To help Illinois State University students cope with the stress of finals, Milner Library handed out a free “Finals Thriving Kit” at the service desk on the main floor of the library. The partnership between Milner Library and Redbird Well was a hit with students, as they distributed over 100 kits to students in need. Outreach and Student Engagement Librarian Stephanie Burnham helped put the kits together and believes they had a positive impact on students. “Student success is one of Milner's core values. We do that academically by providing access to materials, research, expertise and things like this," Burnham said. "We also recognize that we need to make sure we are supporting students outside of academics.” “We knew that a ton of students were already using our space to study for their finals, so this was really good [for students] to take a break, decompress and have some snacks to keep the morale high,” Burnham continued. Burnham also recognizes the stress that students go through during finals week. “We wanted to congratulate students on their hard work and dedication. Essentially, this was like a little treat so students could keep spirits up,” Burnham said. The kits contained a Milner Library sticker and office supply kit, a flyer for Redbird Well, a Student Counseling Services pen and a snack. While the kits were in limited supply, Burnham wanted students to know that the Milner Library was there for them. “We provide something at all times. One of the big things that Milner does and promotes is the personal librarians. We have a bunch of librarians here who each have a discipline or a major that they specialize in, and they can support students in that work,” Burnham said. “If a student has a major or discipline-specific question, we have experts ready to help them.” “Coming up, when we get back for the spring semester, we are working on putting together some fun welcome back program,” Burnham continued.

Milner Library and Health Promotion and Wellness hosted the final PAWSitively Stress Free event of the semester Tuesday on the third floor of Milner Library. PAWSitively Stress Free is an event aimed at helping students de-stress with therapy dogs, wellness activities and free massages. Junior economics major Jacob Ciesielski attended the event and said that it helped ease his stress. “I definitely think [it's] helping me navigate this week, with it being the most stressful year I’ve had so far at Illinois State with harder classes towards my major. Having a break and ease of mind helps out,” Ciesielski said. Ciesielski enjoyed seeing all the dogs and other students attending the event. “I love that there are so many different kinds of dogs and seeing so many people take advantage of this opportunity,” Ciesielski said. Bill Hein, a freshman creative technologies major, also thought the dogs helped relieve his stress. “I’ve only pet one dog so far and I already feel 10 times better and stress free from it,” Hein said. Hein shared that visiting the dogs at the event reminded him of his four-legged friend back home. “It really helps me considering I have a dog at home and my dog always helps me when I’m stressed,” Hein said. Head of Instruction and Student Engagement Jennifer Sharkey said that PAWSitively Stress Free is a great event for students who are not only missing a pet at home, but may need a break from the overwhelming stress of finals week. “It’s a way for students to take a break from studying and relieve a little bit of stress and anxiety that they may have,” Sharkey said. “The purpose of the dogs is to help alleviate these emotions at these times.” Sharkey believes that it is important for students to take breaks and focus on their mental health, especially during finals. “The more [students] address their stress levels and anxiety, it ensures that they are going to do better on finals and assignments. It enables students to sleep better, they make better choices with food and other life choices,” Sharkey said. Sharkey likes that the event focuses on the well-being of students, which explains why it is always successful. “We are very happy this is a well-attended event, that students enjoy it, and we’re happy to provide an event that is less academic focused and more about having positive feelings,” Sharkey said. As this event has been going on for years, Sharkey said there is no intention of discontinuing it. “We don’t see this event or partnership ending anytime soon. As long as there are handlers and dogs to come to an event like this, we will be hosting it here at Milner,” Sharkey said.

Illinois State University’s Redbird MMA held its first “Winter Fight Night” event last Friday at Kingdom City Boxing, a faith-based boxing gym in Normal. The event saw two brackets: jiujitsu and boxing, with one surprise bracket. Jared Gahm, owner and operator of PSF Legacy, was the referee for the jiujitsu bracket and Matthew Ganson of Redbird MMA was the referee for the boxing bracket. Several students who trained with both PSF Legacy and Redbird MMA fought in the tournament. One of them was Steve Rendon, the winner of last spring’s surprise full-contact MMA match which had been introduced at the end of the “Rage in the Birdcage” tournament. History repeated itself at Friday’s tournament; another full-contact MMA match was announced in the middle of the boxing bracket. Steve Rendon once again took the mat, going against Will Hadden from Bloomington American Jiu-jitsu, also known as Team One. Rendon said he arranged the fight with a coach from Bloomington American Jiu-jitsu shortly before. Rendon defeated Hadden, using each style in full-contact MMA to fight. “I had a jiujitsu match earlier, and that warmed me up for this fight,” Rendon said after the match. “I feel like God gave me this opportunity tonight, I took it and look what happened.” Redbird MMA member Liv Purcell fought in the jiujitsu bracket. Purcell reflected on her performance. “I feel like I could have done better, but I’m really glad that I came out,” Purcell said. “I grew up doing MMA and I’ve always loved jiujitsu.” Redbird MMA member Josh Schleich also fought in the jiujitsu bracket. He shared his martial arts journey so far. “I don’t have as much grappling experience,” Schleich said. “When I was 16, I started karate and I’m still doing it a little bit, but I’m switching over to jiujitsu now.” “Martial arts are a blast,” Schleich continued. “I think if you look around and you find something that works for you, you can really get a lot out of it.” Redbird MMA member Cade Ho fought in the boxing bracket. Ho won by knockout. “Overall, I think I did great,” Ho said. “I started off as a Muay Thai guy, then I did some judo and I got into boxing last.” “Big shoutout to everyone who came,” Ho continued. “I didn’t know there would be this many people here.’ Redbird MMA member Todd Andreas also fought in the boxing bracket and won his match. He discussed his training methods for the fight. “[I did] a lot of cardio training with my roommate, and my friends Blair and Mikeal—they were a big help,” Andreas said. “We did a lot of pad work, combo work and mentality work. I need better cardio—you can never be fully prepared with cardio.” Redbird MMA member Lesly Hernandez discussed how she prepared for her fight in the boxing bracket, as well. “I do a lot of conditioning on my own,” Hernandez said. “Overall, I do a mix of cardio and then just going to MMA club.” After the tournament, executive board member of Redbird MMA and emcee Braden Beasley discussed what he wants for the next tournament. “The whole point of the event is it’s for new people to get a feel,” Beasley said. “At the next 'Rage in the Birdcage,' we want a bigger venue, more chairs and more fighters. We’re going to be inviting quite a few gyms to have actual tournament-style fights.” PSF coach Jared Gahm reflected on his time working with the members of Redbird MMA until the tournament. “Seeing how everyone has matured has fighters as been incredible and I feel like the lucky one to guide them along the way.” The next Redbird MMA fight night is expected to take place next spring. A recording of Redbird MMA's "Winter Fight Night" can be viewed here.

Milner Library and Health Promotion and Wellness will host the final PAWSitively Stress Free event of the semester from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, on the third floor of Milner Library. This event is for students to de-stress during finals week with therapy dogs and wellness activities. There is no cost for attendance. More information is available on Redbird Life.

Illinois State University's Student Government Association met Wednesday evening to hear from Executive Director for Well-being and Recreation Dawn Pote about TimelyCare, a virtual mental health and well-being service. “We started to think about those things that are critical in supporting student mental health,” Pote said. “We want to make it easier to refer students to invest in health resources.” The app features both on-demand and scheduled services, including options to talk to someone immediately or make an appointment with a health coach or counselor. In addition, it features community discussions where individuals can make a post to share how they are feeling or get support from others. “If I were to hit confirm [for the on-demand feature], I would be connected with someone,” Pote said. “We have found that as soon as you hit confirm, in less than a minute, someone is calling you.” As a virtual platform, TimelyCare gives students access to mental health and well-being resources. Following the presentation by Pote, Secretary of College Affordability Ross Vancil shared a resource for students not going home for winter break. “Winter break food bags will be available at the police station over winter break for those who need food, as some people cannot go home and the dining halls are closed,” Vancil said. “Students do not have to call somewhere to pick them up. They can just go in and get it.” Secretary of Governmental Relations Sam Majka also gave a report after attending the Town of Normal Council meeting on Dec. 2 to revise the ordinance regarding nuisance gatherings following the “pop-up party” in September that resulted in one death and one in critical condition. “Some of the students expressed a general sense that this was a measure taken by the town that did not give them the freedom they felt they deserved,” Majka said. “Some students had a particular issue with the high levels of fines.” Student Body President Cobi Blair went on to comment on how the council made corrections to the ordinance after concern was first raised during the Town of Normal Council meeting on Oct. 21. “People [may] still have their own personal feelings about it one way or the other, but I just want to put in the context that the town did everything they were asked to do, including raising the minimum number of people from three to 10,” Blair said.

The Normal Town Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday night that targets organizers and participants of nuisance gatherings in response to a “pop-up party” in September that left one person dead and another in critical condition. The ordinance was revised following public backlash during a Normal Town Council meeting on Oct. 21. The revised ordinance removed loud music from the list of triggering activities and increased the minimum gathering number to trigger the ordinance from three people to 10. Individuals who violate the ordinance could face fines of $5,000, with a minimum fine of $1,000. Despite the revisions, many in attendance were unhappy with the passing of the ordinance, and boos rang out after the unanimous decision. Individuals expressed their concerns during public comment, many of which were Illinois State University students. Kassidy Wiskari, a junior art education major, said she was concerned about the ordinance's lack of specificity. “As a member of the YDSA (Young Democratic Socialists of America) here at ISU, and a member of this community, I am thoroughly disappointed with the wording of this ordinance," Wiskari said. "While I do appreciate the changes that have been made, some of the original problems are still present. Not only are the fines still extreme, but more importantly, the language is vague throughout the ordinance.” Karla Bailey-Smith, who represented the steering committee for the Central Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), also objected to the ordinance. “While much has been done to improve the definition of a nuisance gathering, the version the council is considering tonight creates a threshold that is far too low for the penalties that attach," Bailey-Smith said. Bailey-Smith brought up other concerns including the lack of a mandated dispersal order before the issuing of tickets. She described the fines as “oppressive,” and argued that the minimum fine of $1,000 is “overly burdensome,” for young people. Joseph Bloom-Boedefeld, a senior production design and technology major, was concerned about how the ordinance would impact homeless individuals. “My main concern, currently, is how this ordinance will impact the unhoused people who live in our community," Bloom-Boedefeld said. "Even with the requirement of having two out of the 11 qualifying offenses—which are all already illegal—and the need for approval from a supervisor to order a gathering to disperse, there is room for language in the ordinance to be misused and taken advantage." "In order to avoid the potential misuse of this ordinance, the groups of unhoused people in our community would need to isolate themselves from each other…this would be an infringement on their rights and a threat to their health and safety,” Bloom-Boedefeld continued. Bloom-Boedefeld was specifically worried by some of the triggering offenses, such as criminal trespassing. Boedefeld worried that, if unhoused people were to be ticketed under the ordinance, the minimum fine would be unrealistic for them to pay. Some of the council members defended the ordinance and its intentions. “If it is expensive, then in some respects, this ordinance is achieving the desired result of making people consider carefully whether or not they want to organize a gathering of individuals that the repercussions of their actions may come back and affect their wallet," Council Member Karyn Smith said. "And so, that deterrent effect is achieving an outcome that is desirous to prevent the activity, not to line the town’s budget.” Smith also pushed back against the notion that the ordinance would target specific groups of people. “I would just ask as much as several people highlighted that this was targeting specific groups and individuals. I’m asking if individuals are considering stereotyping the reactions of the police because in my experience with the Normal Police Department, the officers are acting in professional manners,” Smith said. Council Member Chemberly Harris gave an explanation into the chosen amount for the fines. “[From] my understanding, we paid a significant cost for property damage as well as time that was spent for the cleanup, which is another reason why we talk about the money aspect,” Harris said. Assistant City Manager Brian Day added that it took “16 hours” for Normal Parks and Recreation to clean up one park. Corporation Counsel Jason Querciagrossa later addressed the dispersal issue. “You get at the people that are committing the bad behaviors, so no one can get a ticket for being out at a nuisance gathering if they’re not either committing one of the qualifying acts or if an order to disperse has been issued and they don’t disperse," Querciagrossa said. "So, really, everyone that’s going to get a ticket has to make some active choice—whether they choose to attend and not disperse or attend and commit a qualifying act or promote one of these nuisance gatherings.” The ordinance is expected to go into effect immediately.

The Castle Theatre in Bloomington held the “Battle of the Bands: Next Gen” competition in mid-November, hosting seven bands. Out of the seven bands, there were two victors: "Blind Baby" and "From Within." "Blind Baby" won the judges' vote and "From Within" won the crowd vote. To participate in the event, the bands needed to have a catalog of original music from which two songs were performed along with one cover. “From Within,” a four-piece group including Ian Hale, Jaxon Savage, Jonathan Manka and Reese Hooker, is an alternative rock band. “I’ve known Ian and Reese for years; I met Reese and Ian in junior high," said drummer Jaxon Savage. "So, Ian and I [have] been playing together since we were thirteen. Then a couple years ago, we needed my man Reese, another guitar player...and then one day we were at school and I went up to John and was like, ‘Hey man, my band needs a bass player,’ and he was like, 'That’s crazy [because] I play.’” The group said they were enthralled to have participated in the competition. Many of the members had grown up seeing their favorite artists perform at the Castle, so to be able to perform there themselves was very surreal for them. “That’s a real stage - we hadn’t played in a real stage up to that point. I mean, a year ago we were playing in houses and garages,” Hooker said. Savage and Manka shared the same sentiment, with Manka explaining that his dream had always been to perform at The Castle. “The Castle is Bloomington’s most iconic venue. Performing at The castle is when you know you’re growing up,” Hale said. "Blind Baby," the other winning band, is also a four-piece group. The band consists of guitarists Eli Talbott and Adan Luciano, bassist Jack Green and drummer Logan Noble. All members are Illinois State University students. According to the band, a big part of "Blind Baby’s" standard is their attention to detail. “We wanted to pick our biggest and best songs for our heavy hitters," drummer Logan Noble said. "We spent a lot of time recording and fine-tuning what our set would be for the castle theater. We submitted [our songs] a day before the deadline, which was not what we wanted to do, but I am glad we did because we wouldn’t have been able to develop that find-tuned of a product that we wanted [if we didn’t take our time].” The first phase of "Blind Baby's" journey as a band was to set the groundwork to come together and to work cohesively. “I was just a guy trying to form a band and I hit these guys up. We didn’t have any idea what genre [we wanted to be]; we just wanted to make some noise," Luciano said. In their early days, "Blind Baby" used the practice rooms in the Hewett-Manchester dormitory on ISU's campus. The band also used Green’s family basement to practice at the start of their journey. "Blind Baby" described their performance at The Castle Theatre as "phase three" of their evolution as a band with the first two phases being their formation and then their breaking-in of the local live music scene. “We had a long summer break where we didn’t really cross paths until around late July to Early August," Talbott said. "Phase three was probably our most important because we were getting into the fall semester, and we had a lot of shows scheduled. We had one every weekend at this point, maybe even twice sometimes." Both bands said that the performance had an emotional impact on them; all of the musicians have their own reasons for why music has had such a profound impact on their lives. “Music has always played a really big part in my life since I was a child," Luciano said. "I looked up to my brothers [because] they’d do music, and it was always a really big deal to me. I can’t talk about music without getting emotional.” Although both groups said nerves played a large role in their performances, they were able to put on a winning show. “You just tell yourself, ‘Hey, you’ve been playing with the same dudes for years, for hours upon hours on end... You know what you’re going to do; you know what you are supposed to do, [so] you just plug in, and you go for it. You put everything you got into it,'” Savage said. "Blind Baby" felt similar but said that seeing their friends in the front row cheering them on helped to calm their nerves, specifically during the performance of their song "Stationary Passenger." Talbott said the win, to him, felt like winning an Oscar.

Illinois State University students at WZND won awards in five different categories in the College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) 2024 competition. The awards were announced at the National Student Media Convention on Oct. 26 in Seattle. WZND students did not attend the convention but were notified of winning. Junior mass media and media arts major Cheyenne Brown won second place in Best Promo for her work on "WZND Sports Promo." She said it was exciting to have won this award. “CBI is a really big organization, and I know we worked really hard at making excellent promos for all of our specialty shows and sports broadcasts, so being able to receive this award was a good recognition of our hard work that we’ve been putting in,” Brown said. Senior journalism major Lauren Leisure won third place in Best Newscast or Sportscast for her work on the "Lauren Leisure Newscast." She said her work was chosen by her predecessor to be submitted, making the impact greater for her. “It just makes me feel really good that any of my random work is good enough to be recognized nationally,” Leisure said. Senior mass media arts major Lou Warner won fourth place in Best PSA for his work on the "Special Olympics Illinois Public Service Announcement." He was not expecting to win, so it was a surprise for him. “[CBI] is a national-level thing, and that’s a huge boost not only to my personal confidence but also to my resume,” Warner said. Brown, like Warner, has also put awards on her resume. “I have been able to put some of the awards that we’ve won while working here on my resume, and it has helped me with interviews and jobs,” Brown said. Working with WZND and creating competition-worthy pieces can help with resumes and gaining personal experience. “I want to work in radio news or television news, so I’m just trying to improve while I’m in college so I can get a job after school,” Leisure said. Warner and Brown both enjoy putting creativity into their work and are satisfied with being able to showcase what they have done. “I really enjoy my work because I’m not only serving the community at ISU and WZND, but I’m also creating things that I am very proud of, and I’m able to show my skills,” Brown said. Overall, WZND is proud of what they have accomplished. They are using the CBI awards as encouragement to produce more work. “I’m happy to be here, and I think WZND is cool, and being able to have something tangible to say, ‘Hey, I did that thing, and it was cool,’ is nice, and it's creatively fulfilling,” Warner said.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) protested in winter-like conditions on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 4 p.m. through Uptown Normal. They ended their protest at Hovey Hall, where they chanted in an effort to put more pressure on Illinois State University’s administration to answer their demands. Multiple members of SJP met at Uptown Circle before the protest began. Signs were handed out that included messages demanding divestment from companies that have contributed to the war in Gaza. Junior history education major Haley Thies talked about the importance of the protest. “We’re hoping to simply get a meeting with them [ISU administration] to discuss these demands because they have not been met,” Thies said. Thies added that another goal of the rally was to put pressure on the American government to stop using tax dollars and the country’s money to fund the genocide in Palestine. “Our last goal is to continue spreading awareness and to hopefully get more people to join the fight,” Thies said. The protest began at approximately 4:25 p.m. Dozens of SJP members and a few additional individuals marched the Uptown streets as they chanted “Free Palestine” among other call-and-response chants. The protestors circled around the ISU Quad and ended at the stairs of Hovey Hall. They continued the call-and-response chants while sharing short, prepared speeches “I really want to stress here that united is how we get anything done…I appreciate all the work that everyone has been doing. Nobody’s struggle is by themselves, so I know by far that this is not the only thing everyone has on their plate. I appreciate [you all] figuring out how to balance [time] and showing up for what matters,” a student said while giving their speech at Hovey Hall. As the fall semester approaches its finale, junior computer science major Aya Hussein discussed what the registered student organization had done during the semester. Hussein said that SJP put together a few bake sales during the semester to help raise money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. The RSO raised over $1,000 dollars through the bake sales which they intend to donate to the relief fund. “We have continued to organize; we have continued to march and we have continued to meet with Tarhule. We have continued to go to the Board of Trustees and talk to them about divestment and plans to meet with us,” Hussein said. Thies added that next semester, SJP is looking to hold education documentary nights and to continue the rallies. “We will continue spreading awareness by putting up flyers and talking. We’re always planning new stuff, so hopefully more ideas will keep coming,” Thies said. The rally concluded at approximately 5:15 p.m.

Illinois State University responds after the Faculty Union of ISU protest on Wednesday, Nov. 20 on the campus' Quad: Our tenure-track faculty play an important role in our institution’s success. The University is committed to continued good faith negotiations to reach a contract agreement that reflects the needs of Illinois State’s stakeholders as promptly as possible. At our negotiating session on Tuesday, November 19, the union introduced a request to engage a mediator. While we do not believe that the parties are at an impasse, the University has committed to consider and respond to this request prior to our next negotiating session, which will be held on Monday, November 25. Currently, the parties have reached tentative agreements on more than 20 items and are actively engaged in negotiations on other important issues, including Grievance Procedures and Disability Accommodations.It is customary in labor negotiations to resolve the major non-economic issues before moving to issues of salary and benefits. This approach is particularly important in negotiations to establish a first contract—when literally all terms and conditions of employment, including many that impact the University’s shared governance approach, are being determined at the bargaining table. In an effort to provide a common understanding for future negotiating sessions around economic issues, including salary and benefits, at our October 30 bargaining session, the University’s Interim Vice President for Finance and Planning met with the bargaining teams to share information and answer questions about Illinois State’s fiscal and enrollment projections in the context of these negotiations.

Illinois State University students had the opportunity to explore potential job opportunities and establish professional relationships at the Social Impact Career Fair on Wednesday at the Bone Student Center. Career Services hosted the event, which featured 26 companies committed to public service, including the Bloomington Police Department, The Baby Fold, Memorial Health and Chestnut Health Systems. Izzy Ebersold, a sophomore political science major, shared what drew her to the fair. “I saw that there were a few state departments. I really would love to work for the state one day or even the federal government," Ebersold said. "I saw a few of their names on the [Career Services] website, so I thought I could stop by, introduce myself and [gain] a little more knowledge on possible internship opportunities with them.” Company booths were primarily aimed at filling open positions. Zach Stewart, training coordinator and supervisor for Peoria County Probation and Court Services, revealed what his company wanted to achieve by attending the fair. “Our department is ever-changing. Court services as a whole are ever-changing. We are always looking for new people to come join us," Stewart said. "We currently have… three open positions, so we are trying to get those filled. We always love having ISU students come in to intern with us as well.” Attendees and employers voiced their satisfaction with the event. Stewart said they “absolutely achieved their goal,” and succeeded in promoting interest in the probation field. Ebersold named some of the employers she spoke with. “I talked with the Illinois House of Representatives. I met with the lady [there], she was wonderful. She gave me a little packet of info with a QR code to explore internship and full-time positions… I also met with the [Illinois] Department of Corrections,” Ebersold said. ISU often hosts career fairs, and this one was particularly focused on public service, which explains why the turnout was selective. Lucy Mead, internship coordinator for the Children’s Home Association of Illinois, said she enjoyed the smaller turnout. “I kind of like that it's smaller. I feel like it's a little bit more intimate to talk to everyone,” Mead said. Students interested in career support and additional information on future job fairs can visit the Career Services website.

Nearly 100 voices consisting of the United Faculty of Illinois State University rose in protest. The members came with repetitive, frustrated efforts delivered through chanting to get ISU President Tarhule to bargain with the United Faculty over a financial proposal. The protest began at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20 on the ISU Quad. The protestors gathered near the bell to begin chanting statements expressing their exhaustion trying to get Tarhule to talk about their financial proposal. Mathematics professor Fusun Akman outlined the union’s demands. “We have been bargaining since February as the tenure track union, and we [had] given them a full financial proposal on February 28. So far, they have refused to bargain [on] any one of the economic items,” Akman said. Akman explained that the union wants mediation to resolve the proposals, but the lawyer of the ISU administration team said they did not believe it was necessary. At the rally Wednesday, the United Faculty gave a letter to Tarhule that asked him to come back to the table and talk about financial items. “The financial picture that they are painting is, in one word, ridiculous,” Akman said. The university is sitting on $650 million and is hiding it with creative accounting, according to Ackman. Akman said that it is frustrating for presentations, such as the RISE open forums, to be held and then continue to be told that the faculty does not understand the financial issues at stake. “It’s demeaning, it’s disingenuous, it’s not true,” Ackman said. “We understand how to read financial statements. We just want them to come back to the table so they can talk to us about it, not just make up these stories and say, ‘We’re not in good shape.’ austerity is totally unnecessary at this point; it really is ridiculous.” Keith Pluymers, an associate professor from the Department of History, highlighted key issues that the university administration has not answered. The significant issues included workload, family leave, sabbatical leave and student mental health support. Pluymers said that the faculty does their job because they love working with students. He said that they understand the issues that students face, affecting a student’s ability to learn and affecting faculty working conditions. “We want to use the power of our contract negotiations to improve this university, not just for ourselves, but for everyone,” Pluymers said. Faculty members at the protest explained that they had given the administration a fully costed-out economic proposal which explains exactly how much every item in the contract would cost. According to Pluymers, the administration seems willing to talk about economics everywhere but not regarding the bargaining table. “It’s time to stop stalling. It’s time to put across fair, honest proposals that address the real issues of compensation, workload [and] adequate funding for things like research travel,” Pluymers said. “Faculty shouldn’t be having to reach into our own pockets to fund our research and conference travel.” In the future, the United Faculty looks to keep bargaining in “good faith.” Their goal is to get the administration to understand that the members are ready to do whatever it takes to get a fair contract. “We don’t want to see anything that could disrupt students learning experience, but we’re not ready to be pushed around,” Pluymers said.

Normal Humor performed Illinois State Night Live (ISNL) at the Center for the Visual Arts last weekend, and it was quite entertaining. The sketches were well-written and the performers were clearly passionate about their craft. The show also featured performances from Drag Royalty. Some of the best moments of the show came from the sheer absurdity of the various sketches, such as one in which turkeys rule the world and cook up humans for Thanksgiving. The concept of the sketch satirizes the hokey, melodramatic nature of dystopian stories in modern media to great effect.One recurring gag throughout the sketch was the fear of basters: in this world, it’s a clear sign that the turkeys are about to feast on some poor person. The sketch also pokes fun at the cloying nature of these stories, such as when one of the protagonists retells his terrifying encounter with the terrible turkey threat. The protagonist barely escaped after his mother was killed, and he was taken in by a group of “vegan turkeys,” giving him a second lease on life. He tells this tale to a fellow human with her own reservations about turkeys, and in a Hunger Games-esque story, the two heroes march to take out the turkey president and save humanity once and for all. Unfortunately for the man with the horrifying backstory, he is betrayed by his companion and is sent off to be unceremoniously eaten. As for the betrayer? She gets to be the annual human pardoned by the turkey president, rewarding her for the betrayal. The ridiculous role reversal works effectively as a parody of the young adult dystopian novels of the 2010s, and the dispassionate, matter-of-fact nature of the betrayer works well with the histrionic nature of the betrayed. Another great moment of the night featured a frustrated Edward in a parody of “Twilight.” The sketch parodies the famous scene where Bella finds out Edward is a vampire. In this version of the scene, Bella believes Edward to be a merman, and she refuses to accept reality. The sketch was not performed live, but the awkward shots and choppy editing only added to the faux-cinematic mood.I’ve never seen "Twilight," but at one point in the sketch, Edward chucks a stock photo of a deer into the air, and that almost makes me want to check out the infamously corny movies. Unfortunately, the sketch stopped playing about four minutes in due to technical difficulties, but I was too entertained by the spectacle not to mention it. An additional sketch featured a cockamamie court in which two defendants for vehicular manslaughter rattle off a series of unprintable insults at one other. The judge gives up trying to control the bickering siblings, and the only juror in attendance literally pulls out a bag of popcorn while watching the fireworks. The brother and sister duo bring up increasingly ridiculous childhood stories, humorously revealing that both of the defendants are quite messed up. One moment earlier in the sketch before the chaos perfectly summarizes the peculiarity of the two defendants. When the sister addresses the judge, she bizarrely calls him “Your Majesty.” When she is corrected and asked to address him by “Your Honor,” she calls him “Your Majesty Honor.” The two defendants end up ratting each other out in the midst of their heated argument, achieving a narratively fulfilling end to the sketch. The final sketch I would like spotlight was perhaps even more absurd than the first, but still effective, nonetheless. A customer walks into the “Men’s Warehouse,” and is quickly confused by the strange nature of the establishment. It’s not the store which sells a variety of suits, but one that literally sells men. The premise is made funnier by the owner channeling the energy of a bodega employee, complete with a cheesy New York accent and an inflated sense of superiority. They repeatedly emphasize that they are not a “schmuck.” The owner brings out a few of the men for sale, and they both have a wooden personality, perhaps due to the fact that they are made on an assembly line. The bizarre situation is amplified by the owner’s flighty attitude. They reject the customer’s first request to see a tuxedo and outright denies the existence of such a thing. After scaring off the customer with a rapid increase in the price of the men, they are resigned to the reality that perhaps they are a “schmuck,” after all. After watching the show, it’s clear to me that ISNL is a criminally underrated event. There were even more sketches than the ones I mentioned, and I enjoyed those too. I plan on going back for the spring edition, and I’m excited to see what the individuals of Normal Humor come up with.

Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule held an alarming conversation about the financial state of the university at the RISE open forum that took place Monday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. This was the second open forum as the first discussion took place on Thursday, Nov 14 at 2 p.m. At the forum, Tarhule addressed that ISU, due to improper budgeting, looks to face an $8.5 million deficit. At the beginning of the presentation, Tarhule said that between administrators, there was a lot of confusion as to how the financial situation got to the point it has. “We went through these emotions, but eventually, because we’re administrators, we realized we had to do something about this,” Tarhule said. The same presentation was delivered in the Prairie Room at the Bone Student Center. Tarhule focused on the factors, internal and external, that impacted the current budget. Outside ISU Universities across the nation are facing external factors that result in less students attending college, which fuels the fire of financial problems. Bradley University reported that they had discontinued 20 academic programs to address its $13 million budget deficit. Western Illinois University ended their 2023 fiscal year with a $12 million deficit. Miami University, California State University, St. Cloud State university, and other universities around the nation and internationally have reported fiscal issues. The leading effect of these problems results in expenses rising faster than revenue. “In some ways, this might come across as an administrator speaking and apologizing,” Tarhule said as he aimed to connect university financial issues to personal financial issues. “But the crisis that we are all facing in our private lives, the inflationary pressure that you are feeling, the fact that your money is not enough to meet all your expenses, those are the same factors that are hitting the university.” Inside ISU At the end of the fiscal year, ISU will see a deficit of $8.5 million. In the following year, it will increase to $10.5 million and then $14 million the year after if no action is taken. “If we don’t act next year, we might very well be in the same situation as those other universities. Meaning that we have to start considering closing academic programs and letting staff and faculty go,” Tarhule said. In the presentation, Tarhule discussed the issue of financial support from the state. Tarhule said that Illinois is underfunded. As Illinois students search for school, they are choosing to attend public universities out of state because it is cheaper. ISU, according to the presentation, is one of the least funded universities in the state of Illinois. If ISU received the average funding, the university would receive $72 million more than the $67 million the state currently provides. Additionally, despite enrollment growth, net tuition collected after accounting for financial aid, discounts and recruitment costs have declined. “Why do we have a financial crisis if our enrollment is growing? Remember, I said: Where financial aid has gone up quite a bit, so has the cost of recruitment and tuition discount,” Tarhule said. Tarhule showed a slide that contained scenario planning for a scarier future. The different scenarios ranged from preparation planning to crisis and existential threat planning. After he addressed the difficulties, he moved onto the future. Solutions Addressed After the presentation, Tarhule discussed what has been initiated along with what was planned to be put into action in the future. Administration created a Task Force that has 34 members in charge of addressing issues. The goal of the Task Force is to develop strategies to reduce costs and diversify revenues while maintaining the core values of ISU. Another solution included eliminating the historical budget model. Every year, the model kept the same amount of funding without adjustment. This resulted in the loss of revenue being used for better places. “Clearly, the idea of simply saying we’re going to spend what we spent last year is not feasible,” Tarhule said. Implementing immediate cost-saving measures was also mentioned. A few examples of these would include instituting a hiring freeze and keeping pay the same with no salary wage increases. “We are just at the point of trying to understand the scope of our problems and what we’re going to do, so this is essentially a temporary solution,” Tarhule said. “We’ll think about what long-term strategies we need to put in place so that we can get back to being a healthy university.” Public Comment One member of the audience asked Tarhule about the Task Force and what the timeline for the goals would be. Tarhule said that Interim Vice President for Finance and Planning Daniel Petree would discuss with the cabinet to go over guidelines for next year’s budget. He added that the Task Force would begin working together in a week to work together for the next year. “We know that people need this information in advance so that they can plan, and so we are going to be working as quickly as possible to give you some guidelines,” Tarhule said. Petree added to the answer. “One of the things we’re counting on from our consultant is to give us information about what the best practices are,” Petree said. “They work with a number of universities successfully in this sort of change process, so I know they’re going to be able to provide us some information.” Another question asked Tarhule to justify his administration’s avoidance of bargaining economic proposals with the United faculty and the ISU Education Association. He additionally questioned Tarhule about his $400,000 annual salary, along with the recent purchase of the College of Engineering building. Tarhule addressed the last part of the question first. He said that the financial situation would be exactly the same whether the college was purchased or not. Tarhule said that when they created the College of Engineering, they wrote the model in a way that would have the tuition from the students who attend the college to pay back the loan used for the purchase. “The tuition that students pay will be used to pay that because the state is not providing us funding. This is what is called being resourceful, being creative,” Tarhule said. Petree said because of the borrowed money used to build the college, ISU’s debt service will show up in the operating budget. “Debt service is going to be increased by $4 million a year, so that’s something we’re going to have to take into account in our budget process,” Petree said. Tarhule closed the forum with a statement: “I don’t get involved in the day-to-day discussions, but I do fully understand and expect that our team is going to continue to negotiate in good faith. You can’t have a university without faculty. I know that, and anyone who has worked closely with me knows how ambitious my plans are about what this university can and should be,” Tarhule said. “The university needs to not only survive, but it needs to thrive.”

December graduates are preparing to walk across the stage as the winter commencement date approaches. Illinois State University will hold two commencement ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 14, at CEFCU Arena. The first ceremony, at 9 a.m., will include the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, Mennonite College of Nursing and Interdisciplinary Studies. The second ceremony, at 1 p.m., will include the College of Applied Science and Technology, College of Business and Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts. Each ceremony will last about two hours, and doors will open one hour prior to each ceremony. Parking is free and staff will direct attendees to the lots available. Bags, backpacks and boxes are not permitted. Exceptions include diaper bags, camera bags, small purses and medical bags. This is not a ticketed event and there is no limit on the number of guests that can attend per student. All seating is first come, first served. There will be a livestream link available in early December for those unable to attend the in-person ceremony. Additional information, along with contact information can be found here.

Illinois State University’s Event Management, Dining and Hospitality and Redbird Well will host "What's the Tea?" from 1-3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in the first-floor concourse of the Bone Student Center. Students will be able to de-stress before finals week by trying a variety of different flavors including chai, iced tea, and hot tea. Attendees will additionally learn about the benefits of drinking tea. The first 100 students to visit the table will receive a free tea sample tin. This event is free, and all items are available on a first-come, first-served basis. More information is available on Redbird Life.

Illinois State University President Aondover Tarhule admitted that ISU’s revenue has faced recent difficulties at a Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability and Excellence (RISE) open forum on Thursday, Nov. 14. Members of the ISU community, including faculty, staff and students, learned more about ISU's recent budget cut. ISU's revenue and expense trends have increased at a rate of $10 million per year, falling short of its usual $20 million needed for annual expenses. “It doesn’t take a degree in math to realize that you’re going to have a problem eventually,” Tarhule said. “We have reached a point where those two [expenses and revenue] are exactly the same.” Tarhule focused on the $8.5 million deficit that the university is facing. He mentioned that this deficit will continue to increase if changes are not made. ISU is not the only school facing budget concerns. National and international universities have reported necessary budget cuts and other academic program decisions being set in place to avoid financial crisis. A few of these universities can be viewed in Evan Craig’s article here. Tarhule acknowledged that people had been asking him how the school was struggling financially as enrollment continues to grow. “Increasing enrollment does not increase funds,” Tarhule said. Tarhule showed a slide in his presentation that explained how the increased enrollment has impacted net revenue. According to the presentation, gross revenue has increased $35 million with little increase to net revenue since 2015. In response to everything covered regarding finances, Tarhule discussed that ISU has a plan to prevent existential threats to the future of the university. In the future, ISU aims to prioritize communication, awareness and transparency with all affiliated members of the university. ISU will attempt to diversify the revenue streams while continuing to invest strategically in areas that drive long-term growth and sustainability. While discussing potential actions to implement later in the academic year, ISU is considering several plans, such as a hiring freeze, more rigorously scrutinizing out-of-cycle increases and a continuation of having no salary wage programs. ISU members are encouraged to show their support by staying aware of ISU’s financial situation, decipher delayed projects and communicate with units and direct reporters. “This hurts,” Tarhule said. “I fully understand the pain this causes for people.” Tarhule stated that the current goal is to ensure the fiscal situation does not become a crisis. “It’s going to be complicated…we’re entering an age we haven’t been in before,” Tarhule said. Once the presentation ended, Tarhule took time for questions. Rebekah Mangels, a recent ISU graduate student, addressed safety concerns for ISU's LGBTQIA+ community. This question regarded the hate crime incident that took place near the beginning of the year and was later determined a closed case with no further investigation. Mangels asked Tarhule how safety of minority students would fit into his RISE plan of action. Mangels requested commentary about the incident, as Tarhule made none prior. Tarhule responded by saying that, as a president, he could not afford to speak about something that does not entail every detail. He mentioned that, at certain times, not all details can be disclosed. Tarhule said he encouraged a safe environment on campus and does not accept hatred against anyone. “There is no place for hate at Illinois State, and we will do everything we can to support all of our groups,” Tarhule said. ISU junior Benjamin Rodriguez asked Tarhule if there were any plans to stop partnering with companies that participate in ecocide. “Anybody can express their opinion…and it is up to the person who is expressing their opinion to decide how or when there is a response,” Tarhule said. Tarhule continued to answer the question by stating that ISU encourages students to exercise their right to protest. He provided an example that he participated in the Apartheid Reigime protests in Nigeria in 1986. Tarhule talked about how he marched with thousands of protestors and explained that military force was used against the protestors. Tarhule said that his choice in the moment was to jump off a bridge to avoid conflict. This resulted in a scar on his leg that he pointed out during the presentation. Tarhule used this example to connect personal experience with the students. He continued to say that protesting is allowed and is a right of the students, but making demands is not okay. “We don’t go and say ‘hey, president, you must do this or else,’ that is not fine,” Tarhule said. Rodriguez added a comment after the forum had ended regarding Tarhule’s response to his question. “It seems incredibly ironic that practically no students on campus knows about the investment with Caterpillar besides the reminders from SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine],” Rodriguez said. “There was a lot of room to answer that question, and he specifically chose to talk about the validity of the right to protest,” Rodriguez continued. “I do believe that it was a very defensive maneuver…I think it’s very disappointing to not get a direct response on a humanitarian issue regardless if you have one particular opinion about the legitimacy of what’s going on.” Another RISE open forum will take place on Monday, Nov. 18, at 10 a.m. in the Prairie Room at the Bone Student Center.

Illinois State University's Student Government Association met Wednesday evening to hear from ISU President Aondover Tarhule about the university's budget. To begin the presentation, Tarhule explained how other universities in Illinois and around the country are facing similar budget issues. Illinois universities including Bradley University, University of Chicago and Western Illinois University have already made cuts or are planning to. Declining state appropriations, inadequate information about full costs and misalignment between revenues and expenses are a few of the external and internal ffactors contributing to ISU’s projected deficit. Tarhule discussed a common misconception that more students equals more money; however, not all students pay the full tuition. “Discussing the budget is complicated because of several nuances,” Tarhule said. “One nuance that people like to say is, ‘How can you not have money if you are getting more students?’” With the budget, solutions include establishing a university-wide representative taskf orce RISE: “Illinois State’s path to Resilience, Innovation, Sustainability and Excellence,” recruiting external consultants and considering a replacement for the current historical budget model. Following the presentation on the university budget, SGA discussed its own budget. Student Body President Cobi Blair explained how payable hours would need to be cut back to stay within SGA’s payroll budget to ease the transition for the succeeding association members. “If we wait until next year to implement all these changes, we are asking a new association to figure out how to implement and work differently when they might not know how to do that,” Blair said. “It is better for us to make the hard decision now instead of getting it corrected to be able to pass on to our new association something that works and that they will be able to transition into,” Blair continued. During reports, Andy Morgan, assistant vice president and dean of students, updated SGA on the voter turnout in the Bone Student Center following the election. “We had 3,233 people vote on Election Day, and 3,586 voted early. A lot of them were students. Thank you to those who voted,” Morgan said. The next SGA general assembly meeting will occur at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, in the Old Main Room at the Bone Student Center.

Illinois State University's Career Services hosted an Education Career Fair in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center last Tuesday. The fair was held to connect school administrators, superintendents and other professionals in the education field with ISU students. Principal of the new Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School in the Dixon Public School District, Janine Huffman, attended to discuss job openings. “We have numerous openings within our school district, and we are sharing where we are located, who we are, what we do and what our vision is,” Huffman said. Senior family consumer science education major Gwen DeMaso, said she believes that the education career fair is a great place to help her get started with her career. “Just being able to talk to these people [is helpful]," DeMaso said. "The networking is amazing. You're handing out resumes constantly, everyone is just so open and welcoming and they want the best for everyone." Senior elementary education major Caitlyn Tran said she came across many useful resources. "I definitely have found a lot of schools that are showing me what I am looking for, especially because I am a person of color; I really wanted a school with a lot of diversity," Tran said. The human resources coordinator for the Community Consolidated School District 89 in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Courtney Magliano, explained why she believes being a mentor to students is important.“I think mentoring the individual student [is important], not just for our school, but education across the board. So, basically [we hope to] create great educational leaders for wherever they land,” Magliano said. Huffman agreed with this sentiment. “Like I said, we have multiple openings within the district for teachers and other professional openings. So, I looked online and saw that ISU had an education career fair, so I signed up,” Huffman said.

Last Monday, Veterans Day, The Normal Theater showed the film "India 42: A Peace Corps Story." The screening was free entry for Illinois State University students. Former Peace Corps volunteers and ISU staff members were also in attendance. Created by ISU professor Brent Simonds, "India 42" is about a group of Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s who traveled to India to teach farmers about hybrid crops. The film is documentary style, featuring footage of members of India 42 taken in the 1960s. Many of the India 42 volunteers had little to no experience with farming. The film discussed the training process that Peace Corps volunteers had to go through to prepare themselves for their tour in India. The film highlighted the profound impact that the Peace Corps had. Many of the volunteers learned life lessons that pushed them into careers correlating to international affairs. Some volunteers, who were college dropouts, went back to school after returning to the States to become medical doctors. The India 42 volunteers not only taught farmers in India about hybrid crops from the United States but also helped them improve their community. Volunteers helped communities build schools and water wells. India 42’s intention seemed to be to show others the impact of the Peace Corps.While watching the film, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in the Peace Corps. I had heard the name before, but admittedly, I had no idea what it was. The film brought the attention of young individuals to the Peace Corps organization. It drove home how the Peace Corps provides an incredible opportunity to help a community in need while learning to appreciate different cultures.