Nick Schultz breaks down his men’s basketball preseason poll votes
New practice facility still “on schedule” as winter approaches Alfie 13
Volume 50
Issue 8
LOYOLA
Nick Knacks 16
October 17, 2018
PHOENIX
Fifty Years of Excellence: 1969 - 2019
Grad students interrupt budget meeting PHOENIX STAFF phoenixeic@luc.edu
Some of Loyola’s graduate students interrupted a meeting led by school officials on the university’s budget Tuesday, calling for higher wages and union recognition. About 15 minutes into the meeting — as Loyola’s chief financial officer, Wayne Magdziarz, was speaking — members of the graduate student union stood up throughout the crowd, chanting slogans about
their attempts to negotiate a contract with the university. Some graduate student workers — who are expected to work a set number of hours per week, grade papers and hold office hours on top of taking classes themselves — voted to unionize in February 2017. Despite the vote and recognition as a union by the National Labor Relations Board, the graduate students haven’t been able to negotiate with the university, which views graduate students as “students in every sense of the word,” The Phoenix previously
reported. On Oct. 10, members of the union went to Dean Thomas Regan’s office to demand the university bargain with them for a contract, according to the Loyola Worker Coalition’s Facebook page. The request marked the one year anniversary of the university’s initial refusal to bargain, the page said. “We are fed up,” members of the union said at the meeting. “We have played by your rules. And still no contract.” Town Hall 3
Michael McDevitt reports Closer Look 7
Rogers Park residents on edge KATIE ANTHONY kanthony1@luc.edu
Students have been abandoned late at night after requesting a free ride from Loyola. The university thinks a glitch is to blame.
“Bad Times at the El Royale” takes cues from Quentin Tarantino MATT DRISCOLL mdriscoll3@luc.edu
Drew Goddard’s “Bad Times at the El Royale,” released Oct. 12, is the latest film in a routinely hit-or-miss genre, sure to give every mystery-loving, suspense-seeking moviegoer exactly what they’re looking for. The roads of seven strangers — a priest (Jeff Bridges), a singer (Cynthia Erivo), a traveling vacuum salesman (Jon Hamm), a hotel desk manager (Lewis Pullman), two sisters (Dakota Johnson and Cailee Spaeny) and a mysterious man looking for something stolen from him (Chris Hemsworth) — lead to the El Royale, a one-of-a-kind
hotel stradling the California-Nevada border near Lake Tahoe. As the night grows weary, the past-its-prime lodging becomes the battlefront for each of its guests own struggles, which intertwine in ways they never saw coming. The star-studded cast and alluring, diverse characters make for an intriguing and must-see film. The sheer volume of talent on-screen, especially from Hollywood veteran Bridges (“Hell or High Water,” “True Grit”) and upand-coming actress Erivo (“Widows,” “Broad City”), holds onto the viewer’s attention even when the movie’s sometimes uncommonly lengthy shots start to get old. Goddard (“The Martian,” “Cabin in
the Woods”) takes some obvious cues from acclaimed writer-director Quentin Tarantino (“The Hateful Eight,” “Pulp Fiction”). “Bad Times at the El Royale” is Tarantino-esque to the point where it’s pushing the envelope of being derivative from rather than inspired by Tarantino’s art. Goddard borrows heavily from Tarantino’s signature style, from his cutting “Bad Times at the El Royale” into chapters divided up by title cards to his utilizing those chapters to present the same scene from the points of view of various characters. In fact, some die-hard fans of Tarantino’s catalog, particularly of his
latest blockbuster, might even have a tough time seeing “Bad Times” as anything other than a 1960s-themed “The Hateful Eight” with marginally less hateful characters. Goddard’s employing of a few of Tarantino’s classic ingredients works for his film. The movie periodically changes in perspective and includes startling scenes of violence that keep the audience engaged during the movie’s nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime. It’s only Goddard’s poor incorporation of a MacGuffin — plot-advancing object that lacks intrinsic value — comparable to that found in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (the briefcase) that fails to impress. Bad Times 11
With the Rogers Park community still on edge after two shootings at the beginning of the month by a suspect still at large, students, community members and businesses share a common goal to make the neighborhood feel safe again. Following increased community awareness around Rogers Park, student Facebook groups like “Roam RoPo” have popped up, while the ride-sharing service, Lyft, has offered 50 percent off to Rogers Park community members through the 49th Ward office until the end of the month. This comes after 73-year-old Douglass Watts was killed Sept. 30 while walking his dog about 1.5 miles away from campus. The following day, 24-year-old Eliyahu Moscowitz was shot dead near Loyola Park, just over a mile from campus. Chicago police believe Watts and Moscowitz were killed by the same suspect, who’s still at large at the time of publication. The student Facebook page, “Roam RoPo,” — RoPo being short for Rogers Park — was created Sept. 29 by junior accounting student Ryan McMullin. McMullin said he and his friends reach out to one another to share information and walk together and he wanted all students to have a similar space. “I was thinking what would I do, or how would I feel if I didn’t have that support system around, so my intentions were to give people that bridge to connect with others if they ever felt unsafe,” McMullin said. Other community Facebook groups — such as “Rogers Park Neighborhood News” — intended for neighbors to share recommendations and events have seen an increase in crime related posts following the incidents. Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward) and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) held a community meeting Oct. 3, where about 500 Rogers Park residents gathered to hear from police and ask questions about the shootings, The Phoenix reported. On Oct. 10 Moore sent an email newsletter to residents announcing the neighborhood would be working with the ride-sharing company Lyft to offer transportation at a discount in Rogers Park. RoPo 3