A good place to start might be with the community in question. John, who chose not to reveal his last name, said Rogers Park has become a less accepting community of people like him. “You know, Rogers Park used to always be a nice community. That was before all the construction and the police started drivin’ us out,” he said.

And according to the Chicago Police, there has been an increase in the number of homeless people moving into farther northern cities, like Evanston. “We have noticed more activity in towns like Evanston, north of Rogers Park, with the homeless and gangs, but we can’t speculate as to what exactly is causing this. The CTA construction could be one culprit, but likely among a variety of different factors,” said a spokesman with the Chicago Police.

Though he can’t speculate as to what exactly is the issue, Director Robert Fine of Loyola’s Campus Safety Department says activity on campus has not affected the homeless population here. “The construction hasn’t really affected them, and we’re not dong anything special to make them leave the Rogers Park area, no. The closing of the Wincrest has been the issue,” he said.

Campus safety officer, Sarah Jurewitch, says the closing of the Wincrest, a halfway house, located on the 6300 block of Winthrop, is the reason many homeless no longer linger around Lakeshore.

“Though these people are technically housed, they were forced to leave the facility during the day and would linger around the Lakeshore campus,” Jurewitch said. Their presence around campus was never prohibited, but many of Wincrest’s residents, who were released during the day, would become aggressive with their panhandling or otherwise agitate students.

The Wincrest, which is a privately owned facility that is supported by the State of Illinois, closed in fall 2011 because the owner, Don Farclas, could no longer maintain the facility for health reasons. He attempted to sell the building, but there were no buyers. He could not be reached for comment.

Once the building closed, any residents of the building were required to move to other facilities.

Some Loyola students do not believe that the closing of the Wincrest was the real problem. Loyola student, Kevin Gonzalez, a senior computer science major, disagrees with Director Fine’s assessment of the problem. “I definitely think that Loyola police are doing something. I see them give homeless people who live around us trouble all the time,” he said.

Another Loyola senior, Dave Martin, a criminal justice major, agrees with Kevin’s assessment. “I don’t think the construction has anything to do with it. Loyola just doesn’t want homeless people around all their pretty buildings,” he said.

Despite student’s less than generous assessment of their services, campus safety officer, Sarah Jurewitch, says the closing of the Wincrest reduced the number of homeless around Lakeshore campus by half. “The closing made my job a whole lot easier, to be honest. That place housed, easily, 60 to 70 people, and they would just linger around Loyola during the day,” she said.

Amy Johnson, a junior biology major, knows what it feels like to be harassed by panhandlers around Loyola. “There was one instance when, as a sophomore, I was just walking down the street by Felice’s and some guy was yelling really mean things at me because I wouldn’t give him money,” she said.

“Of course, it’s not illegal to be homeless, but when they become a nuisance to students, that becomes a pretty big problem for us,” said Fine.

There have been a number of instances when Loyola police have dealt with homeless people accused of being a threat to the community. “There is one man, who frequently sets up camp on the north side of campus, by the Starbucks and 400 Theater, who has been known to harass people who don’t give him money,” said Jurewitch.

Campus safety told him that he can no longer sleep there, and he has been moving throughout the neighborhood for a new place to live. Campus safety officials are not certain whether he actively admits himself to homeless shelters or whether he is on any medication, though they speculate he is diagnosed with some kind of mental disorder because the severity of his behavior fluctuates without any known cause.

In another instance, a homeless man was living above the dropped ceiling in Lewis Towers. Only after a maintenance worker discovered his belongings was the man removed from the building.

Bottom line, the Rogers Park homeless population is tired of all the activity around Loyola’s campus. “We’re just trying to live as normal of a life as we can. It’s hard when everybody is against you,” said Lashawn, a homeless woman in the Rogers Park area.

Source for photo: Nicolas-U

Taken from Mirelle’s facebook page

Twenty-one year-old Loyola student Mirelle Riveria found out she was pregnant with her first child while taking summer classes last June.

She gave birth to her daughter, Aria Modestita Carrizalez, on Feb. 16. Going through her pregnancy while going to college is difficult, and Loyola didn’t seem to provide much help, she said.

She is following the trend of most young women in the United States, who are getting married later, but continuing to have children and live with their partners.

According to a Center for Disease Control Prevention report between 1990 and 2008, the teen pregnancy rate has dropped 42 percent, while the rate of unmarried mothers among twenty-something’s has risen by 27 percent.

When she was pregnant one of her biggest challenges was the lack of resources that Loyola provided. The psychologist from the Wellness Center recommended she speak to the non-profit Aid for Women or go to the Wellness Center for a six sessions. She was already getting her prenatal care through Aid for Women from Erie Family Health Center, and Loyola just referred her to the same place.

Mirelle had previously gone to Aid for Women for her prenatal care, but when she was six months pregnant she almost lost her baby and turned to Loyola. When she went to the Wellness Center she didn’t feel like Loyola would help her in the long term. They were there to listen, but just referred her to someone else. Mirelle thought they would at least get in contact with Erie Family Health Center for counseling, but just gave her a piece of paper and sent her on her way.

“For someone that was working, going to seven different classes, doing clinicals, and commuting, Loyola was not very supportive,” Mirelle said. “I was extremely tired and there really wasn’t a place I felt comfortable enough to hang out at, especially when other students just stared at my belly.”

According to the Wellness Center’s website they offer help with questions about pregnancy, counseling and referrals to local resources that could help support women during pregnancy. They also offer links to the University Ministry for spiritual help, the email to the student organization Students for Life for peer assistance and links to non-profits such as Aid for Women and Catholic Charities. This seems to be the norm for Jesuit universities in Chicago.

Stephanie Atella, the Health Educator at the Wellness Center, said they provided pregnancy-testing, referrals for prenatal care, and the initial help with pregnancy, such as answering initial questions and directing them to a provider that can help them throughout the pregnancy. However, the Wellness Center does not provide prenatal care.

When Mirelle first found out she was pregnant she had a flood of emotions.

“At first I had no idea what to do. I was sad, nervous, excited all at once. It was like an emotional overload hit me, and there was just no stopping it”, Mirelle said.

Deciding whether or not to keep her baby was a difficult decision. She was worried about what she was going to do and what her options were. She never thought about adoption because she said she wouldn’t have been able to live with herself knowing part of her was out there somewhere. Also her family and boyfriend would not have approved of the idea. However she did contemplate getting an abortion.

“People told me to think about abortion and for a moment I thought about it, but I knew deep down inside that I wasn’t that person,” Mirelle said. “I knew I wanted to keep my baby because she was already part of me. I thought of how my father told my mother to get an abortion when she found out she was pregnant with me. I didn’t want to be like him and I knew I could take care of her,

She had some problems during the beginning of her pregnancy because medical complications made it high-risk. Mirelle was able to get through it with the support of her family and boyfriend.

She currently lives with her boyfriend at his father’s house because of their financial situation, but they do plan on getting married someday.

“We don’t want to get married because of our daughter; we are also in love with one another. My boyfriend is my rock”, Mirelle said.

Having a baby has changed their relationship, but she says it has only made them stronger. There are times they are both stressed out and tried, but they look at their daughter and remember why they love each other.

“We have our problems, but then again who doesn’t?” Mirelle said. “We get mad at one another for a minute and forgive on another the next minute. Overall we are doing great, especially now that we have our daughter completing our little family.”

Despite all she has gone through she is still on track to graduate on time in May 2014.

“If anything, having my daughter has inspired me to keep doing what I am doing”, said Mirelle, who is currently a teacher candidate in the School of Education. She hopes by this time next year she will be doing her student teaching and becoming a certified teacher.

She will be speaking at the Students for Life forum on April 17 in Damen Center North MPR, to discuss her experience being a pregnant student. It will also include information about resources on or around campus for pregnant and/or parenting students.

Taken from Mirelle’s facebook page

The student body at Loyola University is a microcosm for the nation’s debate on abortion. Photo by Amerique

In recent years Loyola Students for Life, a pro-life student organization, has grown steadily. The March for Life protest in January of 2011 attracted 8 Loyola students. In January of 2012, 38 students went. And in January of 2013, 61 students attended, according to Kevin Grillot, the campus mentor for Loyola Students for Life. March for Life is the annual pro-life rally in Washington D.C. that protests current abortion policies. While the pro-life movement may be growing at Loyola, is this trend reflective of the views and sentiments of other college students and adults around the country?

The 40^th anniversary of the controversial Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the case that made abortion legal, was in January of this year. Four decades after the decision was handed down, the debate surrounding abortion is as heated as ever before. Young people played a critical role in the last presidential election and social issues were a powerful impetus to head to the voting booth.

Most assume that people of college-going age are the most liberal demographic when it comes to social issues, so the increase in participation when it comes to the pro-life movement on Loyola’s campus might strike some as unusual. Also, the pro-choice movement does not have any formal, active representation among the student body.

The stories of the pro-life and pro-choice movements have evolved over many years. A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in January of 2003 revealed only 39 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 thought that an abortion should be legal for those who wanted to have one. The same study found that the number went down from 48 percent of people of the same age group in 1993.

In 1993, experts in social sciences cited a number of reasons for the shift. One was the framing of abortion as an ethical issue rather than a rights issue. For college students at the time of that survey, and for college students today, abortion has always been a legal option. As a result, the fervor that once fueled Roe v. Wade had faded.

Single parenthood and adoption, once stigmatized as an option only for infertile couples or a means to saving poor children, both became more widely accepted. This eliminated two powerful social factors that might make a woman choose an abortion. As Grillot put it, “Students now are responding in a post-abortive culture.” According to Grillot, this means that other options are now more desirable to mothers with unintended pregnancies.

This trend continued for several years. As recently as 2009, a Pew Research Center poll found that support for legal abortion was slipping among all adults with 54 percent saying it should be illegal in all or most cases. Some experts suspect that those figures are a reaction to the election of a pro-choice president.

Then something changed. In the 2012 presidential election, abortion, which had remained relatively low on the national priorities list for years, became one of the prime topics of debate. And while it shows no signs of going away anytime soon, the discussion has once again changed course. In January of this year, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 7 in ten Americans believe Roe v. Wade should be upheld. This is the highest level of support for abortion since polls began tracking it in 1989. About 54 percent of the people polled in 2012 thought that abortion should be legal in all or some cases.

A different study by the Pew Research Center released similar findings, stating that 63 percent of adults do not wish to overturn Roe v. Wade. But this study also uncovered another generational division when it comes to the famous Supreme Court decision. It learned that for people under the age of 30, only 44 percent know that Roe v. Wade dealt with abortion as opposed to some other issue. The level of a person’s education seems to be huge factor when considering this knowledge base. For respondents with post-graduate education, 91 percent knew the subject matter of the case as did 79 percent of college graduates.

The tension between the opposing views is an inherent part of the conversation at Loyola and at other schools around the country. And considering the population at a Catholic university, it can be an even more challenging one. LSFL has kept with contemporary philosophy, which emphasizes the ethics of the dialogue.  “They learn to open dialogue with dignity for each individual and not to elicit anger, hate, rage. Really upholding each person’s dignity,” said Grillot, referencing members of LSFL.

Regardless of national findings, the movement on Loyola’s campus continues its expansion. Some might assume that Loyola’s Catholic affiliation, which it shares with many of its students, has something to do with this. However, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles, Catholic students, whether attending Catholic or nonsectarian colleges, tended to grow more liberal on the issue of abortion by the time they were seniors. Only 37.9 percent of freshman at Catholic universities supported legal abortion, compared to 51.7 percent of seniors at those same schools. Though the number increases throughout college life, the number in support of abortion is below the national average of about 70 percent.

“A lot of our members are Catholic…but Loyola Students for Life, is not specifically a Catholic group. Many are founded in science and philosophy, which is different than theology,” said Anna Slater, the vice president of LSFL.

A combination of new outreach initiatives by LSFL and the renewed interest in the topic are probably the two factors that have most contributed to the group’s growth. LSFL produced and distributed a new pamphlet with information about the organization this year, and sponsored activism days to raise awareness of its cause.

“I think it’s really been mentorship, in formal and informal ways. If you look at our group…our entire executive board is sophomores. There was this gap with the senior class now. When they first started there was almost no one. Something that’s really helped is really solidifying what we believe as far as celebrating life and fostering a culture of life. We’re not an anti-abortion group, we’re a pro-life group” said Slater.

“Since it’s a principle technique, the body’s relationship to gravity, a dancer has to experience their weight. A dancer can’t do this if they’re looking at their shape”

Goodman learned this technique and many others at the startling age of 22, when she first began dancing.

To put this in perspective, lets focus in on the hit Lifetime reality show “Dance Moms”. This trendy reality show displays young, limber girls of around 5-10 years old going through extensive training to become the next big dance sensation. The steps are difficult, the choreography exhausting and the age, well, these kids are just learning their multiplication tables.

For the most part, an aspiring dancer starts training and taking creative dance lessons at the ripe age of four. Creative dance promotes self-expression, flexibility and strength for beginners. Then, through hours and days of training, each child hopes that by 18 at the latest, he or she will make it to one of the most well-acclaimed dance companies in the country.

One true-life example according to a USA Today article outlines the life of a New York Ballet Company dancer named Yvonne Borree. Borree was promoted as an apprentice at the company by the age of 17 and in a couple of years, was moved up to corps de ballet. The corps de ballet in a company are backup dancers who are permanently in that company.

Goodman has a different story.

Goodman was accepted to Northern Illinois University (NIU) in 1986 at the age of 22. She took a few dance classes and realized that it was for her. In three years, Goodman was the runner up at the American College Dance Festival and by that summer, decided to take the long trip East to the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York.

After being part of the New York Company and teaching in the city, Goodman decided to pack her things once again and move back to the Midwest.

In 2006 she was offered a position at the Oak Academy of Music and Movement along with Loyola University Chicago; the year Loyola first started offering dance classes. Through the years Goodman got the chance to see the program transform. The university now offers a dance minor and most recently, a dance major for students.

“Loyola is the only conservatory dance program in Chicago,” Goodman said.

Although the majority of students in Modern I are simply taking the class to satisfy Loyola’s artistic core requirement, that’s not the case for everyone.

One student in the class is pursuing dance as a minor as well.

Freshman Alyssa Chandler, English major with a double minor in dance and criminal justice, began seriously considering dance during her high school career. Chandler said that she was always shy in school, which was something that had held her back slightly. As she pursued dance, however, she started to see a transformation. Dance became an outlet for release and a means of gaining confidence. Also, what Chandler found to be really enjoyable was what came innately.

“I found that I was natural at it and I said, why not? As a person who’s shy, it’s something good to express yourself with,” Chandler said.

Like everything, there are advantages and disadvantages to starting dance later in life. Goodman said that when she began dancing she had a hard time focusing on the skills she had, and instead, judged what she didn’t. Tight hips and little turnout were the two nagging imperfections she had to learn to work with.

“I think I had enough technique and enough natural talent that I had a good career. But I would have had a better career if I wasn’t so judging,” Goodman said.

There’s also a sense of community that can never quite be accomplished when starting dance later in life.

Children who pull tights on and slip on ballet shoes have a firm understanding of dancing as a group, collectively. According to Goodman, this concept was hard for her to grasp.

“I didn’t understand how to communicate and be part of a community. Kids just naturally do. They work as a team,” Goodman said.

Although Goodman finds that the earlier the start the better the dancer, it’s not the only option for someone interested.

The mental and physical benefits of dance are other leading forces persuading people to start later in life.

Goodman, for instance, not only teaches at Loyola, but she also instructs at the Oak Academy of Music and Movement with a workshop called “Everybody can Dance”. One of the students she is instructing at the moment suffers from cerebral palsy.

“Right now I’m working with a girl with cerebral palsy. I saw her rehearse a piece the other day and I have never seen her move like that before,” Goodman said.

According to Goodman rhythm and movement along with exercise in general helps slow down the onset of Alzheimer’s. This repetition helps prepare and keep memory cells alive. According to an article by Sharon Puszko, PhD, LMT, social dance for seniors can increases cognitive reserves and build new neural pathways.

Chandler sees herself applying dance in a different way, other than simply moving forward into a company as well. She wants to try and help out in her community by opening up a studio to promote equality and reduce violence.

“I used dance as a form of expression, so I figured by opening up dance classes I could help people deal with stress,” Chandler said.

Overall, both Goodman and Chandler agree that dance is about more than the technique or the age of the dancer. It’s a means of expression, creation and rejuvenation. For Goodman, it’s about what you bring to the stage.

“I did build a level of technique but no one can see you dance if you’re worried about technique,” Goodman said.

By Audrey Bailey

Before the beginning of fall classes next year, Chicago will close 54 public schools. Mayor Rahm Emanuel made this decision because of a huge city deficit. Critics have responded with protest.

Here is a video of the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis, responding to Emanuel’s decision to close these schools.

According to Prof. Twyla Blackmond-Larnell, a political science scholar at Loyola University of Chicago, “(the issue of school closings) is a complication of a lot of things: social, economic and political factors.”

This article will break down these factors in order to explain the issues tied to the school closings.

Money

The Chicago school district is nursing a $1 billion deficit. The Chicago public school system estimates that closing these 54 public schools will save $560 million over the next 10 years.

Also, Chicago public school teachers went on strike at the beginning for increased wages. After postponing school for eight days, the Chicago teacher’s union won higher salaries for teachers. Over the next four years, CPS teachers will receive a 17.6 percent raise in pay.

The city needed to cut costs somewhere. Unfortunately, those budget cuts meant closing school after school.

Blackmond-Larnell suggested that higher wages for teachers contributed to the school closings.

“If teachers are arguing for more money…then they have to know that that directly conflicts with education reform,” she said.

Declining Attendance

Chicago public schools are able to hold 511,000 students, but only 403,000 students are enrolled. This under-enrollment is mainly the result of residents, especially minorities, leaving the city.

The last census showed a 17 percent drop in Chicago’s African American population. From 2000 to 2010, Chicago’s population shrunk by 200,418 residents.

Blackmond-Larnell said that the Chicago Housing Authority’s Section 8 housing voucher program contributed to African Americans leaving the city. This program provides low-income families with government funds in order that they rent housing in suburban neighborhoods or private markets.

Considering that a majority of the closing schools are in black neighborhoods, this decrease in the black population contributed to a significant lack of enrollment in the Chicago school district. Without enough students, schools were not operating efficiently. Some schools could only fill classrooms to half-capacity.

When reached for comment on the current state of the soon-to-be-closed schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, “The status quo is failing way too many kids. It can’t be met with silence. It has to be met with action.”

The emptying of neighborhoods also led to a lack of funds for the public schools. The shrinking number of residents in these school neighborhoods meant less revenue from property taxes and therefore less money for CPS.

Dangerous Neighborhoods

Parents and critics of the school closings worry that closing schools will expose students to dangerous neighborhoods. Students who normally walked to their neighborhood school will likely have to cross through crime-infested neighborhoods in order to reach their new school. Some children, such as those who attended Jean D. Lafayette Elementary School, will have to walk up to 10 blocks to get to the school that they have been transferred to.

Though this is a legitimate concern, Blackmond-Larnell said that this issue is more the responsibility of communities than the city.

“Communities need to take their community back,” Blackmond-Larnell said.

Blackmond-Larnell stressed that residents report criminal behavior to the police. If the city can enforce the law and root out crime, these neighborhoods will likely improve. However, the residents need to help law enforcement by providing information when possible.

Nevertheless, the city can still take steps to make these neighborhoods safer. Blackmond-Larnell said that Chicago needs to use its police force and push legislation to take weapons out of criminals’ hands.

“Chicago needs gun reform laws, police to step up, and people to step up”

Until then, however, children may have to travel through risky neighborhoods for the sake of going to school.

Pat Camden, speaking on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police, said, “our resources are already stretched and we don’t know how we’re going to go to the next step.”

Empty Buildings

With the closing of 54 public schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his administration will have over 60 empty buildings to deal with. These buildings are an eyesore, but they also present the risk of becoming centers for crime and other undesirable behaviors.

CBS Chicago called abandoned buildings “havens for drug and gang activity.”

Blackmond-Larnell confirmed this observation, saying that these empty school buildings could become homes for prostitutes, drug dealers and the homeless. Such groups could negatively affect these neighborhoods.

It’s unclear whether Emanuel will demolish the vacant buildings or let them stand; he hasn’t commented on this issue. It would likely cost significant money and labor to take these buildings down, but leaving them to stand could contribute to a negative, risky culture in the neighborhoods around these closed schools.

Here is a link to a poll about Emanuel’s decision to close schools. Share your opinion!

http://poll.fm/46py0

At Loyola, there are no tailgates, no sold-out seats and no mobs teaming with face-painted fans. According to home game attendance records, school spirit at Loyola is lackluster. Some students have wondered why a school with so little student support for sports spent so much money on the Norville Center, the $26 million athletic facility that opened in 2011, and the  Gentile Arena, which was completed in early 2012 at a cost of $3 million.

Junior James Howe, 21, attributes Loyola’s low attendance and lack of school spirit to the growing animosity between students and athletes.

“From a student’s perspective, I think that most students have some hostility towards athletes,” Howe said. “Students see all the stuff they get – their new facilities and gear – and they feel that they are undeserving of the money that goes to pay for that.”

Although Loyola may not strive to be a university built on athletics, students’ lack of school spirit may be contributing to unneeded tension among students, according to Judson Everitt, a sociologist and a professor in Loyola’s Department of Sociology.

“There can be real tension between certain members of the university and those involved with athletics for a number of reasons,” Everitt said. “You are talking about a lot of resources that go into funding big-time athletics. Whenever you have a large chunk of resources going to something, you will have people and groups within the university asking if they should be spending money on that.”

For a university that prides itself on community-building efforts, this tension likely clashes with Loyola’s mission.

Historically, attending campus-sporting events has been one way that students have created a better sense of school spirit. However, attendance is less than mediocre at Loyola’s athletics games.

According to Loyola records, during the 14 home games that Loyola’s Men’s Basketball competed in throughout the 2012-2013 season, the average attendance was 2,275 fans. This is much less than Loyola’s competing conference The Horizon League attendance average, which is just above 3,500 fans per game.

Although officials in the Athletic Department declined to comment, Eric Daliege, an intern in the Athletics Marketing Department, said Loyola is working to increase attendance.

“We try to promote athletic events in a number of ways,” said Daliege. “We set up contests and promotional events, make promotional videos and interactive themes to try to increase attendance at events.”

Daliege said he believes these promotions are helping to boost attendance, but they are still a trial process.

Although the Athletic Department seems to be stepping up their marketing game, the attendance remains low. According to NCAA attendance records, out of the top 150 schools polled, Loyola does not even rank among them for per-game attendance at athletic events.

Although Rambler pride seems to be nonexistent, it may not all be bad, according to Everitt.

“Loyola has never really identified itself with competitive athletics,” Everitt said.

He believes students come to Loyola for a college experience that is not grounded in athletics, which may explain the lack of attendance at sporting events.

“There are some institutions that have, as a part of their institutional culture, a bigger emphasis on athletics,” Everitt said. “Throughout its history, Loyola has been different — has identified itself with other things. I think that goes a long way in shaping what students expect.”

According to Everitt, one of the ways Loyola could increase the attendance at sporting events is to make the men’s basketball team more successful.

“If that happens,” Everitt said, “there is no question [that] you will generate more student interest in following the [athletics].”

Everitt said this could have competing effects, though. While it will stimulate interest and potentially increase attendance and revenue, it might also widen the gap between students and athletes, and increase the tension at Loyola.

Everitt attributes much of Loyola’s tension to gender issues.

“It is interesting to look at Loyola athletics and the degree to which the institution identifies with athletics, from a sociological standpoint, on the issue of gender.”

Everitt emphasized that it is men’s sports that rake in the money and interest, particularly men’s basketball.

“Women’s athletics at Loyola are really good, but there is no interest,” Everitt said. This is interesting, because Loyola’s student population is comprised of 68% females and only 32% male, according to a recent study by colleges.findthebest.com.

Women’s cross country and indoor track teams were both crowned Horizon League Champions during the 2012-2013 school year, and women’s basketball made it all the way to the Horizon League finals, having their first winning season since 2001-2002. Women’s volleyball also had an improved season, finishing 17-12 overall and 8-6 in conference.

According to Everitt, it is not just about being successful — because evidence has shown that Loyola has had very successful athletic programs in the past. In order for Loyola to gain any kind of prominent school spirit, he said it must be carried on the shoulders of the men’s basketball team.

“Loyola is situated in this broader sociological phenomenon of gender dynamics and athletics,” Everitt said. “There is money and interest to be found in men’s sports — and not just one sport, but a couple of men’s sports.”

Click here for more information on Loyola University Athletics.

AP/Paul Beaty

Loyola students may find traveling off campus safer due to a new policy that will allow more police officers to patrol high-crime areas and respond to emergency situations.

According to a new policy implemented Feb. 3 and revised on April 10, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) is no longer responding in person to 911 calls reporting non-life-threatening crimes.

The policy, which has also been used in other large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston and Newark, is aimed to reduce the number of violent crimes in Chicago by freeing up more officers, according to Michael Miedona, CPD police officer.

“It frees more police officers to respond to in-progress calls – the more emergency-type calls,” Miedona said.

CPD expects the new policy to free 44 officers per day in the department’s 12,000-officer force, according to Miedona.

The policy states that CPD will “provide an immediate response to all in-progress offenses and calls for service involving an imminent threat to life, serious bodily injury and major property damage/loss.”

Now, officers will have more resources to address crimes such as murders, rapes and armed robberies, rather than responding in person to reports of criminal damage to property, vehicle thefts, garage burglaries or other crimes in which the victim is not in imminent danger. The 911 calls about these lesser crimes will be transferred to the CPD’s Alternate Response Section (ARS), which will file police reports over the phone, Miedona said.

According to the ARS website, the call-taker will answer all incoming calls, determine the nature of the call for service, provide the appropriate police service and notify the Bureau of Detectives when required or warranted, as in the case of a murder or a major theft of over $10,000.

“What Chicago police are doing is questioning the need to respond to instances where there’s really nothing that the police can do, or where everything that the police would do is something that either could be done later when there’s more time or it could be done by a non-sworn officer,” said David Olson, graduate program director and professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Loyola.

A non-sworn officer is a citizen employee for the police department, who does not have the training or ability to make arrests.

“It’s really an issue of how the resources are being used,” said Olson, who also works part-time for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and has worked at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for almost 20 years. “For some criminal events, it doesn’t justify the expenditure of resources for police to [respond], particularly when there are other more serious crime issues occurring that more rightly justify police response and police resources.”

CPD has been concerned with the city’s increasing homicide rate this year, especially. In 2012, Chicago had 506 murders, the highest number since 2008, and this past January was the deadliest January since 2002 with 42 homicides, according to Jack Nicas’ Feb. 6 article in The Wall Street Journal.

According to news reports by several media outlets, including NBC, MSNBC and Business Insider, Chicago has been dubbed “America’s deadliest city” due to its high murder rate.

“Crime has gone up in the last year – at least murders – and that’s the most serious crime and that’s how the city will always be judged. That’s how the superintendant of the police will be judged – as to whether or not he can address the number of murders,” Olson said.

Rather than asking Mayor Rahm Emanuel for more police officers, CPD Superintendent Garry McCarthy has reallocated the officers that the department already has, according to Olson.

AP/Paul Beaty

“The mayor will not provide more money for police because that would mean increasing taxes, and the superintendent has to go with what the mayor says,” Olson said. “The issue with most governmental operations is either they’re being asked to do more with no more resources, or they’re being asked to do the same with fewer resources, and that’s kind of what’s going on with Chicago.”

Olson said the policy could theoretically save some money without increasing taxes, but some Chicago taxpayers are unhappy with the policy, and wonder where their tax money is going.

After the policy took effect, Chicago citizens began a petition against it. The petition, hosted by change.org, is called “Chicago Police Department: Continue answering and responding to all 911 calls.” So far the petition has gained 57 signatures.

In the description of the petition, it says, “The City of Chicago is not in the state to ignore calls regarding: criminal damage to property, vehicle thefts, garage burglaries or other crimes. Their duties are to serve and protect the citizens of Chicago. We cannot and should not allow such incompetent change to happen that will not protect the citizens, but only bring forth more crimes and cause innocent citizens to become more vulnerable to criminals.”

However, according to Olson, Chicago taxpayers need to understand the reasoning behind the policy before they get upset.

“The taxpayer needs to realize that we pay the police to serve and protect everybody,” Olson said. “In the grand scheme of things, I’m a lot safer by getting a murderer or rapist off the street than getting a kid who spray painted my garage caught.”

Olson said the same holds true for students at Loyola.

“If a student at Loyola had someone break their car window or smash the headlight of their car … hopefully the student would realize it’s better that [the police are] out on the West Side of Chicago trying to stop murders than coming and seeing why someone broke their headlight,” Olson said.

Although CPD may not respond to certain 911 calls, the Department of Campus Safety will still respond to all on-campus calls from Loyola students. Campus Safety’s jurisdiction includes any building Loyola owns, as well as the northern boundary of Pratt Boulevard, the western boundary of Glenwood Avenue and the southern boundary of Glenlake Avenue.

“Anyone who requires our assistance, whether it’s off campus or on campus, can call 773-508-6039 [the Campus Safety non-emergency number] and we’ll respond,” said Tim Cunningham, Campus Safety’s student community liaison officer. However, Cunningham added that Campus Safety does not respond to incidents that occur several miles from campus.

However, within two weeks alone, between April 10 and April 23, 58 crimes occurred in Rogers Park, the neighborhood that many Loyola students call home. According to the Chicago Police Department’s Clear Map online analysis, among these crimes were one homicide, one criminal sexual assault, two aggravated assaults, five robberies and six accounts of aggravated battery.

Junior Dainis Berzins, 21, has been the victim of two muggings in Rogers Park in the past two years, before CPD’s new policy took effect. The first mugging occurred on West Arthur Avenue within Campus Safety’s jurisdiction, so Berzins said he called Campus Safety to pursue the incident.

Berzin’s second mugging, though, occurred off campus near the 7-Eleven on Pratt Boulevard, just outside the jurisdiction of Campus Safety. After the incident, Berzins said he and his two friends flagged down a CPD officer on patrol to ask for help.

“Later, we got calls from one of the investigators at the CPD who said they might have found some guys who had done it,” Berzins said. “They really followed up on it and called us to talk. They tracked down the gas station where [the suspects] used my friend’s credit card.”

Berzins said CPD’s new policy could potentially help Loyola students who are victims of similar crime in the future by freeing up more officers to patrol the off-campus areas where students frequent.

“In both of my cases it wasn’t much of a big deal because no one was really hurt, but if somebody tried to resist them, it’d be a lot more reassuring to know that there’d be more CPD around to help out,” he said.

However, some think that if CPD stop responding to certain crimes, then those crimes will increase – a theory that Olson said is not true.

“I don’t think the offender is going to calculate that there’s a lower probability of being caught,” Olson said. “The police aren’t saying they’re not going to do anything about it, they’re just going to change how they respond to it.”

Results of CPD’s new policy, and similar policies in other cities, have not yet been made available to the public.

by Emily Study

The Beat Kitchen is located at 2100 Belmont Avenue in Chicago, and has quickly been recognized as one of the premier entertainment hotspots, especially in the Wicker Park area.

Every single day of the week, the placed is booked with a large array of local no-name musicians, comedy acts, local bands, and popular groups. The Beat Kitchen strives to keep local entertainment alive, all while getting people through the door in the first place.

“Our business mission isn’t complex. Get people what they want for what they can afford. As long as I keep booking acts, people will continue to walk through that door, and that’s how a company makes money,” Swan said.

A band was playing in the bowels of the building. Patrons scurried their way into the crowded basement to hear them play. The booming bass shook the walls. The singer’s powerful voice resonated from the stage with confidence. The crowd screamed and cheered, creating a cacophony of intense sounds.

The band finished after five songs and the ecstatic singer encouraged the boisterous crowd to walk over to the merchandise table. Alex Rogers was selling $8 CDs but providing a wealth of passion.

“I think the coolest thing is that we’re being recognized, even if it is at a small level. I mean, look, you’re here covering us,” Rogers exclaimed. “I work tirelessly day and night to produce music I hope people will enjoy.”

The Beat Kitchen promotes local music and cheap food in an intimate environment, which corresponds to how patrons feel about the place.

“Live music in a small venue makes this place fun,” Christopher Pappetti said.

The Beat Kitchen has been operating under its current owners since 2008 and has continually provided wholesome entertainment at a low cost. For $10 on any given night, a costumer can enjoy a night full of entertainment in the heart of Chicago, with a menu of food items as lengthy as the neck of a guitar… literally.

“To quote the great Charlotte Caffey, we got the beat, do you?” Swan joked.

At least two, if not all of these things are moments of vulnerability that should not be exploited.  However, the super-popular Facebook page People of the CTA exposes exactly these types of mortifying incidences.

Photo from Facebook page People of the CTA

People of the CTA is a page where Chicagoans are encouraged to submit “crazy pictures of people on the CTA and crazy stories about freaky people and smelly bums” according to the page’s information section.  The most bothersome part is that the photos on this site are usually taken without the subject’s permission.

The page has reached 113,794 likes as of April 23.  113,794 people think that maliciously appropriating a person’s likeness is entertaining or funny.  It’s not funny, and it carries serious ethical and legal issues.

Julia Sheridan, 19, a marketing and international business major thinks that “the page is fun to look at, and see some of the fun crazy outfits or things people on the L do.”

While students may find the People of the CTA hilarious, Bastiaan Vanacker who teaches Media Law as well as Ethics and Communication does not.

“It’s [the page] basically mocking people,” Vanacker said.  “You’re making fun of people.”

This page was founded on April 7, 2010 and moderators describe the page as a place to “add crazy pictures of people on the CTA and crazy stories about freaky people and smelly bums.”

Many of the photos on the page display homeless individuals in various states of undress or sleeping on the CTA. Other photos display people who are clearly having a bad day. There’s even a photo of someone with a lap full of vomit.

“In ethics we have something that’s called virtue ethics where we say an ethical person is a person who does a virtuous thing,” Vanacker said.  “You have to try to be a decent human being.”

People of the CTA has even begun to sell merchandise in the form of t-shirts, with a cartoon of someone in a typical People of the CTA situation. One shirt has the image of an African American man, with headphones around his neck, and a keg in a pushcart.

There could possibly be legal ramifications to taking photos of someone without their consent.  Misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another’s name, likeness or identity without that person’s permission.  It is a felony, a crime punishable by a prison sentence. People of the CTA needs to be careful about the image of a person on their merchandise or they could be sued for misappropriation.

“I think it would be best to get their consent before the photos are posted online,” Sheridan said.  “Still, some people wear certain things for the shock value and should not be surprised if people take photos.”

Racing each other to get their photo of their friend asleep onto the Facebook page Sleeping LUC

Sleeping LUC, a Facebook page catered to Loyola students and not affiliated with the university or its administration, posts pictures taken by Loyola students of other Loyola students asleep around campus. The page has even gotten to the point where students race each other to send in photos of their friends asleep.

Joe Cortese, a 20-year-old criminal justice major with a minor in psychology of Crime and Justice, said he laughed hysterically when he saw a photo of himself on the page.

“My friend who posted that has been teasing me about it for a while cause it does look kinda funny,” Cortese said.  “It doesn’t bother me that anyone can see it cause I’m not highly prone to feelings of embarrassment.”

The page was created on February 28, 2013 by Loyola students, and reaches ages 18-24 with only 502 likes as of May 3. With other Loyola based Facebook pages getting thousands of likes, such as LUC Love Notes, which has 2,543 likes as of May 3, it seems strange that Sleeping LUC has such a low number.

A lot of the photos displayed students in contorted sleeping positions.  Still, everyone seems to enjoy the page and do not seem harbor ill feelings towards the page or its creator. Some students know when not to send a photo in.

“It depends on the situation, sometimes you just know not to take them but other times it’s appropriate and it’s just funny,” 20-year-old marketing student Hieu Dinh said. “For me, you should at least be that person’s good friend or so for you to do with without the person’s consent, obviously because they’re sleeping.”

Joe Cortese on Sleeping LUC

 BY MARIAH EVELY

Photo by mkhmarketing from flickr

By: Evan Jay Peterson

Fads and trends are like a Facebook status: they come suddenly and gain a lot of popularity before they eventually become irrelevant. For this reason, Facebook, a place for fleeting posts and content, was an apt home for one for the biggest fads from earlier this year.

Near the end of last year, students across North America began to create university compliments pages on Facebook for their respective university community. These Facebook pages display anonymous compliments directed at other individual students.

On September 12, 2012, Students at Queens University created a Facebook profile entitled Queen’s U Compliments. This page was the first of its kind and the spark that began the fad according to a November 29, 2012 Time article.

Loyola students have adopted this idea, creating LUC Compliments on December 9, 2012 according to the page. Its posts are generally intended to be funny, sincere or some combination of the two.

For example, one post from February 16 reads, “Addie Dougherty is such a cool cat. And that is funny because she likes cats, a lot.”

Another post from January 30 reads, “I think every girl on campus wishes that they could date Andrew Gaillardetz. Just sayin’.”

LUC Compliments has 1,997 friends as of May 2^nd and featured dozens of posts per month during the first few months of its existence.

Some Loyola students expressed disappointment at the fact that students were using anonymity to exchange compliments.

“I think it’s really cool, but I think that it’s a shame that these people don’t feel comfortable voicing these comments to people,” junior Mary Mantia, 21, said.

Other colleges have adopted this idea as well. Saint Louis University students have created a SLU Compliments Facebook page. U of I Compliments has 115 likes as of May 2^nd. The student-created Crimson Compliments of the University of Harvard has 2,411 friends.

LUC Compliments has inspired several offshoot pages as well, including LUC Secrets and LUC Love Notes.

According to the LUC Secrets page, LUC Secrets was founded on December 16, 2012. The page has 3,416 likes as of May 2^nd. The website’s description reads, “Share your secrets and insights. Lets build a community. Send a secret via Facebook message or email.”

“I love every moment of it. I love the comments,” junior Mary Mantia said.

There are potential ethical issues that can arise from anonymous-user websites such as LUC Secrets.

One anonymous student provided the following confession:

“One time when I was doing rounds on the 4th floor of Simpson, the entire floor reeked of weed. Thinking I was going to have to document somebody, the other RA on duty with me then said ‘It smells like coffee.’ I looked at them briefly rather perplexed and replied ‘Yes, yes it does smell like coffee,’ and we continued our rounds.”

Though these Facebook pages mean well or least do not seek to harm, they have become problematic in certain cases. Dr. Fletcher, a journalist and journalism professor at Loyola University of Chicago, spoke on the potential problems that accompany the use of these web pages. Fletcher teaches a course on ethics in communications.

Fletcher identified three major issues with these anonymous-user Facebook pages.

“There are three major issues with these pages: anonymity, the potential for hate speech and the invasion of privacy,” Fletcher said.

Some students have used this online anonymity to harass other students without consequence. FOX 29 in Newtown, Pennsylvania reported on January 29 that high school students at Council Rock North High School created a Facebook page for anonymous insults.

Senior Alex Sobel of Council Rock North said, “some of the comments are pretty harsh.” One student was called “literally to (sic) stupid to insult,” for example.

In response to hurtful comments like this, the page has since been taken down. No students were identified or punished for posting hurtful material on the page.

“Anonymity is problematic. Under the guise of anonymity, you can say anything you want,” Fletcher said.

As the Council Rock North situation showed, anonymous pages like LUC Love Notes and LUC Secrets open the door for hate speech. Without any concrete sense of accountability, users can harass and ridicule each other with virtually no consequences.

For example, post #631 on LUC Secrets reads, “There’s this girl who sits next to me in my math class who smokes. Her breath is so rancid it literally smells like an animal died in there or her mouth is decaying EVERY SINGLE DAY. I constantly feel like I have to throw up just sitting next to her which is why I can’t wait for this (expletive) class to finally be over.”

Fletcher suggested that once users establish an atmosphere embracing insults, hate speech becomes less taboo, encouraging users to behave differently. Otherwise innocent bystanders can become aggressors.

“I think the unique thing is that you have an audience of hate-speech and bullying that can become a chorus,” Fletcher said.

The invasion of privacy is another real issue with these anonymous-user pages. The public forum can be a place for users to share each other’s private information without consequences, keeping certain people from enjoying their private lives.

Post #162 on LUC Secrets reads, “I recently learned that my neighbor in Simpson enjoys chaining her boyfriend to the bed and whipping him. I now wonder every time I here (sic) a noise coming from their room…”

On the Council Rock North insults page, one student posted another student’s mobile phone number, saying “text for a good time.”

Though these posts were likely meant as a joke, private information was still made public without proper consent.

The Council Rock North high school insults page was perhaps more innocent and harmless in nature than other websites, but the possibility still remained for graver encroachments on personal privacy. The page administrator, who in the cases of the university sites is normally a student, is the only individual who knows the identities of those who post. Accountability is low to nonexistent. There is not much to stop users from posting each other’s personal information.

There is plenty of good fun to be had with these pages while they are still popular, but users must be wary of the potential for harm and must use these pages responsibly.