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Volume #103 | Issue #19 | March 11, 2019 | depauliaonline.com
Adjuncts address ‘second-class citizenship’ status at town hall By Ella Lee Focus Editor
Board members and attendees alike aired concerns of subpar treatment and poor communication at a town-hall meeting for adjunct faculty held March 5 by the Workplace Environment Committee (WEC). The committee’s stance is that the university often does not institute its Vincentian values when dealing with adjunct teachers. “There is this universal feeling that adjuncts are second-class citizens here,” said Nathan DeWitt, chair of the WEC and DePaul adjunct. “The Vincentian mission states that the community here is above all characterized by enriching the God-
“I would argue that there is very little dignity in working for a wage that is below your skill set and expertise, having little to no job security and in having no say in your department.” Nathan DeWitt
Chair of WEC and DePaul Adjunct given dignity of each person. I would argue that there is very little dignity in working for a wage that is below your skill set and expertise, having little to no job security and in having no say in your department.”
When asked if he personally feels as if he is treated fairly as an adjunct faculty member, DeWitt made it clear that his experience could not speak for others’ outside of his school.
“Yes,” he said. “But with an asterisk that notes I’m in CDM, and we are kings at this school. Adjuncts in CDM and business are usually known to be pretty happy and well-compensated, while the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a more frustrating environment. So for me, yes, it’s a great place to teach and I’m loving my unit. Adjuncts in LAS and also the College of Science of Health—they’re a little bit more overworked and a little bit less compensated.” How adjunct faculty view their treatment by the administration was made evident as individual attendees expressed frustration with certain adjunct realities.
See ADJUNCT, page 6
Faculty Council floats four-day spring break By Carolyn Bradley Copy Editor
The Faculty Council is mulling over the pros and cons of switching to a semesterbased academic calendar and adjustments to spring break scheduling. Faculty council addressed a possible four-day spring break as well as the muchdebated quarter-to-semester change at its March 6 meeting. Human Computer Interaction professor Craig Miller presented the fourday spring break proposal. The proposal included two different versions. Version A creates the possibility for winter courses to start Jan. 2 with a full week of Spring Break. Version B would have winter courses starting Jan. 3 with a 4-day Spring Break from Tuesday to Friday. Both would occur during the 20222023 academic year. According to Miller, the Associate Deans Council proposed and supported Version B. According to the document from the discussion, those in favor of Version A argued that the schedule would accommodate students who study abroad over Spring Break. The document also said a full week is a necessary split between the end of Winter Quarter and the preparation for Spring Quarter. Students would also be able to know their grades from the Winter Quarter before the spring. The document said those in favor of Version B support the late start; it would accommodate new transfer students who need to adjust their schedules as well as students who need an extra day after the holiday to return to the university, particularly international students. Quarter-to-semester taskforce members Mary Ann Papanek-Miller and Caryn Chaden provided updates as to what the taskforce has done so far. Papanek-Miller, chair of the Art, Media, and Design department, said the task force’s impetus is a part of the Strategic Plan which addresses studying the change. Papanek-Miller referred to the shift in calendar as “energetic.”
See FACULTY COUNCIL, page 4
ALEXA SANDLER | THE DEPAULIA
Dave Leitao walks off the court at Wintrust Arena. In his fourth year back at DePaul, Leitao had the Blue Demons preforming well at many points this season as they pushed to improve DePaul’s standing in the Big East Conference. For the ninth time in 14 seasons, DePaul finished in last place.
DePaul squanders chance at bye, finishes last in Big East By Lawrence Kreymer Assistant Sports Editor
DePaul went into its final regular season game against Creighton on Saturday playing their best basketball of the season, coming off two impressive wins against Georgetown and St. John’s. That two-game winning streak was quickly put to an end against the Bluejays (18-13; 9-9 Big East) in Omaha, Nebraska, as DePaul (15-14; 7-11 Big East) lost its final game of the regular season 91-78. There was a chance for DePaul to earn a No. 6 seed and a first-round bye in the Big East tournament, which begins Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, with a win over Creighton. Instead, the Blue Demons had no answers for the Bluejays’ sharp shooters all night long, as sophomore guard Mitch Ballock exploded for 39 points on 11-for-12 shooting from the 3-point line. “It feels good, obviously, when you get in that zone,” Ballock said after his 39 point outing. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in a zone like that, so it was pretty fun.” As a result, DePaul will play once on
opening night as the bottom seed against No. 7 St. John’s, who fell 81-68 to Xavier earlier in the afternoon that opened the door for the Blue Demons to potentially grab the final bye. Since the Big East realigned in 2013 to only 10 teams, the Blue Demons have finished in last place three times; since DePaul joined the conference in 2005, the Blue Demons have finished in last place nine times in 14 seasons. “We were fighting an uphill battle,” DePaul head coach Dave Leitao said after the game. “We got close but we never really got comfortable, where we found a really good rhythm.” The game between Creighton and DePaul was the last of five games slated for Saturday, and both sides understood the consequences of a loss. For DePaul, there was a possibility to be as high as the fourth seed at the start of the day, but losses for Villanova and Marquette left the sixth seed as the Blue Demons last chance at a bye. After an explosive start on Wednesday against Georgetown, this time around against Creighton the Blue Demons got off to a rough start. It took DePaul over
six minutes of game time to get their first basket of the game, after starting the game 0-for-4 from the field and committing seven turnovers. “You got to be careful sometimes when you are not overemotional, but when you rise to that emotional level that there is not at a fallout,” Leitao said before the Georgetown game on why it’s important to not to be too overconfident. “We talked a lot about it Monday, stay a little bit away from the court to get some rest because we are in a nine game stretch to end our season . I have to trust, and I trust their mental state of mind that they can refocus themselves, so today was a good day to test that.” Leitao throughout this season has talked about his team making sure not to get too overconfident after big wins, including the wins over St. John’s and Georgetown last week. That has been somewhat of an issue for DePaul this season, after winning an emotional game the Blue Demons tend to get off to a slow start the following game.
See MBB, page 27