In the Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) office on the third floor of the student center Friday, an official unveiling of sorts was underway. Hannah Retzkin, the new sexual and relationship violence specialist, hosted a snack and talk open to DePaul’s student body as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and as a way for students to come by and meet her formally.

Retzkin took over for Rima Shah, who left DePaul late last year. Her role in the office largely centers on prevention efforts, including programs for student orientation and training faculty and staff on sexual and relationship violence prevention measures. Her goal, as well as the goal of others in HPW, is to continue creating creative and holistic approaches to engaging students on topics related to sexual health.

The event invited all members of DePaul’s community to come in, grab snacks and chat with Retzkin, who left the topic of conversation mostly open to those who attended. The event was also part of the ongoing series of events for the month on topics relating to sexual and relationship health.

“I love presenting and talking about consent and sex positivity,” Retzkin said after the event. “I want to continue to bring those things into the conversation as I work here.”

Retzkin has a background in higher education. She worked at Loyola University for seven years, where she helped foster advocacy and support ed students in their roles as advocates. Her most recent experience at Northeastern University focused on similar work. She officially started March 1, but before the Friday event, she hosted the “Let’s Talk About Sex Baby” event April 7. People who work with Retzkin expressed optimism about Retzkin’s role.

“We’re very excited she’s here, and we’re excited to welcome her to the DePaul community,” Shannon Suffoletto, director of HPW, said. “We jumped right in.”

HPW sponsors Sexual Assault Awareness Month, as well as other events relating to sexual health. For Adair Tishler, a DePaul sophomore who attended the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing last year and other events during their body positivity week, the work of HPW is important to the overall environment of DePaul.

“I think that the topics that HPW cover are extremely stigmatized in our culture and when they are mentioned, the information can be incorrect, non-comprehensive and possibly harmful,” Tishler, said. “I think that Hannah is extremely open and non-judgmental, which is paramount in a sexual and relationship violence prevention person.  Personally, I think I would be comfortable going to Hannah for any kind of advice.”

Tishler also said it’s important to keep in mind that “her role is also focused on prevention and a huge part of prevention is not only education, but having people be comfortable enough with you to go to you for education or questions.” This is a point Retzkin also talked about.

“I really want the students to know I’m here to talk about anything,” Retzkin said. “When talking about sexual violence, it’s important to stress that inclusive approach and make sure that everyone is included in the conversation.”

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19-year-old Dillon Barrett-Rao was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary and one count of theft last Tuesday in connection with stealing items from dorm rooms.

As initially reported by CWB Chicago, Barrett-Rao allegedly took a MacBook, iPad mini and bottle of perfume from the victim’s dorm in the 2300 block of N. Clifton Ave. This block includes Monroe Hall, Clifton-Fullerton Hall and University Hall. Police records indicate that Barrett-Rao’s residence is in a different dorm in Lincoln Park.

Police arrested Barrett-Rao April 5 after the victim said that he admitted to taking her items but failed to pay restitution as promised in writing. In total, Barrett-Rao is charged in connection with three incidents in the same residence hall, and is also currently free on $15,000 bond in connection with a burglary at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, according to CWB Chicago.  Bail in the cases at DePaul is set at $100,000.

According to campus crime reports, three burglaries were reported to Public Safety in Monroe Hall during the week when these incidents occurred, March 23-29. The crime report did not specify if charges were filed or what items were stolen.

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DEPAUL’S POSITION

As DREAM activism peaked across the country in 2011, the university decided they wanted to take a stance on the issue and respond to potential student concerns. Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Elizabeth Ortiz was a member of a DePaul coalition formed to help undocumented students at DePaul.

“At the same time it was heating up around the country, the president (of DePaul) and I said, ‘We need a comprehensive effort, we need to get people around the table to find out what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and really assist our students,’” Ortiz said.

That’s when a coalition of offices formed to create the DREAM Resource Guide, a 25-page document outlining resources available to undocumented students, including financial aid, advising and other resources within DePaul and in Chicago.

The effort was a collaboration between the Office of Mission and Values, University Ministry, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity Students Affairs, Croak Legal Services, the Office of the General Council, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs and Student Government Association.

Though sections for new legislation have been added, the guide has not been updated since its creation in 2011. Ortiz said changing legislation and possible legal outcomes can determine the future of undocumented students and have put updates on the guide on hold.

“Right now DACA and DAPA are being challenged in the Supreme Court and it’s supposed to be heard this spring, so in a way it’s put all this advocacy work on hold,” Ortiz said. “We are planning to meet soon to see what has changed and if there’s anything to update soon.”

Ortiz estimates the guide will be updated by the end of the academic year.

“At any moment the Supreme Court is going to review DACA and DAPA and see if it will be upheld or if it will be ruled unconstitutional, so we are waiting for that,” Ortiz said. “All of higher education are holding our collective breath. It’s pretty hard to move forward with new initiatives when in six months from now there will be a new law.” In addition to creating the guide, an alternative financial aid form was created because undocumented students need to apply for financial help from DePaul and cannot utilize FAFSA.

Students do not have to disclose their legal status, but Ortiz estimates there are about 100 to 200 undocumented students at DePaul. “There’s always a real risk for a student coming out and to say ‘I’m undocumented,’ and so many cases, once they declare and it’s known, there’s a potential for deportation. We are not required as university officials to report a student, but it’s still very scary,” Ortiz said.

DePaul has been vocal about its support of undocumented students. In 2010, DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., spoke at the Justice for Immigrants National Convening, stating DePaul’s continuous support for undocumented students.

“DePaul rarely takes political stands. This is, in fact, the first time in recent memory that we’ve ever done so, but we’ve decided to take a strong and public stand for the Dream Act,” Holtschneider said at the time. “Regardless of party or ideology, we believe the Dream Act is smart social policy and has a significant payoff for the country in the long run. We also know the young people who it will benefit and we know that they are great young people who will build this nation’s future.”

But actions speak volumes over statements and guides, Veronica said.

“They definitely need to update the undocumented student guide because I have tried to weave through that thing and it’s a mess,” Veronica said. “I think if someone is trying to get creative on how they’re going to come here, especially the tuition being so high, and not having access to FAFSA or any other government grants or funds, that should be the main resource that undocumented students should have here, it should be the go to like ‘This is what I need, these are the scholarships I’m going to apply to.’ It shouldn’t be a process in itself.”

Veronica said there have been scholarships she found on the guide that had been expired, making the process more difficult than it should be.

“Going to college for us is already a really hard process,” Veronica said. “Being pinballed around from legal services here to another legal service in Chicago for DACA application makes the process a lot longer and is just not helping.

“The university is like ‘Oh we have all these guides,’ but it hasn’t been updated in five years so, you can say all these things,’ but there’s a difference in maintaining that reputation and actually following through with the statements and things you promote for undocumented students.”

Director of DePaul’s Croak Student Legal Services Sarah Baum said legislation plays a crucial role in the story of undocumented students.

“DACA is interesting because it’s not exactly granting you legal status in the United States — it’s deferring,” Baum said. Students protected under DACA, who undergo background checks and must have lived in the U.S. for a certain number of years, are not prioritized for deportation, she said.

“The government has basically made this declaration saying, ‘We’re not going to come after you for deportation,’” Baum said.

Veronica qualified and applied for DACA as soon as it was passed in 2012.

“My sister, cousin and I met up that early at 6 a.m. and then went downtown and the line was so long,” she said. “The line was unreal. There were thousands of people there.”

They couldn’t process their applications then, but three months later she had permission to work and a Social Security card. She was 18 years old.

Baum said the terms, “DREAMer” and DACA often get interchanged, but that legally, DACA was inspired by the DREAM act.

“I haven’t talked to that many students on this issue, which surprises me because when DACA first came about I think there was a big push here at DePaul,” Baum said. In spite of changing legislation and DACA, she hadn’t interacted with many students at DePaul that disclosed their status or need help filing for DACA.

“In the case of immigration, it’s such a highly specialized area and constantly changing, that I tend to do mostly referrals in that area,” Baum said. She doesn’t represent students in court but gives them free legal advice and referrals to affordable attorneys around Chicago.

Veronica said an application for DACA is $465 in addition to potential lawyer fees for filing. The cost can reach more than $600.

Though Veronica is graduating within the next year, the story of an undocumented student at DePaul continues. Her younger cousin is planning to attend DePaul, and she worries about the struggles he might face.

“He thinks it’s possible for him as an undocumented student to come here, and have support and have resources and I don’t really have the heart to tell him that’s not the case for everyone,” she said. “I got really lucky here.”

"Going to college for us is already a really hard process."

Veronica and her family.

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Jacqueline Martinez has always had one foot on an airplane and the other in a classroom, traveling to the Middle East, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Washington D.C. and New York, within her time at DePaul. So it was no surprise to her that she had to fill out her application for the TEDxDePaulUniversity event on April 29, while on a flight to the U.N. Delegation in New York.

TEDxDePaulUniversity is an independently organized event where Martinez will speak about comparative international educational practices along with 11 other speakers, consisting of students, faculty, staff and alumni who will be presenting their own, different “ideas worth spreading” around the theme “What must be done?”

TED is a nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading ideas, usually presented by speakers in powerful talks about everything from global issues to science that are about 18 minutes or less. TEDx is different from TED because it is smaller and community-based, and different organizations must apply for a license in order to host the event.

The idea for the theme “What must be done?” came from integrated content manager for the Office of Public Relations and Communications Wendy Smit. She had been working on another project for work and watched a video called, “The Name Above the Door,” which illustrates and discusses the question posed by St. Vincent DePaul, “What must be done?”

“I was like, ‘Wow, that would be great if we had all these amazing talks on this idea,” Smit said. “Encompassing that theme was a huge part of what we looked for but at the same time, we also tried to make the theme broad and abstract enough that a lot of different things could fall into that category.”

After the theme was selected, it was time to apply for the license and select the speakers. TEDxDePaulUniversity has been a year in the making. Smit applied for the license in October 2014, but didn’t actually get it until this January.

To select the speakers, a committee was created consisting of one person from seven different departments at DePaul. Each applicant was reviewed by three individual people on the selection committee and was then judged out of a possible 120 points. Points were awarded based on four key elements: the applicant’s ability to focus on the theme, whether the topic challenged ideas, if people would be interested in the topic and storytelling ability. The top 15 percent were then told they had been chosen to speak at TEDxDePaulUniversity.

Martinez never thought she would be able to say that she is going to give a TEDx talk, and she has had some nerves leading up to the event.

“I think most people think that because you’re selected to give a Ted Talk, in some shape you’re almost prepared for it, but you’re most definitely not,” Martinez said. “Sharing your story is one of the most difficult things that anyone can do, especially when they give you eight minutes. But I think it will also be a great opportunity for me to reflect on my four years at DePaul, so I’m also really ecstatic.”

Associate professor Alyssa Westring can relate to Martinez. She has also been selected to speak at the event to talk about women who have careers within medicine and other areas of the science industry, and has had her first rehearsal with speaking coach Deborah Siegel.

“It was great and also terrifying, because Deborah brought up a lot of really interesting things that I hadn’t thought about to make it a more compelling talk and a more interesting story that are going to require me to be a little more authentic and personal, as opposed to just giving a research talk,” Westring said. “I think she’s absolutely right but it’s not in my comfort zone as much so I’m still working on it.”

Associate professor Derise Tolliver, on the other hand, felt a range of emotions from joyful and peaceful to anxious and scared when she went to her first meeting with Siegel. She was also told that she needed to make a more personal connection with her audience, while discussing her topic on how people can remember who they truly are and how it is they can return back to that feeling of wholeness.

“In that moment though, you never know what’s going to come to you, you never know what’s going to come through you,” Tolliver said. “I went in with an outline and the coach was really good in helping me to pull out the major pieces of what I want to say, not just in terms of the content I want to convey but also in the way that I will present so that it’s not just that we are all used to these boring lectures and boring speeches. The most exciting idea can be boring if you’re not really connected to it.”

One of Tolliver’s favorite TED Talks includes author of “Half of a Yellow Sun” Chimamanda Adichie’s “the Danger of a Single Story.” She felt so connected to Adichie in that moment that it is what has led her to fall in love with TED Talks, incorporate many of them in her own lesson plans and in seizing this opportunity to give her very own TEDx Talk.

“Oh my goodness, this is fantastic,” Tolliver said. “When I saw this come up, talk about prayers being answered. Here’s an opportunity and I claimed it. I was excited and I was already thinking about what it would be like and what would I talk about, what would it look like and what would it feel like being on stage.”

Adichie made Tolliver walk away feeling a certain way and now Tolliver hopes to return the favor to people that attend TEDxDePaulUniversity.

“If I share something in my TEDx Talk that can help someone in another part of their life, I hope that they can take that away, so they can be thriving, prospering and sharing that with other people,” she said.

But Martinez hopes to help her audience recognize they have an “idea worth spreading” even if they don’t realize it right now.

“Definitely sparking an interest or a passion within students, recognizing that you can have an idea worth spreading,” Martinez said. “Because you probably do.”

TEDxDePaulUniversity will take place from 1-5 p.m. at 247 S. State St, room LL105.

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On the first floor of DePaul Center located in the Loop, the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) and fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon IL-XI (SigEP) hosted an interactive event asking students and community members to take a stand with their “It’s On Us” campaign, as a part of the ongoing series of events for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“It’s On Us,” a national campaign, looks to stop campus sexual assault by bringing people together and educating them that it’s everyone’s responsibility to promote awareness for sexual assault and violence.

“For today’s event, we pull together people within the DePaul community,” Amanda Mitchell, the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Coordinator, said.

Embodying the campaign, several DePaul communities showed up to spread awareness of this important yet sensitive issue to all. Besides the HPW and SigEP, the Health Education Action Team (HEAT), fraternity FIJI and also members of DePaul softball and volleyball teams were all present.

Dan Busen, the president of SigEP at DePaul, realizes the issue of sexual assault and violence isn’t receiving the attention that it should be from other fraternities and sororities across the nation. When Busen brought this proposal up to the HPW, it was an instant hit. SigEP and HPW’s request to all DePaul’s organizations were answered with excitement and passion about this opportunity.

“Education is really the best way to prevent this. You need people to be taking courses and workshops from professionals. You also need other point of views to be effective,” Busen said. “(DePaul) stepped in, spread the words, and helped market it. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

It wasn’t just advocating through voice. DePaul athletes Gena Lenti and Tyler Graham made sure that everyone who walked by had a chance to participate in this movement. A white banner was presented on the tables with “It’s On Us,” “Prevention is Possible” and “Take Care DePaul” printed on it along with more than 200 signatures of those who pledged to stand with the campaign. There was also a photo booth on the side for those who want their pledges to be recorded. Historically, sexual assault incidents within Division I sports aren’t uncommon.

“As athletes, we really want to push, connect with the student body and promote something that’s really important to us, in terms of communicating and educating about sexual assault,” Lenti, a senior on the softball team, said. The athletes at DePaul all go through bystander intervention course and other courses related to sexual assault awareness during orientation every year.

Senior Jeremiah Mahan was already curious about the set up before he was stopped and asked, “if he is interested to stop sexual assault and violence on campus.” For Mahan, this was not only an important issue but also a personal one since one of his family members was sexually assaulted.

“It is important to make people aware that these things happen in a campus setting. I think by getting people to pledge (by picking up the pledge paper), something tangible to hold on to. It keeps (the message) present in people’s mind,” Mahan said. “Sometimes (you need to) make it apparent that it’s okay to help even if it doesn’t seem like it’s your business.”

Workshops like Vinny Vow: The Bystander Intervention, a guest speaker from the Rape Victim Advocates and a film screening about human trafficking and prostitutions are all happening this month to raise awareness for sexual assault and violence. Mitchell said, “What we want to do for the DePaul Community is to remind everyone that you have a role and what you can do as an individual and a bystander.”

Ultimately the goal is not only to spread awareness and knowledge through out this month but as Tyler Graham, a senior on the volleyball team, said, “Not just to use April (to spread awareness) but use April as a kick starter to be more involved in sexual assault awareness throughout the year.”

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Members of Student Government Association (SGA) and the general student body will take a stand in Springfield for MAP grants on Wednesday, April 20.

Part of this includes hand-delivering MAP advocacy postcards straight to the desks of State Senate and State House representatives, as well as Governor Rauner.

Over the last few months, SGA has helped students, faculty, staff and citizens sign over 3,000 postcards. Vice President Ric Popp expects close to 3,200 postcards to be delivered to Springfield. This exceeds last year’s total by 500, he added.

Each postcard has been signed as well as personalized by finishing the phrase “MAP matters to me because…”.

Responses to finish that sentence included, “over 5,000 of my peers rely on the MAP grant,” “MAP makes education more affordable for even those who don’t receive it,” and “The Vincentian mission fosters inclusivity. Without MAP, we can’t fulfill our mission of supporting a diverse student population.” SGA provided these and others on a sheet of example responses to help inform the student body about the effects of MAP.

The handwritten message allowed students to personalize the cards, and “sharing a story goes a long way,” Vice President Rick Popp said.

In Springfield, 500 postcards will be delivered to Governor Rauner. The rest will be split between members of the State House and the State Senate for approximately 1,350 postcards delivered to each branch total.

“A lot of students I talked to already knew about MAP and a lot were passionate because they are recipients of MAP,” Senator for the College of Science and Health Madeline Bolton said. “The whole student body knows about it.”

SGA members spent Thursday night organizing the postcards and addressing each to the correct representative.

All of this work has been leading up to the advocacy day in the capitol, where SGA members will spend the day delivering the postcards to different offices.

“It will make a difference to be seen by all the people in Springfield,” Bolton said.
Popp and Vanessa Cadavillo will speak with several legislators about what the impact of MAP grants, and the lack of MAP grants, looks like at DePaul and other schools, according to President Cadavillo. Associate Vice President for Community and Government Relations Peter Coffey coordinates these meetings.

SGA’s presence in Springfield will “give faces” to the issue of the lack of funding for higher education, Vice President Popp said.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) as well as several private universities will also have a presence in Springfield that day with demonstrations.

“The more people involved, the stronger the movement is,” Senator for First Year Students Andrew Willett said.

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College Republicans’ campus chalkings earlier this month may have been erased within hours, but the verbal sparring in response to writings like “Blue Lives Matter” and “Build a Wall” has reverberated for more than a week.

During that time, students on both sides of the issue expressed outrage over issues of free speech and racism, along with confusion about what kinds of chalking is permissible on campus. In a statement Friday, DePaul President Fr. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., acknowledged this conflict while attempting to clarify earlier statements and encouraging openness and kindness among students.

“If we are doing our part as an intellectual community, we must engage the topics of the day with all their apparent weaknesses,” he wrote. “We do this not only to refine better ideas, but to create the conditions for people to genuinely hear the other and be heard by the other – a space for inquiry.”

The chalkings were created late at night on April 4 by DePaul College Republicans and were erased sometime the following morning by campus grounds crews. In the following days, many students took to social media to express their outrage over statements they considered racist and xenophobic. College Republicans, however, maintained that the demonstration was meant to draw attention to conservative values.

A week later, an email sent by Vice President for Student Affairs Gene Zdziarski also pointed to DePaul’s policy on political campaigning. As a non-profit organization, DePaul is “prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign” and therefore clarified that partisan chalking constitutes public political campaigning.

Chalking is allowed when it does not contain political or abusive speech and is located on a flat sidewalk where it can be reached by rain, among other restrictions. Zdziarski also said that though chalking is not explicitly included in the university’s policy on Political Campaign Activities, this is not a policy change and it was always prohibited.

“Obviously there was some confusion about how the policy was applied,” he said. “The intent of my message was to clarify that to the student body and everyone involved.”

Still, several members of College Republicans said they believed their actions were in accordance with university policy on chalking at the time.

“We as a club know that we didn’t do anything wrong — I think the whole situation was blown out of proportion,” said junior finance and mathematics major Kati Danforth, a member of College Republicans. “We looked at the guidelines before doing the chalking and we didn’t break any rules.”

Similar chalkings have occurred and sparked protests at dozens of other universities across the country, including the University of Illinois and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Emory, which is also a private university, did not cite its 501(c)3 status as a reason for removing the chalkings.

Further complicating the issue is the ongoing conversation surrounding race and inclusivity at DePaul. University policy also states “messages may not contain profanity or may not abuse, assail, intimidate, demean, victimize or have the effect of creating a hostile environment for any person or group of people based on any of the protected characteristics in the University’s Anti-Discriminatory Harassment Policy.”

In Holtscheider’s statement sent Friday, he said DePaul will not protect its students or faculty from unwelcome or uncomfortable ideas.

“Some asserted last week that the mere mention of the name Trump was offensive and should be prevented. We will never do that. Other groups over the years have asserted that student demonstrations outside the student center made them feel unsafe. We did not support those assertions either,” the statement read.

Still, he encouraged humility and kindness between students in addressing sensitive matters, and to avoid provocation.

“The phrase ‘All Lives Matter,’ for example, sounds obvious, even banal. In fact we are all aware it is frequently used to reject out-of-hand the core message of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. Members of our community are calling for attention to the indignities and injustice suffered by the black community, and it’s simply insensitive to repeat something that we know in advance will bring pain and frustration to others. Our policies are not devised to prevent its use. Nor can we compel students to avoid its use. Can DePaul ask our students for kindness and sensitivity? Yes,” Holtschneider wrote.

But in an election cycle when ethics and policy values often overlap – and have been compounded by discussions on inequality – this issue has highlighted the complex political and racial environment at DePaul and nationally.

College Republicans member John Minster admitted earlier this week on Facebook to writing in chalk “Build a wall,” a statement criticized as racist. But for him, it was a clear declaration of supporting a policy of strong border protection.

“None of us believed that these statements were in any way racist or xenophobic, and if other people do, I guess we have different definitions of what those are,” Minster said. “(People) are free to disagree, but don’t shut me down when you do.”

For others, these statements are reprehensible. Junior Michael Lynch – who has been vocal online in his dissent of sayings like “Build a wall” and “Blue Lives Matter” – said he is not interested in silencing different political viewpoints. But Lynch, who is a member of Black Student Union (BSU), said he also spoke with several groups about ways to better report incidents of racism to administration.

“Minority students absolutely cannot experience everything DePaul has to offer when they feel like they are being disrespected,” Lynch said.

Going forward, Zdziarski said the Division of Student Affairs will work with faculty and staff “to provide opportunities for open discourse on these issues so they can be appropriately debated and discussed.” The goal, he said, is to provide a space to have respectful conversation on these issues. Minster, Danforth and Lynch all said they were open to dialogue among student groups.

“You have one side making a statement, and you have the other side making a statement,” Lynch said. “We’re spending a lot of time talking at each other, instead of talking to each other.”

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The Office of Health Promotion and Wellness (HPW) has hired a new team member to expand on-campus education efforts.

Hannah Retzkin, the newest sexual and relationship violence prevention specialist in HPW, wants to continue the office’s collaborations and programming at DePaul.

“We’re doing already so many great things,” Retzkin said. “I’m just interested in expanding on those programs and continuing to partner with campus partners, students and outside organizations, but also adding my own flare and my own voice to presentations and that kind of thing.”

But more importantly, Retzkin said she hopes to develop a safe and welcoming environment for students to share their personal experiences.

“What we know is when someone first shares their narrative to someone, if they receive support and they feel listened to and they’re not blamed, their healing process is going to be more positive,” she said.

Shannon Suffoletto, director of HPW, said the office was glad to have someone like Retzkin joining the team.

“We’re so excited to welcome Hannah to the DePaul family” Suffoletto said. “She has a lot of expertise and experience in the field to bring to this position.”

Retzkin said her job combines education and advocacy — something that works well with her professional and educational background.

While earning her bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University, Retzkin completed 40 hours of training to serve as an advocate. Her training led her to volunteer with several organizations in the community.

Afterwards, Retzkin decided to move to Chicago, where she earned her master’s degree in higher education from Loyola University. Retzkin then began volunteering with Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), which entailed a 56-hour training to serve as both an advocate and a medical advocate.

“When someone experiences a sexual assault, they call in an advocate to help with the process,” she said. “I had to understand the rape kit, help provide resources and just be there for the survivor.”

After earning her degree from Loyola, she became a coordinator for Student Advocacy Services at Northeastern Illinois University. This job, Retzkin said, required her to focus on a “broader umbrella” of services, which included sexual and relationship violence, homelessness, and food and security issues.

“Any crisis a student was experiencing, I could help them find resources,” she said.

Despite the serious nature of the job, Retzkin said the programming aspect can be very informative and enjoyable.

“The education component can be really fun because we can have really interesting conversations about conventional sex, and really teach folks what a consensual relationship looks like,” she said.

Part of that education comes from learning about all the ins and outs of consent.

“Some of them might not even know what consent is, some of them might just be learning about sex from pornography and they’ve never had a conversation about that,” she said. “Something they might think is consent, for instance, loosening someone up with alcohol. That’s something we can see in the media but then in reality that’s not consent.”

Another component of education, Retzkin said, is bystander intervention training. HWP offers training for bystanders called Vinny Vow.

“The bystander effect is kind of like someone else will do something, or I don’t know if I want to step in or maybe this is consensual,” she said. “We’re trying to empower bystanders to jump in and learn different tactics to intervene.”

Retzkin said she is proud to work at DePaul and strongly supports its Vincentian values.

“DePaul’s a very mission-driven institution, and I really appreciate that and enjoy working in an institution with a strong mission and values,” she said.

The Department of Justice reports 1-in-5 college-aged women and 1-in-16 college-aged men have experienced sexual violence.

Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports 1-in-3 women and 1-in-4 men experience some form of relationship violence.

But Retzkin said it’s important to keep in mind the validity of the statistical data.

“Anything related to interpersonal violence is underreported,” she said.

The CDC also reports 1-in-6 boys and 1-4 girls experience sexual violence, which Retzkin said is just as important to note.

“Folks are coming to campus with a history of sexual violence already,” she said.

Cassie Forster-Broten, who is a graduate assistant with the Take Back the Halls (TBTH) teen violence prevention initiative at DePaul, said awareness is crucial.

“Considering the epidemic-like quantity of sexual assaults on college campuses, events that promote education and understanding of issues like consent, assault and rape are vital to the creation of a safer environment for students,” she said.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) takes place this month and is dedicated to increasing awareness of interpersonal violence on college campuses.

“The events work to create a dialogue around issues that are often made invisible,” Forster-Broten said. “They also work to make survivors of sexual assault feel like they are not alone and that their experience will not be erased or belittled.”

Based on the statistical data, Retzkin said we have all been in contact with someone touched by sexual or relationship violence.

“We’re all impacted by it,” she said. “Even if we’re not personally experiencing it with a partner, someone we know has. The more we understand, the more we can provide support and a non-judgmental space.”

Retzkin said it’s important to understand the cyclical nature of assault.

“Someone doesn’t just go on a first date with someone and then they are hit,” she said. “It’s a cycle that builds upon itself and there’s a lot of different ways that perpetrators of relationship violence establish control and power that make it tough and difficult for someone to really leave that person.”

Retzkin said the way society views this type of violence is important.

“It’s our responsibility to create a culture where victims are not blamed,” she said. “We want to keep a dialogue going so folks can share their narratives or their truths without fear.”

But Ellen Goese, a core organizer for DePaul Feminist Front, said there’s a more important focus to keep in mind during SAAM.

“What we need, more than prevention, is to focus on supporting survivors rather than just constantly reminding them to report if they have been assaulted,” she said.

Goese said it’s more important to focus on the rapists rather than the bystanders and potential victims.

“This marginalizes the very people who should be centered during SAAM,” she said.

Goese said that change should start at the university level.

“Our campus must talk about rape culture, which pervades every aspect of society, including DePaul,” she said. “That would mean DePaul as a university would need to hold itself accountable for allowing rape culture to harm our community.”

Retzkin said the intricacies of interpersonal violence make it a difficult topic to openly discuss.

“It’s a very complex and pervasive issue,” she said. “I think that college campuses are a microcosm of our society in general and reflect back on what’s happening in the larger scale of society.”

Students experiencing sexual assault can also contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-877-863-6338 or the Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline at 1-888-293-2080.

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A tuition increase, raises for university employees and contingency funds set aside for the still-unfunded state MAP program are among the many provisions in the $556 million 2016-2017 university budget passed last month by the board of trustees.

The budget reflects the university’s conservative budgeting philosophy, which takes into account its dependency on tuition dollars for revenue. Projected revenue is just over $566 million for an operating margin of $10 million, leaving room in case of fluctuation.

Most of the cash, $345 million, will be allocated for salaries and benefits for university employees. And in addition to a 2.5 percent raise in the compensation pool and an increase to accommodate a higher minimum wage, the university will once again increase its contribution into employees’ 403b retirement plan.

Budget documents show the university anticipating slight declines in enrollment, especially among transfer students and in the Law School.

To make up for it, tuition rates for incoming freshmen will increase by 3.8 percent, 2.5 percent for continuing undergraduates, and between 1.6 and 2.5 percent for graduate students. The starting rate for freshmen will be $37,020.

“DePaul is a highly tuition dependent institution and we strive to be sensitive and responsive to affordability concerns while continuing to invest in improving the outstanding quality of our educational offerings,” said university controller Sherri Sidler.

To offset some of the increased costs, the university has also upped financial aid by 7 percent. Overall, the rate of financial aid to tuition revenue is projected to remain stable at 45 percent.

And, as was announced in February, DePaul will honor MAP awards through next year no matter the outcome of the state budget crisis. While the budget originally set aside $7.5 million in contingency funds, the board approved increasing that total to $20 million in order to cover DePaul’s pledge.

“We are hopeful that the state will resolve the current impasse, but if not we will support our students as best we can,” Sidler said.

The budgeting process typically begins with the Strategic Resource Allocation Committee (SRAC), a body made up of nine university leaders and chaired by the Executive Vice President.

They vote to approve a proposed budget, which goes to university President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., who, barring no objections, presents it the board of trustees.

Student Government Association (SGA) President Vanessa Cadavillo, despite the tuition increase it included, supported the budget.

Cadavillo, however, pointed to the gains made by securing increased MAP contingency funding and the elimination of the $25-per-quarter student registration fee.

“In the next fiscal year, students will no longer see the quarterly registration fee as the university is absorbing those costs without raising tuition any more than what has been trended (2.5 percent) over the past several years,” Cadavillo said.

She added that SGA will continue to fight for MAP funding with the organization going down to Springfield on Wednesday to tell legislators that #MAPmatters.

This year’s budgeting process was not without its hiccups, however. The initial vote in SRAC was 7-2 with both faculty representatives voting against. While not citing any specific objections to the budget, the members sought to take a stand on the prioritization of university resources in recent years.

Issues cited were the decline of tenure lines in recent years, growth in administrative areas and the expansion of capital projects during declining enrollment. However, after meeting with Holtschneider, the members decided to change their votes, making it unanimous.

“We, the faculty representatives on SRAC, had originally voted against the budget due to various concerns,” faculty members Michaela Winchatz and Tom Mondschean said in a statement. “Most importantly, we are troubled by the decline in the number of tenure track faculty over multiple years. However, after meeting with Fr. Holtschneider, Provost denBoer, Bob Kozoman, and Jeff Bethke ­— we were able to agree on a path to begin addressing our concerns and believed it appropriate to change our vote to support the 2016-2017 budget.”

According to Sidler, the faculty members expressed the desire for a more inclusive process in setting university goals.

“In response to this feedback, we are adjusting the annual budget process to incorporate year-round meetings to discuss the ongoing financial situation and key goals and concerns for the coming year,” Sidler said. “We are also reviewing ways to better integrate the budget planning and strategic planning processes.”

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Many students know and confront the harsh reality of college costs. However, many students don’t yet know much about DePaul’s primary resource for locating scholarships.

The Office of Financial Aid and the Student Government Association (SGA) collaborated to change that.

The second annual DePaul Scholarship Fair will give students an opportunity to learn about Scholarship Connect in what SGA hopes will be an even more accessible environment than last year.

“The scholarship fair started last year. While it was successful, we want to build upon it so it can become more inclusive and diverse,” SGA Treasurer and Student Activity Fee Board (SAF-B) Chair Damian Wille said.

Associate Director of Scholarship in the Office of Financial Aid Amy Moncher runs Scholarship Connect with her scholarship team. Wille works with Scholarship Connect as part of his SGA initiative for educational accessibility.

The fair will highlight Scholarship Connect, a program through which students can locate relevant internal and external scholarships. There will also be a raffle, free food, games, and an ID swipe opportunity to win a $500 scholarship.

The $500 scholarship provides incentive to swipe in, but students who do so will also receive a personalized email from the Office of Financial Aid letting them know for which specific scholarships they may be eligible, and how to find external scholarships.

“The fair will address issues of understanding when scholarships are available and the research process in general,” Moncher said.

Representatives from the Office of Financial Fitness, the Career Center, SGA and college offices at tables will tell students about the 2016-17 scholarship application dates. The information is also available on Scholarship Connect.

“This is really an awareness fair for the scholarship program,” Wille said. “The core message is to highlight Scholarship Connect.”

An improvement from last year, the fair will feature representatives from each college on both campuses to better help students locate “custom-tailored, relevant opportunities,” Wille said.

Between colleges, their departments, and student affairs departments, “we service over 60 departments across the university, with everything from getting scholarships onto the tool, going through the review process, and posting the scholarships,” Moncher said, adding, “We manage the process from beginning to end.”

“From an SGA perspective, it’s so exciting to highlight such a useful, transparent tool,” Wille said.

On Scholarship Connect, students can sign in with their Campus Connect IDs and fill out a short general application. It includes questions like “What is your heritage?” and “Are you the first person in your immediate family to attend college?” The portal also strongly recommends students upload a copy of their unofficial transcript.

The portal features DePaul scholarships and external scholarships. It also emphasizes recommended scholarships to show which ones the system thinks eligibility is met.

Students can search scholarships by keyword or filter them by college, making it “convenient to use,” as Wille said.

According to Wille, for the 2014-15 school year, the scholarship team at DePaul processed over 3,700 internal scholarships and awards from university departments for almost $18 million given to students. Additionally, it processed over 1,200 external scholarships adding up to close to $3 million.

“The resources are there. The scholarship team is a central place to ask any kind of questions. I want students to always know where to go, how to research the scholarships, and how the process actually works. Knowing how the process works manages expectations,” Moncher said. “We are supporting our college offices and departments as the nucleus of the entire process for all colleges. We are a guide in making this process as smooth as possible for students.”

The fairs will be Thursday, April 21 from 10 am to 2 pm in the Lincoln Park Student Center atrium and Thursday, April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the 11^th floor of the DePaul Center, Loop Campus.

Event updates can be found on Facebook and DePaul Central.

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Last week, members of the Student Government Association (SGA) visited Springfield to deliver personalized postcards advocating for Monetary Award Program (MAP) funding. The grant, which provides aid to low-income students across the state, has not been funded this year due to the state’s budget impasse.

After months of preparation, 18 DePaul students delivered more than 3,000 signed postcards from student, staff and faculty members for state senators and representatives. Five-hundred postcards were delivered to the office of Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Led by SGA president Vanessa Cadavillo and vice president Richard Popp, students were divided to lobby and deliver the postcards.

“Lobbying is meant as a tool,” Cadvillo said. “Often we think that social media is the way that we get our point across, but with lobbying being there talking to our representatives and senators that person to person contact makes a difference.”

For many students, this was their first experience lobbying. Surrounded by other interest groups and visiting sessions from both the Senate and House, DePaul students saw a glimpse into the efforts behind legislation.

Sophomore sociology student Samuel Peiffer agrees with what lobbying aims to accomplish, but doesn’t see it changing Rauner’s mind on funding the MAP grant.

“These lobbying effects aren’t going to change Bruce Rauner’s mind in terms of what’s he’s doing with the states budget with his cuts that are geared toward education and public serves,” Peiffer said.

“But I do think that what were doing is most significant bring people with politic concerns together,” Peiffer said. “That’s where real change happens. It’s holding our representatives accountable for what they are doing there’s multiple ways to do that, but I think lobbying is one of them wither or not you agree whether it’s effective or ineffective.”

For those who could not travel to Springfield, other efforts were made to show support, such as signing postcards and promoting the hashtag #MAPMatters. This year, those who signed postcards had an opportunity to tell their own story in a specific box.

“We saw so many people not just fill in the box, but also write around the corner (of the postcard) or staple on another piece of paper because it was that important to them that this type of funding continued,” SGA President Vanessa Cadavillo said. “I hope that messaging relays back to our legislators in Springfield.”

Other colleges and universities also visited the state capitol the same day as DePaul. Colleges like Illinois State, Roosevelt University and St. Augustine Chicago all had students visiting their state representatives last week.

Throughout the trip, many state officials, people at the capital and alumni stopped DePaul students to praise their efforts.

Eight months into the fiscal year, Illinois still doesn’t have a budget, leaving many colleges and universities to deal with staff layoffs and uncertain plans for the future. DePaul President Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., said DePaul would honor MAP through the next academic year for incoming students.

More than 5,000 DePaul students rely on the MAP grant. DePaul’s MAP recipients are larger than any other private university in the state.

It was the needs of those students that made the trip worthwhile for Cadavillo.

“As we were organizing and planning our trip, we were able to hear from single mothers, veterans, low-income students,” she said. “We just saw a bunch of different students who all relied on the MAP grant, and even students who didn’t receive the MAP grant realized that it was so important.”

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In the midst of a nearly year-long battle to fund higher education during the state’s fiscal crisis, a bill that would appropriate nearly $170 million to partially fund MAP grants passed through the Illinois senate Friday. 

In total, the bill would allocate about $600 million to public universities and in state assistance to low-income students. This comes after several public universities threatened cuts or shutdowns — including Chicago State University, which could end its school year after April — after the state’s budget crisis halted funding.

This higher education measure now awaits the governor’s approval.

Because the state has failed to pass a budget for FY 2015, Illinois lawmakers have pushed bills to fund state services through to the governor’s desk piecemeal. In February, a bill that would have appropriated more than $721 million to MAP and higher education was vetoed by Gov. Rauner. If approved, this new bill would appropriate less than half of what Illinois Democrats initially asked for.

About one-fifth of DePaul students from low-income and working class backgrounds receive the MAP grant, which typically awards about $4,000 per student annually. In November, DePaul announced it would honor grants promised to current students through the end of the 2016 academic year, and this winter, the university announced it will also honor funding for incoming students during the 2016-17 academic year. The university is currently operating on a surplus and in its 2016-17 budget, DePaul set aside additional funding in case MAP was not approved in the upcoming state fiscal year.

Though it would only allocate partial funding, Student Government Association President Vanessa Cadavillo said the bill was better than nothing. Cadavillo — along with other students and SGA representatives — lobbied for MAP funding in Springfield Wednesday.

“I think this is a step toward the right direction for the current year, but it is by no means enough,” Cadavillo said.

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For DePaul freshman Erin Hammond, helping manage the Earth Week Festival on DePaul’s Quad in 40 degree weather was not a challenge. 

Hammond grew up on a 975-acre farm in North Central Iowa, waking up at 5:30 a.m. every morning in all types of weather with her brothers to feed cattle before going to school. Hammond and her family farm a rotation of soybeans and corn, also raising cattle on their farm. “My whole life was chores,” she said.

Hammond is part of DePaul’s Green Team, an organization part of DePaul’s EDGE team that creates initiatives within residence halls to raise environmental awareness and encourage sustainable practices.

The Green Team hosted the yearly Earth Week Festival, held on DePaul’s Quad on Friday to celebrate Earth Day and encourage student participation in environmental issues. Freshman and member of the Green Team, Sydney Cowle said the team was in charge of collecting donations from local businesses such as Insomnia Cookies and David’s Tea, as well as coordinating activities with other organizations including the Urban Farming Organization (UFO), SWAP, Residential Education, Housing Services and Chartwells.

In spite of the cold outdoor temperatures, Cowle said Earth Day marked a time for everyone to appreciate nature and its resources.

“Even though it’s freezing, the Earth is our home and we need to love it and take care of it, so we need to spread awareness to Earth Day” Cowle said.

According to EarthDay.Org, Earth Day began in 1970 to create consciousness toward environmental issues and have people work together to create change. Today, Earth Day continues to energize the conversation about issues affecting the planet and support the changing environmental landscape.

For Hammond, the event was an opportunity to not only increase student awareness, but let students know that living a sustainable lifestyle isn’t difficult.

“I’ve always been aware of environmental issues and it’s impacted my life very heavily, so I like to focus on composting and conserving soil. It’s something people don’t really think about and it’s really important. It directly effects where you can build things and plant gardens that in the city people don’t think about” she said.

Freshman Isabelle Hattan led an activity where students repurposed water bottles into low-maintenance and self-watering plant pots of basil or wildflowers.  Activities also included taste testing sustainable food products as well as making smoothies through a blender powered by a bicycle.

DePaul sophomore Sarah Nolimal attended the event to celebrate Earth Day. “I love Earth Day, it’s my favorite day,” Nominal, who is an environmental science major, said. “My main concerns with the environment are politicians getting in the way and not moving toward clean energy and climate change denial,” Nolimal said. There’s no reason to think climate change doesn’t exist, it’s been scientifically proven. Even if it wasn’t real, what’s the problem with reducing our impact on the earth?”

Nolimal said that recycling, composting and reducing meat intake are the easiest ways to be environmentally conscious and reduce your impact on the earth.

Junior Alan Mlotkowski also wanted to celebrate the planet on Earth Day with the various activities available in spite of the increasingly cold temperatures. Mltokoswki said the event would increase awareness on campus about how to better stay green. “I think people should recycle more. What always confuses me with people who consider themselves to be really conservative because they’re all about saving money any way they can yet, they don’t want to recycle, which is a big money saver.”

Last week various events were held both in the Lincoln Park and the Loop campuses to bring attention to Earth Week and inform students of environmental issues in a fun and interactive way.

“Earth Week is based on Earth Day and celebrating planet Earth by giving back and appreciating everything that we get from our planet,” said Sarah Levesque, Student Government Associations’ Sentator for Sustainability. “This week was supposed to highlight how we can interact and live with it sustainably especially at DePaul. We have such an unique experience where we can teach people how to be sustainable before they enter the professional world.”

Events celebrating Earth Week began on Friday, April 15 with Inside Invenergy hosted by the Career Center. Students were given the opportunity to tour and meet alums working at Invenergy, a business which develops, owns, and operates power and energy storage facilities in the United States and internationally.

Throughout the rest of Earth Week, speakers were invited, games were played, and new environmentally friendly products were displayed.

UFO teamed up with Chartwells, DePaul’s food vendor, and Big Shoulders Coffee to highlight their new product, cold brewed coffee, that will be sold at Brownstones beginning in September of the upcoming 2016-17 school year. UFO used this opportunity to teach students how to compose their coffee grounds after brewing their coffee.

DePaul Activities Board (DAB) was present during Earth Week by giving students a chance to play green games, create their own trail mix in the Loop campus, and Earth Day Extravaganza.

“The Mother Nature Trail Mix Bar event was a collaboration with the Office of Student Involvement to involve the Loop campus in Earth Week,” said Josue Ortiz, Enrichment Coordinator of DAB. “This is the first year the enrichment committee has existed at DePaul. We drafted a statement about carrying university initiatives and Earth Week Extravaganza fell under the enrichment committee this is the first year we got to organize the event.”

During Earth Week Extravaganza, held in the Student Center’s atrium, students who passed by were able to watch the film Wall-e, create their own zen garden, and make their own dirt cup snack and make a environmentally friendly pledge on their Pledge Board.

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Chants calling for the end of rape culture and safe housing in the dorms echoed across campus as Feminist Front, an organization at DePaul, hosted Take Back the Night, which included a rally in numerous spots on campus and a march through DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus on April 21.

DePaul’s 10th annual Take Back the Night event featured five planned speakers and had around 30 people attend. Feminist Front member Laura Springman said DePaul’s event is part of a larger, international movement that has existed since the 1970s. But this year one of the main focuses of this year’s event was safety in the dorms.

“People cannot fear attending college because they are scared they will be sexually assaulted,” graduate student Brittany Hamilton, who spoke first at the rally, said.

In a statement made on the DePaul Feminist Front Facebook page, the group demanded that DePaul create a consensual housing policy to alert students if their potential roommates have been accused of rape, and allow students to refuse to live with accused rapists. The group created a hashtag for students to discuss the issue over social media, #TakeBacktheDorms.

DePaul confirmed that a student may be moved after claim of sexual violence, but cited that student’s privacy rights prevents them from providing any additional information.

“When DePaul receives a report of sexual or relationship violence, DePaul evaluates whether it is appropriate to take any interim measures while the report is being investigated and addressed,” the university said in a statement. “These interim measures could include, for example, modifying the living arrangements of the individuals involved, to avoid further contact between them while the report is being properly investigated.”

The rally’s theme came from experiences that friends and members of Feminist Front had in regards to sexual assault in the dorms.

“We have one friend who dated a guy who was moved to another dorm because he was accused of sexual assault,” Ellen Goese, a member of Feminist Front and one of the organizers of Take Back the Night, said. “He ended up assaulting them again.”

DePaul juniors Kajal Patel and Jasmine Farley, who both attended Take Back the Night, lived in Corcoran Hall their freshman year and heard from other students that someone who was transferred there from another dorm was accused of sexual assault.

“They shouldn’t transfer students to other dorms,” Farley said. “It’s not acceptable and it made us feel less supported.”

Although Patel and Farley went through that experience, that was not the primary reason they attended the rally and marched across campus.

“We have a friend who was sexually assaulted, and we wanted to come out and support her,” Patel said.

The support for victims of sexual assault was another heavily stressed point made throughout the rally, as numerous speakers discussed the importance of giving survivors a safe space to speak about their experience. Speakers brought up how they feel DePaul is silencing victims of sexual assault by allowing accused rapists to move into other dorms.

“I don’t think St. Vincent DePaul would appreciate taking voices away from the voiceless,” senior Felicia Darnell, who was one of the speakers at the event, said. “It’s definitely not in the Vincentian mission to take away someone’s voice.”

As the march made its way across campus, speakers discussed different aspects of sexual assault and issues about dorm safety, most notably in front of Centennial Hall, where the Department of Housing Services is located.

Speakers also brought up the issue of sexual assault survivors being questioned about their clothing and amount they drank when they report rape. They also stressed issues of survivors not being trusted, despite the statistic that only two percent of rapists are falsely accused, according to The Enliven Project, a campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence.

“I trust survivors. Does DePaul trust survivors?” DePaul student Kara Rodriguez said while speaking in front of Centennial Hall before a chant of “Hey DePaul we challenge you, we trust survivors, why don’t you?” broke out among the crowd.

The general feeling behind the event was that DePaul was not providing justice to victims of sexual assault on campus, especially when accused rapists are placed in different dorms after they are accused.

“There is a need to look at our framework of justice,” Ira Lowy, a member of Feminist Front, said. “The goal is to be safe and have needs met.”

“If they’re going to relocate someone who is accused of sexual assault, the new roommate should be informed of this, and they should be able to decide whether or not they are okay with this person living with them,” Goese said. Ideally, they said DePaul should implement a consensual housing policy, comparing it to a sex offender registry.

Feminist Front was supported by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), who carried their own banner showing solidarity with the group throughout their campus-wide march, and had a member speak about the sexual assault that Palestinian women face. Other issues such as adjunct pay and problems transgender students face on campus were also brought up throughout the event by speakers and DePaul professor Joy Ellison.

The event culminated in healing circles held in Arts & Letters, and left students and attendees feeling excited about the change that could potentially happen on campus in regards to making DePaul’s campus a safe space for sexual assault survivors, despite having previous referendums ignored by DePaul’s administration.

“I really think you can win this one,” Ellison said.

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With experts stumped as to how to  solve the the state’s pension crisis, DePaul invited its undergraduate business students to weigh in on the issue and offer their own solutions as to how to pay off underfunded pension plans.

On April 19, the Public Pension Crisis Student Case Competition, was held at DePaul’s Loop campus.

Five teams of undergraduate business students were brought in to present their solutions to the pension crisis before a panel of judges. 

Each team had six months to prepare their presentations, making sure that every law was read, statistic recorded, and budgets analyzed. Teams had 30 minutes to present a solution to a problem experts haven’t solved in a span of ten months. Naturally the solutions weren’t perfect.

But the competition was a way for students to offer ideas outside the framework of what experts are used to thinking in. The panel of judges was the experience. The truth behind skepticism, separating viable ideas from unrealistic ideas and reasonable figures regarding budget fixtures apart from imagined ones.

“That’s what we do here. We’re not just about graduate students; we’re also about undergraduate students,” Alexander Perry, an associate director at Richard H. Driehaus College of Business at DePaul, said. “Of course we threw them the most impossible topic in the world. There really is no clear solution. All the better for them to struggle with it, because if it was an something easy then it wouldn’t be a learning experience,” .

The competition was held to inspire student and millennial participation in politics within their state.

Underfunded pensions have become the backbone of the state budget impasse, with $111 billion in unpaid pensions. Retirees who depend on their pensions feel the immediate effect, but what often is ignored is the burden placed on taxpayers.

In 2013, taxpayers accounted for 79 percent of the total pension contributions in Illinois, while government workers contributed 21 percent.

Competitor Luke Hamilton said the fault behind the pension crisis is the state.“They haven’t been paying their fare share, the employees have,” Hamilton said.

All five teams shared one common point: the pension crisis in Illinois is a result of the state failing to pay their share of contributions to the state pension funds.

“Don’t you want your tax dollars that you pay to go into your parks, your roads instead of old man geezer’s retirement home in Florida? The tax payer himself will be paying more but essentially the tax payer will be paying for his own pension,” Jay Choi, a competitor in the winning team, said.

The proposed plan to replace the current Defined Benefit Pension Plan was the Combined Contribution Plan. Under this plan, all the contributions made by taxpayers would be placed into a separate fund, free from the state, where pensioners would be free to do whatever they want with their money.

“If you’re a guy and you made $100,000 when you were working, you can make $80,000 every year for 17 years or until you die that’s paid by the state. Think about that; there’s a little south of a million people who are on this pension system. That’s almost 1 million people all making, let’s say 80,000 a year on average that aren’t working,” Choi said.

Although the numbers may not be feasible, the basic concept is changing pension plans so employees are held responsible for funding his or her own pension plan. The contribution made by the employer would ensure a surplus of money in the funds for certain situations that may require it, such as the current pension crisis and relieve stress on the state to pay off liabilities using limited funds.

The plan will only work if employers (state government) are held accountable to make their contributions.

“A lot of states have laws that say you have to have balanced budgets. But there are a lot of accounting tricks you can use in evaluating the amount of assets that you have compared to your liability,” Sebastian Vermaas, a competitor, said.

This might require more permanent structural changes as mentioned by the second place team.

“If you want to write about something, like really, we proposed term limits. Those guys sit in office, they hang out,” Hamilton said.  “They have control over how their districts are drawn and who votes for them, so they’re incentivized to say ‘pension money, going to you guys.’ Once you start limiting where their districts are, and who’s voting for them, that incentive is gone.”

The competition was a way for students to offer ideas outside the framework of what experts are used to thinking in.

The panel of judges was the experience. They were forced to determine achievable plans from unrealistic plans and reasonable figures apart from imagined ones.

“I think one of the great things out of this is that the judges can extract something really good ideas out of all these presentations. The judges are then able to take these ideas and run with them in the real world,” Alexander Perry said.

First place winners were Choi, Lauren McDermott and Paul Kuligowski, followed by Hamilton, Michael Sherman, Doug Palzer and Sebastian Vermaas in second and Kaitlyn O’Shea, Connor Francesca, Darshan Kadmar and Nealkanth Patel in third.

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Waking up at 4 a.m. is not unusual for Jessenia Martinez, a senior at DePaul. It’s even enjoyable. On a cold and icy January morning, rather than staying in bed, Martinez was up and ready to volunteer for her first race of the year. Since January she has volunteered her time at 10 different events and she is still counting.

“My middle school had required hours and we took out learning service hours so we did 40 (hours) before we graduated from middle school,” Martinez said. “My high school also required community service hours, so I graduated with 300 plus hours of learning service and so that was a lot of fun for me.”

When Martinez began attending DePaul, an endless amount of volunteering opportunities came her way.  She volunteered for at least 40 organizations multiple times within the last four years. She volunteered with kids, community gardens, conventions and concert venues. She has also helped races such as the Shamrock Shuffle, the Rock N’ Roll race and the Color Run.

According to a well-being research study conducted by Gallup, people who volunteer their time to community service are happier than people who do not. Volunteerism to many people is much more than serving hours. 

Volunteers said also changes a person’s attitude about issues because he or she is actually doing something active instead of just reading or listening about it.

“Research in social psychology shows that our attitudes change towards something when we are directly experiencing it,” Joseph Ferrari, a professor of social community psychology at DePaul, said. “I think people feel good, which is why you want to encourage volunteerism; you want to encourage service learning kinds of experiences ‘cause it changes people’s attitudes.”

Institutions like DePaul have service days for their students, staff, faculty and even alumni to participate annually. On the first Saturday in May over a thousand DePaulians participate in a day of service with more than 100 community partners.

Ferrari said that Americans today are volunteering more now than they ever have before.

“It all depends on how you define volunteerism,” Ferrari said. “People today are more likely to write a check for a charity than actually go and serve.”

Ferrari said people volunteer for a number of reasons. Some are selfish reasons, which is not a bad thing, and the others are selfless reasons. For one, volunteering brings joy to people’s lives, to be able to be with other people in such a social setting. 

Martinez, for instance, loves the social aspect of volunteering. She likes to meet people and see how her friends react to volunteering with her.  Her favorite volunteering experience to this day has been the Walker Stalker convention, where she was a celebrity escort for the actors of the Walking Dead show. She was able to get autographs and meet a lot of new people.

“It was the first time they were having it in Chicago. I didn’t know what I was getting into but I’ve never met such amazing volunteer coordinator and I loved just being there; everyone was so nice,” Martinez said. “This year I’m going to hopefully get to do the same thing, and I will get to be a zombie.”

People also volunteer their time to charity work to get career experience.

“I find many people to say, ‘Yes, I joined a community volunteer because it looks good on the resume’,” Ferrari said. “So that’s kind of a selfish reason. It’s not a bad reason; it doesn’t make the person bad.” 

Another selfish reason is protection, which is the notion of people believing that they should help through volunteerism because in the near future they may be in a situation where they might need the help themselves.

Like Martinez, Selena Boundy, a junior, loves volunteering her time with the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin sorority at DePaul. She has worked with senior citizens and at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She and her sorority have written letters to patients at the research hospital and have raised money through events like a masquerade ball and a fashion show.

“What I like is that it brings us closer together for a good cause just because I feel a lot of my sisters and my sorority chapter, we all come from different parts of the city and we all love to volunteer and help others,” Boundy said. “I feel like helping others is not just something you do just for fun. I think you should do it because I feel like that’s what a human being should do.”

People like Boundy who believe helping others is something that is expected of people is another reason people volunteer a lot.

Ferrari said that believing that volunteerism is part of humanity is a selfless motive to give the time and energy to helping others. Another motive as to why people volunteer has to do with showing values as a culture or as individuals.

Ferrari believes community service should not be a one-time deal and that people should try to volunteer for longer periods of time if they can. People like Martinez who have done community service for a long time, in her case since her early teens, means that the overall volunteering experiences are much more valuable.

“The longer you have the experiences, the better the learning, the better the outcomes, the more positive the experience the person has,” Ferrari said. “So service days are nice. They’re not as powerful as having a service week, a spring break trip or a whole quarter, but it’s better than nothing.”

Martinez is used to volunteering with people she knows, but has recently decided to continue volunteering even if she does it on her own. As long as she doesn’t stop volunteering, which based on Ferrari’s research, is a good thing.

“I just told myself, ‘You know what? I should just continue volunteering with or without people because this is something I’m really passionate about’,” Martinez said.   

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The ornate decorations of Cortelyou Commons were in contrast with the topic those in the wood-paneled room were discussing on Friday. The building, on the outskirts of DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus represents the old school, the traditions that have stayed. But those present — members of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) and other fraternities and sororities — were there to discuss a new way of dealing with an age-old problem: sexual assault.

The issue is one that has drawn the attention of the city, as well as the state, and in April, national Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), organizations at various levels get to make their grievances more visible and create plans to address them. Though DePaul’s activist community and the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness took on the prevention of sexual assaults, state lawmakers and advocacy groups around campus have in essence done the same by applying the statement “it’s on us” to themselves, too.

The theme for this year’s SAAM focused on the possibility of prevention and the need for conversations to break old traditions of victim blaming, as well as the importance of consent. SigEp hosted and led Friday’s discussion in conjunction with the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness, but other student groups and offices, such as the athletic department, have taken part in the national campaign.

The initiative has garnered support from celebrities and companies, as well as the White House. The pledge is a personal commitment to help keep people safe from sexual assault, and, according to the site, “it is a promise not to be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution.”

Though incidences of sexual assault at DePaul have not been under the national media’s spotlight, there has been media attention surrounding the handling of sexual assaults locally.

“Just because we haven’t had a sexual assault like those at University of Virginia or schools in California, doesn’t mean we can’t show that this matters to us,” Suhayl Dhumadia, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), said. “We’re trying to be not only the best frat on campus, but the best organization and that only happens when we take a stance on issues that matter to us and to the campus.”

Dhumadia helped organize SigEp’s “It’s On Us” event, which brought in Brendan Yukins, a survivor and the prevention educator of Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), an organization dedicated to supporting sexual assault survivors, to talk about the importance of talking about sexual assault and the perpetuation of rape culture.

The work of the two groups coincides with Feminist Front’s message to remove the onus of prevention from the victim, or survivor, and place it on the accused, as well as environments that allow rape to occur and go unresolved.

In 2014, the most recent data from the school, DePaul reported 19 sexual offenses between its Lincoln Park, Loop and residential facilities. In 2013, across all of DePaul’s reported campuses, there were only nine. In the time since these statistics were released, DePaul announced a new Title IX coordinator and, more recently, a Title IX investigator, a role DePaul has never had before.

There are still gaps to bridge, however, and members of SigEp are not the only ones identifying the problem and trying to apply solutions.

State lawmakers also seem to be taking the “It’s On Us” pledge, proposing and in one instance passing legislation to prevent sexual violence in colleges and universities. The Preventing Sexual Violence in Higher Education Act, passed in 2015, stated that Aug. 1, 2016, all higher education institutions shall adopt comprehensive sexual and relationship violence policies. This must include, at a minimum, a definition of consent, procedures pertaining to what happens if students report a sexual assault and an institutional procedure for addressing those reports among other things. 

Since the issues of sexual assault go much further than DePaul’s campuses, bills have been proposed at the state level to help survivors. Broadening the conversation of prevention coincides with sexual assault prevention policies at other schools in order to reduce the number of students affected.

State Rep. David Harris proposed the Investigations of Sexual Assault in Higher Education Act, which aims to turn over the investigations of sexual assaults at campuses with a campus police department over to municipal police forces. By doing this, Harris said, cases may get a more thorough investigation.

“I question whether or not university and college police departments are doing an adequate job investigating this,” Harris said. “I think a major question is whether or not there is a bias to not push this or make it highly visible at these schools. Municipal police are highly trained to deal with these things.”

DePaul’s public safety department would not be directly affected by this legislation since it does not have a campus police force. Student responses to public safety do coincide with some of the major reasons why the act was first proposed.

“Sexual and relationship violence prevention and response work is undertaken through close collaboration among many campus departments, student organizations and community agencies,” Bob Wachowski, director of public safety, said.

The notion of close collaboration between groups and departments is not solely for public safety and the administrative level. Plans to spread out the responsibility of prevention extend beyond Greek letters or party lines because the ultimate goal, to decrease sexual assaults and increase safety, are beneficial to all.

Yukins talked about systemic issues and the importance of advocacy groups. It takes two years, he said, for a case to get to court, and that’s where the RVA and its network of resources, volunteers and counseling services comes in.

“We noticed that there wasn’t someone who was guided by a survivor-focused agenda — law enforcement, medical staffs and family may have their own perspectives,” Sharmili Majmudar, executive director of the RVA, said. “The reality is that survivors have to navigate many systems and coping on their own. Advocates can help with that burden.”

In order to lessen that weight, preventing sexual assaults, and defining consent, are issues that Dhumadia, his brothers at SigEp and those supporting the “It’s On Us” initiative find most important.  The frat also donated $3,700 to the RVA.

“Over the past few years there have been events in the DePaul community that caught everyone’s eye,” Andrew Keller, a member of SigEp who also helped set up the event, said. “We can’t just let this go because we’re on campus.”

The goal is to continue spreading awareness and keep the movement and campaign going. The next step is to just keep the momentum going.

“It’s important to raise awareness and make sure that people are keyed into the issue,” Yukins said. “I hope people broaden their perspectives on (sexual assault), and they don’t just work to change the environment in their own fraternity or sorority, but at the school.”

The post Frats, other groups say sexual assault prevention is ‘on all of us’ appeared first on The DePaulia.

For our graduation issue this May, we want to feature some of the most interesting, bright and talented students who will walk across the stage this June. But with about 4,000 students receiving their degree, there is no way for us to know them all.

That’s where you come in. Nominate a DePaul senior who is making moves, creating change or innovating, and we might feature them. We want to know what makes them special and tell their story.

Here’s the requirements: 

• They must be eligible to walk at graduation this spring. That means they must finish their degree after Spring or Summer Quarter.
• They can be a DePaul undergraduate or graduate student. Age is not a factor.

Nominators:

• We need to know your name and email address, and will contact you for the story if your nominee is chosen. If we cannot contact you, assume we cannot choose your nominee.
• Anyone can nominate a student (so yes, you can technically nominate yourself, but where’s the fun in that?)
• Additional nominations will be taken into account, but more “votes” won’t always increase your chances.

Nominations are due Friday, May 6.

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A DePaul student walking downtown was incapacitated with a noxious substance, dragged into an SUV and sexually assaulted and robbed last night, according to a Public Safety alert. He escaped from the vehicle and offenders fled in an unknown direction. 

According to the alert, the attack occurred at about 10:30 p.m. Friday at Congress Avenue and Wabash Street, about two blocks south of DePaul’s Loop campus and a block east of University Center.

In a separate incident, a female DePaul student was the victim of a strong armed robbery in Lincoln Park early Saturday morning. The student was walking west on Belden Avenue near Fremont Street shortly after midnight when she was approached from behind. The offender grabbed her purse and fled east.

Anyone with information on these incidents is encouraged to call Chicago Police or Public Safety.

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Friday marked junior Mikayla Rickord’s second time participating in the 24-hour DePaul dance marathon DemonTHON, but it is not the only time she works with sick children. Each week, she spends three to four hours at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, the same hospital benefitted by the hundreds of students participating in the annual fundraiser.

DemonTHON raised $274, 887  this year — up from last year’s total — and surpassed the $1 million mark over five years of fundraising. The money raised goes towards Children’s Miracle Network and the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital for families who cannot afford treatment, and to improve the day-to-day life of sick children.

Rickord, who regularly prepares crafts and other activities and dreams of working as an oral surgeon, understands that impact firsthand.

“It helps the kids remember how to be kids,” she said. “They are given very adult problems, and very hard things to deal with that little kids shouldn’t have to deal with. It allows them to have fun and gives them a safe space to do that.”

Rickord watched as the first family of the day, the Bransfields who live in Lincoln Park and have ties to DePaul, told students about their son Sean who was born with a heart defect and treated at Lurie’s. Similar stories were told each hour by families who found healing at Lurie’s.

This was not the only uplifting activity; DemonTHON is a tightly-run ship. There’s the dance:  a 10-minute choreographed feat backed by everything from “Hotline Bling” to the “Bill Nye the Science Guy” theme. It’s taught by coaches for the first two hours and recited each hour on the hour.

Then there’s the themed hours, like a 2000’s late-night hour which includes hair crimping and other middle school throwbacks.

And if that’s not enough, morale captains are on hand to ensure high spirits and energy even in the wee hours.

“Going for 24 hours, you can have some dark hours,” junior and morale captain Bridget Sitko said. A transfer student, Sitko said she was inspired to join DemonThon after her young nephew became sick and seeing what her sister went through.

“We just have to keep everyone remembering who we’re dancing for,” she said.

And what keeps them dancing?

“These miracle stories remind us of why we’re doing it,” she said, as the crowd cheered for the now-healthy Bransfield family. “It’s really inspiring to be doing it for a good reason.”

Photos by Olivia Jepson and Josh Leff / The DePaulia.

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