18, 2023
The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff.
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Drug & Alcohol Assault & Theft Other
Lincoln Park Campus Crimes:
Jan. 18
1) A Criminal Trespass report was filed at Byrne Hall. Subject was detained by Public Safety, and arrested by Chicago Police.
2) A Disturbance was reported in the third floor common space of Centennial Hall.
Jan. 20
6) An Illegal Consumption of Alcohol report was filed for a person in University Hall. Person was transported to Illinois Masonic by Chicago EMS.
2 | News. The DePaulia. Oct. 19, 2020
7) A Simple Battery was reported in Ozanam Hall.
3) A Simple Battery report was filed regarding an incident that occurred on the 1100 W block of Fullerton. Police were called to the scene. A Safety Alert was issued regarding the incident.
Jan. 19
8) A Simple Battery was reported in Sanctuary Hall.
9) A Criminal Damage report was filed regarding graffiti at the Art Gallery.
The DePaulia is the official student-run newspaper of DePaul University and may not necessarily reflect the views of college administrators, faculty or staff.
4) A Theft report was filed for a phone taken from the Student Center.
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5) A Criminal Trespass Warning was given to a person in 1150 W. Fullerton.
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SOURCE | DEPAUL CRIME PREVENTION OFFICE
Person was transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital by Chicago EMS.
Jan. 22
13) A Possesion of Cannabis report was filed in Munroe Hall.
Jan. 23
14) A Theft report was filed for an item taken from the Ray Meyer Fitness Center.
Jan. 24
10) A Theft report was filed regarding a tire taken from a bike at the Corcoran bike rack.
11) A Disturbance was reported at the School of Music.
Jan. 21
12) An Illegal Consumption of Alcohol report was filed for a person in Munroe Hall.
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15) A Criminal Trespass report was filed in Byrne Hall. The subject was transported to Illinois Masonic by Chicago EMS.
Loop Campus Crimes:
Jan. 20
1) A Burglary was reported in the University Center. Subject was taken into custody by Chicago Police.
Jan. 21 2) A Simple Battery was reported in University Center.
Jan. 23 3) A Graffiti report was filed for markings on the DePaul Center.
Aug. 7, 2020 - Oct. 16, 2020
16) A Disturbance was reported on the 1000 W block of Belden. Incident related to a traffic dispute.
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By Jake Cox Opinions Editor
When the Whole Foods on Sheffield Avenue under DePaul’s Centennial Hall closed in May 2022, DePaul students wondered what was next for the site. Some speculated that another grocery store like Trader Joe’s or Target might take its place. Those rumors have since been cleared up after discussion within the Faculty Council revealed the space is saved for a novel engineering program at DePaul.
Graham Griffin, co-chair of Faculty Council’s physical environment committee, the group concerned with the facilities of DePaul’s campus, confirmed the university’s intention for the site.
“That space is earmarked for the new engineering program,” Griffin said about the 959 W. Fullerton Ave. building.
However, Russell Dorn, a spokesperson for DePaul stated how the space will be utilized has yet to be confirmed and is currently part of a space optimization study.
As of April 7, 2021, Faculty Council approved two engineering majors to be housed in the College of Science and Health (CSH): environmental engineering and civil engineering. Neither of the majors have launched as options for students, however the requirements for both programs are listed on the CSH website.
Both majors have the same program structure outlined by CSH.
“The program takes a holistic approach to developing future civil engineering pro-
An option for students to receive health insurance through the university will now be delayed, according to new information obtained by The DePaulia. Last fall, sources said it was likely that a health insurance plan would be offered to students by the 2023-2024 academic year. The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee, which started as the DePaul Student Health Insurance Task Force, began the process of finalizing a healthcare plan on track to be offered to
students in fall 2023.
Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, Kimberlie Goldsberry told The DePaulia this plan has now been slowed.
“Although it was originally hoped that the health insurance requirement and subsequent plan might be launched in the fall of 2023, several complex questions still need to be addressed,” Goldsberry said. “Therefore, the timeline for implementation has been delayed.”
While most four-year institutions provide students with a university-sponsored insurance plan, DePaul has not offered its students a plan since 2014.
Goldsberry said the committee re-
fessionals by helping individuals gain skills in foundational areas of STEM and the humanities and social sciences in core engineering fundamentals related to analysis and design, and in broader technical skills, such as problem solving, critical thinking, economics, ethics, and sustainability,” according to CSH.
Both environmental and civil engineering majors will use a cohort model with all students enrolled in the same engineering seminar courses their freshman year. Dr. Christie Klimas and Dr. Jesus Pando estimated in their proposal that 40 students will matriculate the program's first year and 80 each subsequent year.
In January 2022, DePaul hired Anne Raich as director for the engineering program to work on its development. The proposal given at faculty council also indicated the hiring of full-time faculty members to teach engineering courses. However, none have been hired yet.
The program was intended to launch in fall 2023 but was recently halted.
“The targeted fall 2023 launch date of the civil and environmental engineering programs was paused this past fall,” Raich said. “We are currently looking at developing engineering program initiatives that will support and build off of the new university strategic plan.”
This decision came from President Rob-
viewed proposals from insurance providers but continues to gather more information before implementing a healthcare plan.
The DePaulia has not received confirmation on when the health insurance plan will be offered to students after recent delays.
When a plan is approved, Goldsberry said a student health insurance requirement will not directly increase a student’s tuition.
“If the requirement moves forward at DePaul, students will receive a premium charge for a student health insurance plan which could be waived if they have sufficient, active health care,” Goldsberry said.
The committee has already identified a plan, according to Goldsberry.
“The Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee has fulfilled its original charge of identifying a plan and sharing
ert L. Manuel, who discussed the program at the Designing DePaul event on Jan. 26.
“I asked to stall the delivery of engineering,” Manuel said.
Raich said specifics about the program will come later.
“More information about specific engineering programs would likely be available later this spring or during the summer,” Raich said.
For students in CSH, this sounds like a move in the right direction.
“Just thinking about the workforce, and in the future, what students could possibly work in,” SGA Senator for CSH Ana Karen Delgado Ayala said.
DePaul said it is focused on expanding its interdisciplinary learning, and the engineering program is a step in that direction for the university.
“Interdisciplinary learning and research centers will increase the value and distinction of a DePaul degree for our students—and improve the quality of life for the communities in which we live,” via design framework.
This move reflects what students are looking for in their education at DePaul.
“I think having more programs at DePaul, especially in engineering could be a really good idea,” Ayala said. “I think it’ll add to the experience even more, especially as a science student.”
information with the President’s Cabinet,” she said.
In December, DePaul’s Joint Council shared a census update indicating lower enrollment than anticipated, resulting in the university operating at a deficit for the fiscal year. To combat this deficit, the university has instituted several strategies to ease budgetary strain.
It is unclear whether the health insurance plan’s delay is related to DePaul’s low enrollment and cost-saving measures.
However, Goldsberry said questions still need to be answered before the committee can move forward with the health insurance plan.
“Members of the committee will likely be among those involved in collecting information related to questions that need to be answered by fall 2023 before a final decision is made,” Goldsberry said.
The DePaul Division of Mission and Ministry (DMM) celebrated Foundation Day, Wednesday, Jan. 25 in the Lincoln Park Campus’ Student Center.
From 2 p.m - 4 p.m., students stopped by, grabbed a slice of birthday cake or a root beer float, had their picture taken and learned more about the opportunities that DMM has to offer.
Senior transfer student Safa Farooq appreciated “how engaging [DePaul was] with its students. There is always something going on”.
Along with the Foundation Day celebration, DePaul had a myriad of other events to celebrate its 125th anniversary and to promote student pride about being a Blue Demon. Students had the opportunity to participate in a dodgeball tournament, arts and crafts activities, a pasta dinner night, a birthday celebration for school mascot DIBS and many others.
“I really like the communication in events and how easy it is to access these events and be able to meet people through these events,” junior Maja Mitrovic said.
The annual Foundation Day celebrates the day in 1617 that St. Vincent DePaul formed the Congregation of the Mission in Folleville, France. This mission later formed DePaul in 1898, according to DePaul.
At the celebration, students partook in a new DePaul tradition launched at this year’s Foundation Day: The Shared Coin. All members of the community were invited to take a commemorative coin and give it to someone on campus who exemplifies the DePaul mission. The coins can be picked up in either the Lincoln Park Campus in the Student Center suite 311 or in the Loop Campus at 14 East Jackson in Suite 800.
Since DePaul’s formation in 1898, the institution has changed immensely.
“We used to be the little school under the L,” said Joyana Dvorak, assistant director of Vincentian Service and Formation.
At the end of 1898, DePaul had a student body of just 70 students, according to DePaul records. 125 years later, DePaul’s student body is over 20,000 spread over two campuses, according to a DePaul Division of Enrollment report
from 2020.
While the size of DePaul has grown, its mission of providing accessible education to all, including immigrants and underserved communities, has stayed the same.
“Students and their needs continue to change over the years, and I think one of our strengths as a university is continuing to respond to those needs,” Dvorak said. “There’s now before-pandemic and after-pandemic, and so I think the last three years, compared to [my] last fourteen, we all were uprooted, [the whole world] all turned upside down. So when I think about the level of anxiety and mental health needs that all of us have, students, faculty and staff, I think that has increased a lot since when I first came [to DePaul] fourteen years ago.”
“[DePaul] has become more open to the students that it involves, and more intentional about the commu-
By Kiersten Riedford News Editor
Over the past several months, President Robert L. Manuel has been sitting down with those in the DePaul community. At coffee meetings or in passing on the street, many members raised concerns to Manuel. These ranged from salary fears to the lack of diversity, equity and inclusion in classrooms.
On Thursday morning, Manuel hosted the Design DePaul event to show how he plans on taking action over the next five years.
The auditorium was filled with about 400 people, while approximately 400 more attended virtually. Anyone from the DePaul community was invited, however, there was only designated seating for the President’s Cabinet, located on the left hand side of the auditorium.
“Many [university] items need to be fixed, not addressed, fixed,” Manuel said to open the presentation.
nities that it creates. As a university, I feel like there is still a long way to go to really emulate that inclusivity,” said Humayra Munshi, a senior involved in the DePaul Division of Mission and Ministry.
Indeed, the makeup of who DePaul students are has changed in the last 125 years. In 2021, for example, 43% of all new enrolled students were people of color.
Dvorak reflected that “we started with this mission to create access to higher education for those who were not given access. I would like to continue that for the [next] 125 years. I would love to see us grow [and ensure] any student that comes to DePaul has the resources to do so, first of all, and then is a change agent in our world.”
For more information on the Division of Mission and Ministry, students can explore upcoming events and groups on their website.
Manuel said one of the main issues people brought up is that “some of the promises of the past have been vacated.” Manuel said he needs the community to grant him and his administration a “reset.”
“None of us want to be resident in that pain for much longer,” he said. “In order to do that, we have to collectively muster the strength to move through this to a more comfortable community, and a better sense of our quality of life.”
Despite Manuel’s emphasis on trust within the DePaul community, DePaul students and staff are hesitant after years of unanswered concerns. But most are more optimistic with him than they were with previous administrators.
Sonia Soltero, Faculty Council President, said Manuel has built some “demonstrable trust” since taking office. Soltero said Manuel has already delivered on several important requests from the council of the whole.
“He has also moved remarkably fast on addressing the low morale and lack of trust on the part of the faculty and staff,” Soltero said.
A large word collage flashed on the
plan surrounding DEI, religious intolerance and other topics that were mentioned in his presentation on Thursday.
“It is not sufficient,” Manuel said. “It's not an answer. It's a start.”
“The first thing you do when the lights are out is acknowledge the lights are out,” Manuel said, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. “The lights are out.”
Retention is an ongoing issue for DePaul. Student retention is high for the first year, but no more than 65% of students who came in their first year at DePaul graduate in four years, according to DePaul’s enrollment statistics.
“The way we do our work is wonderful for the way it was,” Manuel said.
For the university to improve retention, Manuel said, “we have to find a way to show that what we do matters” and the declining value in higher education is the “biggest nut to crack.”
Among the need to find ways to make DePaul stand out to prospective students, Manuel pointed out how student loan debt is “crippling” and will continue to be a problem as inflation and interest rates increase. But, Manuel said the university needs to make immediate changes, otherwise, by the time the enrollment cliff – the population decrease of 18 to 21-year-olds from around 2025 to 2028 – hits, DePaul could become irrelevant, “or even worse, out of business.”
“The size of the university is a big concern for many faculty,” Soltero said. “Given what some call the eminent enrollment cliff due to lower birth rates in the United States, do we want to maintain the number of students we are now, increase to what we were a few years ago, or become a somewhat smaller university? Those are decisions that have long term implications for staff and faculty.”
Aside from retention, budget is another big ticket item many people in the DePaul community are worried about.
Manuel said there are two budget plans. The current one, being the “cow method,” and the future and “more desirable” one, being the “buffalo plan.” Manuel said his daughter, a senior in high school, came up with the two names.
Manuel said one strategy is outreach. He said this needs to be done in countries like India, seeing as India contributes over 100 students every year, according to DePaul’s enrollment statistics.
He also noted that marketing communication needs to be done in the United States as well, but more in telling the success stories of DePaul’s alumni.
Another large part of taking the university to the next level is taking the university from a “red ocean” mindset to a “blue ocean” mindset, according to Manuel.
“Our continuing education becomes a revenue source to invest in the processes that we have,” Manuel said. “[We need to look at] how we expand to what I call blue oceans, places where there's not a lot of competition, instead of [keeping] the red ocean situations that we're in where there's a lot of activity around very little food.”
Manuel said a way to do this is to begin integrating interdisciplinary education into the university, which he believes will increase revenue.
“We can't continue to [cut ourselves] year after year because the gap will continue to grow,” Manuel said. “The gap will become too big to have these incremental cuts help us get to stability in reducing the opportunity to access $20 million a year to invest in our future because that $20 million that comes from the endowment is immediately spent on operating deficits.”
Manuel said if the university finds a way to push into the “buffalo plan” and invest in interdisciplinary studies, then “we have access to pitch ideas to the board for $20 million.”
But along with this potential increase of revenue, Hodges said “we really have to think about where the money [is] going.” She said this is important because she, as a student, can see “how other groups are treated or prioritized compared to minority groups” when it comes to finances.
Manuel addresses prior incidents of racism in the 1930s, 1940s and
screen. There were over 50 words on the screen, but the boldest were: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), budget, FY23/FY24, student debt, faculty size, staff load, community engagement, moral and marketing communication.
Manuel said he wants to address everything that was included in the collage, but specifically these. He said they were the biggest concerns he heard from the community since arriving at DePaul. But, for Thursday’s presentation, he was mainly going to focus on three main topics: DEI, the university’s state and the path forward.
There are records from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s where white members of the DePaul community performed minstrels in blackface. To this day, people of color in the DePaul community continue to face racism in classrooms, meetings and personal conversations.
“To be sure, no one alive today is responsible for the horrible acts that happened 100 years ago,” Manuel said as he transitioned to speaking about DEI. “But we are responsible for how we respond to the long tail effects of those acts that are present in our community today.”
Manuel said the university has been talking about systemic university problems for too long. He said DePaul now needs to identify the problems and find paths to “engage, solve and move forward.” Manuel men-
tioned his presentation for one day “does not suffice” and the plans to make life on campus better is ongoing.
Another large image popped up on the screen — this time a bunch of bubbles. Each bubble was filled with the names of various groups on campus that reached out to Manuel about their issues on campus. The groups that reached out to him were: Hispanic; Asian American, Native American and Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, African American, persons with disabilities, gender queer and women and people from religious groups.
Jaslynn Hodges, a graduate student and the school of public service and Student Government Association (SGA) community engagement coordinator, said DePaul often shows off its diversity statistics, “but when you're actually on campus you don't feel any of that.”
“I often feel like DePaul basically puts on this front that we want all of these things, but then behind closed doors doesn't actually put them into practice,” Hodges said.
For now, Manuel said he plans on increasing the number of presidential fellows regarding diversity. He mentioned during the presentation that Shajuan Young, executive assistant to the VP for Institutional Diversity and Equity in the President's Office, has been put in charge of leading the creation of DEI training for faculty and staff.
On Monday, Jan. 30, there will be a Memo sent out to everyone in the DePaul community giving an in-depth description of Manuel’s
The cow plan has the university holding only $100,000 in revenue in July. In October, it will increase to $11.4 million because there are tuition payments, then will slowly fall to $8.6 million in December continuing to decrease until the following July when the university is once again at $100,000.
Manuel said “this exercise shouldn’t be our future” and will only hold the university back from becoming the “national model for higher education.”
With the cow model, Manuel said layoffs and salary cuts will be possible. But with the Buffalo plan, revenue will significantly increase while expenses will decrease “if we invest in ourselves.”
In regards to finances, the university must take the buffalo plan if it does not want to become irrelevant, or even worse, be out of business, according to Manuel.
The buffalo plan includes the university reinvesting in itself through interdisciplinary education, utilizing staff and faculty to cover more bases, and being willing to invest in technology and resources that will modernize DePaul.
“The fact that he knows we have been stuck in the ‘cow’ plan for many years and that he knows what the ‘buffalo’ approach looks like, points to a clear path that he wants to take,” Soltero said. “As Manuel often says, ‘we cannot cut ourselves to greatness,’ yet have to face head on the financial and enrollment challenges.”
The concerns brought by many are to be addressed over time. But ultimately, they all need various strategies to work smoothly, Manuel said.
“My personal question is who is getting what and is it equitable?” Hodges said. “When you're running a university of this size, of this nature, a private institution, one that experienced a pandemic, like many other colleges and universities, I understand how all of that takes priority. But I think sometimes that overshadows the things [like inequitable allocation of resources] that we really need to talk about.”
Soltero said regardless of the topic, she is just glad the administration is finally stepping in in a positive light and letting governance actually be shared.
“It is remarkable that only a year ago we were at a precarious impasse with the administration and the Board of Trustees,” Soltero said. “And today we are coming together to resolve the issues facing us with an administration that is much more transparent, collaborative, and responsive.”
Hodges said that while she is cautiously optimistic about the new administration and its plans to better DePaul, community members need to stand firm in what they need from university leadership.
“We need to make sure that these administrators and like [the] Board of Trustees, directors, all of these people in these higher level positions are held accountable, because at the end of the day, the DePaul community is who they are serving,” Hodges said.
At the end of his presentation, Manuel said there will be 43 more design sessions from now until March. There will be 15 online and 28 in-person regarding digital presence, program distinction and expansion, philanthropic expansion, geographical and community expansion and institutional efficiency and effectiveness. Separate sessions regarding DEI and sustainability will also be held throughout the quarter, according to Manuel.
“I recognize that some of the promises in the past have been vacated,” Manuel said to close. “We’re not going to vacate our promises.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has a steep hill to climb if she hopes to win re-election this February. Lightfoot became the first Black woman and the first openly gay elected mayor of Chicago with her 2019 runoff victory against Tony Preckwinkle.
Now, early election forecasts see Lightfoot as an underdog in a crowded field of nine candidates. A recent survey from The Daily Line and Crain’s Chicago Business had the mayor in fourth place at 11%, while an M3 Strategies survey had her in third at 15%.
The top two vote-getters in the field are expected to compete in a runoff election in April if no candidate wins a majority on Feb. 28. These early surveys indicate that Lightfoot may struggle to qualify for the runoff, let alone win outright in the first round.
Many Chicagoans aren’t surprised at Lightfoot’s low performance early in the race, given her tumultuous mayoral tenure. Lightfoot struggled to curb crime while leading the city. She was also at the center of several controversies, from being sued for defamation to her recent reelection campaign email scandal.
“I really didn’t think she would be as bad as she is,” said Jazmine Salas, a 31-year-old living in Little Village. “I don’t know a single person who supports her. I have never met a Lori Lightfoot supporter. She has truly alienated everybody: the unions, the Black community, the Latino community, workers in general, businesses. Even the cops hate her.”
Salas, who organized for more police accountability in Chicago for the past several years, indicated that she plans to support Cook County Board of Commissioners member Brandon Johnson in the mayoral race.
“When Brandon Johnson announced that he was running, it was a clear choice for me,” Salas said. “I think the policies that he has put forward are very much about addressing the root causes of many of the is-
sues happening in our city. I think a lot of candidates are looking for quick fixes. You know, let’s slap some more cops here, let’s do this quick little program over there.”
Contrary to Salas, 27-year-old Andersonville resident Jack Schuleman isn’t enthused by any candidates currently running. But he, too, is eager to vote against Lightfoot.
“There’s not a single thing over her last tenure that’s made me confident in her running the city again,” Schuleman said. “But the field running against Lori is a clown show.”
Schuleman is particularly fixated on the CTA as his primary voting issue and has been disappointed in Lightfoot’s handling of public transit during her mayoral tenure.
foot’s biggest challenger, Garcia polled 25% to Lightfoot’s 11% in The Daily Line and Crain’s Chicago Business’s survey, and 28% to Lightfoot’s 15% in the M3 Strategies survey.
As a result of this early support, Lightfoot is going on the offensive. In early January, the Lightfoot campaign released an ad attacking Garcia for his connection to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is accused of stealing billions of dollars of customer and investor assets. Bankman-Fried donated to Garcia’s congressional campaign in 2022.
Progressive mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green does not think these efforts from the Lightfoot campaign will be enough to repair her fractured relationship with Chicagoans.
Jazmine Salas
31-year-old Little Village resident
“Not only is it personally frustrating how the CTA is right now, but it’s just crippling the city,” he said. “I personally have a vendetta against Lori Lightfoot because I got trapped downtown when she raised the bridges and stopped the L during the George Floyd protests.”
Despite the crowded field, Schuleman said he doesn’t see any candidates prioritizing his issues.
“I mean, gun to my head, I guess I would vote for ‘Chuy’ Garcia, just because he seems like he has the coalition behind him and a general sense of popular support among politically active people,” Schuleman said.
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is the consensus frontrunner according to early election insights. Garcia is a U.S. representative for IL’s 4th district and the only Latino candidate in the mayoral race. Considered Light-
“I think that Mayor Lightfoot has just not been good at collaborating, hasn’t been good at connecting with the people that are in these communities and on the ground,” Green told The DePaulia. “At the end of the day, we need a mayor who’s really grassroots, who really understands everyday issues, and who’s connected to the people that are doing the work.”
Green believes that Chicagoans are craving a change in leadership, hence Lightfoot’s early polling struggles. He voiced his disappointment for Lightfoot’s handling of issues like poverty and public safety in the city.
“Public safety is like the overhead issue,” Green said. “When you talk about housing, when you talk about investment into safe spaces, you're talking about job creation… even food deserts. All of that ties into public safety.”
More than 70% of voters ranked crime and public safety as the top two issues facing Chicago, according to a recent poll by International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.
Green joins Vallas, Garcia and Lightfoot in the nine-candidate election field. Other candidates include Democratic state Rep. Kam Buckner, Brandon Johnson, Ald. Sophia King, Ald. Roderick Sawyer and businessman Willie Wilson.
“I have never met a Lori Lightfoot supporter."
Hundreds of people held up green flags as Marketta Sims, a grassroots leader from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, recounted her experience with homelessness.
“When people often think of people experiencing homelessness, they think of people who are lazy and don’t want to do better for themselves,” Sims said in front of a crowd of more than 200. “I’m living proof that it’s not true.”
Sims announced she will be graduating college in May with a 4.0 GPA as five mayoral candidates sat behind her.
“Finding a home was the key [to] saving my life,” she said. “It was the key for my emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.”
Sims spoke at the People’s Unity Mayoral Forum on Thursday, Jan. 26 in Garfield Park hosted by Grassroots Collaborative. The forum was centered on people’s experiences connecting to key issues for the Chicago Mayoral Race in February 2023.
All nine mayoral candidates were invited to the forum, but only five were present.
Community activist Ja’Mal Green, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, State Rep. Kam Buckner, Ald. Roderick Sawyer and former CPS Superintendent Paul Vallas attended.
Incumbent Lori Lightfoot, U.S. Rep Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, businessman Willie Wilson and Ald. Sophia King did not attend, however, they were all present at another forum earlier that day.
The forum focused on six issues including, violence prevention, housing, climate, worker’s rights, education and public safety and health. Neighborhood and community organizations from the South and West sides were invited.
Moderators Rousemary Vega, Raise Your Hand Illinois and Miracle Boyd, Good Kids Mad City all implemented a card system where attendees showed approval with green cards and disfavor with red.
Public safety continues to be a hot topic for Chicagoans, but attendees were focused on violence prevention and over-policing issues. Mark Clements, a Jon Burge torture survivor, opened up the discussion by describing how he still lives with trauma after his abuse in 1981.
“We need accountability, starting with reparations,” Clements said. “And we need them now!”
Arseny Acosta, a leader with Good Kids Mad City, asked the crowd to raise their cards if they themselves or someone they know had a negative experience with CPD in the past four years.
Nearly everyone in the crowd raised a card.
Acosta recounted legislation such as shot spotter and the gang database are ineffective toward reducing crime in Chicago. She continued with asking the first question of the night regarding how candidates will invest in public safety wisely.
“When we talk about public safety, the first thing we should not be talking about is police,” Green said. “Police cannot solve violence on our streets.”
Green said he was in favor of investing in youth apprenticeship and internships, trade and tech clubs in schools and community centers.
“There is no substitute for investing
in long-neglected communities,” Vallas said.
However, Vallas discussed different policing methods. He is in favor of community members joining CPD to survey their own community.
“Community supervised policing can be effective,” he said.
Vallas was met with silence and a wave of red cards.
At the end of the forum, each candidate was asked if they would pass legislation to distribute reparations for Jon Burge torture survivors after 1991 if they are elected.
All candidates said they would.
“Over 65,000 Chicagoans are experiencing homelessness in our county and we need you to take action,” Sims said while pointing behind her toward the candidates.
Brother Mike Eldridge, a member of Bring Chicago Home, asked the audience to raise a green card if they themselves or someone they know had experienced homelessness.
The entire room waved up a sea of green cards.
Eldridge asked what the candidates’ visions were to assure all Chicagoans to have stable and affordable housing amid rising rent prices.
“Housing is a human right,” Buckner said. “65,000 [people] in Chicago are facing housing insecurity, and we say we don’t have the money to figure it out. Tomorrow I have to wake up to argue with people on why I’m against spending hundreds of millions of dollars to keep a football team in Chicago.”
Buckner expressed his support for Bring Chicago Home, legislation that raises the real estate transfer tax and creates a revenue stream for affordable housing in Chicago.
Johnson said Chicago needed more than just Bring Chicago Home.
“We need just cause for eviction to protect families, expand the affordable housing ordinance and create a pathway to home ownership,” he said. “I’m the only person in this race who has pre-
sented a budget plan to make sure we are making critical investments, reducing our deficits and doing what is most important … to make sure Chicagoans can live in Chicago.”
In the lightning round, where candidates could only answer yes or no, Vallas and Sawyer were the only candidates to say they would not pass Bring Chicago Home legislation during their administration.
Diane Adams from Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) recounted her mental health journey.
“In ‘96, my son was murdered and I fell into a deep depression,” she said. “Any parent who has lost their child due to violence can tell you that grief stays with you and you have to live with it. I received psycho-social rehab. It helped me learn my place in society again.”
In 2012, the city closed 12 mental health facilities, a third of them were located on the South Side, according to WBEZ.
“People like me deserve a voice in the kind of care we need,” Adams said.
The entire crowd raised their green cards when Cheryl Miller, an organizer from STOP, asked if they had experienced issues with mental health.
“That says it all,” Miller said.
The candidates were asked how they will invest in public mental health services and their stances on the city outsourcing help from private and nonprofit companies.
Johnson agreed to pass ordinance Treatment Not Trauma which involves reopening mental health facilities, creating a separate team of responders to crises and halting CPD from handling mental health crises.
Sawyer said that his other competitors will not get a chance to pass it.
“We’re going to get it passed before the end of this administration,” he said.
However, he expressed concern for opening facilities because of an insufficient number of professionals to hire.
“We’re having the biggest problem finding therapists, psychologists which are key to opening these centers,” Sawyer said. “We don’t have enough in the six centers we have right now.”
All five candidates promised to pass Treatment Not Trauma at the end of the night.
Candidates also promised to end sacrifice zones, transition to need-based enrollment for all CPS schools and pass the Rideshare Living Wage and Safety Ordinance by the end of their terms.
Early voting for the mayoral election begins Feb. 13.
DePaul University’s film school was ranked 15 out of 25 in the Hollywood Reporter’s “25 Best American Film Schools” of 2022.
Anna Hozian, associate dean for the School of Cinematic Arts, said DePaul is “easily top 10” because of an approach that gives students more hands-on experience.
The film and television major, which offers both bachelor of arts and bachelor of fine arts tracks, is housed in the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), which is a part of the Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM).The college was established in April 2008 — it was formerly known as the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Information Systems — and has been expanding ever since, according to DePaul’s website.
Compared to other top American film schools, DePaul’s admission rate is higher at 69.5%, according to U.S. News and World Report. The rate of scholarship is also greater. Hozian said that DePaul’s Vincentian mission
plays a role in the accessibility of the film program. Unlike most major film schools, DePaul does not require applicants to submit a portfolio.
“We hope you have a creative spirit,” Hozian said. “We can teach you all you need to know.”
Accessibility is not the only reason DePaul’s School of Cinematic Arts has seen success.
Katie Wright, a freshman majoring in film and television, noted that DePaul’s Cinespace Studio was a unique discovery.
“All the other film schools I applied to, with the exception of NYU, had sound stages miles away,” Wright said.
Cinespace Chicago Film Studios is a professional production studio located minutes from DePaul’s Loop campus. In 2013, DePaul’s School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) partnered with Cinespace to create DePaul Cinespace Studios. Here, film students have access to professional equipment and often work on television shows like “Chicago PD” or “Shameless” that film there. Exposure to Cinespace emphasizes a model of learning by doing. Having access to a working studio
is more than a perk. Hozian sees it as an unprecedented asset that gives DePaul students an industry advantage.
Hands-on experience offered so early in the program appeals to many prospective students. Film and television major Lucas Haviland can work as a production assistant on a commercial set because of connections he made in the SCA.
“Just having opportunities pop up and being able to say ‘yes’ is kind of a big deal,” Haviland said.
Wright and Haviland appreciate having professors who work in the film industry.
“My teachers are very much professionals,” Wright said. “One of my professors has a major position at Second City, and on top of that, did work in the film industry.”
This real-world perspective is integral to student success, according to Hozian. She said that if professors are not up to date on the constantly changing film industry then “we cannot be the best educators for our stu-
dents.”
The SCA’s faculty cares about helping students find and share their voices.
“Supervisors or screenwriters, they’re all artists and they all have a voice,” Hozian said, emphasizing how storytelling remains at the heart of the program.
When it comes to the SCA’s success, Hozian believes the key is trifold. She said the expertise and devotion of the faculty, the film community in Chicago and the industry experience students gain in the program are all reasons why DePaul has one of the best American film schools. The SCA has a holistic approach, teaching students the artistic, technical and business aspects of film, she said.
Hozian looks forward to continued growth and innovations.
“I don’t know of any schools that are teaching [students] how to do their voice, their craft and their business like we do,” she said.
DePaul’s Humanities Center hosted a Zoom webinar about the history and social relevance of comfort women in Japan and the Philippines this past week. According to the event’s organizer and the head of the Humanities Center Yuki Miyamoto, 150 participants signed up. Miyamoto is also a professor in the religious studies department. Four panelists (two professors and two nonprofit organizers) each took a brief turn to discuss the topic from their academic point of view.
These speakers are all extremely close to the issue of comfort women – boys, girls and women who were forced to become sexual slaves for the Japanese military throughout the 1930s and ‘40s.
“[The speakers] are not just experts in this field, but also they are actually facing this kind of battle. They have been harassed and attacked verbally, you know, social media kind of thing,” Miyamoto said.
When I spoke to Miyamoto prior to the event and inquired how one plans an event centering around something so potentially triggering, the professor expressed concern focused first and foremost on the event’s panelists.
“I’m not really concerned about upsetting people, but I’m more concerned about protecting my speakers, our guests. And how we can protect them from being harassed,” Miyamoto said.
Alexis Dudden, a professor at University of Connecticut describes what happened to comfort women.
“[The] transnational trafficking of boys, girls, women, [which is] one of the 20th century’s greatest crimes against humanity, something that the UN has recognized as
such… something that continues today,” Dudden said.
Dudden stressed the importance of looking at the historical significance of the word ‘comfort women’ itself and how it’s changing.
“We talk about a euphemized expression — ‘comfort women,’” Dudden said. “‘Comfort women’ is the wrong word, we’re talking about sexual slavery.” “Historians have settled on a number of 250,000 victims … between 1932 and 1945 … To the best of our knowledge, [there are] fewer than 50 living survivors.”
Almost every panelist brought up the controversial comfort women statues from around the world — about 50, it is estimated by Dudden. Miyamoto said that it causes the topic of comfort women to become much deeper and complex, especially in a contemporary context.
“This is an issue … Especially it flared up when comfort women statues were being built in different parts of the countries, like in the U.S. as well, in South Korea, in the Philippines, which took place maybe in the last decade or so. It has always been an issue but this adds to another layer to the issue,” Miyamoto said.
Sharon Cabusao-Silva, director of Lila Pilipina, a non-governmental organization in the Philippines, joined from Manila. She described Lila Pilipina’s exerted efforts to protest while this situation was still unfolding.
“Lila Pilipina repeatedly marched towards the Japanese embassy even during the pandemic,” Cabusao-Silva said. “[There’s a] comfort women statue on Rojas Boulevard near the Japanese embassy … the statue was removed by the Philippine government three months later, and
it went missing a few days before the supposed reinstallation.”
Naoko Okimoto works with an educational organization called Pamana Rin Tayo, translated to ‘we are also successors’ in English.
“We organized online classes connecting Lila Pilipina and colleges,” Okimoto said. “We also worked with Filipino youth. They also do not call comfort women by that name,” Okimoto said. They address them as “lola”, Tagalog for grandma, which inspires respect for the survivors.
Tomomi Yamaguchi, an anthropologist and professor at Montana State University, discussed contemporary and past Japanese politics and how they play a role in how comfort women are viewed.
“This anti-comfort women discourse became really mainstream,” Yamaguchi said. “It existed in the ‘90s with the denialists … to create revisionist textbooks.
She recalls receiving hundreds of revisionist pamphlets, seemingly expected to distribute them to her students. She points out how quickly and easily information like this can spread.
“When they say really denialist comments on the comfort women issue, the media, [and] opposition parties, they just ignore,” Yamaguchi said. “There’s so little discussion on comfort women issues, still … What's influential is social media … they really can fall into denialism so easily, because that information is really abundant.”
Cabusao-Silva works directly with survivors in her NGO.
“They had to do it because they were forced,” Cabusao-Silva said. “it’s never a choice for any woman… It is almost 30 years of struggle… our lolas fought
against the most difficult conditions… more than half a century of silence and stigma.”
Similarly to her fellow panelists and Miyamoto, Cabusao-Silva drew a contemporary lens over the issue as well. Its implications can point to something more growth-oriented in future.
“Only by learning from the past can we learn to deal with the present,” Cabusao-Silva said.
Miyamoto urges participants of the event to go beyond.
“Learning about others, learning about history, that's great,” Miyamoto said. “But then I’d like the audience to reflect upon it … what kind of progress we’ve made. Then the question becomes more about us, we have to do something. It’s not like, oh, those poor people, that’s unfortunate. And?” Miyamoto said.
Miyamoto, as well as the four panelists, continued to stress how important this issue is to discuss – partially because of its sheer magnitude. “One panelist will show this map - how many comfort stations were set up during the war – it’s like all over. There are so many. Which means, so many Japanese soldiers. So many comfort women were involved in this. And why don’t we know about it?... Those many people were involved and still so many people don’t know about it, so what does that mean? And what’s this silence about?” Miyamoto said.
Upcoming Humanities Center events throughout the rest of the quarter include Everyday Life in the Greater Middle East on Feb. 8 as well as a Holocaust-centered event on Feb. 22, mentioned by Miyamoto.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE COLLEGE OF COMPUTING AND DIGITAL MEDIA School of Cinematic Arts students learn alongside experienced filmmakers at DePaul, including documentary cinematographer Dana Kupper (upper right).Freshman Madison Webb considers herself lucky when it comes to the sex education she received at her public high school in Maryland. She grew up surrounded by a conservative student body which she believes caused school administration to combat traditional views on sex with a far more progressive curriculum.
Webb acknowledged that her experience learning about topics like coercion and consent during the lessons was different from what many others hear during school-mandated sex education. Due to this disparity, it prompted her to start her own series of lessons to help educate fellow students.
just to listen. We want to hear their stories because that's how we connect and educate.”
Freshman Lucy Njaramba attended the event after seeing advertisements for it on DeHub and various flyers around the school. She felt that because her high school sex education was not cohesive, she wanted to learn more about the topic to protect herself. Njaramba recommends others to seek out sex education talks because of the resources they provide and its ability to fight the stigma around sex.
Student attendance rates are being affected by unpredictable CTA wait times.
By Zoe Mateja Contributing WriterSometimes DePaul senior Nathalie Hoste feels like she can leave her house with plenty of time to get to campus, but that extra time can often be taken up by the frequent issues with Chicago’s transit systems. Whether it's ghost trains or buses, delays or traffic, many DePaul students have noticed an increase in difficulty getting to school on time.
Hoste relays her experience that many others can relate to: walking into class late, shuffling quickly to your seat, and hoping no one says anything. If anyone does, the only thing to respond with would be: “The CTA was running late, I’m so sorry!”
This is a narrative many of us know all too well. With 90% of DePaul students living off campus, students often rely on public transit to get from their houses to class.
Students may leave their houses with time to spare, and the train breaks down, or their Uber hits unforeseen traffic due to new road work. That spare time is now taken up, and a late arrival becomes inevitable.
Since the pandemic, CTA riders have noticed that there is a shortage of trains available, as well as the phenomenon of ghost trains and buses, according to Block Club Chicago. Often, the train or bus is delayed significantly, which highly impacts the commute times for students living off campus.
Many college students in Chicago can relate to the frustration of these frequent delays. Hoste has noticed a significant change in the buses this quarter.
“I have noticed a lot of ghost trains and even ghost bus issues,” Hoste said. “Especially with the 73 bus. It NEVER shows up, even though the app says it is. It’s frustrating because sometimes it’s the only bus I can take to the Metra, and I have to walk 30 minutes or go all the way downtown because the bus never shows up.”
DePaul junior Olivia Berry shares a similar struggle.
“I know it was bad since school started in September,” Berry said. “So this quarter hasn’t been that much worse than it usually is. Sometimes it's on time, sometimes it comes every seven to 10 minutes, and sometimes it doesn't come for like 25 minutes. I’ve learned to get used to that, unfortunately.”
In situations such as these, should professors be more lenient with attendance and have a grace period, or is it up to the student to plan their time accordingly around the chaotic public transit systems?
DePaul Professor Joanna Deszcz has noticed the train being a frequent reason for her student’s late arrival.
“Students were like ‘my train didn’t show up,’ or ‘my train is late,’” Deszcz said. “I would get emails right at the start of class and I didn’t see them until late, or even earlier on, students would be like ‘yeah, my train’s not here.’ They would walk in late, and sometimes it was just one or two students, and other times it would be a handful, like seven or eight of them would walk in, more or less at the same time once the train arrived.”
Ultimately, she understands this happens, and relates to the matter herself as a fellow commuter.
“I haven’t really changed my policy in any way,” Deszcz said. “I prefer students to come in on time, but I understand that sometimes people get delayed, and the train has been an issue in the past. Traffic is an issue for students that commute, and sometimes they get stuck. I commute by myself, so I totally get that.”
When asked if her policy has shifted since the CTA got worse, she shared with a smile that she has always understood the struggle of commuting to campus, and does not hold it against her students.
“I haven’t really changed my policy, but I was never really super strict with that. I figure that you’re all college students and you’re all adults, and you’re paying for this class. If you don’t show up, you’re kinda missing out,” Deszczs said.
Some professors take similar approaches to Deszcz. Berry said many of her professors have lenient attendance policies because of the CTA.
“None of my teachers have docked for attendance at DePaul,” Berry said. “I think I lucked out a bit there. All of them said at the beginning of this quarter that the trains have been bad, and they’re not going to get mad if we’re a bit late.”
But this is not always the case.
“I once had a professor dock my points because I was five minutes late. My bus had to stop on a bridge downtown because of CPS protests, which was out of my control. I had emailed this professor on my way there, yet somehow it was still ‘my fault because I didn’t plan ahead,’” Hoste says.
Hoste says that some professors have given her the benefit of the doubt, but this doesn’t always happen. Along with Hoste, many students at DePaul appreciate the understanding of professors who do provide leniency.
“Generally, if I let them know, they’re understanding enough, but some professors in the university don’t take transit times and delays into account. It’s honestly almost infuriating because no one ever knows what may happen on the road,” Hoste said.
“Even the most comprehensive and inclusive sex education that we have in American public education systems is not adequate,” Webb said. “There’s not a lot of community surrounding sex education which is important for education in general so when you have lessons that are very detached, it's not going to resonate with its target audience.”
Started by Webb and DePaul sophomore Maya Roman, the first Pillow Talk seminar took place on Jan. 26 as part of an ongoing monthly series of sex education lessons. Hosted by Planned Parenthood Generation Action at DePaul (PPGAD), the lesson entitled “Physical Sex Health Basics” focused on anatomy, stigmas surrounding sex, body image and contraceptives.
“It really just hit us how little comprehensive sex education there is, especially for university students which is really concerning,” Roman said. “We wanted to decrease stigmas and disprove misconceptions because everyone’s body is beautiful and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”
Roman and Webb worked to create a fun environment with an easy-to-follow Powerpoint presentation, interactive sections and a Kahoot game to put students at ease. They hope the friendly atmosphere helps students retain more information they may not have gotten from awkward situations in high school.
“Speaking with people rather than at them is key to any conversation because that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to spark conversation,” Webb said. “We want people to talk with each other and ask questions, we don’t want them
“It was uncomfortable but a learning experience,” Njaramba said. “I was still more comfortable being here though because in high school, you're hearing all of this from older adults who are too nervous to even say medical terms. Being around college students who may not have proper education either was really nice.”
Sophomore Kenna Bartlett, president and founder of PPGAD, believes by having these conversations in a casual setting, hosted by peers rather than adults, it will create a more accessible environment for those who want to learn more about sex education. She wants to move away from the formality often seen when talking to authority figures, especially with the heavy and personal topic.
“If I can look at and connect with another college student on this topic, I’m meeting them where they’re at because I am where they’re at.” Bartlett said. “People involved in advocacy work or doing education talk about wanting to meet people where they’re at and the best way to do that is by being a peer.”
Roman and Webb’s plans for future Pillow Talks, include LGBTQIA+ sex education and the institutionalization of sex education. Bartlett believes having these conversations now as students experience more freedom in college is crucial to promoting health and safety on campus. The next Pillow Talk will focus on the impacts of sex on mental and emotional health and will be held in February.
“We’re in a time where people explore themselves, not even just sexually but also emotionally,” Bartlett said. “It's an opportunity not only to play catch up but also to further broaden people's understanding of what sex education actually includes. We’re ready to start being treated and talked to like adults.”
The recently-concluded 2022 midterm elections in the U.S. witnessed a higher turnout of overseas voters, resulting in a close race in some states between political parties. These elections also brought forth problems with the mail-in ballots of overseas voters.
About 9 million citizens are living overseas, of which 6.5 million are eligible voters. According to the U.S. Vote Foundation, about 75% of overseas voters voted in the midterm elections of 2022 and 10% of respondents reported ballot receipt problems.
“Most U.S. citizens 18 years or older who reside outside the United States are eligible to vote absentee for federal office candidates in U.S. primary and general elections,” a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, who wished to remain anonymous, wrote in an email to The DePaulia. ”In addition, some states allow overseas citizens to vote for state and local office candidates and referendums. If a voter does not receive a blank ballot 30 days before an election from the local election official, he can use the Federal write-in absentee ballot to vote.”
The United States Department of Defense has established a Federal Voting Assistance Program [FVAP] as an education program that ensures that the overseas citizens and military family members are aware of their rights and have the tools to vote from the country of their residence.
“[For] about 20 years now, I’m living outside USA,” M.A. Khuddus, 63, a naturalized U.S. citizen in Hyderabad, India, wrote via WhatsApp. “I usually vote through mailing ballot and I’m regular in voting. I’m non-partisan and I only vote for the promising candidates who can work for democracy, citizens’ rights and progress. I watch the election manifestos
and debates to make my decision. I think that the Ballot system is very simple and perfect.”
Democrats and Republicans are making efforts to recruit these eligible voters living abroad through the ‘Get Out the Vote’ campaign and similar initiatives.
“These voters who cast ballots from outside can better analyze the issues facing the government and can make sound decisions to choose their representatives who, in turn can legislate on important issues like abortion, gun control, international relations, et cetera,” Khurram Syed, Democrat and Trustee of Bartlett Village, said. “The absentee ballots also play [an] important role in close races.”
Many overseas citizens choose to jump over the hurdles of bureaucracy in order to vote.
Brinda Sanyal, 25, is a U.S. citizen, living in West Bengal, India.
“I vote in California because that was my last address of residence,” Sanyal said. “I do vote punctually in presidential and congressional elections. I feel very privileged to be able to exercise my right to vote.”
Despite challenges with registering to vote, Sanyal is still adamant to exercise her right to vote and looks forward to election season whenever it arrives.
“The process of requesting the ballot and filing and sending it back later may look tedious but it is very easy and if you are serious about it, you do it nonetheless,” Sanyal said. “I am very enthusiastic when it comes to elections, I always monitor the U.S. politics and [follow] social media campaigns for the right candidates.”
Another naturalized citizen in California, Shakeel Mohammad, 45, said, “As an immigrant who was born in India with
far fewer rights and freedom of expression than U.S.A., I do appreciate the rights [the] United States gave me as a naturalized citizen. I prefer mail in voting or early voting to avoid any unforeseen family or work engagements.”
Overseas U.S. citizen Lokesh Kumar Bommaka, 46, living in Bengaluru, India said over text, “Certainly the franchise of overseas citizens is definitely important in critical swing states like Georgia and Pennsylvania.”
Voters like Sanyal expressed their desire to be able to vote in local elections from other states, not necessarily in the state they last resided in the U.S.
“I think it is a creative idea but it has its own challenges in practicality. Like even the electorates from states would not let anybody choose different states every election time,” Nick Kachiroubas, professor in DePaul’s School of Public Service, said. “And for doing justice to the elections, one must have some sort of connection to the state and past experiences of state politics. So, I don’t think this idea is feasible.”
According to FVAP, each state has its own rules governing local elections. Only some states allow overseas citizens to vote in local elections. The difficulty of the process also varies by state.
In Virginia, the overseas ballot has to be signed by a witness, whereas in Oregon, a U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S. is eligible to vote if they intend to reside in Oregon or have a parent, legal guardian or spouse that is a military or overseas voter under Oregon law.
The U.S. Vote Foundation survey report after midterm elections reported that 5% of overseas citizens had issues with accessing ballot request forms, online instructions and printing their ballot re-
quest forms.
“The process of requesting a mail-in ballot, receiving the ballot, filling it and returning it is a long and tedious process,” Kanchiroubas said. “It requires time from the overseas citizens for receiving and sending back ballots takes a while which again requires patience. Hence, voting is a challenge for the citizens living outside.”
“I think that the government always lags in its technology but I do think that we also have the technology available,” Kanchiroubas said. “Then the voting is governed by each state so every state has its own laws on it. But I don’t see why a system cannot be set up for somebody living overseas to get an email alert reminding them that they have elections and they can exercise their franchise. The government should also expedite the mail-in ballot process.”
Syed said that the government can introduce online voting for overseas voters while giving them the option of mail in ballots.
“Under the [Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act] and the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, each state must permit absent uniformed service voters and overseas civilian voters to use temporary registration procedures and to Vote By Mail in all federal elections. I would say we are pretty lucky in Illinois compared to many other states, where the State Legislature has made it easier to vote than ever, especially with the expansion of Vote By Mail voting” said Max Bever, director of public information on the Chicago Board of Elections.
By Ruchi Nawathe Nation & World Editor
Since 2020, teaching critical race theory (CRT) in schools has been a large topic of debate, particularly in conservative states.
CRT is an academic and legal framework that denotes racism as a systemic issue as opposed to an issue of individuals’ biases, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense Fund (NAACPLDF).
Florida is one of 18 states that have banned CRT, and most recently, their Department of Education banned an Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies course. Three high school students and attorney Ben Crump are poised to sue Gov. Ron DeSantis over this ban, according to NPR.
“It’s [the AP African American studies course] centered around Blackness, and in general, anything that’s not into the proximity to whiteness seems to be offensive to conservatives in particular,” said Neelam Warren-Pal, DePaul African and Black diaspora studies minor.
Last year, DeSantis passed what is known as the “Stop Woke” Act, which restricts how race is taught in schools, and gives people the right to sue teachers over how they teach race.
“America … has a very hard time of admitting that it did something egregious to African Americans that still has an impact on them today,” said David Collier-King, adjunct professor and policy and community engagement professional. “And when you don’t teach that history, when you don’t talk about some of the systemic challenges … what ends up happening is folks have this blindness to the system.”
One of the arguments for banning CRT in schools is that the subjects it discusses are too “serious” for young children to be exposed to them.
“I think it’s perhaps the sorriest excuse to not teach Black history … imagine how African American students feel looking at our ancestors in chains, working plantations involuntarily,” Collier-King said. “If you feel bad, I don’t know what to tell you. Grab a tissue and move on, because that’s what America has asked African Americans to do for centuries.”
A large number of schools in the U.S. do not teach Black history, or teach a very simplistic, inaccurate version of Black history.
“I always think about a Twitter thread I had … asking my non-Black Twitter friends and colleagues … I asked them what they learned in school about Black history,” said Evan F. Moore, DePaul adjunct professor. “And it ranged from ‘[Martin Luther King Jr.] said one line in a speech and it ended racism forever’ to ‘Nothing at all’ to that ‘Racism is a Southern problem.’”
In reality, neglecting to teach about Black history leaves Americans with an incomplete picture of their country’s history, according to Collier-King.
“When we don’t allow there to be full education on Black history, full education on what the system has done for African Americans, what it has done to Latino and Hispanic communities, what it has done in Native American communities, we are denying people the essential knowledge and education they need to realize this is what happened in the past, and this is what we have to prevent
going forward,” Collier-King said.
The ban on the AP African American studies courses could also be keeping Black students out of advanced classes.
“I personally used to do AP courses and I didn’t really feel that welcomed in AP courses,” Warren-Pal said.
A small percentage of Black students take A.P. courses, and this statistic matches up with their own high school experience, according to Warren Pal.
“A lot of Black kids are not in AP courses,” Warren-Pal said. “I feel like a lot of Black kids feel intimidated to be in honors course and AP course.”
Warren-Pal feels that an AP African American studies course would encourage many Black students to take AP courses, which can earn them college credit in high school.
“I think what’s quite interesting about this movement is one to label [it] critical race theory,” Collier-King said. “I think critical race theory is something com -
pletely different from an immersive reimagination of the teaching of American history and Black history in perspective of accounting for the harsh systemic issues and challenges that have long plagued the system that impact minorities.”
Collier-King believes that the name “critical race theory” could be scaring politicians away from instilling the curriculum in schools.
“Labeling it tends to put this idea that we are trying to expose young people to something that is much more heavier than what they really need to be looking at or thinking about because of age,” Collier-King said.
The letter in which the Department of Education banned the course was released weeks before the start of Black History Month, which is in February.
“Shutting down and stifling Black history is an exercise that happens no matter what time of year it is,” Moore said.
It is unclear whether the letter was intentionally released before Black History Month.
“If it was done purposefully, I would not be surprised,” Warren-Pal said. The U.S. has a long history of violating the rights of Black people and people of color with biased policies and law enforcement.
“I’ve always heard a lot of folks say that ‘America is the greatest nation.’ I don’t agree,” Collier-King said. “America is not the greatest nation on Earth, for it to do so it would have to represent all of the vows, all of the beliefs, all of the ideas of every single being, and it would have to do so in an equitable way.”
Moore believes that people deserve to learn about their country’s full, uncensored history.
“You can’t tell the story of America without Black folks, you just can’t,” Moore said.
It’s no secret online dating is more popular than ever. With a laundry list of apps that’s growing exponentially, pretty much everyone and their mother has been subjected to a quick glimpse into just how stirring these apps can be. With millions of eligible suitors right at your fingertips, we’re bound to run into craziness somehow.
In the midst of swipes, likes and roses, online dating is overwhelming. The chaos disillusions us from what it’s all really about — finding someone that makes us happy. To say online dating is rough may be an understatement, but it’s still possible to find the one.
There are an estimated 44 million individuals on some sort of online dating platform from the United States alone. Of these 44 million, over half of them — 26 million — are using dating apps, via Statista.
Although these numbers suggest there’s a menagerie of possible soulmates out there waiting for us to swipe right, it’s safe to say that there’s bound to be chaos with millions of humans right at our fingertips.
Tinder, Bumble and Hinge seem to be the holy trinity among people in their twenties. All you need is a couple of photos, a bio and an unbreakable spirit.
What follows suit will ultimately be the outlandish story you tell at parties, amateur stand up comedy night, or like me: articles for the school newspaper, so that your fellow classmates can revel in the fact that their love lives are better than the less fortunate.
It’s time we start laughing about how rough online dating can be. Forget left
swipes and ghosts. Embrace the absurdity. It makes all the bad dates and matches and texts feel a bit less depressing and a bit more entertaining.
And if you ever feel bad, don’t worry. Things could get worse.
And for me? Oh trust me, they have.
My first ever date with someone I met online was after I came home from my first semester away at college. He was three or four years older. We’d made plans to take our dogs on a walk in the forest preserve.
As I wrapped my dog in her very best sweater, he texted me and said that the weather was less-than-ideal, so I left her at home and we decided to go to his place to watch a movie. Since it was a holiday break, I ended up meeting his entire extended family. I made awkward small talk with his dad and grandmother. Truly painful. We ended the night watching “Bojack Horseman” in his basement.
I wish I could say there wasn’t a second date. But there was. He took me to Petco because he wanted to get a pet gecko. There wasn’t a third.
As summer rolled around, I matched with a guy on Hinge. Was it solely because his bio said he was a “dog dad” and included an adorable photo of a furry black dog with an underbite? No comment.
We talked for a bit, but it fizzled out since we both got busy. But September rolls around, and one night, at three in the morning, I get a phone call. It’s him. He starts panicking. He was at LAX, on his way to Kauai, and the girl he’d hired to watch his dog, Chowder, had skipped town.
After some back and forth, I agreed and made my way down to Streeterville
to rescue him. It was four in the morning. We came back, went to my apartment, and Chowder climbed into my bed. As I felt myself be pushed off of my own bed by a dog who’d made himself right at home, I came to the halting realization:
I think I have horrible taste in men.
I never expected my dates to turn into window shopping for geckos or new dog sitting clients. When we find ourselves packaged into a handful of photos and singular bio, it’s easy to present as something that’s a bit better than the reality.
Despite the one dimensional aspects of swiping on whatever app suits your fancy, humans are much more than the clever one liner we use on Tinder. For better and for worse.
It’s easy to find yourself discouraged with the prospect of online dating after one failed date, situationship, talking stage, or another. It can be disheartening, but these horror stories of sorts aren’t always the case. It might take a bit more swiping, but there’s good within the chaos.
My best friend met her boyfriend on Bumble. My brother met his girlfriend on Hinge. One in 10 U.S. users say they’ve found love — even marriages — online, via study Pew Research. Sure, these may be rare cases, but with a pool chock full of finance bros, girls with butterfly tattoos, “dog dads,” and even those with star signs and heights just waiting to be read, it’s safe to say that there’s a little bit of everything for, well, everyone.
In a world where pretty much everything’s online, it’s only natural for people to use the digital world as a dating pool.
So who’s to say your soulmate isn’t
out there right now, fending off geckos, meeting the family, horrible first and second dates, dogs named after soup, all in hopes of finding you.
COMMENTARY: Online dating is not for the faint of heartYÙ YÙ BLUE I THE DEPAULIA
Advertising is inescapable in modern society. Just by living in a city like Chicago, we are exposed to hundreds — if not thousands — of advertisements just by walking out our front doors.
Advertisers control one of the most accessible and saturated messaging channels that exist. Because advertising is so prevalent, advertisers play a powerful role in shaping our culture. Whether they acknowledge it or not, by photoshopping humans in advertisements, advertising professionals are promoting unhealthy standards for body image.
As someone who has studied advertising, I believe that the young people entering this field can change the body image problem in advertising.
There is no place for retouching and photoshopping bodies in advertising.
During my morning commute, I can not help but look at the giant billboards and LED screens that show celebrities, models and spokespeople promoting the latest products and services. As I look at their unblemished skin, bright white teeth and sometimes impossibly skinny frames, I start to question whether I am being sold a version of this person that is unrealistic.
I may suspect that the advertiser has gone in and smoothed the person’s skin, brightened their teeth or even shaved off a few pounds with photoshop, but without a direct disclosure from the advertiser, I can never be sure. For all I know, the people in the ads are naturally perfect.
When you are constantly fed images of perfect people through advertising, it can make you start to draw unfair comparisons. I know that I do not look like the people I see in ads, but because the flawless people are the only group represented, I start to feel insecure about my own appearance. Sometimes, I feel like I should look more
like them.
If these models are being retouched and edited, they are inadvertently setting an unrealistic body image standard. When a certain look is perpetuated over and over again in advertising using photoshop, it creates a problematic expectation for the average person and their own appearance.
In the United Kingdom, a bill was introduced to tackle the harmful effects of photoshopping bodies in advertising. The “Digitally Altered Body Images bill” seeks to ensure that advertisers and influencers are upfront about any editing of human faces and bodies in their campaigns.
Luke Evans, the government official who introduced the bill, wants advertisers, broadcasters and publishers to add a logo disclaimer to retouched images. Evans said that adding this logo would be no different than paid promotion disclaimers or disclaimers
about not using actual video game footage in commercials.
The bill was created to address mental health, body image and self-loathing. Evans says that he hopes that more advertisers will show body positivity instead of bodies that “are literally impossible without digital manipulation.”
If government officials are concerned for their constituents, photoshopping in advertising is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Some may argue that the correlation between looking at advertising and having a poor body image is purely anecdotal.
That is not the case.
The image-sharing platform Instagram has been under intense scrutiny for being unhealthy for teenage girls. A whistleblower for Facebook said that studies from the company found that 13.5% of U.K. teen girls said
Instagram worsens suicidal thoughts and 17% of teen girls say their eating disorders got worse after Instagram use.
Manipulation of photos results in poor body image, harming young women who see these kinds of advertisements or sponsored content from influencers.
Government officials, companies and consumers have brought attention to the harmful effects of photoshop in advertising. It is not healthy to push body standards that are not achievable without editing. It warps people’s body image and creates harmful standards in society.
Advertisers have a responsibility to consumers. As the people behind one of the most powerful media channels, we need to understand how we are creating harm. We must stop retouching people’s bodies.
Photoshop has no place in advertising.
Asynchronous classes get a bad rap.
But, for many students, the virtual courses can make life a lot easier.
Asynchronous courses are classes taught entirely online, where all coursework is posted by the teacher and completed by the student without any in-person or online interaction.
For junior Yadira Eck, asynchronous classes at DePaul allow her to manage her academic load with less stress.
“As a commuter, having one async class helps relieve the stress of traveling a lot,” Eck said. “I can work on the assignments based on my own schedule.”
One of the primary arguments against asynchronous courses is that there can be little to no collaboration and live discussion, which can lead to a lack of motivation amongst students.
But, I would argue that asynchronous classes allow for just the right amount of discussion and learning without the added stress of attending an actual class. You may never actually meet your classmates, but you know that they are there, working on the same assignments and projects. This in itself is enough teamwork for some students who are too busy for lengthy group projects or daily zoom meetings.
As with any class, asynchronous courses are what you make of them. Part of becoming an adult is learning how to manage your time and complete a task
without someone constantly tapping on your shoulder reminding you to do it. Asynchronous classes give students an opportunity to develop these skills before entering the real world.
And it’s not only students who sometimes prefer this online style of learning. Professors also benefit from the flexibility that the courses allow.
Joel Reynolds, an assistant professor in the DePaul School of Hospitality Leadership, said that asynchronous courses allow him to reach more students than he would in a traditional classroom setting.
“I enjoy the diversity and inclusion in
these courses that might not be possible in an in-person setting,” Reynolds said. “Many DePaul students are working, and not having a set class time each week allows students to complete the course work at their own pace and when it is convenient to them.”
Some professors also believe that asynchronous courses give students an opportunity to learn more about themselves and their work styles.
Grace Lemmon, an associate professor in the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship at DePaul, formulates her course so that students can come to
understand what does and does not work for them so that they are better prepared for their professional lives.
“The experimentation process is a growth opportunity,” Lemmon said. “You learn how to problem solve on your own, how to cope with feelings of occasional loneliness or isolation when you don't have buddies literally sitting next to you, and you learn that high stakes work can and does take place online, asynchronously.”
Lemmon also strives to prioritize the schedules of students with her asynchronous teaching, because she remembers the challenges associated with balancing life and school.
“I want to support our students as they manage the very serious demands in their lives,” Lemmon said. “Nearly 20 years ago, as an undergraduate at DePaul, I remember feeling very much at the mercy of other people's schedules and demands, including those of my professors. I felt very little autonomy when I did my work, and that feeling can be suffocating.”
The bottom line is you have to know yourself and your learning style. If you do not thrive in an environment where you have to regulate yourself and your work in order to succeed, then steer clear of asynchronous courses.
But, if you are self-motivated and like doing things on your own time, then consider adding one or two of them to your course cart for the spring quarter.
A sea of red filled the largest space that DePaul has to offer as hundreds of people came together to celebrate DePaul’s 15th annual Lunar New Year Gala. Conversation filled the crowded room with strangers, friends and family all here in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit. Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the new year on the lunisolar calendar. This year, it falls on Jan. 22. It is an important holiday in China and many other East and Southeast Asian countries. The official dates and celebrations vary by culture but everyone celebrating considers it the time of year to come together with family and friends. “Different Asian communities celebrate the Lunar Year differently.” said Li Jin, Chinese Studies program director. “For instance, the Chinese and the Korean are celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, but the Vietnamese are celebrating the Year of the Cat this year.”
“As I am of Chinese descent, we usually eat dumplings on the first day of the 15-day Lunar New Year celebration, and glutinous rice ball soup on the last day of the celebration,” Jin said . “(The) color red is a symbol of good luck. It can bring in good luck and fortune and scares away bad luck in Chinese culture.”
Every Lunar New Year signifies the changing of one of 12 Chinese zodiac signs that the Lunar New Year is
based on. This year, it is the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit is known to be the luckiest of all the animals in the zodiac.
Some famous people born under the Year of the Rabbit are Lionel Messi, Drew Barrymore, Albert Einstein and Michael Jordan.
“According to Chinese astrology, rabbits represent peaceful and patient energy,” Ji Lin said. “In a year of the rabbit, people are expected to approach challenges and opportunities calmly and rationally.”
DePaul’s annual Lunar New Year Gala is organized by the DePaul Chinese Studies Program, Chinese Studies Association and Chinese Students and Scholars Association while also being co-sponsored by many other academic and administrative groups. A combination of volunteers, faculty and community members help keep the event free to the public so all can celebrate the Lunar New Year.
However, due to the pandemic, the last couple of galas have been much dif-
ferent than this one.
“We had our 2021 gala virtually and the 2022 one was a small-scale celebration. Finally, we resumed the full-scale in-person gathering this year,” Lin said. “Getting together physically is important during the lunar new year season as it helps forge our connectedness and sense of community. It is especially meaningful amidst ongoing anti-Asian discrimination and racism in the US.”
The gala opened with one of the most important Lunar New Year traditions, the lion dance, performed by two dancers in a lion costume, much like a pantomime horse. The dance is meant to bring good fortune and chase away evil spirits.
One of the lions was a stunning gold color with accents of green and red and the other a snowy white with accents of many different colors. The lions made their way through the whole room of hundreds of people, making sure everyone got their chance to be up close and see them.
Then, they made their way on stage to show their skills by hopping on to a small platform to make the lion much taller and bigger right in front of the crowd of people while keeping balance.
Once the lion dance was over. DePaul President Robert L. Manuel came on stage to give a short speech.
“I want to thank Dr. Ji Lin, the DePaul Chinese Studies Program and the Chinese Students and Scholars Program, all of these people put together this event and keep us connected to the traditions of the Lunar New Year,” Manuel said. “I am again so grateful that you are all here to celebrate, it’s a true honor to have you here, I am looking forward to the event, activities and all the great food. Thanks for being here.”
Performance by local K-pop dance group, Helixx, performed featuring a couple of DePaul students.
“I take a Chinese class here, and my professor knew I was in a K-pop dance group, so she asked me if we could perform here and we were so excited,” said Helixx member Riley Mays. “(Lunar New Year) is all about appreciating other cultures for sure. It was inspiring to see the other dance performances from other cultures and learn from them.”
The Chicago Chinese Culture & Art Society performed a traditional Yimeng Mountain Folk Dance. Five dancers in embroidered blue traditional outfits danced flowingly with the hand fans they were holding. The hand fans had additional cloth attached to them in order to make the movements bigger and more awe-inspiring. The dancers twisted and turned as the crowd focused on their flowing, graceful dance.
“I’m here to experience the culture, this is my first Lunar New Year, it’s a new experience for me,” Lincoln Park resident Martin Pandola said. “The performances were fantastic, loved ‘em. The lion dance and all the performances were so cool.”
After the dance, the emcees had to set up a piano on stage quickly for the next performance. Skylar Harts, social media manager of the Chinese Student Association came on stage to sing a classic Chinese love song accompanied by one of the emcees on the piano. Through this performance you could tell this wasn’t her first time singing for an audience.
“I’ve performed in Chinese singing competitions before, so Dr. Jin Li asked me to perform,” Harts said. “(Lunar New Year) To me is like if we combined New Year’s and Christmas. It’s all about community and family.”
Second to last, a group from the Beidou Kung Fu Academy came on stage to give a martial arts demonstration. From flashy mid-air kicks to quick slashes and thrusts with stage weapons, these five martial artists did it all.
Dr. Sharon Guan, a professor that teaches Chinese language classes, confidently walked on stage with a music video on pause projected behind her and then urged the audience to come on stage and simply dance with her and everyone else to this song.
And everyone did.
After the dancing and singing, everyone got in line to feast on staple Lunar New Year foods such as dumplings and long noodles for a long life as well as many other Chinese dishes. People made their way back to their tables and shared a Lunar New Year meal with their family and friends, new or old.
For Lunar New Year, red is the new blue at DePaul.
Con solo dos minutos en el reloj, varios residentes del lado oeste se acercaron al micrófono y hablaron en una reunión pública del Distrito de Parques de Chicago en Fosco Park, el miércoles. Muchos de ellos expresaron a la Junta de Comisionados la misma solicitud que han hecho durante meses: eliminar los mega festivales de Douglass Park.
Desde 2015, los residentes de La Villita y North Lawndale han pedido en las reuniones de la Junta del Distrito de Parques, como en las reuniones del Concejo Municipal que se eliminen los tres mega festivales de música, organizados por empresas privadas en este parque público durante el verano: Riot Fest, Lyrical Lemonade y Heatwave.
Los residentes dijeron que los festivales han hecho el espacio inaccesible por semanas durante el verano. Otras inquietudes planteadas por los festivales incluyen la congestión de tráfico, la falta de acceso al parque,preocupaciones de seguridad pública causada por gente ebria en el festival y la interrupción del hospital de traumatología.
Aunque el festival de música punk rock de tres días, Riot Fest, solía tomar lugar en Humboldt Park, fue reubicado después de que los residentes presentaran quejas por el ruido, las grandes multitudes y daños al parque en el 2015. Posteriormente se agregaron Lyrical Lemonade y Heatwave.
Anteriormente, los permisos para festivales se concedían sin ningún tipo de requisito para comunicarse con la comunidad para preguntar sobre su opinión, ni un proceso para tomar en cuenta comentarios de los residentes afectados por estos eventos realizados en parques públicos.
Después de las crecientes tensiones de los miembros de la comunidad, los funcionarios del distrito de parques se comprometieron, en noviembre, a dar a los residentes una opinión sobre los eventos que suceden en sus parques, según Block Club Chicago.
La directora de comunicaciones del Distrito de Parques de Chicago, Michele Lemons, dijo en un correo electrónico a La DePaulia que la Junta de Comisionados votó
por unanimidad para aprobar cambios en el Capítulo VII del Código del Distrito de Parques de Chicago el cual establece el uso de los parques públicos.
Lemons dijo que esta enmienda ahora requiere que la junta dé una “aprobación provisional” para los eventos permitidos con una asistencia de 10,000 o más, antes de poder emitir un permiso. Los organizadores también deben tener un “plan de participación comunitaria que aborde las preocupaciones de la comunidad”.
La residente de toda la vida de North Lawndale, Denise Ferguson, dijo que la aprobación provisional no le da a la comunidad lo que realmente quiere.
“Nosotros no les pedimos eso. Les pedimos que no tengan festivales”, dijo Ferguson.
A pesar de las alteraciones del distrito de parques, algunos residentes dicen que todavía no tienen voz en los eventos los cuales se llevan a cabo en los parques públicos.
“Depende del organizador proporcionarnos un plan de compromiso”, dijo la Superintendente del Distrito de Parques Rosa Escareño en la reunión del miércoles.
Rebecca Wolfram, una residente de La Villita, ha expresado sus preocupaciones en reuniones abiertas desde el 2017. La semana pasada, Wolfram dijo que está molesta pues los funcionarios del distrito de parques “no les exigen tener ninguna forma específica de hacerlo”.
“Es como si los festivales descubrieran su propio camino”, dijo Wolfram. “Esencialmente, el distrito de parques se ha convertido en un propietario que alquila propiedad pública”.
Ferguson dijo que la Junta de Comisionados del distrito de parques no está tomando preocupaciones en serio y están sólo “realizando” su proceso de participación comunitaria.
“Creo que están siendo manipuladores en la forma en que intentan transmitir eso”, dijo Ferguson. “Les decimos lo que queremos y ellos nos dicen lo que vamos a conseguir. Creo que eso es muy irrespetuoso”.
Susan Mullen, residente del lado oeste, dijo que no ha cambiado mucho fuera del
proceso burocrático.
“Realmente no tenemos un asiento en la mesa”, dijo Mullen.
Se espera que se celebre Riot Fest del 15 al 17 de septiembre de este año, según el sitio web del festival, aunque no indican dónde se llevará a cabo, su “neighborhood guide” incluye información sobre negocios locales cerca de Douglass Park.
Otros festivales, como Lyrical Lemonade, no indican claramente cuándo o dónde se realizará el festival en su sitio web oficial, es más, no han actualizado su sitio desde el festival pasado. Los boletos de preventa del festival Heatwave están disponibles para comprar, se llevará a cabo del 10 al 11 de junio, aunque los detalles de la ubicación tampoco se proporcionan en su sitio web.
La Directora de Comunicaciones, Michele Lemons, le dijo a La DePaulia por correo electrónico que “No se han emitido permisos para festivales en este momento”.
El distrito de parques creó una encuesta de satisfacción del cliente el otoño pasado, la cual la Junta de Comisionados animó a los residentes a completar durante la reunión.
La pregunta número dos de la encuesta pide a los clientes del distrito de parques que califiquen su satisfacción con los “Eventos a gran escala que requieren un permiso (por ejemplo, carreras y festivales de música con más de 10,000 asistentes diarios) en una escala de 1 a 5. Los clientes pueden marcar la
categoría “no sé” o “no aplica”.
La encuesta también pregunta a los clientes qué es lo que puede hacer el distrito de parques para “mejorar la forma en que se ofrecen los eventos que requieren un permiso”.
Ferguson dijo anhelar los días en que podía visitar Douglass Park y tenerlo lleno de gente en lugar de festivales.
“Cuando los niños no pueden correr o las parejas no pueden besarse debajo de los árboles, cuando la gente no puede usar el parque, es desgarrador. Es uno de los pocos espacios libres que tenemos,” dijo Ferguson.
Los residentes se sienten excluidos en el proceso de participación del distrito de parques sobre dónde organizar mega festivales
‘Les decimos lo que queremos, y ellos nos dicen lo que vamos a obtener’
Después de ganar la Copa del Mundo en diciembre, el futbolista Argentino ‘Leo’ Messi ha ganado casi todo lo que se puede en su carrera profesional.
Con cuatro copas de Champions League, 11 Ligas, una Copa América, una medalla de oro en los Juegos Olímpicos de 2008, siete Balones de Oro y más de 700 goles en partidos oficiales.
Se puede decir que Messi se ha ganado su puesto entre los grandes futbolistas de la historia. Si bien históricamente se le coloca al lado de leyendas como los futbolistas Pelé, Roberto Carlos y Diego Maradona. Durante su carrera los fanáticos, a menudo, lo han comparado con el futbolista portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, debatiendo cuál de los dos es el mejor jugador de su tiempo.
Cristiano Ronaldo es una superestrella junto con Messi y es considerado el mejor jugador de su tiempo. Al día de hoy, Ronaldo tiene el récord de más goles oficiales marcados por un jugador individual en el fútbol profesional, con más de 800.
Durante la mayor parte de sus carreras, Messi y Ronaldo jugaron en equipos rivales de la liga española, F.C. Barcelona y Real Madrid, respectivamente. Del 2009 al 2018, estos dos jugadores se enfrentaron con frecuencia creando un espectáculo fantástico para la comunidad futbolística.
En una entrevista para CNN en el 2012, Ronaldo dijo que en ese momento el era mejor jugador que Messi.
“Creo que a veces nos impulsamos el uno al otro en la competencia, por eso la competencia es tan alta” dijo Ronaldo.
Sin embargo, Messi afirmó, en el mismo año, que la rivalidad no es real y que solo es construida por los medios.
“Solo los medios, la prensa, que
la cancha por última vez en el partido entre PSG y el equipo combinado de Al-Nassr y Al- Hilal.
[quieren] que estemos en rivalidad pero yo nunca me he peleado con Cristiano”, dijo Messi en una entrevista para The Telegraph Sports.
En el 2018, Ronaldo pasó a jugar en la Juventus de la liga italiana. Asimismo, Messi dejó el Barcelona en el 2021 para jugar en el Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) de Francia.
Dado que ambos jugadores todavía estaban en dos de los mejores equipos europeos, era probable que se enfrentaran en la Champions League, un torneo para los mejores clubes en diferentes ligas de Europa. Pero no jugarían entre sí con tanta frecuencia como cuando ambos jugaron en España, de hecho, esto solo ocurrió una vez.
Fue en diciembre de 2020, que el Barcelona se enfrentó a la Juventus en la Champions League, pero cayó derrotado 3-0.
No fue hasta el Mundial de Qatar en 2022 que ambos jugadores tuvieron la oportunidad de demostrar su valía
por encima del otro una vez más. Por su edad seguramente ninguno de los dos jugará en el próximo, entonces ambos sabían que esta sería el ùltimo. Ni Messi ni Ronaldo habían ganado un mundial, y era el último logro posible para ambos, antes de haberlo ganado todo a nivel profesional.
Cuando llegó el momento, Ronaldo tuvo una Copa del Mundo sombría. Marcó solo un gol y terminó perdiendo su lugar en la alineación inicial. Mientras Cristiano se encontraba sentado en el banquillo durante sus últimos dos juegos, Portugal fue eliminado en cuartos de final por Marruecos.
Los fanáticos de Ronaldo estaban decepcionados con la actuación que tuvo en su última Copa del Mundo.
“Objetivamente [los] mejores días [de Ronaldo] quedaron atrás. Estoy seguro de que no jugará en cuatro años [en la próxima Copa del Mundo], lo que hace que esta sea una forma triste de terminar”, dijo un fanático de Ronaldo que deseaba
permanecer en el anonimato.
Por otro lado, Messi fue la estrella de Argentina. Anotó siete goles y dio tres asistencias en el torneo. También jugó todos los minutos posibles para su equipo, sin ser sustituido ni una sola vez en el torneo.
Al final, Argentina ganó el campeonato en una tensa tanda de penales, tras empatar 3-3 con Francia; convirtiendo a Messi en uno de los futbolistas más exitosos de todos los tiempos.
Tras el lúgubre Mundial de Ronaldo, fue fichado por el Al-Nassr, un club en la liga de Arabia Saudita. Esto no solo significaba que Ronaldo se iba a una liga mucho menos competitiva, sino que las posibilidades de que jugara contra Messi se reducían significativamente.
Ronaldo ya no jugará en la Champions League, porque su equipo no está en Europa, y por ende no jugaría contra el PSG oficialmente.
Sin embargo, Al-Nassr se asoció con el equipo saudí, Al-Hilal, para crear un equipo de alineaciones combinadas para jugar contra el PSG en un partido amistoso. Esta sería la última vez que Messi y Ronaldo se enfrenten, un último partido para poner fin a su rivalidad.
El partido tomó lugar el nueve de enero y tanto Messi como Ronaldo estaban en la alineación inicial de sus respectivos equipos. Las dos superestrellas compartieron un memorable abrazo antes del inicio del partido.
Sorprendentemente, el juego fue bastante parejo y el marcador final fue de 4-5 a favor de Paris. Messi marcó un gol para el PSG y Ronaldo dos para su equipo, sellando su rivalidad con un partido muy emocionante.
By Cary Robbins y Andrea Juárez Hernández Editora de Noticias y Editora de Arte y Vida, La DePaulia
Los sonidos de lápices trazando enraspando papel y dedos tecleando se escuchabanron en el Latinx Cultural CenterCentro Cultural Latinx el martes,. mientras el Latinx Writing Center, o Grupo de Escritura Latinx, recién formado se reunía para su reunión quincenal. Todos tenían diez10 minutos para escribir sobre una tradición familiar que salió terriblemente mal, y todos escribieron con entusiasmo todos los detalles rápidamenteque pudieron en esos 10 minutos.
El grupo de redacción fue creado el trimestre pasado por María Dorado, asistente graduada del centro de escrituraredacción. Dorado quería establecer un espacio adecuado donde los estudiantes latineos puedandieran compartir historias en un espacio seguro.
“Mis objetivos principales para el grupo de lectura son ayudar a proporcionar un espacio para que las personas latinaslos latinos se reúnan y puedan compartir su trabajo”, dijo Dorado. “Luego, tener un espacio donde podamos obtener comentarios específicos sobre nuestro trabajo sin tener que preocuparnos siempre por explicar los aspectos culturales de nuestra escritura”.
Ver las respuestas creativas de todos al mismo mensaje es la parte favorita parade Dorado de estar en el grupo de redacción. Al final de las reuniones, ella intenta sugerirproporcionar un temaun mensaje de es-
critura para quienes todos los que quieran escribirtrabajar en una historia individualmente paraque puedan compartirlo en las próximas reuniones.
Claudia Nieves es la co-facilitadora del grupo de escritura y está emocionada de que DePaul ahora tenga un espacio para que los estudiantes latinos se conecten y crezcan a través de la escritura.
“Escribir es un proceso muy reflexivo”, dijo Nieves. “Tener un espacio para conectarse con otras personas de ideas afines, y escribir juntos y crecer juntos es muy significativo”.
La reunión comenzó con todos .intercambio compartiendo qué nuevos libros que han estado leyendo y discutiendo las metas que establecieron para el nuevo año. Dorado compartió un pasaje de uno de losus libros favoritos que ha leído recientemente, “¡Hola Papi!” por John Paul Brammer, y brindó espacio para que todos pudieran compartir su opinión sobre el libro. Durante el resto de la reunión, todos compartieron sus historias siguiendoa partir de las indicaciones y se dieron mutuamente retroalimentación, tomándose el tiempo para discutir las mejoras que se podrían realizar para ayudar a mejorar su escriturala narración.
Tener un espacio creativo es lo que más disfruta Richard Campos del Latinx Writing Group, y las recomendacionesindica-
ciones de escritura que se dan durante las reuniones lo han animado a comenzar a escribir más. Una de sus indicaciones favoritas hasta ahora fue pensar en lo que otros le enseñaron frente aversus lo que no le enseñaron y el aprendió por su cuenta. Dice que le da la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre su propia historia y compartirla con los demás.
“Esta [reunión] proporciona mucha reflexión, especialmente porque escribir es muy terapéutico”, dijo Campos.
Campos está en el programa de posgrado en Consejería y animalienta a las personas a unirse si desean escribir sobre su propia familia e historias personales, y compartirlas con un grupo. Se siente cómodo compartiendo sus historias, y disfruta proporcionando y recibiendo comentarios sobre su trabajos escritos.
“Cada vez que vienes, te vas con un
poco más de energía”, dijo Campos. “Te vas con algo que has producido”.
Al final de la reunión, Dorado les dio a todos un mensaje para pensar durante las próximas dos semanas y crear una historia en torno a una tarjeta marcada con la palabratitulada “justicia”.
Dorado, Nieves y Campos esperan ver crecer el grupo de escritores.
“Es genial para enriquecer tu vida, obtener más perspectivas sobre tu trasfondo cultural y divertirte”, dijo Campos.
Todos son bienvenidos a unirse y pueden hacerlo registrándose a través del código QR en su volante., Sse alienta a las personas a asistir a las reuniones sin registrarse también. Las dos últimas reuniones del trimestre se llevarán a cabo el 7 y el 21 de febrero de 11:30 a. m. a 12:30 a. m. ubicado en en el Centro Cultural Latinx O’Connell Hall, sala 360.
DePaul's shining star recently celebrated his birthday with students and, of course, school spirit.
The "Demon in a Blue Suit," or DIBS to most students, partied and shared his birthday cake with many students on Jan. 26.
Billy the Blue Demon, a smiling demon with a goatee, was originally DePaul's mascot.
However, in 1999, DIBS’ became one of DePaul’s iconic trademarks.
This year was DIBS's 23rd birthday, however, according to DePaul Athletics "a demon never tells," how old he is.
DIBS’ birthday fell during DePaul’s annual Blue Demon Week, which ran from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28.
The week included celebrations like DePaul's 125th anniversary and, notably,
birthday which included snacks, a photo area and some DIBS-inspired swag.
Sophomore Lily Jordan attended the birthday celebration but also enjoyed other Blue Demon Week events with her
“It's fun to see people having a good time and especially have school spirit, which you don't always see with DePaul students, so it's been fun to be around,”
Many students mingled and danced throughout the celebration, and for some, it was the most anticipated event
Sophomore Lindsay Koster was a second-year attendee at DIBS’ birthday party.
"Last year, the energy was great,” Koster said. "I loved the energy and knew I had to come back to dance and vibe.”
Carmen Curtis, OSI campus activities coordinator, believes it is important for students to take time after class to attend events to socialize and embrace their blue demon pride.
“DIBS’ is our mascot, and it’s important to show our enthusiasm and love for him,” Curtis said.
“It's nice to see so many students turn out today, and, of course, to enjoy the yummy cake."
DIBS' birthday was celebrated with not one, but two cakes, which were fan favorites.
“I came for the cake and stayed for the vibes,” Jordan said.
The sounds of pencils scratching paper and fingers typing could be heard in the Latinx Cultural Center on Tuesday, January 24, as the newly formed Latinx Writing Group met for their biweekly meeting.
Everyone had 10 minutes to write about a family tradition that went terribly wrong, and everyone eagerly wrote down every detail they could in that 10 minutes.
The writing group was created last quarter by Maria Dorado, a graduate assistant for the writing center.
Dorado wanted to establish a proper space where Latine students could share stories in a safe space.
“My main goals for the reading group are to help provide a space for Latine people to gather and be able to share their work,” Dorado said.
“Then, to have a space where we can get specific feedback on our work without always having to worry about explaining cultural aspects of our writing.”
Seeing everyone’s creative responses to the same prompt is Dorado’s favorite part of being in the writing group.
At the end of meetings, she tries to provide a writing prompt for everyone who wants to work on a story individually which they can share on the upcoming meetings.
Claudia Nieves, co-facilitator of the writing group, is excited that DePaul now has a space for Latine students to connect and grow through writing.
“Writing is a very reflective process,” Nieves said.
“Having a space to connect with other like-minded individuals and to write together and to grow together is very meaningful.”
The meeting began with everyone discussing new books they have been reading and goals they set for the new year.
Dorado shared a passage from one of her favorite books she has read recently, “Hola Papi!”, and provided space for everyone to share their opinion about the book.
For the rest of the meeting, writers shared their stories from the prompts and gave each other feedback, taking the time to discuss improvements that could be made to help enhance storytelling.
Having a creative space is what Richard Campos enjoys the most about the Latinx Writing Group, and the writing prompts given during the meetings have
encouraged him to start writing more.
One of his favorite prompts so far was thinking of what he was taught by others versus what he was not taught and learned on his own.
He says it gives him a chance to reflect on his own story and share them with others.
“This [meeting] provides a lot of reflection, especially as that writing is very therapeutic,” Campos said.
Campos is in the counseling graduate program and encourages people to join if they would like to write about their own family and personal stories and share them with a group.
He feels comfortable sharing his stories and enjoys providing and receiving feedback on his writing.
“Every time you come, you leave a bit more energized,” Campos said. “You leave with something that you've produced.”
At the end of the meeting, Dorado gave everyone a prompt to think about over the next two weeks and to create a story surrounding a card titled “justice.”
Dorado, Nieves and Campos are hoping to see the writing group grow.
“It's great for enriching your life, getting more perspectives on your cultural background and having fun,” Campos said.
Everyone is welcome to join and can sign up through the QR-code on their flyer, but people are encouraged to show up to the meetings without registration.
The last two meetings of the quarter will be held on Feb. 7 and 21 from 11:3012:30 a.m. at the Latinx Cultural Center, O’Connell Hall room 360.
As a first-generation college student eager to excel in political science and law, DePaul alumna Lourdes Contreras did not expect to pursue Italian studies.
In a world where STEM majors are a safe bet in terms of job opportunity and pay, with a starting salary almost $20,000 more than liberal arts majors according to Big Economics, liberal arts majors are misunderstood as a bad investment.
Contreras realized in her fourth year of double-majoring in political science and Italian that she was losing interest in working in government and studying law and was “very disillusioned by it all,” she said.
After graduating from DePaul in 2020, Contreras began her PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating on ecocriticism, or the connections between literature and the environment.
Although some deem these majors a bad investment, students that gain skill sets from liberal arts majors like experience, quality mentorship and willpower have the greatest variety of careers and opportunities.
“I’ve gotten comments like ‘What exactly could you do with your PhD in Italian studies?,’” Contreras said. “You'd be really surprised by the kind of careers you can find in the fields that people consider useless.”
Although Contreras’ family was supportive of her decision to pursue her PhD in Italian, she says that some of her loved ones still hold out hope that she will go to law school. As a result, Contreras sometimes feels conflicted.
“You do feel some guilt on doing something that perhaps is not in-line with what a first-generation student is expected to do,”Contreras said.
According to Mark DeLancey, DePaul professor and chair of the art history and architecture department, pushback can be societal in addition to parental.
Starting his academic career in art history and studio art at Oberlin College in Ohio, DeLancey experienced mostly social pushback against his choice that he says has intensified since 2008.
“From the very top, we have had two presidents who’ve used art history as examples of uselessness,” DeLancey said. “Everything is about STEM with the government
There are no surprises about the third episode of season 15. As soon as I found out that the maxi challenge would be a comedy skit in groups, it was sink or swim for these queens.
Each one would have to act their heart out to stay safe while delivering an exquisite runway look.
At the end of the episode, I was satisfied with this week’s winner and loser.
RuPaul asked each group to come up with an infomercial for the afterlife, specifically for drag queens.
Group one, led by Anetra, had superstar Sasha Colby playing “God” and each time she would change scenes, she’d pretend to snap her neck. Colby looked beautiful and played the part elegantly.
However, I felt so bad that her group put her legacy to the test which caused some missed cues during rehearsal. The other queens in her group did fine, but Colby stood out the most.
Group two was led by Amethyst, who was in the bottom two last week. Their take on the afterlife was a place filled with sexual innuendos.
I personally was waiting to laugh. Loosey LaDuca, who was second to last in the premiere, played “God,” who was actually Dolly Parton.
The judges spared some pity chuckles at the end.
Group three or “the leftovers” had the funniest take about drag queen hell. Instead of a paradise, drag queens were sub-
jected to an annoying white girl who was just too obsessed with drag queens.
Sugar, who portrayed an irritating character, really gave the skit the overarching humor. The over-use of gay lingo and the reactions were hilarious.
I have no idea why the other two groups weren’t grabbing for Sugar and Mistress Isabelle Brooks!
This week’s runway theme was “show us your metal.”
Just like last week, everything that needed to be said has been said.
Colby distinguished herself as the winner the moment she came out with her metallica silver phoenix look. Her outfit was glamorous and sophisticated, much like the premiere. Colby’s makeup also matched perfectly with the red lip and dark eyes.
Lux Noir London’s gold dress was so gorgeous and matched perfectly with the tall black wig. As much as I thought LaDuca’s look was worthy, Sugar and Spice killed it with their outer space twist. Spice’s metallic teal “My Life as a Teenage Robot” and Sugar’s pink outer space superstar should have received third and fourth. They were so unique compared to everyone else’s interpretation. This is my bid for them making it to the top ten at least.
Now, the misses went hard this week. Salina Estitties’s camp “lamp post” costume was so out of place. In fact, the signs all over her dress made no sense. Where have you ever seen a lamp post have signs on it?
Estitties constantly wears a wig on the runway and even with the actual lamp part on her head, I couldn’t tell what she was until her confessional. Critiquing a fellow Lati-
and the humanities lose out.”
Students need to think about majors more broadly and consider their interdisciplinary nature, according to DeLancey,.
“I am not completely sure what I would do [after completing my PhD],” Contreras said. “I just know I really do enjoy teaching enough to say that I wouldn't mind getting a position at a university. I am also interested in manuscript study and being a librarian in an archive which is really interesting and something that I've had the opportunity to do.”
Ed Childs, DePaul first year and exploration advisor, encourages students to understand that a major is only a piece of the whole package as students search for a career.
Childs sees three pillars to this process: education/major, experience and skills and employers care about all three.
“40% of employers do have careers that are going to require specific degrees, but it’s more about the research, the writing, and the collaborating, and the stuff that you do in student organizations,” Childs said. “To employers, a college degree represents well-roundedness and that you have the ability to relate to other folks. That is what the liberal arts piece is about.”
Childs urges students to use LinkedIn Learning and LinkedIn profiles as a resource to learn and market their skills, and to see the variety of jobs that people in their field of study have obtained.
DeLancey recommends students to “meet with professors and advisors who can suggest to you the breath of possibilities in your useless choice.”
When Contreras was not sure about where her disinterest in political science and law would redirect her, she is very thankful to have had the guidance of Caterina Mongiat Farina, DePaul Italian Program Director.
“I give her all of the credit for helping guide me through the application processes,” Contreras said.
Many college students go into practical majors due to outside family and societal pressure to fit into a box of what others want them to be or what will be the most profitable in the long run.
“It is important to love what you do,” DeLancey said. “If you love what you do, that is worth quite a bit.”
na truly hurts, but I’m surprised this look did not land her at the bottom. Jax’s take was camo and gray, not silver. I love Jax so much and I felt myself wondering what she was doing with all the camo on stage. Finally, Princess Poppy gave us nothing. No literally, her corset dress was barely anything. I am so shocked about the minimal effort Poppy gave into this. Her sparkly dark blue wig was beautiful but my jaw dropped when she revealed herself. How did she think that was a good idea?
It ultimately led to Poppy and group two leader Amethyst losing the challenges. While Amethyst’s Beyonce-esque runway look was beautiful, the failure to lead her group to victory put her back in the bottom two again. RuPaul asked the queens to perform “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by his idol Diana Ross. Amethyst had a slight
advantage that her dress was perfect to imitate Ross. As a self proclaimed comedy queen, I held my breath hoping Amethyst did not try anything too outlandish. I was surprised to see her tone it down a little and deliver an adequate performance. Poppy gave me no impression about her personality or drag so it was a toss up. However, Poppy was doing all these crazy moves like crab walking and interacting with the other queens. It was quite cringe, especially when they panned to the confessional where Poppy said, “I’m showing the judges exactly who Princess Poppy is!”
Poppy sashayed away at the end of the episode, and for good reason. Judging by the sneak peek, the queens will be tested again on their comedy skills. Let’s just hope we see some effort all around.
AIDAN HANSEN | THE DEPAULIA
“You'd be really surprised by the kind of careers you can find in the fields that people consider useless."
Lourdes Contreras
DePaul Alumni
Contributing WriterCREDIT: @DRAG_MILK ON INSTAGRAM Sasha Colby performing during the 15 season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Chicago is a city full of flavor. From tamales that can be bought from a food truck near your local public park, to Michelin Star restaurants in the bustling West Loop there is bound to be a cuisine for everyone. Running from Jan. 20 through Feb. 20, Chicago will host its 16th annual restaurant week with 335 restaurants and 34 neighborhoods set to participate.
Throughout the celebration, each restaurant participating has curated lunch and dinner menus specific to the event at a fixed price. As a result, culinary establishments attain exposure while affording residents and tourists diversify their gastronomic dining experiences at more accessible price ranges.
“During restaurant week, restaurants provide an approachable dining experience that allows the guest to see what the restaurant is all about,” said Joel Reynolds, School of Hospitality Leadership undergraduate program director. This is also beneficial for the restaurant as it allows guests that may be curious of the cuisine to come and experience, thus generating the potential for new guests to become regular customers.”
ChooseChicago is showcasing all the participating restaurants and their menus online. After looking through the wide selection, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity of the more accessible cultural dining and inquire whether the multicourse meals were worthwhile.
For my first dining experience, I visited the family-owned business Franco’s Ristorante in Bridgeport for dinner. After three successful Italian restaurants, founder Frank Ruffalo Sr. decided to open Franco’s Ristorante in 1989. Passed down from Frank Sr. to Frank Jr., the restaurant has been feeding the Bridgeport neighborhood authentic Italian food for over 30 years.
With low lighting and romantic music, the ambiance really set the tone for the entire experience. I was greeted by the server Monica and seated at the bar beside other guests. On that Monday afternoon, the crowd consisted mainly of neighborhood
regulars socializing, eager to get a drink and some food after a long day at work.
For the price of $42, I was provided with a specially curated tasting menu consisting of a three-course meal.
For the first course, I ordered the warm and hearty minestrone soup. The appetizer was preceded by the second course of the chicken giardiniera, a juicy breaded chicken cutlet served with the house-made giardiniera and a side of crispy golden potatoes. I ended the night with a serving of their seasonal gelato.
A serving of chicken giardiniera paired with roasted potatoes.
For my second menu tasting, I went to Café Ba-Ba-Reeba, Chicago's first tapas restaurant. The Spanish Tapas bar was established in 1985 in Lincoln Park. It has been providing authentic Spanish gastronomy for 38 years now. With the lively music and authentic food, the experience was a cultural immersion.
The $42 menu tasting featured a threecourse meal with a complimentary glass of wine.
For my first course, I ordered the spicy potatoes covered in sun-dried tomato aioli. The potatoes nicely complimented the second course of seared Atlantic salmon. I topped it all off with the third course of sweet and creamy Colombian natilla flan.
The spicy potatoes served with aioli at
the bar.
“I really like the food here and I love that the restaurant makes a tasting menu at a reasonable price for the week,” Café Ba-Ba-Reeba regular Azusena Chavez said.
My waitress provided great service, timely food and some insight into how Chicago Restaurant Week has boosted business.
“I think people like to take it as an opportunity to try things out because the menu is not as intimidating since it’s so big,” Café Ba-Ba Reeba waitress Annie Lee said.
Apart from the exposure the participating restaurants cultivate, the event has been proven to be beneficial for the city of Chicago.
Considering that it has been held for 16 years now, it allows Chicago to set up several facets of revenue.
“The city of Chicago benefits from restaurant week through the revenue that is generated in the restaurants, but more importantly the city benefits from all of the ‘extra’ or peripheral events that take place during restaurant week,” Reynolds said. “Think of all the transportation that occurs, from commuter trains, to the CTA lines, buses and ridesharing.”
I found the event to be worthwhile considering that it provided people with exposure to affordable fine dining options while expanding Chicago restaurants and Chicago’s revenue.
Relying on catchy lyrics and an energetic punk sound, Måneskin’s newest album “Rush” is a certified crowd-pleaser with enough edge to satisfy old fans and versatility for those who only recently discovered them. Boasting an almost overwhelming 17 tracks, the album somehow maintains a perfect balance, crafting numerous unique showstoppers into a cohesive narrative. “Rush” takes a dark perspective on the highs and lows of abrupt fame, masking the reflective themes of intrusion and loss behind a glam rock facade.
The Italian rock band first made headlines in the international music scene after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021 with their original song "Zitti e buoni". Their sudden popularity continues to grow after a 2023 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, a few top 10 charting singles and a recent world tour full of sold out shows. With the release of “Rush” on Jan. 20, this success is unlikely to stop and Måneskin is seemingly up to the challenge.
“Gossip” is one of the most theme-defining songs on the album, doling out biting accusations of the stardom they have clawed their way into and the people in their way. The song is cynical, blatantly stating “This place is a circus, you just see the surface / They cover shit under the rug” when con-
fronting the “American dream” they have achieved. Amid eye-widening guitar solos from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and the band’s own Thomas Raggi, harsh lyrics and a chaotic beat prepare you for what the rest of the album attempts to fight for: autonomy in a sold out industry.
“Kool Kids” stands out as a satirical jab at the music industry and the punk exterior Måneskin adopted, teasing that “Cool kids, they do not like rock / They only listen to trap and pop / And everybody knows that rock and roll is dead.” In the half-sung, half-spoken track, it becomes evident the
album as a whole is meant to be taken with some amount of humor and levity.
Måneskin is new enough to the music scene to still avoid the pitfalls of pretension and acknowledge the entire brand they have crafted is a charade for fun. Thankfully, there is diversity in the album’s sound to transform the predominantly upbeat album into a well rounded discography, alleviating listeners from nearly an hour of only aggressive rock songs.
“Timezone,” “If Not For You” and “The Loneliest” are beautifully heartbreaking ballads that maintain enough individuality to
be distinct from each other.
Meanwhile, “Baby Said” reigns champion of catchiest pop-esque song, characterized by nearly instantly-memorizable lyrics and a lewd subject matter guaranteed to make at least one person listening too carefully blush.
The most surprising thing about the album is not that every song is thoroughly enjoyable, but that none of its authenticity feels compromised by “selling out.” Måneskin undoubtedly skyrocketed to global fame over the past two years but rather than concocting an album with overly-formulaic radio hits that any person and their mother would enjoy, there is still grit behind the music and a roughness around the edges. There will be at least one song everyone can enjoy out of the 17 released but it is still a genuine reflection of the band’s ability and rockstar lifestyle. “Rush” is an easy choice when you are suddenly handed the aux, but double check that none of the other passengers are exclusively Top 40 pop music listeners first.
Against all odds of merely obtaining their 15 minutes of fame, Måneskin has come out on top as a commercially successful, yet true-to-themselves, rock band with genuine talent. There is soul in their lamentations about hating the dark side of fame and a refreshing juvenility in the maniacal rock they use to rebel against it. “Rush” is raunchy, it is full of headbangers, and most importantly, it is rock and roll.
Contributing Writer
The average person would never predict that a Big Brother star could eventually become one of the most radical, polarizing people on the planet. Yet, Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed lifestyle guru and social media star, became one of the most Googled people in 2022, as well as one of the most hated.
His internet persona has been spotlighted in the media over the past few weeks due to his recent arrest in connection to a rape and human trafficking investigation in Romania. Since then, Tate’s arrest sparked a conversation about his outward influence and why so many subscribed to his disputable content in the first place.Tate gained popularity on the internet over the past year due to his controversial opinions toward women, along with tips for a primarily male fan base on how to make money and attract women.
His advice on women and dating consists of extremely misogynistic opinions. An example of these statements is when he said he would “bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck,” if a woman ever cheated on him. Additionally, he has said things like rape victims should “bear responsibility” for their assault, women belong in the kitchen and that he prefers to date women ages 18 and 19 because they’re “easier to make an imprint on.”
“He feeds people who are my age and younger a type of philosophical junk feed that emphasizes selfishness, narcissism and a general lack of compassion,” said DePaul junior Liam Murphy-Killings.
Despite his controversial content, Tate has 5.7 million loyal TikTok followers who view his thoughts as correct and abide by his advice and opinions.
Many of these supporters are teenage boys and young men who also subscribe to his online academy called “Hustler’s University,” which has “professors” coaching around 200,000 young men on how to get rich and
pull women. His program costs $50 a month, and has over 110,000 active participants.
Loyola associate professor of marketing Jenna Drenten recalls her familiarity of Tate to be not a particularly fond depiction.
“He sorta spearheads a movement of people who subscribe to a misogynistic, outlandish, outrageous lifestyle, and he’s motivated a lot of people. I would say he’s the king of clickbait because even if he’s not posting his content, other people are posting his content, and even individuals that don’t follow him want to know what’s going on and what the hype is about,” Drenten says.
Much of the general public, like brothers Liam and Martin Murphy-Killings, are appalled by his success and how many fall for his manipulative and deceiving tactics.
“I was made aware of him through a few YouTube videos that I watched, and unfortunately through a friend of mine who got indoctrinated into the cult,” DePaul junior Martin Murphy-Killings said.
This narrative has been incredibly common with young men, especially since that is
Tate’s target audience. Liam also mentioned a friend who abides by Tate’s word.
“He looks down on women in a lot of ways these days when he was not used to. It’s depressing to watch,” said Liam Murphy-Killings.
How is it that Tate able to convince so many people to follow him, and what is it that people find so credible about his word?
“He starts with a few basic truths, such as ‘it’s not good to feel alone,’ or ‘some men feel like they can’t get a date,’ which is true for some people. It’s the small truths that they feed you at the beginning and then they say the crazy sh*t, but someone down the line will say ‘well, he was right about that, so he might be right about this,’” Martin Murphy-Killings said.
Drenten agrees with Martin Murphy-Killings, as they both state that Tate has allowed for a spiral of negative information to land in the hands of impressionable young minds.
“I don't think there's anything particularly compelling or charismatic or special about
him. I think it's more of the cultural time that he came to be, or saw his rise. I think if it wouldn’t have been Andrew Tate, it would have been someone else, and It's really less about him as an individual.” Drenten said.
With how radical and polarizing Tate’s content continues to be, many wonder why social media platforms such as TikTok stopped trying to ban Tate, or remove his profile. His content is against community guidelines and breaches the policies many of these sites use as their foundation.
“I don't think banning solves anything. In fact, you just feed into the cult. What he says is that they’re going to silence him, and when you have a company that actually takes him off the website, what does that look like? They silenced him,” Martin said.
The platform did remove Tate at one point, but it only made things worse. Tate was vocally unsettled about the censorship, and felt as though he was silenced. Meanwhile, his followers continued reposting and supporting his content.
“They did ban him, and it didn’t solve anything. It didn’t take away his platform. In fact, it made it bigger. He got more money, he became more wealthy, and he just started to become worse because his fans looked at that and said ‘See? They were right. He was right, they did try to silence him,’” Martin Murphy Killings said.
His recent arrest in Romania for trafficking disturbed many, but surprised few. The type of person that Tate has shown to be is directly in line with these allegations and has opened the door for a conversation on how the general public let it get this far.
“The best way to talk about this is earnestly and honestly. And at some point, I think you have to acknowledge that some people are going to be lost causes, and some people are going to be so stupid that they side with him no matter what you say. Even if there is someone you can save, I think it's worth talking about it,” Martin Murphy-Killings said.
By JonaH weBer
Arts & Life Editor
Midwest emo is one of the many genres that were quintessential in my high school upbringing.
What is it, though? It’s a subgenre of emo music that focuses on very well curated guitar riffs and very mediocre vocals. It resonates with those of us from the Midwest.
I also recognize that the band American Football is not on this list, but they are the original Midwest emo band.
Covet - Basement
This song is so emo and so Midwestern. The first ten seconds of the song open with beautiful vocals, then immediately the heavy guitar riff comes in and blows everything out of the water. This song is filled with emotion. I got into Basement during quarantine, and this song resonated a lot. I wasn’t going through a breakup
or anything, but I was away from all my friends and I didn’t have anyone to be emo with.
Prototype of the Ultimate Life Form - Prince Daddy & The Hyena
Coming from one of my favorite bands, this song was the one I listened to most in 2020. I remember listening to it on repeat during my two-hour commute to high school, feeling incredibly unprepared for whatever the day held. Being a Midwest emo song, it hit extra hard on below-zero mornings.
YIKES (daddy wants wings) - Mom Jeans.
Mom Jeans. has become one of the most popular Midwest emo bands. This random collaboration EP from 2017 holds a piece of gold: this song. The guitar riff throughout is so calming and the lyrics are heavy, existential and goofy. It’s a perfect song. For the last two minutes of the song the band is sort of singing together, but
clearly not all of them have mics and it’s phenomenal.
Numb But I Still Feel It - Title Fight
I will forever be sad about the suspension of this band. They simply stopped making music one day. They left us fans with so much goodness, though. They push the boundaries of emo and hardcore, with super heavy guitars and drums, but deep and harsh vocals. This song perfectly encompasses the feeling of being stuck in the Midwest with simply nothing to do.
Tears Over Beers - Modern Baseball
There is a reason that this is Modern Baseball’s most popular song. It’s so quick, real and fun. The dynamic guitar riffs go along with the steady flow of lyrics. Hearing the lyrics, “I’m friendly and thoughtful and quite awfully pretty,” will always hold a special place in my heart. My best friend and I saw the title to this song once and immediately knew it was going to be a classic. The world needs to appreciate it.
ACROSS
1) Quench
6) Beach locale
10) Issue a caveat to
14) Personnel director, often
15) Sometime today
16) Cookie brand
17) It might be jumpin'
20) Lay waste to
21) When the expectant are expecting
22) Type of whale
23) Permitted
24) Certain beach bird
27) "_ will be done"
29) Taro root
33) St. kin
34) Chinese dynasty (Var.)
36) Worthy of a medal
38) It's not proof of future success
41) Parting words
42) Complain pettily
43) When you might come
down
44) Transmit
45) Suffix for a world record
46) Expression of praise (Var.)
47) Personals, e.g.
49) Select carefully
52) Like some elephants
56) Scared, to a stereotypical hayseed
60) From Methuselah's time
62) Connive
63) Common canine name
64) Garden bulb
65) About half of all deliveries
66) Addition column
67) All in
DOWN
1) Certain herring
2) "That's_"
3) Music and dance are two
4) Continue
5) Baseball miscue
6) One who quarantines
7) Former French coin
8) Like an aristocrat
9) Follow afterward
10) Furniture material
11) La Scala solo
12) Cost of living?
13) School jotting
18) Soused one's sound
19) Boeing 757, e.g.
24) Spanish finger foods
25) A void doing
26) Fir tree exudation
28) Angry fits
29) Good bit of history
30) Beneficiary
31)
Pronouncements
32) Indian or
Atlantic
34) PC "brain"
35) Spell
36) Many mins.
37) Pair of jammies?
39) One of the Kennedys
40) Shunned ones
45) Break out of jail
46) Emphasize the importance of
4 7) Consumed
48) Performed, in Shakespeare
50) Alien craft
51) Some boxing blows
52) Dangerous snakes
53) It holds plenty of fodder
54) Get_ a good thing
55) Play divisions
57) Part in a sitcom
58) One of "The Waltons"
59) U.S. govt. subgroup
61) "Hither" partner
DePaul suffered a 20-point blowout loss at Wintrust Arena Saturday night, resulting in its eighth conference defeat of the season after losing, 89-69 against Marquette.
The Golden Eagles were led by sophomore forward David Joplin’s career-high 28-point day. The Blue Demons fall to 9-13 on the season and 3-8 in Big East play.
Coming into Saturday’s game, it was no secret that the Golden Eagles offense was elite and Stubblefield’s defense would be in for a long day if they could not hold it at bay. Marquette leads the Big East in scoring at 82 points per game, while shooting 50% from the field.
“We got beat by a very good basketball team,” head coach Tony Stubblefield said. “It’s easy to see why they’re very well connected and they know their roles and who they are as a team. They play extremely hard and can hurt you in a lot of different ways.”
DePaul played Marquette tough in the first half, trailing halftime 33-32. Graduate forward Javan Johnson led the way for DePaul in the first 20 minutes, recording eight points, three rebounds and two assists, while connecting on two three-pointers.
Johnson disappeared in the second half, scoring just two points and shooting 1-for-6 from the field. The team continues to live or die off the success of Johnson. During losses this season, Johnson has been held to 11 points per game. When they win, he scores around 22 points per game.
“We really wanted to at least try to make things tough for him and if he made a shot, we wanted to make it a really tough shot,” Marquette head coach Shaka Smart said. “He’s a good player and has good size, but we were rotating different guys. Those guys deserve a lot of credit for how hard they played against Gibson and Johnson, and those are two really good scorers in our league”
Marquette controlled the game from start to finish in the second half, never giving up the lead and out-scoring the Blue Demons 56-37. DePaul only led for 29 seconds during Saturday’s matchup.
“I don’t know if they necessarily made any changes,” Stubblefield said of Marquette’s second half performance. “They’re a very good offensive team and the best offensive team in the country according to the statistics. Once you let them get into a rhythm, they’re very difficult to guard.”
Outside of graduate guard Umoja Gibson, DePaul’s offense was stagnant with their second leading scorer in Johnson only recording 10 points. Gibson finished the game scoring 25 points, three rebounds and two assists while making five-of-seven shots from beyond the arc.
Gibson has been DePaul’s most consistent player this season and has carried the Blue Demons’ offense night in, night out, while Johnson tends to disappear in big-time games.
“No, it wasn’t [because of] the offensive part,” Gibson said on whether the team is too reliant on his scoring. “It was the defensive part, and we just have to lock in defensively and get stops if we want to start winning games.
The Golden Eagles’ perimeter shooting in the second half was nearly flawless as it seemed like everything was dropping.
As a team, they made 11 three’s compared to DePaul’s five, with David Joplin connecting on six of Marquette’s 11 from beyond the arc. Joplin scored 28 points on Saturday against DePaul, while shooting an impressive 8-for-11 (72%) from beyond the arc.
“He’s a good basketball player,” Stubblefield said of Joplin’s 28-point performance. “He got some really open looks out there, and once he hit a couple of them, that basketball got really big.”
Once the clock hit zero, the Marquette bench could be seen celebrating and hyping up the crowd as Wintrust filled with cheers supporting the Golden Eagles throughout Wintrust Arena. Saturday’s game was supposed to be a road game for Marquette, but instead turned into a road game for DePaul.
“I thought I saw more blue,” Athletic Director DeWayne Peevy said. “Obviously, we want better results from it. I’m disappointed that we couldn’t help and the fans couldn’t help our team win the game. We want to have more of these [sell out games]. It should be something we can do very often.”
Three Blue Demons were sidelined, including Nick Ongenda (hand injury), Mo Sall (wrist injury) and Ahamad By -
num (suspended). Senior center Ongenda was reevaluated this past week and had his cast removed. He is expected to make his return to the court this season at some point.
“He did get his cast off, and he’s now in a splint,” Stubblefield said of Ongenda’s injury. “We’re hoping that he can get that hand back stronger and sooner rath -
er than later and he could join us.” DePaul (9-13, 3-8) will host No. 19 UConn (16-6, 5-6) on Tuesday night with tip-off scheduled at Wintrust Arena for 8:00 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on FS1.
DePaul concluded its final home game of the season Friday night at Johnny’s Ice House against conference foe Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW). Ranked above DePaul in the central division standings, CUW forced a Blue Demons third period collapse leading to a 5-3 loss.
Emotions and energy in the arena were high, as DePaul celebrated senior night. That energy was quickly sucked out of the building after Concordia put away two goals in the first period and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
“For the seniors it meant everything,” Alexander Kupfer-Weinstein said. “They have been playing hockey for their entire lives and this is their last home game they’d ever play in organized college hockey, so obviously you want to come away with a win.”
Saturday’s game in Wisconsin had more of the same result. The Falcons went up 4-0 into the second period and it wasn’t until late in the period on a power play that DePaul netted its first goal of the game.
The Blue Demons stormed back, bringing the game to within one after scoring twice in five minutes to open the third period.
This was DePaul’s second back-to-back stretch of losses this season and second series sweep of the season. The Blue Demons now sit 19-6, finish with a home record of 14-3 and a significantly worse record on the road at 7-4.
Friday’s game was highly anticipated following DePaul’s win against Marian where they picked up their first win against the Sabres in program history.
Concordia came in at 23-6 following wins against Illinois State, and ranked the highest they have been all season at No. 3.
Things did not look promising in the first 10 minutes of the first period. DePaul let in two quick goals four minutes apart from each other as the defense looked rattled.
In the final four minutes of the period, senior winger Brock Ash threw a shot towards the net that deflected off the back of a Falcon player, went through the goalie’s
legs and resulted in DePaul’s first goal of the game.
Sophomore Danny Mannarino’s goal in the first 30 seconds of the second period that would have tied the game was taken away after referees stopped play. Defensively, the Blue Demons flipped the script and pitched a shutout.
DePaul’s penalty kill was effective, killing two power plays, as junior goalie Asher Motew kept his team in the game.
Mannarino got his goal back late in the second period that tied the game at two. His back hand wrist shot went top shelf knocking off the goalie’s gatorade bottle, as Johnny’s Ice House erupted on senior night.
Senior captain Jackson Leptich in his final home game at DePaul scored in the first two minutes of the period, giving the Blue Demons its first lead of the game.
A sequence of back to back DePaul penalties gave Concordia a five-on-three penalty advantage. The Falcons scored at
the 7:55 minute on the first five on three penalties, tying the game at three, only to score 15 seconds later during a five-on-four advantage.
The Falcons had quickly put themselves in control as DePaul scrambled to try and tie the game.
The Blue Demons committed more unnecessary penalties, only hurting the team’s chance at a comeback.
“Forget about this game and worry about tomorrow,” freshman defensemen Liam Farrell said. “Tensions were a little high out there tonight so hopefully that doesn’t carry over. Hopefully everybody gets a good night’s rest on our part and we’re ready to go.”
It has been a rough stretch for DePaul in these last weeks, dropping three out of their last four against rivals, who they might see again come regionals.
Although a negative outcome, the Blue Demons felt they could take positives from the game, but at the same time, assess what
caused them to give up five goals.
“I mean I thought offensively we dominated ,” junior defensemen Josh Maloney said. “We definitely have to work on fixing our defensive mistakes and our defensive zone.”
Junior goalie Asher Motew had 43 saves Friday night, but tied his season high with five goals let in. The constant Falcon offensive attack was too much for Motew and his defense.
Concordia outshot DePaul 48 to 38 and kept the pressure throughout the game on DePaul’s own end. The Blue Demons will conclude the season on Feb. 3 and 4 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, looking to get back in the win column, before the start of regionals start on the weekend of Feb. 25.
Nationals will begin nearly a month later on March 17-21, in Malborough, Massachusetts at the New England Sports Center, if the Blue Demons are fortunate enough to qualify.
The ending of the 2022 softball season left a bitter taste in the Blue Demons’ mouths. After a dominating 6-2 win against UConn in the opening match of the Big East conference tournament, DePaul saw its chances to win the title crumble.
The Blue Demons dropped back-to-back games to Villanova (1-0) and UConn (6-2), sending them to an early summer vacation.
Fast forward to this off-season, and DePaul enters the 2023 season as pre-season favorites to win the Big East per the conference’s coach’s preseason poll. This is mainly due to the Blue Demons returning the majority of their offense that finished first in the conference last year in home runs (54), RBIs (290), walks (189), and slugging percentage (.477%).
Both Villanova (57 votes) and UConn (56 votes) were right behind DePaul (58 votes) in the coach’s preseason poll.
Despite the high expectations, head coach Tracie Adix-Zins and her staff have focused on keeping their team calm.
“I told them not to go in with too big of a head of, owh we’re just going to roll because we’re first,” Adix-Zins said. “No, that makes teams want to beat us even more. So I talked to the team about just playing our softball and not getting caught up in it.”
The offense will likely go as far as senior first base Brooke Johnson will take them, who is coming off a career year. After being named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team in 2021, she took her game to the next level in
to his head coach’s guidance. Plotkin speaks to his players steadily and with composure. He doesn’t keep his players at an arm’s length. Instead, Anderson says his coach embraces relationships with his players individually.
“I think the best way to describe him would be as a player-manager,” Anderson said. “He’s very good at handling each and every person on the team, and what their needs are … that really helps our team evolve, because it helps everyone grow as an individual.”
Player leadership and talent are both vital for DePaul to get to where it wants to be, but nothing is more important than Plotkin’s coaching acumen. Though none of the
2022, hitting .389 with 13 homers. This led to her being named to the AllBIG EAST First Team — one of six Blue Demons to be named to the All-BIG East team.
Yet, the burden will not be on Johnson alone as she has plenty of protection in the lineup.
“Our team has a great offense,” senior outfielder Tori Meyer said. “All our bats are on fire, so we have been working to be more consistent. The Big East has plenty of new pitchers this year. We’re just going to be aggressive and try and jump on these new faces and beat them with our offense.”
A year ago, DePaul finished middle of the pack in the conference when it came to
teams he’s coached at DePaul have reached an NCAA tournament, Plotkin’s boss says his ability to do more with less shows that those goals could be right around the corner.
“His budget is last in the Big East,” said DePaul athletic director DeWayne Peevy. “This past year, with about a week to go in the season, we had a chance to make the Big East tournament … when you really think about it in those terms, he’s doing an amazing job.”
While he might be overachieving relative to the resources at his disposal, Plotkin likely doesn’t care. He and his players are here to win. His embrace of team-first culture and comradery is because he thinks it’s the best formula for winning.
“I want to compete for championships,
stolen bases — something the team emphasized over the off-season. Incoming freshmen Alexis Houge and Gracie Jacobs add much-needed speed to the lineup.
“I think we stole between 44-50 bases last year,” Adix-Zins said. “Because we’re missing some certain points in our offense, we want to be more aggressive. It isn’t just Alexis and Gracie that we want to steal. We want to steal Nicole. We want to steal Brooke. We want to steal everyone. Jimmy, our strength coach, has done an amazing job at increasing our speed. … Our offense is going to look a little bit different in having the ability to now pinch run people and add more speed to our game.”
and I want DePaul to be consistently in the NCAA tournament,” Plotkin said. “That’s what we’re working towards.”
As he works towards these championship goals with arriving talent, they’ll be introduced to an identity and culture of grit and selflessness that Plotkin’s teams have shown.
Perhaps no better example was the gutsy, yet heart-breaking finale in which Plotkin’s veterans gave so much effort, only to surrender a draw. It was a game that ended in teary-eyed embraces from senior teammates like Jake Fuderer, Matthew Brickman and Jack Richards who knew it was the last time they’d play together in a DePaul kit.
When any recruit or an incoming player steps into Plotkin’s office and sits down for a
Adix-Zins wants to see her team steal at least 100 bases.
DePaul didn’t return any of their pitchers from a year ago and in their stead is a mix of freshman and transfer students.
“It has been impressive how our new pitchers are acclimating,” shortstop Nicole Sullivan said. “It’s a new look for DePaul. We’re excited and confident about what they can do. All four of them are great additions.”
Meyer echoed her sentiments.
“They complement each other well,” Meyer said. “You have faster. Slower. It’s different looks for the other teams.”
Freshman Bella Nigey and Purdue transfer student Brenna Smith are two names to keep an eye on.
Nigey was a standout at Davenport Assumption High School in Davenport, Iowa, posting a 0.80 ERA and 385 strikeouts.
Smith spent the first three years of her collegiate career at Purdue, posting a 4.17 ERA in 95 2/3 innings last season. Joining them in the pitching staff is freshman Abbey Pochie and Central Florida transfer Katey Pierce.
With a revamped pitching staff and maybe the best offense in the conference, DePaul is primed to win its first Big East tournament title since 2019. Now, they must put everything together.
“Over the off-season we focused on being a team collectively, trusting each other and learning to build relations,” Johnson said. “I think that will help our production on the field this year.”
meeting with Wish Field seen displayed behind the head coach’s back, Plotkin doesn’t start by offering prospective playing time or star status to wide-eyed rookies with big dreams.
No — instead, he offers something else.
He offers something he sees as the only route to navigate DePaul soccer to new heights. He offers an idea behind the tears in his players’ eyes in their final game last season. He offers the same idea that’s led him to coaching at his alma mater.
He points to the photograph from his wedding day, and he offers brotherhood.
“Every kid that sits in here, I always point towards that picture,” Plotkin said. “[I tell them] that’s the experience I want you to have here.”
Across the L tracks at Fullerton, overlooking his team’s home pitch at Wish Field, a whiteboard hangs on the wall of DePaul men’s soccer head coach Mark Plotkin’s office. On it is a list of names. Not far below, a photo is tacked to the coach’s desk.
The board lists the incoming players who will join Plotkin’s team next season. Below it hangs the photo of Plotkin and his groomsmen taken on his wedding day seven years ago.
The group of smiling young men posing in matching tuxedos is mostly made up of the head coach’s teammates or classmates from his playing days at DePaul from 2006-2009.
It’s a symbol for an idea that Plotkin believes is the root of success, that fortune favors a close-knit team.
“Every team that I’ve ever been around that’s been successful, maybe there’s been one guy that’s gone on to play professionally,” Plotkin said. “It’s always just been about guys who really care about each other and bought in to doing the things that nobody in the stands really notices.”
The last time DePaul made it to the NCAA tournament was in 2008 when Plotkin was a starter in the team’s midfield. Through experiences as a player and coach, he understands what a close-knit group can achieve.
After finishing his fifth season as a head coach in one of the toughest conferences in college soccer, Plotkin knew in order for the program to advance, it was time to combine his team’s brotherhood mentality with a new ingredient: a higher threshold of talent.
Many coaches would say that tying talent with team culture is a primary focus in leading any team. For Plotkin and his staff, this focus has intensified of late, as the program has spread its reach in acquiring talent. To reach new heights, the head coach says it was time to raise the bar.
“We’ve made a conscious effort … to be a little bit pickier,” Plotkin said. “Let’s not just take a guy from Chicago because it’s easy. Let’s take our time and be diligent about it and find the right fit for us.”
Last season, 18 of the team’s 28 players were from Illinois. Instead of settling on local talent passed over by Midwest powerhouses like Indiana and Notre Dame, Plotkin’s staff went elsewhere during the past recruiting cy-
cle. Of the six incoming freshmen to DePaul’s 2023 roster, Plotkin said only one is from Illinois.
“We put a talent threshold in,” Plotkin said. “If they’re not this quality, then we don’t want them.”
The head coach said DePaul will always be in the conversation with every young player in the Chicago area, but the recent shift to nationwide talent searches has added key pieces that satisfy the squad’s new talent threshold.
As of publishing, DePaul has signed Keagan Pace, Izaiah Coleman and Liam Mullins to its newest class, all of whom are soccer academy products and will come to Lincoln Park from outside of Illinois. The rest of the class is expected to be announced by DePaul in coming weeks.
DePaul coaches see Pace, who has spent time at Carolina Elite Soccer Academy in Greenville, S.C., as a target for crosses at the striker position. Plotkin said Pace has “one of the best leaping abilities I’ve seen in a number nine” position.
Coleman comes from Shattuck St. Mary’s in Fairbault, Minn. and adds size and speed — two points of emphasis for DePaul in the recruiting cycle — to the team’s back four as an outside back. Mullins, a product of Phoenix Rising soccer academy in Arizona, also adds size at 6-foot tall and is likely to play as winger/forward at DePaul.
To some, DePaul’s middling Big East finish last season, with an overall record of 4-67, doesn’t look any different than other recent campaigns, but Plotkin and his staff say otherwise.
Though he’d be the first to tell you of the bitter taste that the end of the 2022 season left in his team’s mouth, he’ll also tell you the season is an indicator of the process moving forward. To him and his staff, a move into the next tier of Big East programs is more in reach than ever before.
“We’re not far off,” Plotkin said. “We had a meeting at the end of the season, and you could just see just how disappointed all of us were because we knew we were right there.”
Throughout last season, a theme emerged of DePaul not being able to sustain control for 90 minutes after landing the first blow in matchups with some of the best teams on its schedule.
An early lead resulted in draws against No. 13 Xavier, No. 20 Butler, No. 22 Notre Dame and Georgetown. The Hoyas, who played in the final four in 2021, finished 2022 with a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.
“I think it was just a big learning experience for our guys of dealing with that kind of pressure of having a lead and being able to manage it for the rest of the game in order to get those three points,” Plotkin said.
In draws against top-level opponents
last season, DePaul showed they can go toeto-toe with teams on the schedule that, historically, have had superior talent. The head coach says there’s a reason for it.
Before the team’s recent nationwide recruiting shift, DePaul recently acquired young talent with higher ceilings than years prior. Diego Benitez, Felipe Corral, Ethan Gordon and Sam Moore all saw significant minutes as freshman last season, with Corral and Gordon cementing themselves as integral pieces of DePaul’s lineups.
Gordon started in all 11 games he played at center back during the Blue Demons’ last campaign. Corral, who Plotkin called an “absolute animal,” tallied a goal against UIC early in the season and proved to be a problem against the league’s best defenders during Big East play.
The challenge now is marrying next season’s underclass talent to DePaul’s team culture. To get the most out of the team’s newcomers, the team’s on-field leadership must show them the way.
Throughout four seasons, Michael Anderson secured himself as an integral leader in DePaul’s starting 11. Entering his fifth and final year, the Big East tournament is at the forefront of the central midfielder’s mind after seeing his departing teammates fall short last season.
“Whatever it takes to win, I want to do,” Anderson said. “It was really sad to see those guys graduate without having ever experienced [a tournament game]. I don’t want that to be the same case for me.”
In doing “whatever it takes,” Anderson will need to help teach the team-first culture to his young teammates to get the most out of his new teammates.
With the development of last year’s freshmen and the addition of incoming talent, he believes his squad now has the tools to turn those draws from last season’s schedule into wins.
“Being in this high-level of a conference and being able to compete with all those teams [last year] shows how good of a squad we are,” Anderson said. “Next year … we’ll be a team to look out for in the Big East.”
Anderson attributes his own development into a veteran leader on DePaul’s squad
PLOTKIN continues on page 27
PHOTO | DEPAUL ATHLETICS