University of Illinois Springfield students last spring defeated a proposal to increase student fees to build a student union that would serve as the “campus living room.”
The vote leaves the idea in limbo, likely until students choose to bring it up again, UIS officials say.
The student-driven proposal would have been funded with an increase in student fees of up to $200 per semester for full-time students and $100 per semester for part-timers. The cost of the project was estimated at $17 million.
"It's on hold until we have some students who want to pick it up and push it," said Tim Barnett, UIS vice chancellor for student affairs.
The follow-up was featured in a August 2, 2010, article in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the full article
Monday, August 2, 2010
UIS tries out textbook rental program
College textbook costs have risen at four times the rate of inflation and can add several hundred dollars to a student's annual education bill.But students at the University of Illinois Springfield may be able to reduce some of those costs this fall with a Rent-A-Text program being offered through the UIS Bookstore, which is operated by Follett Corp.
Tim Barnett, vice chancellor for student affairs, said it was up to UIS to participate in the rental program.
"We said we'd try it for a year and see how it goes," he said.
Barnett said 20 faculty members have put rental books on their class lists, and students will have 285 titles to choose from.
The textbook rental story was featured in a August 1, 2010, edition of The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the full article
Are electric cars better for the environment?
A full 12 years after Toyota sold its first Prius in the United States and came to pretty much dominate the U.S. market for environmentally friendly cars, drivers in America will have two more options for green transportation: Chevrolet's Volt and Nissan's Leaf.
It all comes down to carbon emissions, and even though electric vehicles spew zero emissions, they aren't necessarily carbon neutral. So that begs the question, are they better for the environment than ones powered by fossil fuels?
"Zero-tailpipe emissions unfortunately don't necessarily mean zero emissions," says Dennis Ruez Jr., the environmental studies department chair at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Carbon-neutrality refers to emissions of carbon dioxide that are released during any point in the life span of the vehicle, from the earth-moving machines used to mining the lithium for the car's batteries, to the plant where the car is built, to the power plant that feeds the electrical source the car is ultimately plugged into. None of those can emit carbon dioxide. If any do, the electric vehicle isn't carbon-neutral.
Attaining complete carbon neutrality is virtually impossible, or at least so unattainable it's akin to holding out for a vehicle that runs on cold fusion. Instead, researchers are chipping away at problems in smaller sizes, with a specific focus on the power plant -- the source of most EV emissions.
"The well-known issue here is the source of the electricity," says Ruez. "If the electricity is from a coal- or gas-fired power plant, then there are still carbon emissions from that vehicle's use."
Ruez's comments were featured in a July 30, 2010, article by Discovery News.
Download a PDF of the article
It all comes down to carbon emissions, and even though electric vehicles spew zero emissions, they aren't necessarily carbon neutral. So that begs the question, are they better for the environment than ones powered by fossil fuels?
"Zero-tailpipe emissions unfortunately don't necessarily mean zero emissions," says Dennis Ruez Jr., the environmental studies department chair at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Carbon-neutrality refers to emissions of carbon dioxide that are released during any point in the life span of the vehicle, from the earth-moving machines used to mining the lithium for the car's batteries, to the plant where the car is built, to the power plant that feeds the electrical source the car is ultimately plugged into. None of those can emit carbon dioxide. If any do, the electric vehicle isn't carbon-neutral.
Attaining complete carbon neutrality is virtually impossible, or at least so unattainable it's akin to holding out for a vehicle that runs on cold fusion. Instead, researchers are chipping away at problems in smaller sizes, with a specific focus on the power plant -- the source of most EV emissions.
"The well-known issue here is the source of the electricity," says Ruez. "If the electricity is from a coal- or gas-fired power plant, then there are still carbon emissions from that vehicle's use."
Ruez's comments were featured in a July 30, 2010, article by Discovery News.
Download a PDF of the article
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