Knox in the News

From The Register-Mail:
Formerly known as Wallace Lounge, the south side of Seymour Union’s basement was flooded in early 2007.

“Well, it was a big rain,” Knox College President Roger Taylor said Wednesday. “It did quite a bit of damage to that area. … The college at that point did not have flood insurance. Well, why would you have flood insurance in the middle of Galesburg?”

Taylor said that while the lounge was not “very upscale,” it still served as space for student organizations and other groups to meet, and on a campus where places such as that are lacking, Taylor said one less space was too much.

A student committee soon set to work on developing plans with the college’s dean of students, chief financial officer and Director of Facilities Services Scott Moss, but without coverage, the plans were “placed on the back burner.”

“The question of how to pay for it came up, because it’s about a $750,000 ticket, since we decided to do energy efficient windows at the same time,” said Taylor. “But this fall, Dean of Students Debbie Southern and I kind of agitated that we need to get this done.”

Taylor said $250,000 in capital reserves funding had been set aside for the project in FY 2010; another $250,000 came from this year’s capital projects budget, and $90,000 came from the State of Illinois Capital Bill. The Knox Board of Trustees approved the renovation in October and plans were under way shortly after Thanksgiving.

The committee collected surveys in January from students on what they want to see in the new lounge and gaming areas. The results will be one space with pool, foosball, air hockey and pingpong tables; a “lounge-y” space with booths, tables, projection screen, a stage and dance floor; and a “kitchenette” with vending machines. Flat-screen TVs will be placed throughout both large rooms of the lounge.

“The most important thing is it will be a suitable place for students to, as individuals of that age say, hang out,” said Taylor. “The fraternity houses have facilities for parties, but there’s not really another good space where students can just gather. … It’ll be a nice recreation space for students that just doesn’t exist…

Economies experience periods of downturn, but the hope is that afterwards things will get better and new jobs will replace ones lost. However, to 40 percent of former Maytag workers surveyed this hope is just not there.
In looking at the Maytag Employees in Transition Survey, 49 percent of the 121 people who answered this particular question said they fear they will never recover financially from the closing of Maytag.

They base their responses on a variety of factors, but the demographics of those with this fear are not surprising. Some 26 percent of them now have household incomes between $10,000 and $20,000 a year, which is under the national poverty line.

Another 29 percent of those who fear they will never recover have, at one time or another, had to work several jobs at once since Maytag closed. Although a little more than half of them are now employed full time, the rest are part-time employees, retired or have no job at all. Thus the reality is even if these former Maytag workers have since found new jobs, these jobs are low paying.

Before the layoff, the median household income of Maytag workers was between $40,000 and $50,000 a year, with additional benefits and vacation time. No one who was surveyed said their household income was less than $20,000 a year at Maytag. Now just over a quarter of those who said they would never recover have an annual household income of between $10,000 and $20,000.

‘The majority of jobs out there are minimum wage or no benefits,’ says Larry Anglund, 54, who worked at Maytag for 30 years and retired after the closing. ‘That’s hard to accept.’

For people like Anglund who came out of the closing with a pension and health insurance, things are easier. ‘I can be a little more selective than most because I have my pension,’ he said. ‘But some people have to work these (low-paying) jobs.’

As other former Maytag workers look for new jobs similar to the ones they had they find either that the jobs are not there, that the pay and rewards are not the same, or that the available jobs themselves are demanding and menial. If one must take any job that comes their way, the question becomes: How can one find a decent job in this changed economy? This is especially important for older workers.

Greg Saul, 52, who worked at Maytag for 16 years, attempted to branch away from the manufacturing sector of the workforce, enrolling at Carl Sandburg College to become an X-ray technician.

‘It was deceiving,’ he said. ‘To get a degree and get a job is not as easy as they make it out to be.’

Saul currently works as an X-ray tech who is called in as needed, an indicator of the disappointment in job prospects in what he thought was supposed to be a growing healthcare field.

‘I think part of the reason I am unable to get a part-time job is because they have saturated the market with us, so they can hire a lot of part-time people and not pay them benefits.’ Saul says. ‘And if they do hire a full-time person, it’s a younger person whom they can advance into different positions.’…

From The Register-Mail:
Majora Carter, a nationally known eco-entrepreneur and MacArthur “genius” Fellow, will deliver the Commencement address at Knox College on June 4.

As is the custom at Knox, Carter was nominated by the graduating class. Following a long-standing tradition, Knox College will award Carter an honorary degree.

“Majora Carter was a clear favorite with the senior class,” said Tomi Olotu, treasurer of the senior class. “She is a pioneer in helping us understand how environmentally sustainable activity, economic development, neighborhood development, and even our own health are all interconnected. I’m looking forward to hearing her speak.”

Recent Knox College Commencement speakers have included Stephen Colbert, Barack Obama, William Jefferson Clinton, and Madeleine Albright. The 2010 Commencement speaker was Tina Tchen, who at the time was Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Tchen now serves as chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama.

Carter runs her own consulting firm, Majora Carter Group, L.L.C., and hosts “The Promised Land,” a public radio series that spotlights people who are transforming communities. Carter advises businesses, governments, universities, foundations and other organizations on strategies for climate adaptation, urban micro-agribusiness and leadership development.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Books
Name of press: Lake Street Press

In what year was your press founded? 2009

How many people are on your staff? Publisher: Mary Osborne, Managing Editor: Hazel Dawkins, Events Coordinator: Rachel McHan

Tell us how your press came to be: Observing the fate of several author-friends whose books failed to take off after being published, Mary Osborne asked herself what went wrong. Osborne, who is a Registered Nurse and honors graduate of Rush University and Knox College, where she was mentored in the Creative Writing Program, was a first-time novelist who had attracted the interest of a NY literary agent. In the meantime Osborne, who is a native of Chicago, stumbled across a few other talented writers who were wondering what to do with their terrific book ideas. With an attitude of, “If you want something done right, do it yourself,” Osborne set out on a crash course to learn everything she could about the book biz. Drawing from how-to manuals, the guidance local publishers - Sharon Woodhouse of Lake Claremont Press and Alexander Dee of Ivan R. Dee - as well as the IBPA (Independent Book Publishers Association), Lake Street Press was born.