things that happend on the day Chicago hit -23 degrees. See Focus, pg. 14
DePaulia
The
Volume #103 | Issue #14 | Feb. 4, 2019 | depauliaonline.com
Student press freedom more important than ever By The DePaulia Editorial Board It is unfortunate that a lot of students, professors and administrators treat student newspapers like intramural ultimate Frisbee or the A.V. club: just another after-school activity. Wednesday, Jan. 30 was Student Press Freedom Day, a nationwide event where dozens of student newspapers have penned editorials in a coordinated campaign to remind us that a protected press should not belong only to the professionals. Through student media conferences, The DePaulia’s staff has encountered student editors, reporters and photographers from all corners of the country; from prestigious New England colleges whose acclaimed newspapers have staffs numbering in the hundreds, to colleges you’ve never heard of in the hills of Kentucky where you can count the staff on one hand. Not one of them will tell you it’s merely an activity to bolster their resumes, though that is a plus. And you’ll definitely never hear a student editor say they’re doing because it pays well, because it doesn’t. What every one of them will tell you is that there isn’t a better feeling than seeing someone pick up the paper when they hit the newsstands on Monday. The truth is, we sacrifice a lot for the privilege of doing this job. Our grades and our social lives suffer. We kid that our major is in The DePaulia. In The DePaulia’s final issue of the year last year, we wrote an editorial detailing the roadblocks we have faced in our pursuit of stories and information at DePaul, and it’s safe to report things haven’t
See FREEDOM, page 13
XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
The Fullerton Red Line platform during rush hour on Jan. 30. Temperatures reaching -23 degrees left public transit services empty of passengers.
‘L’ freezes over
Record-breaking cold brings city to its knees; students begrudgingly stand back up for Monday classes By Carina Smith News Editor
While the polar vortex closed the doors to classes in the middle of the week, students found ways to keep themselves busy and warm as the city shut down because of the record-breaking cold. With little else to do, many students opted to stay indoors and catch up on homework or watch a new show. Junior Symphony Kleba, knowing it would be too cold outside, built a blanket fort in her room at McCabe, filling it with pillows and a T.V. before snuggling in with cups of coffee to binge-watch Netflix all day. Despite online protests to DePaul to cancel school because of the below-freezing temperatures, other students chose to brave the dangerous outdoors. Videos quickly emerged online of students running outside
in nothing more than their underwear to run up and down the street, while others snapped pictures of them sunbathing in their swimsuits while relaxing on a heap of snow. A trend appeared online of many students taking a pot full of boiling hot water and throwing it into the wind, causing it to evaporate the second it hit the frigid air. Other students tried to be productive with their days off. Freshman Kayla Kraft and her roommate Emi Hansen opted to bundle up and brave the freezing temperatures because classes had been
Chicago bands together to help the homeless during deep freeze. See News, pg. 7
canceled and make their way to the beach, where a few other people had also chosen to go. “We crossed the bridge over the highway to get to the beach and my roommate and I just waved to cars,” she said. “A lot of them waved back and honked. I think they were really surprised to see us outside since it was so cold out.” The polar vortex created quite a sight for anyone who looked at Lake Michigan. Steam pooled off of the lake once the water interacted with the freezing cold air, creating a hauntingly beautiful image. “It really was beautiful seeing the steam from the heat of the water compared to the air,” Kraft said. “It was like traveling to the Arctic only when you looked back you saw a skyline of downtown Chicago.”
See COLD, page 4
‘We never, ever punted a problem,’ Emanuel tells DePaul By Doug Klain Contributing Writer
The City of Chicago was battening down the hatches in preparation for record-freezing temperatures, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel wasn’t afraid to crack a joke. “Is anybody cold?” he chuckled as he entered an event for journalism students at DePaul University. With three months left as mayor, Emanuel joined on Tuesday morning for an interview with NBC’s Carol Marin at DePaul University’s Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence. Quickly going into an off-the-record session, the mayor then taped a podcast segment with Marin before launching into a Q&A with student journalists. Emanuel didn’t shy away from reflecting on what he hopes his mayoral legacy looks like. “Look, in the end I was able to do two things,” he said. “One: we never, ever punted a problem. You may not like
the solution, it may not have solved the problem, but I never kicked the can. We addressed it head-on, from day one.” “Second is ... when I walk out [as mayor], is that I hand off a city in a better condition.” He brought up his controversial record on Chicago Public Schools, where in 2013 he closed 49 schools and cut budgets across the board, explaining that despite hardships, he was able to pull a bleeding education budget up into the current surplus. “I think he gets a bad rap,” said DePaul junior Abbas Dahodwala. “I think the way people have portrayed him since he became mayor has been a bit too negative. There’s a lot of stuff he’s done that I don’t personally agree with, but you can tell from what he’s talking about up there that he cares.” Perhaps the most affecting part of the event came at
See EMANUEL, page 6
ALEC FARLEY | THE DEPAULIA
Mayor Rahm Emanuel addressing students and faculty in the lower concourse of the Maggie Daley building on DePaul’s Loop campus.