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Volume #100 | Issue #21 | April 25, 2016 | depauliaonline.com
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
Hitting home Protests demand transparency in moving students accused of sexual assault from dorm to dorm
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
Feminist Front member Laura Springman leads a chant for Take Back the Dorms.
Take Back the Night targets housing By Erin Yarnall Arts & Life Editor
Chants calling for the end of rape culture and safe housing in the dorms echoed across campus as Feminist Front, an organization at DePaul, hosted Take Back the Night, which included a rally at numerous spots on campus and a march through DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus on April 21. DePaul’s 10th annual Take Back the Night event featured five planned speakers and had around 30 people attend. Feminist Front member Laura Springman said DePaul’s event is part of a larger, international movement that has existed since the 1970s. But this year one of the main focuses was safety in the dorms. “People cannot fear attending college
because they are scared they will be sexually assaulted,” graduate student Brittany Hamilton, who spoke first at the rally, said. In a statement made on the DePaul Feminist Front Facebook page, the group demanded that DePaul create a consensual housing policy to alert students if their potential roommates have been accused of rape, and allow students to refuse to live with accused rapists. The group created a hashtag for students to discuss the issue over social media, #TakeBacktheDorms. DePaul confirmed that a student may be moved after a claim of sexual violence, but cited that a student’s privacy rights prevent them from providing any additional information. “When DePaul receives a report of
See NIGHT, page 5
TOP and BOTTOM: Feminist Front protests down Belden and Sheffield avenues.
Frats, other groups say ‘it’s on all of us’ By Rachel Hinton Nation & World Editor
The ornate decorations of Cortelyou Commons were in contrast with the topic those in the wood-paneled room were discussing on Friday. The building, on the outskirts of DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus represents the old school, the traditions that have stayed. But those present — members of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) and other fraternities and sororities — were there to discuss a new way of dealing with an age-old problem: sexual assault. The issue is one that has drawn the attention of the city, as well as the state, and in April, national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), organizations at various levels get to make their grievances more visible and
create plans to address them. Though DePaul’s activist community and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness took on the prevention of sexual assaults, state lawmakers and advocacy groups around campus have in essence done the same by applying the statement “it’s on us” to themselves, too. The theme for this year’s SAAM focused on the possibility of prevention and the need for conversations to break old traditions of victim blaming, as well as the importance of consent. SigEp hosted and led Friday’s discussion in conjunction with the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, but other student groups and offices, such as the athletic department, have taken part in the national campaign. The initiative has garnered support
See CONSENT, page 5
2 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
First Look CHECK OUT EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AT DEPAULIAONLINE.COM The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | Matthew Paras eic@depauliaonline.com PRINT MANAGING EDITOR | Megan Deppen managing@depauliaonline.com DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR | Kirsten Onsgard digital@depauliaonline.com
Check out our campus crime database, Crime Watch. This map is updated on a weekly basis with data made available to The DePaulia from the City of Chicago data portal and DePaul’s Office of Crime Prevention.
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Arts & Life Editor Erin Yarnall and Design Editor Carolyn Duff visited Medieval Times for an unconventional night out of watching chivalrous knights joust and defeat villains.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt begins it’s second season with new stories, characters and tying up loose ends from last season. The DePaulia’s Jack Higgins breaks it down.
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News. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 3
JESUS MONTERO | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul SGA traveled to Springfield on Wednesday to lobby lawmakers, including State Rep. Ann Williams (pictured at top), over the Monetary Award Program (MAP).
MAP funding passes Gov. Bruce Rauner has indicated he will sign bill, only days after SGA’s annual MAP lobby day By Jesus Montero Contributing Writer
Last week, members of the Student Government Association (SGA) visited Springfield to deliver personalized postcards advocating for Monetary Award Program (MAP) funding. The grant, which provides aid to low-income students across the state, has not been funded this year due to the state’s budget impasse. After months of preparation, 18 DePaul students delivered more than 3,000 signed postcards from student, staff and faculty members for state senators and representatives. Five-hundred postcards were delivered to the office of Gov. Bruce Rauner. Led by SGA president Vanessa Cadavillo and vice president Richard Popp, students were divided to lobby and deliver the postcards. “Lobbying is meant as a tool,” Cadvillo said. “Often we think that social media is the way that we get our point across, but
with lobbying being there talking to our representatives and senators that person to person contact makes a difference.” For many students, this was their first experience lobbying. Surrounded by other interest groups and visiting sessions from both the Senate and House, DePaul students saw a glimpse into the efforts behind legislation. Sophomore sociology student Samuel Peiffer agrees with what lobbying aims to accomplish, but doesn’t see it changing Rauner’s mind on funding the MAP grant. “These lobbying effects aren’t going to change Bruce Rauner’s mind in terms of what’s he’s doing with the states budget with his cuts that are geared toward education and public serves,” Peiffer said. “But I do think that what were doing is most significant bring people with politic concerns together,” Peiffer said. “That’s where real change happens. It’s holding our representatives accountable for what they are doing there’s multiple ways to do that, but I think lobbying
is one of them wither or not you agree whether it’s effective or ineffective.” For those who could not travel to Springfield, other efforts were made to show support, such as signing postcards and promoting the hashtag #MAPMatters. This year, those who signed postcards had an opportunity to tell their own story in a specific box. “We saw so many people not just fill in the box, but also write around the corner (of the postcard) or staple on another piece of paper because it was that important to them that this type of funding continued,” SGA President Vanessa Cadavillo said. “I hope that messaging relays back to our legislators in Springfield.” Other colleges and universities also visited the state capitol the same day as DePaul. Colleges like Illinois State, Roosevelt University and St. Augustine Chicago all had students visiting their state representatives last week. Throughout the trip, many state officials, people at the capital and alumni
stopped DePaul students to praise their efforts. Eight months into the fiscal year, Illinois still doesn’t have a budget, leaving many colleges and universities to deal with staff layoffs and uncertain plans for the future. DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., said DePaul would honor MAP through the next academic year for incoming students. More than 5,000 DePaul students rely on the MAP grant. DePaul’s MAP recipients are larger than any other private university in the state. It was the needs of those students that made the trip worthwhile for Cadavillo. “As we were organizing and planning our trip, we were able to hear from single mothers, veterans, low-income students,” she said. “We just saw a bunch of different students who all relied on the MAP grant, and even students who didn’t receive the MAP grant realized that it was so important.”
4| News. April 25, 2016.
Students celebrate Earth Week By Jessica Villagomez & Yazmin Dominguez
present during Earth Week by giving students a chance to play green games, create their own trail mix in the Loop campus, and Earth Day Extravaganza. “The Mother Nature Trail Mix Bar event was a collaboration with the Office of Student Involvement to involve the Loop campus in Earth Week,” said Josue Ortiz, Enrichment Coordinator of DAB. “This is the first year the enrichment committee has existed at DePaul. We drafted a statement about carrying university initiatives and Earth Week Extravaganza fell under the enrichment committee this is the first year we got to organize the event.” During Earth Week Extravaganza, held in the Student Center’s atrium, students who passed by were able to watch the film Wall-e, create their own zen garden, and make their own dirt cup snack and make a environmentally friendly pledge on their Pledge Board.
News Editor & Contributing Writer
environment CAROLYN DUFF | THE DEPAULIA are politicians getting in the way Brownstones and not moving toward beginning in clean energy and climate change September of the upcoming denial,” Nolimal said. There’s no reason 2016-17 school year. UFO used this to think climate change doesn’t exist, it’s opportunity to teach students how to been scientifically proven. Even if it wasn’t compose their coffee grounds after brewing real, what’s the problem with reducing our their coffee. impact on the earth?” DePaul Activities Board (DAB) was Nolimal said that recycling, composting and reducing meat intake are the easiest ways to be environmentally conscious and reduce your impact on the earth. Junior Alan Mlotkowski also wanted 2771 North Lincoln to celebrate the planet on Earth Day with the various activities available in spite of the increasingly cold temperatures. Mltokoswki said the event would increase awareness on campus about how to better stay green. “I think people should recycle more. What always confuses me with people who consider themselves to be really conservative because they’re all about saving money any way they can yet, they don’t want to recycle, which is a big money saver.” Last week various events were held both in the Lincoln Park and the Loop campuses to bring attention to Earth Week and inform students of environmental issues in a fun and interactive way. “Earth Week is based on Earth Day and celebrating planet Earth by giving back and appreciating everything that we get from our planet,” said Sarah Levesque, Student Government Associations’ Senator for Sustainability. “This week was supposed to highlight how we can interact and live with it sustainably especially at DePaul. We have such an unique experience where we can teach people how to be sustainable before they enter the professional world.” Events celebrating Earth Week began on Friday, April 15 with Inside Invenergy hosted by the Career Center. Students were given the opportunity to tour and meet alums working at Invenergy, a business which develops, owns, and operates power and energy storage facilities in the United States and internationally. Throughout the rest of Earth Week, speakers were invited, games were played, and new environmentally friendly products were displayed. UFO teamed up with Chartwells, DePaul’s food vendor, and Big Shoulders Coffee to highlight their new product, cold brewed coffee, that will be sold at
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For DePaul freshman Erin Hammond, helping manage the Earth Week Festival on DePaul’s Quad in 40 degree weather was not a challenge. Hammond grew up on a 975-acre farm in North Central Iowa, waking up at 5:30 a.m. every morning in all types of weather with her brothers to feed cattle before going to school. Hammond and her family farm a rotation of soybeans and corn, also raising cattle on their farm. “My whole life was chores,” she said. Hammond is part of DePaul’s Green Team, an organization part of DePaul’s EDGE team that creates initiatives within residence halls to raise environmental awareness and encourage sustainable practices. The Green Team hosted the yearly Earth Week Festival, held on DePaul’s Quad on Friday to celebrate Earth Day and encourage student participation in environmental issues. Freshman and member of the Green Team, Sydney Cowle said the team was in charge of collecting donations from local businesses such as Insomnia Cookies and David’s Tea, as well as coordinating activities with other organizations including the Urban Farming Organization (UFO), SWAP, Residential Education, Housing Services and Chartwells. In spite of the cold outdoor temperatures, Cowle said Earth Day marked a time for everyone to appreciate nature and its resources. “Even though it’s freezing, the Earth is our home and we need to love it and take care of it, so we need to spread awareness to Earth Day” Cowle said. According to EarthDay.Org, Earth Day began in 1970 to create consciousness toward environmental issues and have people work together to create change. Today, Earth Day continues to energize the conversation about issues affecting the planet and support the changing environmental landscape. For Hammond, the event was an opportunity to not only increase student awareness, but let students know that living a sustainable lifestyle isn’t difficult. “I’ve always been aware of environmental issues and it’s impacted my life very heavily, so I like to focus on composting and conserving soil. It’s something people don’t really think about and it’s really important. It directly effects where you can build things and plant gardens that in the city people don’t think about” she said. Freshman Isabelle Hattan led an activity where students repurposed water bottles into low-maintenance and self-watering plant pots of basil or wildflowers. Activities also included taste testing sustainable food products as well as making smoothies through a blender powered by a bicycle. DePaul sophomore Sarah Nolimal attended the event to celebrate Earth Day. “I love Earth Day, it’s my favorite day,” Nominal, who is an environmental science major, said. “My main concerns with the
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News. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 5 NIGHT, continued from front page sexual or relationship violence, DePaul evaluates whether it is appropriate to take any interim measures while the report is being investigated and addressed,” the university said in a statement. “These interim measures could include, for example, modifying the living arrangements of the individuals involved, to avoid further contact between them while the report is being properly investigated.” The rally’s theme came from experiences that friends and members of Feminist Front had in regards to sexual assault in the dorms. “We have one friend who dated a guy who was moved to another dorm because he was accused of sexual assault,” Ellen Goese, a member of Feminist Front and one of the organizers of Take Back the Night, said. “He ended up assaulting them again.” DePaul juniors Kajal Patel and Jasmine Farley, who both attended Take Back the Night, lived in Corcoran Hall their freshman year and heard from other students that someone who was transferred there from another dorm was accused of sexual assault. “They shouldn’t transfer students to other dorms,” Farley said. “It’s not acceptable and it made us feel less supported.” Although Patel and Farley went through that experience, that was not the primary reason they attended the rally and marched across campus. “We have a friend who was sexually assaulted, and we wanted to come out and support her,” Patel said. The support for victims of sexual assault was another heavily-stressed point made throughout the rally, as numerous speakers discussed the importance of giving survivors a safe space to speak about their experience. Speakers brought up how they feel DePaul is silencing victims of sexual assault by allowing accused rapists to move into other dorms. “I don’t think St. Vincent DePaul would appreciate taking voices away from the voiceless,” senior Felicia Darnell, who was
CONSENT, continued from front page from celebrities and companies, as well as the White House. The pledge is a personal commitment to help keep people safe from sexual assault, and, according to the site, “it is a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution.” Though incidences of sexual assault at DePaul have not been under the national media’s spotlight, there has been media attention surrounding the handling of sexual assaults locally. “Just because we haven’t had a sexual assault like those at University of Virginia or schools in California, doesn’t mean we can’t show that this matters to us,” Suhayl Dhumadia, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), said. “We’re trying to be not only the best frat on campus, but the best organization and that only happens when we take a stance on issues that matter to us and to the campus.” Dhumadia helped organize SigEp’s “It’s On Us” event, which brought in Brendan Yukins, a survivor and the prevention educator of Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), an organization dedicated to supporting sexual assault survivors, to talk about the importance of talking about sexual assault and the perpetuation of rape culture. The work of the two groups coincides with Feminist Front’s message to remove the onus
ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
DePaul professor Joy Ellison speaks at the Take Back the Night rally, which too place Thursday night on the Lincoln Park campus. one of the speakers at the event, said. “It’s definitely not in the Vincentian mission to take away someone’s voice.” As the march made its way across campus, speakers discussed different aspects of sexual assault and issues about dorm safety, most notably in front of Centennial Hall, where the Department of Housing Services is located. Speakers also brought up the issue of sexual assault survivors being questioned about their clothing and amount they drank when they report rape. They also stressed issues of survivors not being trusted, despite the statistic that only two percent of rapists are falsely accused, according to The Enliven Project, a campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence. “I trust survivors. Does DePaul trust survivors?” DePaul student Kara Rodriguez said while speaking in front of Centennial
of prevention from the victim, or survivor, and place it on the accused, as well as environments that allow rape to occur and go unresolved. In 2014, the most recent data from the school, DePaul reported 19 sexual offenses between its Lincoln Park, Loop and residential facilities. In 2013, across all of DePaul’s reported campuses, there were only nine. In the time since these statistics were released, DePaul announced a new Title IX coordinator and, more recently, a Title IX investigator, a role DePaul has never had before. There are still gaps to bridge, however, and members of SigEp are not the only ones identifying the problem and trying to apply solutions. State lawmakers also seem to be taking the “It’s On Us” pledge, proposing and in one instance passing legislation to prevent sexual violence in colleges and universities. The Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, passed in 2015, stated that Aug. 1, 2016, all higher education institutions shall adopt comprehensive sexual and relationship violence policies. This must include, at a minimum, a definition of consent, procedures pertaining to what happens if students report a sexual assault and an institutional procedure for addressing those reports among other things. Since the issues of sexual assault go much further than DePaul’s campuses, bills have been proposed at the state level
Hall before a chant of “Hey DePaul we challenge you, we trust survivors, why don’t you?” broke out among the crowd. The general feeling behind the event was that DePaul was not providing justice to victims of sexual assault on campus, especially when accused rapists are placed in different dorms after they are accused. “There is a need to look at our framework of justice,” Ira Lowy, a member of Feminist Front, said. “The goal is to be safe and have needs met.” “If they’re going to relocate someone who is accused of sexual assault, the new roommate should be informed of this, and they should be able to decide whether or not they are okay with this person living with them,” Goese said. Ideally, they said DePaul should implement a consensual housing policy, comparing it to a sex offender registry. Feminist Front was supported by
to help survivors. Broadening the conversation of prevention coincides with sexual assault prevention policies at other schools in order to reduce the number of students affected. State Rep. David Harris proposed the Investigations of Sexual Assault in Higher Education Act, which aims to turn over the investigations of sexual assaults at campuses with a campus police department over to municipal police forces. By doing this, Harris said, cases may get a more thorough investigation. “I question whether or not university and college police departments are doing an adequate job investigating this,” Harris said. “I think a major question is whether or not there is a bias to not push this or make it highly visible at these schools. Municipal police are highly trained to deal with these things.” DePaul’s public safety department would not be directly affected by this legislation since it does not have a campus police force. Student responses to public safety do coincide with some of the major reasons why the act was first proposed. “Sexual and relationship violence prevention and response work is undertaken through close collaboration among many campus departments, student organizations and community agencies,” Bob Wachowski, director of public safety, said. The notion of close collaboration between groups and departments is not solely for public
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who carried their own banner that showed solidarity with the group throughout their campus-wide march, and had a member speak about the sexual assault that Palestinian women face. Other issues such as adjunct pay and problems transgender students face on campus were also brought up throughout the event by speakers and DePaul professor Joy Ellison. The event culminated in healing circles held in Arts & Letters, and left students and attendees feeling excited about the change that could potentially happen on campus in regards to making DePaul’s campus a safe space for sexual assault survivors, despite having previous referendums ignored by DePaul’s administration. “I really think you can win this one,” Ellison said.
JOSH LEFF | THE DEPAULIA
Brendan Yukins educates on sexual assault awareness. safety and the administrative level. Plans to spread out the responsibility of prevention extend beyond Greek letters or party lines because the ultimate goal, to decrease sexual assaults and increase safety, are beneficial to all. Yukins talked about systemic issues and the importance of advocacy groups. It takes two years, he said, for a case to get to court, and that’s where the RVA and its network of resources, volunteers and counseling services comes in. “We noticed that there wasn’t someone who was guided by a survivor-focused agenda — law enforcement, medical staffs and family may have their own perspectives,” Sharmili Majmudar, executive director of the RVA, said. “The reality is that survivors have to navigate many systems and coping on their own. Advocates can help with that burden.” In order to lessen that weight, preventing sexual assaults, and
defining consent, are issues that Dhumadia, his brothers at SigEp and those supporting the “It’s On Us” initiative find most important. The frat also donated $3,700 to the RVA. “Over the past few years there have been events in the DePaul community that caught everyone’s eye,” Andrew Keller, a member of SigEp who also helped set up the event, said. “We can’t just let this go because we’re on campus.” The goal is to continue spreading awareness and keep the movement and campaign going. The next step is to just keep the momentum going. “It’s important to raise awareness and make sure that people are keyed into the issue,” Yukins said. “I hope people broaden their perspectives on (sexual assault), and they don’t just work to change the environment in their own fraternity or sorority, but at the school.”
6 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016.
Students search for pension solutions
Five teams of undergraduates presented their findings to a panel of judges By Antonio Serna Rosellini Contributing Writer
With experts stumped as to how to solve the the state’s pension crisis, DePaul invited its undergraduate business students to weigh in on the issue and offer their own solutions as to how to pay off underfunded pension plans. On April 19, the Public Pension Crisis Student Case Competition, was held at DePaul’s Loop campus. Five teams of undergraduate business students were brought in to present their solutions to the pension crisis before a panel of judges. Each team had six months to prepare their presentations, making sure that every law was read, statistic recorded, and budgets analyzed. Teams had 30 minutes to present a solution to a problem experts haven’t solved in a span of ten months. Naturally the solutions weren’t perfect. But the competition was a way for students to offer ideas outside the framework of what experts are used to thinking in. The panel of judges was the experience. The truth behind skepticism, separating viable ideas from unrealistic ideas and reasonable figures regarding budget fixtures apart from imagined ones. “That’s what we do here. We’re not just about graduate students; we’re also about undergraduate students,” Alexander Perry, an associate director at Richard H. Driehaus College of Business at DePaul, said. “Of course we threw them the most impossible topic in the world. There really is no clear solution. All the better for them to struggle with it, because if it was an something easy then it wouldn’t be a learning experience,” . The competition was held to inspire student and millennial participation in politics within their state. Underfunded pensions have become the backbone of the state budget impasse, with $111 billion in unpaid pensions. Retirees who depend on their pensions feel the immediate effect, but what often is ignored is the burden placed on taxpayers. In 2013, taxpayers accounted for 79 percent of the total pension contributions in Illinois, while government workers contributed 21 percent. Competitor Luke Hamilton said the fault behind the pension crisis is the state.“They haven’t been paying their fare share, the employees have,” Hamilton said. All five teams shared one common point: the pension crisis in Illinois is a result of the state failing to pay their share of contributions to the state pension funds. “Don’t you want your tax dollars that you pay to go into your parks, your roads instead of old man geezer’s retirement home in Florida? The tax payer himself will be paying more but essentially the tax payer will be paying for his own pension,” Jay Choi, a competitor in the winning team, said. The proposed plan to replace the current Defined Benefit Pension Plan was the Combined Contribution Plan. Under this plan, all the contributions made by taxpayers would be placed into a separate fund, free from the state, where pensioners would be free to do whatever they want with their money. “If you’re a guy and you made $100,000 when you were working, you can make $80,000 every year for 17 years or until you die that’s paid by the state.
Photo courtesy of KATHY HILLEGONDS
A student competes in the Public Pension Crisis Student Case Competition, held last week at the Loop campus. Think about that; there’s a little south of a million people who are on this pension system. That’s almost 1 million people all making, let’s say 80,000 a year on average that aren’t working,” Choi said. Although the numbers may not be feasible, the basic concept is changing pension plans so employees are held responsible for funding his or her own pension plan. The contribution made by the employer would ensure a surplus of money in the funds for certain situations that may require it, such as the current pension crisis and relieve stress on the state to pay off liabilities using limited funds. The plan will only work if employers (state government) are held accountable to make their contributions. “A lot of states have laws that say you have to have balanced budgets. But there are a lot of accounting tricks you can use in evaluating the amount of assets that you have compared to your liability,” Sebastian Vermaas, a competitor, said. This might require more permanent structural changes as mentioned by the second place team. “If you want to write about something, like really, we proposed term limits. Those guys sit in office, they hang out,” Hamilton said. “They have control over how their districts are drawn and who votes for them, so they’re incentivized to say ‘pension money, going to you guys.’ Once you start limiting where their districts are, and who’s voting for them, that incentive is gone.” The competition was a way for students to offer ideas outside the framework of what experts are used to thinking in. The panel of judges was the experience. They were forced to determine achievable plans from unrealistic plans and reasonable figures apart from imagined ones. “I think one of the great things out of this is that the judges can extract something really good ideas out of all these presentations. The judges are then able to take these ideas and run with them in the real world,” Alexander Perry said.
First place winners were Choi, Lauren McDermott and Paul Kuligowski, followed by Hamilton, Michael Sherman, Doug Palzer and Sebastian Vermaas
in second and Kaitlyn O’Shea, Connor Francesca, Darshan Kadmar and Nealkanth Patel in third.
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Straight outta compost waste in the country. These initiatives include the U.S. Food Waste challenge, launched in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It set out to share the best practices to reduce food loss and waste. Farms, grocery stores, restaurants, schools and universities are some entities that were reached out to be part of the initiative. Universities like DePaul are also helping reduce, recover and recycle. “Our company has a program called Imperfectly Delicious Produce and what they’re doing is they’re working with produce growers and distributors to use produce that’s not perfectly shaped, but it’s perfectly good,” Ken Holbrook, operations director of Chartwells Dining Services, said. Last year, the company Imperfectly Delicious Produce saved 530,000 pounds of produce that would have otherwise been tossed or composted. The program allows DePaul to use the produce on things like shredded lettuce. To combat food waste, some organizations and businesses donate usable food to churches, pantries, shelters and soup kitchens. DePaul donates to their local parish.
By Jasminne Hernandez Contributing Writer
It’s 5 p.m., and the Loop cafeteria is filled with hungry DePaul students. A microwave beeps in the background but goes unnoticed by the couple dozen scattered students sitting on the silver, light-as-air chairs while having conversations about their day. DePaul students can eat anything from sandwiches, salads, burgers and mozzarella sticks, but this food is rarely consumed entirely and is instead tossed into the nearest waste container. Food waste isn’t just rotten food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food waste as any food loss that includes edible food that is available for consumption, but is not eaten. Yet food waste isn’t limited to the university’s cafeterias. Americans all over the country are throwing out food waste at home and elsewhere. In 2010, food waste accounted for about 31 percent of food loss at retail and consumer levels in the United States, which amounts to 133 billion pounds of food, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Due to high levels of food waste, there is now an initiative to reduce food loss and
“Another thing we do is we give food to the food pantry at St. Vincent’s, so if we do have anything that’s left over that’s usable and that is not going to be used for the students, then it’s donating there,” Holbrook said. Chartwell’s at DePaul provides the St. Vincent de Paul Parish with monthly allotments of breakfast food, hot dogs and hams, and all of it is distributed to people in the neighborhood, according to Joe Caligan, business manager at St. Vincent de Paul Parish. The majority of food the parish receives consists of canned, dried and frozen goods. CJ Smith, a worker in the Loop cafeteria, said there is not a lot of waste since there is high student traffic throughout the day. According to Smith, there is around five to six pounds of food waste on a given day. The university has a corporate program called Trim Trax to help reduce waste in the kitchen. The program has workers and management throw out food scraps into a clear bin so they can see if they are cutting up more than is required and what food is being thrown out. “I think it’s (Trim Trax) pretty good; we have enough waste in the world already,” Smith said.
But Tanya Garritt, a law student, thinks DePaul might have a food waste problem. “I definitely think there’s a disconnect between people producing food and the demand,” Garritt said. Garritt said there is too much produce being made. The excess of food is a problem, she said, which could potentially create a problem at the university level. According to Feed America, when food is disposed in a landfill, it rots and becomes a source of methane, which is a dangerous gas that is released into the atmosphere. To combat throwing away food at landfills, many organizations and businesses are composting. Composting involves the decaying of organic matter such as food scraps, leaves and even manure to produce fertilizer for soil. DePaul began composting food scraps in 2012. According to DePaul’s dining service website, they began composting in hopes of “reducing rotting waste in the landfills.” Today, the composting bins are still available for students to throw away their leftover food. Once the food is gathered in these bins, a waste management company takes it to compost and the product ends up being sold to hardware stores.
According to Holbrook, in January DePaul composted 1.35 tons of food waste. In February, 6.15 tons of food waste. Composted food waste includes food scraps from production in the kitchen and waste from students. Senior Isolda Aguilar hates wasting food and thinks DePaul needs to tell more students about the bins. “The university does not remind people to not to waste food or use the bins. They should locate the messages where there is a higher traffic of students passing everyday,” Aguilar said. Last week, the theme for Earth Day was food recovery, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency encourages sustainable management of food, is an approach that helps reduce waste and its environmental impact over the cycle of the creation and the distribution food. During Earth Week, DePaul had a week’s worth of events that reflect this year’s theme, which included a composting informational session, a presentation about sustainable lunch, a sustainability social event as well as other celebrations.
GRAPHICS BY KATIE TAMIOSIUNAS | THE DEPAULIA
CAMPUS CRIME REPORT : April 13, 2016 - April 19, 2016 LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS
LOOP CAMPUS
The Theatre School 1
3
Richardson Library 5
University Hall 2
DePaul Center 6
10
Ray Meyer Fitness Center 4
6
9
Assault & Theft
Drug & Alcohol
Other
LINCOLN PARK CAMPUS APRIL 13 1) A burglary (non-forced) report was filed for
items taken from the Theatre School. Chicago Police were called and offenders were taken into custody.
APRIL 14 2) A domestic dispute was reported regarding a
disturbance in the lobby of University Hall.
APRIL 18 3) A theft report was filed for a bicycle taken from
the Theatre School bike rack.
APRIL 19 4) A verbal threat report was filed in the Ray
Meyer Fitness Center. Complainant was threatened by another patron.
5) A theft report was filed regarding a shoe taken in the Richardson Library.
LOOP CAMPUS APRIL 15 6) A theft report was filed for a person whose laptop was taken from the DePaul Center.
8| The DePaulia. April 25, 2016.
DEPAULIA FILE
Students find solace in volunteering By Jasminne Hernandez Contributing Writer
Waking up at 4 a.m. is not unusual for Jessenia Martinez, a senior at DePaul. It’s even enjoyable. On a cold and icy January morning, rather than staying in bed, Martinez was up and ready to volunteer for her first race of the year. Since January she has volunteered her time at 10 different events and she is still counting. “My middle school had required hours and we took out learning service hours so we did 40 (hours) before we graduated from middle school,” Martinez said. “My high school also required community service hours, so I graduated with 300 plus hours of learning service and so that was a lot of fun for me.” When Martinez began attending DePaul, an endless amount of volunteering opportunities came her way. She volunteered for at least 40 organizations multiple times within the last four years. She volunteered with kids, community gardens, conventions and concert venues. She has also helped races such as the Shamrock Shuffle, the Rock N’ Roll race and the Color Run. According to a well-being research study conducted by Gallup, people who volunteer their time to community service are happier than people who do not. Volunteerism to many people is much more than serving hours. Volunteers said also changes a person’s attitude about issues because he or she is actually doing something active instead of just reading or listening about it. “Research in social psychology shows that our attitudes change towards something when we are directly experiencing it,” Joseph Ferrari, a professor of social community psychology at DePaul, said. “I think people feel good, which is why you want to encourage volunteerism; you want to encourage service learning kinds of experiences ‘cause it changes people’s attitudes.” Institutions like DePaul have service days for their students, staff, faculty and even alumni to participate annually. On the first Saturday in May over a thousand DePaulians participate in a day of service with more than 100 community partners. Ferrari said that Americans today are volunteering more now than they ever
have before. “It all depends on how you define volunteerism,” Ferrari said. “People today are more likely to write a check for a charity than actually go and serve.” Ferrari said people volunteer for a number of reasons. Some are selfish reasons, which is not a bad thing, and the others are selfless reasons. For one, volunteering brings joy to people’s lives, to be able to be with other people in such a social setting. Martinez, for instance, loves the social aspect of volunteering. She likes to meet people and see how her friends react to volunteering with her. Her favorite volunteering experience to this day has been the Walker Stalker convention, where she was a celebrity escort for the actors of the Walking Dead show. She was able to get autographs and meet a lot of new people. “It was the first time they were having it in Chicago. I didn’t know what I was getting into but I’ve never met such amazing volunteer coordinator and I loved just being there; everyone was so nice,” Martinez said. “This year I’m going to hopefully get to do the same thing, and I will get to be a zombie.” People also volunteer their time to charity work to get career experience. “I find many people to say, ‘Yes, I joined a community volunteer because it looks good on the resume’,” Ferrari said. “So that’s kind of a selfish reason. It’s not a bad reason; it doesn’t make the person bad.” Another selfish reason is protection, which is the notion of people believing that they should help through volunteerism because in the near future they may be in a situation where they might need the help themselves. Like Martinez, Selena Boundy, a junior, loves volunteering her time with the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin sorority at DePaul. She has worked with senior citizens and at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She and her sorority have written letters to patients at the research hospital and have raised money through events like a masquerade ball and a fashion show. “What I like is that it brings us closer together for a good cause just because I feel a lot of my sisters and my sorority
DEPAULIA FILE
DEPAULIA FILE
DePaul students from previous Vincentian Service Days show their enthusiasm for volunteering. Service day will take place on May 7 this year. chapter, we all come from different parts of the city and we all love to volunteer and help others,” Boundy said. “I feel like helping others is not just something you do just for fun. I think you should do it because I feel like that’s what a human being should do.” People like Boundy who believe helping others is something that is expected of people is another reason people volunteer a lot. Ferrari said that believing that volunteerism is part of humanity is a selfless motive to give the time and energy to helping others. Another motive as to why people volunteer has to do with showing values as a culture or as individuals. Ferrari believes community service should not be a one-time deal and that people should try to volunteer for longer periods of time if they can. People like Martinez who have done community service for a long time, in her case since
her early teens, means that the overall volunteering experiences are much more valuable. “The longer you have the experiences, the better the learning, the better the outcomes, the more positive the experience the person has,” Ferrari said. “So service days are nice. They’re not as powerful as having a service week, a spring break trip or a whole quarter, but it’s better than nothing.” Martinez is used to volunteering with people she knows, but has recently decided to continue volunteering even if she does it on her own. As long as she doesn’t stop volunteering, which based on Ferrari’s research, is a good thing. “I just told myself, ‘You know what? I should just continue volunteering with or without people because this is something I’m really passionate about’,” Martinez said.
News. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 9
FEATURED PHOTO
KARLIE THORNTON | THE DEPAULIA
A man takes a Divvy bike from one of the many docks around downtown. The bike share service was free on Friday to commemorate Earth Day.
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10 | The DePaulia. April. 25, 2016
Nation &World SÍ SE PUEDE
KEITH LANE | MCT CAMPUS
Hundreds of protesters from all over the United States arrived at the U. S. Supreme Court April 18 to show their support for immigration reform in Washington, D.C.
Supporters of reform say 'yes we can' to immigration By Jessica Villagomez News Editor
Family separation and deportation have affected DePaul senior Clarissa Clark all of her life. In 2009, the father of Clark's 7-year-old brother was deported even before he was born, creating a gap in their family structure that hasn't been easy to fill. Though her brother visits his father in Mexico during summer and winter vacations, Clark said it is not the same. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard the case of United States v. Texas on Monday, a lawsuit filed by 26 states to block the expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This is an initiative that was first introduced in 2012, allowing children brought into the United States illegally to acquire a Social Security number, worker's permit and driver’s license. The case also aims to halt the passing of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). DAPA would shield an estimated four million undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work in the U.S. legally. The court was sharply divided on the issue, making a 4-4 deadlock decision possible. In addition to proving significant in establishing presidential power, the case is a landmark decision potentially affecting
immigration policy for years to come. Professor and chair of DePaul's Public Policy Studies department William Sampson said the case is another example of government powers trying to limit the political power of the Latino population. “It is clear that the decision to hear the case, and the decision of the Court are both quite political,” Sampson said. “Since Latinos tend to vote Democratic, Republican governors are attempting to limit their votes by pushing for deportation. This has little to do with the phony issue of the power of the president to halt many deportations, and everything to do with limiting the political power of Latinos by limiting the number of them that will in the long run become voting citizens.” The dismissal of DAPA would potentially allow parents of undocumented immigrants to be deported. Activists and proponents of DAPA have adopted the term “Sin papeles, sin miedo,” meaning without papers, without fear. Resilience and hope have sparked a movement for the betterment of undocumented people. “I feel quite upset and worried about what the potential outcome might be in regards to the DACA/DAPA immigration bills,” DePaul junior Julio Garcia said. “I was fortunate enough to be born in the U.S.; however, many people fail to realize that
four million undocumented immigrants are highly dependent on this bill. When speaking in regards to Latino people, it is quite disappointing that many individuals must wake up with the constant fear of being deported on a daily basis. DAPA and DACA are amazing opportunities for guardians who are coming into the U.S. to provide for their families and children who are eager to pursue their education to become someone.” DePaul has also taken a stance of support for the federal government’s position in United V. Texas, filing an amicus brief to SCOTUS. “The brief was circulated by the National Immigration Law Center and will be submitted on behalf of universities, colleges, school boards, student groups, educators, children’s advocates and children’s health organizations,” Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Liz Ortiz said in an email. Ortiz said the amicus brief states numerous arguments in favor of the expansion of DACA and implementation of DAPA, such as the lower courts failing to take into account effects changes in DACA would have on undocumented students and access to higher education. After seeing first-hand the struggles undocumented students and their families face, sophomore Emely Zamudio hopes that DACA is expanded
TNS 2015 | MCT CAMPUS
and DAPA is legitimized. “My life has been touched by immigration in many ways. Some of the kindest, most hardworking and smartest people I know are undocumented immigrants. These people are not criminals, they are not taking advantage of the government. They are taxpaying, beneficial members to society and the U.S. economy,”
Zamudio said. “As a U.S. citizen, I have never known, and will never know the fear these children and their families have felt. I am privileged in being able to live freely. I am privileged to have simply been born in the right place. Regardless of your citizenship status, you deserve the right to live without fear.”
Nation & World. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 11
Nation&Worldbriefs
SALVATORE DI NOLFI | AP Riyad Hijab, Coordinator of the High Negotiation Committee, HNC, of Syria speaks to the media during a press conference, in Geneva, Switzerland April 19.
Content written by the ASSOCIATED PRESS Compiled by RACHEL HINTON | THE DEPAULIA
DAVID BREWSTER | AP
CAROLYN THOMPSON | AP A woman holds a sign supporting Harriet Tubman for the $20 bill during a town hall meeting at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
In this May 2, 1990 photo Prince performs a benefit concert for the family of Charles (Big Chick) Huntsberry in Minneapolis. Prince, widely acclaimed as one of the most inventive and influential musicians of his era, died Thursday.
Beyond music, Prince's legacy includes black activism
Leaders, officials discuss next steps for Syria Damascus, Syria The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Thursday there was "real but modest" progress in the country's humanitarian situation, despite a stumbling cease-fire as one of the largest international aid convoys makes it into a government-besieged opposition stronghold. The NATO chief, meanwhile, said the increasingly fragile cease-fire in Syria remains the best hope for ending the country's devastating conflict. Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy, said he would address the "next steps" in the U.N.-brokered peace talks on Friday after the Western-backed opposition walked out, accusing President Bashar Assad's government of trying to wreck the negotiations with new fighting. De Mistura called for improved aid access to besieged areas, which he said would boost chances for salvaging the teetering cease-fire. "Bottom line: If humanitarian aid increases as they should be and the cessation of hostilities goes back into what we would consider a hopeful mood that would certainly help the political discussions," he told reporters. The U.S.-Russia-engineered cease-fire between Assad's government and rebel fighters, which went into effect in late February, has excluded the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations. The truce has significantly reduced violence in Syria but has all but collapsed in the north of the country. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that the suspended participation of the Syrian opposition in the Geneva talks could lead to "a return of total armed conflict." "We have a situation where terrorists are desperately trying to disrupt the political process," referring to the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee, which said Monday it was halting its involvement in talks. Zakharova told reporters in Moscow that the armed standoff in Syria is growing, especially to the north and south of Aleppo.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Treasury announces money makeover Washington, DC U.S. paper money is getting a historic makeover. Harriet Tubman, an African-American abolitionist born into slavery, will be the new face on the $20 bill. The leader of the Underground Railroad is replacing the portrait of Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president and a slave owner, who is being pushed to the back of the bill. And Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Treasury secretary who's enjoying a revival thanks to a hit Broadway play, will keep his spot on the $10 note after earlier talk of his removal. The changes are part of a currency redesign announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, with the new $20 marking two historic milestones: Tubman will become the first African-American on U.S. paper money and the first woman to be depicted on currency in 100 years. "This gesture sends a powerful message, because of the tendency in American history, the background of excluding women and marginalizing them as national symbols," said Riche Richardson, associate professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. "So even the symbolic significance of this cannot be overstated." Lew also settled a backlash that had erupted after he had announced an initial plan to remove Hamilton from the $10 bill in order to honor a woman on the bill. Instead, the Treasury building on the back of the bill will be changed to commemorate a 1913 march that ended on the steps of the building. It will also feature suffragette leaders Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul. The back of the $20, which now shows the White House, will be redesigned to include the White House and Jackson,
whose statute stands across the street in Lafayette Park. Many Americans still celebrate Jackson for his victory over the British during the War of 1812. Gen. Jackson then orchestrated the invasion of Florida in 1818, and convinced the Spanish government a year later to give up the territory. Along the way, he warred against Native Americans — although some were his allies for brief periods — and his 1830 Indian Removal Act expanded U.S. territory at a critical time. "As horrible a policy as it was, it was something that was widely appreciated by many voters at the time," said Andrew Frank, a historian at Florida State University. The $5 bill will also undergo change: The illustration of the Lincoln Memorial on the back will be redesigned to honor "events at the Lincoln Memorial that helped to shape our history and our democracy." The new image on the $5 bill will include civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his famous "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the memorial in 1963, and Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt. Anderson, an African-American opera singer, gave a concert at the memorial in 1939 after she had been blocked from singing at the then-segregated Constitution Hall. The Lincoln Memorial concert was arranged by Mrs. Roosevelt. An online group, Women on 20s, said it was encouraged that Lew was responding to its campaign to replace Jackson with a woman. But it said it wouldn't be satisfied unless Lew committed to issuing the new $20 bill at the same time that the redesigned $10 bill is scheduled to be issued in 2020. Lew said the new notes will go into circulation as fast as possible after that, consistent with the need to incorporate new anti-counterfeiting measures in the designs.
Prince accepted a standing ovation as he strolled out carrying a cane and rocking an Afro to present the 2015 Grammy for album of the year. Then he stole the show with a line that reminded everyone he was more than just a pop superstar; he was a black activist. "Albums still matter," he said. "Like books and black lives, albums still matter. Tonight and always." In the wake of his death Thursday at 57, radio stations played his biggest hits and fans came together to grieve. But beyond the chart-toppers and dance parties, the legacy of Prince Rogers Nelson grew to include political stances, challenges to record execs and an overarching focus on AfricanAmerican empowerment. At the Grammys in Los Angeles, Prince was referring to the Black Lives Matter Movement that was galvanized by the 2014 police killing of an unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. But Prince didn't stop there. After protests rocked Baltimore over the death of a black man who suffered a spinal injury while riding in a police van, Prince stepped in and performed a tribute song named for the city that included the line, "Does anybody hear us pray for Michael Brown or Freddie Gray?" "This song shined a new light," said Pastor Charles Ewing, Brown's uncle. "A lot of his music had messages." It wasn't the first time Prince connected his music to the fight for racial justice. He told The Associated Press in 2004 that he had chastised music industry bosses over rap and R&B that promoted sex, drugs and violence. "What you won't show your kids, don't show ours," he said at the time. Prince also sent money to the family of Trayvon Martin after the unarmed Florida teen was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012, the Rev. Al Sharpton said recently on MSNBC.
12 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
Opinions
Drawing the line Animated series best positioned to tackle tough issues through humor By Donyae Lewis Contributing Writer
It’s Saturday morning. You have your footie pajamas, a bowl of your favorite cereal and a free schedule — all of the qualities for a perfect cartoon marathon. Now the question remains: what channel will you be turning to? Perhaps it’s to see Zari, “Sesame Street’s” new female Afgan muppet. Zari, the six-year-old who appears in the fifth season of “Baghch-e Simsim,” Afghanistan’s version of “Sesame Street,” will be stepping into children’s living rooms to educate young viewers on female empowerment. Not only will Zari be interacting with children on the program, but also with Afghan professionals, giving viewers a glimpse into the culture and lifestyle of an Afghan woman. With the unveiling of an Afghan feminist, it appears we are entering a new age of progressive cartoons. Television historian for DePaul’s College of Communication Luke Stadel agrees, saying that cartoons are a reflection of the diversity trend seen in today’s television. “Cartoons have always been a subversive space,” Stadel said. “The fact that children’s programming is overtly playing to identity politics is reflective of the larger trend, which is towards open acknowledgement of diverse groups. Historically, it was always about black and white, but today we’re seeing that television programs are able to encompass a large range of racial identities. You need to shift away from TV being a mass media, to a niche media to facilitate that.” This phenomenon of niche media was not always the case. But according to Stadel, it's proof that educational networks are beginning to realize what needs to be taught to the younger generation. “What is the function of Sesame Street? That’s the debate,” Stadel said. “Conservatives see this being a problem because PBS is a publicly funded network. Opponents of this development seem to think it’s indoctrinating children. It’s supposed to teach them reading and math. Is this the thing we need to teach children? The creators of the show tend to think so. They court progressive audiences because they no longer need to worry about
offending conservatives.” DePaul freshman Gabrielle Evans believes the development of characters, such as Zari, reflect the social climate of contemporary society and will help strengthen children’s outlook on various cultures and identities. “It’s a huge step forward for inclusiveness in children’s cartoons,” Evans said. “I think it’s really timely because there’s so much hostility towards Muslims in the U.S. and Europe. It can definitely improve children’s perceptions of Muslims, and hopefully, ease the tensions that exist.” Although Evans gives credit to “Sesame Street” for implementing progressive ideas, she reminds us not to forget the cartoons that paved the way for characters like Zari to even exist. “The ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ franchise showcased characters of different fictional races cooperating against a common enemy,” Evans said. “ 90s cartoons, too, pushed the envelope to what was acceptable. Shows like, ‘Rugrats’ and ‘Hey Arnold!’ did a good job showing different characters from different backgrounds respecting each other as individuals, as well as not playing into stereotypes.” Another show that emerged in the early 1990s — and still remains popular to this day — is “The Simpsons.” The show, which has become television’s longest-running American animated program, has attracted viewers through its satirical humor of a yellow-skinned family living in the fictional town of Springfield. Stadel emphasizes how the show not only won its audience over with comedy, but also through its lighthearted portrayal of politics. “Cartoons are a space to deal with ideas in an extreme fashion and you write it off, as ‘it’s not reality,’” Stadel said. “‘The Simpsons’ was a key turning point in TV history because that was what FOX did,” Stadel said. “Shows like the ‘The Flintstones,’ and ‘The Jetsons,’ were more neutral in tone. The creators of ‘The Simpsons’ wanted to provoke; gaining an audience and airspace was about being provocative. The best way was to use cartoons.” Stadel mentioned how cartoons appeal to various age groups, while also going against traditional values, became a trend that is still seen in programming today. “We think of cartoons as being the
Saturday morning for children,” Stadel said. “Cartoons became codified with Cartoon Network as something that could appeal to adults. A lot of the humor and politics — especially on Adult Swim — is subversive and goes against the grain. We’ve become used to the idea that animation is more than just kid stuff,” Stadel said. While cartoon lovers in the DePaul community reflect on the identities incorporated by the past generation of animated shows, freshman Brock Williams expresses the life lessons he took away from them. “‘Ed, Edd, n Eddy’, ‘Johnny Bravo’ (and) other Cartoon Network shows always showed if you mess up, fix it yourself,” Williams said. “There’s not always going to be somebody to help you out. ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’ taught you to be brave and protect the ones you love. ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ shows each person can be their own individual self, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” Whether it’s watching a variety of diverse characters live together in harmony or taking home some food for thought, cartoons enable viewers to build connections with animated individuals whose lives resemble modern society in a unique way. Williams believes this element is what draws families to continue to watch these cartoons long after their final episode. “It’s to remember your childhood,” Williams said. “Me and my dad used to watch ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’ together. We still to this day can remember every single episode and the catch phrase ‘You stupid dog!’ Those quotes were hilarious and iconic to us.” Zari is on her way to becoming a household name and joining the beloved hearts of cartoon lovers. Stadel added that the animated six-year-old could not have found a more perfect home than “Sesame Street.” “For a show like ‘Sesame Street,’ it has a brand everyone is familiar with,” Stadel said. “It’s not just this new show. Almost everyone has this memory growing up watching ‘Sesame Street.’ That’s why the creators feel it’s important. They’re making a strong intervention.”
"Spongebob Squarepants"
After receiving criticism from multiple Christian activists groups that Spongebob and Patrick’s characters were promoting homosexuality, “Spongebob Squarepants” creator Stephen Hillenburg responded with zero apologies. “We never intended them to be gay,” he said. “I consider them to be almost asexual.”
"South Park"
Famed for its outrageous take on American culture and society, “South Park” episodes tackle hot topics including political correctness, gay rights and media conglomerates. Told through the eyes of a group of fourth graders, the series purposefully goes over-the-top on issues many consider controversial.
"Rick and Morty"
Starring 14-year-old Morty and his alcoholic, mad-scientist grandfather åmocks the vanity, shortsightedness and madness of the human race. Through their inter-dimensional travels, the duo faces issues including racism, drug abuse and sexual assault. IMAGES COURTESY OF NICKELODEON, COMEDY CENTRAL AND ADULT SWIM
Opinions. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 13
Illinois comptroller delays payments for state officials By Jack Higgins Contributing Writer
Illinois State comptroller Leslie Munger announced that starting next month the paychecks of state lawmakers and state officials, including her own paycheck, would be delayed due to the Illinois state budget crisis. The checks, averaging about $1.3 million a month, will still be processed. However, officials will now have to wait in line with businesses and social service organizations that have yet to receive their money from the state. Munger acknowledged the decision to delay state officials their checks is a part of her plan to put pressure on lawmakers to come to a solution to the state budget impasse that began 10 months ago. This is definitely a great idea, but it also begs the question: why didn’t this happen 10 months ago? Ten months ago, the Illinois government needed to create a new budget to manage the almost $6 billion deficit that includes the teachers’ pension program, health services and MAP grants DePaul students depend on to attend school, to name a few. Yet when the dust settled, no new budget had been passed. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget plan was full of budget cuts to Medicaid and an unconstitutional pension plan, and the General Assembly’s plan ended up overspending its mark. In the end, they couldn’t find a middle ground. The situation in Illinois came
to a head because the state did not put in the effort to put aside enough money for the pension plans it promised its government workers. A 2012 study conducted by The Pew Trusts concluded that the state funded 45 percent of its pensions and only one-tenth of a percent of its promised retirement health care plan. Another Pew Trust study concluded that in 2013 almost two-thirds of every dollar put into the Illinois pension plan went to paying past years’ debt rather than funding the current year’s pension. It is also important to keep in mind Rauner receives a $1 salary from the state of Illinois. Because he is so wealthy, he promised voters to wave his $177,412 salary as governor. While this is saving the state money, it certainly doesn’t help him understand the plight of the people affected by the Illinois budget impasse. Munger’s announcement that paychecks will be delayed puts no direct pressure on him in an interesting Catch-22. It seems too little too late for this plan to come into effect only now after social service programs and businesses have had to cut programs and lay off workers because of the lack of funding. Yet the announcement has garnered support from both Democrats and Republicans, including Sen. Heather Steans (D) of Chicago and Rep. David McSweeney (R). “Anything that puts pressure on is a good idea. I think it was probably a good idea 10 months ago too,” Steans told the Chicago Tribune.
Photo courtesy of VOTEMUGER.COM
Illinois comptroller Leslie Munger announced that starting at the end of April, payments for Illinois legislators and officials will be delayed due to the state's budget crisis. "It is only appropriate that we all wait in line to receive payment," she said.
Next November, Munger is up for special election against Chicago City Clerk Susan Mendoza. Munger was appointed to the state comptroller position by Rauner after the death of Judy Baar Topinka following her reelection in 2014. Mendoza lambasted Munger for the tardiness of her decision. “Yes, we should not pay elected officials where possible before paying more urgent bills, but when is Comptroller Munger going to stand up to Gov. Rauner and demand an end to his extreme agenda and pass a budget?” Mendoza said in emailed campaign statement. One must consider the timing of this recent statement as beneficial to Munger’s upcoming campaign. Not to take away from what she did, but candidates have a history of trying to make populist legislature before an upcoming election; barring perhaps the 2016 presidential election that has been very extreme thus far. "I think a lot of people think
it's a good idea," Munger told the Chicago Tribune in response to criticism. "Maybe it should have been done sooner. But honestly, I had to make sure that I could do this legally." This also is not the first time lawmakers’ salaries have been targeted in order to overhaul a budget impasse. In 2013, Gov. Pat Quinn used his veto power to cut the $13 million budget for legislative salaries and stipends in order to help speed up the process to resolve Illinois’ public worker pension. Lawmakers went unpaid for two months before a judge declared the veto unconstitutional and the checks were cut. Munger is still processing the checks. However, they will be held as unpaid bills, and there have been families who have lost jobs as a result of the budget crisis, so it would be hard to argue the lawmakers are the only ones not receiving salaries as a result of the budget impasse. The move is risky as the number and amount of the bills will pile up over the
coming months. This could definitely work, but it depends on how lawmakers react to going unpaid. If history repeats itself, they may try to fight the legislature rather than bending to her will and coming to a budget solution after getting a hit in their wallets. If they chose to fight back, it could put the pressure back on Munger to begin paying the lawmakers again in order to not be blamed for increasing the deficit directly. Regardless of Munger’s intentions, the idea of suspending pay to lawmakers is a bold move that could end up working. It’s hard to criticize a move as purely “political” when it is a way to pressure lawmakers to finally come to a solution to the crisis. Now that Munger has made her decision, it will be hard to back down on her own policy without taking a hit in the polls before her election this November. The lawmakers need to see firsthand what has become of their negligence.
Pay it forward: Harriet Tubman replaces Andrew Jackson on $20 bill By Hannah Pipes Copy Editor
Americans on social media this week have not been able to stop talking about one hot-button issue: the announcement that abolitionist Harriet Tubman will now be the image on the front of the $20 bill. She will be replacing President Andrew Jackson, who will be moved to the back of the bill. Despite opposition for this change, this is an important milestone for both people of color and women, since neither are featured on any American bills. It is hard to imagine why there would be opposition for this change, considering Tubman was an incredible activist and abolitionist during the Civil War, instigating significant change and helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. Jackson, on the other hand, created his legacy through the Trail of Tears by forcing Native Americans out of their homes, killing thousands in the process. It seems clear which of these historical figures deserves to have their face featured on American currency, yet many have expressed disdain for this change. Specifically, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took issue with the switch.
MICHELLE KRICHEVSKAYA | THE DEPAULIA
"Well, Andrew Jackson had a great history, and I think it's very rough when you take somebody off the bill," Trump said. "I think Harriet Tubman is fantastic, but I would love to leave Andrew Jackson or see if we can maybe come up with another denomination." Trump seems to be forgetting Jackson’s problematic treatment of Native Americans by saying that he had a great history, and is diminishing Tubman’s accomplishments by believing that she does not deserve to replace America's troublesome seventh
president. On the flip side, many people feel that Jackson should be removed from the bill entirely and Tubman should be given her rightful place on the front and back. “She’s only getting half of a bill?” DePaul freshman Merrick Jackson said. “That’s it?” Tubman deserves to be on the front of the $20 bill at the very least. The fact that American currency only includes the images of white men is ridiculous and outdated. Tubman’s position on the $20 bill
will provide an opportunity for inclusivity and will also eliminate the problematic Andrew Jackson from his position on the front. Hopefully in the future, Tubman could be featured on both the front and the back of the bill, since her admirable role in history deserves an honor of this magnitude. Until then, we can be happy about this change and hope for more women and people of color on bills in the years to come.
The opinions in this section do not necessarily reflect those of The DePaulia staff.
14 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
Focus
'I Want to Believe' By Jaycee Rockhold Focus Editor
Jennifer Kattalia, a junior, is used to keeping quiet about some topics in her apartment. She and her roommate have a very specific rule in order to keep things from getting too heated — no talking about dinosaurs. "In regards to mummies and dinosaurs, it's really about what we see and don't see," Kattalia said. "One never sees the mummy in the tomb. Where are the mummies? Same goes for dinosaurs. Take Sue at the Field Museum, for example. She's not real, why can't I see the real Sue?" Kattalia is an avid believer in conspiracy theories, especially those that involve the government. Kattalia follows the rule that “seeing is believing” and often finds herself defending those beliefs, especially when it comes to friends. That means no dinosaurs and no mummies either. It seems there are conspiracy theories for everything, whether it's the idea that Elvis is secretly alive or that the Denver airport was built by the Illuminati. Even though most people dismiss conspiracy theories, a pair of University of Chicago professors, Eric Oliver and Thomas Wood, found almost 50 percent of Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory. Kattalia, though, strongly believes that there are many true government conspiracies. However, Kattalia also said that there are certain guidelines to what a conspiracy theory is. “You can’t just make up something and say it’s a conspiracy theory,” Kattalia said. “If that’s the case, then everything and its existence could be a conspiracy. You need facts and you need backings and you need proof. My thoughts on mummies and dinosaurs are a little out there, I’ll admit. But if you look at a lot of the theories on Hitler, J.F.K., masons or pyramids, there’s evidence, evidence that is researched by experts, historians and even some government officials.” When asked why she thinks people feed into conspiracy theories, she said the media has a heavy hand in people’s unusual fascination. “I think a lot of them stem from the popularity government conspiracies play in dramas seen in Hollywood or TV,” Kattalia said. “(People) eat that drama up and often believe there is some truth to them. While I don’t necessarily believe ‘Scandal’ or ‘National Treasure’ featuring Nicholas Cage show how government
Pop culture makes well-known conspiracy theories more plausible
is, I do believe there are many events, discoveries, interactions or organizations that the government doesn’t want to release because it is too sensitive for the public to know.” One reason some conspiracy theories are plausible is that they’re so integrated into popular culture, especially in movies and TV shows. “They do tie into pop culture — I’m thinking particularly of the Beyoncé/ Illuminati conspiracy theory — maybe even the ‘Lady Gaga has a penis’ conspiracy theory,” Daniel Bashara, a professor at DePaul, said. “My sense of those popculture conspiracy theories is that they're mostly jokes, I think, though maybe I'm wrong about that. ‘The X-Files’ also speaks to a larger popular obsession with conspiracy theories, and its return this year is a testament to our persisting love of them. Our current political climate is of course another testament to this.” In “The X-Files”, a popular television show, FBI agents attempt to explain unexplainable cases. Classified as a science fiction show, the two main characters, Fox Mulder (a conspiracy theorist) and Dana Scully, seek to find the truth about aliens on Earth. However, science fiction shows aren’t the only pop-culture TV series that heavily rely on conspiracy theories. “I'm inclined to think that reality TV might have something to do with this kind of thinking in our contemporary moment, in the sense that it trains us to look for the seams of manipulation behind every show,” Bashara said. “We know they're all staged, right? So the way to outsmart reality TV is to approach it as a conspiracy theorist, looking for the signs of somebody up above pulling the strings. We feel a sense of superiority and security in knowing that we can't be easily lied to, which I think is at the core of belief in conspiracy theories in general.” However, some conspiracy theories turn out to be true. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was a medical study in 1932. Those running the experiment told the men involved that they were being treated for multiple blood ailments and would receive compensation in the form of free food. At the beginning of the experiment,
which took place in Alabama, there were 399 men with syphilis and 201 without. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's website, “they did not receive the proper treatment needed to cure their illness.” Essentially, volunteers participating in the experiment were not disclosed with the correct information about how the experiment was going to be conducted, which led to the worsening of the men’s illness even though widely used treatment was available. The experiment, instead of lasting a short six months, lasted nearly six years. In 1936, newspapers, the public and local physicians first questioned the experiment. Years later, after many suspicions and theories that the experiment had malicious affects and intentions, the conspiracy theory was found to be true. Cases like these are not the only reason why some theories are so believable. There are hundreds of conspiracy theories, some of which are more believable than others. There are a few, like the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment, that have been proven to be true. Whether it’s about dinosaurs not being real or Paul McCartney having a double, some theories will remain unexplained.
CAROLYN DUFF | DEPAULIA
Focus. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 15
Faked moon landings
PHOTO COURTESY OF MRPURPLETIE| WIKIPEDIA
Apparently Stanley Kubrick may have played a role in one of the world’s greatest hoaxes. Some Americans believe that the U.S. wasn’t really the first country to land on the moon. Instead, some propose that the whole thing was a cinematic project, either being filmed in Area 51 or somewhere in Hollywood. Those who believe in the conspiracy argue that the physics of the video are not realistic; the shadows are out of place, there are not enough stars and the flag placed on the moon blows in the wind (there shouldn’t be wind on the moon). NASA has repeatedly come out with reasons explaining each part of the hoax, but according to TIME magazine, around 6 percent of the U.S. population still believes the moon landing was fake.
Paul is Dead
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNITED INTERNATIONAL| WIKIPEDIA
Every Beatlemaniac has heard the term “Paul is Dead”. Apparently, some fans strongly believe that McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and was quickly replaced by a look-alike named Billy Shears. Despite its truthfulness, there does seem to be a plethora of uncanny evidence pointing in that direction. If some Beatles' songs are played backwards, there seems to be several macabre phrases chanted by band members, such as “Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him” on the track “I’m So Tired.” Fans claim that the Beatles have dropped several hints of McCartney’s death in their songs, interviews and album covers (like the yellow wreath on Sgt. Peppers Lonely PRESS Hearts Club Band). Additionally, many photos comparing McCartney and Shears reveal some pretty convincing similarities.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are in the Illuminati
PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA
This is one conspiracy theory that started out true. The Illuminati was a real group that started in 1776, designed to bring together the world’s most rich and powerful. The group was supposedly disassembled, but many believe it still exists. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, as well as many other celebrities, are rumored to be part of the Illuminati, especially because of Beyoncé’s use of the pyramid symbol during the Super Bowl. That year, the Super Bowl also had a power outage for the first time, suspending the game for nearly 30 minutes. Some wonder if this was a defying act of the Illuminati, mostly because Beyoncé performed at the halftime show.
Area 51
PHOTO COURTESY OF DALE ECKERT| YOUTUBE
There are always questions of whether or not the government has its secrets, but what one of the biggest debates is whether aliens are on the list of things that the government is hiding. Located roughly 80 miles away from Las Vegas, the Area 51 has always been kept under tight security. Conspiracy theorists have been trying to prove this theory to be true for years, especially after the CIA announced in 2013 that the government was working on special aircraft technology in Area 51. Theorists and believers suggest that this is where the government has hid the existence of aliens from the public, experimenting with extraterrestrial technology. Hundreds of cases of civilians claiming to see UFOs have popped up in the last few years, with more bound to happen. Recently, Area 51 has appeared in the news more often than usual, especially after a family who trespassed there was held at gunpoint last month.
16 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
Arts & Life
Photos courtesy of DRE SANCHEZ
Junior Austin Heemstra directed, wrote and produced “Samson,” a boxing film inspired by films like “Creed.” Heemstra worked with other DePaul students and shot the film in locations throughout Chicago, including iO Chicago’s theater and the homes of other DePaul students, Danny Farber and Alex Naremore.
Fighting their way through
Students create film with help from DePaul supplies and Kickstarter By Zoe Krey Contributing Writer
As if class, homework and clubs weren’t enough, thirdyear DePaul student Austin Heemstra added writing, producing and directing to his schedule last quarter. After coming up with an idea over winter break for a short film that simply couldn’t wait, Heemstra and DePaul students Rishab Roa and Jon Deck wrote an original screenplay titled “Samson.” “Samson” is a boxing film that addresses the importance of connecting with family and overcoming traumatic situations. The main character, Samson, must fight in and out of the ring to save his family from a crime boss to whom he is indebted. With some thought-provoking biblical illusions and complex characters, the film seeks to be a boxing movie on a deeper level. “All these movies were coming out like ‘Creed’ and I really wanted to make a boxing movie,” Heemstra said. “I also wanted to learn how to address a style of film with activity. I wanted to learn choreography.” Education was intentionally a main goal for Heemstra and his crew. Largely a student effort, Heemstra wanted to create a film that could showcase everyone’s abilities. The “Samson” effort brought together many DePaul College of Computing and Digital Cinema students, giving them exposure to the film industry on a smaller, independent scale. DePaul students Taylor Gillen and Ella Lubienski served as producers for the film, and are currently working on gaining awareness for the film’s Kickstarter campaign. “Samson” was shot at the iO Chicago theater and two Chicago apartments, including DePaul student Danny Farber’s basement and DePaul student Alex Naremore’s kitchen. Filming in just three locations, the budget for “Samson” left much to be desired. However, with graduate student Dre Sanchez’s production design skills and the resourcefulness of the Samson crew, the short film was pulled off with only a self-financed $2,600. Although “Samson” did not receive any funding grants from DePaul, Gillen said that the short film would not have been possible without DePaul’s equipment. Utilizing their student status, “Samson” crew members rented out cameras and lighting equipment from DePaul’s state-of-
the-art supply. Although Gillen acknowledged the fact that not many short films make a profit, he hopes the Kickstarter campaign will help the crew recuperate some of their selffunded budget. “Mainly these types of things are stepping stones to bigger projects. It’s about having work that you’re passionate about and gaining exposure,” Gillen said. Although the filming of “Samson” has ended, there is plenty of work to be done. Scoring, editing and color correcting the film are all parts of the post-production process. The short film’s Kickstarter currently has 24 backers and is $1,695 short of its $3,000 goal. Funds from Kickstarter will hopefully generate enough for film festival submissions. Heemstra hopes to submit his short film to festivals in Chicago, Los Angeles and Maryland after it premieres. The short film is currently in the post-production stage. “We’re now working to create marketing campaign strategies and finish post-production,” Gillen said. To aid the marketing efforts, Sanchez is designing posters and signage for “Samson.” Not only the production designer, Sanchez is also the film’s graphic designer, demonstrating the fluidity and flexibility of the crew due to its small size. Far from certain, various scenes in the film were up in the air until the day of the shoot. The fight scene in particular gave Heemstra nightmares. Nervous about extras showing up for the final, and arguably the most important day of shooting given the fight scene’s significance, Heemstra and Gillen were extremely appreciative of the extras, including a few DePaul students, that came to the shoot. Once the extras were secured, however, the real battle began. “We had to make food for 30 people,” Heemstra said. Because of the short film’s low, self-funded budget, money couldn’t be spared for catering for lunch and craft services. “Food is part of our actors’ and workers’ payment,” Gillen said. While the crew took turns wearing many hats during production, one hat the production assistants knew very well was the chef ’s hat. The crew made all of the film’s food for every shoot. “We’d have tortellini, salads, deli sandwiches, hotdogs and jalapeño dip from Costco,” Heemstra said. “We saved money by making our food. We were
crunched for time so we bought our groceries, instead of securing donations” Gillen said. “That was just the avenue we decided to take.” Coming from an acting background, Heemstra said his role behind the cameras affirmed his love of film and introduced him to the world of directing. “This was my first time actually being a real director, and I’m so in touch with the characters. It’s amazing,” Heemstra said. Completing production in just four weeks during winter quarter, spring quarter will also be a quick turnaround with the crew focused on the editing process and preparing for a pre-screening. “Samson” is set to officially premiere sometime this June. “The most difficult part was finding everyone I needed to make this happen. I was trying to figure out who would be best for what,” Heemstra said. “I really wanted this project to be a project for people who normally don’t get to do what they want to do. For me, I didn’t direct that much. I was acting and producing, but I wanted to direct.” Inviting Sanchez to try out a role in the art department of “Samson” and bringing freshmen Megan McGuire and Erin Moreland onto his crew as production assistants, Heemstra’s short film became much more than just a short film about boxing. The learning experience for the entire crew, cast and especially Heemstra himself made every challenge worth it. For Sanchez, the best part of the experience was being around people that were just as passionate as he was. “There were a lot of talented people involved, but more important than the talent is the passion,” Sanchez said. “Even when you were tired and losing energy on set, you gained it by seeing everyone so inspired. You felt that. You can teach people things, but you can’t really teach somebody to want to be there.” Heemstra’s genuine pride for his short film was evident as he equated his directorial experience as having a child and then watching the child go off to college. “There were times when I would be looking at the monitor and I would just laugh. It was crazy because the lines that I wrote and this story that I wrote were happening,” Heemstra said. “Being able to see this all come together was such a surreal experience.”
Arts & Life. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 17
Cinematic cravings
The movies and scenes that have left us hungry for more
“CHEF”
“GOODFELLAS”
If there is one movie that revolves entirely around food, one movie that will make your stomach growl, it’s Jon Favreau’s “Chef.” The man that brought you huge-budget epics like “Iron Man,” “Cowboys vs. Aliens” and the newly released “The Jungle Book,” brings the art of cooking and creating the finest food dishes to the big screen. It’s tacos, it’s grilled cheese, it’s ribs. “Chef ” does for food what “Magic Mike” does for Channing Tatum’s abs. If there’s one film to not watch hungry, it’s “Chef.”
Only Martin Scorsese can direct a 3-minute monologue about a mafia gangster scraping together some pasta in prison. From the cutting of the garlic with razors, to the pan-cooked steaks — the entirety of the scene serves its overall purpose: even when they’re in prison, “wise guys” still eat well. The common prison films and scenes depict inmates sneaking in weapons or tools for escape, but these men are sneaking in bread, lobster and spices. That’s what makes “Goodfellas” so engaging; the fact that Henry Hill and his “wise guys” make being a gangster look so cool.
“STAR WARS: EPISODE VII THE FORCE AWAKENS”
“PULP FICTION”
Much like “Harry Potter,” in a movie series surrounded by visual effects, elaborate costumes and makeup, one of the most impressive mesmerizing scenes from the newest Star Wars was when Rey made her instant portion bread. The scene lasts no longer than 15 seconds but it’s easily one of the most memorable shots of the entire film — and it was all done practically. The scene became so popular that the official Star Wars team prepared and posted the ingredients to make Rey’s portion bread.
Much like what Martin Scorsese accomplished in “Goodfellas,” Quentin Tarantino replicates in “Pulp Fiction.” Besides possibly “There Will Be Blood,” no film has made a two person dialogue scene surrounding the topic of a milkshake so interesting. As John Travolta and Uma Thurman swing back and forth about their opinion on a $5 milkshake, Tarantino places the shake itself right in the frame of the camera — teasing the viewer, as if they’re able to grab it through the screen. It’s not the first scene of the film depicting a conversation revolving around food — as early in the film Samuel L. Jackson takes his first bite of the Big Kahuna burger before he kills his target.
By Pat Mullane Staff Writer
“HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE” It’s been over 15 years since its release, and watching the first Harry Potter film is undoubtedly a trip down memory lane. As a kid — nearly the same age as Harry and trio in the film — watching Dumbledore address the tightly packed Hogwarts great hall with, “Let the feast begin!” lit up my eyes as if I were at the dinner table myself. Watching chicken, turkey, pie and sweets magically appearing on their plates was every kid’s dream at home. It’s an early scene in the film series that grabs the viewer and throws them in the joyous wizarding world that we have all come to know.
“JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI” Before I watched this film, I am ashamed to say that I had never tried sushi in my life. One man convinced me: Jiro Ono — the 90-yearold master, a man solely known for being the greatest sushi craftsman alive. Like “Chef,” “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” invites the viewer into the art and history of food making, of cooks and cutterys. To the average viewer, an over hourlong documentary surrounding sushi might come off as unpleasant, or disengaging, but for me — a man who had never tried sushi before — I came out of the theater with not only a respect for Jiro but also a stomach craving some of what I had seen on the big screen.
Graphics by KATIE TAMOSIUNAS & MICHELLE KRICHEVSKAYA | THE DEPAULIA
18 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
FAIR TRADE
FADS The third annual Fair Trade Fashion Show celebrated Earth Day and highlighted clothing made ethically
GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA
GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA
GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA
GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA
(Top right): Megan Sidhu of Heshima Kenya explains her organizations story to Hoda Katebi and DePaul alumna Natalie Smith. (Top left): Arielle Besyk and Karl Yetka prepare for the fashion show. (Middle right): Arielle Besyk wears a 10,000 Villages dress made in Kathmandu, Nepal. (Middle left): University of Chicago student Erin Risk takes the runway. (Bottom): Ashley Renteria, president of DePaul Alliance for Latino Empowerment, poses on stage. GEOFF STELLFOX | THE DEPAULIA
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Arts & Life. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 19
‘The Misanthrope,’ and its costumes, shine By Nina Gaulin Staff Writer
“The Misanthrope,” which opened April 15 at The Theatre School, puts a modern spin on a timeless aspect of humanity: our social world. The play was originally written by Moliere in 1666, and directed by DePaul graduate student Brian Balcom. Through a fluid blend of today’s world with Moliere’s views on high society, the cast created an alarming yet sadly accurate picture of the upsetting nature of our social relationships — and the lack of sincerity within them. The show started off with a back-andforth analysis of human nature between Philinte — performed with an admirable sense of patience and wisdom by Jalen Gilbert — and Alceste, “the misanthrope,” a person who dislikes other people, after whom the play is named. Brian Healy, a third-year student at The Theatre School, took on the lead role of Alceste with a very convincing critique of the flaws in society. His sudden outbursts of rage were impressive, and it is clear through the authenticity in which he embodied Alceste that Healy did his homework. In addition, Healy’s long speeches on the wrongdoings of humankind paralleled his intense passion for Celemine, a beautiful and sly woman who seemed to be the object of everyone’s affections. Celemine was played by fellow third-year student Chloe Baldwin. Baldwin’s depiction of Celemine was a delight to witness; her investment in the love-to-hate personality of the character could be seen right down to every eyebrow raise and astounded smile. The chemistry between Baldwin and Healy was clear throughout the entire performance, and one could imagine Moliere’s intent in pairing two people who hold such very different ideas of the way the world ought
Photo courtesy of MICHAEL BROSILOW | THE THEATRE SCHOOL
A scene from the The Theatre School’s production of “The Misanthrope.” The play is adapted from Moliere’s 1666 play, and costume designer and DePaul student Madison Briede had to create her costume ideas from the modern adaptation. to be. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this production was the mixture of the modern world with the dialogue of 15th century Europe, particularly shining through in the cast’s costumes. “It has been challenging trying to achieve a cohesive style for this play,” DePaul student Madison Briede, the costume designer of “The Misanthrope” said. “Because the play is set in present day, I worked closely with the set designer, Jack Magaw, in working to achieve a neobaroque style. All of the costumes have modern silhouettes, but incorporate
motifs, embellishment and color palette that is evocate of the person that this play was originally written for.” Briede described the overall design of the play as “sophisticated and refined with a splash of the absurd.” She also described the general process she goes through when doing costume design for a show. “Generally my process begins with reading the script,” Briede said. “After I’ve given it a once over, I will go over the script again highlighting any information that I think is important or will influence my design.” Briede followed this with creating
preliminary designs and consulting with the design team and director to make sure what is being created is cohesive. Briede’s thorough process of understanding the original intent and style of the play, along with the incorporation of today’s styles, truly represent the absurdity of social status and the delicate balance of truth and ridiculousness necessary for the environment of these characters. The Misanthrope brought together all of these elements, the costume design in particular, with flying colors.
20 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
SOUP’S UP
Cupbob + Ramen brings appetizing flavors to Lincoln Park By Hannah Pipes Copy Editor
I’m a firm believer that there should be a ramen place on every corner of Chicago, and until that happens, I’ve been attempting to try all the ramen places in the city. I was excited to learn earlier this month that Cupbop + Ramen, which sells Korean food and ramen, just opened in Lincoln Park at 2439 N. Clark St. Located less than a mile from DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus, the restaurant sounded like the perfect place to grab a snack after class. After a tiring Monday full of classes, I wanted nothing more than a bowl of ramen and a nice place to sit, so I walked to Cupbop + Ramen to check it out. I was greeted as I walked into the restaurant by a simple, pleasant atmosphere, with tall brown tables taking up the interior. It was 5:30 p.m. and there were no other customers, but a few more trickled in after I had been there for a few minutes. I perused the menu, and was intrigued by many of the items, such as the “Cupbop,” which seemed to be one of their specialties. Another day I definitely want to go back and try this dish, which is a bowl of meat mixed with rice and vegetables. The shrimp tempura also tempted me, with a
picture of the brown battered appetizer on display. However, I had come for ramen, and I wasn’t going to change my mind. I ordered the spicy miso ramen for $13, which may sound expensive but is pretty standard pricing for ramen, and waited at my table eagerly. The service was very fast; I had steaming ramen in front of me in less than five minutes. I was incredibly hungry, so I was impatient as I let the broth cool. I tasted the soup, carefully making sure that it wasn’t too hot, and was hit by a pleasantly flavorful taste with a bit of a kick to it. It’s not too spicy, but I would recommend those that prefer less strong tastes to get a different dish. After determining that the broth was cool enough to enjoy, I dug in to the noodles and pork, both extremely flavorful and just the right texture. The noodles were thick and chewy, while the pork was soft enough to break with the spoon. Green onions sprinkled throughout gave the meal even more zest. My only complaint would be that the soft-boiled egg was overcooked, but this did not ruin the ramen by any means. The dish left me as full as if I had eaten two meals, and my ramen craving was
HANNAH PIPES | THE DEPAULIA
Cupbop + Ramen offers a spicy miso ramen, which contains a spicy broth with thick egg noodles, a soft boiled egg, green onions, sesame and pork belly. completely satisfied. Cupbop + Ramen may just be getting started, but I predict that it will develop into a popular new place, enjoyed by students and community members alike. I know
I’ll make it back there with the intention of trying the Cupbop, but I may just be too tempted by the spicy ramen.
‘Doom’ video game reboot disappointing By Andrew Busch Contributing Writer
The classic science-fiction shooter “Doom” will return on May 13 with a fourth installation to the series headed to next generation consoles and PC. The original 1993 shooter is regarded as one of the most influential games in history as it introduced gamers to the first-person shooter as well ushered in the era of 3D graphics. “Doom” was also the first game to have multiplayer where players connect to a common server and compete against one another in action-packed combat. As a result, it is easy to imagine the massive following of fans who are anticipating the launch of a new game to the classic series. However, after playing the beta this past weekend for the newest installment this reboot felt unnecessary and forgettable. First, the beta included two game modes that really offered nothing distinct from other first-person shooters. In the first mode, Warpath, players fought for control of territory as it moved throughout the map. The second game type included in the beta was the classic Team Deathmatch that “Doom” introduced to the world in its earlier titles. This game type has become the bread and butter of every multiplayer shooter to follow in its footsteps. However, instead of owning their classic game mode, “Doom” seems to have fallen behind with repetitive combat and little emphasis on strategy. In fact, much of the time I spent in the
Photo courtesy of DOOM
“Doom,” a science-fiction shooter video game will be a reboot of the “Doom” series that was originally launched in 1993. The beta version of the game ultimately felt forgettable, and left a lot to be desired before the game is released. beta involved unsuccessfully back peddling away from the hoards of gamers who resorted to using the overpowered double-barreled shotgun. The weapon options in the beta also fell short due to issues with damage balancing. Initially, I was excited to see some creative elements in guns like the Static Cannon, which builds up an electrical charge and deals more damage based on the amount players moved between shots. The Vortex Rifle also offered a new twist on the classic sniper rifle as it increased in damage the longer a player aimed down the sights.
But to my disappointment, both of these weapons faded into the background due to their inability to match the power of both the Super Shotgun and Rocket Launcher. Despite some glaring disappointments, “Doom’s” beta provides a small glimmer of hope through a couple of successes. The first was the game’s Demon Ruins, which allows players to transform into a giant monster complete with a jet pack and rocket launchers upon activation. Wielding the sheer destructive power of this demon was immensely satisfying, as well as
watching enemies running away in fear. The cinematic melee takedowns were another highlight. These short first-person action sequences were both fluid and grotesquely mesmerizing proving that the “Doom” franchise still masters the art of carnage. A final success was the overall gameplay experience. “Doom” delivered its promise of high intensity and fast-paced action. Combat also felt very polished with smooth movements and aiming. It also provided some exhilarating close-quarters moments, especially when
chaining kills together. Despite these successes the game’s multiplayer is currently a far cry from a triumphant return. It simply does not compete with current first-person shooters like “Star Wars: Battlefront,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” and “Halo 5” that all have found their distinct niches in multiplayer gaming. As a result, “Doom” seems to have lost its edge as a pioneer and is as out of place in today’s market as a 30-year-old at a high school party.
Arts & Life. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 21
YOU'RE HERE
FOR WHO?
We did the homework so you don't have to. Check back each week for the scoop on bands you can't miss at Pitchfork, Lollapalooza, North Coast and Riot Fest this year.
By Maddy Crozier Staff Writer
Jarryd James Australian indie pop singer Jarryd James recently re-emerged in the music scene with his debut solo single “Do You Remember,” an emotional original that peaked at No. 1 on Australian charts. It led to the release of his first EP “Thirty One” in September 2015. Shy on stage, but genuine, his music is refreshingly minimal, and he isn’t afraid to move into falsetto. His softened vocals stand out across songs, but balance with the music of the well-mixed tracks, making them easy to listen to. “Give Me Something” comes off like a personal confession. His songs express a search for love, and in this one he asks, “Can I get a little bit of your attention? Can I get a little bit of your affection?” His renewed passion is worth a listen.
Jarryd James Lollapalooza Photo courtesy of JARRYD JAMES
Anderson .Paak Anderson .Paak
Anderson Paak cultivates every detail of his music, right down to his name. He usually writes his stage name as Anderson .Paak, telling NPR in an interview that the dot stands for “detail” because he spends so much time on his craft. Paak is intentional, a designer, using mediums of funk, soul and R&B to color his verse and rhythm. He softens moods and styles into chill tracks that flow through albums like “Malibu,” his latest, released on Jan. 15. Even though rap style dominates “Without You,” shimmering tones brighten the background with a bit of undeniable sweetness. Paak delivers old school, new school, now-and-later soul that you stick in your back pocket.
Pitchfork
Photo courtesy of ANDERSON .PAAK
Shamir The cool and confident Shamir named his first album “Northtown” after his hometown suburb in Las Vegas, but it sounds like it came from a much farther away, funkier world. The addictive album orbits the planet of traditional discography like a sparkling satellite, refusing to land. Stand-out instrumentals from songs like “In For The Kill” are inspired and bright, and swirl into Shamir’s smooth vocals like a melting summer milkshake. But he wants listeners to focus on his androgynous, stylish vocals. “Sometimes a Man,” born on the Vegas strip, has a late-night club style. Shamir performs fearlessly, an artist doing whatever he wants. The Guardian called Shamir’s music “electrified sherbet for the ears,” which is what one can expect from an artist who walks on rainbows.
Shamir
Pitchfork Photo courtesy of SHAMIR
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Arts & Life. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 23
what’sFRESH in FILM
in MUSIC Jay Reatard “Blood Visions” April 16 Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., most popularly known as Jay Reatard, was one of the rare few that could balance multiple bands and still have his own unique persona.
The Jungle Book Walt Disney Studios April 15
“Blood Visions,” one of the most prolific garage rock albums to be released, represents Lindsey’s best musical endeavors — catchy hooks, fuzzy guitar riffs that are threateningly aggressive and a darkly romantic undertone that skews the perception of what it means to be starry-eyed about someone. The reissue just emphasizes what Lindsey encompasses: painfully great garage rock.
Photo courtesy of WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
Having already grossed over $125 million, “The Jungle Book” is the most popular film out currently — and for good reason. The film is able to successfully create a space of its own, despite the massive shoes it had to fill not only from the 1967 Disney film, but also the original stories written by Rudyard Kipling that the Disney film is based on. Jon Favreau’s adaptation is able to toe the line between the two predecessors — capturing the whimsy of the Disney film and the danger of Kipling’s series of stories. One of the most notable aspects of Favreau’s adaptation is the cast he has compiled to voice the characters — most notably Idris Elba as Shere Khan and Bill Murray, who perfectly captures the spirit of Baloo. In addition to the stellar cast, the cinematography features some of the most beautiful images captured in a children’s movie. ERIN YARNALL | THE DEPAULIA
CAROLYN DUFF | THE DEPAULIA
JAYCEE ROCKHOLD | THE DEPAULIA
LIVE April 27 Frankie Cosmos Lincoln Hall 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., $13
April 29 Into It. Over It. Lincoln Hall 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., $16.50
April 28 Courtney Barnett Riviera Theatre 4746 N. Racine Ave., $27.50
April 30 White Denim Thalia Hall 1807 S. Allport St., $20
24 | The DePaulia. April 25, 2016
St.Vincent’s
D e JAMZ
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“Spinning fresh beats since 1581”
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ILLUSTRATION | THE DEPAULIA
Find this and all our DeJamz playlists on depauliaonline.com and on our spotify account By DePaulia Staff Thursday, April 21 was a heartbreaking day for music fans, as it was announced that Prince, the singer, multi-instrumentalist, actor, record producer and allaround music icon died at his home and recording studio, Paisley Park, in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Throughout his career that spanned four decades, the multi-talented artist released 39 albums, starred in four films and directed three films. His immense discography has left beloved fans, including members of The DePaulia’s staff, treasuring the music he left behind.
1. “Purple Rain” Every famous musician has a signature piece of work that fans will point to as a defining feature in their careers. For Prince, that was “Purple Rain.” The performance of the song that sticks out to me is the Halftime Show at the Super Bowl in 2007. It was pouring rain, but it was somehow perfect, as if Prince himself had ordered Mother Nature to rain. When he started “Purple Rain” at the end of his set, the lights turned down and in the midst of a downpour, he electrified the crowd in a way that matched the intensity of the actual game. — Ben Gartland, Sports Editor
Crossword
2. “I Wanna Be Your Lover” I don’t use the word literally unless I mean it. And you literally cannot be sad when you listen to this song. Plus, Prince redefines the deep v-neck in this music video. Truly iconic. — Danielle Harris, Opinions Editor 3. “Let’s Go Crazy” Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to celebrate a life. Prince did so much during his, and news of his death hasn’t completely settled in for me. This song, for me, is what I think of when I think of Prince, though it shows merely part of his musical talent. He provided the soundtrack to so many people’s lives, mine included in many
Across 1. Valuable possession 6. Radar image 10. Deep wound 14. Prefix meaning “large” 15. “Peanuts” expletive 16. Bris or confirmation, e.g. 17. Annual Baltimore event 20. Biblical no-no 21. Trees for archers’ bows 22. Prosecutors 23. Gnawed to a farethee-well 25. Diarist Frank 26. Toxin fighters 28. Hooky-playing 32. Seance board 34. Petty quarrel 35. Poem that honors 38. Emulate T.D. Jakes 42. Coast Guard alert 43. Ancient inscription 44. Drive away 45. Like some air
ways, and he was avant garde and original every time. He was “there” for many people and his legacy shows that, in this life, you don’t have to be on your own. — Rachel Hinton, Nation & World Editor 4. “Little Red Corvette” One of most distinct memories of riding in the car is when I was 10 years old with my mom and 12-year-old sister. My mom turns around from the driver’s seat and says, “You know this song isn’t really about a little red Corvette, right?” I said I knew. I didn’t. Thanks for the lesson on sexual innuendos, Prince.
5. “Sign o’ the Times” Though Prince could be raunchy with his music, he also made a lot of songs about social issues and society. “Sign O’ the Times” is perfect social commentary that doesn’t make you feel (completely) crappy afterward. “Some say a man isn’t truly happy until a man truly dies,” Prince sings after laying out the problems in the world. Though his loss will be felt in many different ways, I hope this line is true. — Rachel Hinton, Nation & World Editor
— Danielle Harris, Opinions Editor
conditioning 48. Provides weaponry 49. Thrown ___ loop 51. “I want it!” 53. Untamed one 55. Game similar to Bingo 56. Undercover agent 59. Ignore, in a way 62. Adolescent’s facial bane 63. Sword battle 64. Hard to miss 65. Untidy one’s creation 66. Garden starter 67. They meet in the middle Down 1. Current units 2. Dress in India 3. Movie sets 4. It’s low for great pitchers 5. City trashed by Godzilla 6. Beer maker
7. Young woman in Scotland 8. “___ not my fault!” 9. Secretive call for attention 10. Like some bad photos 11. “American Idol” contestant Clay 12. Cubic meter 13. Exxon competitor 18. Bird’s home 19. Trailer hauler 24. Bangalore bigwig 26. Bribes 27. International money 29. Leading man in the theater? 30. Large primate 31. Carp 33. Land measurement 35. Downtrodden 37. Some architectural wings 39. Member of a hoarde 40. Stick in a Road Runner cartoon
41. Baseball feature 45. Warehouse boxes 46. From way back when 47. Dryer debris 49. Satiric comedy 50. Bake-off appliances 52. Diesel’s invention 53. Canned meat brand 54. Drops the curtain on 55. Arthoscopy site 57. Gilpin of TV’s “Frasier” 58. Tibetan cryptid 60. Invoice word 61. Eggs in bio labs
Sports. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 25
Sports
BOTTOMS continued from back page
The surgery was successful and Bottoms never needed chemo. Many people might perceive cancer and surgery as reasons to alter their lifestyles. Perhaps cancer could be seen as a sign to quit. Bottoms never quit, competing for DePaul that same season. “If anything, this proves to me that I was meant to be here,” Bottoms said. “I’m going to make the most of my time while I’m here, whether it be with film or track, I’m going to make the most of it.” Bottoms credits much of his recovery to his competitive nature. However, Bottoms believes he is just as creative as he is competitive. Possibly the most impressive feat Bottoms accomplished was conflating the two sides of himself. “Competitive nature in animation is just wanting to create the best product or the best film, or the best representation of the idea you want to leave with your audience,” Bottoms said. “With track, there are times when you realize, ‘okay, the way I’ve been told to run the race, that doesn’t really work for me. I’ve hit that wall.’ So, you continue to get better on the track by using different ways, techniques, methods and you can get creative with that.” Bottoms does not wish to pursue a professional career with track and field. While he’s at DePaul, he wishes to be one of the
first captains of the team to win the Big East championship. As a filmmaker, Bottoms is working on his reel to submit to internships and studios like the rest of his peers. He hopes to one day fulfill his life-long dream of working in a studio. After beating cancer, how tough can a few studio executives really be?
Illustration courtesy of CHAZ BOTTOMS
CLUBS continued from back page
Photo courtesy of DEPAUL CREW
DePaul crew has expanded to having multiple levels of men's and women's teams.
DePaul also has multiple dance clubs on campus that range from swing to hiphop. Nu’ance Inspirational Dance Team is a multicultural dance team that creates and performs various shows every year to encourage and support women. The club has 25 members, and is celebrating five years at DePaul with a dance expo. They have multiple shows coming up, and their next is on Mother’s Day on May 8. The theme of this show is simply celebrating women, and all are welcome to join. The show will be held from 5-8 p.m. at the DePaul Student Center in room 120 A/B. Nu’ance is partnering with other dance companies, as well as local organizations, to put on this showcase. The showcase will feature dance routines that celebrate women and the event will include a mother-daughter dance contest in honor of Mother’s Day. The event will also include presents for moms, and a presentation of roses to the mothers at the event. Emeri Gray, club president of Nu’ance, suggests an information fair be held for club sports at DePaul. “Even though Nu’ance is a dance team on campus, a lot of people don’t know that we are a registered club sport. I think more folks that are less inclined to athletics may be turned off by the title ‘Club Sport,’ so letting everyone know that there is a wide range of activities that fall under this umbrella would be
helpful,” Gray said in an email. All of the DePaul club programs are offered to currently-enrolled students, and just require a signed waiver to participate. However, some clubs do hold tryouts, but as Ericson pointed out, sometimes making the team is just a matter of dedication to the team. In the case of crew, even if someone doesn’t have experience they can still make the team by showing a dedication to the team and a strong work ethic. After all, it’s not easy showing up at 6 a.m. five days a week for practice. Club sports are also responsible for recruiting and advertising their sport by their own means. DePaul does not help in that process, and it may be the lack of exposure that keeps some students in the dark about the options that are available to them. “I didn’t even know we had (dance clubs) in the first place,” sophomore Valerie Cienfuegos said. The information is out there, but it’s currently not easily accessible. Cienfuegos admitted that she had looked on the DePaul’s athletic page to find out about sports on campus, but didn’t find any that were open to students. Currently, students need to access the campus recreation page, and then navigate to the club sports directory for information. Other solutions that were mentioned was to have information during Welcome Week for students. Had there been information more readily available to Cienfuegos, she said she definitely would have joined a sport.
26 | Sports. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia
GAME CHAN
The DePaulia' propose chang
MEN’S CHANGE THE SHOT CLOCK
MATTHEW PARAS | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
College basketball is stuck in the past. It was only until this season that men’s basketball was somehow still using 35 seconds for the shot clock. Even then, 30 seconds is still too slow. It’s time the NCAA catches up with the rest of basketball past the high school level — drop the shot clock to 24 and turn two halves into four 10-minute quarters. “Nobody is playing with a shot clock longer than 30,” said analytics guru Ken Pomeroy, who has his advanced college basketball website KenPom. “Obviously, FIBA (International Basketball Federation) uses 24 now. Of course, the NBA has used 24 forever. “We really proved this year that college basketball can handle 24, especially with shooting becoming the way it is.” Pomeroy said that the shot clock dropping from 35 to 30 resulted in a four-possession increase and an increased efficiency. The average NCAA men’s basketball team averaged 72.1 points per game this season while last year team’s only averaged 66.7. Efficiency increased too with teams averaging 1.01 point per possession this year, compared to .99 last year. In addition, Pomeroy said that teams embracing the 3-pointer has improved scoring even more. Dropping the shot clock to 24 will be one of the few advantages left for the defense, especially as shooting is getting better. Speeding up the game to 24 seconds would make for faster possessions and help with the fluidness of the game. But it’s the flow of college basketball that needs to improve. Right now, the sport is too rigid — with poor possession after poor possession, followed by media timeouts that disrupt the flow of the game. A way to combat this is quarters. The women’s game made this switch last season and it couldn’t have been better. Games sailed by in just under two hours, and even if media timeouts are longer for television, quarters can help with not making the TV timeouts feel as intrusive. The NCAA, of course, is stubborn. As Pomeroy noted, it took years before the men’s game adapted to the 30 second shot clock while the women had used it since 1969. But it’s time to update the men’s game. Keeping the shot clock at 30 seconds and halves doesn’t make college basketball unique — it makes it archaic.
JOSH LEFF | THE DEPAULIA
PLAY-INS FOR ATELIMINATE ONE LARGE TEAMS ONLY AND DONE BEN GARTLAND | SPORTS EDITOR
ZACHARY HOLDEN | STAFF WRITER
In 2011, the NCAA first started operating under an expanded first round in the NCAA Tournament. This meant an increase to four play-in games rather than just one. What it also means is that some conference winners, particularly smaller schools in less powerful conferences, can be slighted when it comes to their automatic bid. Schools that win their conference tournament earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and, for some schools, winning their conference tournament is their only way into the NCAA tournament. Since the advent of the play-in round expansion, 48 teams have participated and half of those teams were conference winners. I believe this to be a slight to teams who went all the way to win their conference tournament. What this policy allows is for middling, bubble teams like the 2015-16 version of Syracuse, to earn a slot in the Round of 64 while a conference winner Southern University is forced to play in an extra game because they are a smaller school. Those who win several games to earn the right to play in the NCAA tournament should not have to play an extra game just to find a way into the actual tournament. The First Four should be a round for middling teams just like Syracuse, or like two of the participants in the round this year: Michigan and Tulsa. Neither Michigan or Tulsa did enough during the season to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament, and so they should have had to play an extra game to show they are worthy of making the NCAA tournament. Conference winners showed it during their conference tournaments. This can benefit both the NCAA tournament games in the Round of 64 and the play-in games. If play-in games feature teams that are bubble teams, they are lilkely not going to be the small schools from the conferences that only send one school to the tournament. They are going to be teams like Michigan, who have an established fan base and can deliver bigger numbers. NCAA tournament games are going to be highly watched anyways, so why not extend ratings to the play-in games by playing at-large teams instead of small schools who actually won their conference?
Increasing the NBA’s age limit to 20, thus making high school kids either go to college for at least two years or spend two years developing elsewhere, would increase the overall play in the league and even make college basketball itself more enjoyable to watch. Baseball has the minor leagues, which is where the elite high school and mostly college prospects spend at least a year or part of a year developing. Hockey utilizes the minor leagues for players to develop who aren’t quite ready for the NHL yet, too. Zach Harper, NBA writer for CBS Sports, thinks the NBA Development League (D-League) can fill that void for the NBA if a high school kid decides against going to college. “In theory, you would have 30 D-League teams and it would be a real minor league system,” Harper said. “You would have to spend two years in the D-League, you would have to change the salary structures of the D-League because it’s comically low right now for what players get paid, and maybe you could have a certain amount of designated call-ups in the first two years to test them for a couple of games.” It’s easy to look at players like Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony as successful one-and-done’s who made an immediate impact on the game upon their arrival in the NBA, but it’s just as easy to look at several one-and-done’s and see the opposite — Anthony Bennett and Greg Oden come to mind. “I think it’s just a way (for general managers and owners) to protect themselves from making mistakes with high school players,” Harper said. Making high school players spend two years in college or the D-League before jumping to the NBA would allow them to physically, mentally and athletically mature which would directly translate to more impactful rookies in the NBA and cut back on the transitional period so many college kids undergo when making the jump too early. It would allow teams to truly build towards the future by adding players who can immediately positively impact the team rather than gambling on an underdeveloped 18 or 19-year-old.
Sports. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 27
NGER
's basketball experts ges to the game
WOMEN’S
OLIVIA JEPSON | THE DEPAULIA
EQUAL MONEY FOR TOURNAMENTS MATTHEW PARAS | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
$318,949 is how much DePaul should have made for their success in the NCAA tournament. The Big East should have been rewarded nearly $3.2 million for DePaul’s two victories in March to the Sweet Sixteen. If women’s basketball was like the men’s game, a win would have earned at least $1.59 million over the next six years to be divided up among a team’s conference. This is because the NCAA specifically sets aside funds to reward teams for advancing in the tournament. That money is put into a pool based on income from the massive television deal the NCAA earns. The women, meanwhile, get nothing. Even making the admission that men’s college basketball is significantly more popular than women’s college basketball, that doesn’t mean the women shouldn’t be rewarded for success. In 2011, CBS and Turner agreed to a deal that would pay $10.8 billion for a 14-year contract. If each men’s game this year was worth $1.59 million, that means .014 percent of revenue from that deal is being rewarded per win. If the same logic were applied to the women’s television contract ($500 million over 11 years), that means that each team would earn $7,000 per win. While this is chump change compared to the men, it’s at least something. But even then, it’s not fair. What’s going on now is a travesty. A program like DePaul’s, not to even mention the powerhouse that’s UConn, don’t get rewarded for their hard work and success. What does this say for how we regard women’s sports? And it’s not like no one pays attention to women’s college basketball. This year’s first and second round in the NCAA tournament drew an average of 346,000 viewers, up 46 percent from last year. The final between UConn and Syracuse drew nearly 3 million viewers as well. DePaul head coach Doug Bruno has been around the game long enough to know how the sport has grown. Bruno, who has been at DePaul for 30 years, has seen the implementation of scholarships for athletes to building in-terest in a program. Men’s basketball is always going to be the significant draw, but that doesn’t mean the NCAA has to ignore the women either.
SHORTEN THE SHOT CLOCK
LOWER THE RIMS
BEN GARTLAND | SPORTS EDITOR
ZACHARY HOLDEN | STAFF WRITER
Before the 2015-16 season, women's basketball took great strides into streamlining the game across the board. They moved to quarters and changed the advancing the ball rules to reflect how the game is played both with FIBA rules and with WNBA rules. These changes helped simplify rules and stopped them from jumping around depending on what level the game was being played. There's one more rule that I believe NCAA women's basketball should change to reflect the other levels of the sport and that's to reduce the shot clock to 24 seconds. This is the standard the WNBA and FIBA both play at, and there are several reasons why the NCAA should make the switch. “I would like to see that change,” Fox Sports reporter LaChina Robinson said about lowering the shot clock to 24 seconds. “I am all for the speed of the game picking up. I think that it’s more exciting when the game is fast-paced.” The first is that it will speed up possessions. Teams will be forced to shoot more frequently and offense will increase. There have been teams who have used a higher-paced offense to success, namely DePaul. DePaul women's basketball head coach Doug Bruno has talked in the past about how the system he uses, with high-intensity offense and high-pressure defense, isn't just used to win games but also put fans in seats. It has worked for DePaul as they have been top-50 in attendance in the nation for women's basketball for the past five years, bringing in around 2700 fans each season. While that number may pale in comparison to men's attendances, it does show they are a team that people who are going to watch women's basketball will watch. Fans like high-offense games and teams like Villanova, who slow the game down, are able to win some games but do not make games exciting to watch. This is an issue in both the men's and women's games as teams have 30 seconds to run down the shot clock and keep the game slow. “A great example of that is DePaul,” Robinson said. “Doug Bruno’s system believes in quick shooting so there are more possessions in a game, higher scoring and I think increased excitement when the game is faster." More possessions and more excitement would be beneficial to both men’s and women’s basketball.
Women play with a smaller ball, have a slightly closer 3-point line, have a 30-second shot clock and should begin playing with a nine-foot basket to make the game more enjoyable. It may appear as if you’re making the game easier by lowering the rim, but in reality, women are naturally shorter than men, so if anything, it’s making the game play at the same level of difficulty as the men in the college game and NBA. “There’s a lot of ego involved,” Melissa Isaacson, columnist for ESPNW, said. “If you put your ego aside — that’s really what I think most of it is — it makes a lot of sense.” Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma threw out the idea in 2012 and it hasn’t been talked about much since then until former University of Delaware and current Chicago Sky star Elena Delle Donne brought it up again and shared a similar belief to Auriemma. Isaacson thinks the idea would only benefit the women’s game. “It would speed up the game, you could get the ball off the rim quicker, you’d get out in transition faster (and) it would extend players’ shooting range,” Isaacson said. It would open up more chances for women to dunk, too. Right now six-foot-eight Brittney Griner is the only active WNBA player to have dunked in a game. Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie, Michelle Snow and Sylvia Fowles join her as the only others to have done it in the history of the WNBA. Isaacson admits “it doesn’t have to be crazy acrobatic dunking,” but the possibility of multiple dunks in the women’s game would make it more exciting and bring it closer to the men’s game. “It’s a way to show off a man’s athleticism in a way that women don’t have the ability to do,” Isaacson said. Playing on a ninefoot rim is the last remaining factor to bring the women’s game as close to the men’s as possible. It would increase fandom and viewership by making the game more enjoyable to watch and play for the women.
Sports
Sports. April 25, 2016. The DePaulia | 28
Bottoms up Through tragedy and health scares, track athlete Chaz Bottoms finds motivation By Ben Savage Asst. Sports Editor
Illustration courtesy of CHAZ BOTTOMS
Googling “Chaz Bottoms” probably isn’t a common experience for students at DePaul. If you decided to search that two-word phrase — maybe you overheard someone say it at a party, it’s probably a name but you’re not entirely sure — what you would find would vary dramatically based on what you clicked on. If you clicked on the first link, you would find “Chaz Bottoms,” the student and talented track athlete. You would read about Chaz’s accolades as a sprinter. Through his sophomore season, he has already won two Big East championships in the 4x400m and been awarded a spot on the Big East All-Academic Team. If you clicked on the second or third link, you would be sent to chazbottoms. com and the Youtube page “CBTV.” There, you would find animated shorts such as “Superman Vs. The Daily Planet” and “A Walk to School.” As a filmmaker and animator, Bottoms has won awards such as “Best Student Short” in the Gary International Black Film Festival and “First Prize” in the Spring Creek Film Festival. Just the Internet search alone would reveal a nigh-impossible combination of traits: student, athlete and filmmaker. In fact, Bottoms is the only student at DePaul who embodies all of those traits. But, improbable as it may be, there’s more to Bottoms. At the age of six, Bottoms lost his father to liver cancer. To Bottoms, his father became his “guardian angel.” Even
as a child, he used hardship as motivation. “I just loved cartoons growing up, I loved to draw,” Bottoms said. “I used to make my own little common books and little books. So I taught myself animation when I was seven or eight years old.” At that age, Bottoms was supposed to be the consumer of cartoons, not the producer. He spent much of his time watching DVD special features on animation and reading books like Disney’s “The Art of Animation.” Bottoms knew early on that he could compete in track and field at the collegiate level. In high school, Bottoms was a fouryear letter winner at Saint Bennedictine High School in Cleveland, Ohio. His senior year, he sent an email to the DePaul track and field coach, Stephanie Townsend, and six months later signed a letter of intent to run for DePaul. During a routine physical, doctors discovered a lump on Bottom’s right testicle. He was in the first stage of testicular cancer. It was his third week at DePaul. One week later, Bottoms had surgery. “It was one of those things where it all happened so fast that it didn’t hit me at first until the day of the surgery,” Bottoms said. “It hit me when my family was there.” “I was about to get into my scrubs and (doctors are) about to stick me with anesthesia, it was my last conscious moment and my (step) dad said a prayer, hoping the surgery went well and everything. It was at that moment that I kind of had a mini breakdown.”
See BOTTOMS, page 25
Club sports working to become accessible By Brittany Kapa Contributing Writer
It’s six o’clock in the morning and the sun is just rising in the east, casting beautiful colors across the already-gorgeous Chicago skyline. In a rowing boat on the Chicago River sit eight dedicated DePaul students, one of the many club sport teams DePaul has to offer its students: the rowing team. DePaul now offers both men’s and women’s rowing teams. Five to six times a week the students that make up the DePaul rowing team, more commonly known as crew, are out on the Chicago River working together to become better as a team.
Sophomore Jens Ericson is now in his second year with the team. His dedication to be at every practice is largely based on not wanting to let his teammates down, he said. If the team can’t get the eight required to row the boat, then no one goes out. “It’s accountability and selfdiscipline,” Ericson said Rowing is just one of the many club sports available to DePaul students. Club athletics include traditional sports such as figure skating, ice hockey, basketball and golf. However, many non-traditional options such as ultimate frisbee and dodge ball are offered as well.
See CLUBS, page 25 The DePaul Rowing Team tackles the Chicago River at times as early as 6 a.m.
depauliaonline.com | @depauliasports
Photo courtesy of DEPAUL CREW