5/8/2017

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. . . a m a M Hey

DePaul faculty, students give thanks to mom Focus, pages 14-15

DePaulia

The

2016 Pacemaker award winner/ Best Weekly College Newspaper-SPJ

Volume #101 | Issue #25 | May 8, 2017 | depauliaonline.com

Photos by JESUS MONTERO | THE DEPAULIA

DePaul groups urge students to vote ‘no’ to fee increase By Diamaris Martino Contributing Writer

BY CHARLENE HAPARIMWI

This year’s Battle of the Bands competition hosted by the DePaul Activities Board (DAB) showcased a show-stopping mix of talented student DJs, bands and solo artists. The winning DJ gets to perform at FEST After Hours, while the winning band gets to be a featured artist on all of Music Garage’s social media, free rehearsal time at Music Garage, and an opportunity to book a local show with Music Garage. The seven acts that performed a 10 minute set each at Lincoln Hall and Schubas on May 2 were DJs DIY Dan, SNOOF, DJ Tawasahn and CLB, solo artists Beach Bunny, and Mike Fulahope and six-member-band Punting Baxter. The winning DJ of this year’s competition was CLB, who is junior Max Foley. Foley has been DJing for four years and producing for three, which was evident in his laidback, chill style and smooth transitions between songs. His new EP called “Hood Euphoric 2” drops on May 29. The winning band this

year was the garage-funk outfit, Punting Baxter, with vocalist John Micensky, guitarists Jack Kapson and Nick Scholz, bassist Austen Goebel and drummer Aidan Kranz. According to the band their name came from their “love of leather-bound books and rich mahogany,” a reference they say that for some people immediately pick up on and for some it goes right over their heads. Punting Bax-

ter calls their genre of music garage funk because their music mixes punk, funk and psychedelic rock in an interesting way. Their most recent EP, “Garage Dogs,” is influenced by their love of Cage the Elephant, Rage Against the Machine and Talking Heads. They recently recorded their new song “Iron Jungle” at IV Labs Studios and released it the weekend of May 5. Punting Baxter will also be performing at a house show on May 12.

When it came to winning the grand Music Garage sponsored prize, lead singer John Micensky said it was a bittersweet victory. “I don’t like that in order to win, someone else has to lose,” Micensky said. “Music has always been appealing to me because it’s not really a competition, it’s a collaboration. It’s great to win the actual prize, but I don’t like being pitted against a fellow musician.” The first act to kick off the Battle of the Bands night was sophomore Danny Thomas, who goes by the DJ name DIY Dan. Thomas had a brilliant mixture of lighting and sounds to get people off their feet and onto the dance floor. He has been DJing for nine months, starting off at a party at the beginning of the school year. He’s gone on to perform at several DePaul events, including the DAB’s Silent Disco. He will be releasing an EP this summer. The second act of the night was sophomore Lili Trifilio, who is a surf pop artist that goes by the name Beach Bunny. The self-professed ‘sad girl’ graced the stage

See FEST, page 16

Conservative student groups are protesting a proposal that would increase the student activity fee by $2 a quarter. The Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and the DePaul College Republicans and some students are against what it would fund and what it stands for. “The fee would go to something that is allowing people to break the law”, YAF executive board member Natalie Kizior said. “But also this is not a choice, but forced. If I don’t believe in what it’s funding, and it goes against my beliefs, why do I have to be forced into it?” YAF is not the only group on campus that opposes the fee, as do the DePaul College Republicans, but so do individual students. The proposed referendum would not be optional, it would appear on the student’s fees, such as the U-PASS and the Ray Fitness Center. Asma Qazi, a DePaul junior studying education, understands the concerns that other students may have. “I get where people are coming from, but if it was me and I was forced to be funding something that I do not believe it, and goes against my core values, then yes I would be against funding it. It is just a basic right of have that choice, and not being forced.” Choice is one issue students have against the fee, another is the overwhelming amount of students who are in need of help to paying for DePaul. One-third of DePaul students qualify for either the MAP or PELL grant that is awarded to students by the state. Qualifying for these grants defines a student as “need based” or “middle to lower class” by the state. This would mean around one-third of DePaul could be middle to lower class and needs help to pay for school. On average a DePaul

See REFERENDUM, page 5


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