Category Archives: Section

Hungarians Debate their Nuclear Future

Posted on 03/27/2014 by Richard Esbenshade

On the weekend of February 1-2, thousands of Hungarians took to the streets to oppose the government’s plans to double the capacity of the country’s only nuclear power plant, with construction and financing by Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The plant, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, International, Politics | Comments Off

April 4-6: Books to Prisoners Book Sale

Posted on 03/27/2014 by Public i

Ten years ago Urbana Champaign Books to Prisoners began its program of sending books through the mail at no cost to inmates in Illinois prisons. Since then, over 92,000 books have been sent out to more than 14,000 inmates. The … Continue reading →

Posted in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off

Remembering Manni Brun

Posted on 03/27/2014 by Belden Fields

In January, this community lost a woman to whom it owes a great deal. Marianne (Manni) Brun passed away on January 6th. Manni and her husband Herbert, who was a professor of music composition, came to the university in 1963. … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Education, Human Rights, Politics | Comments Off

Clinton Landfill Plans an Unacceptable Risk to the Mahomet Aquifer

Posted on 03/27/2014 by Public i

By Stacy James Clinton Landfill, Inc. plans to store PCB-laden soil in its landfill above the Mahomet Aquifer, our drinking water supply! Opponents of this economically lucrative but environmentally risky venture are increasing in number as more and more people … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Comments Off

University of Illinois at Chicago Faculty Union Goes on Strike: What Are the Stakes?

Posted on 03/27/2014 by David Prochaska

On February 18-19, 2014 the University of Illinois at Chicago faculty union staged a strike joined by more than 1000 faculty, students, and other supporters, and that received widespread media attention locally and nationally. With no appreciable progress made on … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Comments Off

Why Tenured Professors Need Unions

Posted on 03/27/2014 by Janine Drake Giordano

I once got stuck in an airplane sitting next to an off-duty pilot. As we sat on the runway for an hour, only to find that we had to change flight crews and pilots because of the long delay, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Labor/Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off

Mandela Remembered by Historian Teresa Barnes

Posted on 02/01/2014 by Teresa Barnes

Appeared originally at U of I News Bureau, 12/6/2013 Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president and an icon in the struggle that ended the country’s system of racial apartheid, died Dec. 5. He was 95. Teresa Barnes is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Human Rights, International, Voices of Color | Comments Off

One of The Core Union Values is Solidarity!

Posted on 02/01/2014 by Stephanie Seawell

Recently the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO), the union for graduate student teaching assistants and research assistants at the University of Illinois, made a few changes to the union’s organizational structure. More specifically, the GEO added an elected Solidarity Officer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics | Comments Off

The Community Saturday School and the Ongoing Campaign for Literacy

Posted on 01/31/2014 by Amira Davis

“History has shown that, up to the present time, revolutionary regimes have been the only ones capable of organizing successful mass literacy campaigns. From the Soviet Union to China, from Vietnam to Cuba, all revolutionary governments have given high priority … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Education | Comments Off

New MLK Sculpture by Preston Jackson

Posted on 01/31/2014 by Brian Dolinar

A new sculpture by African American artist Preston Jackson has been installed at King Park in Urbana. Inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., it makes reference to major moments in the Civil Rights struggle, depicting a bus from the Montgomery … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts | Comments Off

Hidden Costs of Drought and Floods

Posted on 01/31/2014 by Gregory McIsaac

Gregory McIsaac Climate models indicate that Midwestern US will likely experience warmer and more volatile weather in the future, with more intense rainfall and more frequent and severe droughts. Trends in this direction are already evident. The severe … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Food, Labor/Economics | Comments Off

The Economic and Political Context of Student Debt

Posted on 01/31/2014 by David Green

Alan Collinge, author of “The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History and How We Can Fight Back,” recently spoke to students at Lincoln Hall on the UI campus. His argument is detailed, persuasive, and heartbreaking; it … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Politics, Youth | Comments Off

Protests at Walmart in Urbana and McDonald’s in Champaign

Posted on 12/01/2013 by Public i

On this year’s Black Friday, November 29, 2013, local activists held a rally at the Walmart in Urbana that was organized by Central Illinois Jobs With Justice. They stood out in 30 degree weather holding signs as shoppers drove by, … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Raising Concerns about Chinese Students’ Mental Health

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Hong Cheng

Yongfei Ci is a 6th-year-PhD student in University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. While he is majoring in math here, this semester he went to Brown University to do research. But on September 28th, Ci returned to Urbana and murdered his ex-girlfriend … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, International | Comments Off

Six Community Organizations Ask Urbana Council for a Study Session on Racial Disparities in Police Stops

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Belden Fields

October 7, 2013 The Urbana Police Department (UPD) has been reporting traffic stop data to the State of Illinois for nine years, 2004 through 2012. City data trends and patterns of traffic law enforcement can now be discerned and documented … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, Uncategorized | Comments Off

21st Century Slavery, Electronic Style

Posted on 11/14/2013 by James Kilgore

Somewhere in the middle of a November night in 2009 I got a phone call from my then 95 year old mother. She said she had chest pains, had already phoned 911 and thought she was having a heart attack. … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, Technology | Comments Off

Transgender Justice and Prisons

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Onni Gust

Onni Gust (Onni Gust is originally from London, UK, where she took part in social justice activism and education, particularly on LGBT rights and racism. Onni arrived in Champaign-Urbana in August 2013 and is a post-doctoral fellow at the Illinois … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, LGBTQA, Transgenders, Uncategorized | Comments Off

Angela Davis with CUCPJ at the IMC

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Brian Dolinar

Angela Davis gave a talk at the University YMCA’s Friday Forum on September 27, 2013 in its series “Beyond Mass Incarceration.” That morning, she spoke at the IMC and talked with members of CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing | Comments Off

The Profound Strength of an Unclenched Fist

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Renner Larson

Each generation sees masculinity in a new light. At twenty-four, my thoughts reflect those of my grandfather in his twenties, seventy years ago. As the United States anticipated involvement in World War II, a generation of men was drafter into … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Forum | Comments Off

Illinois and the Right to Know What’s in our Food: Labeling Genetically Engineered Food, Part II

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Lois Kain

Could this really have been the summer that the anti-GMO tipping point was reached? Has the time finally come when so many of us have gotten so fed up with our broken and unjust food system and become so vocal … Continue reading →