DePaulia
The
Volume #108 | Issue #1 | September 11, 2023 | depauliaonline.com
A new era for DePaul By Rose O’Keeffe Asst. News Editor
To make DePaul “the standard for higher education” amid financial struggles and worsening public confidence in higher education, the university released the Designing DePaul Draft Report Thursday, Aug. 31, following academic convocation. The 51-page report, compiled from feedback of 3,000 DePaul community members–comprised of students, faculty, staff and alumni–aims to: - Make a student health care plan available by autumn 2024; - Close the achievement and retention gap for minority students within 10 years; - Make DePaul a “Hispanic-serving institution”; - And bolster the university’s digital presence with artificial intelligence and a new Chief Branding Officer. President Robert Manuel also announced a two-part capital campaign for philanthropic fundraising to build a new $60 million basketball practice facility and $1 billion to establish academic interdisciplinary institutes for poverty, the environment and artificial intelligence. “I believe that these options provide us grounded, creative and achievable possibilities to lead us to a place of prominence and stability in higher education,” Manuel said in a speech during convocation.
Though the Designing DePaul draft emphasizes taking action to improve overall student life, members of DePaul’s Student Government Association (SGA) have expressed concern about the uncertain timelines for key initiatives and the low turnout figures for the program’s listening sessions last year. “Looking at the plan that’s outlined now, I am a little concerned that some of the initiatives are not exactly what students want,” said Jaslynn Hodges, SGA chief of staff. Hodges said the low student turnout in Designing DePaul sessions might have been remedied if the administration had more direct contact with SGA throughout the Designing DePaul process last year. “One of the main things that could have been done was simply reaching out to SGA and asking questions – and then maybe even allow us to reach out to the community or network to get more student buy-in,” Hodges said. Of 50 Designing DePaul sessions last year, one was hosted in collaboration with SGA. All sessions were open for student attendance. “For a plan as ambitious as this. I think it would have been helpful to have a little bit more student input,” Hodges said. “...We didn’t get the plan or the draft that President Rob shared with the community until everyone else.”
See DESIGN, continued on page 5
ILLUSTRATION: DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
Read about this year’s changes to The DePaulia from our editor-in-chief. Page 6