Celebrating 100 years of journalistic integrity
WIRE WATCHDOG EDITION
‘I am not a hero, period’ Alum, doctor volunteers at NYC hospital
Volume 104, Number 24
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
WWW.MARQUETTEWIRE.ORG
Future students ‘hope for the best’ No official answer regarding fall 2020 in-person instruction
The estimated $11M in room and board refunds accounts for almost three quarters of Marquette’s $15M financial shortfall Other costs 26.7%
The higher education system is currently experiencing the economic shockwaves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Marquette has reported multimillion-dollar short-term losses, with widening long-term impacts as the campus shutdown continues. The pandemic has created economic stress in financial sectors across the nation. More than 26 million people in the United States have lost their jobs over the past five weeks, according to
Process transitions online, awaits new federal guidelines sydney.czyzon@marquette.edu
By Matthew Harte
matthew.harte@marquette.edu
Title IX cases ongoing By Sydney Czyzon
lelah.byron@marquette.edu
See FUTURE page 5
2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 SPJ Award-Winning Newspaper
University faces economic fallout
By Lelah Byron
Following the university’s decision to cancel or postpone all upcoming events for students due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Office of Admissions is reimagining the ways it connects with prospective students and students who have decided to accept admission. “We build each class one student at a time,” Dean of Admissions Brian Troyer said. “That’s never been more true than it is this year.” Student enrollment is down 11% from last year, University Provost Kimo Ah Yun said in a virtual address to the Academic Senate March 21. In the Class of 2024 so far, 1,142 students have sent in deposits. This leaves the undergraduate enrollment expectation for 2020 short by 162 students, Ah Yun said. High school seniors are facing extremely difficult decisions when it comes to post-graduation, Mark Porcaro, college counseling department chair at Loyola Academy, a private jesuit high school in Wilmette, Illinois, said. “I think our seniors fall into two camps,” Porcaro said. “Some of them have already decided where they are going, and they decided long, long ago. Then there are
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data from the U.S. Department of Labor published April 23. Research from Columbia University indicates that rising job loss totals could drive nationwide poverty rates to their highest level in more than five decades. Universities have moved to remote online learning, creating immediate loss through housing refunds and missed revenue opportunities from campus events. They also face long-term changes through layoffs and endowment declines.
Working from home, Marquette Title IX Coordinator Kristin Kreple interviews students through a computer screen for ongoing sexual misconduct investigations. The Title IX office’s operations moved off site after the university announced March 12 that classes would move online. Relying on video platform Microsoft Teams for most meetings, Kreple said she sometimes calls students on nights and weekends, working to ensure Room and board that students have internet access refunds and safe spaces to speak with her while at home. 73.3% “Because this is such an unprecedented time, we are finding creative ways to make everything Graphic by Matthew Harte and Chelsea Johanning matthew.harte@marquette.edu work,” Kreple said. chelsea.johanning@marquette.edu It’s a reality brought on by the spread of COVID-19, which The Marquette Office of prompted Marquette and other Finance, Sodexo food universities to suspend on-campus services and Marquette Univer- classes and events. Title IX offices sity Student Government have at these universities transitioned all made operational adjust- to remote services without much ments in response to the chang- guidance from the U.S. Departing financial circumstances and ment of Education, an agency tasked with Title IX oversight. campus cancellations. Title IX is a statute in the Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits sex-based discriminaBudget deficit and tion, such as sexual assault or haendowment decline rassment. Universities that receive University officials announced See FALLOUT page 4
See CASES page 6
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Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Shut down: How campus closed As government warnings were issued, administrators confronted an unprecedented decision By Matthew Martinez
matthew.martinez@marquette.edu
Campus was effectively closed for the rest of the academic year when Marquette announced the extension of online learning March 23. The university’s closure, a reflection of a national trend among higher education institutions, was unprecedented; here’s how Marquette administrators arrived at the decision. Concerns about the novel coronavirus start overseas and gradually make their way closer to home. The earliest sign of impact arrives as the Beijing Center cancels its spring study abroad program Jan. 28, affecting one Marquette student. By March 3, the Office of International Education recalls all Marquette students in South Korea, China and Italy, and cancels summer programs in those locations. On March 4, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention releases an advisory for Americans returning from international travel, stating they should self-quarantine for two
weeks. As Marquette students leave for spring break, the situation begins to snowball. On March 10, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announces it will extend its spring break by one week to “prepare to move the majority of its classes online” after an employee was tested for COVID-19. Two days later, Marquette announces the move to online classes through April 10, the Monday following Easter, citing “clear and convincing medical evidence about the university’s ability to contain a spread of the virus on campus.” Students will know by Good Friday if they’ll be returning to campus for the academic year. Until then, the university has urged them to stay away from campus. At this point, there are 1,629 confirmed cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 414 new cases that day. The city of Milwaukee announces its first positive case March 13. Less than a week later, the state bans gatherings of 10 or more people.
All in-person higher education in Wisconsin is effectively shut down March 18, along with all public and private schools. “Such institutions shall remain closed for the duration of the public health emergency or until a subsequent order lifts this specific restriction,” according to Emergency Order #5 from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The university announces the extension of online learning through the end of the semester March 23. The number of confirmed cases in the United States jumps to 44,338 in the 11 days since Marquette announced the shift to online learning, according to the CDC. There were 10,934 new cases March 23. The same day, the Milwaukee Commissioner of Health announces a stay-at-home order for the city. It is accompanied the following day by the statewide Safer at Home order from the desk of Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. Provost Kimo Ah Yun is one of three members of the Executive Leadership Team, along with University President Michael Lovell
and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Joel Pogodzinski. The team makes final decisions on the university’s response to the virus. Ah Yun said the team makes its decisions “with the health, safety and well-being of our campus community as our number one priority.” In the March 12 announcement, the ELT cited “the highly contagious character of the virus and the danger it can pose to vulnerable populations” as the main factor in closing campus. The team claims that the university’s Jesuit roots call for them to be particularly vigilant in preventing spread of the virus. The ELT established the university’s COVID-19 Response Team, a cross-disciplinary group that “continues to meet remotely several times daily to evaluate changing guidance from public health officials,” Ah Yun said. Ah Yun said the team receives guidance from the CDC, Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Milwaukee Health Department. The response team was behind major decisions like moving
COVID-19 Cases Reported in U.S.
50,000
78 cases reported
classes online and implementing new grading options. The primary response team is headed by Dr. Xavier Cole, vice president for academic affairs. Cole said he was not available for comment after repeated requests for interviews from the Marquette Wire. University spokesperson Chris Stolarski said there are about 25 people on the primary response team. “We have been gathering input and evaluating major changes to academic policies, including the Pass/Not pass decision, to aid our students during this unprecedented time,” Ah Yun said in an email. Ah Yun said that the faculty of Information Technology Services and the Center for Teaching and Learning “undertook a herculean effort” to convert the university to remote learning in under a week. “The spread of the coronavirus is an ongoing and ever-shifting situation that requires us to act quickly, yet thoughtfully, as we receive new See CLOSED page 7
Source: Centers for Disease Control And Prevention
1,629 cases reported
44,338 cases reported
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
3/3/20
Students recalled from Italy, South Korea, China
3/12/20
Marquette announces remote learning through 4/10/20
3/23/20
In-person learning canceled for the semester Graphic by Matthew Martinez matthew.martinez@marquette.edu
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Wednesday, April 29, 2020
The Marquette Tribune
Q&A: Alum volunteers at NYC hospital Doctor reflects on ‘ill-equipped’ health care system
NEWS News Editor Annie Mattea Assistant Editors Alexa Jurado, Kelli Arseneau Reporters Nick Magrone, Shir Bloch, Matthew Choate, JK Rees, Ben Wells
Before getting on the train in Raleigh, North Carolina, Matthew Hayes, a Marquette graduate from the Class of 1997, made sure his medical bag was ready. A 3-year-old N95 mask. A pair of goggles and rubber gloves. Sanitizing wipes. Prior to arriving in New York, Hayes could already see the impact of the virus. For the entire 500-mile trip, there were no more than five people on the whole train. Hayes is a family doctor in North Carolina who spent two weeks volunteering at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. When he arrived at Harlem Hospital in early April, Hayes said the sole focus was treating patients infected with COVID-19. The hospital was over its capacity with COVID-19 patients, to the point that sections that were under renovation prior to the outbreak had to be opened up to make space for more hospital beds.
PROJECTS Projects Editor Matthew Harte Assistant Editor Matthew Martinez Reporters Lelah Byron, Grace Dawson, Joseph Beaird ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT A&E Editor Skyler Chun Reporters Ariana Madson OPINIONS Opinions Editor Alexandra Garner Assistant Editor Annie Dysart Columnists Aminah Beg, Beck Salgado, Nicole Laudolff SPORTS Sports Editor Zoe Comerford Assistant Editors Tyler Peters, John Leuzzi Reporters Matt Yeazel, Bryan Geenen, Molly Gretzlock, Andrew Amouzou, Sam Arco COPY Copy Chief Emma Brauer Copy Editors Nora McCaughey, Shir Bloch, Grace Kwapil VISUAL CONTENT Design Chief Chelsea Johanning Photo Editor Jordan Johnson Opinions Designer Nell Burgener Sports Designer Kayla Nickerson Arts & Entertainment Designer Skylar Daley Photographers Claire Gallagher, Zach Bukowski, Madelyn Andresen, Maria Crenshaw, Sheila Fogarty ----
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Q: What have been the biggest changes in your workload since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak?
THE MARQUETTE TRIBUNE is a wholly owned property of Marquette University, the publisher. THE TRIBUNE serves as a student voice for the university and gives students publishing experience and practice in journalism, advertising, and management and allied disciplines. THE TRIBUNE is written, edited, produced and operated solely by students with the encouragement and advice of the advisor, who is a university employee. The banner typeface, Ingleby, is designed by David Engelby and is available at dafont.com. David Engelby has the creative, intellectual ownership of the original design of Ingleby.
Photos courtesy of Matthew Hayes
Hayes captures neighborhood scenes during his two weeks volunteering at Harlem Hospital Center.
sitting in my home in North Carolina, twiddling my thumbs as the medical system is completely getting pulverized in New York City where I used to live, so I was
anxious to try and do something to help. Q: What was the daily protocol at the hospital?
A person not affiliated with MU was trespassing in the 1800 block of W. Wells Street. MUPD cited the subject. APRIL 24 A person not affiliated with MU removed merchandise from a business in the 1600 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue. The
person was cited and transported to the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility by MUPD for an outstanding warrant. An unknown person removed merchandise from a business in the 1600 block of W. Wells Street. APRIL 22 Two people implied they had a weapon and took property at a business in the 1600 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue. A third person was taken into custody by MUPD regarding this
THE TRIBUNE is normally published Tuesdays, except holidays, during the academic year by Marquette Student Media, P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881. Subscription rate: $50 annually.
A: The policy was to limit interaction with the patients because this is a highly infectious disease. See NYC page 8
MUPD REPORTS
A person not affiliated with MU exposed themself during an altercation in the 700 block of N. 21st Street. The subject left the area prior to MUPD’s arrival.
EDITORIAL
Managing Editor of Marquette Tribune Jenny Whidden
joseph.beaird@marquette.edu
APRIL 27
The Marquette Tribune Executive Director of Marquette Wire Sydney Czyzon (414) 288-1739
By Joseph Beaird
A: The American health care system is one that moves very slowly and, in my opinion, was ill-equipped to deal with this outbreak. Most routine medical care has completely gone away. For two to three months, no one’s going in to get their knee replaced, nobody’s going in to see their family doctor unless they’re really sick. I actually got laid off from a job at a private practice not long before I ended up going to New York City to help out. I was
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EVENTS CALENDAR incident. An investigation is ongoing. An unknown person removed merchandise from a business in the 1600 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue. APRIL 20 A person not affiliated with MU removed merchandise from a business in the 1600 block of W. Wisconsin Avenue. A person not affiliated with MU was trespassing in the 1800 block of W. Wells Street. MUPD arrested and cited the subject.
All in-person events canceled until May 26 APRIL 29
MAY 6
Online Café con Leche 2-3 p.m.
Deadline to order Commencement apparel
MAY 1
MAY 12
Deadline to withdraw from a class
All grades must be entered
Virtual COVID-19 Town Hall 3-4:30 p.m. MAY 5 Virtual Mass at St. Joan of Arc Chapel 10-11 p.m.
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FALLOUT: Dining Services lays off 190 Continued from page 1 April 14 that Marquette is experiencing a $15 million budget deficit from the impacts of the pandemic. “Nearly all universities and many other organizations are challenged by the human and economic effects of the pandemic,” Ian Gonzalez, Marquette’s vice president for finance, said in an email. “Marquette is not immune to those challenges.” Gonzalez said the majority of Marquette’s short-term $15 million shortfall is due to refunds on residence hall stays and meal plans. In March, the university announced it would provide certain students with 50% refunds for unused residence hall stays, meal plans and parking permits. Gonzalez said Marquette is experiencing additional expenses through facilitating the transition to distance learning and costs to clean and secure the campus. The Office of Finance estimates that room and board refunds will cost the university $11 million, according to university spokesperson Chris Stolarski. The offices of the president, provost and senior vice president, college deans, vice provosts, and vice presidents have also reduced their budgets to offset the costs of the pandemic, Gonzalez said. Additionally, an April 8 university statement announced that 250 employees have been placed on temporary unpaid furlough until the university’s normal operations resume. The announcement also noted that merit increases and nonessential hiring have been paused. The nonessential hiring pause does not include positions necessary for “operational continuity” or positions that were targeted to be filled for the spring or fall 2020 semester. Gonzalez said the university has experienced some cost savings through reduced services, fewer office expenses, lower utility costs and the suspension of university travel. Marquette is also expected to receive $6.6 million of aid from the Higher Education Emergency Relief fund under the CARES Act, an economic relief bill signed into law by President Donald Trump March 27. At least 50% of Marquette’s aid, or about $3.3 million, must be used to provide grant aid to students. The remaining amount can be used toward the university’s economic shortfalls. Cornell University and Grand Canyon University have announced that they will give 100% of received funds toward student grant aid. “With regard to the relief aid, we are carefully considering how to best use this resource to partially offset university losses and support our students during this
challenging time,” Gonzalez said in an email. The economic fallout from the pandemic has also ignited debates about university endowments. An endowment is a large sum of a money funded by donations that a university invests into financial markets and assets to increase the sum’s long term value. Last week, Trump and several Republican Congress members criticized Harvard University for accepting $9 million in CARES Act relief while maintaining an endowment around $40 billion. The CARES Act non-discretionally allocated funding to universities using a formula most heavily weighted by the school’s proportion of students who receive Pell Grants, which are federal grants limited to students with financial need. Harvard has since announced it will reject all CARES ACT relief funding, citing the political attention it received and noting that it did not request or apply for the funding. Marquette’s endowment represents the permanent capital of the university, according to the Office of Finance website. It is used to support student scholarships, academic programs and salaries. As of March 31, the value of the endowment is $620 million, according to Sean Gissal, the university’s chief investment officer. At the end of the 2019 fiscal year, the endowment had a value of $698 million. Gissal said that for the first financial quarter of 2020, the endowment has declined approximately 13.5%. “Like many other organizations throughout the world that are impacted by the pandemic, we are exploring multiple scenarios and financial models to proactively consider and prepare for future impacts beyond what we’ve already experienced in the shorter term,” Gonzalez said in an email.
napkins, Keel said. “We are very honored to continue to serve our students that remain on campus,” Keel said in an email. “We truly hope our continued service during these uncertain times has helped those still here on campus feel normal to some degree.” Keel said Sodexo has launched an extended sick leave policy for employees affected by the pandemic. It will provide paid sick leave for both full-time and part-time employees for up to 21 work days if they have a confirmed case of COVID-19 or are asked not to come to work due to COVID-19 symptoms. Student dining hall employees fall under university policies covering all student employees during the campus closure, Keel said. Marquette’s COVID-19 frequently asked questions page states that student employees “for whom it is not critical to work on campus should not be working on campus.” Keel said Sodexo currently does not have any student workers at dining hall sites. Student organization funding MUSG has altered its handling of student organization funding, implementing protocols to allow many organizations to make up previously approved events in the fall 2020 semester.
Student organization funding is granted through two systems: bulk funding and spot funding. Organizations apply for bulk funding the semester before they hope to use it, and funds are directed toward large-scale events. Spot funding is used for small-scale or unanticipated expenses and is granted on a rolling basis for use in the ongoing semester at the time of application. MUSG canceled spot funding grants for the remainder of the current semester after spring break, March 8-15. MUSG Executive Vice President Dan Brophy said MUSG made the decision upon the realization that campus was unlikely to reopen April 10, the day Marquette originally planned to resume in-person classes. Brophy said organizations that were granted spot funding for this semester will be able to use the funding in the upcoming fall semester. “If an organization had an allocation for an event, say on April 10, that organization is still going to be able to use however much money we allocated them in the fall,” Brophy said. MUSG has also canceled bulk funding for the upcoming fall semester. Brophy said it was not feasible for MUSG to review bulk funding requests virtually, and they did not want students to worry about meeting funding application deadlines while transitioning to
Endowment Value Decline $750 million
$698 million $620 million
Dining Services layoffs and operational changes The pandemic has created operational changes for Sodexo, the university’s provider for residence hall dining services. Marquette Dining Services has laid off 190 non-student team members, residential operations director Brant Keel said April 10. Keel said that all current dining services are being handled by a rotation of 23 Sodexo managers who remain on campus. Services are currently only being provided at Cobeen Hall’s dining center for students who remain on campus. Sodexo has enacted social distancing protocols, including packaging all meals for takeout, restricting the number of patrons and utilizing prepackaged plastic silverware and
online learning. However, organizations will be able to apply for fall 2020 semester bulk funding at the start of the school year. The deadline for fall bulk funding was originally set for April 3. Student organizations fill out reimbursement forms to receive money from MUSG for approved events after they occur. MUSG has set up an online form for organizations to receive reimbursements for previously held spring events through a mailed check or electronic transfer, according to MUSG finance officer Joel John. Organizations struggling to receive refunds from outside vendors for canceled events will have to work through the situation with the vendor, Brophy said. He said MUSG has not had any organizations reach out to them about this scenario. Brophy and John said they recommend student organizations contact MUSG if they have questions about funding. “I think it’s a really difficult time for everybody, and I think one of the last things that a lot of students want to think about is, you know, ‘What is my organization gonna be able to do next semester?’” Brophy said. “We want MUSG to be there as a support system for organizations financially and logistically.”
$500 million
$250 million
$0 million
September 2019
March 2020
Source: Marquette University Office of Finance Graphic by Matthew Harte matthew.harte@marquette.edu
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The Marquette Tribune
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FUTURE: Admissions offers virtual guidance Continued from page 1 other students who are still trying to figure things out.” Porcaro recently met with a student who, prior to spring break, had narrowed down his choice to two universities. There was just one problem: he had not visited either school in person. This renders his already-tough decision even more difficult, since he will now be unable to physically visit the campuses, Porcaro said. “We were talking about some virtual options, but that doesn’t take place of the real thing,” Porcaro said. For some, an in-person campus visit is one of the most important factors in a student college search and selection process. Although some students begin their college visits as early as their sophomore year in high school, that isn’t the reality for everyone, Troyer said. “Many students were counting on the opportunity to visit in March and April before they made that decision,” Troyer said. Approximately 70% of students who visit Marquette for a tour in March and April are high school seniors who are making their final visit before making their college decision. Approximately 25% of visitors in March and April are juniors, and the remaining 5% are transfer students and sophomores in high school, Troyer wrote in an email. Bailey Striepling is one such student who made her decision, in part, by taking an in-person tour. Striepling, a transfer student from the University of Tampa, will begin attending Marquette in fall 2020. “This probably sounds cliche, but when I walked onto the Marquette campus, it just felt like home,” Striepling said. With campus closed and Wisconsin officials urging everyone who is able to stay home, Troyer and his team were tasked with marketing the Marquette experience virtually. In collaboration with groups across campus, the Office of Admissions added and improved options on the undergraduate admissions website for students to get a feel for the university. The virtual tour in its current form is about two years old, Troyer said, adding that he has seen an increase of internet traffic to the admissions site. The website is being updated “constantly,” Troyer said. As of April 26, the website has over 200 videos, ranging from produced content and short videos filmed by students and professors from home. There are videos from all seven undergraduate colleges. Troyer said the Office of Admissions is paying attention to the needs of individual students through strategic and clear communication. “A substantial portion of our students indicated on their application for admission that the primary
language they speak at home is Spanish,” Troyer said. A recent addition to the admissions website is titled “Bienvenidos a Marquette” to welcome Spanishspeaking students and their families. The section includes videos filmed by faculty, staff and students. Prospective students have the option to schedule individual advising appointments with faculty or admissions counsellors through the website. Through those conversations, Troyer said he can better understand the needs of students. “We learned that students and families really want to talk to a current student in a particular college, or they want to speak to a faculty member,” Troyer said. “With the outpouring of support from campus, we were able to provide that.” Perhaps the most successful of the virtual events has been virtual panels hosted by admissions counselors and student tour guides, Troyer said. “The best people to represent Marquette are its students … and we have a tremendous tour guide staff,” Troyer said. “We’ve asked them to do everything from write personal notes to admitted students to having phone calls with them.” Allison Manning, a junior in the College of Communication, has been a tour guide since the spring semester of her first year. She said her happiest moments on the job are when she gets messages from students saying they’ve committed to Marquette. “It’s the best feeling,” Manning said. One student who Manning toured around campus made the decision to come to Marquette, and afterward Manning said the two became friends. He was recently hired as a tour guide. “That was such a full-circle moment,” Manning said. She added that she still has the opportunity to build connections with students, albeit from a distance. “When COVID-19 hit … I was really proud when our supervisors said, ‘You know what, we still want to include our tour guides,’” Manning said. “(They said), ‘You guys are our university.’” Manning was recently included in a virtual admissions panel for prospective students from the East Coast. The panel, held on Zoom, included a brief information session followed by a Q&A where students could interact with tour guides. “That was a really great way to have that in-person side, while also connecting with students at a safe distance,” Manning said. Laura Schram, director of student success and recruitment in the College of Communication, said she has also found success in virtually connecting with students. “It’s funny, because admissions has appointments set up for twenty minutes. Well, my first (virtual meeting) was an hour and a half,”
Photo courtesy of Vivien Ulrich
Incoming first-year Vivien Ulrich (right) says she always loved Marquette, and it is the only school she applied to.
Schram said. The appointment was jam-packed with questions, but none out of the “ordinary,” Schram said. The twins on the phone were both interested in digital media, so Schram said she helped orchestrate another phone call for the brothers to speak with a professor. “I’m always a cheerleader for Marquette,” Schram said. “I’m a visual person, so I like seeing people in person, but I’m taking this opportunity to get creative.” Dean of the College of Communication Sarah Feldner created a virtual speaker series, called Diederich Drop-Ins, where alumni and current students can listen to and interact with professionals in the field of communication. Schram helped make the decision to invite admitted students and their parents to the events. As part of the Drop-Ins, Alum Chris Marris spoke about life in the sports industry April 15. Around 30 admitted students and their parents joined the call, Schram said. “They’re admitted, so they haven’t committed yet,” Schram said. “It was an awesome opportunity for admitted students to kind of see, to feel how it is.” After the speaker finished, alumni and current students stayed on the call for admitted students to ask questions, Schram said. “Some of them were shy, so they were just writing their questions in the (chat),” Schram said with a laugh. “It was certainly fun, so we’re going to do that again.” The office is aware that the amount of information on the ad-
missions website as well as sent via email may be overwhelming for prospective students, Schram said. The College of Communication was in the process of hiring a multimedia consultant, but that process has been put on hold following the university’s decision to temporarily pause all nonessential hiring activities in response to financial strain caused by the coronavirus. Schram said the incoming students to the College of Communication can get their Marquette updates from posts on apps like Instagram and Facebook. “From the students I’ve met — and I didn’t ask them flat-out — they were saying they would go to social media versus the website to get information,” Schram said. Striepling said she is satisfied with the communication from Marquette. “In the beginning, I was getting a lot of emails just about how they were trying to figure out what to do for fall,” Striepling said. “Marquette is really trying to keep us in the loop.” Even though she appreciates Marquette’s efforts, as transfer student, Striepling said the process is still uncertain. “It was definitely very weird because I got accepted … and then coronavirus kind of just happened all of a sudden, and everything got shut down,” Striepling said. “And now we’re just hoping life will go back to normal in the fall.” A survey conducted March 26-30 by firm SimpsonScarborough revealed one in 10 high school seniors who had planned to go to a four-year institution prior to the coronavirus is
likely to change their decision now. Vivien Ulrich, an incoming firstyear in the College of Communication, said she tries to avoid the coronavirus news in relation to university operations as much as possible. “I don’t want to know about it,” Ulrich said. “I just know (Marquette is) shut down until May 26.” Marquette is the first and only school to which Ulrich applied. She said she was confident about her college decision as early as her sophomore year in high school. “I go to all the basketball games, and I just love the atmosphere,” Ulrich said. “I’ve always loved Marquette.” Ulrich said she believes Marquette has struck a balance with its communication, although she typically will only read the email headlines. An email she got announcing news about SPARK@HOME — a virtual orientation program for first-years to be held over the summer — was especially long, Ulrich said. “I mean, I got an email. I didn’t really read it,” Ulrich said. “It’s, like, four pages.” Striepling is primarily concerned about whether Marquette will remain online in the fall, she said. In Ah Yun’s address to the Academic Senate, he cautioned faculty and staff from reaching out to admitted students about in-person classes. Marquette does not have an official answer on whether the fall semester will be online. “I want the Marquette experience,” Striepling said. “But we kinda just have to hope for the best.”
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CASES: Some investigations experience delay
Continued from page 1 federal funding are required to abide by Title IX. The lack of a recommended approach by the Department of Education gives Title IX officials discretion to transition their services in the way they see fit, leading to possible inconsistencies across universities. This is during a time when universities are anticipating new federal rules on Title IX from the Department of Education. “One of the challenges of Title IX is that you have this very short law … the more guidance, recommendations, best practices that we have from the entity that is in charge of enforcing it, the better,” said Kate Lawson, Xavier University’s chief Title IX officer. Lawson said the Department of Education gave no indication to universities that Title IX offices are permitted to delay their responses or duties. The expectation remains from the department’s Office for Civil Rights that investigations should happen in a timely manner. A spokesperson at the Department of Education said it could not provide prompt responses to questions from the Marquette Wire, adding that it is “swamped with requests” for information. Title IX offices are simultaneously grappling with unique issues prompted by COVID-19, such as potential increases in online harassment and intimate partner violence. Kreple said she anticipates shifts in the nature of Title IX cases reported to the office, though changes haven’t happened yet. “Perhaps there could be more online harassment or there could be a situation where someone is in a living situation with someone who might be engaging in relationship abuse,” Kreple said. “That could be a difficult space for them to be in because they can’t escape in the same way that they might be able to otherwise.” In the meantime, Kreple said the Title IX office continues to receive reports of incidents that happened before Marquette transitioned to remote learning. There is no limit on when students can report misconduct to the Title IX office, and it can take time for students to decide whether to file a complaint. Searching for support Without much federal guidance, Title IX offices are turning to their respective universities and professional organizations for support. Kreple said Marquette’s Information Technology Services department is excelling in its assistance during the online semester. When she recently encountered a technology issue, she said ITS responded quickly. “I’ve been so heartened by all
the folks I work with,” she said. At Xavier, Lawson similarly praised the university’s technical support and training services, though she acknowledged occasional Wi-Fi or other issues from the people she calls. Kreple said she misses the inperson support of colleagues during chats between meetings. “Title IX offices tend to be really close because a lot of the issues that we work on are hard, and because we can’t talk about them with anyone else, we really lean on each other for support,”
taking advantage of webinars and information from the Association of Title IX Administrators. ATIXA is a professional association for school employees who wish to further their commitment to Title IX. “Everything is so new that we’re all still learning what the concerns are with online learning and communication,” Taylor said in an email. Lauren Hasselbacher, the Title IX coordinator at University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the director of the university’s Office of
operations is causing delays in some ongoing Title IX investigations. Changing timelines can be due to differing schedules, time zones, virtual classes and assignments while students are mostly off campus, Taylor said. “I think as we adjusted to working from home and our new schedules, I’m sure that — without being able to calculate it exactly — it would be reasonable that that would maybe cause some delay,” Hasselbacher said. Despite this, Hasselbacher said
PROPOSED RULES FOR TITLE IX OFFICES
NO SINGLE INVESTIGATOR MODELS This would require Marquette to change its investigative process to include hearing panels
NEW DEFINITION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT The narrower definition could reduce the number of claims that Title IX offices investigate
WHEN TO INVESTIGATE Title IX offices would only be required to investigate misconduct that occurred in university programs or activities Source: Department of Education Graphic by Sydney Czyzon sydney.czyzon@marquette.edu
Kreple said. “Not being able to do that in person is kind of tough, but hopefully this won’t last for too, too long.” Marquette’s Title IX Office was not affected by university furloughs and did not receive any pay cuts, Kreple said. The office remains at its full capacity with one Title IX coordinator and four deputy Title IX coordinators, the latter of which assist the head coordinator. Allison Taylor, the Title IX coordinator at Creighton University, said her office is
Compliance is doing staff checkins. She said members of the office attended various training sessions and discussions to learn ways to effectively interview and conduct hearings remotely. “We’re also trying to be aware that there might be benefits and tips that other schools can provide us who have maybe been doing this in other circumstances,” Hasselbacher said. Timeline changes The
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she knows her office should address allegations “as quickly as reasonable.” At Marquette, Kreple said there are no delays. “Because people’s availability might be different than it would normally if they were on campus, that could maybe slow things down, but I haven’t seen any of that yet,” Kreple said. She said Marquette’s Title IX office has prior experience working remotely. Whether working with students studying abroad or during academic breaks, Kreple said
Marquette Title IX employees “already have a good process in place for doing a lot of investigating online.” “We’ve been doing that for a long time, and so that’s a very comfortable space for us,” Kreple said. “That piece of it was a pretty easy transition.” For now, Lawson is allowing students who report misconduct to choose communication mediums they prefer, whether phone calls, email, videoconferencing or something else. She calls it putting them in “the driver’s seat.” “The truth is that, for one person, proceeding remotely through the complaint resolution process will feel like the right decision, and for others, it won’t,” Lawson said. Lawson said she does not compel reporting students to participate in any process that makes them uncomfortable, including remote investigations. She said she has not yet received requests from students to pause or stop virtual proceedings. If they wish, students could wait to continue their investigations in person. Awaiting new federal guidelines While Title IX offices adjust to remote work, they are awaiting the release of new federal regulations outlining changes to the investigative process. “I think the department has been focused on those instead of giving more short-term guidance,” Kreple said of the proposed rule’s consideration during COVID-19. The drafted rule is championed by the U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, whose department released it in November 2018. The news release announcing the proposed rule said it “ensures that due process protections are in place for all students.” Critics of the rule argue it may deter students from reporting misconduct and that it could further traumatize victims. “The proposals were published about a year and a half ago now, and we’ve kind of been in limbo waiting to see when those final rules will be published,” Hasselbacher said. The new regulations would mandate that universities hold live hearings with cross-examination of reporting and accused parties, and it would prohibit universities like Marquette from using single-investigator models for Title IX proceedings. Marquette’s single-investigator model involves a Title IX deputy coordinator or head coordinator handling a case from start to finish. The investigator interviews the See CASES page 7
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CLOSED: WI protocols impact return to MU COVID-19 Cases in Wisconsin Since 3/15/20* 7,500 7500 5,000 5000 2,500 2500
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information and state and local orders,” Ah Yun said in an email. “Right now, keeping everyone safe and healthy to help ‘flatten the curve’ is our top priority.” The COVID-19 Response Team has a steering committee and five working teams that address the “medical, academic, employee, student life/residence life and external contacts” facets of the response, Ah Yun said. The five working teams are comprised of “approximately 100 subject matter experts,” including those from outside the primary response team, Stolarski said in an email. Stolarski said several departments, including the Marquette Medical Clinic, Office of Residence Life and Academic Affairs, are represented on the roster. Keli Wollmer, executive director of the Marquette Medical Clinic, chairs the medical subcommittee for the response team. She said the clinic advised the primary response team on “medical recommendations & considerations regarding the campus closure.” “The Medical Clinic and the Medical Subcommittee continuously monitor the impact of COVID-19 on the local, state, national and world level, noting the number
of cases, the community spread and modeling projections as well as mitigation strategies,” Wollmer said in an email. Wollmer said the clinic is currently providing limited clinical services during remote learning. The clinic will instruct COVID-19 patients on quarantine guidelines and treatment options, as per local, state and federal authorities. “Planning for a protocol for isolation/quarantine and contact tracing when students return to campus is ongoing,” Wollmer said in an email. Wollmer said the university is currently formulating a Recovery Plan for the anticipated return of students to campus. She said the plan is being steered by guidelines at the state level, with Wisconsin’s Badger Bounce Back plan, and federal level, with the Trump administration’s Opening Up America Again plan. For that reason, the Medical Subcommittee is vital to Marquette’s plan to reopen, as they are responsible for interpreting governmentissued medical guidelines and how they apply to the university. “Given the fluidity and rapidly changing nature of the situation, the clinic is looking at multiple potential scenarios for clinical operations,” Wollmer said in an email.
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Over 44 days, the state's number of COVID-19 cases increased from 32 to 6,289 *3/15/20 is when the state's count begins
Source: Wisconsin Department of Health Services Graphic by Matthew Martinez matthew.martinez@marquette.edu
She said the clinic ensures compliance with the Safer at Home order and maintains regular
contact with local health authorities for further advising on “best practices to ensure the safety of the
(Marquette) community.”
CASES: Attorneys general urge pause Continued from page 6 reporting party, accused party and witnesses, eventually drafting an investigative report that is sent to the Title IX coordinator for approval. The report includes findings and any sanctions to be issued, such as probation, suspension or expulsion. The same sanctions as normal are being used in remote investigations, Kreple said. The Title IX coordinator sends a final notification to parties involved, according to Marquette’s policy. The single-investigator model contrasts with a hearing model, in which several panelists interview parties, review materials and issue decisions. The hearing model requires more people involved in most meetings with reporting parties, responding parties and witnesses. This would require additional coordination by Title IX employees to schedule virtual proceedings. If the final rule is published, Marquette would need to revise its policy and procedures to institute a hearing process. Kreple said her previous role as the Title IX & Equity investigator at Stanford University gave her experience in the hearing process. “Moving to a hearing
process will be a big change for us,” Kreple said. “It’s definitely going to take some work to get it into place.” Kreple said Marquette’s Title IX office is working on changes to its policy if drafted guidelines are published in the coming weeks. “Nothing is final, but we’re working with a lot of folks on campus to make sure that we do what works best for Marquette’s culture,” Kreple said. Among other provisions, the proposed rule requires that universities investigate alleged harassment that takes place in a university’s own program or activity. This does not include misconduct that happens in off-campus housing or businesses, such as bars or restaurants in the area. The current guidelines require universities to investigate any misconduct between students that affects learning experiences, regardless of whether it occurs during a campus program or activity. The Department of Education stated the proposed rule does not mean off-campus misconduct is automatically excluded from Title IX investigations. If university programs happen off campus, for example, Title IX officials should investigate alleged incidents. Marquette’s current Title IX
policy makes clear that the office will investigate reported misconduct, whether on or off campus. The proposed rule would define sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the school’s education program or activity.” The current definition is broader, encompassing any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. The change could reduce the number of claims that Title IX offices constitute as sexual harassment. Another aspect of the drafted rule involves proof in Title IX cases. Investigators must meet the level of proof outlined in their university’s Title IX policy to show that someone violated the policy. Marquette uses a standard called preponderance of the evidence, which requires investigators who give sanctions to prove that a violation of Title IX policy was more likely than not. The drafted rule requires universities to use either the preponderance of the evidence standard or the clear and convincing evidence standard, the latter of which requires a higher level of proof. Marquette could continue its current evidence standard as long
as it uses the standard for other conduct code violations, ones that do not involve sexual harassment but share identical maximum disciplinary sanctions. Hasselbacher said it would be “really difficult” if the Department of Education publishes the final rule during remote operations. “I know there has been significant pushback across the country on the timing if those are released,” Lawson said of the guidelines. The new rule would cause Hasselbacher to meet with key campus stakeholders for revisions to the Title IX policy. Not only that, but UW-Madison’s student disciplinary process is outlined in the state code, requiring approval of the legislature to make changes. “There’s a lot of coordination that’s going to be required to be in compliance with whatever those final rules are, but it’s just going to be quite difficult to accomplish while we’re all working remotely,” Hasselbacher said. Attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C. — not including Wisconsin — wrote a March 27 letter to DeVos and other leaders. The letter urges the Department of Education and the Office of Management and Bud-
get to suspend the rule-making process until normal university operations return. “The changes outlined in the proposed rule would take a great deal of an institution’s time, resources, and effort in the best of circumstances,” the letter reads. “But in the midst of a national health emergency, the burden placed on schools would be untenable and ultimately counterproductive to student safety.” The OMB calendar shows that the governmental office held various meetings in March to discuss the rule, but some of the meetings are labeled “no show,” meaning they did not happen as planned. There are currently no future meetings scheduled for the proposed guidelines. Editor’s note: Georgetown University did not respond to repeated requests for interviews from the Marquette Wire. Fordham University Title IX Coordinator Kareem Peat said it is “not the practice of the Title IX Office to participate in this type of interview.” Saint Louis University Title IX Coordinator Anna Kratky did not call for a requested interview. Santa Clara University and Loyola University Chicago provided general statements about continuing operations.
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NYC: Hayes leans on faith, Jesuit education
Continued from page 3 If there was not a good reason for us to go into a patient’s room, we did not, because if their plan of care is working and they’re stable, then there’s no reason to go in there. Along those same lines for the patients, it was quite a scary thing because no visitors were allowed to the hospital for obvious reasons to not spread the virus. The nursing staff and the technicians were the ones that were really putting themselves on the line day in and day out because their job is to carry out the orders. They just have to go in the room more than that. They have to give medications, they have to give three meals a day. Q: What were some of the biggest challenges while working at the hospital? A: If a patient was sick enough that they had to go on a ventilator, that was not good. Most of the patients were not surviving that. The early thing when the pandemic started was ‘we don’t have enough ventilators, people are going to die due to the lack of ventilators.’ As things played out, the reality was that if they needed a ventilator, they probably weren’t going to survive. At Harlem Hospital only 10 to 20% of the patients that went on a ventilator were coming off the ventilator and surviving. Some of the patients would just spontaneously recover. They would be struggling, and then within a day or two, they were fine. It’s a very unpredictable disease. I was in charge of taking care of 20 to 30 patients on one of the regular medical floors in our hospital. None of the patients that I took care of were on ventilators. There were critical care doctors for that. But some of my patients did end up going into intensive care, and some of the patients died. One probably died of large blood clots in the lungs and other ones died of a massive stroke, and so on and so forth. There’s wide variability in their disease, and it was no doubt it was really, really taxing the medical system. The medical community’s learning more and more about COVID-19 rapidly, but it definitely causes viral pneumonia, going to the lungs and causes a lot of lung dysfunction. But it also seems to be affecting all the other vital organs, like the brain, the heart and the kidneys, we think that perhaps due to the coagulation with their blood clotting disorders that it’s causing. I was there for a couple of weeks, and we were learning more about that all the time.
Q: How did you cope with all the added stress? What was the mental and emotional toll of the different things you experienced? A: One very important principle in medicine is you can’t take care of others and not take care of yourself. For me, when my duties were done, I went back to my hotel room, which was somewhat of a safe haven. I knew it was clean and that I could go there and decompress. I definitely had to focus on getting adequate sleep, stay hydrated and getting some decent meals. There were a lot of outside organizations donating food to the hospital … that was nice because you really didn’t want to be out and about for no good reason. I just knew that if I could take care of myself physically and if I were to end up getting that virus, my body should be able to fight this off. Mentally, I definitely made phone calls to friends and family and vented about some things that were going on. Particularly one day we had a patient who … seemed to be doing okay and then suddenly died. That affected all of us working there because it was just so sudden. A couple of times I did watch Mass in my room on my laptop from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is this massive cathedral in New York City that I used to be a parishioner at. Gesu at Marquette is a really beautiful church, but this puts that to shame. So that was pretty cool to go to Mass virtually and to get grounded. My family and I started doing Zoom calls on Sundays with all my cousins, nieces and nephews, and aunts and uncles. That was a morale booster. Q: How has faith been an important aspect of getting through this for you? How do you feel about the transition to online Masses? A: Attending Mass virtually, those couple of times I did, just was calming. The music at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is so fabulous with the organist and they have this main singer who is just, I mean, the pipes on this woman are just incredible. To see the priests that I was familiar with saying Mass was just comforting. It’s just a comforting sense of normalcy, a sense of familiarity during a very uncertain time. I think everybody has to figure those things out because faith is important all the time, but even more so during a crisis. Before I went to the hospital in Harlem a couple of times while I was getting ready, I had Mass on in the background. Q: With New York City and Harlem having a higher
Photo courtesy of Matthew Hayes
An anesthesiologist, dressed in personal protective equipment, prepares to enter a room to intubate a patient.
concentration of Hispanic and African American populations, do you see how they are being disproportionately affected? A: Those statistics do not lie regarding minorities being disproportionately affected, based on my experience. I saw firsthand that this virus is affecting minorities greatly, with all the medical problems that those communities already bring to the table such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. Those make it really hard to fight off this virus, not to mention the lack of access to high-level health care, which leads to some of those same health care issues. Q: Where do you stand on the public discussion of essential workers and health care professionals being recognized as heroes versus being forced to put their lives on the line?
A: I think it’s kind of like being a veteran. People say thank you, and that’s all that they need to say. That’s good enough, and I appreciate that. But for me, 100%, not a hero. I am not a hero, period. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to go to that hospital and help, and I’m happy to help. But truthfully, if they did not have proper (personal protective equipment), I was not going to put myself at risk at that point. The people that I really have a lot of respect for are the respiratory therapists and the nurses who have to go in and out of those rooms and really put themselves at risk. Q: Has there been anything you learned or experienced during your time at Marquette that helped prepare you in any way for what you experienced in Harlem? A: From a practical standpoint,
because Marquette’s an urban university, you get exposed to things you otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to at a typical college town experience. To go to a place like Harlem, I’m prepared enough to go there and not be afraid of being in a place like that … I don’t care what somebody’s paycheck is, what color they are, what their religion is — it does not matter. I’m going to try and do what I can to treat them as well as I can as a human being and give them good health care. Q: Any final things you’d like to share with the Marquette community? A: Don’t be afraid to step up and do the right thing when the situation calls for it. I believe my education at Marquette has given me a foundation for life, to think critically and to do the right thing as best we can on a day to day basis.