T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f D e l a w a re ’s i n d e p e n d e n t s t u d e n t n e w s p a p e r s i n c e 1 8 8 2
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2018
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VOLUME 145, ISSUE 6
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Minimum wage increase has mixed effects on students, businesses JACOB BAUMGART Senior Reporter
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n one of Main Street’s tucked away coffee shops, three college-aged workers laughed with their manager as about a dozen students sipped their drinks and studied. While the three workers used to have a regular work schedule, they may start working fewer hours at their shop, Brewed Awakenings, because of a statemandated increase in pay. Delaware’s minimum wage increased from $8.25 per hour to $8.75 per hour on Oct. 1 as the first of two scheduled pay raises, fostering mixed effects for student-workers and local businesses went into effect. The next scheduled minimum wage increase, which is set to take effect on Oct. 1 of next year, will further raise pay to $9.25 per hour. “Obviously it’s going to cost us more money,” Chris Champion, manager of Brewed Awakenings, said. “If our cost goes up, we have to generate more income or reduce our cost … Because we are a small business and we operate on a relatively narrow margin, the way we are going to handle it CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Major financial announcements and a protest: from the university’s Board of Trustees Retreat
Mitchell Patterson & Alexis Carel City Editor & Senior Reporter
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he university’s Board of Trustees enjoys a great deal of privacy while wielding significant power over the direction of university projects and programs. The Board of Trustees gathered for their annual retreat on Thursday and Friday at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel on North Campus. There, in addition to updating the trustees on finances and ongoing projects, executives and officials outlined their vision for the future of the university. It was announced on Thursday that the university’s operating budget provided by the state would be $121 million for the next fiscal year. This included increased funding for laboratory renovations from $5.5 million to $10 million. The university is also currently seeking additional state funding for scholarships given to Delawarean students. University President Dennis Assanis also announced that the Spectrum Scholars Program, a new enrollment initiative designed to attract prospective students on the autism spectrum, will be funded by a $7.5 million grant CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 ARTICLE ON PAGE 3
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A Breach of Faith: A local look at the impacts of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal Leah Campano Staff Reporter
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eatly situated in the streetfacing corner of the St. Thomas More Oratory, Father Ed Ogden’s office is modest and unembellished. A MacBook occupies the center of a faded wooden desk, joined by a single picture frame and simple lamp. Two large windows look out onto Lovett Avenue, where students lazily meander to class. Two windows, two unassuming architectural features most think nothing of, but, to the Roman Catholic church, these are a mandated assurance of transparency, candor and trust. In the past seven decades, at least 1,000 children have been sexually abused by more than 300 Catholic priests. At least — two small words that mark thousands more probable, unreported accounts of misconduct. These facts come from a gut-wrenching Pennsylvania grand jury report, piling onto an unfathomable number of already existing sexual abuse cases against the church worldwide. But, to Catholic priests like Ogden, grand jury reports and scandal encroach on the principled life he has built for himself and the parishes he leads. “You question it in a sense that you say to yourself, ‘What am I doing here?’ It’s a question of, ‘What is going on here? What am I doing?’” Ogden said, in considering the absoluteness in his choice of dedicating his life to an institution currently enveloped in disgrace. “But, I wasn’t ready to walk away. It came up in my head, but it didn’t get to a point of despair because I have to go back to why I chose to do this five years ago,” he added. Ogden’s frustration with the church is sufficient, but he has a prudent take on the gut-wrenching epidemic. In an introduction to the
chilling report, the Pennsylvania grand jury investigation unfolds the systemic, recurrent instances of manipulation. A domain where “rape” is “inappropriate contact” and forced removal of a priest is “sick leave.” “We, the members of this grand jury, need you to hear this. We know some of you have heard some of it before. There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale. For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere.” The report scrutinized six dioceses, which covered every district in the state, with the exception of Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, which were previously examined by a separate grand jury. Priests, monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals — positions of power across the church have been guilty of such crimes, yet, “the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all,” according to the report. Pennsylvania is not the only state riddled with scandal. The revelation of clergy sex abuse was initially reported on by the Boston Globe back in 2002, creating an avalanche of cases, and systematically chipping away at the ivy-covered towers protecting the abusers in the years since. In the past two weeks, the Brooklyn diocese, in one of the largest settlements by the Catholic Church, paid $27.5 million to four men sexually abused by a religion teacher. “I don’t want to wear my collar going down the street for fear someone will throw an egg at me,” Ogden said. Ogden’s two windows are purposeful. The necessity of
windows in a room where any member of the Catholic ministry — whether it be a priest or a catechism teacher — can be in with a child is just one in a set of standards in the 2002 Dallas Charter, curated by U.S. Bishops in response to the initial reports of sex abuse. “Everyone now, since 2002, does FBI background checks for any position: my college students becoming CCD teachers, every teacher in a Catholic school — everybody gets a background check,” Ogden said. “Others are, I cannot drive a minor home — nobody can, alone. But if a minor does need to be driven home, we would have to have permission from the parent and two adults would have to accompany that drive home. Other standards approach the question of what is appropriate touch with children. You’re not touching a child on their legs or their butt, you have to be mindful about where touch is appropriate. These are the new standards that help clarify these boundaries.” Priests need these boundaries, it seems, to salvage the reputation of the church. “There is so much disgrace in the Catholic church right now,” Julie D’Agostino, a university student and longtime Catholic, said. “But, there is more to Catholicism then this scandal. There is still a community of people who do good.” A report released by the Pew Forum in 2015 found that Catholicism was losing the members of its parishes at a faster rate than any other denomination. At this time the Pew Center found, “the total number of Catholics in the United States dropped by 3 million since 2007, now comprising about 20 percent — or one-fifth — of the total population.” Since this study, the
population has continued to decline. It’s easy to believe why this is, given the scandal shrouding the religion. In recent years, more and more Catholic churches have been forced to merge, due to a serious decline in churchgoers. According to the Hartford Courant, the Hartford Archdiocese has experienced a 69 percent decline in church attendance since 1965. In June 2017, a restructuring plan in the Hartford diocese shrunk 212 parishes into just 127 — nearly half were closed. With a lack of practicing Catholics, financial burdens become heavier. Top it off with a dwindling decrease in men becoming priests, and it becomes near impossible for many of these parishes to keep their doors open. Yet, there are those that are still devout. There are the Catholics that still wake up on Sundays and head to mass. There are those that grew up Catholic and still feel a very strong, familial link to the church. Whether it be Sunday mass, baptisms, First Holy Communions, Confirmations, or so on, many parallel their faith with family. There are deep, ancestral roots in Catholicism that are unwavering for some. “Good people make bad choices and you can’t generalize the whole population,” junior Clare Bondi said. “Not all Catholics are like that.” For Ogden, the commitment to the church is about genuineness. “I have to go back and say three things to myself as a priest,” he said. “One is I have to remember the commitment I made. There is an invitation to everyone, priest or not a priest, about being authentic to who we say we are — there is an invitation to dig deeper, and to grow.” Then, the church’s sacraments bind him tightly to the values of the church. He has only been in
the priesthood for five years — a newcomer amidst all this distress — but he stands steadfast. “There’s nothing like being able to sit with someone on their deathbed and celebrate the sacrament of the anointing of the sick with them, and prepare them for eternal life. I’m standing here knowing I have a lot of life left in me — I think I got a good 20 to 30 years,” he said. “Those moments are privilege to me, and one of the reasons I became a priest.” It was easy for Ogden to become discouraged with his faith, but he ultimately did not let this impede his responsibility of being a leader for his parish. “When the abuse came out in the grand jury report, one of things I had to do here — well, what I chose to do — was to, in the name of the church, as the face of the church for this parish, I needed to stand up for them because I wear the collar, and apologize for the sins of my brothers,” he said. “It was a very, very difficult thing to do — and I didn’t do anything. But, I needed to be a compassionate voice for them to hear that the church is sorry for this.” It remains to be seen what effect the stains left on the Catholic church will have in the aftermath of the sex abuse scandals. Ogden has hope for his community, and for him, apologizing was the inaugural step in attempting to renew faith. “It overwhelmed me, it’s a very simple thing to do; but, I didn’t realize the impact that it would have on the parishioners here, to hear someone who is wearing black just apologize and help people move forward,” he said.