DePaul to Receive $14.4 Million from Federal Stimulus, Lawsuit Filed Against the University

And Some DePaul Students Take up Rollerblading

Apr 21, 2020

Hello dear friends,

It’s your Monday team — Patsy Newitt, Grace Del Vecchio and Cam Rodriguez — back for more fun, games and, of course, news.

We hope you have enjoyed the past week of rain, snow and sun (?) and that you and your quarantine buddies are all still just as good of friends now as you were six weeks ago — if that’s possible.

This week, we bring you news of Lightfoot, lawsuits and libraries. Additionally, we have some more stories of how others are staying entertained and active and how you can too.

But without further ado, we bring you the tenth installment of our twice-weekly newsletter which is, as usual, written with love and a lot of energy from being inside entirely too much. ANYWAY.

We do this because we think it's an important public service. But if you would like to support this work on Venmo @fourteeneastmag, or tell your friends to sign up for this newsletter — it'd be greatly appreciated.

What’s the latest at DePaul?

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced how much of the $14 billion reserved for higher education in the federal stimulus package each institution will get. DePaul will receive $14.4 million from the first round of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act — at least $7.2 million of that must be used as emergency aid for students.

Exciting news from DePaul this week, everyone, it’s National Library Week! I know, maintain your excitement. But in all seriousness, DePaul’s library staff has been working very hard to ensure that books and research materials are readily accessible online for students during DePaul’s remote learning sessions. Thus far, the staff has placed nearly 6,000 ebooks, chapters, articles, websites and films on electronic reserve for the Spring Quarter.

Not to pat ourselves on the back (but to pat ourselves on the back), 14 East along with Good Day DePaul are recent recipients of The Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards. The categories of awards range from Online In-Depth Reporting, Online Opinion and Commentary, Television In-Depth Reporting and more.

In very different news, last week, TMZ reported that a lawsuit was filed against DePaul which said the university ignored allegations that former DePaul softball coach Eugene Lenti was verbally abusive to players and physically abusive to an associate head coach. The lawsuit alleges that DePaul violated Title IX rules by failing to properly report and investigate the claims. The lawsuit was filed by former DePaul sports psychologist Jenny Conviser. She also said that DePaul wrongfully terminated her contract a few weeks after a softball player informed one of Conviser’s therapists that she saw Lenti punch his associate head coach in the face and the student was encouraged to report it to the school’s Title IX office.

The lawsuit also alleges entanglements between DePaul’s Title IX office and the athletics department — referring to it as an “improper revolving door.” Lenti’s sister is Jean Lenti Ponsetto, DePaul’s director of athletics. See The DePaulia’s timeline of the alleged entanglements here.

DePaul’s spokesperson Carol Hughes responded to The DePaulia about the allegations with an emailed statement: "DePaul takes the welfare and well-being of all students very seriously. Whenever complaints such as these come to our attention, the university conducts a thorough review and ensures that appropriate internal processes are followed. Out of consideration for the privacy of people involved, we do not comment on specific complaints."

Finally, DePaul Student Government Association (SGA) still remains active in advocating for the needs of students. Read SGA President Gisselle Cervantes’s op-ed on how SGA continues to adapt to students’ needs in the height of COVID-19.

What’s happening in Chicago?

In a press conference today, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city is focusing immediate novel coronavirus response efforts on Austin, Auburn Gresham and South Shore — the communities experiencing some of the worst impacts of coronavirus in the city. She said the health disparities have revealed “racist systems” that have forced communities of color to live in poverty. (68 percent of the 500 deaths in Chicago are Black, despite only making up 30 percent of the population).

Candace Moore, Chicago’s chief equity officer, said the city has created a program called the Racial Equity Rapid Response Team (RERRT) partnered with community organizations and health care groups. Around 60,000 face masks will be distributed to the Austin, Auburn Gresham and South Shore neighborhoods, and the program will work with the University of Chicago Medicine to offer 1,000 COVID-19 tests per day free of charge in Hyde Park and Harvey, a south suburb. Moore also said the city is working with the AARP for a strategy to target Black and Latinx citizens ages 50+ and their families. The city will be hosting tele-town halls focusing on food insecurity, testing capacity and access to healthcare.

Today, Pritzker said that projections show that social distancing and the stay-at-home order has saved “thousands” of lives and kept hospitals from being burdened with an overflow — coronavirus patients are currently occupying 40 percent of Illinois ICU hospital beds, whereas early modeling said that the state would have exceeded capacity by April 5 without social distancing.

The past 24 hours saw 59 deaths and 1,151 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the state to a total of 1,349 deaths and 31,508 confirmed cases.

Pritzker announced Friday that all Illinois schools are to stay closed for the remainder of the school year. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city has worked on contingency plans since the beginning of the pandemic.

Newly released data shows that residents in nursing homes make up nearly a quarter of all coronavirus deaths in Illinois. This trend is also reflected nationwide, The New York Times found that nursing home residents make up about a fifth of all deaths.

A fourth Cook County Jail inmate has died from the coronavirus. As of Sunday, 399 inmates and 304 staff members have tested positive. The wife of the third detainee to die from the virus said she called the sheriff’s office 132 times to beg to transfer him.

Pritzker addressed the small protests urging the state to reopen on Sunday, including a small rally yesterday in the Loop, asking residents to be patient and saying Illinoisians need to continue to stay home. He also again suggested Sunday that he’s considering requiring citizens to wear a mask when they’re out in public.

Now, anyone with coronavirus symptoms can get tested in Illinois as the state boosts testing sites and obtains more supplies. Previously, those with mild symptoms were encouraged to stay home and recover in isolation.

Other Chicago News:

Chicago small businesses suffer after the federal loan program runs out, by Block Club Chicago’s Mina Bloom and Hannah Alani
Leading public health expert, David R. Williams said nothing short of a “Marshall Plan” was needed to address coronavirus’s disproportionate effect on Chicago’s South and West Sides, by Chicago Sun-Times’ Maudlyne Ihejirka
Here’s a Chicago Sun-Times column on the “looming breakdown” of Chicago’s capacity to care for homeless citizens who contract the coronavirus, by Mark Brown
Here’s a piece on how Chicago reopened after the Spanish influenza in 1918, by Block Club Chicago’s Kelly Bauer
Lightfoot responded to Trump’s tweet to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” amid their stay-at-home orders by telling him to “LIBERATE SOME TESTS AND PPE,” by Block Club Chicago’s Alex V. Hernandez
Darius Mason, a South Side 7th grader, sewed over 400 masks for essential workers, by Block Club Chicago’s Maxwell Evans
Lightfoot hit Hilco, the contractor responsible for the Little Village dust cloud, with $68,000 in fines and banned implosions for six months, although Neighbors for Environmental Justice called the fines ‘not even a slap on the wrist,’” by WTTW’s Heather Cherone

If you don’t want to watch the news, here are the national headlines to know:

Marion Correctional Institute, a state prison in Ohio, now has the largest source of confirmed virus infections, according to the New York Times. At least 1,828 inmates have been infected, joining thousands of other cases across the country occurring in prisons and jails.
The financial assistance funds that were promised to small businesses have run out, leaving many business owners high and dry, according to the Washington Post’s Jonathan O’Connell. Shake Shack, which had come under fire for accepting $10 million of these funds because it is a large chain restaurant, reportedly returned the funds and called on the program to redistribute it responsibly.
For the past few days protestors have called for an end to statewide social distancing policies, incited by tweets from President Trump calling for states to be “liberated.” In Denver, healthcare workers counter protested, both digitally and physically, from NBC’s Ben Kesslen.
At least 18 people were killed yesterday in Nova Scotia across 12 hours in one of the deadliest mass shootings that Canada has seen, from Eliott C. McLaughlin, Amir Vera and Paula Newton at CNN. The motive is still unknown.
Colleges and universities across the country are bracing for a rocky 2020-2021 school year, with summer programs being cancelled, endowments taking a hit, and the need for financial aid on the rise, from Bloomberg’s Janet Lorin.
You’ve probably heard of HTML and CSS — they’re the coding languages used to create this very newsletter. But you probably haven’t heard of COBOL, a Sixties-era language that holds up the digital infrastructure behind nuclear reactors, banks, and the United States’ unemployment program. Now, the US is seeing a shortage of COBOL coders, one that could put the entire program at risk as it’s inundated with traffic, according to Makena Kelly at the Verge.

On to other news: students take up rollerblading/skating as a way to stay active

In other news, DePaul students far and wide have taken up rollerblading/skating as a means of exercise and maybe even a little entertainment.

Grace Del Vecchio @delvecchiograce

Multiple people have told me they’ve gotten into roller blading lately and I have questions

Mara Morgan, who’s been spending time back home in Minneapolis, discusses her conviction to invest in a pair of rollerskates.

“I had skates my whole life up until college and it’s something I’ve wanted to get back into,” said Morgan. “Being back in Minneapolis and having the time and space to do it gave me the opportunity to do so.”

Also taking the increase in time and space to take up rollerblading is Miami-native María Guerrero. Upon returning to the warm weather of Miami, Guerrero wanted to spend as much time outside possible.

“I wanted to be outdoors and enjoy the weather and the sun, not be stuck inside,” said Guerrero. “It’s nice actually having an activity that allows me to take advantage of the weather and be active.”

Photos courtesy of María Guerrero

Oh yeah it’s still National Poetry Month by the way

Continuing our homage to National Poetry Month, we remind our readers of the efforts of Patricia Haney, a WRD and English creative writing student, peer tutor and head writing fellow at DePaul’s University Center for Writing-Based Learning (UCWbL), who is sending thrice-weekly installments of poems for the month of April.

Last week, she sent the following to her subscribers:

“Poem for My Love” and “Problems of Translation: Problems of Language” by June Jordan

“Asking About You” and “Changing What We Mean” by Eloise Klein Healy

What poems are students writing?

📝 ”Congratulations” by Diego Camacho

📝 “Screw ICE ‘Til It’s All Beautiful Brown Babies” by Julián Martinez

📝 “establishing a routine” by Daniela Camacho

Leer estos poemas en español:

📝 “Felicidades” por Diego Camacho

📝 “Que se Largue ICE – Somos Bebés Bellos y Morenos” por Julián Martinez

📝 “establecer una rutina” por Daniela Camacho

Want great poems sent to your inbox every week? Email Patricia at haney.patricia18@gmail.com.

Bored?

DM the Music Box Hotline on Instagram to help you think of yet another movie to watch
Digital music festival Room Service will be held April 24 through 26 on YouTube! RSVP here. It’s free, but all donations will go to nonprofits Feeding America and Sweet Relief’s COVID-19 efforts
Watch Third Eye Blind (known for smashing hit Semi-Charmed Life) livestream their “Quarantine Kitchen Session” every Tuesday from their Instagram account
Looking to be spooked by something other than the fate of our nation? Take a virtual tour of the Catacombs of Paris or a video tour of the haunted Winchester Mystery House, built by eccentric millionaire widow
Cry and listen to the Tarzan soundtrack
Look at a raccoon every hour

Overwhelmed?

UCLA Health has free meditations
Pritzker created new Call4Calm mental health resources. Residents can text TALK for English or HABLAR for Spanish to 552-020 and the state will put them in touch with a counselor
Call 312-747-1020 for free teletherapy services at Chicago Department of Public Health Mental Health Centers
Call 833-626-4244 for the NAMI Chicago Helpline or 833-TURN-123 for the Bright Star Community Outreach to speak to a mental health counselor
- If it’s late at night: text HELLO to 741741. Crisis Text Line is a 24-hour hotline that serves anyone, in any type of crisis

Want to help?

Lost your main source of income?

Here’s where to apply for unemployment and here’s how to apply
Here’s a list of places hiring by CBS 2 Chicago

Need financial assistance?

Need food or supplies?

Text 312-775-2391 or email LakeviewMutualAid@gmail.com for food, prescription pick-ups, caregiving, medical supplies and more – ”prioritizing folks who are sick, disabled, low-income, elderly, undocumented and Black, Indeginous and/or People of Color”
West Town Bakery is offering free meals to restaurant workers
Manny’s Deli in Little Italy is providing free meals to first responders
Chicago Food Resources

Need more information on COVID-19?

Until next week, stay healthy, make a nice bandana mask, wash those hands real well and know that the staff at 14 East is thinking of you.

Thanks for reading,

Patsy, Grace and Cam