, included the induction of Maria Maring as the committee's Vice Chair. The committee also discussed other goals and future plans, specifically their efforts to work more closely with Stop Line 3 UC. The committee is apart of Illinois Student Government’s committees.
After making a motion to begin the meeting and taking attendance, the floor was opened up for nominations. No new nominations were made, causing the committee to put to vote the issue of Maring’s nomination to Vice Chair, which had taken place at the meeting prior. Maring, a senior and first-year member of ISG, was voted into the position of Vice Chair in a 10-0-0 vote, with no oppositions.
Before the vote, Maring gave a two minute speech to the members as to what she would bring to the role, including prior experience in many environmental and sustainability effort-related activities, such as involvement in the Student Sustainability Committee, also a part of ISG.
“I feel like I have a lot of information and experience to offer, “ Maring said. “I feel like this entity has a lot of potential.”
Maring, who had attended her first meeting with the committee the week prior, had not known that a Vice Chair was needed.
“I actually didn’t realize [the committee was] in the market for a new vice chair, or vice president, until last week,” Maring said.
Chair of the committee, Alexandra Gergova, shared her support for Maring in comments that took place before the official vote, which Maring was put into a breakout room for the duration of.
“I think Maria would be phenomenal for this role,” Gergova said. “I think she has a very valuable perspective that many of us might not have.”
Committee member Jessica Nicholson also voiced her backing of Maring. Nicholson specifically touched on Marings involvement in sustainability and environment-focused extracurriculars.
“She mentioned a lot of her other involvement. I think that can really bring the ability to connect with those groups, and merge our projects, maybe help each-other out,” Nicholson said.
Gergova also mentioned Maring’s involvement in Stop Line 3 CU as a benefit to her joining the committee. Gergova had mentioned being interested in working with the initiative, which aims to protest a proposed pipeline expansion into Alberta, Canada from Superior, Wisconsin.
“I had no idea she was involved in [Stop Line 3 CU] but it is something I wanted to branch out to. So I think that’s great that we would have that connection,” Gergova said.
The open roll call vote faced no oppositions, with all voting members present voting in favor of Marings election to the position.
FOR UPPERCLASSMEN, COSTS OF GREEK LIFE OUTWEIGH BENEFITS
As one walks through campus during rushing season, colorful banners hanging from the large, columned sorority houses will beckon, inviting new members to take the pledge and join their chapters.
According to the Office of Student Affairs, over 7,000 undergraduate students were apart ofGreek life as of 2019, or roughly 21% of the entire undergraduate population. Many freshman join as a way to get involved, but as the years go on, many juniors and seniors choose to leave their sorority and fraternity houses.
In sororities particularly, the cost, both fiscal and non-fiscal, of remaining a member can outweigh the benefits as time goes on. This can create a misbalance between members, the population becoming skewed towards more freshman than other classes.
For Marina Milad, a freshman in the college of LAS studying biochemistry, the choice to join Alpha Epsilon Phi was rooted in the search for connections as a campus newcomer.
“As the oldest in my family, I didn't have an older sibling that I could go to for advice,” Milad said. “I saw becoming a part of Greek life as a way to have that support system and group of girls I could turn to at any time.”
In a study conducted by UIUC students on the “Costs and Benefits of Greek Life” research showed that the benefits of joining Greek life varied, citing “leadership opportunities or friendship within their Greek life experience,” as potential gains.
The study also noted that the costs of joining a sorority were higher than those of fraternities. Furthermore, non-fiscal costs, such as time allotted for sorority events, were also found to outweigh the benefits of being a member later on.
The study surveyed members of Greek life on campus and split their results into older and younger members, older referring to juniors and seniors, while younger referred to freshman and sophomores.
The study found that 93.75% of younger members said being apart of Greek life was worth the costs, while only 84.25% of older members agreed.
It is the costs of remaining in Greek life that can often lead members to leave during the junior or senior years. Milad shared that when comparing class sizes in her house, the amount of freshman outweighed other classes.
“I would say that the freshman class seems to be on the bigger end of class sizes in the house,” Milad said.
Kailtyn Swider, a sophomore studying Economics in the College of LAS, has been apart of Alpha Phi sorority since her freshman year on campus. She explained why most girls leave after their sophomore year.
“Most girls will stay until their sophomore year to experience living in the house and then will drop for their junior or senior year,” Swider said.
This phenomenon can often be attributed to the up-front benefits of joining Greek life. Freshman year, joining a sorority is seen as a way to make friends. As time goes on, friendships are made and the cost of remaining in the sorority can start to outweigh the benefits.
“A lot of girls join a sorority to make friends and once they have made those lifetime friends they decide to drop due to financial reasons or time commitment issues,” Swider said.
Swider explains that while she plans to remain in her sorority for the remainder of her undergraduate years, she is still aware of people that are planning to leave the house.
“I do think I will remain in the sorority for all four years. I think some of my friends in my sorority will stay all four years too, but I also know girls planning to drop,” Swider said.
In an effort to retain members, some sororities will offer further benefits, such as scholarships, for remaining the entire four years. Swider detailed the benefits of remaining in Greek life beyond just the first years of undergraduate education.
“Staying in the sorority all four years will give you the lifetime connection through the sorority in the workforce or social aspects. Alpha Phi & other sororities also provide scholarships or support beyond your four years,” Swider said.
Despite these benefits, the study still found a 76% increase between the percentage of juniors (12%) and seniors (21.2%) who believed the benefits of remaining in Greek life outweighed the costs. Ultimately, it is up to each member to make the choice of whether to stay all four years.
LATINO FIRST-GET STUDENTS REFLECT ON NAVIGATING COLLEGE LIFE
For many Latino students, being a first-generation college student is a reality filled with uncertainty and a lack of guidance. First-generation Latino students reflect on how they continue to navigate their college careers, often without a roadmap and without a support system.
For many prospective college students, the applications process presents a confusing and anxiety-ridden prospect. As Alexa Flores, a sophomore at the University explains, for first-generation Latino students, the process can be even more daunting, presenting a whole new set of challenges.
“The application process and the first year at the University can bring a lot of identity loss, cultural shock, and a loss of sense of belonging due to not being familiar with a big University environment,” Flores said. “When I first came to UIUC I felt lost and felt as if I was not meant to be here.”
Daisy Ruiz, a sophomore studying education, says that being a first-generation student can often come with struggles that follow students into college. Preconceived notions of first-generation students are just one of many obstacles these students face.
“When people hear that you are a first-generation student they already have a pre-conceived narrative in their head about who you are, because of where you come from, and they place this image upon you before even getting to know you,” Ruiz said. “You have to prove yourself against the stereotypes.”
Yoselyn Maldonado, a sophomore in the Gies College of Business, shared that for many first-generation students, there is a sense of responsibility to one’s parents. She explained how this could create a fear of failure.
“Being first-generation, there is a pressure to not only succeed for yourself but for your parents as well because they have gone so far just to open up opportunities to help you succeed. You’re afraid to fail because you only want them to be proud of you,” Maldonado said.
The difficulties of being a first-generation student, specifically as a Latino, often go overlooked. Flores shared how the lack of familiarity with the college experience that most first-generation students face should be acknowledged by educators.
“I do feel like this could be talked about more often. Oftentimes, professors or high school teachers assume that every student is familiar with the college process or experience and do not aid the students when they feel stuck,” Flores said.
Without aid from educators, students can find it hard to establish a support system. As Maldonado shares, parents of first-generation students are often unable to help their children with college-related problems because of their own inexperience.
“My parents don’t understand how college truly works, meaning they don’t have any knowledge on the environment or the amount of work it takes so I feel like I have to constantly explain to them what I am doing and why I am doing it,” Maldonado said.
Even parents who would like to help their kids, Maldonado explained, are often lost as to how to do so. Similarly, their children can find it hard to ask for help from them.
“Also, my parents, as I’m sure other parents of first-generation students do, want to help but they don’t know how to. Sometimes I don’t even know how to ask them myself,” Maldonado said.
As Maldonado shares, making friends with other first-generation students has become a necessity, due to the lack of understanding from non-first-generation students on what her experience is like.
“The majority of my friends from college are first-generation students because I am able to relate to them the most. It’s hard for other students to truly understand how hard it is to navigate through college as first-generation,” Maldonado said.
Finding a community with other Latino first generation students, Ruiz shares, has helped her to foster a sense of community for herself on campus. By connecting with other students from a similar background, first-generation students can find a sense of comfort.
“It’s like having a family away from your own. There is comfort there because you know that you are not alone,” Ruiz said.