The DePaulia 6/7/2021

DePaulia ‘HOW MANY OTHERS?’ The

Volume #105 | Issue #12 | June 7, 2021 | depauliaonline.com

University systems in place for survivors of sexual, emotional abuse leave victims feeling abandoned

By Ella Lee & Emma Oxnevad Print and Online Managing Editors

Content warning: This story includes mention of domestic and emotional abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. If you or someone you know have been abused, resources are available via the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) at www.rainn.org.

The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Disclosure: Most of the names of survivors have been changed by The DePaulia for their privacy. The names of some alleged perpetrators of sexual misconduct have been changed by The DePaulia due to their status as students at the time of the incidents.

R

ebecca sometimes works in the same DePaul building as her alleged abuser.

Amber’s perpetrator was found in violation of the university’s sexual and relationship violence policy — and was still promoted.

Jack had lewd photos taken without his consent in a DePaul bathroom.

Lauren didn’t want to report her assault — but rules at DePaul stopped her from making that decision for herself.

All four survivors, some of whose names have been changed to protect their identities, have more in common than their ties to DePaul. Each was failed by the systems put in place by the university intended to protect them from sexual violence and abuse.

In 2019, The DePaulia reported on the Title IX office’s accessibility and conduct when students suggested their cases had been mishandled. Since then, a two-year investigation by The DePaulia into the university’s handling of Title IX cases has uncovered a pattern of negligence and disregard for the safety and emotional well-being of the DePaul community regarding sexual and relationship misconduct.

Title IX is a federal civil rights law that was passed as part of the Education Amendments in 1972. The law protects people from discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or athletics that receive federal funding. Managing sexual violence cases is a large portion of the responsibilities universities hold under Title IX. The new federal Title IX rules, put into effect in August 2020, altered preexisting university guidelines, adding a requirement of cross-examination — questioning by the

opposing counsel — for both plaintiffs and defendants and eliminating all universities’ responsibility for handling sexual harassment “occurring off-campus, in a private setting, and outside of the university’s education programs or activities,” according to DePaul’s updated policy.

The university has said it will continue processing all reports of sexual misconduct, regardless of where they took place.

DePaul’s Title IX office is tucked in a corner of the third floor in the Student Center, a small space with fewer than 10 offices and a mid-sized conference room.

Established in 2015, it provides protection on sex and gender-based discrimination such as “sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual violence and gender-based dating and domestic violence and stalking,” according to DePaul’s website.

The office — presently made up of the Director of Gender Equity (Title IX coordinator), two investigators, a case manager and five deputy Title IX coordinators who offer support to the primary coordinator — has seen significant turnover in the last several years. The current Title IX coordinator, Kathryn Statz, is the third individual to hold that role in the last two years, and the other three individuals whose primary duties lie within the Title IX office joined during or after March 2020.

Incidents of abuse are not unique to DePaul. But the ways in which the university interacts with survivors of sexual and emotional violence and misconduct is in direct contradiction with the university’s Vincentian code.

While each story of abuse is different, each is reflective of a system that creates barriers for survivors of abuse at DePaul.

See TITLE IX, page 14

2 | News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

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News

News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 3

‘You hold your baby and everything else goes out the window’

REBECCA MELUCH | THE DEPAULIA

Emma holding her daughter, Juniper, in a rocking chair at her former professor’s house.

After unenrolling from DePaul, a young mother hopes to return again and keep on learning

By Rebecca Meluch News Editor

Between the autumn and winter quarters, DePaul students have about six weeks off for winter break before having to endure the cold, exhaustingly long winter quarter. But Emma, who was a sophomore and international studies major at the time in 2019, didn’t return back to campus for that winter.

She took an incomplete in one of her classes and unenrolled from DePaul, but now two years later, she’s hopeful that she will be able to return to the university again, she told The DePaulia while sitting in a rocking chair in one of her former professor’s home here in Chicago this past week.

The fall quarter in 2019 wasn’t easy on her or her health –– the winter break was much needed time off for her. So she went back home to her small town in Missouri.

While she was home one day, Emma ran a 5k with her family when she noticed she wasn’t feeling well –– she assumed herself it was just from being a college student, a little out of shape and her preexisting health conditions. But later that night, the pain got worse.

“I’m like googling, I can’t figure out what’s wrong,” Emma said while recollecting the night from two years ago.

She stumbled to her bathroom in the middle of that November night and felt what was like her water breaking.

“So I’m googling and like, there’s no way,” she said. “There’s absolutely no way but everything’s lining up, I’m googling.

I’m like, feeling awful.”

Emma then walked out of her house and down two blocks to the corner of her street. Snow was falling all around her as she called herself an ambulance. She didn’t want the sirens and the lights of the vehicle to wake her family up.

When the paramedics asked her how far along she was, she wasn’t able to tell them. She was on birth control, she was used to not getting her monthly period.

When doctors ordered an ultrasound, they couldn’t find the head of the baby. She was too far in labor. It was too late to deliver her baby with the help of an epidural.

Shortly after arriving at the hospital, Emma delivered a baby girl. “They asked if I wanted to know the gender. And that was like a pivotal moment for me,” Emma said.

“And then they asked if I wanted to hold her. And I think that’s like, there’s no going back. Because I mean, you hold your baby, and everything else goes out the window.”

When she looked out the hospital window she caught a glimpse of a juniper tree and her baby was born right at dawn –– so she named her Juniper Dawn.

Her parents were unaware that Emma had spent the night in the hospital, nonetheless delivered a baby.

When she returned home after, she told her parents she spent the night at a friend’s house. “I go home, I go home. I leave the baby at the hospital. I checked myself out like 12 hours later,” she said. “I go home.

I see my mom. She goes, ‘you look really tired.’ I’m like, ‘you have no idea.’”

After she told her mom and the rest of her family, Emma and her partner, Peter had to decide whether or not they were going to follow through with an open adoption.

“At first we were going to do like an open adoption where I could still communicate with her and go back to school,” Emma said.

But after talking about it with her mom, Emma decided she was going to take a semester off from DePaul and stay in Missouri with her family. “Because this is like a huge change. Either way, I would just take the semester off or go to school down here [Missouri] for a little bit. We’d already decided that I should at least take a break.”

When Emma and Peter made the final decision to call the families who were interested in the open adoption, the papers and forms were nowhere to be found.

“We couldn’t find them anywhere,” Emma said “We tore apart the room. They

weren’t under the pillow. They weren’t anywhere, we could not find them. Finally, we just talked about it. And I was like, ‘if it’s possible, I just can’t imagine, at this point, giving her up,’ the thought just broke my heart every time.”

After making the decision to raise Juniper on their own –– Emma found the adoption papers under the bed.

“But I mean, the deciding factor for me really is that I had so much support from my family,” Emma said.

Emma’s grandma is largely involved in raising Juniper and watching her while Emma is busy or occupied with her school work.

“She’s really close to my grandma, obviously because my grandma watches her all the time,” Emma said.

Juniper is now two and a half years old, she is an inquisitive toddler, pointing to objects and asking what they are, running around with her hair in little pigtails, and asking her mom if she can sit on her lap.

She will be starting pre-school next year as Emma finishes her degree.

After delivering Juniper and getting her bearings, Emma enrolled at Southern Missouri State in Joplin. While she misses the international studies and peace, justice and conflict programs at DePaul, she’s currently

See MOM, page 4

4 | News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 MOM continued from page 3 conflict programs at DePaul, she’s currently completing a similar degree in international political affairs.

For Emma, it’s just not the same in Missouri as it was here at DePaul.

“It’s the international studies program that I miss the most,” Emma said. “I get emails from there [the programs] all of the time. You know, we don’t even –– that’s not even a major that’s offered at Missouri Southern. They’re doing such cool things [at DePaul].”

Emma said that much of her academics at Missouri Southern center around her having to construct and build her own major based on what international politics and affairs courses they did offer.

“As far as the academics and like the academic community, I think that’s something that was really special about DePaul,” she said.

When she transferred to Missouri Southern, many of the credits she earned from DePaul didn’t transfer over, placing Emma further behind in her degree track.

She had to go back and take English 101 and other degree requirements and electives –– the additional courses and requirements added an extra year to her academics.

But she’s looking forward to graduating next year and has her goals set on going back to school to get her master’s degree or PhD –– hopefully at DePaul.

Emma and Peter came back to Chicago for the week, visiting Peter’s family on the West Side. The week was busily filled with family events and visiting college friends

–– but Emma made time to see one of her former international studies professors, Heidi Nast.

The academics and the close knit community at DePaul is what motivates Emma to come back. Nast and Emma have stayed in touch since Emma left Chicago, and this past week, Emma paid Nast a visit.

Juniper painted in Nast’s kitchen, ran through her halls and watched a show on her tablet in Nast’s garden while Emma was able to sit down with The DePaulia, and the former student and professor were able to catch up with one another.

Emma never expected that she would become a mother while in college, and when she went home for winter break she didn’t know she wouldn’t be returning to campus the next quarter.

“So now that I’m more established, it’s [reapplying to DePaul] a lot more of an option,” Emma said while Juniper sang to herself. “I’m definitely looking at DePaul’s master’s program, especially because I already have connections here.”I love being in school. Being in school for a long time is something I would like to do.”

While the experience was life changing and surprising, Emma is grateful Juniper is a healthy and happy baby –– considering she didn’t know she was pregnant with her while she was in school, working at the Student Center till one or two in the morning, staying up late and “having McDonalds three times a week.”

Emma said that she’s thankful for all of the support she’s been able to receive from her family and shared advice for others who may be in a similar situation of raising a child while finishing college.

REBECCA MELUCH | THE DEPAULIA

Emma and her former professor, Heidi Nast.

“I think it’s important to not be afraid to ask for help… a support system is the most important thing as far as I know” she said. “Because I think there’s all this pressure to finish your degree in four years and get in and out as soon as possible but you’re going to do better if you take your time.”

Towards the end of the interview, Ju-

niper was tired from all of the traveling and socializing and began crying on her mother’s lap, “Is this the ‘terrible twos?’”

Nast asked.

“Yeah,” Emma said. But a trip to Nast’s garden, a bag of goldfish, a couple jumps on the professor’s mini trampoline, and a few biscoff cookies cured the tears.

Faculty Council elects first female president of color

By Lacey Latch & Ella Lee Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor

DePaul’s Faculty Council elected a new board of officers at the final meeting of the academic year to serve for the next year, with Sonia Soltero becoming the first female president of color to hold the position.

“I was always interested in shared governance and faculty rights — being at the table when decisions are made,” Soltero told The DePaulia in an interview. “...When I came to the university, it was just a natural fit for me to be involved. So that’s why [...] it’s felt like a natural fit to go into the president position.”

Soltero, the chair of the department of Leadership, Language and Curriculum in the College of Education, previously served as vice president for the past two years and was elected as president in a 21-10 vote against incumbent president Scott Paeth.

One of the core issues of Soltero’s platform is an increase in communication and transparency at all levels of the university. With over 870 full-time faculty and about 1,500 adjuncts, getting information to everyone is often challenging and the past year has only made the issue more pressing, Soltero said.

“The more information, the more transparency, the more that we are sitting at the table,” Soltero said. “Faculty, Staff Council, SGA — the more that we’re all at the table, the better the university becomes. And in the end, we’re all here for students.”

Soltero’s former position was filled by Quinetta Shelby from the College of Science and Health in a unanimous vote.

“I started attending Faculty Council meetings, before I was a rep or an alternate, and I did that because I wanted to know what was going on at the university,” Shelby said. “That’s where you learn — you know, that’s where faculty really learn — all of the moving pieces, where they are and where they’re going.”

Shelby has been an advocate for various initiatives on Faculty Council, including recently co-sponsoring the revision of the language in the Faculty Council Handbook’s

section 4.4.1 that addresses employee misconduct.

“My goal has always been to protect faculty from subjective language in the faculty handbook that falls under misconduct,” Shelby said. “And the amended motion that was passed provides a back door that leaves faculty, particularly faculty of color, vulnerable to discriminatory abuse.”

“So that, in my mind, still needs to be addressed. But I think that the current officers will agree that the whole chapter four needs revision.”

Serving as the new secretary is Victoria “Toy” Deiorio, the Theatre School’s chair of design and technology. Deiorio noted that her new position in particular brings an abundance of organizational work for each meeting, but it also offers her more access to how and why certain decisions are made.

“I eventually decided to do it because we’re at a time where transparency is not at the forefront of our shared governance,” Deiorio said. “And as somebody who always felt in all my years of Faculty Council like I was in the dark somehow, I want to know where the decisions are made, how they’re being made, what’s happening. So it was more of my quest of wanting more information on that to help guide the communication that can open up the transparency between faculty and the administration.”

Greg Brewster from the College of Computing and Digital Media is the only officer returning to their position as the Committee on Committees Chair, a role that is unique to DePaul. Brewster oversees the more than 200 faculty members that sit on various committees at any given time, coordinating their interests with the agenda of the Faculty Council. He also enforces rules particular to the committees including a six-year term limit for faculty to sit on the same committee.

“These rules that we enforce I think keep our overall faculty governance much stronger than it is at other places,” Brewster said.

Departing president Scott Paeth reflected on the last year of representing the interests of the Faculty Council in increasingly difficult

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEPAUL

Sonia Soltero will be the first woman of color to be the Faculty Council President. circumstances.

“During the time that I have been in the position we have dealt with police violence, election violence, a pandemic, the needs of our students in the midst of all of these situations and ensuring that faculty rights are protected and shared governance is honored,” Paeth said.

“And so it’s been a challenging time and I think that if I’m proud of anything I’m proud of the fact that I did my best to stand with integrity on behalf of all of our faculty in trying to press those issues to the administration and the [Board of Trustees].”

The new board of officers is the most diverse group to lead the Faculty Council with two women of color at the helm. For Soltero,

the role comes with as much honor as it does responsibility considering DePaul’s history with racism and discrimination.

“I think the number one thing is that we have to educate, we have to make sure that the more people that understand that are not affected directly by racism, the better it is for all of us,” Soltero said. “So that is not just racism, but also this lack of inclusivity, a lack of a real sense of being welcomed and being part of the community and fully part of the community.”

The officers will officially begin in their roles July 1.

News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 5

DePaul student calls for support for Jewish students

By Sonal Soni Asst. News Editor

Barbara Schiffer is a junior at DePaul and a Jewish student who claims the university does not support her or other Jewish students amid ongoing violence between Israeli destructive forces and Palestine.

Schiffer said she experienced antisemitic sentiments from a DePaul professor and community members online, so she published an article in The Times of Israel titled, “I asked if they stood with me: antisemitism at DePaul University,” outlining her concerns in attempt to garner the school’s attention.

“I have experienced, like some sentiment from a professor in particular and also online a lot, whether it’s on a DePaul kind of like sanctioned posts or just through students in general,” Schiffer told the DePaulia. “DePaul, as an administration and as a university, doesn’t fully understand what is required for Jewish students in particular to feel safe in their campus community, and I think that is kind of why the article was so necessary. There’s also a long history of antisemitism on DePaul’s campus, and generations of students have come and gone without DePaul doing anything really substantive to address this situation.”

Schiffer said she believes that Jewish people should determine what qualifies as antisemitism. While DePaul does not have a rabbi as part of the school’s Division of Mission and Ministry, the school provides other opportunities for Jewish life on campus.

“I just think it’s very often what is considered antisemitism... gets decided for us by others, and as a persecuted minority, I think we reserve the right, like all peoples, to define what our oppression is and looks like and also what our liberation looks like,” she said. “And that’s, I think, part of the concern here, is that when Jews aren’t consulted on these matters, it means that our narratives and our perspectives on our own identities and histories aren’t important.”

Criticizing DePaul’s solidarity statement, SGA Schiffer criticized DePaul’s statement regarding the violence between Israel and Palestine. The statement, written by Rev. Guillermo Campuzano, vice president of DePaul’s Mission and Ministry, was published on Newsline on May 17.

“The statement itself didn’t really land with the [DePaul] Jewish community,” Schiffer said. “And we would have appreciated [DePaul] also condemning the antisemitism that has been rising within [the] statement.”

Additonally, Schiffer criticized a statement published by DePaul’s Student Government Association (SGA) on May 21 in solidarity with the school’s Palestinian community. The statement denounced the actions of the Israeli and U.S. governments and calls on DePaul to increase protections for Palestinian students on campus.

“The SGA statement calls for the university to denounce the actions of the Israeli government while failing to mention the over 5,000 rockets that were fired at Israeli civilian centers by Hamas from Gaza or the international tidal wave of antisemitic violence,” Schiffer wrote.

According to the TRT World, a Turkish news publication, some argue that the

efforts of Hamas pales in comparison to Israel’s destructive forces. Palestinians are dying at a greater rate compared to Israeli citizens. With a more advanced military, technology and resources, Israel has a more effective defense system than Palestine. Schiffer argued that a government’s actions do not necessarily represent its citizens.

“The Israeli government is a government, and they make decisions that the people may or may not agree with, and that’s why in my article I never state that I fully support these actions,” Schiffer told The DePaulia. “There is pain happening on both sides, and at the end of the day you can disagree with a government, but putting down an entire citizenship, like an entire country, is a very different argument.”

Schiffer’s article also highlights SGA’s cabinet-elect’s ties to DePaul’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), including President-elect Watfae Zayed, SGA’s first Palestinian student president.

Zayed declined to comment for this story, citing the emotional taxation regarding ongoing events in Palestine.

“Importantly, however, SGA states that it stands with the DePaul chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine — the explicitly anti-Zionist group with chapters internationally, whose founders call for the isolation and destruction of Israel,” Schiffer wrote.

SJP works in solidarity with Palestinians, supporting their right to self-determination. They also call for respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

Schiffer is concerned that SGA’s cabinet-elect does not reflect all of the DePaul community, including Jewish students. “[SGA members] are supposed to be representative of the entire greater student body... and so having people who are the liaison for the greater community, who ultimately don’t speak for the entire community is obviously really concerning,” Schiffer told The DePaulia.

SGA elects its members democratically and Zayed and her vice president Kyle Holechko won by an 18 percent margin; they received 58 percent of votes for president and vice president, and no Jewish students ran against them.

Anti-Zionism and antisemitism According to Schiffer and Rabbi Ezra Balser of Silverstein Base Hillel in the Loop, a foundation that supports Jewish life on college campuses, anti-Zionism largely contributes to antisemitism.

“Zionism, simply put, is the Jewish people’s national liberation movement to establish self-governance in some part of our ancestral homeland,” Balser said. “When our liberation movement that really seeks to just return us home to a place where we’ve had continuous presence for thousands of years, as a place we’ve been praying to return since our forced exile, when our liberation movement is not seen as valid, when our equality, our desire for equality is not seen as important, we do see that as antisemitism.”

“Zionism tends to get turned around in a lot of different ways, and at the end of the day it really is just about the Jewish community’s right to self-determination,” Schiffer added.

However, according to Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, anti-Zionism is not inherently antisemitic — and claiming it is uses Jewish suffer-

ing to erase the Palestinian experience.

Beinart notes that Israel has almost 9 million citizens, but also contains close to 5 million non-citizens: Palestinians who live under Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza without basic rights.

“I don’t consider Israel an apartheid state. But its ethnic nationalism excludes many of the people under its control,” he wrote. “One reason Israel doesn’t give these Palestinians citizenship is because, as a Jewish state designed to protect and represent Jews, it wants to retain a Jewish majority, and giving 5 million Palestinians the vote would imperil that.”

Beinart also points out that anti-Zionism can exist without antisemitism, and that often, antisemitism is used by the Israeli government to justify mistreating Palestians.

“In the real world, anti-Zionism and antisemitism don’t always go together,” he wrote. “If antisemitism exists without anti-Zionism, anti-Zionism also clearly exists without antisemitism. But while anti-Zionist antisemitism is likely to be on the rise, so is Zionist antisemitism.”

According to Beinart, it is unclear if anti-Zionists are any more likely to harbour antisemitic attitudes than people who support Israel.

A 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center about Americans’ attitudes towards Israel shows that Americans over the age of 65 expressed the most antisemitism, yet they also expressed the most sympathy for Israel. Americans under 30, however, harbored the least antisemitism and were least sympathetic to Israel. Moreover, Americans with a high school degree or less were the most antisemitic group and were also the most pro-Israel. Americans with postgraduate degrees were the least antisemitic and the least pro-Israel.

“It is an understandable impulse: let the people threatened by antisemitism define antisemitism,” Beinart wrote.

“The problem is that, in many countries, Jewish leaders serve both as defenders of local Jewish interests and defenders of the Israeli government. And the Israeli government wants to define anti-Zionism as bigotry because doing so helps Israel kill the two-state solution with impunity.”

“Antisemitism isn’t wrong because it is wrong to denigrate and dehumanize Jews,” he added. “Antisemitism is wrong because it is wrong to denigrate and dehumanize anyone. Which means, ultimately, that any effort to fight antisemitism that contributes to the denigration and dehumanisation of Palestinians is no fight against antisemitism at all.”

Condemning violence Schiffer and Balser noted that while they believe in Israel’s right to defend itself, they condemn violence towards Palestinians.

“We, overwhelmingly in the Jewish community, also stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and support their right to self determination just as much as ours,” Balser said. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that rules tyrannically in Gaza and targets civilians with rockets on purpose and has in their charter that they wish for the world to be rid of Jews entirely. So I think while there’s really no moral equivalency between the two [bodies], it makes it very difficult for Israel to defend itself which it has a right and duty to defend its citizens.”

Two state solution Some Israelis and Palestinians alike

believe the popular idea of a two-state solution is an unlikely compromise.

However, Schiffel and Balser expressed that both Israelis and Palestinians can coexist peacefully.

“I think that would be the ideal situation, is that everyone has their right to self-determination and statehood and safety,” Schiffel said.

Balser echoed Schiffel’s sentiments regarding both Israeli’s and Palestinian’s rights to safety.

“I think when the Palestinians and larger Arab community admit that the Jews belong in Israel, and Israel is our home, and we’re not going anywhere, that’s a huge first step,” Balser said. “And I think the same thing is true when we admit that the Palestinians also have a home in our shared homeland, that this land is a home to two peoples, we’ll be able to make that separation and achieve two stands for two peoples. I think we both deserve to have our homes and be safe in our homes, and we both deserve to not be asked or forced to leave our homes.”

Calling on DePaul to support Jewish students Schiffer and Balser also listed demands they say will make DePaul more inclusive toward its Jewish community.

Their demands include hiring a rabbi, mandatory training on antisemitism for incoming students, faculty and staff and reforming the ways DePaul responds to bias reports with input from Jewish students and Hillel.

“So it’d be great for DePaul to have a resource person from each targeted community, not just the Jewish community, to consult on responses to their relevant complaints,” Schiffer said. “And then also for a DePaul statement condemning antisemitism, including all its forms, including anti-Zionist antisemitism.”

Schiffer also contacted DePaul’s Vice President of Student Affairs, Eugene Zdziarski, regarding her concerns.

“Today we are witness to an alarming rise in incidents of verbal and physical harassment of Jewish people,” Zdziarski said in an email to the DePaulia. “We state plainly such acts of anti-Semitism – in any form – are reprehensible and not to be tolerated.”

“We reject hate and violence in any form and support all who are part of our university community and will continue to work with all members of our community to better understand specific concerns and offer support,” he added.

Schiffer and Basler said they intend to keep calling on the school until their demands are met.

“Jews around the world, including in Chicago and including on DePaul’s campus are feeling very unsafe right now,” Balser said. “We’re seeing an almost 500 percent rise of anti-Jewish violence around the world... when the institutions that our students are supposed to trust don’t speak out about that, it just enforces our feeling of isolation in the world. And I think all of the things that [Schiffer] and the Jewish students are asking for, is really just a request to be seen and to be heard and to be a part of the larger DePaul University community.”

6| News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

DePaul’s Covid-19 Task Force list outdated

By Nadia Hernandez & Bailey Donovan Opinions Editor and Contributing Writer

DePaul’s Covid-19 task force members list remains outdated despite several members changing positions.

After closing campus last spring, DePaul created the task force to monitor Covid-19 in Chicago and on campus.

According to Newsline, this task force was “a group of more than 30 DePaul administrators, staff and faculty who are applying best practices and guidance from medical and public health professionals to the complexities of restarting campus.”

Health sciences professor Craig Klugman is one of the force’s medical professionals, along with Associate Director of Emergency Services Cheryl Hoover and Director of Health Promotion and Wellness Shannon Suffoletto.

They are listed as co-chairs of the Community Health Monitoring committee.

This email entailed a list of members and the task force’s committees and subcommittees. However, the list still names former Executive Vice President Jeff Bethke as co-chair along with then-interim Provost Salma Ghanem.

As of June 3, 2021, the list of members, committees and subcommittees has not been updated and cannot be found on the DePaul Coronavirus Updates and Guidance page.

The subcommittees and members are not listed on DePaul’s Covid-19 website. The non-updated list is posted on Newsline.

University spokesperson Kristin Mathews said, “the Covid-19 planning and response task force has evolved over time into a restarting campus operations committee, which Provost Ghanem chairs. Part of that group is a community health sub-committee, which is chaired by Gene Zdziarski, vice president for student affairs.”

Zdziarski replaces Bethke as cochair along with Ghanem. However, he is currently only listed as the committee chair in the Student Services committee.

Klugman and professor Scott Paeth are the only faculty members on the force, the rest being made up of deans and administrators.

As provost, Ghanem is the chief academic officer under the president and is new to the role, while Zdziarski has been the vice president of student affairs since 2014. Ghanem was appointed provost in early May. DePaul has held several university-sponsored vaccine events. The university will also require all students to show proof of vaccination to attend campus in-person in the fall.

The task force has been updating their site and on Newsline about vaccine opportunities and Chicago reopening.

The most recent post was May 7 about how their vaccine clinic will help reopening in the fall.

The task force aims to have on-campus courses reopen at 75 percent capacity in the fall, while the remaining 25 percent will stay online.

Vincentian values marred by missiles

By Rebecca Meluch & Nadia Hernandez News Editor and Opinions Editor

Last March, DePaul established the Berrigan-McAlister Award, which will be given annually to a person or organization who practices Christian nonviolence. Still, DePaul offers programs that have connections to one of the nation’s top defense companies.

The award was given virtually on May 5 to the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 — a group of Catholic activists who participated in a disarmament of nuclear weapons at the largest nuclear submarine base in the world.

Despite the university establishing an annual award committed to recognizing those who practice Christian nonviolence and peace, the university’s College of Computing and Digital Media fosters a top cybersecurity program that has affiliations with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the National Security Administration and Raytheon Technologies.

Raytheon Technologies is one of the top three defense contractor companies in the U.S. that researches, develops and manufactures advanced technology products including aircraft engines, avionics, cybersecurity, missiles, air defense systems and drones. In the first quarter of 2021, Raytheon made $496 million in profits and $3.793 million in sales.

They also earned $14.7 billion in federal contracts.

DePaul offers both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. Students in the program take courses on information security, security infrastructure design and implementation and computer forensics, according to the program page. Students design, implement, integrate and manage various security components. The degree is structured for students to be prepared for the fast growing industry, working in various corporate and consulting environments as well as government agencies.

The university is designated a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE-CD) in Cybersecurity by both the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency.

DePaul’s computer science website offers a sample list of where past graduates are currently employed. This list shows alumni have been previously employed by Raytheon Technologies.

James Riely, a professor in DePaul’s computer science program, worked in engineer positions at IBM and E-Systems, which is currently known as Raytheon, according to his DePaul staff page.

Riely received a career award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2004 and has since been a private investigator or co-private investigator on several other NSF grants.

The NSF has historically also been awarding grants towards Raytheon and the Boeing Company –– another military corporation that supplies aerospace and defense technologies.

Since 2020, DePaul has been awarded roughly $2,696,108 from the NSF. In 2009, DePaul’s computing program received a standard grant from the NSF of nearly $500,000 –– for which Riely served as the co-principal investigator. He oversees the grant project that money was awarded for.

Security Daemons, DePaul’s information security club, were the Midwest champions in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition last March. The competition was presented by Raytheon Intelligence and Space, one of the four Raytheon Technologies business segments that works with cyber and software solutions. DePaul’s team advanced to the national competition where they won second place.

DePaul’s connections to Raytheon are

AUDREY CHAMPELLI | THE DEPAULIA

Statue of St. Vincent de Paul speaking to students in St. Vincent’s Circle on DePaul University’s Lincoln Park campus. also apparent on DePaul’s gift processing donation site. Raytheon Company is listed as one of the companies that sponsor matching gift programs towards DePaul. Raytheon, as of March 30, would match up to $10,000 gifts made to DePaul.

The university acceptance of donations from Raytheon employees who are then matched by the defense company can be alarming to students who are aware of DePaul’s nonviolent mission.

If the public wanted to access which companies match gift donations on DePaul’s website –– the site is not easily navigable and accessible to those who may not have used it. About five or six different links need to be clicked whereas one can view the gift processing form, and then scroll to the bottom and click a box that allows one to search different companies.

This past winter quarter, other DePaul students started a campus chapter of Dissenters, an organization committed to divesting institutions from military and military influence.

Although it is unclear the full monetary relationship between Raytheon Technologies at DePaul, DePaul Dissenters member Citlali Perez speculates that student tuition money could be funneled into these partnerships.

“It’s important to know where tuition money is going to and what exactly your institution represents, what they stand for and what they support,” she said.

DePaul does not post if any percentage of tuition goes into fueling partnerships. But Perez said she believes that DePaul needs to be clear which companies they donate or fund.

“It’s really important that students should know and that they should be transparent to the DePaul community,” she said. “Because you’re not just giving you money for an education, you’re part of the community.”

Due to DePaul guaranteeing jobs at Raytheon after graduation, Perez compared it to aspects of military recruiting because of Raytheon’s prominent presence on campus.

“That’s like how it’s set up for the interest of the public because [DePaul] is going to benefit from this and that’s why they’ll try the opportunity that brings the money,” she said.

Given that Vincentian values promote peace and justice, Perez thinks it’s hypocritical to support companies like Raytheon who profit from war.

“DePaul has ZERO transparency regarding its financial donors,” said a student Twitter user. “They don’t make it public which corporations or individuals donate to the university or how much money it is.”

“Depending on how much they contribute to DePaul’s endowment fund, Raytheon could have literally more influence over the university’s decisions than the average student or faculty person,” they added.

The DePaulia reached out to university spokespeople for comment and connected

with Jacob Furst, director of DePaul’s School of Computing.

“Since there is nothing about our cybersecurity programs, competitions, or designations that are pro-war, it is hard to imagine that we would be in conflict with any anti-war messaging from the Division of Mission and Ministry,” Furst said. “We have been designated as a center of excellence since 2004; I expect that anyone at the university who had concerns would have reached out before now.”

The May award is named after Father Daniel Berrigan, Phillip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister –– a group of social activists and peace advocates –– in connection to their activism that has “resisted injustice, transformed conflict, fosters reconciliation and seeks justice and peace for all.”

Although the award was intended to be given back in March, five out of the seven Kings Bay Plowshares are currently serving time in prison for breaking into a naval base back in 2018.

The seventh catholic priest was sentenced to 21 months in prison on April 9 for breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia, according to Religion News Service.

The award given by DePaul is sponsored by the university’s office and programs such as the Division of Mission and Ministry, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, the Department of Catholic Studies, the Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies program and the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, to name a few.

Furst said that Raytheon’s competition promotes education over military propaganda.

“DePaul has been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity Education by the Department of Homeland Defense and the National Security Agency,” Furst said in an email to The DePaulia. “While the National Security Agency is a part of the Department of Defense, our designation is only with regard to our educational excellence, which I feel is fairly consistent with DePaul’s mission. Further, the designation comes with no actual support from either DHS or the NSA, so there is no particular influence that either organization holds over DePaul.”

“The competition in which our students partake is, itself, part of the excellence of the students’ education, as it provides them experience in actual corporate situations, defending against cyber attacks,” he added. “While Raytheon is the primary supporter of the competition, it is also supported by many other companies. It is also the case that the competition scenarios are always business and never military.”

DePaul has not been transparent about the full extent of the university’s partnership with Raytheon Technologies, nor is there any indication on DePaul or Raytheon’s website indicating a formal relationship.

News. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021| 7

Bringing issues to the front lines New military officers discuss gender inclusivity in an open panel

By Justin Jackson Contributing Writer

On May 12, several high-ranking officers and military members discussed how to overcome toxicity and lack of leadership amongst the ranks in an online open discussion.

This is not just a simple problem that can go away, and the culture alone starts with its leadership. Many Army service members who are now coming into their roles as officers and soldiers alike are speaking up about needed change.

Second Lieutenant Gillian Longoria said as a new lieutenant in the Army, she has faced many obstacles. “I was asked, ‘Are you one of those,’ and ‘has your family or you swam the river?’” she said at a May 12th panel discussion.

The panel also included Second Lieutenant Kaitlyn Abbott, Captain Domonique Batton, First Lieutenant Silver Beaty, Captain Jordan Holmlund, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Stephens, Major Sam Winkler and Major General John Evans — the commanding General for the Army ROTC. These officers and high-ranking enlisted soldiers shape their units and the overall cohesiveness.

However, with recent national headlines concerning sexual assault, harassment and even murder in the Army, has prompted the conversation for substantial change.

After Vanessa Guillen was murdered after reporting sexual harassment, the outrage was immense. Her bludgeoned body was eventually found under concrete buried next to the Leon River, 25 miles southeast of Fort Hood.

This was not the only incident to happen at Fort Hood. During this same time period, other soldiers went missing and at least a dozen deaths were reported.

The event was put together by cadet Amy Petrocelli with the help of the Wash-

ington DC chapter of the rocks. The sole purpose of the event was to bring forward the open discussion about gender inclusion.

“Be the change you wish to see,” said Cadet Amy Petrollini of the University of Maryland. “Your mindset shapes the reality around you so be sure to approach with an open mind.”

The panel discussion opened up with several high-ranking officers and other military members. The Panel titled “Warfighting Isn’t a Battle of the Sexes” included Second Lieutenant Kaitlyn Abbott, Captain Domonique Batton, First Lieutenant Silver Beaty, Captain Jordan Holmlund, Second Lieutenant Gillian Longoria, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Stephens, Major Sam Winkler and opening remarks by Major General John Evans the commanding General for the Army ROTC. “Are you going to be willing to open the

door to those who don’t look like you, to those who will have different religions, sexual orientation etc.,” said second lieutenant Kait Abbot. “Will you understand that you will not always be right?”

With the overwhelming focus on being inclusive to women within the ranks of the military, those in attendance agreed on a common sentiment.

“Allow women to not only be at the table but also let them speak,”Petrollini said.

Less than 17 percent of active duty members are women, raising the question as to why there aren’t many women in leadership roles.

Some factors include limited opportunities for women to voice their concerns like being allowed to promote and passing the new standardized fitness test called the Army Combat Fitness Test or ACFT for short.

GRAPHIC BY ANNALISA BARANOWSKI

New data shows that women are failing the ACFT at alarming rates. There has been a change of focus to better prepare women and find out how women can pass specific tests like their male counterparts do.

“We are too focused on the T in test and not the F in fitness,” said Major John Evans, Commanding General of ROTC. Many new ROTC officers expressed that they are ready to implement change.

“I have not yet to experience discrimination towards being female or color of skin,” said Sergeant Jamilah Cisse, an Active-Duty soldier stationed at Fort Hood.

Cisse is originally from Senegal and has been stationed at Fort Hood for about three years. “Personally, I think that Fort Hood is an ok place,” Cisse said. “It’s honestly not the duty station it’s the people.”While I haven’t had to experience those issues yet, I do hope I don’t have to,” Cisse said.

DePaul teams up with the*gameHERs

By Lucas Madlangbayan Contributing Writer

DePaul Esports made gaming news in May when they partnered with the women-led organization, The*gameHERs — the first-ever women’s esports collegiate division.

The*gameHERS, founded in 2020, strives to represent and amplify the voices of women and femme-identifying gamers, as well as create safe spaces and opportunities for those who are interested in the gaming industry.

On May 19, the*gameHERS announced the launch of their women’s collegiate division, which aims to “provide a safe, inclusive online community for women, non-binary and femme-identifying students who game and/or have a desire to work in the gaming industry.” DePaul is one of many universities across the nation to participate in the new esports division.

“DePaul Esports has four core values: leadership, entertainment, inclusion, and academics,” said Courtney James, DePaul’s director of student involvement.

“We have been for years trying to strengthen opportunities for women and femme identifying people to gather within the esports community. We were looking to partner with an organization who would help us to amplify the voices and spaces for those people further.

When the*gameHERS came along, it was great timing.”

To uphold these core values, DePaul Esports explores different ways to foster an inclusive environment for those interested in gaming. Prior to the

pandemic, programs includinglike luncheons with HerCDM — an organization for women in DePaul’s College of Computing & Digital Media — and community bystander intervention training helped to create a safer, more inclusive space for gamers at DePaul.

This interest in creating inclusive, safe spaces in the gaming community brought DePaul Esports and the*gameHERS together.

“I have to give DePaul credit: I think they exist as a leader in this space, at the forefront for trying to do a lot of the things that we’re doing,” said Rebecca Dixon, co-founder and CMO of the*gameHERs. “We were able to link up with DePaul early on in our exploration into the college esports world, specifically Courtney James, who really helped us define one element of our collegiate division which is the chapter program that DePaul is our pilot partner for.”

The founders of the*gameHERS, including Dixon, were inspired to create a company that helped to amplify and celebrate the voices of women in the gaming industry.

“Almost 50 percent of gamers worldwide are women, and we found that this percentage isn’t reflected anywhere in the industry,” Dixon added. “It’s not reflected in the number of developers, the number of protagonists, the number of women getting esports scholarships in college.”

According to one Statista study, 71 percent of game developers in 2019 were men. 2020 marked the highest percentage of female protagonists in video games. According to Wired, only 18 percent of video game protagonists were women.

“Overall, when individuals are aspiring to do things — whether it’s being involved in an activity, a sport or aspiring towards a specific career — they really look for opportunity based on individuals that are already doing that who look like them,” said Rebecca Longawa, a strategist for the*gameHERS. “What we see in the esports ecosystem and in the gaming ecosystem is that with so few women being represented, especially in senior leadership roles and on the industry side, it’s a bigger barrier for young girls to see themselves in those positions.”

To overcome these barriers, the*gameHERS features career spotlights highlighting women in the gaming industry, as well as professional bootcamps and webinars providing advice from industry experts.

Their newest program, the collegiate division, aims to bring these resources and connections to those in the college esports and gaming community.

DePaul will host weekly meetings with the*gameHERS every Thursday on the DePaul Esports Discord.

More information on weekly meetings can be found on DeHub. Additionally, the*gameHERS provides a weekly newsletter with information on upcoming events.

“We chose to partner with the*gameHERS and their collegiate division because it could help us to grow and have access to resources even faster,” James said. “We just saw a great avenue that we could bring in professional experts and use the network that they were already creating to help women and femme-identifying students at DePaul gather even quicker.”

8 | Politics. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

Politics

JUSTIN L. FOWLER | THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER VIA AP

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker praises the budget passed by the lawmakers during a news conference in his office at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Tuesday, June 1, 2021.

New ethics reform in Illinois awaits Pritzker approval

By Nika Schoonover Politics Editor

State lawmakers approved ethics reforms earlier this week amid erupting indictments, investigations and convictions of Illinois lawmakers including former Speaker of the Illinois House Mike Madigan and powerful lobbying interests such as Commonwealth Edison.

The bill, which has yet to be signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, is aimed at preventing lawmakers from lobbying other units of government and interrupting the “revolving door” of lawmakers leaving and later returning to lobby the General Assembly.

Pritzker has not yet stated whether he will sign the bill into law but said that the legislation is a good first step.

“It isn’t perfect, and more work definitely remains, but there are more ways now to putting a stop to corruption than there ever have been before,” Pritzker said at a Statehouse news conference.

Advocates have also criticized the legislation for not going far enough. Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, joined this criticism, emphasizing the lack of independence provided for the Legislative Inspector General, and the bill’s short six-month period during which former lawmakers would be prohibited from lobbying.

“The revolving door period is frankly pathetic,” Kaplan said.

In comparison, 36 states have a oneyear revolving door provision and over a dozen indicate a two-year time period.

“So the vast majority of states have a longer cooling off period and that’s a big weakness of this bill,” Kaplan said.

Jeff Fiedler, communications director for the Chicago Republican Party, also criticized this provision in the bill, saying that the revolving door period should be five

JUSTIN FOWLER | THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER VIA AP

In this July 26, 2017, file photo, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, speaks at a news conference at the Capitol in Springfield, Ill. Timothy Mapes, the longtime chief of staff to former Illinois House Speaker Madigan was indicted Wednesday, May 26, 2021, for lying under oath to a federal grand jury investigating a bribery scheme involving Madigan and the state’s largest electric utility, ComEd. years.

Kaplan also says the Legislative Inspector General needs to have a lot more independence than she has right now.

The Inspector General is responsible for receiving and investigating “complaints of violations of any law, rule, or regulation or abuse of authority or other forms of misconduct by members of the General Assembly and all state employees whose ultimate jurisdictional authority is a legislative leader, the Senate Operations Commission or the Joint Committee on on Legislative Support Services,” the Office of the Legislative Inspector General specifies.

The Legislative Inspector General is provided slightly more independence un-

der this bill, allowing them to open investigations without asking legislators — but they are still required to ask legislators to subpoena documents or witnesses.

“And that’s a really big problem because there have been a few cases where inspector generals have said that legislators have refused to publish reports where they found wrongdoing,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan testified in front of the Illinois House Committee on Ethics and Elections on April 13, outlining these findings in more detail.

Kaplan also commented on an earlier version of the bill that inhibited local governments from enacting their own lobbying rules that were stricter than the state’s.

In the new version, Chicago is exempted from this entirely and is allowed to draw their own rules in regards to lobbyists.

Kaplan said that this was a good thing because state rules should not restrict local government’s ability to enact stricter ethics reforms.

Fiedler, though, said that Chicago seems to “make up the rules as they go” and that a city charter will need to be drawn up in order to advance ethics reform in the city. Chicago currently has a municipal code which can be amended daily by the City Council.

“So that’s why reform in Chicago is so important, and the biggest aspect of reform that the Republicans in Chicago would advocate for is to create a city charter and that there are rules to follow that are not made up as we go along,” Fiedler said.

Nick Kachiroubas, a professor in DePaul’s School of Public Service, agrees that the bill should expand further but notes that there was a lot of pressure to pass such a reform, especially amid recent stories of indictments and investigations into Illinois lawmakers.

“I think that, you know, obviously to really reform ethics amongst elected officials and governments in Illinois I think there would need to be a lot more comprehensive, systematic look at that,” Kachiroubas said. “Not particularly related to lobbyists but in terms of elections and election disclosure and fundraising limits.

Kaplan added that Illinoisans have been waiting a long time for changes in the state government and that this is why these ethics reforms are so important.

“They have many reasons to believe that their government is not always putting their interests first and these are really important changes that need to be made to start to restore that trust and to restore that confidence,” Kaplan said.

Politics. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 9

New bill would expand sex ed in Illinois public schools

By Amber Stoutenborough Staff Writer

Senate Bill 818, a bill that updates the sex education curriculum in Illinois, passed in the House with a 60-48 vote last Friday, June 4.

With major opposition from Republicans, the bill is headed towards Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk for approval.

Included in this bill is a new curriculum from elementary school to high school on what lawmakers have called “age appropriate” health education on sex and gender based on the different grade levels from kindergarten to 12th grade. Students in kindergarten through second grade will be taught about personal safety, consent and healthy relationships.

Grades three through five will focus more on puberty, sexual development, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Grades six through eight will learn more about sexual health such as pregnancy, STDs and interpersonal violence. Following ninth to 12th, students critically analyze what they’ve learned, and how it could impact their future personal health.

While the updated sex education curriculum in Illinois will follow the National Sex Education Standards, the bill does not change the option for parents and legal guardians to allow their child to opt out during the sex education classes.The bill has changed the requirement for schools to teach sex education only within the specifc curriclum or not at all.

Julian Boryszewski, a graduating senior at DePaul, commented on his experience in Illinois public school sex education and how different it was compared to his peers in college. Boryszewski said he was fortunate to have a teaching assistant in high school to start the conversations with the students instead of glossing over important topics.

“Compared to all my classmates in my human sexuality class, I was one of the very few that was extremely lucky to have a slightly more progressive type of sexual education in school,” Boryszewski said. “A lot of students said that where they grew up, it was abstinence only or didn’t talk about it at all.”

Boryszewski went to Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois, and was a sophomore in 2015 when gay marriage was legalized. But when it came to sexual identity, his school never educated the students beyond the definition of homosexuality.

“I believe that a pride flag was hung on the

JUSTIN L. FOWLER | THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER VIA AP

Illinois State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, right, hugs Illinois State Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, as they celebrate the passage of Senate Bill 818, the bill to update sex education standards in Illinois,on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., Friday, May 28, 2021. day but that was by the students,” Boryszewski said. “The whole thing was extremely glossed over, if you’re gay, that means that you like the same sex, if you’re heterosexual that means you like the opposite sex, and that’s it. We had little to no education on different ways to identify one’s sexual orientation, which I actually didn’t learn about until college.”

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy told NPR Illinois about the importance of sex education involving discussions about LGBTQ identities.

“For far too long, LGBTQ youth were either invisible or expressly stigmatized, and I remember that — it burned into my soul,” Cassidy said. “As a kid who didn’t understand why I didn’t fit in, who couldn’t define why I felt different, and whose parents were not an option to go to. I wish I had had a teacher I could turn to; I wish I had had a curriculum that didn’t

call me unnatural.”

Another topic of concern amongst Republicans is the idea of teaching kids about sex too early and how this may encourage sexual promiscuity at a young age.

Allen Rendak, a music teacher in Chicago, said he feels it’s important to start some of these topics when students are young, to help them figure out their identities in a safe environment without judgement.

“I think some kids, especially depending on their home life, live in an environment that holds racial bias, prejudice or homophobia and they are never taught what is wrong from their parents and I think that should be addressed at a younger age,” Rendak said. “People are people and you have to accept people for who they are. I think if you started at that age level with those kinds of conversations and then

progressed with harder topics, planned out appropriately, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to start that young.”

Boryszewski and many other students who have grown up through the Illinois public school system are excited to finally see changes in how sex ed is taught.

“I hope to see the future of sex education for Illinois [and] Chicago Public Schools is a more safe and open, educating experience, where children and students do not feel shame for any questions that they have,” Boryszewski said. “I hope that the information taught is able to really make a difference in our teen pregnancy rates, and especially in our STD rates.

I just overall hope that everyone can be more welcoming in the future to people that have identified differently, and choose to define themselves how they truly want to be defined.”

High court asked to review men-only draft registration law

By Jessica Gresko Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether it’s sex discrimination for the government to require only men to register for the draft when they turn 18.

The question of whether it’s unconstitutional to require men but not women to register could be viewed as one with little practical impact. The last time there was a draft was during the Vietnam War, and the military has been all-volunteer since. But the registration requirement is one of the few remaining places where federal law treats men and women differently, and women’s groups are among those arguing that allowing it to stand is harmful.

The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear a case involving the Military Selective Service Act, which requires men to register for the draft.

Ria Tabacco Mar, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project, who is urging the court to take up the issue, says requiring men to register imposes a “serious burden on men that’s not being imposed on women.”

Men who do not register can lose eligibility for student loans and civil service jobs, and failing to register is also a felony punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in prison. But Tabacco Mar says the male-only requirement does more than that.

“It’s also sending a tremendously harmful message that women are less fit than men to serve their country in this particular way and conversely that men are less fit than women to stay home as caregivers in the event of an armed conflict. We think those stereotypes demean both men and women,” she said.

Even if the draft is never used again, retaining the men-only requirement sends a “really damaging message,” said Tabacco Mar, who represents the National Coalition For Men and two individual men challenging the law A group of retired senior military officers and the National Organization for Women Foundation are among the others urging the court to take the case.

If the court agrees to hear the case, it wouldn’t be deciding whether women have to register, just whether the current system is constitutional. If it isn’t, then it would then be up to Congress to decide how to respond, either by passing a law requiring everyone to

register or deciding registration is no longer necessary.

The issue of who has to register for the draft has been to the court before. In 1981, the court voted 6-3 to uphold the men-only registration requirement. At the time, the decision was something of an outlier because the court was regularly invalidating gender-based distinctions in cases about other areas of the law. Many of those cases were brought by the founding director of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who became a justice in 1993.

The last time the high court considered the Military Selective Service Act, then-Justice William Rehnquist explained that the purpose of registration “was to prepare for a draft of combat troops.” He said that because women could not serve in combat, the law was not unlawful sex discrimination that violated the Constitution.

But military policy has changed. In 2013, the Department of Defense lifted the ban on women serving in combat. Two years later, the department said all military roles would be open to women without exception.

Just last year, a congressional commission concluded that the “time is right” to extend the obligation to register to women.

“The current disparate treatment of women unacceptably excludes women from a fundamental civic obligation and reinforces gender stereotypes about the role of women, undermining national security,” the commission said in a report.

The Biden administration is urging the justices not to take the case and to let Congress instead tackle the issue. Administration lawyers wrote in a brief that any “reconsideration of the constitutionality of the male-only registration requirement ... would be premature at this time” because Congress is “actively considering” the issue.

The Selective Service System, the agency that oversees registration, said in a statement that it doesn’t comment on pending litigation but that it is “capable of performing whatever mission Congress should mandate.”

If the court agrees to take the case, arguments wouldn’t happen until the fall at the earliest, after the court’s summer break. The court already has high-profile cases awaiting it then. They include a major challenge to abortion rights and an appeal to expand gun rights.

The case about the draft is National Coalition For Men v. Selective Service System, 20-928.

10 | Opinions. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

Opinions

AP PHOTO BY GIUSEPPE LAMI Pope Francis celebrates Mass on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, June 6, 2021.

Abuse laws come 40 years too late

By Hayley DeSilva Staff Writer

After thousands of reported cases of sexual abuse, the Vatican has finally updated its canon laws for handling cases within the Church — standards which haven’t been touched since the 1980s.

The new canon laws, or a set of laws set by the Roman Catholic Church to be followed by members of the religion, sought to streamline and clarify how to deal with child sexual abuse. The biggest of these changes included requiring all priests and nuns to become mandated reporters, making grooming for sex or child pornography illegal, and enforcing punishment within the Church like defrocking.

Throughout all this time, the Catholic Church has spent over $400 billion in settlements to victims and their families. Over half of the nearly 40,000 priests in the U.S. have had at least one formal allegation of abuse against them.

This wasn’t just one bad egg — this is an ongoing crisis. A crisis that has taken four decades to be addressed by the institution.

What’s worse is that this problem has run so rampant for so many years that everyone knows about it. People even often make jokes, in poor taste, about being altar boys or being alone with a priest. Still, nothing has been done until this past week.

“It is a bit simplistic to think of this as a singular problem that can be

solved with a single statement from the Pope,” said Rev. Christopher Robinson, a Catholic priest and religious studies professor at DePaul. “This is a larger societal problem, as well.”

Robinson believes that this is a cultural issue as opposed to a Church-specific issue — and he’s right. Child abuse has been a big issue in other institutions as well, such as in Hollywood and corporate America with people like Roman Polanski or Jeffrey Epstein who were found guilty of statutory rape and child sex trafficking.

The Catholic Church is far from the only institution to have an issue with abuse. The issues within the Church merely add to an already ugly truth about our society’s tendency to abuse power — and like many of these institutions, they sat on it for too long. “[The Church’s] failure to uphold even its most basic moral principles has driven away a vast number of rank and file Catholics,” said Thomas O’Brien, another religious studies professor at DePaul. “I work with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and for these Catholics the truly critical part of the scandal wasn’t so much the sexual abuse itself — but the corrupt institutional response to the accusations.”

O’Brien adds that while the changes are good, the canon laws fail to impress modern Catholics—which was the intention of creating the new laws.

Pope Francis said in his letter alongside the law revisions that “It is neces-

sary that these norms be closely related to social changes and the new needs of the People of God.” But wanting to feel safe around authority figures is not new. The only social change that has happened is more people are learning of these crimes and the betraying cover-ups done by the Catholic Church. What’s new is that more people are demanding ethical and just behavior from higher institutions — not preventing sexual abuse.

The new laws also allow the Church to punish more instances of abuse internally rather than leaving it entirely to the authorities.

Minimizing the role of law enforcement in deciding punishment and investigation is a step in the complete wrong direction. Without that extra accountability, and based on their track record, the Church is going to simply continue the way it’s been going.

Additionally, the updated laws mentioned that offenses like grooming for the purposes of child pornography will also be punishable. You read that right: It’s taken 40 years to say child pornography is illegal in the eyes of the Catholic Church.

They are also now requiring priests and nuns to act as mandated reporters — the same people in positions of power who either commit the most acts of abuse or have covered them up.

Additionally, and coming at a point of hypocrisy for Pope Francis’ earlier statement of changing with the times,

there are several pieces of canon law that have not changed. For instance, excommunication will only be reserved for the gravest cases of sexual abuse.

However, it still remains as a direct consequence for abortion — no matter what the context may be. For instance, a continued law includes that “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.” Meaning, anyone who gets an abortion under any circumstances can be excommunicated from the The changes are better than another 40 years of silence — but clearly there is an incredibly long way to go.

“I think they are [taking] a step in the right direction,” Hernandez said.

“Although that may not sound like much on face value, when talking about an institution that has been known to have incredibly problematic views on progressive issues, this first step can open doors to new avenues and possible changes within the catholic Church.”

A step in the right direction it may be, but until these critical systematic issues are resolved, the abuse of power is liable to continue uninterrupted.

“When will the Church come forward, in sackcloth and ashes, and do penance before the people?” O’Brien said. “The answer, for now, seems to be never.”

If you’re hopeful for systemic change in the Catholic Church, I have one thing to say: Don’t hold your breath.

Opinions. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 |11

A man puts on his mask before entering Water Tower Place on June 4. Chicago mandates face coverings and masks for everyone over the age of 2 in public spaces.

AUDREY CHAMPELLI | THE DEPAULIA

Relying on the honor system may not be the best method for unmasking

By Hailey Donovan Contributing Writer

Recently, the CDC updated its Covid-19 safety guidelines and announced that fully vaccinated people can be indoors and outdoors mask-free, while their unvaccinated counterparts are recommended to continue to mask up. However, with few businesses actually checking the vaccination status of their patrons, it seems as if we are relying on the honor code to distinguish between those who are vaccinated and those who are not.

It is a complicated matter, nonetheless.

On one hand, what we have witnessed in the past 15 months has been historical. As a nation, we have seen our communities shut down and struggle to survive; as students we have seen our education switch formats entirely, leaving many to struggle or rethink their education. A single virus

singlehandedly shut down the world.

Don’t get me wrong — since the Covid-19 vaccine has been available to the masses, it seems as if it is the light at the end of the tunnel. With Illinois planning to reopen on June 11, it seems as if the vaccine has played a large role in returning to normalcy.

On the other hand, I understand that not everyone is able to get vaccinated. The CDC has compiled a list of underlying medical conditions that pose an increased risk for people planning to receive the vaccine. These include people with weakened immune systems or autoimmune conditions.

In a way, I can understand why using the honor code was the go-to method. For me, it does seem slightly invasive to outright ask someone if they are vaccinated or not. I believe that if we went down a route where we were out right asking people their vaccination status, it would feel a lit-

tle bit like going to a nightclub, a bouncer at the door either granting or denying you access, even for something as simple as grabbing groceries for the week. Plus, I feel like outright asking people is a bit ableist towards those unable to get the vaccine, as mentioned above.

There is a flipside to this though: People are abusing the honor code, plain and simple. The number of times either while I was working or simply just out and have heard a person mention how glad they were that they didn’t have to wear the mask anymore because they’re “vaccinated” while using air quotes, is frightening.

The fact that we all watched the world come to a standstill, watched neighbors and communities struggle, and yet people have the audacity to take advantage of the system that has been put in place to help everyone is mind-boggling to me. I think that it’s selfish, and the fact that people are willing to be so open about abusing the

system has made me lose a little bit of faith in humanity to say the least.

There seems to be a variety of different methods to verify people’s vaccination status. The most common seems to be showing your little white vaccination card. My biggest worry with this card is the fact that it is just a piece of thick paper for most of us, which makes it quite vulnerable in rain and has the threat of being crushed in the bottom of my purse.

I will admit, I cannot pick a method that is a clearly superior alternative to the honor system. It doesn’t seem right to exclude those who cannot be vaccinated, but something certainly needs to be done to limit those abusing the system. For right now, I think we will have to settle for the honor system in hopes that one day something better can take its place.

The light at the end of the tunnel: Family gatherings are back

By Lawerence Kreymer Sports Editor

For a year, people have sacrificed a lot in order to protect themselves and the people around them. The things that seemed normal for a long time – attending a concert, sporting event or simply seeing your friends and family – were either fully restricted or were not recommended by health experts.

These restrictions are now being lifted, more and more states are returning to full capacity and life is starting to resemble some sort of normalcy.

With all of that and people continuing to get vaccinated, an important tradition is also returning: family gatherings. For many people, this is the lifeblood of their families, being able to meet together and create memories.

It’s something that has been lost for

many families in the last year. There were pleas from local and national health experts to limit gatherings during last November and December, the two months when families meet to celebrate the holiday season.

It’s all starting to change now – and it’s a beautiful sight. In pre-pandemic life, my family -- which includes about 20 people from my parents to grandparents to aunts and uncles and to cousins – would celebrate each Jewish holiday and each birthday together.

Those gatherings became a tradition in my family; it became something that would happen a couple of times a month.

The venue or family hosting each gathering might change, but nobody ever missed a dinner as one big family.

In the last year, however, we have missed countless birthday and holiday celebrations. The last time we met as one

big family was back in February 2020, celebrating my cousin’s and grandma’s birthdays. At the time, it didn’t seem like the last time we would all be together in one setting.

So, we stayed away from each other for over a year to protect everyone in our family. We didn’t have the chance to celebrate the holidays and birthdays that we would normally celebrate in pre-pandemic life.

Even with all of the precautions my family has taken in the last year, we still have lost two family members due to Covid-19. My dad’s uncle passed away in January and another family member from my dad’s side also passed away in February, both with Covid-19 complications.

We have lost a lot in the last year.

Nearly 600,000 people have died since the pandemic began 15 months ago. Families have been separated for a long time. This

has undoubtedly been a hard year for millions of Americans.

But as we open up as a society and return to activities that we haven’t been able to do for a year, let’s not forget about the people we have lost because of this pandemic. We can always go to a sporting event or go watch our favorite band, but we will never be able to see some of our family members again.

I can’t wait to have another family gathering and get back to making more memories with them. But there will now be two empty seats at the dinner table when my family meets again. Those empty seats can’t be replaced with someone else.

But as we continue to remember all the people we have lost in the last year, there is finally some light at the end of a long and dark tunnel.

12 | La DePaulia, The DePaulia. el 7 de junio de 2021

La DePaulia

ERIKA PÉREZ | LA DEPAULIA

Los trabajadores de McDonald’s están exigiendo un salario mínimo de $15 debido a una escasez nacional de mano de obra en la industria de la comida rápida.

Los empleados de Chicago McDonald’s exigen un salario mínimo de $15, se unen a la lucha nacional ‘Fight for $15’

By Erika Perez La DePaulia Managing Editor

Mientras la corporación McDonald ‘s continúa obteniendo ingresos durante la pandemia, los trabajadores de primera línea de McDonald ‘s han sobrevivido de cheque a cheque para poder sobrevivir.

El 20 de mayo, los trabajadores de McDonald’s en Chicago se declararon en huelga junto con otros trabajadores en 15 ciudades de Estados Unidos como parte de la iniciativa nacional “Fight For 15’’. Los trabajadores de McDonald’s exigen que se les pague un salario mínimo de $15 debido a la falta nacional de trabajo en la industria de la comida rápida.

A nivel nacional, los trabajadores en huelga publicaron una carta al director ejecutivo de McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, que no solo exige un salario mínimo de $15, sino que también demandan el derecho de tener un sindicato.

“Estamos aquí luchando por la unidad, el respeto y la protección contra la pandemia”, dijo Teresa Cervantes, trabajadora de McDonald’s.

McDonald’s dijo en un comunicado de prensa que aumentarán los salarios para más de 36,500 empleados en los restaurantes de McDonald en un promedio del 10 por ciento durante los próximos meses, aumentando a $15 por hora para 2024.

En un tweet de Fight for $15, ellos dijeron que el aumento no es justo, ya que solo afectará a las tiendas corporativas, que solo representan el cinco por ciento de las ubicaciones en EE. UU. Si a los empleados de McDonald’s se les paga un salario mínimo de $15, los traba-

jadores de tiempo completo ganarían alrededor de $600 a la semana. Actualmente, a los empleados de McDonald’s se les paga alrededor de $480 a la semana.

“Usted gana miles de millones, no debería haber excusa para que no pueda pagarnos hoy”, dijo Ieshia Townsend, una trabajadora de McDonald’s y líder de Fight for $15 durante la conferencia de prensa de la huelga.

Otras cadenas de restaurantes de comida rápidas como Chipotle dijeron que aumentarán el salario de los trabajadores a un promedio de $15 por hora para fines de junio.

Los empleadores se ven obligados en gran medida a aumentar sus salarios debido a las condiciones del mercado laboral, como el aumento de la demanda de trabajadores.

“Para atraer a esos trabajadores, necesitan aumentar los salarios”, dijo el profesor de economía de DePaul, Brian Phelan.

Phelan describe las diferencias cuando el gobierno y el empleador aumentan el salario mínimo. Cuando el gobierno aumenta el salario mínimo, una fuerza externa en el mercado cambia el precio, y cuando eso sucede, existe la preocupación por la posible pérdida de puestos de trabajo.

La iniciativa Fight for $15 es diferente; el mercado laboral está respondiendo a las condiciones de empleo y al aumento de la demanda de mano de obra. Aumentar el salario mínimo en este caso debería aumentar los salarios y el empleo.

“Esto es bueno para el resultado de los trabajadores con salarios bajos porque deberían poder obtener salarios más altos y más personas que quieran conseguir trabajos deberían poder conseguirlos”, dijo Phelan.

La escasez de mano de obra en la indu-

stria de la comida rápida también se debe a la ayuda Covid-19 del gobierno federal paquete que incluye controles de estímulo para los trabajadores que en general aumentan los beneficios por desempleo.

En marzo, la Administración Biden aprobó $1,400 en cheques de estímulo. Desde la publicación de los terceros cheques de estímulo en marzo, se han enviado ocho conjuntos de cheques de estímulo desde 2020.

El octavo conjunto de cheques de estímulo ha llevado el número total de pagos realizados a 164 millones de estadounidenses, que asciende a unos 386 mil millones de dólares.

“Son geniales en el sentido de que han permitido que los hogares se las arreglen durante la pandemia”, dijo Phelan.

El primer cheque de estímulo fue de $1,200 que fue enviado a estadunidenses en abril de 2020. Esto se produjo en un momento en que la industria de restaurantes y servicios de alimentos perdió 6.2 millones de empleos, según la Asociación Nacional de Restaurantes.

Los trabajadores afroamericanos y latinos fueron los más afectados por la industria de restaurantes y alimentos durante la pandemia. Según la Oficina de Estadísticas Laborales de EE. UU., en el 2020, el 13.9 por ciento de los trabajadores de la industria alimentaria y de restaurantes eran afroamericanos, mientras que el 27.3 por ciento eran latinos.

La organización Fight for $15 dijo que es injusto que corporaciones como McDonald ‘s sigan enriqueciéndose durante la pandemia mientras los empleados han estado trabajando muchas horas con poca paga.

“Tengo que trabajar en McDonald’s y

otros seis trabajos de reparto y no debería tener que trabajar de cheque en cheque para sobrevivir, ningún padre debería hacerlo”, dijo Townsend.

McDonald’s generó un ingreso total de $19.21 mil millones en 2020. Además, McDonald’s reportó $5.12 mil millones en ingresos para el primer trimestre de 2021.

“Estamos en huelga hoy para dejar en claro que no deberían tener que esperar hasta que los legisladores hagan efectivo el salario mínimo — tiene que estar en vigor hoy en día“, dijo Townsend. “Tienes los fondos para hacerlo”.

Ramón Hernández, un ex empleado de Subway, fue a la huelga en solidaridad con los trabajadores de McDonald’s.

“Estoy aquí para apoyar porque tengo amigos y familiares que no reciben el salario mínimo que merecen, están luchando”, dijo Hernández. “Queremos un salario digno para pagar la renta y otras necesidades”.

Los empleados de McDonald como Townsend y Cervantes dijeron que no dejarán de luchar por lo que merecen porque saben lo que valen. Continuarán alzando la voz y exigiendo lo que es correcto para los trabajadores de McDonalds, especialmente a medida que continúan enfrentando los desafíos de la pandemia.

“Estamos aquí luchando como padres porque necesitamos el pago mínimo para criar a nuestros hijos”, dijo Cervantes. “Es muy difícil ir a trabajar durante la pandemia por temor a enfermarse y regresar a casa”.

La DePaulia, The DePaulia. el 7 de junio de 2021 | 13

OPINIÓN: Los trabajadores bilingües merecen ser adecuadamente compensados por el extra trabajo que hacen

By Linette Sánchez La DePaulia Staff writer

Los trabajadores bilingües deben recibir una compensación adecuada por sus habilidades y carga de trabajo adicional.

Los trabajadores bilingües en los últimos años han estado más en demanda por empleadores dado a las habilidades lingüísticas que estos trabajadores tienen. Según un estudio por New American Economy, la demanda para trabajadores bilingües ha aumentado a más del doble entre 2010 y 2015. Este aumento en demanda se refiere específicamente a trabajadores que hablan chino, español, árabe y si trabajan en los sectores de finanza, cuidado de salud, servicios legales o de servicio al cliente.

Miguel Limón, un estudiante de la Universidad DePaul quien ha trabajado en museos en Chicago, explica las responsabilidades que tiene un trabajador bilingüe.

“El trabajo que las personas bilingües hacen muchas veces es el doble. Tenemos que trabajar en inglés pero también poner más tiempo y esfuerzo para traducir en otros idiomas”, dijo Limón.

Limón también reconoce que su habilidad de traducir le ha ayudado a individuos que no hablan inglés.

“Trabajando en las áreas de arte y cultura en Chicago me ha dado muchas oportunidades para usar mi bilingüismo. Muchas veces esta labor [de traducir] es muy cansadora, pero también es muy gratificante porque sin mi presencia las personas que he ayudado muy probablemente hubieran estado menos cómodos con su experiencia”, dijo Limón. “También han habido momentos donde turistas o estudiantes internacionales han compartido su apreciación porque he usado mi español”.

Carolina Aceves, una estudiante de la Universidad DePaul, cree que los trabajadores bilingües deberían ser compensados por el labor extra que hacen. “Ser bilingüe es una habilidad que requiere práctica, trabajo, y refinamiento. Los trabajadores bilingües deberían ser pagados por esta extra labor,” dijo Aceves.

Puede ser difícil iniciar una conversación con su jefe y pedirle un aumento en salario por el trabajo bilingüe que realiza.

Sarah Mahuron, quien se especializa en la asesoría profesional, en un artículo para el Houston Chronicle explicó cómo las personas bilingües deberían preguntar por un aumento de sueldo dado a sus habilidades bilingües.

“Es muy importante que le dejen saber a sus empleadores que hablan otro idioma. Algunos empleadores automáticamente les pagan más a sus trabajadores bilingües”, Mahuron dijo.

“Si quieres preguntar por un aumento de sueldo, deberías explicarle a tu empleador cómo tus habilidades ayudan al resultado final de la compañía”.

Además, dado el aumento en la demanda de trabajadores bilingües, estados cómo Delaware y Utah han considerado crecer sus programas de inmersión bilingüe.

ART BY TORI SMOLEN

La investigadora principal de los beneficios económicos del multilingüismo, Patricia Gándara, en una entrevista con New America, explicó la importancia de nutrir las habilidades lingüísticas de los niños inmigrantes en los Estados Unidos.

“Muchas investigaciones convincentes demuestran que tener dominación de los idiomas nativos de uno facilita el aprendizaje de otros lenguajes, incluyendo el inglés’’, dijo Gándara. “Fallar en nutrir las habilidades lingüísticas en los niños inmigrantes produce un costo a las ganancias de estos niños bilingües”.

Aceves explica cómo el bilingüis-

mo en las comunidades inmigrantes no es apreciado como en comunidades blancas. “Muchas veces el bilingüismo de comunidades que han sido marginalizadas y son inmigrantes son tratadas con indiferencia mientras que cuando familias blancas inscriben a sus niños en clases bilingües estos niños son vistos como prodigios”, dijo Aceves.

“Es importante que nosotros reconozcamos la importancia del bilingüismo y proveamos sueldos más altos para los trabajadores, como los que son empleados en Chartwells en DePaul, que traducen mientras están trabajando”.

Ser bilingüe es una habilidad que

toma tiempo y esfuerzo en desarrollar y los trabajadores bilingües deberían ser compensados por el extra labor que hacen. Poder hablar dos idiomas nos ayuda a entender, hablar e interactuar con más poblaciones y es imperativo que este trabajo sea apreciado por empleadores en la manera de compensación adecuada.

14 | Focus. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

Focus

‘How Many Others?’

By Ella Lee & Emma Oxnevad Print and Online Managing Editors

I. She wasn’t safe at home. Now, she feels unsafe at work.

“

Continued from front

I think [DePaul’s Title IX office] wanted to make it go away.

Rebecca

Adjunct Professor

Content warning: This story includes mention of domestic and emotional abuse. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.

Rebecca, an adjunct professor at DePaul, discovered in October 2016 that she was pregnant by her boyfriend, DePaul leisure studies professor Dan Hibbler, and moved in with him shortly after. By the following January, she was frightened for her life.

Throughout their relationship, Hibbler had been emotionally and verbally abusive toward her, diminishing her academic career and questioning whether the baby was his, she told The DePaulia. But on Jan. 4, the abuse verged on physical, according to testimony she gave the Kane County Sheriff ’s Office at the time, per a police report obtained by The DePaulia.

Hibbler appeared to have been drinking all day, and when Rebecca returned home from work, he was agitated, she told the Kane County Sheriff ’s office in 2017. After a quick spat, Rebecca thought that Hibbler had calmed down, so they planned to have dinner. Hibbler started eating without her, and when she sat down, he continued to make rude comments toward her, according to the police report.

He told her not to talk to him, and she retorted the same, the police report reads.

Hibbler then “became enraged,” picked up his dinner plate and slammed it down, smashing the glass table, according to the police report.

Rebecca told the police she got up to get her phone, but Hibbler took it away, the report reads. He also took her iPad and the house keys off her key ring, according to the police report.

As Rebecca tried to retrieve her phone, Hibbler told her that he was going to “burn down the house” and that he “didn’t want to kill anybody,” according to the police report. Rebecca did not press charges, telling the responding officer that she “just wanted the incident documented,” the police report reads.

Two days after the incident, Rebecca called WINGS Safe House’s Community Crisis Center, according to documents from the center obtained by The DePaulia.

She requested resources from the center, explaining the conflict. Several months later, Rebecca fled their home with their then-two-month-old baby after Hibbler allegedly verbally abused her again, according to a second police report.

The documents obtained from WINGS Safe House show she landed there on Aug. 20, 2017, homeless.

Hibbler did not respond to numerous requests for comment through multiple channels over the span of several weeks.

Rebecca said that she didn’t go back to DePaul the first quarter of fall 2017 out of fear that she and Hibbler would be scheduled to work in the same building.

She confided her fears to her department chair, who advised her to report to Title IX, which she ultimately did, submitting documentation and photo evidence to back her allegations.

The allegations against Hibbler were as follows, verbatim, according to the Title IX office’s closing letter: • Dr. Hibbler belittled and demeaned [Rebecca’s] academic background.

• Engaging in public discussions of [Rebecca’s] sex life, accusing her of infidelity and repeatedly questioning the paternity of their child.

• Calling [Rebecca] a bitch.

• Demanding [Rebecca] limit contact with her mother and with other friends.

• Demanding [Rebecca] contribute to household expenses, while demanding she not return to work after having their child.

• Using gift cards given to [Rebecca] for a baby shower to cover household repairs and purchase personal items for Dan Hibbler (shoes) • Asking [Rebecca] to do household chores while recovering from a C-section • Threatening [Rebecca] by stating “I believe you will die first” and “Most men understand men who kill their wives.”

• Engaging in physical threats and restraining her from leaving. Specifically, in January 2017 after breaking a glass table during an argument, Dan Hibbler stated “I hope I don’t kill anyone tonight” and “I will burn this place [their home] down.” He then retained [Rebecca’s] belongings (phone, keys, iPad) to prevent her from leaving or calling for help, which included him wrestling [Rebecca] while standing to obtain her phone. [Rebecca] was five months pregnant at the time.

•

”

Entering [Rebecca’s] car without her permission.

• Following [Rebecca] to learn where she currently resides.

“At the time, it was Karen Tamburro who was the coordinator,” Rebecca said.

“And initially getting in touch with her — it was very, I would say, proactive and aggressive. It was like ‘Yes, we take this very seriously and we’re very concerned. If you have any questions ... like any time, please don’t hesitate.’”

Rebecca’s case was assigned to then-investigator Cheryl Wayne, whom she thought was “fantastic.” But Rebecca soon started to feel that the office’s attitude towards her was changing for the worse.

“There was just a point where it just all sort of was going in one direction, and then just took a 180,” she said.

Rebecca said that in her next communication with the office, she felt an “attitude” and began to feel as though she was “bothering” the office by reaching out — despite their encouragement to reach out with questions or concerns.

“The whole shift, the whole communication [felt] like an annoyance, it was more of like, ‘Why are you bothering me?’” she said. “And of course, yes, it wasn’t verbally stated. But it was the whole tone in the response to things.”

Rebecca was scheduled to meet with Wayne on Feb. 28, 2018, according to emails obtained by The DePaulia. Before she could do this, Wayne had already arranged to meet with Hibbler.

According to Statz, DePaul’s current Title IX coordinator, the order in which parties involved in Title IX cases are spoken to is “informed by a variety of variables rather than a rigid, standardized approach to be used in all situations.”

Rebecca’s case was formally closed on April 30, 2018. The office determined the

information provided by Rebecca was “insufficient” to prove the abuse took place in all but two of her claims — that she was expected to contribute to household expenses and that Hibbler entered her car without her permission.

“He would threaten to burn the house down, he would threaten ‘I hope I don’t kill anyone tonight,’ he would take my belongings away — and I reported this, I sent them everything,” she told The DePaulia, echoing her statement to the Kane County Sheriff ’s office in a report.

Despite the office’s determination that Rebecca provided insufficient evidence, she felt the office did not do their diligence.

“I think [DePaul’s Title IX office] wanted to make it go away,” she said.

Tamburro, who is now the director of Northwestern University’s Office of Equity, declined to be interviewed by The DePaulia on numerous occasions. Wayne did not respond to The DePaulia’s request for comment.

Hibbler remains a tenured faculty member in the School of New Learning at DePaul, and Rebecca remains an adjunct professor, according to DePaul’s website.

Focus. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 15

II. He was found in violation of policy. Still, he was promoted.

Content warning: This story includes mention of sexual assault. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Disclosure: Amber has previously written for The DePaulia.

Amber Stoutenborough remembered being excited upon joining DePaul’s ROTC program; as a cadet her freshman year of college, she was befriended by older students in the program.

“When you’re younger, you know, it’s all cool,” she said. “You know, the older people are talking to me.”

The week before autumn quarter 2018 began, Amber went over to her friend’s apartment to hang out with others from the program, where everyone started drinking.

Being one of only two freshmen at the party, she had less experience drinking than the older students and began to consume more after some lighthearted teasing to “keep up.”

Later in the night, Amber was left alone in the room with Sam, a high-ranking senior in the program.

“He was flirting with me beforehand — it was kind of known, but I was like ‘I don’t know,’” Amber said. “I wasn’t sure about that because he’s [a high-ranking senior]… and he was a little bit older.”

Amber said Sam continued to flirt with her, eventually kissing her despite her vocalizing her apprehension.

“He kisses me and I was like, ‘I think I’m a little too drunk

for this.’ And he’s like, ‘No I think you’re fine,’” she said. “...I just kind of — my whole body just froze up, basically. Couldn’t say no, couldn’t really do anything. I just was really drunk that I was almost falling off the stool, right? I couldn’t really say anything, [couldn’t] really move.”

He continued to kiss her, she said. As the situation escalated, Amber said she fell asleep due to her intoxication.

“I wasn’t kissing back,” she said. “And he was touching me in other places ... I was very in and out. And then I black out; I don’t remember. I woke up on the couch and my underwear was gone. And I don’t remember anything.”

The day after the assault, Amber said that Sam texted her, saying he didn’t realize she was “that drunk” when he kissed her and apologized. Despite feeling uncomfortable about the situation, Amber said that she remained friends with him for two months following the incident, often hanging out in their friend group from ROTC. Amber said she did not remember anything that occurred after blacking out, but never lost the feeling that something more had occurred that night.

“It felt nice to have that attention, but there was always like, the underlying feeling of this was wrong,” she said.

In October, Amber told her friend who had also attended the party about Sam kissing her; her friend said that while at the party, he saw her “completely knocked out with [Sam’s] hand down [her] skirt.”

Amber later confided in an older ROTC cadet, who then informed professors within the program. She was later contacted by Title IX, beginning correspondence in January 2019. The back and forth between Amber and the Title IX office took place throughout the full academic year.

“I just kind of felt like they weren’t very empathetic towards the situation at all,” she said. “Like it was more of a business than anything.”

Amber’s case began that summer, taking place via video conferencing since she had to go home for the summer.

By the time her case ended in summer 2019, Jessica Landis, the Title IX Coordinator at the time of the investigation, was no longer at the university. Landis did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

According to documents obtained

by The DePaulia, a different case worker informed Amber that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to take action on all charges. In regard to Amber’s claim that Sam kissed her without consent, the panel assessing her case determined it was more likely than not that Sam broke the university’s Sexual and Relationship Violence policy.

“

I wish they treated me like an adult and actually talked to me so I [would be] able to do things instead of just sitting there and not being aware. I wish they had really listened to me, because it seems like it was just more of a bit.

Amber

Student

“Although initial instances of kissing may have been consensual, the panel found sufficient information to indicate that the reporting party’s capacity declined throughout the evening due to alcohol consumption, and the referred student knew or reasonably should have known that the reporting party was not able to provide clear consent,” the closing letter document reads. “The panel gave weight to the referred student’s statement in the investigation file that ‘I understand we were both intoxicated. How can it be consensual.’”

However, to Amber’s claims that Sam touched her elsewhere without consent while she was unconscious, the panel determined that it was more likely than not that Sam did not break the policy.

“The panel found insufficient information as it relates to these allegations,” the closing letter document reads.

Amber appealed.

“I wasted my whole freshman year having to go through that, just for nothing, so we did it again,” Amber said.

Her appeal was denied.

Amber said that she wished someone from the Title IX office had explained the reporting process more clearly before she committed to participating in it.

“It was very pressured,” she said. “I wish they treated me like an adult and actually talked to me so I [would be] able to do things instead of just sitting there and not being aware.

I wish they had really listened to me, because it seems like it was just more of a bit.”

Following her reporting the assault, ROTC told Amber that she and Sam were to be separated within the program, with Amber stating that one stipulation required they were never in the same room. This was directly violated, however, when she saw him at both a celebration preceding the group’s military ball, and at the ball itself.

“I had no idea that he was going to be there,” she said. “I just felt like ROTC should have done more. Because [Sam] was spreading rumors, apparently, that I was just jealous [and] because I wanted to be his girlfriend that I started this. That was really hard to hear from every cadet because they knew about it.

And it’s hard to hear that and then like, the officers did nothing about it. They just let it happen.”

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Bugajski served as the chair and professor of military science at Loyola University at the time of the case, where DePaul and several other area universities share a battalion. He declined to comment and directed The DePaulia to current leadership.

”

Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Lewis is the current Program Director of Military Science at Loyola. Lewis confirmed to The DePaulia that two DePaul students within the company were involved in a Title IX investigation during the 2018-2019 school year, and were “directed to have no-contact until the conclusion of the investigation,” claiming “standard practice.” He also confirmed that both students were allowed to attend a military ball “with appropriate mitigating measures in place.” Lewis said that he could not release any specifics of the case, but said that it was “the only [case he was] aware of ” involving DePaul students during that school year.

Sam told The DePaulia that he was verbally instructed by company leadership to separate from Amber at program functions, but that he was given permission by ROTC leadership to attend the ball, with “strict instructions” not to interact with Amber. He denied that he told company members the allegations against him were born out of jealousy.

Amber later found out that Sam had been promoted alongside his graduating class, despite Title IX’s determination that Sam violated the university’s Sexual and Relationship Violence policy.

“I didn’t know that he was still allowed to be an officer after this, I didn’t know, actually, until the middle of my sophomore year,” she said. “Because nobody told me, nobody informed me of what was happening with him.”

Sam confirmed to The DePaulia that he graduated and commissioned before the final determination in the case was reached.

He said that he felt the Title IX office was “inefficient at the time” and at times felt as though the office “wanted to get the case over with.”

“I didn’t really get a sense of urgency or a sense of care for myself,” he said. “...I don’t know how it was for the other side, but I felt as if they were just going through the motions and checking off boxes.”

He denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.

Amber remained in ROTC for the entirety of her freshman and sophomore years before eventually leaving in the middle of her junior year. She said that she trusts that the program is under better leadership now, but laments the ways in which they failed to support her.

“I was still really against them from what they did to me,” she said. “I tried to get past it, but it affected so much of who I was.”

Continued on next pages

ART BY ALICIA GOLUSZKA

16 | Focus, The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

‘How many others’ continued...

III. ‘How many other staff members and students have fallen victim to this?’

Content warning: This story includes mention of sexual harassment. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Jack, an employee at DePaul, was using a campus restroom in the DePaul Center in April 2019 when he suddenly noticed a phone peek under the urinal divider. When he realized that a student was attempting to take a picture of his genitals, he rushed out of the stall, confronting the student and calling Public Safety.

While Jack said that “no one was touched,” he said he still felt “disturbed” by the incident and went forward with reporting to the Title IX office.

“What also disturbed me about it was that [the alleged perpetrator] would go to such extreme lengths to get a dirty pic,” he said. “That’s creepy, you know what I’m saying? Like, how many other staff members and students have fallen victim to this?”

After reporting the incident, Jack maintained a five-month correspondence with DePaul’s Title IX office pertaining to the case, meeting with investigators several times throughout the summer of 2019. He expressed frustration about the “back and forth” nature of their communication.

“This office changes hands so much, no one wants to be there for some odd reason,” he said.

Jack first corresponded with the office shortly after the bathroom incident.

He spoke with Landis, the Title IX Coordinator at the time who unexpectedly left DePaul in May 2019.

Following Landis’ departure, the office was manned by an interim Title IX Coordinator until September 2019. Another woman was then appointed coordinator on Sept. 9, before leaving the university in January 2020. Following her departure, former investigator Kathryn Statz stepped into the role, which she presently holds. Prior to Landis’ tenure as the coordinator, Tamburro — another former Title IX coordinator, who is now at Northwestern — held the role.

The Title IX Coordinator — now dubbed the director of Gender Equity — is primarily tasked with monitoring and overseeing implementation of Title IX across campus. This includes “training, education, communications and administration of complaint procedures for faculty, staff, students and third parties in the areas of sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual misconduct, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking,” according to DePaul’s website.

Communications obtained by The DePaulia showed that between April and August 2019, Jack communicated and met with Title IX investigators. After keeping steady communication with the office throughout the summer, Jack was told via email that the investigation’s next steps would involve hearing from the Dean of Students Office “I am not certain that this will be immediate but more likely to be sometime next week,” the July email from Statz, an

ALICIA GOLUSZKA

“Just imagine having to be in the same building as somebody who did something like that to you ... And there’s no telling how many times you’ve got to cross paths because the Loop building is so small, and it’s only one building.”

Jack

DePaul employee investigator at the time, read.

Nearly two weeks passed without word from either Title IX or the Dean of Students Office.

“I haven’t heard from anyone in the Dean of Student’s office,” Jack said in an email to Statz dated Aug. 1. “This does not sit well with me.”

Later that day, Jack got an email from the Dean of Students Office letting him know that the office would be meeting with the accused student and requesting time to speak with Jack. After phone and email communication, the office asked Jack on Aug. 9 to “hold the morning of August 19” for a potential hearing date.

“The reason I say potential hearing is we are waiting to confirm a panel for the hearing,” the email read.

Jack agreed — only for the hearing to be canceled due to “scheduling conflicts with the panelists,” according to the office.

The individual who corresponded with Jack and previously worked in the Dean of Students office declined to comment on Jack’s case or answer general questions regarding timeliness of response.

Jack later reached out to Human Resources with his frustrations, and the

hearing occurred on Oct. 11, 2019, six months after Jack made the report. He told The DePaulia he did not want the hearing to be delayed any further out of fear that he might cross paths with the offender while at work.

“Why is it like you’re protecting the perpetrator and it’s like giving me a hard time?” he said. “...Just imagine having to be in the same building as somebody who did something like that to you ... And there’s no telling how many times you’ve got to cross paths because the Loop building is so small, and it’s only one building.”

Guidelines released in 2011 by the Department of Education said that if there are known instances of sexual misconduct, schools “[have] a responsibility to respond promptly and effectively” under Title IX. “If a school knows or reasonably should know about sexual harassment or sexual violence that creates a hostile environment, the school must take immediate action to eliminate the sexual harassment or sexual violence, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects,” the policy reads.

In 2016, former President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded those guidelines, claiming they “led to the

deprivation of rights for many students,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. Interim guidelines from the Department of Education in 2017 said there is “no fixed time frame” that constitutes the “prompt” investigation of sexual misconduct required under Title IX. Those guidelines have since been rescinded, too. Equally vague guidance on the definition of “prompt and effective” response was released in Oct. 2020; President Joe Biden’s administration has said it plans to review — and likely change — those guidelines.

According to Statz, DePaul’s current Title IX coordinator, prior Title IX guidance expected cases to be completed within 60 days. Though the present regulations do not specify that time frame, Statz told The DePaulia that the office still uses the 60 day framework as an “objective measure” and has been “successful in completing most investigations well within that time frame over the last year (2020-21)” — roughly the amount of time Statz has held the coordinator position. Previously, she was a university athletic director until 2017, when she became an investigator, and was designated as a deputy coordinator in 2013.

After the hearing, Jack said the Dean of Students office called him to inform him of the student’s punishment, telling him that a signifier of the incident would be placed on the student’s records, and that employers and other schools would be able to see it. He said he was also told that the student was banned from the bathroom in which the incident occurred. Jack said that he received no documentation regarding the student’s punishment and that he felt it amounted to a “slap on the wrist.”

“They said that [the harassment] is on the student’s record, so that whenever they try to apply for a job or go to another school, it’ll appear and they can make an inquiry into it,” he said. “But that just sounds like bullshit. Like, [there’s] no proof.”

Focus, The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 17

‘How many others’ continued...

IV. She spoke of her assault. Her boss had no choice but to speak for her.

Content warning: This story includes mention of rape. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Lauren was raped on campus freshman year, but chose not to report. She told The DePaulia she had not fully processed the trauma and had heard that DePaul’s Title IX office “wasn’t really a great resource for survivors.”

In the fall of 2019, during her senior year, while at her job at the Loop Campus, she saw her rapist for the first time since the assault.

Feeling overwhelmed, she called her boss to inform her about the situation.

The next day, she learned that her boss had reported the assault to Title IX out of duty as a mandated reporter.

Most DePaul employees function as mandated reporters to the Title IX office, meaning if they become aware of any instances of sexual harassment, assault or any other sex-based discrimina-

ALICIA GOLUSZKA

tion, they are required to report to the Title IX coordinator.

“I called my boss rightfully like freaking out was like, ‘I don’t know if I can run this event anymore, like freaking out,’” she said. “... But then the next day, my boss had told me that since I had told her essentially that I had been raped, that she had to report it to Title IX.” Lauren said her boss took steps to ensure that she was comfortable following the mandated report. But that didn’t stop her from feeling that her voice was stolen.

“The right to report and have them know about it, it was kind of taken away from me,” she said.

The DePaulia requested comment from Lauren’s boss, who forwarded the query to DePaul’s media relations team — which declined to comment.

For many survivors of sexual harassment and assault, fear of handing over control of their trauma to a Title IX office can be a daunting barrier.

“People are afraid they’re not going to be believed, and sometimes they don’t want their perpetrator to get in trouble or to be expelled and they want to heal,” said Christine Zuba, a senior staff attorney for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation. “And maybe they want justice but they are afraid of this process no longer being controlled when they go to the Title IX office.”

After the report was made, Lauren

received an email on Nov. 22 from the coordinator at the time, which notified her of the report. Lauren was provided a list of resources. After Lauren chose not to respond, the file was officially closed on Dec. 2.

The mandated reporting incident inspired Lauren to seek therapy, ultimately choosing to report the rape to Title IX in March 2020.

“I’m not really looking from them, honestly, any support or really like anything to happen to him, I just kind of want a record that, like, this happened,” she said. “Someone should know about it.”

Statz, the current Title IX coordinator, told The DePaulia that outside of mandated reporting, there are other avenues that offer victims more agency in reporting, including confidential reporting to factions of the university like Health Promotion and Wellness, University Counseling Services and University Ministry.

Mandated reporting applies to non-confidential employees – like Lauren’s boss. Statz said that if non-confidential employees are made aware of an alleged incident of sexual violence, they are required to report the following: • The name of the person who reported the information to the employee; • The name of the alleged affected individual, if different than the individual reporting; • The name of the alleged perpetra-

tor (if known); • The names of others involved; and • Any relevant facts that have been provided, such as date, time, and location. For instances involving sexual and relationship violence, the employee will also provide the reporting individual with a Sexual and Relationship Violence Information Sheet.

“Agency lies in the student’s decision about whether or not to share information about the person who caused them harm,” Statz told The DePaulia. “The impression that a responsible employee might push them to reveal information that they are not comfortable providing is one that I hope we can put to rest.

That being said, another way of looking at this piece is that complainants/survivors have a right to know their resources and the best way to do so is by students being connected to our office, so we can make sure they know their rights and options under Title IX.” After looking back on the experience as a whole, Lauren said she doesn’t think mandated reporting should be part of DePaul’s process.

“It completely took agency away from me,” she said. “The idea of having to report and having to tell people what happened just kind of made me feel pretty helpless and out of control.”

“When I knew my boss had reported, it was probably the day that I felt the most unsafe on campus,” she said.

Continued on next page

18 | Focus. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

‘How many others’ continued...

Epilogue

It’s no secret that sexual violence runs rampant on college campuses. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center asserts that 1 in 5 women and 1 in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college.

At DePaul, reports of sexual violence have been on the rise for years. In 2019, DePaul’s Title IX Coordinator — now named the Director of Gender Equity — received 88 reports of sexual violence, according to the university’s most recent Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act report. The year prior, they received 71 reports and before that, they received 60 reports.

But the number of reports received by DePaul is likely not equal to the number of sexual violence incidents that actually take place among its students. Research suggests that number is significantly higher. Only one-fifth of all sexual assaults are reported among college-aged individuals, according to Department of Justice data.

“It’s not unique to the Title IX experience that survivors often aren’t believed or they don’t feel comfortable coming forward,” Zuba said.

Because the Covid-19 pandemic shut down campuses across the country, evidence suggests that reports may be made even less frequently — but that doesn’t mean incidents are happening less frequently.

“A lot of people are stuck with the idea of, ‘Well, if everyone’s quarantining, how can this happen?’” said Laura Palumbo, a spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

“That’s a misunderstanding of the fact that, you know, some students who may be on campus may now be more isolated because of the fact that there are less students, or maybe someone who is no longer able to live on campus has to have to find an alternative living situation that puts them at some risk — maybe someone was experiencing abuse by a family member or a partner.”

“You can imagine that Title IX complaints will get less attention from schools because schools have so much to deal with right now,” Zuba said, echoing Palumbo. “And I also think that maybe we haven’t figured out the best way to support students during this time when school is remote.”

Research shows that rates of sexual violence increase during emergencies, and some resource centers see up-ticks in calls for help. But when it comes to filing reports, some disaster victims see reporting as a “luxury issue – something that is further down on the hierarchy of needs,” according to sexual violence expert Beth Vann.

While many incidents of sexual violence have likely taken place off campus amid the pandemic, that doesn’t necessarily mean the university isn’t responsible for supporting affected students.

“If we look at the broader framework of Title IX — it’s talking about the responsibility of campuses to not only effectively respond to students, but to promote the safety and wellbeing of students, faculty and all who are within their campus environment — then it is a responsibility that carries over into this new virtual context,” Palumbo said.

DePaul’s Title IX office is not the only office that processes and manages reports of sexual violence on campus. In a previous interview with The DePaulia, Landis said that reports may be redirect-

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

Cases reported as a part of the Preventing Sexual Violence Act. Cases only reflect reported acts of sexual violence.

“You can imagine that Title IX complaints will get less attention from schools because schools have so much to deal with right now.

And I also think that maybe we haven’t figured out the best way to support students during this time when school is remote.”

Christine Zuba

Senior Staff Attorney, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation

ed to other offices if they are “more fitted.” “[The employee who connects with the student first] could potentially be someone else, depending on the nature qof the report,” Landis said in 2019. “So it could be Health Promotion and Wellness following up, it could be the Dean of Students Office following up, it could be [the Title IX Coordinator].”

Still, a common thread between these four survivors’ stories is a lack of open communication between the office and the campus community, unclear disciplinary guidelines for acts of sexual and emotional abuse and an overall lack of trust that the office will ensure justice is served.

DePaul’s Title IX office is presently made up of the Director of Gender Equity (Title IX coordinator), two investigators and a case manager — a new position as of 2020. Those individuals are supported by five deputy Title IX coordinators who offer support to the primary coordinator.

“All of these professionals have been impactful and unwavering in their commitment to the DePaul community,” Statz told The DePaulia.

The office has seen significant turnover in the last several years. Statz, the current Title IX coordinator, is the third individual to hold that role in the last two years. Both investigators are also new to the department as of April 2020 and April 2021, respectively, according to Statz. The case manager, Hannah Retzkin, was previously a sexual and relationship violence prevention specialist in the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, according to her bio. She joined the Title IX office in March 2020, Statz said.

Statz said that under her leadership, the office has worked to support students outside of sexual misconduct, as well, by assisting students who are pregnant or parenting and through partnerships with the LGBTQIA Resource Center to support students who have shared instances of potential misconduct involving gender identity and sexual orientation, also included under Title IX. The office also received approval from all areas of the university’s shared governance to formalize the new Title IX Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures.

“This was a testament to many at DePaul who worked tirelessly to memorialize very detailed expectations from the federal Department of Education into a document that is also DePaul-driven,” Statz said. “...We are proud of the hard work that has gone into serving our community over the past year.”

But on the fraught topic of sexual violence on campus, experts say there’s still work to be done — both at DePaul and elsewhere.

“Our society seems to struggle with sexual violence in a way — and accepting it and addressing it in a way — that it doesn’t struggle with all forms of violence,” Zuba said. “Part of it could be an unwillingness to just accept that anyone is vulnerable to this [or] an unwillingness to believe women.”

A comprehensive list of resources for sexual violence survivors of all backgrounds, compiled by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), can be found at its website. The National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-4673.

Focus. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 19

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20 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

Arts & Life Statues of Limitations

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

The Benjamin Franklin statue in the south part of Lincoln Park. Created by Richard Henry Park in 1895 and installed in 1896, the statue was moved to the park in 1966.

Future of 41 monuments up in air as Chicago reckons with its nation’s past

By Jackson Healy Staff Writer

Whether they’re made of bronze or marble, apparently not all of Chicago’s monuments are set in stone.

On July 17, 2020, amid a nationwide racial reckoning triggered by the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a violent clash between police and protesters broke out after the protesters attempted to topple the city’s statue of Christopher Columbus in Grant Park, resulting in 12 arrests and at least 18 injured officers.

One week later, the statue was “temporarily” removed at Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s discretion, and on August 12, the mayor’s office announced a citywide review of public monuments through what would become known as the Chicago Monuments Project.

The project consists of a 30-person advisory committee made up of city officials, artists, scholars, curators, architects and community leaders dedicated to assessing the city’s public works. The committee gathered input from community members and eventually released a report with recommendations on how the city should handle its more controversial monuments, as well as a list of potential new monuments that could be commissioned.

“We have spent about six months in this process of [public] consultations,” said John Betancur, a member of the advisory committee and urban planning and policy professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Before that, we spent about three months in internal conversa-

tions. At this point, we are trying to synthesize what we’ve heard — although the consultations continue — and eventually, we will produce a report to the Department of Cultural Affairs with recommendations.”

Of Chicago’s over 500 public monuments, the committee has selected 41 for

instances of violence with settlers, while others depict Native Americans in stoic poses atop horses or simply staring off in the distance.

“They either romanticize what the Native Americans were not, or they put them in a relationship with white civilization,” Betancur said. “Those monuments

“What I would love to come out of this debate is a discussion of these various figures in thinking about, well, what did they do?

Rather than just see them as gods we should celebrate, we need to view them as men of their time who made a series of choices - some good, some bad.”

Colleen Doody

DePaul Associate History Professor

review. Potential issues being assessed include the promotion of white supremacist narratives, presenting oversimplified views of history, showcasing inaccurate characterizations of Native Americans and failing to sufficiently include the stories of marginalized peoples.

Several of the monuments in question depict Native Americans. Some, like “The Defense,” call back to specific

put them in a perspective not of who they are, but how white men saw them.”

Another group of monuments being considered as potentially problematic depict some of America’s most revered historical figures — including Benjamin Franklin, Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, all of which sit in Lincoln Park.

In the case of Lincoln, one of the committee’s main considerations is reas-

sessing the former president’s treatment of Native Americans — in particular, the transfer of land from natives to U.S. settlers through the Homestead Act of 1862.

DePaul associate history professor Colleen Doody notes that while many of these figures have made great contributions to the U.S., not even they are immune from criticism.

“As a historian, I always want people to interpret statues and not deify figures,” Doody said. “What I would love to come out of this debate is a discussion of these various figures in thinking about, well, what did they do? Rather than just see them as gods that we should celebrate, we need to view them as men of their time who made a series of choices — some good, some bad.”

And as for Grant Park’s Columbus Statue? Its future, along with two of Chicago’s other statues of the famed explorer, is also up in the air.

Euan Hague, director of DePaul’s School of Public Service, notes that all three sculptures were installed between 1893 and 1933, largely due to a growing Italian American population’s efforts to claim their identity through influencing the public landscape. Largely because of this personal connection to Columbus, there is nearly always heated debate when the explorer’s legacy is questioned.

“People’s identities get tied up in monuments precisely because they offer a public view of history with which they agree or disagree,” Hague said. “And I think that publicness of monuments, putting them in our everyday landscapes, is what gives them the power to speak a message that people interpret positively

Arts & Life. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 21

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

“Standing Lincoln” statue in Lincoln Park, a 12-foot bronze piece built in 1887. or negatively.”

Other statues currently being assessed include a monument to Italian fascist Italo Balbo, a plaque commemorating Chicago’s “first white child” and the polarizing statue in honor of policemen who opposed protesters during the Haymarket affair.

The project isn’t only about considering preexisting statues, though; the advisory committee is also expected to make recommendations for possible new monuments that the city could commission.

Hague points out that with whatever new works may be added, the city may end up asking similar questions about those monuments down the line.

“Putting up monuments is about what your vision of yourself is,” Hague said. “In the 1930s, we were putting up Christopher Columbus monuments. If we’re putting up monuments now, who or what we put them up to tells us about our visions of ourselves in 2021.”

Still, Betancur says that the recent call to recontextualize America’s past is largely unprecedented, marking a major shift in how Chicagoans view their country’s past.

“Nobody ever questioned [these monuments] because, in part, those monuments become very invisible,” Betancur said. “People go by them and don’t even notice them, in part because white hegemony is uncontested. And that’s why the Black Lives Matter movement questioned them and tried to bring them down, because they wanted to send a message: We are in a new era of the city, and it’s time to question our symbols, our heroes. It’s time to question those legacies.”

The Chicago Monuments Project advisory committee has not made any final decision on the 41 selected works or on potential new monuments, although they hope to finalize their report later this year.

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

Robert Cavelier de La Salle statue nearby the Chicago History Museum by Lincoln Park.

NATE BURLEYSON | THE DEPAULIA

Locations of statues in Chicago that are on the project’s list. A few locations like the DuSable Bridge have multiple monuments.

22 | Arts & Life. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

IMDB

Franz Rogowski and Paula Beer in “Undine,” which premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival in 2020. The film is a modern version of the classic European myth of the same name.

Stellar lead performances take ‘Undine’ to romance heights

By Lauren Coates Staff Writer

Just over a year after the film had its world premiere at the Berlinale Film Festival, Chrisitan Petzold’s tragic romance “Undine” is finally available for streaming in the United States - and at the risk of being dramatic, if there’s one romance film you’re going to watch in 2021, make it this one. A modern reimagining of the European myth Undine (also spelled Ondine), the film reinterprets the story of a water nymph who is doomed to kill the man she loves if he’s unfaithful to her - a largely influential myth whose influence can be traced all the way through modern classics like Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”.

An animated musical “Undine” surely isn’t, though: swapping mystical water creatures for a grounded, almost sterile backdrop of Berlin, “Undine” is just barely on the edge of mysticism or magic realism - opting to let the viewer’s imagination do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to Undine’s mystic abilities and her fate. Instead of latching onto the more fairytale aspects, “Undine” latches onto the electric chemistry between Paula Beer (the titular Undine) and Franz Rogowski (Christoph, Undine’s lover).

The film further subverts original expectations by making the doomed romance not between a man who will eventually be unfaithful to Undine - but instead, the man who she meets almost immediately after being cheated on. The film’s cold open takes place just moments after Undine’s previous boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) tells her he cheated - which allows for Petzold to have free reign of storytelling without being weighed down by the constraints of the myth.

Thus, as we slowly fall in love with Cristoph just as Undine does, Johannes’ betrayal (and his inevitable death at

Undine’s hand) falls to the back burner, lulling the audience into a false sense of security where it’s almost easy to forget about Johannes entirely. It’s a testament to the power of Christoph and Undine’s love - because although the original myths centers around Undine and the man she’ll eventually kill as the main romance, Christoph being the main romantic prospect infuses a dire kind of uncertainty to the film. Yes, we know that (unless he also cheats) Undine won’t have to kill him - but there’s a nagging sense of dread that, given her history, there’s no way her pure, sickeningly-sweet romance with Christoph will end happily.

It works on its own conceptually, but the already strong premise is catapulted to perfection thanks to the sheer, unadulterated chemistry between Beer and Rogowski - they have the kind of charmingly imperfect and sickeningly sweet love affair that dreams are made of. Christoph (who works as a diver - another clever twist on the concept of a mermaid falling in love with a sailor) is awkward, genuine, and utterly charming - it’s easy to see why Undine falls for him so quickly after having her heart stomped on by Johannes.

Though Franz Rogowski doesn’t fit the traditional idea of a leading man, he brings an endearing, indescribable quality to Christoph that can’t be forced or faked - a sort of charisma where you can’t help but smile at his bleeding heart approach towards romance, and devotion towards Undine. While Paula Beer’s leading performance as Undine may be the quietly devastating anchor that propels the film forward, it’s Rogowski’s magnetism that infuses the film (and their romance) with the vitality and energy which makes the inevitably tragedy of the ending all the more painful.

Granted, this isn’t a film for thrill-seekers or adrenaline-junkies: though it sits at a short but sweet runtime

IMDB

Paula Beer in “Undine,” for which she won the European Film Award for Best Actress. of an hour and 23 minutes, it still devotes a frankly surprising amount of its runtime to Undine giving long, detailed speeches at her job as a tour guide/historian. It’s a strange choice that gives the entire film a sort of disorienting quality, especially for English speakers: the film is in German, which means most American audiences will be using subtitles.

Still, despite (or perhaps because of) the obscenely long monologues about Berlin’s architecture, “Undine” has an ethereal, dreamlike tone and pacing that simultaneously makes the film fly by, while also letting the viewer savor every moment, every soft gaze and affectionate touch, of Undine and Christoh’s relationship.

The film’s already volatile emotional potency is heightened by its use of Bach’s

adagio concerto in d minor, which serves as the musical theme for Undine herself throughout the film. It’s a haunting, delicate piano that tinges “Undine” with a persisting sense of dread, even when Christoph and Undine are in the brightest points in their relationship - a bitter reminder that their devotion will ultimately end in tragedy.

Grounded by a pair of flawless performances from Paula Beer and Franz Rogowski, Christian Petzold’s “Undine” is a gentle, bleeding heart romance that reimagines a classic myth with painstaking delicacy and affection. A masterclass in both acting and direction, it’s the kind of heartbreaking tragedy that will simultaneously leave you believing in love and heartbroken at the thought of losing it.

Arts & Life. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 23

Weezer pays tribute to classic metal bands with ‘Van Weezer’

By Erik Uebelacker Contributing Writer

So… Weezer is still around.

Best known as one of the most iconic alternative rock bands of the 1990s, Weezer is still making new music nearly three decades later. Turning 50 hasn’t stopped frontman Rivers Cuomo from writing the catchy rock ballads, filled with nerdy teenage angst and awkward romance that propelled the band to fame in 1994.

“Van Weezer,” the band’s 15th studio album, is no different. Taking inspiration from classic 70s and 80s hard rock bands like Kiss, Metallica, and (obviously) Van Halen, the project features heavier guitar riffs than some of Weezer’s more pop-inspired albums of late.

Cuomo explained that he could sense that fans were missing this style from much of modern rock music.

“It feels like maybe the audience is ready for some shredding again,” he told Entertainment Weekly during the album’s development.

Despite this shift, the band manages to retain the classic Weezer sound with their simple earworm chord progressions and Cuomo’s immutable songwriting.

Tracks like “Sheila Can Do It” and “1 More Hit” seem like they could fit in on “Blue Album” with their catchy choruses. Considering “Blue Album,” Weezer’s studio debut, is arguably the band’s best work this should be good news for longtime fans.

On the other hand, “All the Good Ones” and “Beginning of the End” both feature the types of epic guitar solos that inspired the album in the first place.

With their anthemic instrumentals and frequent guitar riffs, these songs seem much more committed to “Van Weezer’s” stadium rock theme than some of the others on the track list. Nevertheless, Cuomo’s perpetually boyish voice makes even these tracks undeniably Weezer.

But as with any Weezer album released after 1996, “Van Weezer” has a few duds, too. “She Needs Me” is painfully uninspired, and probably the most forgettable track on the album. Meanwhile, “Blue Dream” pays direct homage to Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” by duplicating its classic guitar melody. That’s about all it does, though — it would have been nice to see the band get a bit more creative with this track’s instrumental.

Finally, the album’s closer “Precious Metal Girl” is completely acoustic, and a nice juxtaposition from the rest of the album. While the melody itself is very pleasant, Cuomo’s lyrics here fall into the familiar Weezer trap of being maybe too corny.

Don’t get me wrong, Weezer isn’t a group that takes themselves too seriously, but that’s just part of their charm.

However, the lyrics from some of the band’s songs have a tendency of being distracting or borderline cringeworthy.

“Precious Metal Girl,” for me, was one of those songs.

All in all, “Van Weezer” is far from the band’s worst work, especially considering how surprisingly active Weezer has been of late. Back in January, they released “OK Human,” an interesting orchestral album that was well-received by critics and fans alike. “Van Weezer” is the band’s second solid album of 2021.

Its theme is fun, and the songs are catchy enough to appease longtime fans of the

WIKI

The album cover for “Van Weezer,” the band’s newest release in 2021 on May 7. pop rock group.

But make no mistake about it, this is absolutely a Weezer album. If you listen to “Van Weezer” expecting edgy, headbanging heavy metal, you’re going to be disappointed. Weezer has always been more Beach Boys than Black Sabbath, and despite the heavy riffs and lengthy solos, that hasn’t changed with this album.

It’s certainly no “Blue Album” or “Pinkerton,” but that’s okay. “Van Weezer” is still an enjoyable, nostalgic listen that proves the band’s relevance in 2021, even if their best days are long behind them.

MAKE YOUR SUMMER COUNT. GET ONE STEP CLOSER TO GRADUATION. REGISTER FOR SCPS ONLINE CLASSES AT GO.DEPAUL.EDU/SCPSSUMMER.

Arts & Life. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 24

St.Vincent’s

D e JAMZ “Spinning fresh beats since 1581”

By Nate Burleyson Arts and Life Editor

The summertime is known for lots of things, but few more iconic than the movie blockbuster. Audiences flock to the theaters to escape the heat and watch the loudest, most exciting, popcorn-munching-inducing movies of the year. Some legendary summer blockbusters include “Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Alien,” “The Dark Knight,” “Rambo” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” among others.

Yet what makes these movies so iconic is often not the action or the plot, but the music. Think of any major franchise or iconic blockbuster, and you’ll probably have a theme in mind. The music is what takes them to brand new levels. The epic scores make monsters more otherworldly, and the triumphant theme song of an action hero relieves the audience as they come to save the day. Here are a few of my favorite blockbuster movie scores of all time.

Godzilla Theme - Akira Ifukube

1954’s “Godzilla,” an allegory for the anxieties of a post-nuclear bomb Japan, has

one of the greatest theme songs ever put to film. The triumphant song plays as Godzilla attacks Tokyo, in what is supposed to represent an atom bomb going off in slow motion. The song was actually not meant to be the monster’s theme — instead it was meant to be the song of the Japanese Self Defense Forces who come to battle Godzilla. Yet fans and the executives at Toho couldn’t separate the score from the iconic monster and it stuck.

Jaws Main Theme - John Williams

The main theme of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film is the most famous score in Hollywood history. Constantly parodied, the song that played when the shark attacked is the pinnacle of suspense. Tommy Johnson, who played the tuba in the song, according to the BBC, asked John Williams why he didn’t go with the more appropriate French horn, to which Williams responded saying he wanted a more “threatening” sound.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Main Title - Ennio Morricone

The classic score from Segio Leone’s western classic “The Good, the Bad and the

Crossword

Ugly” is the most famous of Italian composer Ennio Morricone’s vast body of work. The percussion opens the song, until a sound like the howl of a coyote comes in, which complements the guitar skills of collaborator Bruno Battisti D’Amario. “The Ecstasy of Gold” might be the most recognizable song from the film, but the main title music holds massive significance in the history of film.

Main Title (Escape from New York) John Carpenter

John Carpenter, one of Hollywood’s best and only director-composers, might be known best for “Halloween,” but his score for “Escape from New York” is what I’d rather highlight here. Carpenter’s minimalist style helped push the eerie, campy vibe of the film. It’s the only music that would work for a movie about a world where the President crashes into the Island of Manhattan, which is now a maximum security prison.

Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins and Giorgio Moroder

PHOTOS FROM WIKI

300 different songs, the producers got Giorgio Moroder, along with songwriter Tom Whitlock (who also wrote “Take My Breath Away,” the movie’s other recurring song) to create a song, which provided the sound and lyrics for “Danger Zone.” Originally, Toto was supposed to perform the songs, but legal conflicts lead to Kenny Loggins taking the song, and the rest is history.

Created for 1986’s “Top Gun,” “Danger Zone” is one of the tightest connections between a song and a movie. After testing out

ACROSS 1. Lawn base 4. Turnpike turnoff 8. Grub 12. Wrigley Field flora 13. Object of devotion 14. Animal “house” 15. Mark of perfection 16. Ignoramus 17. Nasty 18. Desk item 20. Mandela’s org.

22. Like some losers 23. “Any ___?”

27. Pre-birth infant 29. Certain theater, for short 30. Pasture 31. Satan’s work 32. Lowlife 33. Take into custody 34. Golf ball prop 35. Bean cover 36. Sheriff ’s group 37. Make a comeback 39. Eastern attire 40. Rock blaster 41. Big roll 44. Goes back out 47. Milky-white gem 49. Clean air grp.

50. Roller coaster feature 51. Anger, with “up” 52. Table part 53. Mists 54. Midterm, e.g.

55. Thumbs-up

DOWN 1. Place 2. Throughout 3. Ruling families 4. Equestrians 5. Like a lot 6. Unkempt hair 7. Tucked 8. Brooding hen sound 9. Witchy woman 10. Contents of some barrels 11. Crooked 19. Essence 21. Pile 24. Evasively 25. Judges 26. Sound’s partner 27. Greek salad cheese 28. Not odd 29. Fink 32. Automobile shelter 33. Heart 35. Haw’s other half 36. Straw-filled mattress 38. Narrow-waisted stingers 39. Elite group 42. Three-sided sword 43. Henpecks 44. Little helper 45. Ghost’s cry 46. Slough 48. ___-eyed

Sports

Sports. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 25

Cubs exceeding expectations — even their own

By Ernesto Hernandez Asst. Sports Editor

The Chicago Cubs entered the 2021 season with a feeling that this was a last hurrah. The team was coming off a disappointing sweep in the playoffs against the Miami Marlins with plenty of questions surrounding the core that won the World Series back in 2016.

Only a few days into June and the Cubs find themselves all alone in first place despite the relatively low expectations heading into the season.

“We did a preview at NBC Sports Chicago in late March and I pinned their record at 85-77,” DePaul alum and Cubs writer at NBC Sports Chicago Tim Stebbins said. “That obviously didn’t look so good in April. It started off not so well but they’ve definitely turned it around. Entering the season, the expectation for the NL Central was that it was the most wide open, in part, because there was no powerhouse team.”

Stebbins wasn’t the only one who had the Cubs being around mid-80s in wins. PECOTA, which annually releases their projections before the start of the season, also had the team finishing second with 85 wins and four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.

However, the team’s early success has also raised some questions with regards to not only the present but the future as well.

The Cubs’ core of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez are all set to be free agents come the end of the season. Had the team struggled out the gate and been way off the pace in the division, the decision to trade some of them would have been straightforward.

With the team in first place, that is no longer the case.

“I think it could very well change their plans with Bryant, Rizzo and Baez,” said Matt Clapp, the managing editor at Awful Announcing, a sports media site. “Or at least in terms of trying to keep at least one or two of them. They have what appears to be a legitimate starting pitcher in Adbert Alzolay and there are a lot of pitchers making strong impressions in the minors. This is with a lot of money coming off the books over the next few years, too. So if you’re able to fill out a lot of roster spots cheaply, it allows you flexibility to spend bigger in other areas.”

One of the reasons why expectations were tempered was largely due to the trade that saw starting pitcher Yu Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini traded to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Zach Davies and a number of minor league prospects.

The move was seen as a cash dump and a sign that the Cubs were entering into another rebuild mode.

“At the time of the trade, I wrote that it was signaling a fire sale to the rest of the league,” Fangraphs writer Sara Sanchez said. “It’s like they tied David Ross’ hands behind his back and said “win without your Cy Young candidate.”

Ross rose to the challenge.”

A potential rebuild would have been simpler, and easier, to stomach for the fans, if the team was struggling. They were at the start of the season but now

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST / AP PHOTO

Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel and catcher Willson Contreras celebrate the team’s 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres in a baseball game Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Chicago.

“I think it could very well change their plans with [Kris] Bryant, [Anthony] Rizzo and [Javier] Baez.”

Matt Clapp

Managing editor at Awful Announcing have things clicking. In a way, it’s put owner Tom Ricketts and Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, in a bit of a bind ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.

“It’s an awkward position, if this keeps up, but it also provides them more options,” Clapp said. “Additionally, they can be buyers without putting a big dent in their long-term plans. You can add depth pieces every deadline without giving up major dollars or prospects. See the Nick Castellanos trade for example.”

With the Darvish trade, the plan seemed to be stockpiling on prospects — a plan they may have stuck to when it came to some of their pending free agents if the team was floundering.

If the Cubs can continue on a similar pace, there is a strong likelihood that they will be buyers as the trade deadline approaches.

“If you’re in July and getting closer

to the trade deadline and still in a good position, I don’t see any scenario where you can trade these guys,” Stebbins said. “Two players that would always be brought up are Bryant and Craig Kimbrel. If they’re at this pace, if they’re in first place, or tied, and 15 games above .500, I just don’t see a scenario where you trade Bryant or Kimbrel.

What would that say to your team?

What message would that send, in a year where they look like a true contender, giving away two of your good players?”

The question going forward is whether or not the Cubs can continue on their current pace, or close to it, and be a contender come July where they can go out and acquire more pieces for a potential playoff run.

“It is certainly true that the June schedule looks rough as the Cubs will try to run the gauntlet through the NL West on the road,” Sanchez said. “But

it’s worth recognizing their schedule to date has not been easy. They’ve already played the Mets, Braves, Dodgers, Padres and Cardinals. They are 13-8 against the top of the NL and five of those losses came against the Braves. That is a .619 win percentage against the top of the division and I’d put that up against any team in baseball right now.”

The Cubs perhaps find themselves in a position they were not expecting to be in. Regardless of the competitiveness — or lack thereof — of their division, they are in first place. Their core, which struggled last season, is bouncing back in a season where they might have felt that they needed to prove themselves.

“I think the whole front office mentality, this core that has underwhelmed in recent years— they made the playoffs a couple times but haven’t gone deep since 2017— it was a matter of proving it,” Stebbins said. “I wouldn’t say the ownership is surprised but they’ve definitely played above a lot of people’s expectations, whether that includes the front office, I don’t know.

But at the very least, [the players] are proving it.”

26 | Sports. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021

Tribune’s first Black sportswriter shares experiences

By Sonal Soni

Chicago Bulls, followed by the Cubs as well as the Bears. He became the first Asst. News Editor Tribune writer to cover those three maOne of the most renowned athletes jor teams as his main beat, and remains at DePaul isn’t a student — Frederick the only person to do so.

In 1984, Mitchell became a columMitchell is a sports communications nist and spent the last 20 years of his professor known for his extensive extime at the Tribune using his extensive perience as an athlete before becoming network to write about various athletes.

Chicago Tribune’s first Black sports Mitchell credits his success at the writer.

Tribune to his tenacity to overcome unBefore his success as a sports jourprecedented obstacles.

Being the first nalist, Mitchell, like many young adults, Black sports writer, an integral accomwas uncertain what his future held. plishment, posed its own challenges in “You know, I think, when I’m at the workplace. school, in college, like most young peo“My philosophy always was, let me ple, you have a plan A and a plan B and sort of put my head down and work as a plan C, not knowing exactly what’s gohard as I can and be cooperative, be a ing to work out for you,” Mitchell said. team player and show people what I’m “I was an athlete in high school and capable of doing,” Mitchell said. “And college, I was a place kicker in college that’s all that I can control. I can’t conand set a lot of records and got a lot of trol how other people might feel about notoriety for that. Kind of in the back of the color of my skin. my mind, I was hoping for a professional “And I was determined to let that career as a place kicker.” be their problem and not my problem During the 1960s, Mitchell became if that was the case,” he said. “I felt like one of the nation’s first prominent through my writing, through my work small-college place kickers at Wittenethic and willingness to work hard, all berg University in Springfield, Ohio. He of that stood out above anything else. is now the namesake for the Fred MitchAnd I think most often, when people are ell Award, which the National Football given an opportunity to work with peoFoundation awards annually to top colple who don’t necessarily look like them, lege place kickers. they find out that they have much more Shortly after graduating from Witin common than they have differences.” tenberg with an English degree, MitchDespite his persistent work ethic, ell accepted a position at Ohio Grove Mitchell recalled when he almost lost City High School teaching english and his position at the Tribune after a new coaching football, track and wrestling. sports editor told him he would be betHe assumed the position in 1969, which ter suited to write at an all-Black newsqualified him to defer from the military paper instead. draft during the Vietnam war.

“So that stunned me, obviously,” “And that turned out to be a tremenMitchell said. “I went over his head and dous experience for me, teaching Enexplained that I was not given any reaglish and coaching,” Mitchell said. “I did son for this, and long story short, I was that for five years and developed some told to stay.

Eventually, I got the chance lifelong relationships with students that to write [and] to prove myself. So this I taught and athletes that I coached and was a traumatic experience from someteachers and other coaches that I worked one who hadn’t even sampled my work. with, even though it was just a five year He decided on period.” his own that After leavI did ‘fit in’ ing his teachwhich sounds ing position, like sounds Mitchell decidlike discrimied to look for nation.” possible jobs in Mitchell Chicago. With also highthe help of Willights the liam Lowry, i m p o r t a n ce a prominent of having inBlack execucreased divertive, Mitchell sity and replanded a job resentation in at the Chicago news rooms, Tribune’s sports specifically in copy desk in sports.

1974.

“If you “It was hard look at sports for me to articteams, players ulate it at the that are covtime, because I DePaul adjuncet professor of journalism ered on a daily didn’t think it basis, there’s was a possibilia large percentage, almost overwhelmty, but I say, ‘well, I’d love to be a sports ing percentage, in sports like football writer,’” Mitchell said. “Part of the reaand basketball are African Americans,” son it was difficult for me to say out loud what I wanted to do is because there Mitchell said. “In some instances, peowere no role models, and no other Black ple relate better to someone who looks sports writers at the Tribune certainly… like them. I think it is important that so that had a lot to do, I think, with me there’s a representation of the types of thinking that was a realistic possibility players and people that you’re writing about among the media that’s covering for me at that time.”

Mitchell spent three years as a copy them.”

According to The Guardian, for the editor before getting the opportunity 2018 season, Black athletes accounted to cover high school sports in Chicago for over two thirds of the NFL players, and the suburbs. The experience soon yet only 19 percent of that year’s sports landed him an opportunity to cover the broadcasters were Black. Similarly, ac-

“If you don’t have this kind of connection over your lifetime, with people of color, you’re going to miss out on some opportunities to hire some super talented folks.”

Fred Mitchell

PHOTO COURTESY OF FRED MITCHELL

Fred Mitchell in his college jersey, Wittenberg University. cording to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA comprised 74.3 percent Black athletes during the 2015-16 season. While the majority of these athletes are Black and people of color, sports journalists are largely white.

“I’ve said for years that news organizations should be more intentional about reaching this level of diversity,” Mitchell said. “Way back when I started, I felt uncomfortable even attempting to be included in such a position with a major newspaper. And I can’t help but feel that there are many other capable minorities who felt the same way and never got the opportunity that I got.”

Mitchell points out that news organizations can expand their diversity efforts by hiring journalists with nontraditional backgrounds. According to Mitchell, a good sports writer does not necessarily need a journalism background because there are other qualities that make someone a good reporter.

“If you don’t have this kind of connection over your lifetime, with people of color, you’re going to miss out on some opportunities to hire some super talented folks,” he said.

Mitchell now shares his career advice with his students, whether they want to pursue sports journalism or something else entirely. He tells young people of

color that they too can be successful in careers dominated by white professionals, no matter how intimidating it may be.

“I tell my students that invariably, at some point along the line, you’re going to come up with someone who questions your ability,” Mitchell said. “You have to have confidence in yourself. Take a stand and continue to work hard.”

In addition to being the first Black sports writer at the Tribune, his renowned athletic career and awards and achievements, Mitchell has written 12 books, runs his own blog and is an executive documentary producer. According to Mitchell, his 40-plus year career is far from over.

“I always say that I need a reason to get up every day and be motivated,” he said. “So as long as I’m happy, and able, I’ll keep looking for projects to either help young people in this field and share the knowledge and experiences that I’ve had. I always say that I’m a work in progress, even at my age. Despite some of the things I’ve been able to accomplish, I’m constantly trying to get better.”

Sports. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 27

Big East scraps interconference transfer rule

By Lawrence Kreymer Sports Editor

The Big East announced on Thursday that it has decided to allow athletes to transfer within the conference, which was something previously not allowed.

The Big East joins several other conferences, including the Southern Eastern Conference (SEC), in recently allowing athletes to join schools within that same league. The decision was approved unanimously by the league’s Board of Directors, according to the Big East’s release.

This new policy change will go into effect immediately and student-athletes in all conference-sponsored sports will be governed by NCAA legislation.

In April, the NCAA passed new legislation that will allow athletes in all sports to transfer once and be immediately eligible to play. In the past, football,

basketball, men’s hockey and baseball players were not allowed to transfer and receive immediate eligibility without first getting a waiver from the NCAA. So far, there hasn’t been an athlete from the Big East that has announced they are transferring to another Big East school.

The SEC’s change will now align more closely with NCAA rules, which will require fall sports athletes to notify their decision to transfer by Feb. 1.

Last year, the Big East moved fall sports to the spring due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But the schedule is expected to return to its normal spot in the calendar starting in August, with men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball going back to its traditional fall schedule.

ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA

Big East conference logo displayed in place of the DePaul Athletics logo underneath the jumbotron for the Big East Championship at Wintrust Arena.

DEPAUL, continued from back page such great relationships in college basketball,” DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy said on April 7. “Quite possibly the most compelling factor that led me to Tony is that he’s an elite recruiter, with extensive relationships throughout college basketball. He has an impressive knowledge of recruiting in the Chicago area, an area that will be pivotal in our success.”

Terry is one of the recruits that Stubblefield initially brought to Oregon. After taking the DePaul job, Terry followed Stubblefield to Chicago.

Gebrewhit was one of the first names to announce his commitment to Stubblefield’s squad in April. He is coming over from South Plains Community College where he averaged 11.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last season.

“I chose DePaul because of the opportunity,” Gebrewhit told The DePaulia. “Coach Stubblefield is a proven winner and developer. I’m excited to get on campus and get Wintrust Arena rocking again, we are going to make some noise.”

Gebrewhit told The DePaulia that Stubblefield made a hard push to get the sophomore to come to Chicago throughout their conversations.

“My relationship with coach [Stubblefield] is great,” Gebrewhit said. “He is very genuine and real. He was consistent with my recruitment and made sure to make me a priority and made it clear to me. Coach did all the recruiting himself, that’s why I also felt so comfortable because it’s the head coach saying these things.”

Grant-Foster was the first player that Stubblefield was able to recruit to DePaul. He is coming over from Kansas after spending one season with the Jayhawks. Prior to his time at Kansas, the 6-foot-7 forward spent a couple of seasons at Indian Hills Community College.

“I think he’s a guy that can be an immediate impact player for DePaul,” Indian Hills men’s basketball head coach Hank Plona said. “He’s a 6-foot7, extremely long, extremely quick both sides position kind of a new age basketball player that can play maybe a little

STEVE WOLTMANN/DEPAUL ATHLETICS

DePaul men’s basketball head coach Tony Stubblefield during his introductory press conference on April 7. bit of one, two, three, four. He’s a guy that can play and guard just about any position.”

In Grant-Foster’s limited time at Kansas, he did showcase his athleticism and ability to get to the basket. His best game came against Omaha on Dec. 11, scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Grant-Foster also had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks against North Dakota State six days

earlier.

“He certainly has a knack for the ball and aggressiveness to be able to score the ball at all three levels: at the rim, mid-range and from three,” Plona said. “He certainly is a guy that’s worked on his game and worked on his body, and he’s become a very, very high-level player. I still think his best basketball is in front of him.”

Grant-Foster and Johnson will need

to receive a waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to play next season. The NCAA did recently pass a one-time transfer rule that will allow first time transfers to get eligibility right away, but this new rule does not apply to players who are looking for a new school for the second or third time.

Sports

Sports. The DePaulia. June 7, 2021 | 28

Homecoming

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTHONY SOUFFLE

Forward Brandon Johnson announced he was transferring to DePaul two weeks ago. He is the first Chicago born player to commit to head coach Tony Stubblefield.

Brandon Johnson announces commitment to DePaul

By Lawrence Kreymer Sports Editor

DePaul men’s basketball head coach Tony Stubblefield has wasted no time in trying to fill his roster for the 2021-22 season. After being hired two months ago, Stubblefield has brought in four new transfers to bolster next season’s team.

His latest addition, however, is the first player from Chicago that Stubblefield has been able to recruit to DePaul.

Brandon Johnson announced two weeks ago that he will be transferring from Minnesota to DePaul.

“Brandon is another veteran with a lot of experience that will help us immediately next season,” Stubblefield said.

“He can play inside and outside and over his entire career he has been a consistent scorer and rebounder at both Western Michigan and Minnesota. We know he’s excited to be coming home to Chicago

to play this season and we’re ready for him to join us on the court.”

Johnson is a Chicago native and joins a group of transfers that includes Philmon Gebrewhit, Tyon Grant-Foster and Jalen Terry. In his introductory press conference, Stubblefield said he wanted to recruit from the entire state of Illinois, not just Chicago.

“When I look at a job, the one thing I look at is the talent base in the area, and, obviously, there’s great talent in the city of Chicago, the suburbs, the state of Illinois and I look at DePaul as being a national program we can recruit nationally,” Stubblefield said on April 7. “But, again, I think you got to start at home, you got to try to keep the local talent at home.”

Johnson is a 6-foot-8 forward who is able to play inside the paint and is a strong rebounder. Last season for Minnesota, he averaged 8.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Prior to playing for

the Gophers, Johnson spent three seasons playing for Western Michigan. In his last season before transferring, he averaged 15.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

The addition of Johnson gives DePaul another big man that can play inside the paint. The Blue Demons have only one traditional center coming back next season — Nick Ongenda.

“My first goal is to be a leader and to try and take them where they haven’t been recently,” Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Each day I treat [it] like it’s work, a day on the job. I will work hard, leave 100 percent on the floor. I want to show others how hard we need to work, to set an example.”

Johnson’s best performance last year came against Iowa. He scored 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and drilled eight 3-pointers in the win over the Hawkeyes.

The Blue Demons will have an almost entirely new starting lineup next

season. Besides Javon Freeman-Liberty, who announced last month that he will be returning to DePaul, the other four starters from last season’s team have either transferred or entered the transfer portal.

Charlie Moore has transferred to Miami University; Romeo Weems has entered the NBA Draft; Darious Hall has transferred to the University of Central Arkansas and Pauly Paulicap is going to Rutgers.

One of the main reasons that DePaul hired Stubblefield to replace Dave Leitao, who was fired on March 15, was his ability to recruit. In his previous role as an assistant coach at Oregon, Stubblefield helped recruit multiple five-star players, some of whom went on to play in the NBA. “I see why he’s a great recruiter; I see why people really like him and he has

See DEPAUL, page 27