General Iron hunger strike, another lawsuit and some newsroom events
Plus a resource highlighting free legal support for DePaul students
Welcome, welcome, everyone! It was a sunny day here in Chicagoland and we are certainly welcoming the early spring sunshine – we hope you are elsewhere too.
It’s your newsletter team –– Justin, Francesca, Robin, Grace and Claire, featuring reporting from Pueblo’s Managing Editor Richie Requena – back for our final newsletter of the quarter. We’ll be taking off for the finals week ahead and a well-deserved Spring Break.
But the news doesn’t stop! So if you have anything regarding this newsletter that you want us to know, change, include or look into when we return, let us know.
Do you have questions about the vaccine specifically? We want those too! Leave us a tip, question, idea or suggestion here in Spanish and here in English.
Oh, and there are a couple other things we should mention:
14 East’s Annual Gala is this Friday! This event is 14 East’s annual par-tay and we invite all of you to join Friday, March 12 at 6 p.m via Zoom for some words from our staff and alumni, a magic show and post-game social hour (with some opportunities to snag 14 East merch!) Check our social medias throughout the week for an Eventbrite link + details:
We’ve also got yet another Public Newsroom next week! Yes, it’s finals week and yes, you should still come! Sujay Kumar of Chicago Reader and Sarah Conway of City Bureau are joining us on Monday, March 15 at 6pm. Bring your articles, final papers and all things editing for a chance to talk one on one with two editing legends. Sign up here via Eventbrite.
One last thing – we mentioned at the top that we’re getting that early spring sunshine, which means Daylight Savings is this Sunday, March 14! Don’t forget to set your clocks forward an hour (and don’t let that mess up any deadlines!).
Reporting from the General Iron Hunger Strike
On March 4, protestors gathered outside of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home in Logan Square to mark one month of a hunger strike against a permit that would allow General Iron, a scrap-metal plant, to relocate from the mostly white and affluent Lincoln Park to a low-income majority Black and Brown community on the Southeast Side. An air-quality report from the city last summer noted that the Southeast Side is one of Chicago’s “most environmentally burdened areas.”
Pueblo at 14 East’s Richie Requena and 14 East Contributor Rio Diaz documented the March 4 rally in photos:
Student Legal Aid From DePaul
Did you know that you can access legal aid through DePaul’s Law School? Law students and the DePaul community come together at the Croak Community Legal Clinic for a variety of law-focused webinars aimed at better informing the DePaul community on legal issues. While unable to represent students in court, the workshops held by the workshop, which are led by DePaul law students, help connect students to receive pertinent information on issues such as evictions and unemployment during COVID-19.
Chicago Headlines
Thinking about partying on St. Patrick’s Day? Please don’t. Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, asked that people cancel their private parties and practice caution as the holiday parades and celebrations are being cancelled. Kelly Bauer of Block Club Chicago reports.
More and more vaccinations are coming to Chicago, and the United Center has opened as a mass vaccination site. Block Club Chicago is here with the latest news on how you can get vaccinated.
Tonight, Chicagoans are returning to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd. Protestors will march and car caravan to Federal Plaza, as today is the same day as Derek Chauvin’s trial begins –– from The TRiiBE’s Matt Harvey.
Chicago Sun-Times’ Claire Proctor reports that more students are experiencing intense symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses than ever as high schools are still closed one year after the pandemic began.
DePaul News
Former DePaul library employee Mireille Kotoklo joins the string of racial discrimination lawsuits against DePaul, alleging that the university unfairly terminated her based on her race. Kotoklo, who is Black, was on a committee charged with filling a vacant position at the library when she recommended Dilnesa Eshete, a former library employee let go in 2018 due to budget cuts, to fill the spot. Eshete listed Kotoklo as a reference, as she had served as his manager during his previous employment at the library.
After it was discovered that Kotoklo had flagged Eshete for poor performance while she was his manager, her supervisor Robert Karpinski fired her, alleging that Kotoklo’s failure to acknowledge her former unsatisfactory review of Eshete “lost the trust” of her subordinates. Kotoklo had raised concerns about Eshete listing her as a reference due to her being a co-chair on the committee charged with filling the vacant position but was assured by HR that all was well.
Additional allegations in the lawsuit claim that in firing Kotoklo, Karpinski broke the university’s progressive discipline policy, as he failed to initiate a performance improvement before issuing the termination. In a statement released to the DePaulia, DePaul spokesperson Russel Dorn said DePaul has a “long-standing commitment to the diversity of its faculty, staff and student body.”
Separately, a proposed class-action lawsuit filed on March 3 with the Illinois Supreme Court claims that DePaul’s Respondus Monitor tool, used for online exam proctoring, is in violation of the state’s biometric privacy laws, according to an article published by Law360. The suit claims that the biometric data collected by the online tool, including keystrokes, eye movement and facial recognition, goes beyond the informed consent of students, likening its collection methods to being “spyware.” DePaul declined Law360’s request for comment.
Starting tomorrow, DePaul students and faculty in the Theater School and School of Music can get free COVID-19 testing from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays at the Lincoln Park Student Center via a mobile unit set up by SHIELD IL. Appointments can be made through SHIELD IL’s online portal and are free — proof of insurance is not required. Test results will be issued within 12 to 24 hours.
National Headlines
The Georgia Senate has repealed no-excuse absentee voting in a new election bill that passed today, according to NPR. This reverses the 2005 Republican-backed law that allowed no-excuse voting, which expanded the amount of people able to vote by mail in the state.
The Los Angeles Times reports that President Joe Biden signed a voting rights act via an executive order to promote voting access, countering previous restrictions. This plan was announced during an address on the 56th annual commemoration of Bloody Sunday. The plan directs federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information, pushes for an overhaul of the Vote.gov website and adds provisions to restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts.
President Biden starts to dismantle Trump-era Title IX rules on sexual misconduct according to The New York Times. The review will also assess discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
CNN reports on what happens next with the COVID-19 relief bill. The Senate passed the $1.9 trillion relief bill on Saturday, and now the bill has to go through the House and is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday. If the bill is passed by the House and finds its way to the president, people could start seeing stimulus payments hit their accounts within days of Biden signing the bill.
Recommendations
Looking for something to watch in honor of Women’s History Month? Check out Knock Down the House, a 2019 political documentary that follows female candidates as they run for office. Directed by filmmaker Rachel Lears, audiences watch as four political outsiders navigate their respective primary campaigns during the 2018 midterm elections: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a bartender from the Bronx running against a powerful incumbent; Amy Vilela, a grieving mother seeking office in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District; Cori Bush, a single mom and activist from St. Louis who challenges a long-standing political dynasty; and Paula Jean Swearengin, the daughter of a coal miner running in West Virginia.
Though only one of these women came out victorious in their given races, the documentary manages to maintain a feeling of triumph throughout it all. The film is an inspirational story about feminism, race, class and progressive politics in this country, as each woman vies to unseat a complacent, male incumbent — some of whom held their positions for well over a decade.
In the film’s most poignant moments, a viewer might cry tears of sadness, anger, and frustration with our current system and the trials these women had to endure. At its highs, one can’t help but feel an overwhelming joy and pride at the feats of these four female candidates. Now a U.S. Representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the shining star of the film — her political success story being one of immense hope and inspiration. In the closing scene, Ocasio-Cortez sits in front of the Capitol building — her soon to be workplace — and recalls a memory from when her and her late father visited Washington D.C for the first time as a child. It is a bittersweet moment that concludes the documentary with a forward-looking perspective and sense of hope — a rarity in our current political climate. | Claire Malon
That’s all from us, folks! We wish you a successful finals week and a relaxing Spring Break, and we’ll see you back here on March 29.
Justin, Francesca, Robin, Grace, Richie and Claire