DPU Alerts, on-campus COVID-19 booster shots, and the need to know for election day
plus our columnist’s top 5 Friends episodes
Welcome back to ‘In the Loop’! It’s your newsletter team — Kate, Eiman, Cary, Jahlynn, Chinyere, Lauren, Richie, Monique and Bridget — back with another newsletter.
In case you missed it, 14 East published an election issue last Friday ahead of tomorrow’s general election. Be sure to get out and vote if you haven’t already.
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Today, we’re revisiting emergency events on campus two weeks ago and taking a deeper look into Public Safety’s notification procedures, sharing the when and where of on-campus COVID-19 booster shots and providing the last-minute news ahead of election day.
Now that we’ve covered just about everything, let’s dive into the news!
McCabe Incident leaves students concerned about public safety procedures
By Eiman Navaid
On Thursday, October 27, students received a DPU alert in the afternoon regarding an incident occurring at McCabe Hall on the Lincoln Park campus. The alert read as such:
“DPU Alert: Police are responding to an emergency at McCabe Hall at Lincoln Park. While there is no threat to the community, avoid the area at Belden & Fremont St.”
Nearly three hours later, students received another DPU alert, notifying them that the situation was still ongoing, and less than an hour later, students received an “all clear” message from the DPU alert system. However, in the midst of all this, no student was informed about the situation unfolding on the scene or its extremity.
The DPU alerts were a stark contrast from the Public Safety alerts students receive on a nearly weekly basis regarding any incident that occurred on or around the campus area. Public Safety alerts are sent out with full detail regarding the offender and the extent to which the victim was harmed, as well as thorough descriptions of what, when and how the incident occurred.
Russell Dorn, the manager of news and integrated content for the university’s Marketing and Communications division, commented on the incident. He explained the difference between Public Safety and DPU alerts.
“DPU alerts are used to notify the DePaul community of emergency situations and typically require our community members to take immediate action,” Dorn said. “In this incident, we needed individuals to avoid the area around McCabe Hall.”
Dorn explained how DPU alerts are shared with the community in a variety of ways.
On the other hand, “Public Safety alerts do not require immediate action, but contain information that is important for the university community to know,” he said.
He explained that students didn’t receive detailed information regarding the McCabe incident due to a variety of student and healthcare privacy laws. However, he says the DPU alerts provided the most important information that the community needed to be aware of at the time.
“In comparison, Public Safety emails are more detailed because it’s often an ongoing investigation where the Chicago Police Department is seeking witnesses or information to help solve the case,” Dorn said.
Many students expressed their discomfort and uncertainty regarding how the situation unfolded.
“I appreciate them telling us it wasn’t a threat to the larger DePaul community,” senior Gina Arndt said. “But I wish I simply knew more about the incident. The hearsay about it was almost worse than the reality.”
Senior Kate Soupiset was uncomfortable with the vague wording of the messages.
“I understand it’s a sensitive topic but why not at least be more specific about what kind of issue happened,” she said.
While she believes in full transparency, junior Edith Olivia said she understands why DePaul didn’t share all the details.
“It was obviously very traumatic to the students who were directly affected by it,” she said. “I feel like the only people who need the full details are the people who live in McCabe because it directly impacts them.”
Students can receive DPU alerts in up to three different ways – by phone, text, and email. Students can sign up through Campus Connect, following the instructions on DePaul’s Public Safety page. If they run into issues, students should contact Cheryl Hover, the Associate Director of Emergency Management at chover@depaul.edu.
DePaul News
By Cary Robbins
Celebrating Native People’s Heritage Month
DePaul is hosting a Native People’s Heritage Event on Tuesday, November 8 at the Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 314 A/B from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event will discuss the Field Museum’s new exhibition: Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories. Attendees will be able to hear from Dr. Douglas Keil, citizen of the Oneida Nation and assistant professor of history at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. The DePaul community will also get to hear from Ryan Schuessler, the exhibitions developer at the Field Museum. To learn more about the event, click here.
Free COVID-19 booster shots available
If your mom is still bugging you about getting your booster shot before visiting family over Winter Break, DePaul is providing free COVID-19 booster shots on Thursday, November 10 at the Loop Campus DePaul Center, Room 8012. Register here for appointments. The clinic will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students are required to wear a mask to their appointment and show their DePaul ID. Also, students must bring their COVID-19 vaccination cards for proof that they are receiving the correct vaccination.
DePaul’s Brain Fuel Week before finals
DePaul is hosting a Brain Fuel Week for students feeling the end of quarter stress. Here is a full list of all the events that students can attend for the week of November 7 through November 11. There will be events such as games and puzzles at the DePaul libraries, workshops on eating healthy at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center and art events for all students at the student center.
Famous Jazz Drummer Dana Hall appointed Interim Dean of School of Music
Jazz drummer Dana Hall has been appointed the Interim Dean for the School of Music. As an award-winning composer, musician and bandleader, Hall has been on the DePaul faculty since 2012, according to DePaul Newsline. Hall was listed in New City’s Music 45 list in 2020 and has performed and toured in six continents. He has led his own ensembles and worked with other famous jazz musicians. These are just a few of his accomplishments. Read more here.
DePaul’s holiday events
This week, DePaul will be hosting its annual holiday events. On Tuesday, November 8, the DePaul community is welcome to come to the Loop Campus DePaul Center plaza from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to grab cookies and get an ugly sweater-themed mug. Wednesday, November 9 will have two events. There will be an ugly sweater party from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lincoln Park Campus Quad. If you are one of the first 1,250 attendees, you will receive DePaul’s ugly sweater. Also on Wednesday, there will be a tree lighting ceremony starting at 4:30 p.m. at St. Vincent’s Circle. Attendees will hear from President Rob Manuel and Kevin Holechko, associate president of the student government. The first 750 people will receive a holiday scarf. You can also donate warm items at the event that will be donated to Chicagoans facing homelessness.
Lastly, here is your weekend sports update (Nov. 4-6)
Forward for DePaul’s women’s basketball team Aneesah Morrow was named on the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s Watch List by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club.
DePaul’s volleyball team won 3-0 against Villanova on Friday.
DePaul’s volleyball team won 3-0 against Georgetown on Saturday.
Chicago Headlines
By Jahlynn Hancock
Chicago City Council approves Lightfoot’s $16.4B budget after tense debate — Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $16.4 billion budget has been approved for the 2023 fiscal spending year. The approval comes after a split 32-18 vote in agreement with the bill, but that does not mean that there aren’t concerns with what the budget is going towards. Fran Spielman of the Chicago Sun Times has the full story.
In-person early voting overtakes mail-in ballots for the first time — Early voting has overtaken the number of ballots being cast by mail for the first time in the last two election cycles. As of Monday, 134,014 ballots have been cast in person, overtaking mail-in-ballots. Voters are urged to cast ballots at any of the 946 precinct polling places open tomorrow on election day. Chicago Sun-Times has the full story.
Chicago’s Christmas tree put up at Millennium Park — Goodbye October, hello November. The city has already put up Chicago’s Christmas tree. The tree was harvested from a home in Morton Grove and was placed in Millennium Park Monday morning. With the holidays around the corner, the annual tree-lighting ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 18 at 6 p.m. in Millennium Park. WGN Chicago has the full story.
Chicago crowns its first karaoke champion — Jason E. Jackson, a 45-year-old Chicago resident has been crowned the first karaoke champion after his stellar performance of “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” by Darkness. The contest is new to the Chicago area and accumulated more than 540 contestants across the Chicago area, attracting hundreds of karaoke enthusiasts. WBEZ has the full story.
National Headlines
By Chinyere Ibeh
Georgia’s Cobb County residents receive voting extension due to “human error” — More than 1,036 absentee ballots can now be sent until the extended deadline, November 14. Residents requested these ballots, but they weren’t made or sent out. Cobb County election officials failed to send out the ballots due to procedural errors that occurred for two days in October. CNN’s Jason Morris has the full story.
Putin-connected Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted that he interfered in the U.S. elections — Prigozhin took to social media to boast about his involvement in Russia’s interference with U.S. elections, most notably the 2016 presidential election, and how he would continue to do so. “Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” said Prizgozhin. This is the second admission from the businessman, who has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2018, Prigozhin was charged alongside a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies, for operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord and dividing American opinion during the 2016 presidential election. Head to the Associated Press for the whole story.
Voter ID laws create obstacles for thousands of transgender voters — A report from the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law says that 47% of transgender adults eligible to vote live in one of the 31 states that conduct their elections primarily in person and have a voter ID law. More than half of those individuals have an ID that accurately reflects their name and/or gender. Kathryn K. O’Neill, a policy analyst at the Williams Institute, who co-authored the report, said that transgender voters may face questioning or rejection by poll workers due to their identity not matching their IDs. This would bar them from an important election year for LGBTQ+ issues. Cady Stanton of USA TODAY reports on the issue.
Meta plans for largest layoff in company history — Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is planning for the largest layoff since 2004, the year the company launched. According to the New York Times, three people with knowledge of the situation say that it’s unclear how many people will be cut and in which department. The Washington Post reports that the layoffs could start as soon as Wednesday. Targeted advertising for Meta has taken a hit since Apple introduced new privacy restrictions that forced app makers to ask users if they could track their activity across the internet. Jacob Bogage, Naomi Nix, and Julian Mark report the full story for The Washington Post.
Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson objected to the Supreme Court’s decision regarding an Ohio death row inmate — Davel Chinn is a death row inmate who was convicted of a 1989 murder in Dayton, Ohio during a robbery. Jackson, along with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said in her opinion that the court should have ruled in favor of Chinn, but the court rejected Chinn’s appeal. Chinn’s lawyers argued that prosecutors had withheld evidence that a key witness was severely mentally disabled. The key witness identified Chinn as the shooter. NBC News’ Lawrence Hurley has the whole story.
An Iowa teen who killed her rapist escapes from a probation center — Iowa authorities say the 18-year-old Pieper Lewis escaped from the Fresh Start Women’s Center shortly after 6:15 a.m. on Friday morning. Lewis was a sex trafficking victim who was serving her probation sentence at the women’s center. At some point during the day, her GPS monitor had been cut off. A warrant has been issued for her arrest and the probation report asks for her original sentence to be imposed. She faces up to 20 years in prison. The Associated Press reports on the full story.
Hey, Check This Out!
With Featured Columnist Lauren Sheperd
Hello everyone and welcome back! With finals coming up, I know we all need a little pick-me-up. What’s a better way to combat the stress of the next few weeks than with a comfort show? My comfort show is Friends, and I’m going to recommend my five favorite episodes to watch when you just need a short, mindless break. Let’s get into it:
Friends first aired in 1994, and ran for 10 seasons until 2004. The show followed a group of six friends in their 20s and eventually their 30s living in New York City. It follows the entertaining but relatable struggles of the main characters, Monica, Rachel, Phoebe, Chandler, Ross and Joey’s lives. You can stream Friends on HBO Max.
1. “The One with the Prom Video” (Season 2, Episode 14): This episode is what I consider to be the real beginning of Ross and Rachel’s tumultuous relationship. While their feelings for each other are discussed throughout the first one and a half seasons, this episode contains their first kiss, beginning one of the original toxic relationships on television. Though Ross and Rachel’s relationship is rocky at best, this episode contains a “finally” moment for the audience.
2. “The One Where No One’s Ready” (Season 3, Episode 2): I love this episode because of how ridiculous it is. Throughout the entire episode, Ross is giving everyone a countdown on how long they have to get ready before they go to his very important award ceremony. As he tries to get everyone ready, each character has their own issues and causes problems for Ross in a different way. To me, it is the funniest and most ridiculous episode of the whole series.
3. “The One with Ross’s Wedding” (Season 4, Episodes 23 and 24): This was a two-parter where the whole gang (except a very-pregnant Phoebe and Rachel) go to London for Ross’s wedding to Emily, who he had only been dating for a few months. Though there are many roadblocks to the wedding, it still does go on, and the drama is unbeatable. My favorite fictional couple, Monica and Chandler, also began in these two episodes. The London episodes are my go-to episodes no matter my mood or what I want to see.
4. “The One Where Everybody Finds Out” (Season 5, Episode 14): This is a continuation of the Monica and Chandler relationship arc where they finally end up telling the whole group they are together. Since they got back from London, Monica and Chandler had been trying to keep their relationship a secret, but others in the group were slowly beginning to find out. In this episode, Monica and Chandler try their hardest to keep it a secret but ultimately fail after being pushed by the group.
5. “The One with Phoebe’s Wedding” (Season 10, Episode 12): This episode is one that finally gives Phoebe a happy ending. Throughout the show, her struggles throughout her life are mentioned several times, and she finally finds herself in a happy, stable marriage. This episode wraps up Phoebe’s story as the series comes to an end.
Thanks for reading this week! Good luck with finals, and make sure to take time for yourself.
Resources
Need resources regarding cooling centers, rental assistance, abortion access, COVID-19 testing and vaccines or mental health? Check out our complete list here.
That’s it for today! See you next Monday.
The 14 East Newsletter Team