Fund established to recognize Bob Raebig

By Tom Cronin - Public Affairs Reporter

The University of Illinois Foundation has set up a fund to purchase a marker, which would be placed in the native prairie plot on the south end of campus, to recognize the longtime UIS employee who established and maintained the plot before his death.

Bob Raebig had been working at UIS for 17 years – serving in the capacity of environmental health and safety officer in his last 11 years as a campus employee – before he died on the week of Dec. 6, 2004. Campus spokeswoman Cheryl Peck told The Journal in January that UIS awarded Raebig a bachelor's degree in biology in 1986 and a master's degree in environmental studies in 2001.

Dave Barrows, director of physical planning and operations, said that Raebig is going to be hard to replace because he had a “vast array” of duties that most people on campus were not aware of. In addition to maintaining the prairie plot, Raebig was responsible for campus recycling and environmental health and safety issues.

“He would work tirelessly on evenings and weekends in that prairie area and on his recycling duties – over and above what any normal employee would for his position,” Barrows said. “He was very dedicated.”

According to Barrows, several staff members have assumed some of Raebig's duties and will continue to do so until his position is filled. Building Services personnel will handle campus recycling indefinitely, he said, because the duties are a “logical fit” for them.

Barrows said that his office is awaiting feedback from the UIS biology department or an off-campus entity about how to best maintain the prairie plot. Once feedback is provided, it is likely that somebody on campus will assume responsibility for the plot's maintenance, according to Barrows.

In addition to maintaining the plot, Raebig created and updated a Web site about the project to restore a prairie there. The site, accessible at http://people.uis.edu/braeb1/uisprairieproject/, includes information about history of prairies, the UIS Prairie Restoration Project and the UIS Prairie Biodiversity Project.

Donations to the fund may be made by check. Checks should be made payable to “U of I Foundation” and should be sent to: Dave Barrows; Director, Physical Planning & Operations, UIS; One University Plaza, MS-BSB 43; Springfield, IL 62703-5407. Donors should also write “Bob Raebig Memorial” on the check.

Barrows said that he received a few donations after Peck announced the fund in a campus-wide e-mail on March 16. Depending on how much money comes in and when it comes in, a marker will probably be ordered by early summer and installed before the beginning of the fall semester, according to Barrows. A ceremony will likely be held to commemorate the addition of the marker, he said, and the ceremony would be announced campus wide.

SGA discusses university rings, upcoming elections

By Jason Satek - SGA/General Assignment Reporter

The Student Government Association met on March 20, bringing an early end to spring break. Ten members were present, and the meeting began with a voting quorum achieved.

Under the audience participation segment, the SGA heard a proposal regarding the availability of university commemorative rings, with four models being passed among the representatives for examination. Chuck Schrage, the vice president for alumni relations, updated the SGA on the prototypes created by the Balfour company and spoke at length about the traditions that such keepsakes can engender. Finalized details would be forthcoming, according to Schrage.

President Tyson Roan brought up the subject of the upcoming student elections, and stated that the election filling material would become available on Monday, March 21, but the deadline for submission had been moved up so that applications would now need to be submitted to the Student Life Office by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 1.

Much of the Standing Committee reports was determined to overlap with the bylaw business to be discussed later in the meeting and was postponed, but Representative from the Capital Scholars Program Samantha Drews spoke on the subject of Greek Life and the impact of the recent newspaper articles outlining the pros and cons of bringing Greek organizations to UIS. A small questionnaire will be conducted via computer to gauge the current feelings of the students.

On the topic of the recent Conference of Student Government Associations, Roan inquired as to some of the information and impressions by those representatives that had attended. Representative at Large Robert Skorczewski mentioned the unifying effect and extra capital generated by schools that produce an inexpensive clothing line largely for the student body that promoted a school motif. The added money “could be donated to a club or organization, given to foundations or be used to attend conferences,” he said.

Secretary Brianna Hudkins, a fellow attendee, talked about programs that she had encountered that focused on freshman orientation, giving the new students a role in SGA conferences that would prepare them for later stages of involvement. She also talked of creating a “Traditions Committee” that would connect the seasonal activities of the student body like Springfest to their local origins to foster understanding and appreciation.

Drews mentioned several actions she had come across to increase governmental exposure and efficiency, including a booth manned by SGA members in a commons location that would allow curious students to speak directly with identified SGA members, creation of a transition manual by the current officers for their elected replacements to ease learning pains and requesting a few moments of class time from instructors to inform classmates on current SGA topics.

A report by Skorczewski and Treasurer Jason Kennedy regarding the D.C. summit underscored the need for a state and/or regional student association for unity when lobbying lawmakers and administration, as well as the power of state press involvement when conducting rallies to sway larger audiences.

Under new business, the SGA heard from Sandi Longen, an applicant for the vacant Representative from Liberal Arts & Science position. Longen, a student pursuing a master's degree in communication, spoke for a few minutes and was confirmed in a unanimous vote.

A resolution to accept a new title for the Capital Scholars Program, distinguishing between current honors students and those future incoming students who would share such a label by virtue of admittance only was passed in a non-unanimous vote.

The general assembly then adjourned to reconvene as the Constitutional Committee, presided over by Sgt. At Arms Dan Kovats, who discussed the current state of the constitutional bylaws as a first reading. Approximately an hour of debate followed, with topics ranging from officer removal, conference appointments, qualifications of applicants and opinions on the definition of “Good Academic Standing.” A motion to advance to a second reading carried and the meeting adjourned.

Campus health service initiates new system of booking appointments for students

By Heather Shaffer - Editor-in-chief

UIS Campus Health Service is trying a new method of scheduling appointments for students. With this system called open access, CHS is now leaving certain appointment blocks open every day so students who need to be seen immediately can call and try to get an appointment the same day.

According to head nurse Lynne Price, students can call between 8:30 and 9:30 on the morning they wish to be seen. “The earlier you call, the better chance you have of getting in,” she said.

The open access appointments are scheduled throughout the day to accommodate a variety of schedule, said Jill Stoops, nurse practitioner at CHS.

Price said that CHS is still taking appointments for health issues that are not as immediate, such as gynecology exams or sports physicals, and for issues that need more than 15 minutes.

CHS has tried a number of scheduling options over the years to accommodate student needs. They first tried having no appointment schedule and when that did not work, they tried having mostly all appointments. Eventually staff added walk-in hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

According to Stoops, the walk-in clinics were not working with many students' schedules, particularly Capital Scholar students, since some students have classes in the morning during the same time as the walk-in hours.

Price said she heard about open access from McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was the only student health clinic in Illinois using open access before UIS. After learning more about open access, CHS staff decided to implement the program at UIS.

They wanted to try open access before fully publicizing it on campus. According to Price, they began open access appointments on Feb. 1 and so far the staff has been really pleased with it.

“It seems to be going really well. Our no-show rate has dropped tremendously and I'm glad to see that people are able to get in,” Stoops said. She elaborated that they only had about two students not show up for their open access appointments in the past two months.

Stoops and Price both reiterated that students with emergencies will not be turned away if they do not call ahead of time for an appointment. CHS will try to squeeze in students who need the morning after pill, have a major cut or a bladder infection, for example.

“If it is an emergency we will work them in no matter what,” Stoops said.

Also, Stoops said that CHS can utilize any available open access appointments if students call later in the day and want to be seen.

Price said that open access appointments will usually not be given to employees. This is fair because students pay a fee for the ability to use the Campus Health Service, she said.

Both Stoops and Price said they are interested in student feedback regarding open access. They said that one of the best ways to provide feedback to CHS is to fill out an evaluation form and drop it in the drop box in the Campus Health Service office or send it via campus mail.

“We are trying to decide how to get better and we are open to what people have to say,” Price said. She added that the CHS staff read and take the evaluations to heart.

Stoops said that they can look at rearranging the open access appointments if they are not meeting the needs of students. “We need to know,” she said.

Fund established to recognize Bob Raebig

SGA discusses university rings, upcoming elections

Campus health service initiates new system of booking appointments for students