Apparent suicide claims the life of UIS student

By Heather Shaffer - Editor in Chief

UIS student Srikanth C. Atluri died Friday at Memorial Medical Center because of an apparent suicide.
Atluri, 23, apparently set himself on fire Thursday in the 600 block of Toronto Road in Springfield.
According to Sgt. Pat Ross, spokesperson for the Springfield Police Department, “items have been recovered that in fact lead us to believe that this was an intentional act.”
Firefighters from Firehouse 11 on Toronto Road rushed to an area across from the fire station after receiving a 911 call from a resident saying that they had seen a man on fire.
The firefighters found Atluri, who had come to rest on a gravel road, and treated him before an ambulance arrived to transport him to the hospital.
Ross said that according to the initial reports, Atluri was conscious when the firefighters arrived on the scene and during the ride to the hospital.  However, his entire body was severely burned.
Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone confirmed that Atluri was pronounced dead at 7:42 a.m. on Friday.
Boone said that Atluri’s body was identified by photo identification and officials are currently in the process of doing fingerprint identification.  However, a family member was present with Atluri at the hospital.
Boone said that no services are being planned in the United States.  Atluri’s body has been released to a funeral home in Springfield, where it is being prepared to be immediately shipped to India, she said.
According to Ross, the department is investigating whether Atluri acted alone or was assisted and whether foul play was involved.
The State Journal-Register reported that investigators found a note Atluri wrote to a friend suggesting he might kill himself.  The Springfield Police Department could not confirm or deny the existence of this note.
Atluri, a native of Hyderabad, India, was a part-time graduate student in the computer science program at UIS. He began classes at UIS in January 2005 after transferring from Oklahoma City University. He lived in the 2500 block of Delaware Drive in Springfield.
University officials could not comment on the situation at the time The Journal went to press.  “Until the campus police receive confirmation of the individual’s identification from the Illinois State Police and the Springfield Police Department, we will not be able to make public this individual’s identity,” said Cheryl Peck, director of public relations at UIS.
According to Peck, the university was expecting this confirmation Monday, but due to some complications, it may be later in the week before they do receive it.
UIS student Shravan Avula knew Atluri and said he was pretty outgoing, participating in sports and cultural events at UIS.
This apparent suicide sent a shock wave through the Indian student population at UIS.  “We are all really shocked.  We wouldn’t expect something like this to happen and we are all really sad,” Avula said.
The UIS Counseling Center can provide counsel to individuals or groups who are grieving or affected by a loss, according to Judy Shipp, director of the UIS Counseling Center.

A taste of policy analysis

By Jason Satek - General Assignment Reporter

   Maldaner’s Restaurant in downtown Springfield was the site for a bit of political dissemination last Wednesday, as the Taste of UIS Luncheon Lecture Series continued with WUIS General Manager Bill Wheelhouse and adjunct political studies professor Ron Michaelson serving up policy and election race analysis with a side of prognostication .
   Around 40 people attended the noon buffet luncheon featuring a mushroom chicken and green beans, notably Springfield Ward 10 Alderman Bruce Strom and Chancellor Richard Ringeisen and his wife, Carolyn. As the meal wound down, the program began with an introduction of the two speakers by Interim Dean for Public Affairs and Administration and UIS political studies professor Pinky Wassenberg.
   Michaelson, speaking first, was an assistant to former governor Richard B. Ogilvie and spent 29 years at the Illinois State Board of Elections, retiring as executive director, before assuming his current position.
He began by talking about the 2006 Illinois election process.  Criticizing the rapidly approaching March 21 primary election date, Michaelson revealed “We are the earliest state in the nation to hold a primary” in non-election years. His reason for objecting? “A general election campaign of six months, which is entirely much too lengthy. People get burned out. They get sick and tired of the commercials, all the campaigning, and I think it drives people away from participation in the political process.”
   Citing the example of republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz, who has been running commercials to increase name recognition for many months prior to the primary election, Michaelson noted that the largely self-financed millionaire candidate has made little headway, cracking double-digit support in approval poll figures only recently. Offering up a lesson that might be learned from this, Michaelson continued, “You need enough money to be heard, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the voters are going to like what they hear.”
   Turning that line of reasoning to incumbent Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who has an estimated $15 million reelection war chest, Michaelson noted the governor “does not poll well, even amongst Democrats” but “is a slick campaigner, has more money than anybody else and will be very tough to knock off in November.”
   Concluding, Michaelson pointed out an interesting democrat primary race in the 99th Illinois District between Alderman Chuck Redpath and Sam Cahnman involving an “open primary” advisory referendum and named republican State Senator Christine Radogno as a sleeper to watch in her race for the opening state treasurer position and beyond.
   Wheelhouse, a former Statehouse bureau chief for WUIS, took to the podium and quickly offered up an interesting theory regarding the non-entrance into the 2006 Gubernatorial race by former governor Jim Edgar. “He is a popular fellow, he’s well liked and this election process would have changed people’s image of [him].” Citing Blagojevich’s war chest, Wheelhouse advised Edgar’s “luster” would have been tarnished as a result.
   Looking to the actual Republican primary candidates, he advised, “get ready for bloodshed,” noting the appearance of negative ads against front-running Judy Baar Topinka. Blagojevich, “good on the stump” according to Wheelhouse, will utilize these charges if Topinka emerges, campaign away from Springfield and choose to “inundate the world” with 30-second commercials.
   Finishing with a look at Blagojevich’s “feud” with his alderman father-in-law, regarding sympathy for the excluded grandfather, Wheelhouse joined with Michaelson to answer audience questions, varying from the endorsement of the Illinois Federation of Teachers to Topinka’s pro-choice stance, and the program concluded.
   The luncheon, sponsored by the U of I Alumni Association, was recorded and will be replayed on cable channel 4 in the future.

More students at UIS

By Emily Martin - Public Affairs Reporter

Enrollment numbers are in at UIS; this spring shows a 4.1 percent increase in student body from last January, and another “unexplainable” bump on the enrollment chart.
In a line graph, enrollment figures for the past five years form what looks like a mountainous terrain, but Director of Enrollment Management Marya Leatherwood said the numbers do follow some sort of trend.
Leatherwood said more students typically register in the fall, but spring semesters still bring in about 93-97 percent of autumn numbers. “[The] spring semester seems to be a busier time for everyone. Students sometimes ‘stop out’ for various reasons,” Leatherwood said.
The 4,393 students attending UIS this spring exemplifies this trend with 124 fewer students than last fall. She said some students in the workforce take the spring semester off if their load becomes too heavy.
But the slight fluctuation between semesters can also be attributed to the fact that only transfer students are admitted in the spring. Since the start of the Capital Scholars program five years ago, fall enrollment has stayed at least a few paces above the sunny-weather semester, with an average of 127 more students.
Leatherwood said UIS can expect this average to increase, and the fall enrollment trend to stay strong, with new general education freshmen to be enrolled next semester. As of last Friday she said the university had 167 percent more first-year applications than last fall. “For the last five years, approximately 87 percent of applicants who make the initial deposit actually enroll,” she said.
“We were selecting [first-year students] on the basis of higher GPA and class rank,” but now, Leatherwood said more high school grads might consider making UIS their primary institution with the new nonhonors program. She said there is a significant increase in graduating seniors, and the university should see growth that reflects those numbers. 
As for the spring semesters, which provide a small “gully” in the enrollment chart, the trends may not be as predictable. This semester’s 4,393 exceeded last spring’s 4,219 – an all-time low in UIS’ history as a four-year institution.
Enrollment decreased by 136 students in the spring of 2005 from the previous spring, which is a significant figure in a trend that usually bears only a slight difference. “In part we contribute it to the Banner registration system,” Leatherwood said. She said the new system took some getting used to by students and staff, and that some students had too much trouble getting registered at University of Illinois campuses last spring.
“Everybody was on a learning curve. Our staff was familiarizing themselves with the system; they had to move years and years of student academic records to banner. And some students were having trouble setting up a university ID,” said Leatherwood. She said UIUC also experienced a dip in enrollment that semester. 
In spite of the infamous Banner problems, UIS keeps an average enrollment of 4,400 students each year. Although the university has not experienced drastic growth in enrollment figures each semester, the statistics do remain steady and conducive to the comfy environment at UIS.
There are many extraneous values that affect registration and enrollment, but UIS will likely experience positive movement in student population as more programs are developed. The new CAP Scholars program and additional graduate programs like the planned Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security certificate offer more choices for potential UIS students.
In addition to on-campus curriculum, the online program at UIS continues to grow. With a total of 1,820 students enrolled in online classes this spring, the number of internet learners has had an upward thrust since the program’s start in 1998.  

Apparent suicide claims the life of UIS student

A taste of policy analysis

More students at UIS