Learn how to beat the backto-school blues in Focus, page 14-15
DePaulia
The
Did you miss Demon Jam? Check out our recap in Arts & Life, page 16
Volume #104 | Issue #1 | Sept. 16, 2019 | depauliaonline.com
Crime rates up in Lincoln Park, double in Loop By Bianca Cseke Online Editor
A 35-year-old man was critically wounded after being shot early Sunday morning in the 400 block of West Fullerton Parkway, an area typically considered among the safest in the city. It was the latest in a series of violent crimes near DePaul’s Lincoln Park and Loop campuses. The man was standing on the sidewalk at about 2 a.m. when someone shot him
from a red SUV, striking him throughout the body, the Chicago Tribune reported. No one was in custody at press time and students did not receive a public safety alert about the incident as of 4 p.m. Sunday. The summer’s headlines included a recent graduate slashed in the face, an attempted kidnapping of a 13-year-old girl, a shooting near Theater on the Lake, a string of robberies on the “L” and in the Loop and a stabbing on the Red Line near Wintrust Arena.
All of those incidents occurred near DePaul’s Lincoln Park and Loop campuses, which have generally been considered safe neighborhoods. Crime has increased by about 40 percent this year around Lincoln Park and nearly 108 percent around the Loop campus, according to statistics from the Chicago Data Portal. The 43rd Ward, where the Lincoln Park campus is located, has seen 2,033 crimes reported to Chicago police between Jan. 1
and Sept. 2 in 2019, compared to 1,452 by that point in 2018. Meanwhile, the Loop campus’ neighborhood, in the 42nd Ward, had seen 11,368 by Sept. 2 this year, compared to 5,470 by that point in 2018. Though violent crime — which includes homicide, assault, battery, criminal sexual assault and robbery — does not make up the majority of crime in either ward, they
See CRIME, page 6-7
Leitao to recieve extension following NCAA sanctions By Shane Rene Editor-in-Chief
XAVIER ORTEGA | THE DEPAULIA
Back in the Blue Demon bubble
Scott Ingerson blows a giant bubble during the Loop Block Party held at Pritzker Park on Wednesday from 2-5 p.m. The Loop Block Party is one of the numerous free events during Welcome Week 2019. Welcome Week also now includes an event at Wintrust Arena for incoming freshman.
Anonymous benefactors give $20 million By Ella Lee Arts & Life Editor
A $20 million gift anonymously donated to DePaul allowed for the creation of The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy, a new school intended to encourage diplomatic approaches to a wide range of disciplines. The school will be temporarily housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Before The Grace School was announced, a program for applied diplomacy at DePaul was already in the works for 18 months, according to Carol Hughes, executive director of news and integrated content at DePaul. In spring, both the undergraduate and graduate programs were undergoing final approval and were expected to be available to students this fall. But several months ago, she continued, DePaul “approached the anonymous benefactors with a request to help transform the program into a school.”
“This program is a very ‘DePaul’ thing.”
Guillermo Vásquez de Velasco
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences “The benefactors are totally committed to the Vincentian mission and understand what the university is about,” said Guillermo Vásquez de Velasco, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. “They were attracted by the high impact that applied diplomacy will have in providing the world with citizen diplomats to build a better world. And, in true Vincentian spirit, they don’t want any type of recognition.” In addition to emphasizing the Vincentian values of the university, The Grace School’s name is intended to draw attention to its specific mission. “The name of the school — Grace — reflects what this program is designed to
convey, which is to inspire students to enter into a deep level of collaboration with a diverse array of individuals and communities in order to go against the grain regarding the way in which many human interactions are conducted, and to build bridges as a bulwark against fear, hatred, distrust and cynicism,” said David Wellman, inaugural director of the school, in a press release. The new Applied Diplomacy degree, which will be granted by The Grace School, will require coursework that stretches across multiple disciplines, which is an intentional aspect of the degree.
See DONORS, page 4
For close to two decades, DePaul’s men’s basketball program has been searching for a head coach that can return the Blue Demons to their winning ways. This past Thursday the university doubled down on current head coach Dave Leitao, announcing his contract will be extended through the 2023-24 basketball season. Since DePaul men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao took command of the program for a second time in 2015, the Blue Demons have ended their season on the bottom rung of the Big East standings three times in four years with a total record of 50-81 (15-56 in conference play). On top of that poor performance, Leitao and his staff were charged with NCAA sanctions for violating ethical rules, which resulted in a three game suspension for the embattled head coach and a three-year probation for the program. At the end of July, the NCAA released a public infractions decision which ruled that DePaul had violated recruiting guidelines when a former associate head coach — Rick Carter, who was fired at the end of the 2017 season and has not returned to work in college basketball — arranged to have a recruit live with DePaul’s assistant director of basketball operations to ensure that he was completing his coursework to maintain NCAA eligibility. The report concluded that the assistant director did not complete the coursework for the player, but ensured tests were taken and that the player was taking steps to remain eligible. “The student-athlete met eligibility requirements and enrolled at the university,” the release stated. “Because the arrangement was an impermissible recruiting benefit, the committee said the studentathlete competed while ineligible. The arrangement also involved impermissible recruiting contact, which caused the men’s basketball program to exceed the number of allowable coaches.” At the time, Bryan Tibaldi was serving as director of basketball operations and Baba Diallo was
See EXTENTION, page 27