1/11/2016

GETTING AFTER IT

DePaul adjusting to Coach Leitao, page 28

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Volume #100 | Issue 10 | Jan. 11, 2016 | depauliaonline.com

DePaul reports $43 million in surplus

THE NEW AGE OF PROTESTING

By Brenden Moore News Editor

DePaul reported more than $43 million in operating income in fiscal year 2014-2015, budget documents reveal. The significant surplus comes as the university projects thin operating margins amid enrollment declines in the years to come.

The number resulted from a mix of conservative budgeting, an unexpected increase in tuition revenue, an uptick in gifts from donors and significant savings in operating expenses, per the budget documents.

“Generally as a philosophy within the budgeting process, you try to budget conservatively,” said Executive Vice President Jeff Bethke. “So, in the ideal world, you wouldn’t have variances either way, but the real world doesn’t work that way. Generally, you want to build a budget that is more likely to have a positive variance than a negative variance.”

The initial budget had called for a much more modest $2 million surplus. Yet on the revenue side, graduate and law school enrollment fueled an unexpected jump in tuition revenue and fees from a budgeted $641.8 million to an actual of $650.8 million.

According to DePaul controller Sherri Sidler, these programs are very volatile, which makes them hard to predict.

“There’s less market data out there to project those,” Sidler said. “So we’re pretty good on the undergraduate side and we come in really close to that little bit of conservatism that we put in, but the graduate programs were the ones that were volatile and those are the ones that have less data available to plan with.”

On the cost side, much of the nearly $22 million in savings on operating and overhead expenses was due to the early retirement program the university offered to faculty and staff in 2014. After

See BUDGET, page 4

KIRSTEN ONSGARD AND GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA

Protesters call for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation Dec. 9 (left and upper right) on Michigan Avenue while Michelle Dodson, Associate Pastor of New Community Covenant Church, (lower right) leads demonstrators in a prayer of lament Dec. 1.

Protesters aim for impact by disrupting profit centers

By Kyle Woolsey Contributing Writer

Marching on Michigan Avenue during Black Friday, blocking traffic at major downtown intersections and disrupting restaurants in Lincoln Park and Wicker Park are just some of the tactics being used by protesters trying to draw attention to police brutality and socioeconomic issues in South Side areas of Chicago.

Following the release of a video in November that showed a Chicago Police officer shooting Laquand McDonald 16 times, protests have broken out across the

city. While the protests have remained peaceful, many of their tactics have been brought into question.

But Valerie Johnson, chair of the political science department who has been active in the protests, said there’s reasoning behind these tactics.

“They recognize that in order to really impact the powers that be they’ve got to influence white liberals and white progressives, or be such a nuisance that they will be influential to white people who are pretty wealthy,” she said.

Elijah Obasanya, president of DePaul’s MOVE (Men of Vision and Empowerment) organization, said the rationale behind the

protests on Black Friday and marching on high-profit areas like the Magnificent Mile is to attack financial assets of major companies in the city.

“If you’re expecting millions of dollars to come into your store and it didn’t, you’re going to be questioning it,” he said. “It’s to wake people up on topics like police brutality and racial inequality. It forces the owners of the companies to take responsibilities as well.”

Johnson said disrupting profit centers in the city is important for getting the attention of elected officials.

See PROTESTERS, page 3

2 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

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News Editors Brenden Moore, Jessica Villagomez and Managing Digital Editor Kirsten Onsgard talk about the DePaul budget.

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Sports Editors Ben Gartland, Ben Savage and Editor-in-Chief Matthew Paras talk about DePaul basketball.

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News

News. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 3

KIRSTEN ONSGARD| THE DEPAULIA

The release of the police shooting video of Laquan McDonald, 17, on Oct. 20 prompted outrage in Chicago amongst protestors including Black Lives Matter activists.

PROTESTERS, continued from front page “The last thing Rahm (Emanuel) wants anyone to think is that there’s going to be disruption of money or interest,” she said.

The protests have been primarily located in the Loop area and Chicago’s North Side, rather than the South and West sides where the majority of violent crimes in the city take place.

“The fact that some people feel afraid of the police and do not see the police as a force that serves and protects them, but rather one that often harms and injuries them is not a South Side issue­­— it is an issue for the whole society,” said Roberta Garner, associate chair of the sociology department at DePaul.

Destiny Murray, a DePaul graduate student who participated in the protests immediately following the release of the Laquan McDonald tape, said the location all comes down to money.

“They choose to go to the North Side because people tend to have more money up there — money is power,” Murray said.

“Protesting in the black community would definitely be helpful but only to an extent.

By going up north, they’re taking it to the next level.”

Obasanya said he believes it all comes down to bringing awareness to the protestors message.

“A lot of people on the South and West sides already understand there’s a reasoning behind what’s happening,” he said. “Usually those who are in the downtown Loop might not know or deal with it as much.

The people on the South and West Side already are knowledgeable at this point.”

Johnson said the complexity of the issue contributes to a lack of knowledge and understanding.

“The issue is not salient,” she said.

“Even though we’ve been hearing about it, it’s not like the civil rights movement where anybody could see, ‘oh, here are black people, they can’t vote like other citizens.’

That’s kind of clear-cut.”

The difference lies in the perspective of the individual, Johnson said.

“If you are convinced the system works – the police are just, the police have got a hard job to do – then maybe you could excuse a couple killings,” she said. “I think that’s why Emanuel participated in failing to disclose McDonald’s shooting video because I don’t think people view it from the perspective of the people in these communities.”

Johnson describd these issues as “systemic,” including underfunded schools, dilapidated housing, access to healthcare and poverty.

“If that were not the sentiment, every citizen of Chicago would be out there because they would be so enraged,” she said. “They’re so anesthetized to the issues involved here, they don’t understand that this is pervasive so much that even me, as a university professor, as a chair of my department, as a person who is ‘right other kind of black person,’ the more acceptable version…even me, I’m damn afraid. When I ride down the street and I see a cop, in the last year or so, I get uptight.”

Garner, who has written two books on political and social movements, said there are some things that can be learned from past protests.

“Look at what happened to Occupy Wall Street – it should have produced longterm and effective organizations to work for greater income equality and to rein in abuses in the financial sector, but did that happen?” she said. “Building organizations is hard work and a long-term commitment.”

Garner said changing something with such deep-seated systemic issues is going to be even more difficult.

“It can include street protests and hashtags, but that will not be sufficient enough to bring about the structural reforms that are needed – not only changes in policing but better employment, education, healthcare and so on,” she said.

Garner said sometimes disruptive tactics can be useful to rallying supporters for the cause, but protestors have to be careful with pushing boundaries.

“Of course, others are turned off by the tactics, so the movement organizers have to

KIRSTEN ONSGARD | THE DEPAULIA

Protestors called for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez after Mayor Rahm Emanuel spoke to the Chicago City Council on Dec. 9, 2015.

“I think if we want to create the future we want to create and we want to live in, it’s necessary that we work against a lot of what’s happening right now.”

Elijah Obasanya, President of DePaul’s MOVE weigh the costs and the benefits,” she said.

“If the disruptions go on too long, they probably become counter-productive, and it might be time to move on to other tactics such as coalition building, mobilizing votes and so on.”

Johnson said she believes it’s a balancing act between drawing attention and not inciting a riot.

“The dilemma and the challenge sometimes is to not be too incendiary because, you may have to be incendiary, your cause may be just and all of that, but if you are incendiary, it turns people off,” she said.

Murray said the environment is incredibly high-energy at these protests.

“The environment is one of those environments where you can just feel the rage and the animosity, and you’re around people who are definitely passionate about making a change,” she said. “Once you’re there, you know it’s a serious issue.”

Obasanya said the fault falls on the previous generations who normalized the mistreatment of African-Americans following the Civil Rights Movement.

“The previous generation subsided a little bit in tackling these issues and it has negatively affected us,” he said. “I think if we want to create the future we want to create and we want to live in, it’s necessary that we work against a lot of what’s happening right now.”

4| News. Jan. 11, 2016.

College operating margins, fiscal year 2015 (revenue to cost) BUDGET, continued from front page

While saying they did not object specifically to anything proposed, the members wanted to “take a stand” on the taking a one-time hit in the 2013-2014 adjunct issue along with growth in adminbudget, the university saw better than an- istrative areas and the university’s taking ticipated savings. Plus, there was a “delay on of capital projects in a time of enrollin filling vacancies arising from the pro- ment decline. gram and more extensive use of adjunct This led to Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, and part-time faculty,” the document C.M. calling for a meeting with the faculty stated. members, Michaela Winchatz and Tom Bethke, however, disputed the point Mondschean, last month to discuss their about savings coming from increased use vote. The two ended up switching their of contingent faculty, pointing more to the votes, providing a budget to the board “lag” in hirwith unanimous ing as the support. main pro- “I think that Father Dennis had been “That all ponent. sounds accu“I don’t quite clear that the current academic rate in terms of know if I the concerns, would ac- year, whatever happens with the state, but my imprescept that sion from being point about DePaul will make sure that those MAP a participant in savings as a students are not left holding the bag.” the meeting were result of the Fr. Dennis talked increased to the faculty use of ad- Jeff Bethke, DePaul Executive Vice President representatives junct faculabout this budty,” Bethke get and talked said. “That’s about their vote not the case. The savings were results from and their decision to ultimately change the fact that we had a big batch of folks their vote to support this budget was his retire and we haven’t refilled those.” explanation that there actually is pretty Still, concerns over the increased use significant investment planned in this of adjunct faculty and a decrease in tenure budget for new and replacement faculty track faculty were one of many reasons lines,” Bethke said. the two faculty members on the Strategic Bethke added that a “fairly large numResources Allocation Committee (SRAC) ber” of faculty searches will be underway initially voted no on the budget proposed this fall, with a majority of them being for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, which will tenure-track positions. be presented to the board of trustees in March.

See BUDGET, page 5

MICHELLE KRICHEVSKAYA | THE DEPAULIA

News. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 5 BUDGET, continued from page 4 In a statement, Winchatz and Mondschean said “we, the faculty representatives on SRAC, had originally voted against the budget due to various concerns. Most importantly, we are troubled by the decline in the number of tenure track faculty over multiple years. However, after meeting with Fr. Holtschneider, Provost (Marten) denBoer, Bob Kozoman, and Jeff Bethke — we were able to agree on a path to begin addressing our concerns and believed it appropriate to change our vote to support the 2016-2017 budget.”

According to Bethke, “a chunk” of the surplus from FY14-15 was “used to support capital projects” with the primary beneficiary being the new School of Music Building, which will replace McGaw Hall on the eastern edge of the Lincoln Park campus.

Sidler added that it also went towards the university’s working capital in order to “handle the ebbs and flows of our cash flow.”

This is important as DePaul has a relatively small endowment for an institution its size, which makes it more dependent upon tuition dollars to meet the bottom line. This in particular is a challenge for university bookkeepers in the current academic climate.

Between now and 2018, the end of DePaul’s current strategic plan, enrollment is projected to decline by 5.5 percent. With that and other factors, Bethke said that “relatively moderate levels of increase” in tuition can be expected, though most of the increase will be focused on incoming students.

“The budget that we’ve proposed to the board has a returning undergraduate student increase in the range of 2.5

Photo courtesy of DEPAUL UNIVERSITY

The School of Music building will be a prominent beneficiary of the more than $43 million surplus the university accumulated in the 2014-2015 budget. The building with replace McGaw Hall and repopen the university to Halsted Street. percent, which is consistent with the last couple of years, probably consistent with what it will be like in the next couple. And graduate student increase in the range of 1 to 2 percent,” Bethke said.

Sidler added, however, that institutional aid will also see an increase of around 7 percent in that period.

A more immediate concern for many DePaul students, however, is the continued lack of funding for the MAP program due to the state budget crisis. Bethke put their concerns to rest, for now at least, saying that the university will honor students’ MAP awards for at least the rest of

the academic year.

“I think that Fr. Dennis had been quite clear that the current academic year, whatever happens with the state, DePaul will make sure that those MAP students are not left holding the bag,” Bethke said.

In the long term, however, the picture is much less clear.

“The tricky thing from a budgeting standpoint is, ‘well, what does the future look like?’ That’s not necessarily a commitment that the university could absorb indefinitely,” Bethke said. “So for the current year, we can backstop it. For future years, one of the mechanisms we’ve used is

setting aside a reserve if you will if there’s a shortfall. It’s not the whole amount by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a portion of it.”

While the university is worried about the MAP situation, Bethke said that DePaul is largely able to control its own fate.

“There are no easy answers and sometimes you won’t know if you’ve made the right decisions for years,” Bethke said.

“But it’s critical that we get it right because it’s too important what we’re trying to do here.”

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6 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016.

MAP GRANTS FUTURE IN LIMBO

By Kirsten Onsgard & Zachary Holden Digital Managing Editor & Staff Writer

DePaul freshman Teresa Valadez is stressed, and not only because of her approaching final exams. The health science student, who dreams of working with children as a pediatrician, was promised Monetary Awards Program (MAP) funding from the state, but without a budget in place, her funding and future at DePaul is in limbo.

“It’s just this fear,” Valadez said.

“If I don’t get this money, there’s no way I could stay in this school.”

The university honored MAP funding this past quarter, assisting approximately 5,000 students who rely on it, and according to a statement, will continue to do so during Winter Quarter. However, the state’s budget impasse is forcing universities across the state, including DePaul and students like Valadez, to reevaluate their options in the future.

MAP provides need-based financial aid to low-income and working class students attending Illinois colleges, and is awarded by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC). The grant is allocated to students who fill out their FAFSA, and awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Valadez’s mother cannot work, and her father is disabled from a work-related injury. During his time off to recover, he amassed loans to pay for their mortgage.

“I know he’s struggling,” Valadez said. “Right now, he works three jobs, just to put me through the little bit that I’m paying now.”

With a MAP grant and scholarships, her out-of-pocket tuition totals $10,000 per year.

For now, Valadez is covered.

DePaul, along with many Illinois

colleges, have honored MAP awards this fall despite receiving no funding and will continue to do Winter quarter, essentially fronting the money to students.

In its 2015-16 budget, the university set aside $6 million for MAP grant funding for students in case Springfield was slow to act. In a statement, a university spokesperson said this “contingency fund is not yet depleted, but it is still on reserve pending the state’s decision and it would, in that event, be sufficient to cover Fall Quarter awards.”

If MAP funding is left unapproved, students will not need to repay DePaul, the university said.

Traditionally, schools notify students of their award in the springtime, submit MAP claims to ISAC and the state pays out funding to universities. But like many social services this year, there is not yet any funding for MAP because Illinois has failed to pass a budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year, and therefore no money has been paid to schools.

“We’re not even to the point where we’re discussing the merits of these programs,” said Illinois State Rep. Ann Williams, whose jurisdiction includes DePaul.

“We’re unable to move forward with discussion on these very critical programs, like MAP and numerous human services programs, because the governor is holding them hostage.”

Since failing to agree on a budget, Illinois Democrats have pushed social services bills, including MAP, through the legislature piecemeal. Though the most recent MAP bill passed through the state senate in August, it has stalled in the house of representatives, with the most recent vote on Nov. 10 failing to garner enough votes to override a

veto from Gov. Bruce Rauner .

“I remain hopeful that our state leaders will resolve their differences and pass a budget, but it is less clear to me whether they will do so in time to be able to fund MAP,” DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider C.M. wrote in an Oct. 28 letter to students, faculty, staff and alumni, which urged them to advocate for MAP to state representatives and Rauner.

Since funding for the program is renewed on an annual basis, advocating for MAP funding is not new. The Student Government Association organizes lobbying efforts annually, but usually this is reserved for the springtime when the legislature convenes to discuss the next year’s budget.

This year, SGA launched its MAP Matters campaign in full force Oct. 27, plastering posters across campus and urging students to contact their representatives.

Because MAP directly affects about a fifth of the student body at DePaul, losing or cutting its funding could signal a shift in university culture, said SGA President Vanessa Cadavillo.

“We’re really going to struggle to attract those low-income students, those first generation students and students who are from diverse paths of life,” she said. “I think that’s really going to impact the type of students we have here at DePaul.”

More than half of recipients are first-generation college students, and half are so low-income that the federal government does not consider them able to contribute any financial resources toward higher education, said ISAC Managing Director of Communications, Lynne Baker.

“My parents, who are immigrants from Vietnam, their economic status isn’t really high,”

KIRSTEN ONSGARD | THE DEPAULIA

freshman and MAP recipient Brian Tran said. “So it was hard, it was hard to come up with the money.”

The average award for students at private institutions is about $4,000, and Tran was awarded a $5,000 grant. For now, he said his family should be able to manage even if MAP is cut.

“I know I’ll stick around no matter what,” he said. “I think DePaul has a really good educational program, one of the best in Chicago. But it’s messed up, to be honest, to take that away from someone.”

Like Tran, some are left angry and confused. SGA does not currently have the resources to send students to Springfield but Cadavillo forecasted a student uproar if it failed to pass.

“Hopefully moving forward if it doesn’t pass, we’ll get enough support to bring students down to Springfield,” Cadavillo said. “If not that, hopefully something like a demonstration downtown.”

The university said it will explore long term solutions if MAP funding is not forthcoming

by Spring Quarter.

“Longer range planning in the event MAP continues in jeopardy in future years is actively underway with any possible solution coming at a very difficult price in the university having to sacrifice other priorities in academic programs and student services,” a university spokesperson said.

For now, Valadez is also looking into other options: squeezing in scholarship applications between finals deadlines or attending a local community college, though she said her credits are unlikely to transfer neatly. As someone who takes pride in her academic prowess and hard work ethic, she said it’s a frustrating fight.

“I graduated with a 4.3 GPA, I graduated with honors, I’m a National Merit,” she said. “Why is it that I have to struggle so hard just to find the money to go to school?”

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News. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 7

NEWSbriefs DePaul honors Martin Luther King Jr. Day DePaul University Lincoln Park Student Center Room 120AB

For the first time in the University’s history, students will have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off. The university will be officially closed.

Celebrated on Jan. 18, the university will host a breakfast on Jan. 19 to honor Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy.

According to a DePaul University Facebook post, DePaul decided the university will be closed beginning in 2016 to allow faculty to adjust class curriculm accordingly.

St. Paul’s Church, located on Orchard and Fullerton Avenue, is also hosting a one mile walk benefitting UCAN, a violence prevention initiative in Chicago. The walk is meant to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and take a stand against violence. The walk will be held on Jan. 18 at 4p.m.

DePaul students face issues with U-Pass DePaul University

An unknown number of students’ Ventra cards were not functional on the first day of class due to technical difficulties with the

Ventra CTA pass system, a spokesman from DePaul said. Students’ complaints swamped the DePaul Twitter feed, with promises from the university that they are doing their best to solve the problem.

Bob McCormick, vice president of information systems at DePaul, said files containing the names of registered full-time students are sent to CTA before the start of each quarter so that their cards will be activated with access to unlimited CTA rides, but this December, an unknown technical difficulty resulted in some students’ Ventra cards failing to activate Jan 4.

“We don’t know the problem except that it’s on the CTA side,” McCormick said. With no control over the cards, McCormick said there is very little that DePaul can do. “So far there is no timeline for a solution.”

The issue was resorted within the next day.

Construction progress on DePaul Arena

MATTHEW PARAS| THE DEPAULIA

South Loop, Chicago

A 3-D model of the arena set to open in the South Loop will be open by the 2017-18 Construction for the DePaul arena is in season. motion. The arena is slated to be open for games for the 2017-18 season, a year later than initially announced. In addition to Join Political Science Professor Valerie being the home court for DePaul men’s Johnson as the DePaul community discusses basketball, the arena will host select DePaul how the Black Lives Matter movement women’s basketball games, conventions, DePaul University effects DePaul and the surrounding city. concerts and will be the site for DePaul Lincoln Park Student Center Room 325 Compiled by JESSICA VILLAGOMEZ | THE commencement ceremonies.

DEPAULIA

Black Lives Matter Movement

CAMPUS CRIME REPORT : LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS

LOOP CAMPUS

2

Clifton-Fullerton Hall Lewis Center DePaul Center

Assault & Theft Drug & Alcohol Other

LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS

LOOP CAMPUS escorted out of the building by Public Safety.

DEC. 30 1) An assault report was filed regarding an incident in which

a parking attendant at the Sheffield Garage was threatened by a customer of Whole Foods.

JAN. 4 2) A Burglary report was filed for headphones taken from a room in Clifton-Fullerton Hall.

JAN. 4 3) A Criminal Trespass report was filed for a person

observed sleeping in the food court area. The person became aggressive and Chicago police were notified. The person was taken into custody by Chicago Police.

4) A Harassment report was filed for an unknown male harassing a Barnes & Noble security officer. Person was

JAN. 5 5) A Deceptive Practice report was filed for a person trying to sell back books in the Barnes and Noble.

6) A Theft report was filed for a wallet taken from a jacket in the DePaul Center.

8| The DePaulia. Nov. 16, 2016.

Bus rapid transit links Loop together CAROLYN DUFF | THE DEPAULIA

By Sarah luyengi Contributing Writer

Relying on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has never been easy— reroutes, construction zones and tracking issues make traveling on public transportation overcrowded. Loop Link, a new bus rapid transit program, the program hopes to make commuting around the city faster and more efficient.

According to the CTA, Loop Link is “a modern, more reliable transportation to the Loop,” Loop Link allows congested areas, like areas on the West Loop, to have traffic flow more smoothly by utilizing bus only lanes.

Loop Link is intended to eliminate maneuvering of buses and cars downtown to avoid traffic. “Congestion is increasing

(which) affects our ability to operate our buses on those streets,” CTA Vice President of Scheduling and Planning Mike Connelly said.

With Loop Link, bus trips will be expedited while also allowing cars and bikes to move freely through Washington Blvd., Madison St., Clinton St. and Canal St. The thousands of Chicagoans traveling by bus and bike will be able to get to their destination with less hassle.

Currently, buses travel at a slow speed due to traffic.

“Because of the traffic (jams) some buses go as slow as three miles an hour. That’s slower than walking speed,” Commissioner CDOT Rebekah Scheinfeld said.

The idea with Loop Link is to provide buses their own designated lanes, while

also giving cars two lanes. This will allow each system of transportation to move more freely without having to be backed up behind each other due to CTA stops or civilian pickups. For bikers traveling within potential traffic, Loop Link has also assigned a protected lane on Randolph St., Washington Blvd., and Lincoln Ave. In addition to Loop Link, express buses to Ashland and Western avenues will be returning and running from 5- 9 a.m. and again from 3-6 p.m., the #X9 Ashland and the #X49 Western will make stops during the weekdays. The CTA had originally removed the convenient express routes due to budget cuts in 2010.

A Professor in the School for Public Service, Department of Public Policy, and Sustainable Urban Development program, Joseph P. Schwieterman,

supports the new changes with Loop Link and the return of the express buses.

“It’s important for Chicago to take baby steps. (It’s) building momentum for better bus services,” Schwieterman said.

Schwieterman also said that Chicago has had a history of underperforming express bus services.

While the almost yearlong construction for the new system has been meddlesome for Chicagoans, it’s a great opportunity in the long run. “The Loop Link has been unfairly criticized for not being on the cutting edge for bus rapid transits…but it’s a very practical project,” Schwieterman said. “(There) have been problems with traveling in the Loop for generations but…Loop Link helps solve that. It’s going to be a big help.”

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News. Nov. 16, 2016. The DePaulia | 9

FEATURED PHOTO

GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA

Wendy Choslovsky takes part in her first triathlon at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center on Sunday. It is the second year the “Demon Dash” has been held.

10 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

Nation &World

Deportation and the wolf at the door Immigrant rights organizations express disappointment with deportation raids

By Rachel Hinton Nation & World Editor

If you hear a knock at the door, Tania Unzueta, a member of the #NotOneMore campaign, warned, don’t open it. Know your rights. Report raids if you see them, and, most importantly, don’t open the door.

The Obama administration announced raids and deportation efforts would begin shortly after the new year. Unzueta, and other news sources, say that the raids started Jan. 2. The primary target: Central American refugees fleeing violence in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia to name a few of the home countries.

On Tuesday, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) addressed the media and undocumented citizens at a press conference organized by Unzueta outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, offices in Chicago to spread the word about these raids and the tactics of officers to undocumented citizens who may face these deportation efforts.

Unzueta spoke during the conference about friends recounting their experiences.

They told her ICE officers with guns and documents went around to different houses, many of them in the Albany Park neighborhood, telling people to pack up their things and come with them.

They then took them to detention.

Another man named Francisco discussed how his home was raided in early November 2015. Shortly after, three U.S. Marshals entered his home and he was taken to detention. He’s now fighting the case, but few undocumented refugees get the chance to do so.

“It’s complex because there’s all sorts of legal arguments involved — and courts and lack of attorneys — but the basic reality is that people who are here without documents are under threat of their lives completely changing one morning,” Unzueta said.

“Imagine if randomly around the country there were police officers knocking on people’s doors and dragging them to jail. There’s a feeling that if the police are taking you that it’s because you’ve done something wrong and they’ve figured out you’re a bad person in this country. The reality is that that’s not actually the case. These are everyday people.”

ICIRR, as well as other groups around the city, expressed disappointment with the Obama administration, citing his early promises to curb deportation efforts and create a path to citizenship for refugees and immigrants.

Neither, many pointed out, have happened.

The growing availability

ESTEBAN FELIX | AP

A Cuban woman migrant uses her cell phone while other Cubans sleep outside of the border control building in Penas Blancas, Costa Rica, on the border, with Nicaragua which closed its borders to Cuban migrants. The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry said in a Dec. 28 statement that the first humanitarian transfer will airlift the Cuban migrants from that country to El Salvador in January. of drugs and weapons, and the growing presence of gangs has placed many in the crosshairs.

In a report issued by the Wilson Center that assessed Central America’s northern triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — major challenges to a good quality of life include “high homicide rates, rampant extortion,communities controlled by youth gangs, domestic violence, impunity for most crimes, as well as economic despair and lack of opportunity.”

The U.S. demand for cocaine and other drugs produced in Latin America, as well as the trafficking of firearms from the U.S. to gangs in Latin American countries, are also contributing to the violence.

Families fled in order to escape these harrowing situations, but many now face the risk of going back.

“I’m saddened that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has decided that this is necessary. Many of these people are seeking asylum — they are bonafide refugees — and a lot of the violence in these countries is in part related to our policies,” Rev. Craig Mousin, DePaul's Ombudsperson and former director of what is now the National Immigrant Justice Center, or NIJC, said. “They have a right to come to our borders and ask for asylum. We’re sending them back to more persecution and death.”

Those coming from Central America are part of a larger refugee crisis, that also includes

those fleeing from Syria and other countries in the Middle East.

Their circumstances are similar: both groups are fleeing because they fear persecution, which is a major factor in what may legally separate refugees from immigrants, who come for better economic opportunities among other things.

The Department of Homeland Security reports that between October 2014 and September 2015 more than 235,000 people were deported.

Undocumented people who are taken as part of the raids are typically not able to get a court appointed attorney or legal help or to have their asylum claims heard, which Claudia Valenzuela, detention project director of the NIJC, said is one of the most disheartening aspects of the deportation process. The result, she said, is many undocumented people navigating a very “complicated set of laws — some of the most complicated in our legal system — on their own.”

“I know that DHS thinks it’s legally enforcing the law but I don’t agree that due process has been observed in these cases and I think that, overall, we just need to push back on this very antihumanitarian stance we’re taking as a country in regards to this situation,” Valenzuela said.

The effect of these raids on families and on their communities is one that is also important to those following this round of raids.

Bernadette Sanchez, a professor of community psychology, said

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE | AP

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., center, joined by Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., left, and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., denounced the White House over recent deportations of Central American immigrants. that the psychological effects of these raids and deportations — on children and on their families — could cause depression, fear and a sense of abandonment in children whose parents are taken.

The best way to deal with the influx of Central American immigrants and refugees still eludes politicians. Those running for president, on both sides of the aisle, have proposed plans or ideas, but the deportation efforts may continue as presidential candidates have their debates.

As of Jan. 6, some facing deportation have had the process paused, though the duration of this pause is unknown.

Democrats have expressed their disappointment with the deportations as well, while

journalists like James Stavridis of Foreign Policy, suggest a new type of “Plan Colombia,” the $9 billion initiative approved by Congress in 2000 that helped reduce violence and narcotics sales to help all of Central America. Others suggest a reconsideration or reminder of America’s history of accepting immigrants.

“We’re a country of immigrants and somehow that message has gotten lost,” Celena Roldan, executive director of the Erie Neighborhood House said.

“People are coming here because of safety and hope, and instead we’re turning our backs on them.”

Nation & World. Jan. 11. 2016. The DePaulia | 11

Confronting the "fierce urgency of now"

By Rachel Hinton Nation & World Editor

In remarks televised from the East Room of the White House, President Obama laid out his proposal for increased gun control measures Tuesday.

The president’s executive action proposes stronger, more efficient background checks and ensuring that all firearms sellers are licensed, increasing the number of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agents. The proposal also establishes a new rule for vendors that if their weapons are lost or stolen while in transit they have to report to law enforcement.

The president also proposed a $500 million investment in mental health care access and also to restrict the purchasing of guns on the grounds of mental health reasons. Obama also proposed increasing research by the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security to create better gun safety technology.

“We are encouraged by his call to action. More than 30,000 people are killed by guns (each year) and if it hasn’t affected you personally yet, it’s just a matter of time before it enters your universe,” Mark Walsh, campaign director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, said.

“Last year there was at least one mass shooting a week. This is not an urban problem, or a black and

brown problem; this concerns everyone.”

For the past decade, more than 4 million people were the victims of assaults, robberies and other crimes involving a gun, according to the White House.

Last year, there were 52,627 gun violence incidents, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a not-for-profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. So far, GVA’s site says 884 shootings already occurred in 2016. The number of deaths are already over 200 people, while the number of people injured is just over 400.

One of the most notable shootings in Obama’s tenure, the Sandy Hook shooting, caused the president to become emotional while speaking about the proposed executive actions. “We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil,” he said during the press conference. “But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence.”

“The president did as much as he could do with the power he has and this was an inspirational step in the right direction,” Barry Kellman, professor of law and director of the International Weapons Control Center at DePaul, said.

The proposal also includes keeping guns out of the wrong hands. This would come through

CAROLYN KASTER | AP President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, speaks about the youngest victims of the Sandy Hook shootings Jan. 5 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, where he spoke about steps his administration is taking to reduce gun violence.

clarification of laws that are already in place. Measures proposed by the president for gun sellers are largely to close the “gun show loophole,” which exempts small arms sellers from keeping formal sales records.

Some, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other pro-Second Amendment advocate groups, say the proposal doesn’t target the actual problems surrounding gun violence.

“The problem isn’t guns, the problem is people. Criminals don’t

follow laws — we have all the laws already on the books and no one is prosecuted for those crimes.

If existing laws were enforced then we would have less crimes,” Andrew from Illinois Concealed Carry, LLC., who asked for his last name not to be used, said. “If you want to get rid of firearms, amend the constitution. Gun control is an issue that politicians on both sides use to divide people.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan said shortly after the president's speech that the president’s actions will be

challenged in courts and would more than likely be overturned by a Republican president.

A Quinnipiac poll released Dec. 23 showed that 47 percent of Americans support stricter gun laws, with 50 percent opposed, but 89 percent of voters, including 84 percent among voters in households where there are guns, support requiring background checks on gun purchases at gun shows or online.

Supreme Court readies for cases on abortion, affirmative action

By AJ Karolczak Contributing Writer

The year 2016 is shaping up to be a busy one for the Supreme Court. The court is expected to rule on several high-profile cases in the coming months on issues such as affirmative action, abortion and unionization.

One case the Court will reach a decision on is Fisher v. University of Texas, dealing with the practice of asking for a student’s race on college admissions applications.

Abigail Fisher, a white student, was denied admission to the University of Texas in 2008. Fisher filed the lawsuit alleging the university violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by using race as part of the application process.

DePaul education professor Andrea Kayne Kaufman outlined the implications the case could have on affirmative action at the collegiate level.

“If the court does rule for Fisher, it could have a major impact on how universities recruit and admit racial minority groups to create diverse classes," Kaufman said. "There has been a lot of research about the efficacy of affirmative action policies on expanding the number of African-American and Latino students at universities."

Previous decisions on cases have led some schools to the practice of navigating around race in the admissions process.

“Schools have had to move away from considering race as a primary factor in admissions, even as they attempt to balance the racial diversity of their student body.

So they've looked to other factors such as economic class, and where students come from, as proxies for racial or ethnic

JACQUELYN MARTIN | AP Members of the American Federation of Teachers rally in support of affirmative action outside of the Supreme Court in Washington Dec. 9, 2015 as the court hears oral arguments in the Fisher v.

University of Texas at Austin affirmative action case.

background,” Christina Rivers, a DePaul political science professor, said.

Also on the Court’s agenda are two cases discussing abortion.

At the heart of a case against the Affordable Care Act is whether certain nonprofit religious groups opposed to abortion and contraception can be exempt from laws under the act.

The Catholic elderly care group Little Sisters of the Poor is challenging a mandate in the Affordable Care Act that requires employers and organizations to offer plans with coverage of some contraceptive methods and early abortion drugs.

DePaul philosophy professor Bill

Martin expressed concern for the case.

“In no way should the solution entail restriction on women's access to abortion or any other form of reproductive health care,” Martin said.

Government employee unionization is also being put to the test. Friedrichs v.

California Teachers Association is a case against the mandatory payment of union dues from government employees, or in this case, public school teachers.

“This is an age-old question for unions, although with a bit of a twist because of the government employee aspect thrown in,” James Wolfinger, a DePaul education professor, said.

Under the current system, some teachers may be paying union dues to fund union activities, whether or not they agree with the union’s agenda.

“Employers have long argued that unions unfairly force everyone to contribute to the organization, even if they disagree with their union's stance,” Wolfinger said.

A decision on the case would set a precedent for how union dues can be collected within groups representing government employees.

Despite a full year ahead for the Supreme Court, DePaul political science professor Joseph Mello expressed the impact of these decisions could not have an impact on this year’s presidential election.

“I think it is unlikely, however, that any one of these cases will have a dramatic impact on the presidential race," Mello said.

"The American public has not historically been all that interested in, or aware of, most Supreme Court decisions."

However, Mello said that occasionally a case has the ability to capture the public’s attention, noting last summer’s decision on Obergefell v. Hodges, which resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage.

As for 2016’s most high profile case, Mello said a decision on affirmative action could result in changes, particularly during this election year.

“I think the Fisher case on affirmative action might have the most potential to grab public attention, if the justices decide to overturn the policy. Ending affirmative action in higher education would be big news, and could help mobilize African -Americans and Latinos who are typical Democratic constituencies with a history of low voter turnout,” Mello said.

12 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

Opinions

uber unwarranted Users groundless in complaints attacking New Year's Eve surge pricing

By Danielle Harris Opinions Editor

In its fourth year operating on New Year's Eve, ridesharing service Uber expected some backlash over its controversial surge pricing — an increase in fare that goes into effect when the demand for rides exceeds the number of drivers out on the road. In order to avoid any anger or confusion, the Uber app sent out a “News Year's Eve Guide” Dec. 30 for its customers essentially as a fair warning that the night would be one of the busiest of the year and that riders should expect surge pricing.

Additionally, a 2013 video of CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick answering common questions about surge pricing was available on the company’s website.

“If you’re at a party at 1 a.m. and you’d like to get home economically, with a relatively inexpensive ride, wait ‘til 3 (a.m.),” Kalanick said in the video. “It’s (going to) go well.

If you absolutely need a ride between 1 and 3 a.m., Uber will be reliable but it will be a pricey ride and you just have to expect that.”

Uber also advised users to take advantage of the Fare Quote option that allows users to see the approximate cost for their ride before they even request it.

By entering their current location and final destination, the Fare Quote option takes into account surge pricing and informs the user how much they would be spending if they decide to take an Uber.

Yet when many Uber users woke up on New Year's Day, they were outraged over what they considered an outrageous fare for their ride home the night before.

Even though they were warned of the surge charge rate and had to type the rate in themselves before they could request a ride, they believed their fare price was completely unreasonable.

And to voice their frustrations, they turned to social media to vent about their supposed mistreatment. Many posted screenshots on twitter of surge prices in their area using the hashtag #ubersurge. One such user, @KelleyDupre, tweeted a photo of her $148.07 Uber receipt with the caption “My 15 minute Uber ride from last night.

Yes, I can read & do math. But I didn’t want to walk home. #uber #ubersurge.” The surge charge was 9.9 times the normal fare.

Possibly the most ridiculous part about claims like Dupre’s is that these people acted as though

Uber is the only possible mode of transportation that can get them home safely. Partygoers on New Year's Eve had many options. They could hail a cab, take public transportation, arrange for a friend to pick them up or use a different ridesharing service — although most of those had surge charges during busy hours on New Year's Eve as well.

Some went so far as to say that Uber surge pricing takes advantage of those who want to go out and drink without having to drive home under the influence. It is outrageous to claim that Uber has any responsibility in making sure individuals do not drive home drunk. While Uber is a ride sharing service and in the business of getting people home safely, at the end of the day they are a business — and businesses operate with one sole purpose: making a profit. And Uber is actually helping keep drunk drivers off the road. In a study of drunk driving deaths in California conducted by Temple University showed that after UberX entered the market there was a significant decrease in fatalities.

It is as if people have become so used to getting anything they want immediately with a tap of their finger that traveling any other way seems unthinkable.

The irony of the situation is that while users may have been outraged over surge pricing on New Year's Eve, that increase in fare is what Uber uses to motivate drivers to get in their cars and start working and to encourage drivers already on the road to move to high demand areas. Considering 61 percent of Uber drivers have another career and work for the company only as a part-time job, surge pricing is a way to convince drivers that have another form of income to work for Uber at a time when they may have chosen not to.

The New Year's Eve surge pricing debacle is just one in a string of controversies for the ridesharing service. Uber made headlines when its drivers were found requesting and then cancelling rides with Lyft in an apparent effort to both waste their time and money and to make the riders use the Uber app instead. The company has also found trouble in the damage it has caused the traditional taxi industry. Most recently, Uber had to make a settlement with New York’s attorney general after it was discovered the company was using its “God view,” an aerial view of riders’ locations, to keep tabs on reporters’ whereabouts.

IMAGE COURTESY OF UBER

When Uber has surge pricing, users must agree to the rate and type it in before they can request a ride.

But surge pricing should not be a controversy. These people willingly chose to be charged more than the normal fare because they wanted to get home the most convenient way possible. They made the choice to not follow the company’s advice and wait until lower traffic times or use a different form of transportation.

The only valid argument that can be made against surge pricing is that it does not actually motivate drivers to get on the road who are not already working. In a study conducted by The Washington Post's Nicholas Diakopoulos, it was found that surge pricing rates changed rapidly and were more effective in moving already working drivers to areas with surge pricing than it was in motivating other drivers to get on the road. Diakopoulos also found that by moving drivers to the surge pricing areas, it depleted surrounding neighborhoods of drivers and in turn caused those areas to have longer wait times.

Customer claims that

IMAGE COURTESY OF UBER

Uber shared this graph, showing the times expected to have the highest surge pricing, with its users in preparation for New Year's Eve. drivers were cancelling rides on New Year's Eve in order to make customers request another when the surge pricing was even higher are illogical.

"Consistently canceling rides in an effort to manipulate the app or discriminate against riders is in violation of the contract that driver partners sign," Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said in a statement. "Driver partners who do this may be deactivated from the system."

Almost every major news

organization — ABC News, CNN News and Time, just to name a few — published articles on New Year's Eve boasting tips on how to avoid surge pricing.

These tips included avoiding high demand hours, splitting the fare, sharing rides by using Uber Pool and more. While all of these instructions were helpful, there is only one true way to guarantee avoiding them entirely: don’t use Uber.

Hawaii countering cancer

Opinions. Jan. 11, 2016, The DePaulia | 13

By Fabio De Simone Contributing Writer

As of Jan. 1, 2016, Hawaii became the first state in the U.S. to increase the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21 years old. This law also bans the sale, purchase or use of electronic cigarettes for those under the age of 21.

This legislation is the latest in the longrunning nationwide campaign against the use of tobacco products, and legislators in Washington and California have begun to support the idea of an increased statewide age minimum. Consequently, this has brought about a debate regarding whether or not such legislation is as positive as its proponents suggest.

It is difficult to argue with the intent of the law. Discouraging young Americans from smoking is hard to oppose. Smoking and tobacco use cause health issues that have plagued people for decades. Efforts to create a more aware and healthy generation of young people are typically something that everyone can agree with.

That being said, this legislature represents more than a just a hope for healthier, smoke-free Hawaii. It represents the idea that a government should have the ability to limit the rights of citizens in order to protect their health.

The nationwide minimum age for alcohol consumption is what set the precedent for such legislature to follow.

The idea that young adults can have their access to potentially damaging products limited for the benefit of their health and those around them has existed before this law passed in Hawaii. This ideology, however, suggests that age minimums for alcohol have made life safer for young people. But there is conflicting data concerning the effects of the current legal drinking age.

Dwight B. Heath, an anthropology professor at Brown University, argues that the U.S. should approach drinking in the same way as European countries like France and Italy. “In general, the younger people start to drink the safer they are,”

Honolulu retailer Holy Smokes posted signs in its entryway alerting customers to Hawaii's new smoking laws.

Heath said in an interview with CNN. “Alcohol has no mystique. It’s no big deal.

By contrast, where it’s banned until age 21, there’s something of the ‘forbidden fruit’ syndrome.”

Others disagree with that sentiment and cite decreased alcohol-related deaths following the U.S. raising the drinking age to 21. “Minimum legal drinking age laws have proven to be a very effective and important countermeasure for reducing drunk driving when younger drivers are involved,” the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a statement.

Regardless of whether or not the minimum has had positive effects, it is important to note that smoking a cigarette does not have the same effects as drinking. Drunk driving is an issue that the entire country is seemingly poised against, and rightfully so. That makes the idea of limited rights for young adults much easier to stomach as it serves as a mechanism to reduce drunk driving among young people that may be more likely to make poor judgment when

intoxicated. Tobacco use, on the other hand, is a major health hazard to the user, causing more than 480,000 deaths every year in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many states and cities have adopted laws that prohibit indoor smoking, massively reducing the effects of secondhand smoke. Such legislation has existed in Hawaii since 2006. Hawaii’s new age minimum is not an issue of containing second hand smoking. On the other hand, it’s a matter of engineering a society that is healthier through the limitations of its people’s rights. Though the results have proven to be successful in the areas that have implemented a higher minimum age, the means by which these results were reached are reprehensible. With all of that considered, it’s silly to use the age minimum for alcohol as a precedent to raise the age minimum for tobacco use to 21.

Through funding nonprofits such as Truth to forcing tobacco products to include health warnings from the Surgeon General, our state and federal government

CATHY BUSSEWITZ | AP

have effectively discouraged people from using tobacco products. This progress has been achieved through careful and commendable methods without trampling on the rights of young adults. However, by raising the minimum age of tobacco use to 21, Hawaii has limited the autonomy and freedom of its young adults. Hawaii may reach its goal of being smoke-free sooner, though that victory will be marred by the employment of arm-twisting legislature.

Rather than establishing higher minimum age for tobacco use, states should continue to campaign against tobacco use through education. It is wrong to take citizens’ right of self-governance away through some controlling means. In a nation where we discourage overprotective parenting and overly controlling partners, it’s hard to believe that such rigid legislation could have gotten so much support. We should all desire a smoke free America, but not at the cost of American citizens’ rights.

The force is weak with this one

By Eric Traphagen Copy Editor

The best compliment that can be given to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is that it wasn’t bad. Since its release on Dec. 18, 2015, “The Force Awakens” has been breaking box office records and it's now the highest grossing movie domestically of all time.

Along with the Marvel franchise, Walt Disney Studios has proven it knows the formula to making a blockbuster hit, yet it seems with each subsequent release from the media juggernaut Disney, each movie becomes a little bit less substantive, a little more predictable and a little bit less creative.

After the nostalgia faded, the excitement of the franchise rebirth has dwindled and the film stands less of a an actual movie of its own and more of a mere salute to a great franchise “The Force Awakens” did not propel the story forward. It took

few risks in the story arc, and arguably failed to fully develop new, complex characters.

J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII attempted to avoid mistakes of the prequels and repeat the successes of the original trilogy, but any original contribution to the story was lost in the crosshairs.

Kylo Ren was a clear mix between the adolescent Anakin Skywalker and shadowy Darth Vader, Rey was a blatant homage to Luke Skywalker, even coming from a homeworld that looked little different from Skywalker’s desert world Tatooine. John Boyega’s character, Finn, had clear parallels to Han Solo: he is a former storm trooper who is uninterested in the plight of the protagonist and desperately wants to stay as far away from the First Order as he can. Solo’s death was done in the exact same manner as Obi Wan Kenobi’s: with his loved ones — as before, the new, younger generation of protagonists — helplessly

watching from afar, powerless to stop his tragic fate.

Each plot point in the movie seemed to either mirror George Lucas’ “A New Hope” or throw back to the fond memories "Star Wars" fans have of the old films.

There are many mysteries and unanswered questions behind the events that happened in the latest film, but in the end the movie lacks a truly compelling story. Rather than creating an original work of art, Disney and Abrams put a larger emphasis on making a movie that would not upset anyone and in turn make as much money as possible.

Disney owns an absolutely massive amount of media, including but not limited to Disney Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, the production company that in addition to "Star Wars" owns the rights to "Indiana Jones."

This lack of creative risktaking is all part of a business model. Major companies are

increasingly buying up the rights to studio networks. This business practice is known as conglomeration.

In Bill Moyers’ book “Moyers on Democracy, he explains the dangers of conglomeration.

“Conglomerates swallow up newspapers, magazines, publishing houses and networks,” he said. “Profit rather than product becomes the focus of corporate effort.”

The consequence of this is what Stanley J. Baran, author of “Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture,” calls blockbuster mentality. Baran defines blockbuster mentality as “filmmaking characterized by reduced risk- taking and more formulaic movies.”

He even goes so far as to say that “business concerns are said to dominate artistic considerations as accountants and financiers make more decisions once made by creative people.”

The only evidence needed

to demonstrate that profit has been the main concern of the latest "Star Wars" installment is the absurd amount of marketing and promotion dedicated to the movie prior to its holiday release.

The lack of creative storytelling in “The Force Awakens” is nothing new. We are seeing more and more sequels to franchises such as Batman, Marvel, James Bond.

And there is currently another "Indiana Jones" movie in the works.

Unfortunately, it seems not even "Star Wars" is immune to the destructive effects blockbuster mentality has on creativity.

Although there is still some magic to the sound of a lightsaber unsheathing or the music of those iconic closing credits, without a compelling story and characters that magic will lose its virtue with each new installment.

The opinions in this section do not necessarily reflect those of The DePaulia staff.

14 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

Focus

The most renowned bands and musicians to walk through the halls of DePaul

By Jaycee Rockhold Focus Editor

Chicago is home to many well-known and influential musicians.

Rappers like Kanye West and Chance the Rapper instantly pop into mind when thinking about the talent that has come out of this city.

Fan favorites like Rise Against, Alkaline Trio and Pearl Jam all boast members born in Chicago or raised in the suburbs. What’s a little less obvious is that some of these music icons roamed DePaul University’s campus during their college years.

They may not have all graduated, but they all created an impact in music.

Take Fall Out Boy, for example. Pete Wentz, bass player of the rock band, nearly graduated from DePaul. However, just shy of graduating, Wentz dropped out to pursue a career in music. With six full albums,

holding honors such as the Teen Choice Award for Rock Group and over seven million albums sold worldwide, it’s safe to say dropping out benefitted Wentz in the end.

For Becky Yeker, a sophomore cinema studies student at DePaul, Fall Out Boy has been a family affair. Yeker said she has been a fan of the band since third grade as a result of her dad buying her “From Under the Cork Tree,” Fall Out Boy’s second album.

“I used to make music videos in my head to every single song on that album. It feels like childhood to me. It feels like innocent feelings about emotions I didn’t even understand yet,” Yeker said.

“They were the first band that ever sparked any kind of emotion in me. I went down this path of pop punk and alternative, and watched my musical taste go down a very different path than most of peers.”

Fall Out Boy has become a cult classic, especially for those who live in or near the city. Pick Me Up Café, a restaurant in the Lakeview neighborhood, was actually the setting for the “Evening Out With Your Girlfriend” album cover. Since their formation in 2001 in Wilmette, the four-piece band has attracted a huge following, including over 9 million likes on Facebook and nearly 2 million followers on Twitter. Despite a hiatus that kept the fanbase waiting for years in anticipation, dedicated fans still have an emotional tie. “[Fall Out Boy] made me realize that I am passionate about lyrics as well as the music,” Yeker said. “They were my transition into a world of music that would literally change my entire life and way of living.”

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for The Doors, is another

$2,973.33 per total class

Focus. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 15

DEPAUL'S TOP TRACKS

Pete Wentz, bassist for Fall Out Boy, dropped out of DePaul a few weeks before he was supposed to graduate. Wentz toured with the band extensively, playing hundreds of shows before going on hiatus in 2010.

Photo Courtesy of TYLER CURTIS | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

"Sugar, We're Goin Down"

Fall Out Boy Ray Manzarek, keyboardist for The Doors, lived on the South Side of Chicago. After graduating from DePaul with an economics degree, Manzarek moved to California to attend UCLA. There, he met Jim Morrison, frontman of the band.

Photo Courtesy of TRIVIAKING | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

"L.A. Woman"

The Doors

Thomas Krell, a philosophy grad student at DePaul, has been making R&B music for the last few years under the moniker ‘How To Dress Well’. After playing Pitchfork Music Festival and gracing the cover of their magazine, Krell has been DJ’ing smaller clubs around Chicago.

Photo Courtesy of HOW TO DRESS WELL

example of a famous musician to come from DePaul. Manzarek, who was also a producer and a writer, claimed the South Side as his home. After graduating from DePaul with an economics degree and moving to California to attend UCLA, Manzarek met Jim Morrison at Venice Beach. Later on, The Doors would be known as one of the most controversial bands of the 1960’s, singing about topics such as the Oedipus complex all the way to taking LSD (which was legal in California until 1966).

In 2004, Rolling Stone claimed The Doors to be in the top 100 bands of all time, arguing that they stood out because “they didn’t have a bass player. The keyboard held everything together.”

“In my opinion The Doors were an important and influential band. Their allure was impossible to copy,” said Charles Dicola, who teaches a class about The Beatles. “One of the reasons The Doors were successful was because they didn’t sound like anyone else. In their wake I can imagine many young people being attracted to the idea of forming a band, so in that sense the band was also influential”.

In addition to their unique sound, Dicola said that many rock bands like The Doors were a “cultural touchstone for young people in the socially volatile decades of the ‘60s and ‘70s."Rock music often was written about oppression or controversial issues such as the Vietnam War, garnering attention from teenagers and college students.

“Affected by slogans like ‘Never trust anyone over 30’ and ‘I hope I die before I get old’ taken from the music, many young people developed views counter to their parents’ and other authority figures’ rules and regulations," said DiCola. “Listening to rock music and attending rock concerts were outlets from an ever more inexplicable society."

Besides singing about controversial issues, The Doors also gained popularity (and backlash) due to Morrison’s infamous stage antics.

Their live shows would sometimes end in riots, and in some cases, arrests of Morrison himself. A combination of drugs, drinking on stage, and personal issues eventually led to the singer’s death from an overdose in 1971.

“In retrospect, the Doors were like a meteor that blazed brightly for a brief time,” DiCola said. “It’s hard to imagine what they would’ve become had Morrison lived”.

"Repeat Pleasure"

How To Dress Well Lee Loughnane, Walter Parazaider and James Pankow, all members of the famous rock band Chicago, met at DePaul. Combining pop, R&B, jazz and rock, Chicago was often seen frequenting the stage at venues and clubs around the Midwest.

Photo Courtesy of CHICAGO

"If You Leave Me Now"

Chicago

Jeremy Barnes, a folk artist, was formally asked to drop out of DePaul before graduation to play drums in Neutral Milk Hotel. Besides playing and touring with Neutral Milk Hotel, Barnes has also been a part of other musical acts such as Bright Eyes and Beirut.

Photo Courtesy of LUGER | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Photo Courtesy of DANIEL NUGENT | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

"Holland, 1945"

Neutral Milk Hotel Often noticed for their quirky and odd music videos, OK Go, now a Californiabased band, once claimed Chicago as their home. Tim Nordwind, the bass player, was once a student at DePaul before moving away with the rest of the band members. Even though it’s been nearly two decades since the birth of the band, OK Go occasionally releases new music and continues to tour.

"Here It Goes Again"

OK Go

16 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

Arts & Life

YER A CLASS, HARRY The popular “Harry Potter” film and book series are now the subject of three different classes at DePaul this quarter

By Matthew Paras Editor-in-Chief

Heather Easley recalled being in line for a midnight release of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” the fifth installment of the “Harry Potter” series. The DePaul professor was just 22 at the time, but the memory stands out because of where she was waiting — in London at the iconic Waterstones bookstore.

“I got to call my family members and friends at home, who were of course six hours behind us, and tell them I already had the book in my hand,” Easley said. “I’ve got a fantastic picture of me with the book and I look like a kid in a candy store. That’s how I felt.”

“I took the book with (me and fiancé) on our adventures when we went to Stonehenge,” she added. “I just remember thinking ‘these stones are interesting,’ but I really want to get back to my book that’s sitting on my tour bus.”

Even in 2015, Easley’s love for the “Harry Potter” series remains so strong that she’s teaching a class about it at DePaul.

In fact, Easley is one of three professors to have a course about “Harry Potter” for the upcoming winter quarter — two of which are new.

The three classes being offered are “Harry Potter: Welcome to Hogwarts,” “Harry Potter and the Hero’s Journey” and “Topics in Popular Literature: Harry Potter.”

But also, each professor teaching their own courses comes from a different background. Easley normally teaches sociology courses while Rebecca JohnsTrissler teaches English and Christine Reyna teaches psychology.

“We’re in this fantastic position when teaching ‘Harry Potter’ and teaching it right now in that the kids who grew up with Harry were the same ages as Harry when the first book came out,” Easley said. “I’ve found that the students feel this incredible sense of ownership over the ‘Harry Potter’ series and there is a passion behind their love and interest that I don’t get the opportunity to see that with a lot of other subjects.”

Easley is the one professor who has taught about “Harry Potter” before. Her class, “Harry Potter: Welcome to Hogwarts,” ran as a focal-point seminar, a class designed for freshmen, twice last year. She said the course is separated into three different categories: business, religion and English.

For the two professors who are teaching their classes for the first time, both said they were excited to apply Joseph Campbell’s theory of the hero’s journey to the Potter series. While Reyna’s class is a focal-point seminar and Johns-Trissler’s is a literature course, both will examine what it means to be a hero and why it applies to the series.

“The ‘Harry Potter’ series provided a lot of fertile ground for creativity and exploring the Hero’s Journey,” Reyna said.

“Unlike a single movie, like ‘Finding Nemo’ or whatever, each book is like a miniature hero’s journey. Each story arc profoundly represents the journey … There’s not just a single answer to every question. There’s many ways to look at these transformations with so many important views.”

Johns-Trissler said her students will read Joseph Campbell’s “Heroes of a Thousand Faces.” She said after reading the series to her daughter and hearing feedback from her students, Johns-Trissler was inspired to pitch the class to the English department.

“My students would often, when I’d ask them to bring in a piece of their favorite creative writing, bring in one of the ‘Harry Potter’ books,” Johns-Trissler said. “Some of the students really wanted the chances to study it in more depth. I figured ‘why not?

Let’s give it a try.’”

All three classes, the professors said, filled up fast with each class being waitlisted, meaning students can’t enroll in a class unless another person drops it.

Freshman Madeline Obrzut said she’s taking “the Hero’s Journey” course because of her love for the series. Like Easley, Obrzut has her own memories of connecting with the series. Obrzut remembers seeing a backto-back double feature for when “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” was released in 2011.

“Even though technically it’s a children’s

Additional popculture classes offered this quarter

series, or started as a young adult, I think there’s a lot you can learn from it,” Obrzut said. “When I read it when I was 13, 14, 15, I just got the storyline. I kind of want to see what’s deeper in the message.”

While they will dive deeper into the subjects, the classes will also incorporate elements from the novel to help with the students’ enjoyment of the class.

“We’re going to be breaking into houses just like the books,” Johns-Trissler said.

“We’re going to be breaking into Gryffindors and Slytherins to have some interactions that have group work. I expect there will be a great amount of enthusiasm from the students and it’s pretty exciting when that happens.”

Students taking any of the three courses are already expected to have read the series by the time the class starts. Only Easley’s class is it not a requirement as they reread the first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Easley said, though, that most of her students have read the series multiple times.

And while the classes are tailored to those who love the series, all three professors said they see the educational value in learning about “Harry Potter.”

“One of the things I think is really fascinating about the ‘Harry Potter’ series is that you get to spend so much time with these characters,” Reyna said. “You not only get to see them grow up and then mature, but as they matured the issues they had to deal with a lot more heavy and a lot more serious.”

Easley also said the number of novels gives her a lot of options.

“Given the breadth of this series, the themes presented and the sheer number of volumes and pages presented that we have to pull from, there are so many topics that we get to pull from,” Easley said. “These are topics that students love to talk about.”

Graphics by KATIE TAMOSIUNAS AND CAROLYN DUFF | THE DEPAULIA

Arts & Life. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia. | 17

DePaul student overcomes obstacles, starts modeling

By Lauren Hernandez Contributing Writer

Last spring, DePaul student Miguel Zambrano stripped down and submitted his bare photos to several Chicago-based modeling agencies as a “why not?” effort.

There was always a part of him that hoped for a result; he had dreamed about being a model since he was a kid, but he was just taking a chance.

“When I was in middle school, I would always go to the socks and underwear sections at Target or Meijer and see men posing on the packages that were insanely ripped,” Zambrano said.

“They just looked so confident.

They looked like they were proud of themselves.”

He never believed it would be easy. Reminders of how hard it was going to be surrounded him.

“In sixth grade, we had to share our dream careers, and I said underwear model. A boy in the class said, ‘You could never do that,’” he said.

His desire to be like the men on the plastic undergarment packages sparked his early love of the spotlight, but the dream was tarnished by obstacles he faced as a child. Zambrano was overweight growing up, weighing 160 pounds at the age of 12.

“I was already being bullied for being gay in middle school, but then it started being about my weight, too,” he said.

Zambrano was raised in what he called an extremely conservative, upper-class part of Naperville, which is why he felt he found himself standing out often. The attention only increased when Zambrano joined the cheerleading team.

“I was one of the only males, so I stood out. I was the only Hispanic, so I stood out. I was the only gay person, so I stood out,” he said. “It was hard for me to not feel uncomfortable for standing out.”

He was stuck in the spotlight, but not in any of the ways he wanted. He continued cheerleading and faced his bullies with the advice of his ever-

Photo courtesy of MIGUEL ZAMBRANO

DePaul student Miguel Zambrano achieved his goals and signed to a modeling agency after facing years of adversity for his sexual orientation and weight and overcoming an eating disorder. supportive mother.

“It was hard as a mother to watch my son go through so much. He kept things so quiet,” Miguel’s mother, Laura Thomas, said.

It was his mother’s compassionate words that kept him going, helping him become a confident person. But being the active cheerleader and aspiring underwear model that he was, Zambrano still found his weight and body image to be a hindrance.

Then he got sick.

He was diagnosed with endoplasmic pneumonia. It killed his appetite. He routinely did not keep food down. Every couple of days, he would drop a little bit

of weight. Zambrano graduated middle school with just over half his initial weight at 89 pounds.

“Later, I would blame the pneumonia for my weigh loss, even though it was already gone,” he said. “When I started to turn yellow from malnutrition, I was admitted to a hospital and fed through an IV.” It wasn’t until this hospital visit that a doctor proposed Zambrano was suffering from a mental illness. The doctor suggested that Zambrano was depressed and should be sent to a facility for other kids facing the same problems. Zambrano was still a minor, not even 15 years old yet, and begged his mother not to

FUNNY BUSINESS

By Pat Mullane Staff Writer

It takes a certain type of person to dive into the world of standup comedy, a fierce environment dependent upon applause and laughter in order for survival. For some, being stranded alone on a stage with only a microphone as a crowd hungry for laughter surrounds them might be their worst nightmare. But for three DePaul students, it’s a dream come true.

With weekly gigs in addition to open mic nights, DePaul sophomores Martin O’Connor, Josh Ejnes and senior Jaboukie Young-White have experienced their fair share of life behind the mic. As producers of the Playground Theater’s newest standup show — Undergrad Underground — the three DePaul students, along with a student from Columbia College, have given aspiring comedians the opportunity for that life in finding and choosing a different lineup of standup comics every Thursday night.

“When you’re producing, your job is

sign off on it. Trusting her son, she refused the doctor’s order.

“His doctor told me he might’ve been depressed. I got scared. We took him to a social worker just so he could talk to a professional,” Thomas said.

Zambrano’s body was still shrinking upon entering high school, where he became isolated.

“I thought the name-calling and teasing and bullying would stop. I didn’t want anyone to look at me,” he said.

There’s a stigma among mental illness and eating disorders. They often are not recognized or detected because they simply aren’t believed to exist, and Zambrano’s parents

were no exception in refusing to acknowledge his problem.

“I couldn’t talk to my dad, who’s an immigrant from Mexico, because he didn’t know it was an illness,” he said. “I didn’t even know if it was part of puberty or being a teenager.”

One weekend, Zambrano’s godmother, who hadn’t seen him in over a year visited, from New York. She thought he was out of earshot when she expressed fear to his dad about how skinny he looked.

“I always heard these things coming from people who didn’t like me, but hearing it from a person who cared about my wellbeing made me realize that it had to stop,” he said.

He started to work out in his basement. He kept cheerleading.

He turned to a healthy diet. It was hard work, but he wanted to change. He crafted the body that still struggled to be on the cover of Calvin Klein packages.

“I overcame my obstacles because the people I look up to aren’t on the cover of ‘GQ,’ but those who support me,” Zambrano said.

He finds solace in the fact that he is still growing and learning. Zambrano says he’s still an individual recovering from an eating disorder. He can still recite the number of calories in a chai tea latte by heart, but he’s confident when he says that he didn’t let himself become a victim, which is why he’s advancing in an industry so reliant on appearance.

“He is such a remarkable young man. I swear, Miguel has enough confidence now for three men his age,” Thomas said. “He has this aura to him that people feed off of, and it’s amazing. My son is an inspiration to me.”

When an email response from Prestige Du Monde Models found its way to Zambrano’s inbox a few months after sending in his photos, he initially avoided reading it out of sheer nervousness. His aunt had to coax him into reading it, and by the end of the email, he was a sobbing, signed model.

DePaul student comedians produce stand-up show

mostly to focus on the other performers,” O’Connor said. “One of us will be on stage every other week, but as producers we’re out at open mic nights looking for talent and making sure we’re going to be putting on a good show.”

While their center of attention isn’t primarily on their own jokes behind the microphone, they’ve certainly been there before. As with every comedian, their very first time on stage in front of an audience — good or bad — was unforgettable.

For Young-White, it was a night he still remembers fondly.

“I’ll always remember that night, my first try at standup,” Young-White said. “It was god-awful. I don’t remember saying a word up there. I swear they gave me a little notebook after the show because they felt bad.”

In contrast to the cutthroat stand up competition and environment in cities like New York and Los Angeles, Chicago finds itself to be more friendly. With shows like Undergrad Underground and

open mic nights — where comedians can test their jokes out with other comedians — the city has paved its way as an open door to aspiring standup comics.

An open door Ejnes took when he transferred to DePaul from University of Missouri in hope to find more standup opportunities.

“I’d say Chicago’s the best place to start really, there’s no one definite industry here,” Ejnes said. “All the mics are close to each other, and of course it can still get competitive sometimes, but it’s never extreme. The majority of people in Chicago aren’t doing standup full time. I’d say it’s really friendly.”

“In cities like New York, you can bomb one night and sometimes they’ll always remember you for it,” O’Connor said.

That isn’t to say Chicago comics are free of either criticism or judgment.

“My mom,” O’Conner said about being told comedy isn’t his trade. said laughing.

“She’s definitely told me that once or twice.

And how do I take it, well I got my own

show with these guys.”

And like that, with each gig and every show, those nerves they once had lessened.

With each laugh and every applause, there’d been a reassurance of being behind that mic, a type of purpose for them three.

“You go up on that stage so many times you eventually become numb to the anxiety, and that is such an important part of being able to be a comedian,” YoungWhite said.

“I mean everyone still gets nerves,” Ejnes said. “You’re making up and writing new jokes every day and you should be trying them out every night. Whether they fail or not to make people laugh is the entire point, so don’t worry about it.”

“The way I look at it is when you’re on that stage behind the mic, you’re the student. And your audience is your teacher,” O’Connor said.

Undergrad Underground is at the Playground Theater every Thursday at 10 p.m.

18 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

MADDY CROZIER | THE DEPAULIA

DePaul sophomore Stephanie Lehocky, freshman Dan Gotsch and junior Janaki Soni (L to R) take part in the DePaul After Dark event, “A Night at Hogwarts.” Some of the events students could take part in included sampling candy from a candy bar (middle) and creating bookmarks based on their Hogwarts house colors (right).

Wizards for a night

DAB hosts Harry Potter event in which students can “attend” Hogwarts

By Maddy Crozier Contributing Writer

DePaul Activities Board (DAB) magically transformed the Student Center into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for its DePaul After Dark event last Thursday.

More than 350 students, wizards, witches and muggles alike gathered to enjoy the spread of activities. Senior Kasia Kujawski, who helped take attendance, called the night “really successful” because it attracted “a lot of people who wouldn’t have come otherwise.”

Freshman Arturo Echevarria said that he has been “obsessed” with Harry Potter since kindergarten.

Attendees received two raffle tickets for prizes, including a coveted Harry Potter paperback book box set with a wand.

The legendary Honeydukes Sweet Shop offered a candy station with three whimsical treats.

Students filled their bags with Fizzing Whizbees (Pop Rocks), Nagini Snakes (gummy worms) and the classic Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans (jelly beans).

“We finished off all the jelly beans first,” sophomore Ayesha Chaudhry said.

A mocktail potion class really made it a night at Hogwarts with an interactive Butterbeer bar.

Cream soda, butterscotch syrup, a few drops of vanilla extract and whipped cream created the well-known drink in the series. Students could also try a pink love potion spiced with ginger ale called Amortentia. A bubbling cauldron of dry ice, as

well as battery-operated candles, set the magical scene. Tables were scattered with “dark mark” temporary tattoos.

“The Butterbeer ingredients mixed so well together,” freshman Mei Badecker said. Sophomore Stephanie Lehocky agreed and said the butterebeer tasted just like it does at Universal Orlando’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Students also had a unique opportunity to play the competitive sport of the wizarding world, Quidditch. At Hogwarts, witches and wizards play it riding flying broomsticks. DAB swapped the broomsticks for pool noodles and tall goals for hula hoops, and let the games begin.

Senior Niraun Kittiviriya commented that it’s hard not to look “weird and awkward running with a pool noodle between your legs.” But, that was part of the fun.

The object of the game is to land the Quaffle, a ball, through the hoop for 10 points, or for thirty points, to catch the golden snitch, which was, throughout the night, the position of DAB members such as juniors Katriel Hampton-King and Matt Welsh.

Junior Laurel Pierce refereed with sophomore Betsy Lugo announcing for most of the matches.

“It was lots of fun,” sophomore James Ryan said, who played the seeker position for his team in the first Quidditch match. He liked the hula-hoop goals, calling them “charming” in comparison to the towering goals at the Hogwarts stadium.

The secret to finding the train to Hogwarts is entering through

MADDY CROZIER | THE DEPAULIA

A string quartet consisting of DePaul students Emily McClean, Danielle Simandl, Dana Debofsky and Joshua Dema played themes from the “Harry Potter” series for attendees of DAB’S DePaul After Dark event.

Platform 9 ¾.

Students had the chance to pose in front of it before entering the Quidditch arena.

In Brownstone’s, a string quartet played some recognizable music from the movies. Violinists Emily McClean and Danielle Simandl, both second-year performance certificate students, teamed up with violist Dana Debofsky and cellist Joshua Dema, both first-year masters students, for an artful performance full of talent.

Upstairs, students tried their luck with the Sorting Hat. First they filled out a quiz that asked them questions like ‘Which spell would you cast on yourself?’ and

‘Which animal would you choose for your Hogwarts pet?’

Then, junior Josue Ortiz, acting as the personification of the Sorting Hat, would call each person to the stage while students tried on a sorting hat. After each placement into a different house — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin — other students would clap for their new housemate.

Also in the dining hall, students could make a bookmark shaped like a tie or a scarf in their houses’ colors.

At 9 p.m., DAB showed “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” the fourth movie in the series.

A themed crossword puzzle and

word search were both available, as well as coloring pages.

DAB was able to “cover the whole student center” with the event, junior Lindsay Frommer said.

Though the popular candy bar ran out around 9 p.m., Quidditch matches continued until after 11 p.m.

“Tonight was some of the most fun we’ve had here,” freshman Alex Perry said.

Fellow freshman Sarah Greenwell added, “it made not getting my letter from Hogwarts a little easier.”

Arts & Life. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia. | 19

‘The Revenant’ actor talks filming experience

By Matt Koske Staff Writer

Based on true events and Michael Punke’s novel, “The Revenant” tells the story of a frontiersman in the 1820’s who set out on an epic survival journey for vengeance after being left behind following a bear mauling.

A visceral, immersive experience, Alejandro González Iñárritu returns to directing “The Revenant.” The film opened everywhere on Jan. 8 and The DePaulia sat down with one of the stars of the film, Will Poulter, who plays Jim Bridger.

The DePaulia: This is an extremely intense script, what did you bring to your character and how did you approach the role of Jim Bridger?

Will Poulter: I didn’t know much at all about the trapping community or what it meant to be a trapper. I quickly learned after reading the script and talking to some historical professionals that these were some incredibly tough men that risked their lives in harsh conditions. They came from all corners of the world in order to do this. I knew I was in for an intense time.

I Googled Jim Bridger, who Alejandro informed me was kind of a famous man ,and was fortunate enough to have quite a lot of information on Jim. Alejandro, the writers and myself designed a personality that was independent of what history had recorded. I knew Jim went on to be a famous and a pretty well-respected guy. I think what we tried to bring to Jim’s personality is the concept of a boy that is not quite a man and who is trying to mature in these difficult circumstances and bridge the gap between boy and man. It was about playing

that inner turmoil and the confusion.

DePaulia: How did the shooting schedule limit, or perhaps enhance, your ability as an actor that you didn’t have in previous roles?

WP: It was unique because unlike any other movie I’ve done, 90 percent of the day was spent rehearsing and 10 percent spent shooting. The actual window of shooting was when the light was in the correct place in the sky and once everything was coordinated, plotted and put together, we did have a small time to capture it.

You think that would be constraining or that we would feel limited by it, but it actually gave us a focus point everyday.

We came in every day and knew we would be shooting between 4:30 and 6, so lets make sure that we do everything possible to ensure that we nail it in that window.

It fueled us with a focus and a drive. It was great. It was something I have never experienced before, and it was easy to stay in character because we were constantly on.

DePaulia: How did the physical conditions of the shooting locations impact the project?

WP: A lot has been made of the weather conditions about them being brutal, but as hard it was to work through those conditions and the climate, it was absolutely necessary.

It is one of the most beautiful and visually stunning films I have ever seen.

Shooting on location in natural light and in those actual conditions was necessary to create the immersive and stressful experience of watching the movie. There was no way of manufacturing that or fabricating it in any way. We could have been in a studio with snow blowers and

Photo courtesy of 20th CENTURY FOX

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in “The Revenant,” which follows the experiences of frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass (DiCaprio). wind machines but for me it wouldn’t great to be part of those signature camera create the movie that we have. moves that make him so famous.

I feel really lucky that I got to experience DePaulia: Working on this project what it’s like to make a movie like back in with the stellar cast and crew, what did you the day, you know good, old-fashioned, old learn that you wish to take with you as you school filmmaking. I’m very honored that further your career? the project is as high quality as it is.

WP: I think something that I always felt DePaulia: Alejandro specializes in his strongly about and enjoyed is teamwork. long, wide shots. The opening sequence It’s very helpful when everyone operates is just this, how was it preparing and as a team, and if you operate as a bunch executing that scene? of individuals, you are destined for failure.

WP: It was so fun. That was a masterful This was a great example that solidified that piece of camerawork because frighteningly for me. Our best days of work are when large proportions of that are one long shot, we pulled together and worked for one but there were also some clever stitches another. I will definitely take that forward where he (Alejandro) brings together two with me. I also explored my own personal shots pretty seamlessly. limits in terms of what I can endure and My section was near the beginning and how long I can spend time in character or it all played in one shot. I come up from how long I can last in a sense. It’s given me the trees, the guy gets the arrow through resilience because I think this is the hardest the neck, I’m looking around, the camera is thing I’ve ever shot. tracking us, it was a good minute and it was

20 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

JESUS MONTERO | THE DEPAULIA

Owners Brian Lee and Bane Srdjevic give instructions to players before they enter their escape room, Lock Chicago. The escape room is located in Evanston, and offers attendees a chance to solve puzzles in order to get out of a room. They can use the black boxes to help point the reflection to things in the room (right).

Evanston escape room offers attendees a sense of adventure

By Jesus Montero Staff Writer

Opening this past week in Evanston is the Lock Chicago, a new adventure escape room. Escape rooms are a mixture of theater, decorated themes and puzzles that groups must solve under a specific time in order to reach the goal and escape the room.

The popularity of escape rooms is a growing trend of themed entertainment popping up across the country.

With challenges that are meant to stump the mind, these twisted puzzles are a unique experience within each room.

In its first week, the Sunburn at the Lock Chicago offers guests creative and challenging puzzles that must be solved in order to escape the room before their

timely demise after one hour. Immersed in clues and of rushed anxiety throughout your time trying to solve all of the clues it creates a well-timed frenzy with its players.

The Sunburn room was mic’d up with video feed to the outside. Players are given three clues that they can use during the escape if needed.

The room’s theme focused on finding the fabled Sun Treasure which unfortunately is located in a crystal tomb that is constantly being protected by sunlight.

Only during a one-hour solar eclipse can players find the treasure and escape the room before the sun burns one to a crisp. This room focuses on light as a tool for escaping and navigating throughout the dark to find the location of the Sun Treasure.

“We want to make sure people are

enjoying what they’re doing.” Bane Srdjevic, co-owner of Lock Chicago said. Srdjevic started the escape room along with high school friend and fellow Wilmette native Brian Lee. They were inspired to create an escape room after visiting one made by a friend in Kansas last summer.

“We just want people to have a really good experience,” Lee said. “It’s a fun activity that we’ve done before at other cities. We want to incorporate as many different facets of all these rooms without completely scaring people but keeping them at the edge of their seats.”

Seeking to entertain while providing mental challenges to their customers, both Lee and Srdjevic are passionate about their escape room.

“We have your typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs but it really wasn’t enough.” Lee added.

“There’s so many cool things out there, getting the chance to do this ourselves we just wanted to be a part of that, getting the chance to do this ourselves is a pretty cool experience.”

“We want to pick things we like doing from puzzles from video games that we might want to bring to real life to people,” Srdjevic added on his thoughts on the escape room. “Things they won‘t be able to interact with off the screen while also learning new ways of thinking, working on parts of their brain that they might not have a chance to work on for a while.“ The Lock Chicago is offering DePaul students a 20 percent discount when checking out with the coupon code “DIBS.”

Arts & Life. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia. | 21

Rapper’s Delight

DePaul students perform at House of Blues in rap group Co-Stanza

Photo courtesy of SAMANTHA MEYER

DePaul freshman Jack Costanza on stage at the House of Blues on Jan. 3 as part of the group Co-Stanza.

By Megan Stringer Contributing Writer

When rapper Jack Costanza plays his music, he wants to relay his passion. That’s exactly what he had the opportunity to do onstage at House of Blues last Sunday night, Jan. 3.

Costanza is a member of the group Co-Stanza along with drummer Maxx Ludeke, singer Abbie Boswell and DJ Peter Koulos. The group formerly played House of Blues as an opener, but this time they had the stage as headliner.

Costanza and Ludeke are both freshmen at DePaul University. Although neither are majoring in music, both are confident that it will always remain a major part of their lives.

“It’s electric. As soon as you are out there and the microphone is on and the lights are there, you know it’s gonna sound so good, because it’s such a high quality system,” Costanza said about performing at the House of Blues. “Everyone’s there, they’ve been there for a while, and they’re ready to let it go for the last show.”

The duo met during their sophomore year of high school at Naperville North, where they both attended. Although Ludeke has been playing drums since the age of five, Costanza is somewhat new to his craft, having started rapping his sophomore year for fun with some friends.

By the time his junior year came around, what started off as a joke for Costanza turned into live garage shows, and he realized music was something he was passionate about. Then came the booking agent, and the local suburban gigs, and eventually, House of Blues.

“Being a rapper and a singer, I run out of breath pretty easily, and I don’t like to have backing tracks for it — but at House of Blues you have so much stage to command that I probably should have done some cardio to prepare for the show,” Costanza said.

He certainly embraces a feeling of freedom in his music. He would describe his style as alternative hip-hop and rap, with some poetic elements. His music has been related to that of George Watsky and Twenty One Pilots, but with less of a pop influence.

For the most part, Co-Stanza keeps things lighthearted and fun. The passion of live performance is what Costanza and Ludeke thrive on most.

“I personally like the smaller venues, but I think that my personality when I’m drumming really comes out in the bigger shows,” Ludeke said. “So House of Blues, one of the bigger shows that I’ve ever played, it brings out my full potential, because I have to fill it. There’s a lot of people there, people are expecting a good show.”

Among the crowd present at House of Blues to see Co-Stanza was Ryan Dengel, a friend of both Costanza and Ludeke.

Dengel has played in bands before, and he would often speak about performing, writing and the realities of being a musician full time, rather than doing it as a hobby with Costanza. These conversations are what brought them together as friends.

“Jack’s growth is very clearly visible.

He has a presence about him,” Dengel said. “I met him his freshman year in high school, and he’s clearly grown into his own skin and matured a lot. He has charisma. When you get him one on one or you see him on stage, it’s very much the same person; he’s extremely authentic.”

Dengel didn’t stop smiling the whole time Costanza and Ludeke were on stage.

Through landing the gig at House of Blues as freshmen college students, Co-Stanza has proven their passion and dedication. They manage to take a whole genre and make it all their own, through elements of both music and poetry. In regards to the group’s future, they plan to continue keeping things interesting and innovative with their music.

“I took a couple lessons from a local drummer who is very into Afro-rhythm,” Ludeke said. “What Afro-rhythm brings to the table is multiple rhythms at the same time, which is how I like to think about drumming. Sure you’re playing a consistent beat, but it’s also okay to throw in a couple off-beats and make it interesting to listen to, instead of just being the backing of a track.”

In the future, Co-Stanza is going to attempt to keep holding energetic and engaging performances.

“You run from side to side and get everybody involved and it can be exhausting; but that comes with the fact that you get a big stage and you get to be everywhere,” Costanza said. “It’s nice to have that freedom.”

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Arts & Life. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia. | 23

what’sFRESH in FILM

in MUSIC Cage the Elephant “Tell Me I’m Pretty” Dec. 18

Known for their head-banging hits and angsty anthem cries, Cage the Elephant’s fourth album “Tell Me I’m Pretty” loses the attitude and replaces it with melancholia. Drawing on themes of mortality and death, the albums’ lyrics remain true to the band’s previous style, but their sound shifts. Released on Dec. 18, the album slows things down and draws upon jazzier styles.

In its attempt for change it loses the Cage the Elephant charm.

Photo courtesy of NETFLIX

“Making A Murderer”

MADELINE HAPPOLD | THE DEPAULIA

Dec. 18 Netflix Netflix’s original true crime drama series, “Making a Murderer,” is 10 hours of bubbling frustration not only for the audience but for the key players involved in Steven Avery’s case that the documentarians followed for 10 years.

In 1985, Steven Avery was wrongfully charged with the rape of Penny Beerntsen and was released from prison 18 years later. However, amid his federal lawsuit against the county, Avery was arrested for the murder of a missing woman, Teresa Halbach.

The show delves into the murder trial and Avery’s defense, implying that police planted evidence to incriminate him. “Making A Murderer” is bursting at the seams with criticism of law enforcement, the quality of the criminal justice system, family, community and if truth can really set someone free.

LIVE Jan. 13 Muse United Center 1901 W. Madison St., $39.50

Jan. 16 Bully Metro 3730 N. Clark St., $16

Jan. 15 Buddy Guy Buddy Guy’s Legends 700 S. Wabash Ave., $65

Jan. 17 Bob Saget Thalia Hall 1225 W. 18th St, $45

MANDY DUROSE | THE DEPAULIA

. 1 16 N JA , 20 D I 15 L VA RCH MA

any Treasure Island Foods’ purchase January 1 through March 15, 2016*

Step 1

PRESENT STUDENT ID AT CHECKOUT

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GET 10% DISCOUNT

*Not valid on wine, beer or spirits. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Must have a valid Illinios student ID.

lakeview | 3460 N. BROADWAY ST. gold coast | 75 W. ELM ST. old town | 1639 N. WELLS ST. streeterville | 680 N. LAKE SHORE DR. lincoln park | 2121 N. CLYBOURN AVE hyde park | 1526 E. 55TH ST. wilmette | 911 RIDGE RD.

24 | The DePaulia. Jan. 11, 2016

St.Vincent’s

D e JAMZ

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2

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“Spinning fresh beats since 1581”

ILLUSTRATION | THE DEPAULIA

5

Find this and all our DeJamz playlists on depauliaonline.com and on our spotify account

By Erin Yarnall Arts & Life Editor

Fans of music festivals and band reunions were delighted on Jan. 4, when the highly awaited Coachella lineup was released. The lineup features huge reunions from bands including LCD Soundsystem and Guns N’ Roses.

While Coachella takes place in Indio, California, the lineup usually gives good clues as to who’s playing Chicago festivals such as Pitchfork and Lollapalooza.

Here are some of my hopes (based on Coachella’s lineup) for who will hit Chicago in the summer.

1. Ice Cube — “It Was A Good Day” After years of focusing mostly on his film career, Ice Cube is back to his musical roots. Maybe seeing his start in N.W.A in last year’s “Straight Outta Compton” inspired him, because the legendary rapper also headlined last year’s Riot Fest and performed the titular song with DJ Yella.

It’s hard to imagine Ice Cube coming back to Chicago so quickly after playing Riot Fest, but because I chose to see No Doubt instead of him during their conflicting sets, I really hope it happens.

Crossword

2. Courtney Barnett — “Pedestrian At Best” Last year was all about Courtney Barnett after she released her critically acclaimed album “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit.” The Australian musician was one of the best performances at last year’s Pitchfork festival.

3. Matt and Kim — “Daylight” As one of the most fun bands to see live, it’s disappointing to see Matt and Kim in a festival setting, but there’s no possibility of the duo putting on a disappointing set wherever it’s located.

With their energetic music and passion for their performances, they’re definitely

Across 1. Tools for duels 6. Louisville Sluggers, e.g.

10. Public relations need 14. Brother of Moses 15. Bone ___ (study) 16. Orchestral “tuning fork” 17. They have supporting parts 20. Arctic plain 21. Wearable wares 21. Kind of node or gland 25. Prefix with “violet” 26. Miss America’s accessory 30. Toward sunrise 32. “To tell the truth..”

35. Wobbly, e.g.

41. Diplomatic official 43. Medium-sized sofa 44. Suppress, in a way 45. Farm storage unit 47. Tramp’s companion 48. Oscar or Tony

one of the best bands to catch when they come back to Chicago.

welcome addition to Pitchfork or Lollapalooza this summer.

4. The Front Bottoms — “Maps” The Front Bottoms are a band that tour pretty regularly, but due to their hardcore fanbase, their shows always sell out instantly. Maybe if they play one of Chicago’s festivals this summer I’ll have a chance to see them for once.

6. Guns N’ Roses — “Welcome to the Jungle” One of the biggest pieces of news to come out of the Coachella lineup was that Guns N’ Roses are reuniting to headline the festival. The band has toured as recently as 2014, but their Coachella performance will be the first time they have performed with original guitarist Slash since 1996. Original bassist Duff McKagan will also rejoin the band for their performance.

While the festival takes place in a California desert, Coachella attendees are definitely going to be in the jungle for the duration of the legendary band’s set.

5. Girlpool — “Chinatown” The Los Angeles-based duo released their debut album this past year, and have finally started to get the recognition that they have deserved since they began.

Members Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad work so well together that they would make a

53. Four-door model 56. Common sight in Arizona 58. ___ out at (reproved harshly) 63. Put one in the win column 66. Move like floor mud 67. Performances for one 68. Synthetic fiber 69. ___ the line (behaved) 70. Ball-shaped cheese 71. Clear the chalkboard Down 1. Verifiable statement 2. Diamond Head locale 3. Persia, now 4. “Little ___ Fauntleroy” 5. Doberman’s warning 6. “__ seriously,

folks...”

7. Barbary beast 8. Synagogue scrolls 9. Click the fingers 10. “___ Recall” (Scifi film) 11. Cancel, to NASA 12. Apple gizmo 13. Electric auto brand 18. Cartographic speck 19. “Brain” of a PC 23. Pinochle term 24. Due 26. Some flies or bunts, for short 27. Muscle malady 28. “Immediately!” in the OR 29. Wound 31. Dense clump of trees or bushes 33. Questionnaire datum 34. Harper and Stan 36. ___ King Cole 37. It’s under the window 38. Length times

width, often 39. Long-running conflict 40. TV sports prize 42. It’s sometimes “junk” 46. Certain crustacean 48. English horse race 49. “Yippee!”

50. Like curious onlookers 51. Wore the crown 52. N. or S. state, briefly 54. Kentucky boxing legend 55. Oyster shell interior 57. Ticky play, e.g.

59. Rigel or Vega, e.g.

60. Georgetown athlete 61. Winged god of love 62. Force of physics 64. Chicken ___ king 65. ___ and vigor

Sports. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 25

Sports

Women's soccer plugs holes with transfers

By Ben Gartland Sports Editor

Junior forward Abby Reed transferred to DePaul in 2014 and has put in 17 goals in the net in two seasons. Junior defender Taylor Schissler transferred to DePaul in 2015 and started all 20 games for the Blue Demons.

DePaul women’s soccer has been able to plug holes in their lineup with transfers as well as recruits in the past couple of seasons. As they lose four members of their starting lineup, two transfers are poised to fill the open slots.

Kelli Hubly, a senior forward previously from Kentucky, transferred to DePaul before the 2015 season. In three seasons with the Wildcats she had ten goals and seven assists before transerring in 2015. She could have added some width to the Blue Demons' offense in 2015, but Hubly redshirted instead, saving her for the 2016 season.

"Kentucky wasn't a good fit for me, even if I tried to force it to be a good fit for me, it just wasn't," Hubly said. "Soccer-wise I didn't really get along with my coach at Kentucky. It was kind of a forced relationship so finally I decided to transfer."

The transfer gives DePaul

another attacker for the 2016 season. With senior forward Elise Wyatt and her school record 35 career goals graduating, the Blue Demons needed a forward to step in.

"I'm definitely a different player than (Wyatt) because I like to stay out wide and my thing out wide," she said. "I'm so different than her because I can help bring other people in to score."

Hubly will have Reed to assist, as well as freshmen forwards Franny Cerny and Madeline Frick who combined for ten goals in their debut seasons.

Another transfer who will start her DePaul playing career in 2016 is Abigail Callahan, a sophomore midfielder and defender from Southern California.

She can play either outside back or outside midfielder, where she says she is likely to play defender. Seniors Brianna Rice and Sarah Gorden are graduating, which leaves two spots open on the back line.

“We are really excited to be adding Abigail to our program,” head coach Erin Chastain said in a press release. “She is very athletic, naturally left-footed and a talented soccer player. She will be a great fit at left back or the wing mid spot for our team."

Callahan wanted to be a film major, which was a primary

factor in looking at DePaul.

Combined with how DePaul has risen the past few seasons and where she saw herself going, DePaul became her top choice.

"I was looking at a few but DePaul was my top because of its location," she said. "I've only heard good things about it."

DePaul, with its film school and rising status on the national soccer stage, became a top option that offered her a better opportunity than USC. "I just didn't feel like I was reaching my potential," she said.

"I wasn't in the major I wanted to be in and with soccer I didn't feel like I was reaching my potential so I wanted to try something new and get out of California."

Both of the transfers contacted DePaul once they were released, a difference from a few years ago when DePaul barely registered on the minds of top recruits. Hubly didn't look at DePaul and wanted to get away from her Chicago area home for college. But now she'll play close to home with a program on the rise.

"My freshman year (DePaul) wasn't up there, so to see they were really getting somewhere so I thought 'Wow, I really want to go there,'" Hubly said. "This is a program that is a good program and it's a good fit for me."

Photo courtesy of DEPAUL ATHLETICS

Sophomore defender Abigail Callahan at Southern California.

26 | Sports. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia

&

HIGHS LOWS Over the break, both men's and women's basketball had big wins, but bad losses as well Dec. 9 - DePaul wins third

straight game with 74-71 victory at Drake

Nov. 21 - DePaul drops third

Dec. 19 - DePaul

outclassed in 79-60 loss at Stanford

straight in 83-67 loss to Florida State.

Dec. 12 -

Women's basketball rolls through No. 15 Texas A&M on the road 80-66

Dec. 15- Women's basketball falls at South Dakota State 88-79

DEPAULIA FILE PHOTOS

High intensity leads women's basketball

By Matthew Paras Editor-in-Chief

When DePaul women’s basketball head coach Doug Bruno analyzes a season, he looks at progress in three different pillars.

The first is to learn how to win. The Blue Demons are off to a strong start in that regard. DePaul is 12-6, 4-1 to start the Big East and ranked No. 24 in the country.

The second, Bruno said, is to learn how to handle winning. To Bruno that means not getting ahead of themselves, not letting up leads and getting too happy when they win.

But it’s the third pillar that will test the Blue Demons for the last half of the season, and will be telling if DePaul can make history in advancing beyond the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament.

“Really good teams learn how to win and learn how to handle winning, and then they learn how to grow themselves while winning,” Bruno said. “Yes, it’s great for coaches to talk about learning from losses … however, it’s also very nice to learn from winning.

“We’re trying to get better with each practice, each repetition, each possession, so we can grow this team and not be just satisfied with what happened the other night.”

There have certainty been moments this season that have tested the Blue Demons. They’ve already faced six teams ranked in the Top 25, going 3-3 in those games. The Blue Demons have commanding wins over then-ranked No. 12 Northwestern and No. 15 Texas A&M,

and even pushed No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Notre Dame.

Yet, the Blue Demons have also been tested in unexpected moments. On Monday, Dec. 21, DePaul suffered an uncharacteristic 88-75 loss at home to Loyola, who was just 2-7 at the time.

And while they haven’t lost a game since then, the Blue Demons have also blown 13-point leads to Marquette, was outscored 50-31 in the second half in a 10-point win against St. John’s and at one point, Seton Hall clawed their way back from a 60-36 deficit to trail 66-56.

DePaul forward Megan Podkowa said that the experiences taught DePaul they can never get complacent.

“I think we’re trying to learn from it, once you put the pedal on the other team, you’ve got to keep going and never let the other team back into it,” Podkowa said.

Podkowa, a senior, has been one of DePaul’s most consistent players this season. She leads the team with 15.9 points per game and 8.6 points per game, both career bests.

Along with Podkowa, senior guard Chanise Jenkins and junior guard Jessica January, the Blue Demons have three well-rounded players and have proven to be a handful for other teams. January, in particular, has taken another jump in play, becoming the first DePaul player since 1989 to record a triple-double.

“I’m just trying to do whatever I can,” January said. “We have such good players that every night, the other team has to focus on everyone. It doesn’t really matter who’s doing it as everyone is doing their role.”

JOSH LEFF | THE DEPAULIA

Sophomore guard Lauren Prochaska drives to the basket.

Following an 86-70 loss to UConn on Dec. 2, Bruno said there had never been more parity in women’s college hoops.

Besides UConn and Notre Dame — two powerhouses who get into the Final Four every season — the other two spots for the Final Four were wide open. The Blue Demons have never made it past the Sweet Sixteen.

And seeing as how his team competed

against the Huskies, Bruno added it was the first step for his team to have confidence.

Since then, Bruno said he feels there is confidence is “all over the place,” but added that his team can’t settle for complacency.

“We all know what to do X and O wise, but some teams need a lot more confidence and others, they’re just naturally cocky,” Bruno said. “It’s a growth process. I don’t want to take anything for granted.”

Dec. 22 - DePaul

Sports. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 27

dominates No. 20 George Washington 82-61.

Jan. 9 - DePaul loses

fourth straight Big East game to open the conference schedule 0-4

Dec. 19 - Women's basketball

defeats previously undefeated No. 12 Northwestern 77-64

Jan. 8 - DePaul

dispatches Georgetown to open up conference play 4-0.

Dec. 21 - Women's basketball shocked in 88-75 home loss to Loyola-Chicago

Leitao ejected in Georgetown loss

PAUL BEATY | AP

Dave Leitao (pictured here against Butler on Jan. 5) was ejected in the second half.

By Ben Gartland Sports Editor

A two-point halftime lead vanished for DePaul men’s basketball (6-10, 0-4 Big East) early in the second half as the Georgetown Hoyas (10-6, 3-1) won 74-63.

Junior guard Billy Garrett Jr. led the Blue Demons with 16 points as DePaul dropped

their fourth game in a row, their longest such streak of the season.

"They were good and we weren't good enough," head coach Dave Leitao said. "They made more plays, things that define games and seasons and good teams."

This was the second loss for the Blue Demons against Georgeotwn this season. The Hoyas opened up the teams'

conference schedules with a 7058 win at the Allstate Arena on Dec. 30.

The opening minutes featured back and forth between the two sides as neither could grab a substantial advantage.

DePaul led by six with 3:30 to go in the first half, which would be their largest lead of the game.

Georgetown managed to cut the lead down to two as they went

into the half, down 30-28.

A few minutes into the second half, D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera hit a three that put the Hoyas up 3433, which put Georgetown up for good. The Hoyas went up by as many as eight with just over eight minutes to go but DePaul climbed back into it. They were down by three with under 6:00 to go but that was the closest they got to catching the Hoyas.

With just under four minutes to go, DePaul was given a technical foul as head coach Dave Leitao argued with the officials.

Less than a minute later, Leitao was given a second technical and ejected from the game. Associate head coach Rick Carter took over the duties of head coach for the remainder of the game.

Leitao declined to talk publicly about the ejection and what he said to the officials to earn the two techinical fouls.

"That's just something for me to talk about with the Big East coordinator of officials with," he said.

The Hoyas continued to extend their lead as the clock wound down and finished the game with a 74-63 win to complete the season sweep on the Blue Demons. DePaul continues their road swing with a trip to Xavier Tuesday night.

Xavier sits at 2-1 in the Big East and 14-1 overall, likely to be a tough matchup for DePaul.

EXPECTATIONS, continued from back page Blue Demons in a winning culture.

DePaul has changed this year. No longer are the Blue Demons an easy win for the opposition, but rather an annoying win.

DePaul’s game against No. 18 Butler came down to the final possession. The Blue Demons also lost to Seton Hall by just four points, and to Penn State by just six.

“You got to play as hard as you can, you got to play as smart as you can, and you gotta play as together as you can,” Leitao said. “If they keep hearing it, then they’ll start believing it.”

The effort and tenacity has turned DePaul into an excellent rebounding team; a team that good opponents no longer look forward to playing. Even Butler head coach Chris Holtmann acknowledged DePaul as no longer a pushover.

“They play really, really hard, they make it difficult to play. I got a lot of respect for how they play,” Holtmann said.

DePaul hasn’t returned to their former height as a Big East threat, but they’re heading in the right direction.

“It’s not easy,” Leitao said.

“We've got to change a culture.”

Sports

Sports. Jan. 11, 2016. The DePaulia | 28

NO CIGAR

Men’s basketball shows progress but not results

OLIVIA JEPSON | THE DEPAULIA

Head coach Dave Leitao (right) has seen progress in his first season back at DePaul, but the Blue Demons continue to fall short in games.

MIDSEASON REPORT CARD 6-10 record (0-4 Big East) 70.2 ppg for / 71.7 ppg against .87 assist/turnover ratio (ninth in Big East)

Key games Dec. 2

BLAKE SCHLIN | THE DEPAULIA

DePaul 82, UIC 55

Dec. 19

Northwestern 78, DePaul 70

Dec. 22

DePaul 82, G. Washington 61

Jan. 5

Butler 77, DePaul 72

OLIVIA JEPSON | THE DEPAULIA

Senior forward Myke Henry

Junior forward Peter Ryckbosch

By Ben Savage Asst. Sports Editor

DePaul’s revenant head coach Dave Leitao has every reason not to let DePaul’s poor start to the season get to him. The Blue Demons play in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, finished with a 6-12 conference record last season and lack game-changing talent. However, Leitao is refusing to resign this season to the expected platitudes.

“I am a terrible, terrible loser,” Leitao said.

“I never get satisfied.”

DePaul has shown signs of growth even

in tough games, like the recent 77-72 loss against No. 18 Butler. The Blue Demons committed 17 turnovers against the Bulldogs, routinely ending their own runs with bad mistakes.

Leitao cited mental errors as one of the problems with DePaul’s season.

“We’ve got to continue to try and fix the things that cost teams basketball games,” he said. “We have to find a way to correct that.”

Senior forward Myke Henry shared a similar feeling about the frustrating season thus far.

“It’s hard to compete when we’re beating

ourselves,” Henry said. “We have to look within ourselves and stop making DePaul beat us. We have to make another school beat us.”

DePaul is 290 in the country in turnovers per game at nearly 15 per game. In Big East conference play, DePaul is averaging 16.6 per game.

In addition to sloppy play, inconsistency has left DePaul playing a toxic game of “Musical Chairs,” according to Leitao.

“We need contributions, whether or not they score the ball,” Leitao said. “When young guys see the ball in the basket, they equate that

to playing well. That’s only one of an infinite amount of ways you can play well.”

Billy Garrett and Myke Henry are the offensive leaders of the team, though they lack the consistency of other great players in the Big East. Against Butler, Garrett had one assist to three turnovers. Henry was 1-5 from the free throw line.

The coaching staff for DePaul knows that winning will be the only barometer to indicate whether or not they are succeeding as a program. Leitao is trying to immerse the

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