Diwali: Multicultural Affairs brightened up campus Nov. 5 with Diwali, a traditional Hindu festival of lights celebration. For the full story and video, visit ColumbiaChronicle.com.
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VOLUME 49, ISSUE 11
GAY MARRIAGE LEGALIZED IN ILLINOIS ELIZABETH EARL Opinions Editor AFTER 17 YEARS of waiting, Jeff Tir-
itilli and his longtime partner Lindsey Hooppaw are getting married next year. The couple’s plan to wed became legal when the Illinois House of Representatives passed the Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality Act Nov. 5 by a narrow margin, 61–54. Gov. Pat Quinn will sign the law on Nov. 20, according to an announcement from his office. Tiritilli said he and Hooppaw had a civil union ceremony in 2011, but now that the state will recognize their marriage, they plan to have another ceremony. “[The act] means we are finally being recognized and we are getting the same rights everybody else already has,” Tiritilli said. “We already had our wedding! We’re going to have an upgrade party.” Tiritilli was one of approximately 50 people who attended the Gay Liberation Network’s celebratory rally Nov. 7 in the Boystown neighborhood, drawing supporters out into the cold to hold up rainbow-striped flags and share their reactions to the Illinois government’s recognition of gay marriage. Andy Thayer, GLN co-founder, said the passage of the act, which takes effect June 1, is a signal that gay people are finally gaining the
Anthony Soave THE CHRONICLE Noah Hall, a freshman art & design major at Columbia, looks on as approximately 50 people celebrate the Nov. 5 passage of the Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality Act at a Nov. 7 rally organized by the Gay Liberation Network. The act, which Gov. Pat Quinn will sign into law on Nov. 20, will take effect June 1.
same social acceptance as everyone else, but there is still significant ground to cover before they are fully equal, like introducing LGBTQ sexual education and history in all Illinois public schools.
The Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches, which promotes LGBTQ acceptance in churches across Chicago, also spoke during the rally. Kim Beckmann, a reverend at the Unity Evangelical Lu-
theran Church, said the media has wrongly portrayed church leaders as being against the act when there are many who support it. “It still seems a little strange to me that we have to vote for this
love,” Beckmann said. “There is a whole host of welcoming church leaders … who have been with you in this fight. So come get married.”
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Staff struggle with class assignments since ratification of P-Fac contract JACOB WITTICH Assistant Campus Editor AS SPRING AND J-term registration
FILE PHOTO Michael Bright, president of United Staff of Columbia College, leads a Sept. 18, 2012 union meeting. Some USofCC members are concerned about losing class assignments to part-time faculty.
begin, some full-time staff members are concerned about losing classes to part-time faculty members as a result of a provision in the new part-time faculty contract. The contract, which took 3 1/2 contentious years to negotiate, gives part-time faculty members priority over full-time staff members for class assignments, meaning that full-time staff members can no longer teach a course if a qualified part-time faculty member needs FEATURE
Boystown star Sissy Spastik pushes art of drag toward a genderless future • page 22
an assignment and wants to teach it, even if a full-time staff member previously taught that class. The United Staff of Columbia College released a statement Aug. 26 expressing concerns over the issue. Its members are also circulating a petition calling for a meeting with the college to discuss the best way to assign classes, according to Michael Bright, USofCC president and administrative assistant in the Cinema Art & Science Department. “Under the new contract, P-Fac union members would be given greater preference in class assignments and reassignments,” the
statement said. “Columbia’s fulltime staff have been excluded from becoming members of P-Fac since its organization in 1997, but staff have historically enjoyed the benefits of P-Fac contracts, particularly the pay rates.” Diana Vallera, president of P-Fac and part-time faculty member in the Photography Department, said she thinks the current process ensures fairness for part-timers. “Full-time staff have a full-time job—that’s what they were hired to do,” Vallera said.
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Pantries adjust to SNAP cuts • page 37 Gwar’s Oderus Urungus unleashed • page 26