Vol. lXXI ... No. 17 rooseVelttorch.commoNday, JaNuary 26, 2015

The Roosevelt TorchoffIcIal studeNt Newspaper of rooseVelt uNIVersIty • chIcago • schaumburg

BY DALY TONGRENSTAFF REPORTER

Roosevelt University President Charles Middle-ton gave his last State of the University address on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to a crowded Congress Lounge.

President Middleton began the morning’s an-nual address at 10 a.m. by publicly thanking the board of trustees for its work. He then proceeded into his speech, where he stated almost immediate-ly that this year’s address would not fit into the same mold as it had in previous years.

This seemed to sprout from what would become a vague notion of mistake, one that Middleton would speak about extensively, but not in detail.

“I want to start by sharing with you my very deep appreciation and si-multaneously my great sadness, that some of the decisions that I made as I sought to enhance the quality of the university and to strengthen it for the future--your future--have turned out to create so much unanticipated pain and sacrifice on your part,” he said.

The audience for the early morning event was comprised mainly of fac-ulty and administration, with only a few students in attendance.

Middleton spoke about reviewing his “mental tapes” over the holidays, and how reflection led him to question some deci-sions he had made in good intent but that ended up following with unforeseen consequence.

Despite not explaining fully what these decisions were, Middleton guaran-teed that Roosevelt Uni-versity would recover and in return become stronger because of these challeng-es.

“It’s a very special place, Roosevelt is,” he said.

Middleton also ad-dressed a multitude of RU accomplishments that were made over the past

Middleton delivers his final State of University address

COURTESY OF MATTHEW CORRALPresident Charles Middleton delivers his final State of the University address.

Beginning of the end for ‘Parks and Recreation’ PAGE 6

The Charlie Hebdo tragedy questions freedom PAGE 5

Parks keep Chicagoans activethrough winterPAGE 3

year by faculty, admin-istration and students. These shoutout included the mention of published books, committees served, awards received, pro-grams created and roles cast, among others. A

screen displayed photo-graphs of the superlative RU community.

Further into the ad-dress, Middleton dis-cussed the five issues that he believes are responsible for shaping higher educa-

tion today: tenure, shared governance, curricular stagnation, productivity and cost. He stated that he cared deeply for the institution and felt that making everyone

...Cont. Page 2

President Middleton’s address:Middleton guaranteed that despite

the challenges Roosevelt University has faced, the school would recover and in return become stronger.

The five issues were discussed that he believes are responsible for shaping higher education today: tenure, shared governance, curricular stagnation, pro-ductivity and cost.

Major accomplishments that were achieved throughout the year were high-lighted.

President Obama’s addressObama explained how far America

has come by improving the economy, creating jobs and bringing the majority of soldiers home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

He urged Congress to pass a law that should not only ensure men and women be paid equally, but would raise the mini-mum wage.

He discussed the bill he sent Congress to lower the financial burden of college debt by offering two years of community college for students, as long as they work hard for it.

What you need to know about ...

— By Megan Schuller

BY LAUREN GRIMALDISTAFF REPORTER

Roosevelt University’s College of Education an-nounced new major op-portunities for its students that decide to teach in low-income schools. Starting in fall 2015, students will be eligible to receive mon-ey off their tuition for con-sidering career prospects concerning at-risk youth.

The Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education, a federal government grant program known as TEACH, will provide the students with these funds.

“In spring 2013, the College of Education ap-plied for, and eventually received, a grant from the Searle Funds at the Chi-cago Community Trust to fund the redesign of the elementary education pro-gram. The trust had made elementary education re-design a priority because elementary education pro-duces the largest number of teachers both in Illinois and nationally. In addi-tion, the state of Illinois is requiring all elementary education programs to redesign themselves by 2018. These two factors—the grant and the state mandate--led us to start the redesign process with elementary education,” Tom Philion said, dean of the COE.

Philion stated that fo-cus has been on elemen-tary education, and that the population of “diverse learners” is expected to grow substantially in the next “10 to 20 years.”

Thus, to realign the education program at RU with the needs its fu-ture teachers will have in their careers, the profes-sors have been working to make the department as helpful as possible.

“The design of the el-ementary education pro-gram reflects what we know is most important about preparing teachers. Great teacher education programs make sure that candidates have strong content knowledge, good practical pedagogy and a strong understanding of theoretical pedagogy,”

Gouwens said. The new program model

has also an “extended field experience during every semester during the final two years of enrollment at RU” that’s designed to help teacher candidates evolve into more accom-plished educators, accord-ing to education professor Kenneth King.

Elementary education professor Judy Gouwens described some of the up-coming opportunities.

“The redesign of the el-ementary education pro-gram will involve major changes. The new pro-gram will be much more field based, with student assessments being con-ducted each semester in field experiences, allowing for us to observe and as-sess not just knowledge, but application of that knowledge in real class-rooms with real children. All elementary students, both undergraduate and graduate students, will have a supervised field ex-perience each semester,” Gouwens said.

Gouwens went on to say that the courses will address the “Illinois Pro-fessional Teaching Stan-dards, the Common Core standards and standards developed by a variety of professional education or-ganizations.”

The courses will also deal with the specific needs of “English Lan-guage Learners, learners with special needs, in-cluding being gifted and talented and learning dif-ferences of all kinds,” Gou-wens said.

...Cont. Page 2

College of Education students have new major opportunities

COURTESY OF ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY

Tom Philion, the dean of the College of Education, recently announced up-coming changes within the college.

2 | The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015

News

BY RACHEL POPASTAFF REPORTER

Roosevelt University re-cently announced that the Colleges of Arts and Sci-ences, Business and Edu-cation will retain a strong presence at its Schaumburg campus, despite previous reports of downsizing the branch to focus on the Col-lege of Pharmacy.

The university purport-edly considered cutting vir-tually all programs besides the relatively new COP from Roosevelt University’s Schaumburg campus due to financial difficulties, ac-cording to The Chicago Tri-bune.

More specifically, degree programs in biology, chem-istry, business and psychol-ogy will continue to be of-fered, because the programs are credited to most fre-quently lead directly to em-ployment after graduation.

The decision to keep these programs at the Schaum-burg campus was made on a basis of what was most needed at that campus and in its community.

“These programs were selected based on their popularity and demand in the Northwest suburban area,” Roosevelt University President Chuck Middleton said in a written statement. “The programs can be com-pleted in their entirety at the Schaumburg campus and we will be investing fi-nancially in the programs’ further growth and develop-ment.”

New classes will be of-fered in addition to the inclusion of the various col-leges. For example, science classes such as biotechnol-ogy, chemical science and biomedical science will be offered. In addition to the expansion of the science programs, the education de-partment will be scheduling classes that are allied with Schaumburg’s public school system.

For those interested in studying psychology, RU’s second most popular pro-gram, the campus offers bachelor’s degrees in psy-chology for those wishing to work in fields as varied as business, education, counseling and sales. The campus is also offering de-grees in clinical psychology. These courses are designed for those who are already working as social workers, and counselors who wish to diversify themselves by get-ting a master’s degree in a new field.

Business is also a very popular degree option that will be staying at the Scha-umburg campus. Many who study business at the Scha-umburg campus are work-ing professionals, so the university offers classes at very flexible evening times in order to accommodate these students. The Scha-umburg campus also works with local businesses, so that students can acquire internships and yield valu-able experience that will help with finding a job after

graduation.It should also be noted

that RU’s Doctor of Phar-macy program is the only program of its kind in the Midwest that can completed in three years. The Phar-macy program prepares those who wish to work as researchers, practitioners, or clinicians. The program had 70 percent of its May 2014 graduating class ac-quire jobs within the field, the university reports.

Despite these new chang-es, the Schaumburg cam-pus will still retain many of its old amenities such as its advising, financial aid and registration offices, library, gym, child care center, ca-reer development, cafeteria

and student organizations. The new classes and pro-grams are scheduled to be-gin in fall 2015.

Roosevelt to retain additional programs at Schaumburg campus

COURTESY OF ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITYNew programs and classes, besides the College of Pharmacy program, will still be offered at the Schaum-burg campus this upcoming fall.

PLEASE SEND MAIL TO The Roosevelt Torch, 18 S. Michigan Ave., Room 515 or rutorchnews@gmail.com. • Letters to the editor may be shortened to fit available space.

312.281.3242

@RUTorch/roosevelttorchnews

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Shawn Gakhal

MANAGING EDITORCourtney Clark

LAYOUT EDITOR Emma Iglesias

PHOTO EDITORBreanna Walsh

COPY EDITORMegan Schuller

WEB EDITORAustin Slott

GRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORPook Piyatada

STAFF REPORTERSKatherine GageLauren GrimaldiJoshua M. HicksRachel PopaDaly Tongren

BUSINESS MANAGERTom CiceroASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Efe IyareTORCH CONSULTANTEric HahnFACULTY ADVISORBilly Montgomery

PUBLICATION POLICYViews expressed are those of the authors and are not an expression of Roosevelt University policy. The Roosevelt Torch prides itself in its dedication to addressing news that affects the Roosevelt community while uncovering stories that both enlighten and entertain. All advertising is subject to acceptance.The business department can be reached at torchbu@roosevelt.edu

Roosevelt toRch staff CONTACT US

Man pleads guilty to flooding Trump Tower, others not charged

Benjamin Nitch, one of the three men accused of flooding parts of Trump Tower after being cut off from receiving drinks at the bar last Febru-ary, pleaded guilty to the crime in court and was sentenced to two years probation, 480 hours of community service and is banned from Trump Tower, according to DNAinfo.com.

The men caused about $700,000 worth of dam-age at Trump Tower, and prosecutors said it was clear they had already been drinking prior to entering the bar, authori-ties said. When the men were turned away from the bar for deemed being too intoxicated, they alleg-edly went into the Trump stairwell and opened a water valve.

While Nitch was charged with the crime, his codefendants remained free of any sentences.

Cops urge caution to those buying, selling electronics through social media

According to DNAinfo.com, many looking to buy or sell electronics through social media have ended up being robbed. Cops urged caution about this issue this past week and mentioned Humboldt Park as an area that has seen its residents fall for the scam. In the community alert issued by the police, they said that in the first robbery the suspects had a knife, while in the second they had a handgun. They believe money, electronics and cellphones were among the items stolen.

For those looking to purchase electronics in this manner, police urge citizens to meet the seller in a well-lit area and in public. Also be sure to take down their phone number, username and other contact information

just in case something goes awry.

Camera found hidden in woman’s apartment

A woman was as-tounded to find out that all of the private moments in her Wrigleyville apartment were being filmed and watched by an unknown suspect, according to DNAinfo.com. Police removed the camera at the apartment, which is located at the 1100 block of West Eddy Street.

While the police do not have any hard leads as to the perpetrator of this crime, they did make it known that the building in which the apartment is located is owned by Pat-rick Cunningham. Cun-ningham also owns three other properties around Chicago. He is also listed as the manager at several Chicago Athletic Club locations and did not respond for comment on this situation.

Woman sexually as-saulted in Wicker Park

A 25-year-old woman was sexually assaulted early morning Jan. 19 near a Wicker Park al-ley on the 1700 block of West Pierce Avenue, police said. The man is described as a black male, between the ages of 25-40. He was believed to be wearing a dark coat and dark pants and may or may not be armed, ac-cording to DNAinfo.com. The victim was later taken to St. Mary Hospital to be treated for her injuries, police said.

CRIME BLOTTERThe Roosevelt Torch crime blotter serves to in-form students about recent crime activity in and around the Chicago area, with a specific focus on those that could closely affect college students.

— Lauren Grimaldi, Staff Reporter

aware of these issues was his responsibility.

“Higher education gen-erally, and Roosevelt in particular, is already in a vastly different space when compared to where we were when I began here 13 years ago,” Mid-dleton said. “More sig-nificantly, we are not yet through what could be the worst of it. However,

and this is the good news, I do believe institutions that honestly and with deliberative integrity find ways to address and shape these transitions will emerge in a stronger space than those who do not.”

Middleton is set to re-tire in June 2015, after presiding as president of RU for the last 13 years.

‘Middleton State of the University’ cont. from page 1 “Fortunately, we have

lots of evidence of how a great education can change the outcome of one’s life. You don’t have to just ex-amine statistics and educa-tional research. I just read “The Glass Castle,” and it shows in an amazingly en-gaging way how support-ive and effective teaching can help a child to over-come poverty and familial dysfunction,” Philion said. “‘Narrative of the Life of

Frederick Douglass,” “The House on Mango Street,” “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”—all of these books show the transformational impacts of effective teaching. Teach-ing is arguably the most socially responsible activity that a person can engage in, and I believe that every Roosevelt student should at least consider it as a possi-bility for future work and a career.”

‘New ops. for COE’ cont. from page 1

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The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015 | 3

featuresDecoding FAFSA can save students moneyBY KATHERINE GAGESTAFF REPORTER

The Free Applica-tion for Federal Stu-dent Aid, known as the FAFSA, opened for col-lege students Jan. 1.

The FASFA pro-vides students with a resource to help them attain aid in paying off tuition each year.

While 92 percent of Roosevelt University students receive some form of aid to pay for their schooling accord-ing to the Financial Aid Office, FAFSA is an important document for students to complete.

Eric Weems, interim associate provost for en-rollment, explained some common errors students can make while filling out the forms. Not care-fully reading the ques-tions, or providing the incorrect Social Security number can get in stu-dents caught between

receiving their aid.“For many, the most

difficult part about fill-ing out the FAFSA is entering in the financial information. Students and parents who are eligible can automatically trans-fer the necessary tax info into the FAFSA using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. In most cases, your infor-mation will be available from the IRS about two weeks after you file the tax forms,” Weems said.

The amount of aid students receive from FAFSA is based off either their parent’s tax forms if they are dependent, or off their own tax forms if they file as an inde-pendent each year.

If a student isn’t able to access this year’s tax forms, they can always use the previous year’s form to fill out their FAFSA. However, they must go back and correct any changes once they gain access to the cur-

rent year’s tax forms.While FAFSA’s dead-

line to fill out an appli-cation isn’t until June 30, 2015, funds are dis-tributed on a first-come, first-serve basis until funds are depleted. The Financial Aid Office rec-ommends that students complete their forms by Feb. 15. Filing after that time would mean missing out on chances to earn additional state funding or scholarships.

Meanwhile, the Finan-cial Aid Office has been hosting free workshops designed to aid students in the FAFSA process.

“The purpose of the workshop is to provide a one-on-one session with the students to walk them through the process, so the student has an op-portunity to begin their 2015-16 FAFSA applica-tion and have the help of the Financial Aid Office right there at their dis-posal,” Associate Director

of the Financial Aid Of-fice, Mary Popoca said.

MassAppeal.com re-ported that students who have parents that didn’t earn a college degree receive more aid compared to those whose parents did earn a degree. Likewise, it’s imperative to mark cor-rect box if one’s parents were a credit shy from receiving their degree.

One of the final ques-tions the form asks is which colleges a student will be asking aid from in a list. Paul Hemp-hill, a college planning expert for Planning-ForCollege.com, advises students to put their first choice school as their second or third op-tion to give more aid to their first pick school.

College tuition has a hefty price tag, and that doesn’t include the cost of books, rent, grocer-ies and other essentials that minimum wage just

Parks help Chicagoans stay active through the winter BY RACHEL POPASTAFF REPORTER

It seems as if there’s always something to do in Chicago, even when it’s cold outside. As it turns out, not even the worst weather conditions can stop Chicagoans from having fun. There’s a plethora of activities to participate in, even when the weather would seem-ingly keep people indoors.

Maggie Daley Park, a new park that recently opened in Chicago, is a 20-acre park that features an ice skating ribbon. The ribbon is twice the length of a normal ice skating rink, according to the Maggie Daley Park website. It features twists, turns and slopes, which creates an exciting and dy-namic ice skating experi-ence. The city skyline and the sloping landscape also provides a beautiful back-drop while skating. The ribbon is open until 9 p.m. and ice skate rentals are available for $12 dollars.

Ice skating is also avail-able in Millenium Park. The McCormick Tribune Ice Rink offers a more beginner-friendly atmo-sphere for skaters who are just starting out, as compared to the twisty ice skating ribbon at Maggie

Daley Park, which may be more suited for more experienced skaters.

Over 100,000 people visit the Millenium Park ice skating rink annually, and it has been a Chicago tradition for the past 13 years, the City of Chicago website reports. Admis-sion to the rink is free, but skate rentals are $12 dol-lars, just like the ice skat-ing ribbon. Snacks and hot chocolate are available for purchase at the nearby Park Grille Café as well. If skating outdoors isn’t really one’s preference, there are many indoor rinks around the city to choose from too. However, ice skating isn’t the only winter activity in Chicago.

Believe it or not, there are many good places to go sledding in Chicago. Some of the best spots are in the city’s plentiful parks. For instance, Lin-coln Park’s Cricket Hill is a good place to go if one is a sledding enthusiast. The Dan Ryan Woods forest preserve boasts a 200-foot slope that’s best suited for the most dar-ing sledders, according to Time Out Chicago.

For those who seek a more exhilarating winter experience, Chicago has an annual Polar Plunge in March. The Polar Plunge

is an event that raises money for Chicago’s Spe-cial Olympics and involves people taking a dip into icy Lake Michigan for a good cause. Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Jimmy Fallon partici-pated in the Polar Plunge, making the event very well-known in Chicago.

Lastly, snowshoeing and skiing are winter activities that Chicagoans can participate in. One can rent skis and snow-shoes for $5 dollars for two hours at Northerly Island State Park. The Chicago Park District rec-ommends that customers call ahead to make sure there is enough snow for skiing and snowshoeing (at least 3 inches). Also, the park is only open during certain days from December to February, so those interested in visiting should check the Chicago Park District website to see what days the park will be open.

Luckily, winter fun is really easy to come by in Chicago. It should also be noted that all these things to do can be free of charge if one has ice skates, skis, sleds and snowshoes. In Chicago, winter doesn’t have to be unbear-able, especially since there’s so much to do. GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDA

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDAFilling out FASFA can be confusing, so being educated on how to properly fill out the paperwork is important.

doesn’t cover for college students. It’s worth try-ing to cut down the grand total amount of your education by simply fill-ing out and submitting the FAFSA form online.

To better educate RU

students on the FAFSA process, free workshops, hosted by the Finan-cial Aid Office, will be offered Jan. 22 - 26, which aim to provide assistance to students through the process.

4 | The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015

pop culture radarBY KATHERINE GAGE | STAFF REPORTER

‘FIFTY SHADES OF GREY’ With the book-to-movie adaptation set to be released Feb. 13, many people have jumped at the idea of making a parody of the cringeworthy book. Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place released “50 Shades! The Musical” play, which both lovers and haters of the book can come together and enjoy the show. With an overweight Christian Grey and an awkward mom book club, the show will make you almost glad the book was written.

‘THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN’This action-packed psycho-logical thriller is about a girl who takes the same train commute each morning through London, and one day she sees something happen she wishes she hadn’t. She reports the news to the police, only to realize she’s done far more harm than good. Told with unreli-able narration, the reader never knows if he or she can trust the storyteller of the book, making for a page-turner.

Movies & TV

‘AMERICAN SNIPER’Based off a book of the same name, the movie is more about the moral choices of being a sniper deployed overseas, which the job calls to target and kill people, has been sur-rounded by criticism by various audiences. Even some criticism has been levied by American snipers explaining how unreal-istic the movie is in comparison to the life of an actual sniper at war. Critics and audiences have said the film “glorifies war.” The movie currently has a 7.7/10 rating on IMDb.

BOOKS

‘INTO THE WOODS’The film tells the story about a witch putting a spell on a couple to keep them from ever having chil-dren. The two go off and try to reverse the spell with a potion. As they’re gather-ing the needed ingredients, they run into other fairytale characters such as Cin-derella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Jack--all on a special quest of their own. “Into the Woods” is in theaters now.

‘SHAMELESS’Based in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood, the Showtime series aired its first episode of its fifth season Jan. 11. The show tells the story about a fam-ily, living on South Side, who have an alcoholic father with six children that try to take care of each other as best as they can. The show is currently starting in its fifth season, with new episodes airing Sundays.

‘SUPERGIRL’CBS’ new series “Supergirl,” which is based off the DC Comic that debuted in 1959, has recently cast Melissa Benoist as its main

actress, the former “Glee star.” The show is about Supergirl trying to hide her powers with

her famous cousin, Superman and then deciding to embrace her powers, and who she’s meant to be as she grows older.

‘BROAD CITY’

Initially created as a web series, “Broad City” recently moved to Com-edy Central to show as a half-hour long comedy. The show tells the story about two girls, who are in their 20s, trying to navigate New York and become proper adults, without actually wanting to and finding them-selves in some weird and hilarious situations.

‘GONE GIRL’When a man’s wife goes missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, he becomes the prime suspect. The additional police pressure and media exposure the marriage gets the man begins to question his identity and what he assumed was a picture-perfect marriage. With strong performances by Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, the film received rave reviews. The film has grossed $167 million to date at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. The book-to-movie adapta-tion is in theaters now.

‘THE BOY NEXT DOOR’Jennifer Lopez stars in a horror movie where she begins a relation-ship with her under-age neighbor without knowledge of his iden-tity. He then becomes obsessed, stalks her and threatens Lopez throughout the movie in an effort to control her life. The film was released Jan. 23.

FASHION FOCUS

Mckenzie Graham-Howard, freshmen, acting major.

Naomi Obahor, junior, communications major. “My favorite part are my shoes, because they look sophisticated and they represent me cause they’re fancy.”

Chris Law, senior, international studies major. “My favorite part of my outfit are my shoesbecause they’re clas-sic and they’re just wonderful everytime I wear them.”

‘BACKSTROM’

Rainn Wilson, the former “The Office” alum, went off air in this drama series. Based off a book series, “Backstrom” had high expectations for its first episode airing, but reviewers felt some-

thing about it was off in the tone of the show. A mixture of quirky and serious, the show is about serious and highly sensitive New

York crime scene cases, while the main character (Wilson) tries to push aside his self-destructive habits. The first episode had an awkward tone to it, which was hard for the audience to get acclimated to. With a cast also consisting of Dennis Haysbert and Beatrice Rosen, viewers antici-pate the show improving soon.

OBAMA’S ‘STATE OF THE UNION’President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address has been called his best speech yet by some, but what really stood out was when Obama said, “I have no more campaigns to run.” Republicans filled the room with their applause, and then he shut them down by saying, “I won both of them.” Oth-ers are checking to see if Obamacare covers their burns.

SKIPLAGGEDFor those out-of-state students who need to go home at random times throughout the semester but want to avoid pricy airfare, they should check out Skiplagged to get home without leaving your entire savings behind.

BY BREANNA WALSH | PHOTO EDITOR

Internet‘I’M IN LOVE WITH CHIPOTLE’Made as a parody to O.T. Ge-

nasis’s music video “CoCo,” this song expresses passion

for Chipotle college students that can actually agree with. The song reminds Chipotle-goers with phras-es such as, “it’s healthy on the low low,” while in the background you can hear a boy saying,“Oh my god, Chipotle is my life.” Listen and then crave.

The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015 | 5

edItorIal & opINIoN

BY RACHEL POPASTAFF REPORTER

It is often said that guns don’t kill people; people kill people. “People” is a pretty broad term, but as of late, it has begun to in-clude children.

There were multiple cases in December and January where children under the age of six shot and killed members of their family accidently. Opposingviews.com re-ports that more Ameri-cans were killed in 2013 by toddlers than terror-ists. So, why do these tragedies keep happen-ing, and how can we pre-vent them?

Growing up, my par-ents never kept guns in the house. When my brother asked for a BB gun for Christmas one year, my mom was really apprehensive about buy-

ing him a weapon that is considered a toy by many. That being said, I’m not really into gun culture, nor do I really understand it. However, I do under-stand why people feel the need to buy guns in order to protect themselves and feel safe, but with that kind of firepower comes a lot of responsibility.

Sure, people may kill people, but guns certainly help with the killing. It’s a lot more difficult to kill someone without a weap-on. Therefore, such weap-ons should be locked up where they can’t get into the hands of children. To me that seems like com-mon sense. Other precau-tions such as having the safety on and keeping guns unloaded are good measures to take in order to keep young ones safe around guns. I also think keeping guns in a safe is

a good idea.I don’t understand why

this has to be said. When someone brings guns into their home, they should be smart enough to follow basic safety principles. If they don’t, it defeats the purpose of getting the gun in the first place. Having an unsecured firearm is creating dan-ger rather than prevent-ing it. This is only part of why I think it should be a little harder to buy a gun.

Tragedies like children killing their own parents and siblings shouldn’t happen. No family should have to go through that. No child should have to grow up without someone in their family because of a careless accident that wasn’t even technically their fault. Children are curious and don’t often sense danger when they see it, which is why things

like this happen. To me, the best way to

keep children from harm-ing others with guns is by not having guns at all. People who don’t know how to store guns safely shouldn’t have them. Pe-riod. Not only are they putting their children in danger, but themselves as well. It’s also important for children to learn what to do if they see a gun lay-ing around. I was taught to leave it alone and get an adult immediately.

It’s important for both parents and children to be educated about gun safety, because things like this happen more often than you’d think. If you search “children shooting guns” on Google, news story after news sto-ry pops up, all ending and beginning the same way: a young kid and an unse-cured weapon.

BY MEGAN SCHULLERCOPY EDITOR

On a Wednesday morning Jan. 7 in Par-is, France, an ordinary meeting at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo sent shots that were heard around the world.

After a satirical cartoon of the prophet Muhammad was drawn, 12 employees were shot by Islamic ex-tremists who later tried to flee but were killed. While there are a lot of questions that are sparking conver-sations and uniting people around the world, the question lingers of whether or not the cartoonists had overstepped the limits of their freedom of speech.

France respects freedom of expression, but there are laws in place against “hate speech,” which The Washington Post defined as “statements made against a people because of their group identities.”

Where does the line get drawn in the law?

The Charlie Hebdo magazine was in the legal right to publish their ques-tionable content. However, the content of the maga-zine has offended many people and the magazine has had difficulty dealing with defending their rights in the past. According to The Huffington Post, after being involved in over 50 court cases over

the years, many of the cases against the com-pany were acquitted.

The acquittals do not overshadow the fact that these cartoonists were just-ly exercising their freedoms of expression and died as a result of it. This serves as a reminder of how high the cost of freedom can be.

Many argue that it was not right for the Charlie Hebdo magazine to publish provocative content, but is it any more right for some-one to shoot another person because they were offended by what was published?

In United States society, there are many contentious things said in everyday life and published in the media. This is an issue that happens in more than just the conference room of a satirical maga-zine company, and it is not isolated in France.

Working in the journal-ism community sometimes requires overstepping lines as a consequence of the job description. As the voice of entertainment for the peo-ple, it’s their job to convey content that either uplifts, saddens, or outrages its audience. That’s part of the reason why freedom of expression and speech is so important. Regardless of whether or not the draw-ings were morally right or wrong, these people were still killed because they were doing their job. While

it may be easy to blame the cartoonists for the boundaries they pushed while they were alive, they are human after all. People make mistakes but don’t deserve to pay the ultimate price for them.

The Charlie Hebdo shooting was a tragedy for the magazine company, France and the world. However, the power of expression, whether it is through words, or draw-ings can be a catalyst in a chain reaction.

Soon after the shooting, a global effort to support the magazine began. Pho-tos of “Je Suis Charlie” [“I am Charlie” in French] in big letters, or cartoons with a pencil pointed into a gun began to circulate in the media. Other cartoonists drew pieces, which showed an Islamic shooter say-ing, “He drew first” and a dead cartoonist with his drawing beside him. CNN reported 4 million people marched across France to stand in solidarity with the victims, survivors and with the world to stand against this crime.

This awful event has brought many people from different parts of the world together to use their own freedom of speech to support the magazine and its slain staff. Freedom is a right that we all should justly have, without fear of having those rights or

our lives taken away. The victims that worked at the Charlie Hebdo magazine

had both of those inalien-able and basic human rights stolen from them

that day, and that is the biggest injustice of it all.

COURTESY OF OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/TNSA memorial held in remembrance at the French Embassy on Jan. 8, 2015, in Washing-ton, D.C. A banner that reads “We are Charlie” in French sits above the memorial and serves as a reminder at how the world stands united with France during this tragedy.

Charlie Hebdo tragedy questions freedom of expression

GRAPHIC BY POOK PIYATIDA

Gun safety incidents involving children

are on the rise

BY DALY TONGRENSTAFF REPORTER

Sleater-Kinney released its first album in 10 years entitled “No Cities to Love” on Sub Pop Jan. 20.

The band returned from an extended hiatus after the 2005 critically acclaimed re-lease, “The Woods.”

The all-female West Coast rock trio, which in-cludes Carrie Brownstein of “Portlandia,” is back and more uneasy than ever with on “No Cities.” The fast-paced, polished punk rock album is a grown-up version of the same Riot grrrl band that broke out in the 1990s.

“No Cities” starts off with the powerful, in-

your-face anthem “Price Tag” which speaks to the evils of capitalism and the dreary real-ity of 9-to-5 jobs.

“I was blind by the money, I was numb from the greed/I take gun, run and ready, until sin kill, I live,” Brownstein sings on “Price Tag.”

The album’s title track is accompanied by a star-studded music video featuring Brownstein’s “Portlandia” partner Fred Armisen, “The Walking Dead” star Norman Ree-dus and former “Saturday Night Live” cast members Andy Samberg and Van-essa Bayer, among others.

The track, which is one of the album’s poppier mu-sical numbers along with

“A New Wave,” serves well as the second single, com-bining a catchy hook with an innate Sleater-Kinney booming, rock sound.

“Fangless,” “No An-thems” and “Bury Our Friends” are some of the most dynamic and memorable songs on the album. At their core are elements of the Riot grrrl punk sound that helped the band build such suc-cess in its earliest days.

The band’s reunion was hatched while watching episodes of “Portlandia,” they told NPR earlier this year.

“I think we had two people in the room who are known fans of the band. One is Corin’s husband, Lance Bangs,

and the other is Fred Armisen, who was a fan of the band long before he and I worked together...they were very encouraging, and I think just wouldn’t let that conversation die,” Brownstein said in an interview with NPR.

The album is a tightly arranged 10 tracks, clocking in at just over 30 minutes. It’s an admi-rable return to a sound that has been greatly missed in the rock world over the last decade.

Each cut from “No Cities” is filled with an evident energy that hooks listeners from the first tune and keeps them paying attention throughout the tracklist.

Corin Turner’s vocals are at their sharpest, Ja-net Weiss’ drumming is consistently strong, and Brownstein’s guitar is a force to be reckoned with.

Whether it’s 2015 or 1995, Sleater-Kinney has proven themselves time and time again.

“No Cities” is an ab-solute victory for one of punk’s most beloved bands and a testa-ment to the band’s longevity and legacy.

Along with the album’s release, Sleater-Kinney have announced a North American tour which will run from Feb. 8 to May 9, including a Feb. 17 Chicago date at the Riviera Theatre.

6 | The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015

BY LAUREN GRIMALDISTAFF REPORTER

For the last seven seasons, Mike Schur’s beloved comedy Parks and Recreation has fol-lowed the determined Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) in her journey as being a strong willed, compassionate government employee that aspires to do bigger things. Along this jour-ney, the audience was introduced to characters that were very original. There will probably never be another character like Ron Swanson (Nick Offer-man) or Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) on any show in the years to come.

Don’t misconstrue this and believe that “Parks and Recreation” is the number one show on television or that it has been adopted by virtually everyone as their favorite show because it definitely has not. Over its run, it picked up a fair sized but dedicated fan base. Still, that fan base wasn’t always enough in terms of ratings to please NBC.

The show was often on the verge of getting can-celled. In fact the creator himself, Mike Schur, has stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that in the past each of the season finales had to also double as se-ries finales, just in case the show was cancelled by the network. Neverthe-less, Schur and the show’s fans were happy when NBC announced that the seventh season would be the show’s last. This way a proper send off is possible and the creators and writers can write an ending that they’re proud of and comfortable with.

As for what the fina-le will actually entail, Schur and the show’s stars are very secretive.

“We watched a bunch of other shows’ series fi-nales in the writer’s room — we’d have lunch and watch the Cheers finale, or the Sopranos finale. It’s not like it’s a magic formu-la, but my favorite finales had two things,” Schur told The Rolling Stone. “One was that you could imagine what happened

to the characters after the show ended — you could extrapolate in your brain, and imagine them still alive and wandering the earth. The other thing was that they were epi-sodes of the show that felt like episodes of the show: I recognize those charac-ters, they’re talking the way that they usually talk and behaving the way that they usually behave.”

Speculation as to how

the show will end has been as crazy as one could possibly imagine. But nothing is known at this point and the field for predictions is as wide as it could get.

The final season is set in 2017 and began on January 13. The second episode of the season was very notable as part of it followed Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) and Tom Haverford to Chicago to

visit an ex-girlfriend of Tom’s from a previous season. The episode was filmed in the city in late 2014 and followed the characters to Milleni-um Park, Wrigley Field (where it was mentioned that the Cubs will win the World Series in 2017), in addition to many other streets that will be very recogniz-able to Chicagoans.

One of the best parts

of the show is its char-acter development over the years. It’s evident how all of the characters have changed and become better versions of them-selves over the seasons. That great development can only lead to a happy ending for all of charac-ters, but what exactly those happy endings will entail is left to be seen.

The show airs Tues-days on NBC at 7 p.m.

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK/PARKS AND RECREATION“Parks and Recreation” is in its seventh and final season.

It’s the beginning of the end for ‘Parks and Rec’

Sleater-Kinney makes a triumphant return to rock

COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIASleater-Kinney’s “No Cit-ies to Love”, which is their first album released in a decade.

art & eNtertaINmeNt

The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015 | 7

8 | The RoosevelT ToRch | JanuaRy 26, 2015

BY JOSHUA M. HICKSSTAFF REPORTER

Roosevelt Lakers men’s basketball team lost 66-65 to Holy Cross at the Good-man Center Jan. 12.

Sophomore guard Korey Ryan scored a team-high 18 points, while senior guard Joe Harks added 15 points.

The Lakers started the game on a bit slowly, allow-ing Holy Cross’ high energy and pace dictate the game early on.

The team had six turn-overs in the first half, while shooting a lowly 21 percent from the field and headed into the locker room down 31-24 at halftime.

Senior guard Tyree York struggled shooting from the field, only scoring four points on 1-of-8 shooting while dishing out 8 assists.

“We came out flat in the first half. We [have] got to have energy, and that starts with us seniors, me espe-cially. I didn’t really have it in the first half. That one is on me,” York said.

The defensive intensity increased in the second half, and the aggressive offensive play of Ryan and Harks brought the Lakers back into the game.

Ryan’s three-point shoot-ing, Harks’ aggressiveness offensively and Priebe’s timely scoring helped spark the Lakers struggling of-fense in an effective come-back. But every time they tried to make a comeback, Holy Cross stopped them

with timely offensive plays from its senior guards Bau-er and Moore.

In the last seconds with the Lakers down by one, the Lakers dumped the ball to senior Jeremiah Jackson in the post, but he couldn’t deliver. Priebe recovered Jackson’s missed shot and went up for the second chance, but Holy Cross ju-nior forward Adam Vizard blocked the shot.

Harks agreed with York’s sentiment and believed that the offense was rushed.

“We didn’t come out with much energy in the first half, and our offense wasn’t doing too well. We were taking rushed shots, but in the second half we slowed down, ran our offense and played defense, which got us back in the game. We just couldn’t finish in the end,” Harks said.

To date, the Lakers sport a conference record of 6-3.

The Lakers shot 33 per-cent overall in the game. According to Priebe, the shooting must improve in order for them to compete in games, and the only ways they can improve is to go harder in practice.

“We have to go harder in practice and get more shots up...We have to shoot bet-ter,” Priebe said.

York agreed with Priebe and expects the coaches to put a lot of emphasis on getting more shots up to im-prove in that category.

“We got to get in the gym and shoot more. Coach [Joe

Lakers still in the fight after loss to Saints

BY JOSHUA M. HICKSSTAFF REPORTER

The Bears made positive progress in the right direc-tion Jan. 16, as they offi-cially hired John Fox as the next head coach of the Chi-cago Bears.

While recently speaking with reporters at his intro-ductory news conference as head coach Jan. 19 at Ha-las Hall, Fox expressed his hopes for the team.

“I’ve always been of the thought of understate, over-produce,” Fox said accord-ing to ESPN. “I’ve never

predicted records. If I could do that, I’d be at a race-track somewhere. I can just say that, in the past, we’ve made pretty good jumps. So we’re looking to do that. I can’t predict exactly how fast or when that will hap-pen. I just believe it will.”

The Bears hope to regain its prominence as a defen-sive force, as the team fin-ished 30th in yards allowed in both 2013 and 2014.

Fox is noted for his defen-sive mentality. The Broncos finished the 2014 season in the top 10 both on oppo-nents’ passing and rushing

yards allowed.“I’m looking forward to

getting to know [Jay],” Fox said. “... I just reminded him that this game is only fun when we win, and we will. ... I’m looking forward to seeing [Jay] face-to-face, and we’re going to start that relationship and that pro-cess.”

When Fox was asked about the success of past quarterback play, Fox de-scribed what he looks for in a QB.

“I’ve had different ones,” Fox said at the news con-ference. “They’re just like

any other position, from the standpoint of what you’re looking for: decision-making, executing their job, what to do, how to do it and execute it under pressure.”

As head coach of the Broncos, Fox compiled a 46-18 record, while the team won the AFC West each year.

To fill out Fox’s staff, the Bears recently announced deals with former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and former Broncos offensive co-ordinator Adam Gase.

Fox led the Carolina Pan-

thers to their first and only Super Bowl appearance during the 2003 NFL sea-son. He coached the Pan-thers from 2002-10. After his stint as Panthers head coach, he also led the Bron-cos to four consecutive play-offs berths. Notably, both teams had dismal records before Fox’s arrival, giving the Bears hope that he can turn things around.

Fox is one of only a select few coaches in NFL history to lead two teams to the Su-per Bowl.

The deal announced was a four-year deal.

Bears hire John Fox as new head coach

COURTESY OF PHIL VELASQUEZ/CHICAGO

TRIBUNE/TNSJohn Fox is the third head coach of the Chicago Bears since 2012.

sports

Griffin] always tells us to shoot more, so that’s going be a big emphasis we put on our players. We got to get more shots up,” York said.

Jackson, who recorded

a double-double in the game, is ready to move on to the next game, hoping to bounce back with a win and get back on track on the road to the playoffs.

“We have to practice, get better and learn from our mistakes, so that we can bounce back on Wednesday and get a win on the road,” Jackson said.

The Lakers’ (12-7) next home game is Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Goodman Center against Purdue University-North Central.

PHOTO BY CARLI SCHLAKER Tyree York goes for a layup against the Holy Cross Saints.