Category Archives: Section

Media Hate Fiesta for Venezuela Keeps on Keepen’ On

Posted on 02/24/2013 by Mark Weisbrot

By Mark Weisbrot (This article was first published in Al Jazeera English on January 29, 2013) Last week there was a real media hate-fest for Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, with some of the more influential publications on both sides of … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Media, Politics | Comments Off on Media Hate Fiesta for Venezuela Keeps on Keepen’ On

The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs in Our Community

Posted on 02/24/2013 by Public i

Two Community Dialogues Thursday, Feb. 28, Levis Faculty Center (919 W. Illinois St., Urbana) Friday night, March 1, Salem Baptist Church (500 E. Park St., Champaign) 5:30-8:30 p.m. both nights Keynote Speakers: Neill Franklin, former narcotics officer and executive director … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Forum, Policing | Comments Off on The Negative Impact of the War on Drugs in Our Community

The New Jim Crow Comes to Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 02/20/2013 by James Kilgore

If there was one constant during my six-and-a-half years in prison (apart from bad food), it was being surrounded by thousands of  mostly African-American and Latino men doing sentences like twenty, thirty or forty years for drug-related crimes. One friend … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off on The New Jim Crow Comes to Champaign-Urbana

Her Name Was Hadiya, And She Was Killed By A Gun

Posted on 02/08/2013 by Amira Davis

More than 500 young children have died from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” (from an anti-gang violence PSA by Hadiya Pendleton and crew) “none among us should feel unsafe moving about/through the world, on the earth, … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Rights, Policing, Politics, Voices of Color | Comments Off on Her Name Was Hadiya, And She Was Killed By A Gun

WRFU Raises Tower Now Reaching Entire Community

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Danielle Chynoweth

Have something to say? An issue or kind of music you are passionate about? Thanks WRFU’s new tower, now you can reach all of Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy through WRFU 104.5 FM, a community radio station located in the Independent … Continue reading →

Posted in IMC | Comments Off on WRFU Raises Tower Now Reaching Entire Community

The “Fiscal Cliff” is Classic Shock Doctrine

Posted on 01/21/2013 by David Johnson

The “debt ceiling” and “fiscal cliff” scenarios are well choreographed dog-and-pony circus acts brought to you by the same people who crashed the economy in 2008, with the help of their bought-and-paid-for politicians from both the Democrat and Republican parties. … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics, Politics | Comments Off on The “Fiscal Cliff” is Classic Shock Doctrine

Building a Solidarity Union

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Anna Kurhajec

How do you build a solidarity-oriented union? Our Graduate Employees Organization has found that looking beyond the campus and using our voice, funds, and organizing skills to help community causes has made us one of the strongest locals in east-central … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off on Building a Solidarity Union

Motivating High School Students to Become Future Builders

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Belden Fields

In 2007, I met Tanya Parker, now the publisher of the local magazine, Unity in Action, at a demonstration in front of the County Court House in Urbana.  We were both protesting what we felt was racial inequality in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Labor/Economics, Youth | Comments Off on Motivating High School Students to Become Future Builders

The Cheesemonger Spotlights Prairie Fruits Farm

Posted on 01/21/2013 by Billy LeGrand

by Billy LeGrand, Common Ground Food Co-op In a follow-up from the October issue of The Public i, this month, The Cheesemonger will focus on Champaign’s own award-winning Prairie Fruits Farm, just north of I-74 on N. Lincoln Ave. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Forum, Food | Comments Off on The Cheesemonger Spotlights Prairie Fruits Farm

Changes to Police Contract Come from “The Work of the Citizen”

Posted on 01/20/2013 by Brian Dolinar

Two out of three proposals presented two years ago by the grassroots organization, Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice (CUCPJ), were included in the police union contract approved by Champaign city council on Tuesday night, December 4, 2012. In April … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing | Comments Off on Changes to Police Contract Come from “The Work of the Citizen”

Tax the Rich; Spend on the Material and Educational Needs of the Less Well-Off

Posted on 01/20/2013 by Belden Fields

Pat Simpson Pat Simpson is a labor educator who is active in Central Illinois Jobs with Justice As the old year drew to a close, the walls of the Channing Murray Foundation echoed with speeches on the topic of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Labor/Economics, Politics | Comments Off on Tax the Rich; Spend on the Material and Educational Needs of the Less Well-Off

Obama’s Economic Legacy Could Benefit from Falling Energy Prices

Posted on 01/20/2013 by Gregory McIsaac

Energy prices have gone through boom and bust cycles in the past, and there is a possibility that current prices could decline as during in the 1980s, which fueled a rapid expansion of employment and GDP. Even though presidents have … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Labor/Economics, Politics | Comments Off on Obama’s Economic Legacy Could Benefit from Falling Energy Prices

A Tale of Two Cities: Public Access to Police Complaints in Champaign and Urbana

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Belden Fields

Backstory: Champaign Over the course of 2012, several pieces have been published in the Public i and the News Gazette regarding the city’s continued practice of ignoring Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding complaints against the police and its … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Policing, Politics | Comments Off on A Tale of Two Cities: Public Access to Police Complaints in Champaign and Urbana

Why Does Sheriff of Small Midwestern College Town Need a Drone?

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Brian Dolinar

Many have heard of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or “drones,” that the U.S. government has been flying over Pakistan and Afghanistan dropping bombs aimed at suspected militants and all too often killing innocent civilians. Increasingly, smaller versions of these planes … Continue reading →

Posted in Policing | Comments Off on Why Does Sheriff of Small Midwestern College Town Need a Drone?

Photos of GEO’s “Let Us Work” Rally

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Stephanie Seawell

On November 8, a “Let Us Work: Work With Us” rally was held by the GEO on the plaza of the Undergraduate Library.                        

Posted in Education, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Photos of GEO’s “Let Us Work” Rally

Campus Support Grows for GEO’s Efforts to Protect Public Education

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Stephanie Seawell

The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) at the University of Illinois is in the midst of an important fight to protect access to public higher-education. On campus support has been growing for the GEO in this struggle. The GEO represents about … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Comments Off on Campus Support Grows for GEO’s Efforts to Protect Public Education

Message to the Community from the UCIMC Board of Directors

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Belden Fields

Message to the C-U Community from the UCIMC Board of Directors Dear Community Members: The purpose of this communication is, first, to provide information about an incident that allegedly occurred at the Independent Media Center where one of our staff … Continue reading →

Posted in IMC | Comments Off on Message to the Community from the UCIMC Board of Directors

Section 20 of the UCIMC Personnel Policy, adopted March 20, 2012

Posted on 11/23/2012 by Belden Fields

“UC-IMC is committed to creating and maintaining a work place free of sexual harassment.  Improper conduct in the workplace is inappropriate and will not be tolerated.  This conduct includes: –Express or implied requests for sexual favors as a condition of … Continue reading →

Posted in IMC | Comments Off on Section 20 of the UCIMC Personnel Policy, adopted March 20, 2012

Graduate Employee Tuition Waivers, Protecting Public Education, and Boxed Coffee

Posted on 10/12/2012 by Stephanie Seawell

      As I write this, the Graduate Employees Organization, or GEO, at the University of Illinois is engaged in an effort to protect access to quality public higher education here in Champaign-Urbana. The GEO is a union that … Continue reading →

Posted in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Comments Off on Graduate Employee Tuition Waivers, Protecting Public Education, and Boxed Coffee

To Eat or Not to Eat GE Foods: Let Me Decide!

Posted on 10/12/2012 by Hanna Saltzman

I moved here last month as the Champaign-Urbana field organizer for Food & Water Watch, the national consumer advocacy organization working to protect our food and water resources. We are working to return the power of choice to consumers by … Continue reading →

Posted in Food | Comments Off on To Eat or Not to Eat GE Foods: Let Me Decide!