THE
Daily Egyptian SERVING THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY SINCE 1916. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2026
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DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
STARBUCKS STRIKE ENDS page 3
VOL. 109, ISSUE 18
SALUKI BASKETBALL RECAPS page 8-9
LIVE MUSIC AT HANGAR 9 page 6-7
Speakers urge civic action during annual MLK breakfast
SalukiTech urges caution following financial fraud AJ Sullivan | asullivan@dailyegyptian.com
Peyton Cook Carly Gist pcook@dailyegyptian.com cgist@dailyegyptian.com
Mayor Harvey serves hotcakes to students and attendees of the MLK Scholarship Breakfast in the SIU Student Center ballrooms. Jan. 19, 2026 in Carbondale, Illinois. Daylin Williams | @photosbydaylin Trevor John tjohn@dailyegyptian.com
Southern Illinois University Student Center Ballrooms were packed early in the morning on Jan. 19 for the 44th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast, where speakers called for active civic engagement and education on social justice issues. The purpose of the event was to honor and
remember the struggles and challenges faced during the Civil Rights Movement and to celebrate King while supporting education and funding scholarships. Richard Jones, vice president of the local Alpha Phi Alpha chapter, welcomed the attendees, stating the purpose of the breakfast was to acknowledge historical struggles and to foster MLK | 5
On the morning of Jan. 3, SIU doctorate student Genesis Atencio noticed multiple hard pulls on her husband’s credit score, an authorization that occurs when one applies for new credit. Atencio said they hadn’t applied for any credit in around four years, but looking into their report, an account had been opened with Synchrony Bank. A few days later, Atencio was hanging out with a friend and fellow student, who mentioned a similar situation: someone had used her information to open a OnePay Walmart credit card with Synchrony Bank. “I was like, hold on a minute, because OnePay looks familiar,” Atencio said. “I think I’ve gotten emails from OnePay. So I look through my own emails from my SIU Outlook account, and lo and behold, there it is, like four or five different emails that I’ve gotten over the course of a handful of months.” A credit card in her name was approved on Jan. 8.
“I get probably three emails to my SIU account that say, hey, welcome to Walmart,” she said. Atencio was one of 16 individuals who reported this incident to SalukiTech, according to SIU Chief Information Officer Wil Clark. However, the number could be higher. Multiple Daily Egyptian employees received similar emails, and many SIU students took to social media to warn others, including some who have recently graduated. “Cybercriminals are always trying to find new ways to steal people’s money or identity, and attempted fraud and other hazards to information security are a constant threat,” Clark said. “Every institution and organization in the U.S. must address ongoing cybersecurity issues. We have no insight into what may be occurring at other institutions.” SIU last reported a security breach in June 2023. The university uses a third party software called MOVEIt, which typically allows for secured, managed file transfers. In late May 2023, MOVEIt FRAUD | 3
Immigration lawyer talks ICE, civil rights at Simmons Law School Mariah Fletcher mfletcher@dailyegyptian.com
Since President Donald Trump took office last year for his second term, a federal effort to increase deportations and minimize immigration into the United States has led to an onslaught of legal battles, protests and political violence. Whether it concerns visa status or Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, the constitutionality of recent
federal action is being highly contested across the country. In light of this national discourse, a crowd of around 80 students, community members and professors gathered at SIU Simmons Law School on Wednesday, Jan. 14 for a lecture regarding ICE, immigration and new policies under the Trump administration. Ohio State University’s César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández
presented a lecture titled “Immigration Law in Turbulent Times” in which he describes recent events involving immigration through a legal lens. His lecture highlighted the increase in ICE raids across the country, clashes between civilians and agents that have led to shootings — like the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month — lawsuits, mass protests, the recent addition of 75 new countries
to the U.S. visa ban list and the overall confusion concerning the legality of federal deportation practices. Hernández’s teaching and writing details the intersectionality of criminal and immigration law and his lecture at SIU focused on the constantly evolving legal landscape that surrounds immigration enforcement techniques. Attendees were able to speak with Hernández beforehand and ask
questions after his lecture. In his lecture, Hernández spoke about Trump’s campaign, and how he specifically pledged to evoke a deportation operation similar to President Eisenhower’s 1954 militarystyle campaign aimed at ending undocumented immigration by deporting hundreds of thousands of Mexicans through mass raids and arrests
IMMIGRATION | 10