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Checkout our Valentine’s Day coverage in Arts & Life, page 18-19
Volume #103 | Issue #15 | Feb. 11, 2019 | depauliaonline.com
Lighting the way Students successfully lobby DePaul administration to approve life-saving drug for overdose victims By Angelina Korniyenko Contributing Writer
In November 2018 in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood, there were five opioid overdose deaths recorded in the span of two days. One of those deaths was a 22-year-old DePaul graduate. He became one of 13,181 20-30-year-olds to die of an opioid overdose in the U.S. this year. Every day, more than 130 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids. In Illinois, opioid overdoses have killed nearly 11,000 people since 2008, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Students at DePaul try to embody the Vincentian mission, asking what must be done? Dominique Coronel is one of the students taking it upon himself to do exactly that. Coronel, a vice president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at DePaul, decided to take it upon himself and his organization to push the University administration to change its policies regarding the opioid crisis.
“The opioid crisis has been going for so long, and people tried to advocate for it for so long, but there wasn’t a lot of pressure on the administration to really get the ball rolling,” Coronel said. “What we did as an organization on first day of school of fall quarter, we met with the dean to let her know that it is something that needs to be addressed.” To address it themselves, Coronel and Students for Sensible Drug Policy [SSDP] worked with Roosevelt University and DePaul’s Student Government Association to draft a new policy for the university. Their goal was to make DePaul change its policies to permit students access to naloxone and naltrexone, so-called “opioid-antagonist drugs,” in residence halls. Since the number of opioid overdoses continues to grow, Coronel believes this new policy is good precautionary measure for DePaul to take. “As a result of our advocacy and hard work, President Esteban has personally approved a plan to roll out the medication throughout our
See OPIOIDS, page 4
MARLEE CHLYSTEK | THE DEPAULIA
Faculty Council addresses diversity report, SNL restructuring By Carolyn Bradley Copy Editor
DePaul’s Faculty Council offered several updates to university affairs as it addressed a newly released diversity report, amendments to the handbook and the School of New Learning restructuring at its Feb. 6 meeting. The diversity report’s data reflected self-reported racial demographics from 2002 to 2017. The change in the full-time faculty demographic in 2017 accounted for 67 African-American faculty members, eight more than the 59 accounted for in 2012. White full-time faculty decreased to 584 in 2017 from 640 in 2012. Hispanic full-time faculty dropped from 59 to 52; multiracial full-time faculty remained the same at 8 and Asian full-time faculty stayed the same at 51. Department Chair of Political Science Valerie Johnson told The DePaulia that though she commended the university for issuing its first diversity report, she found issues with the data it conveyed. Johnson said the report was inaccurate because it did not reflect the shifts that occurred in 2018. A newer, more accurate report Johnson cited showed a 7.5 percent decline in African-American faculty from 2017. “There should also have been in that report something about student
Life in the fast lane
XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
The Chicago Auto Show returned to McCormick Place this past weekend, and all of the automotive industry’s hottest rides were on display, like this 2018 Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1 car above, which is valued at close to $100 million. If you can’t swing that price on a student’s budget, check out our resident gear-head’s pick for a more sensible car, as well as a few for if you want to go fast. See FOCUS, page 14
populations that was not aggregated as a whole,” Johnson said. “I think there are some issues relating to undergraduate enrollment that we as an institution may need to examine.” Johnson also said the report was incomplete because it did not address the decline in African-American student enrollment. “We should be committed to recruiting and retaining faculty of color,” Johnson said. “Faculty of color are needed to assist students of color in matriculating at a
predominantly white institution.” Johnson noted the black graduation rate, which was only 52.5 percent, she said. She also said the student climate survey cited black students saying they are treated differently and encounter more racial issues. “[Black students] are not satisfied with the level of student diversity, staff diversity or faculty diversity,” Johnson said. “That may have an impact on these bottom line numbers.” The council later addressed a change
to the Faculty Handbook regarding the definition of misconduct following former law professor Terry Smith’s civil rights lawsuit that alleged members of the law school painted him as a bully in response for his advocacy on racial issues. Quinetta Shelby, chair of the chemistry and biochemistry department, said the misconduct section of the faculty handbook could feed into harmful stereotypes. She said the policy has led to her being accused
See FACULTY, page 6