SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
Vol. V No. 36 Cajun cuisine comes to Westchester PAGE 8
vfpress.news
Triton faculty union sees board undercutting equity work
Elected officials from the local, county, state and federal level, along with local union leaders gather for the official groundbreaking of the future Union Wellness Center in Bellwood. Read more on page 5.
Paul Goyette
Black, Brown administrators leaving, say critics
Proviso East honors famous native son
By F. AMANDA TUGADE Wednesday Journal
At a recent board meeting, Triton College Board Chairman Mark Stephens received an award for his years of service in education. Jim Reed, executive director of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, traveled from Springfield to the college’s River Grove campus Aug. 24 to honor Stephens in person and recognize his commitment as an educator for the last 30 years. But the celebratory moment was quickly clouded as a group of Triton employees raised concerns over the school’s lagging diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts See TRITON on page 13
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Move-in days at area colleges PAGE 11
District officials unveiled the Chairman Frederick A. Hampton Social Justice Room on Aug. 29 By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
In the days after Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton was assassinated in his West Side apartment on Dec. 4, 1969, Black students at Hampton’s alma mater, Proviso East High School in May-
wood, convened in the school’s Social Room to strategize how they would mourn. They had wanted to hold a memorial in the school’s auditorium to honor Hampton’s legacy, but the idea “sparked racial tension among Black students and white students,” recalled Nicole Wilson, District 209’s communications director, during a ceremony inside of the East auditorium on Aug. 29. “White students didn’t want a memorial here,” Wilson said. “So, white used Room 126 down the hall to strategize how they would make it known that they didn’t want a memorial. Meanwhile, you had the Black students in the Social Room strategizing
and planning to host the memorial service they would hold in this auditorium on Dec. 11, 1969.” The school’s racial climate was so tense, Wilson said, that fights continued to break out in the wake of Hampton’s assassination. The fights “caught the attention of the FBI and army intelligence, who came into the building and put up cameras to monitor and record what was happening right here at Proviso East after the death of Chairman Fred Hampton.” Some five decades later, Wilson and a few hundred other people were in the auditorium on Sunday to celebrate the fact that the district had just renamed the Social Room See HAMPTON ROOM on page 7
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Proviso Community Bank is a branch of Hinsdale Bank & Trust Company, N.A. 1. Total Access Checking Bonus Information. This Total Access Checking account bonus offer is valid for new accounts opened January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. This Total Access Checking account bonus offer is not available to existing or closed checking account customers of WTFC and its subsidiaries or its active employees. Limit 1 bonus payment per customer, regardless of the number of accounts opened. If you qualify for this Total Access Checking account bonus offer, you are ineligible to receive this Total Access Checking account bonus offer from any other Wintrust Financial Corporation (‘WTFC’) location. If you qualify for any other WTFC savings offer it may be combined with this Total Access Checking account bonus offer. Your new account must be open, in the same product, and have a balance greater than zero to receive the bonus payment. Balance is determined as of the end of each Business Day as the funds currently in your account including deposits and withdrawals made in the Business Day. The $300.00 bonus payment is subject to IRS 1099-INT reporting and may be considered income for tax purposes for the tax year in which the bonus was paid. 2. Total Access Checking Bonus Qualifications. (i) Open a new Total Access Checking account; (ii) tell us you are aware of this Total Access Checking account bonus offer at account opening; (iii) have at least monthly occurring direct deposits totaling $500.00 or more each month made to your new account for 2 consecutive calendar months after the calendar month your new account was opened (‘Qualification Period’). For example, if you open your new account in January, you would need to have “Direct Deposits” made to your new account in February totaling $500 or more and in March totaling $500 or more; and (iv) enroll in online banking and activate e-statements within the Qualification Period. A direct deposit is defined as any payment made by a government agency, employer, or other third-party organization that is made via an electronic deposit. A direct deposit does not include teller/ATM/mobile or remote deposits, wire transfers, online banking/telephone transfers between accounts at WTFC, external transfers from other accounts at other financial institutions or ATM/debit card transfers and deposits. After you have completed all the above bonus qualifications, we will deposit the bonus payment into your new account within 30 calendar days after the Qualification Period. BANKER INSTRUCTIONS: Enter offer code WFC00DMAP300 during account opening.