“This is a program we’ve created as an additional enhancement to offer even more greater safety for students that want to exercise that option,” Ronald Sodini, associate vice president for Campus Safety and Security, said. “Students can contact us, arrange for a pick up and we’ll be glad to take them to the designated locations around the campus.  

New students like Lauren Briney, a junior interactive arts and media major, said the program not only gave her an extra sense of security but also helped her mom not worry so much. Briney is from Springfield in central Illinois.

“I know it really made my mom feel a lot better, and I know that the first week, every night where the two nights I would walk back alone, it was a little scary,” said Briney, who has two night classes a week that end at 9:20 p.m. “It was a pretty quick walk, and during those dark alleys with not a lot of people it was kind of scary. This is just a way better alternative.”

This free service is available from 6  p.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week, during the fall and spring semesters.

“That’s the time where the burglaries and the thefts are at a higher peak, so we’re trying to eliminate that ― the fear of transporting to class and from class,” Campus Security supervisor Russell White said.

Overall, the Columbia campus area is generally a “very safe area” according to Sodini and the program is seen as an “additional enhancement”. But being in an urban area, there are times when a student can feel unsafe.

“There has been times of aggressive panhandling and things of that nature, so I’m sure that we have had in the past a few students who have felt unsafe navigating the area,” said security operations coordinator Rachelle Hadnott.

This program was suggested by students through the student advisory council where the program’s main objective is safety, not transportation.

“We are not planning, or equipped, to be a shuttle service from one building to another,” Sodini said. “We’re designed to provide a service to someone who thinks, ‘Ya know, maybe a smarter way for me to move, to get from point ‘A’ to ‘B’ tonight, I just feel like I’d wanna be with a security officer’. And so as long as you have patience and willingness to wait for us to get to you, we’ll be there for you.”

Students said the program is also useful on weekends.

“If I stay out late or if I’m going to someone else’s place to work on a project and it runs late and I have to walk back by myself,” said junior comedy writing and performance major Bethany Schmieder. “The fact that it’s seven days a week is nice, not just on school nights.

This program was created out of resources that were already on campus. The van that is being used is used by the Cinema Arts and Television department during the day, and security officers were reallocated for the evening during the Safety Escort Program times. While the officer is escorting a student, they are also indirectly patrolling the area.

“It was a perfect match since we have the program in the evening,” Sodini said. “Rather than invest dollars in unnecessary initial expense, we utilized the van in the evenings as a pilot.”

There is only one van being used at the moment that is GPS tracked with a security camera inside. As a backup, plans are in place to invest in a larger vehicle that would help meet a potential greater demand as the current van is higher in mileage.

Students are either walked or driven based on various factors including location of the student in relation to the location of officers.

“Depending upon where an officer is and where the student is going, it may be a little more feasible to walk that student,” Hadnott said. “We do have the resources and officers out there, so it would just be on a case by case basis how we would navigate.”

Students who have night classes, like sophomore cinema and television arts major Diego Beltran, said the program is beneficial for getting back to the dorm.

“I have a 6:30 p.m. to 9:20 p.m. class at the Media Production Center, which is one of the farthest buildings on campus,” Beltran said. “If I ever feel unsafe in an area, if I’m like really far, and I feel like walking back wouldn’t be the best option, I would totally use it.”

To use this service, students or staff member can call campus security at 312-369-SAFE or refer to the Campus Security section in the ColumbiaChi app. The student or staff member then states that they would like to use the security escort program. They are then asked for their name, oasis number, their current location and desired destination. If being driven, a blue van with Columbia’s campus security logo on the hood of the van will drive up, and the student or staff member will get into the van and show their ID.

“Our whole existence is designed to foster safety and security on the campus,” Sodini said. “My hope is that we continue to serve the college community, and help contribute to a safer experience for everyone here.”

Sitting in her living room in Hyde Park, Rosey Puloka makes her hands into fists, signifying anger. She starts pounding her fists on her legs in a steady motion, adding force and speed, then decreasing them until the movement slows and her fists release the tension and anger that had built up inside.

Puloka, 29, often uses such movements as a way to let inmates release their anger. Puloka is a dance movement therapist and counselor with Salina & Associates and, for the past nine months, she has been working at the Sheriff Women’s Justice Program at Cook County Jail.

Puloka said she is a prison abolitionist at heart, but that her dislike fuels her work. She said she has always known she’s wanted to work with “incarcerated populations.”

“Being incarcerated is my idea of hell,” Puloka said. “And so I think, OK, if I was in hell, who would I want there and what would I have to hold on to? I’m invested in it politically and socially.”

Puloka was an artist-in-residence in Taiwan at the Taipei Artist Village in 2010. As a part of the program, she volunteered with the Dance and Disabled Project, where doctors and dancers joined forces to use movement as a therapy tool for adults with developmental disabilities.

“That was when I kinda clued in that like, oh Rosey, pay attention to this,” Puloka said. “You’re happier in your one hour a week or whatever it was working with the Dance and Disabled Project than you are the other 23 hours dancing with these other individuals.”

Puloka said she wanted to include more social activism and therapy in her life.

Back in the United States, Puloka started working with adolescent girls in a rehabilitation program and then discovered dance movement therapy on the internet. “I was like, oh my god, these are my two worlds coming together,” she said.

Puloka started working at the Cook County Jail in an apprenticeship position while she was completing her master’s degree in dance movement therapy at Columbia College Chicago.

After graduating, Puloka stayed at the jail to do more in-depth work. She currently works with individuals as well as groups that focus on issues like addiction, anger and violence, and women seeking safety.

Anne-Marie Lindquist works as a mental health clinician at the Cook County Jail. Lindquist knew Puloka when she started her apprenticeship at the jail, and started working with her in March of 2016 when Puloka became a full-time employee.

“I’ve seen her take on a lot of new challenges, like having to kind of go beyond her focus in just dance movement therapy, and very gracefully so… with objectivity and her best judgement,” Lindquist said.

As a therapist, Puloka said the first stage is to “establish safety in the body, the therapeutic relationship and in the space.”

Puloka said helping her very first client, identified as “S” for confidentiality purposes, was one of her most proud accomplishments. Puloka said S had a history of trauma, torturing things, and was a drug user.

“When we started our sessions together, it was really intense,” Puloka said. “It was sort of like the damn broke and she just spilled everything.”

Puloka said S didn’t think there was anything good or worthy about herself, so S started to ask people and write down their answers about what all was great about her.

Puloka and S then took all of the sayings and made them into an art project, painting them on paper on the walls of a small office.

“We just kind of sat next to each other and looked at the paintings; I think it was in that moment that I realized, oh wow, I think I did it,” Puloka said. “I think I really made it to stage one.”

Puloka said her last session with S together was silent and peaceful, as opposed to previous sessions when she would shake uncontrollably. “She was a shaker, and so I would always monitor that. And she was completely still.”

After that final session, S was discharged.

Heather MacLaren, a dance movement therapist who went through schooling with Puloka, said Puloka values authenticity and community.

“She is really eager to welcome people in and ensure that people feel comfortable and accepted,” MacLaren said. “I think from what I’ve seen of her work, is really where her power as a therapist lies– in creating that safe, welcoming place for you to come and land as who you are.”

Puloka said there is no certain way to do dance movement therapy, and that what she does often depends on the group or individual she is working with. “There is one [group] right now, they already feel very safe with each other and so they’re able to just go straight into the hard stuff really quickly,” Puloka said.

However, some groups aren’t as comfortable with each other.

“A lot of my dance movement therapy groups are just getting people to be in relationship with each other,” Puloka said. “There’s not a lot of trust in jail and a lot of people are scared of other people.”

After the election, Puloka said everyone in her groups, as well as herself, was upset. She focused on helping people talk through how they felt.

“The skills that you use just kind of shift a tiny bit,” she said. “Instead of being this container, you’re like, ok, we’re all water at this point. I’ll make sure we don’t go into deep dark corners, but we’re all just gonna kind of flow in and out of this devastation.”

Puloka also uses her dance movement therapy background outside of jail. For over a year, she has been holding yoga sessions at her apartment in Hyde Park. “The space has turned into like ‘this is your space to just be whatever you need to be and heal however you need to heal,’” Puloka said.

Puloka said she always knew she wanted to be connected with the earth and to people. “I didn’t know what it was going to look like,” she said. “I’m pretty happy with what turned out.”

Watch a video here to learn more about Puloka’s yoga sessions.

“Anxious,” “scared” and “hopeful” were a few of the words that Chicago’s college students used to describe how they felt on Election Night.

Three Chicago higher education institutions — Loyola University Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago and Columbia College — held Election Night viewing parties, each with their own unique spin.

UIC took a casual approach to the night, showing live coverage on a projection screen at the Students Center East building.

Turnout for this event was thin; fewer than 10 people could be seen watching the coverage, yet some of those UIC students had a lot to say about the 2016 election cycle.

Collin Langer, 22, a biochemistry major at UIC, went to his school’s watch “party” in hopes of “raising awareness about the national debt.”

Langer is a competitor in the “It’s Up to Us” organization’s campus competition, where participants attempt to educate fellow students on the long-term national debt while gathering signatures for a non-partisan pledge to “take a stand for their fiscal futures,” according to the organization’s website.

“This election has taken away discussion away from actual issues that affect voters,” he said. “Generally, this election hasn’t been good for anyone.”

Loyola’s History Department hosted an Election Night “Viewing Extravaganza” in the school’s Damen Student Center cinema. The event began at 7 p.m. and brought a larger turnout than expected, according to event organizers. The 125-seat theater was filled to the brim with students and staff, with over a dozen people standing.

“It’s giving students an opportunity to come and learn about different aspects that I’m sure a lot of us are probably really clueless about,” said Valerye Chavez, 20, a psychology and criminal justice major at Loyola.

As students entered the venue, they were met with a giant projection screen showing live TV updates and free food. Every half-hour, a different speaker presented short lectures about a variety of subjects like gender and the election, criminal justice and American jurisprudence, and commentary on each U.S. region’s returns.

Alexa Lindsley, 21, president of the history honor society Phi Alpha Theta, which  sponsored the event, said the goal for the night was to get students more interested in the electoral process and to expose them to different experts on the subject.

“We really want people to think deeper about their political choices,” she said. “I hope that, through these speakers, they get a lot out of it and maybe find a new way of thinking.”

Loyola students patiently listened to each speaker, without outbursts, as the results shown on the screen behind them.

All of the events ended at 11 p.m., long before the election was called. Several students expressed their relief of the election’s long awaited end, and the strange reality that they would wake up to a new president.

Nicole Baranyar, 21, a social work major at Loyola, said she thinks, despite the winner of the election being decided at the end of the night, the issues brought on by this election will be far from gone.

“I’m apprehensive about the country’s reaction, either way,” she said. “I feel like there’s just going to be a whole new set of fears and issues after it’s over.”

Columbia College Chicago’s event, a school tradition, featured free pizza, student organization booths, games and music. As Trump maintained his initial lead, some student began to feel the tension.

“The way they’re (the media) are revealing the results right now is that Trump is winning, so that’s scary for everybody,” said Tom Spooner, 22, a comedy writing and performance major at Columbia. “This is a very liberal room.”

Spooner said some students earlier in the night jokingly yelled things like “go Trump,” and that after a chuckle, other students would confront the jokers and make sure they were only joking.

Kaela Ritter, 21, president of Columbia’s Student Government Association, said the turnout for the night was more than expected and that the organizers were trying to keep the event fun for all who attended.

“I wanted to make sure that everybody felt comfortable, no matter what (political) party they chose,” she said. “Politics can get really touchy, which is why we have the food and the games and the music.”

Later in the night, around 10 p.m., dozens of students cheered and danced as they watched live television coverage that showed Hillary Clinton winning California and taking a brief lead in electoral votes.

“This whole election has been a shit show,” Spooner said, a phrase used by several students throughout the night. “I just hope we are all safe in the end.”

The event ended before the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, was announced to the students, a result that many of them did not expect.

A father and daughter team debuted their documentary, Untold” during Columbia College Chicago’s two-day Doc Your World festival in May.

Leah Zeiger, 20, a dance major at the college, was in an abusive relationship as a teenager. She told that story with her father, David Zeiger, 66, a professional film director and producer from California. When Doc Your World students were called upon to produce a documentary on a pivotal moment in their lives, the Zeigers felt obligated to share their story to heal themselves and other survivors.

“Making this film about what Leah and our family went through was necessary for all of us,” said David Zeiger. “It’s part of our DNA; that’s how we deal with it.”

Her father used his talents in film and photography to express his emotions after the death of his 9-year-old son in 1987.

Doc Your World is an interdisciplinary course. In addition to making short films, the students organized this two-day event.

A panel including the Zeigers and other sexual assault survivors, Jean Cozier, 61, and Cassandra Kaczor, 23, shared their experiences. Cozier, founder and executive director of Awakenings Foundation Center and Gallery, encompassed all of the panelist’s goals in combining their pain with their art.

“I’m a survivor who uses my art to heal myself and other people as well,” Cozier said. “I believe in it more strongly than I believe in almost anything in my life. The power of taking control of what happened to you is the most empowering thing that anybody can ever experience.”

Cozier, who was sexually assaulted as a child, exemplified this mindset with her foundation. The center provides coaching and a platform for survivors to open up about sexual violence in their lives in the form of artwork, writing, and graphic design.

Kaczor, a Roosevelt University graduate student in music composition, was sexually assaulted at 16, when a music producer she worked with forced her to perform sexual acts on him. She was then raped her junior year of college. Since then, she made it her mission to create and perform pieces that help herself and other survivors recover from their trauma.

With the same goal of healing through artistic expression, Leah Zeiger created the Sunflower Project. The multimedia organization uses dance, film and writing to educate young adults from middle school to high school about sexual assault, domestic violence and dating abuse.

Through education of young adults about healthy relationships, she hoped that they would be able to spot the early signs of abuse before escalation. One indicator she stressed was jealousy or paranoia, two signs that were prevalent in the beginning of her relationship.

The relationship was abusive mentally, physically and verbally, she recalled. After prom night, the abuse became sexual. She internalized the abuse, became depressed and attempted suicide. With her parents’ and professional help, she ended the relationship and filed a restraining order.

Sitting on a couch with her father in her documentary, she told of her ex-boyfriend’s terrifying retaliation. Police found him and a friend outside her house with a backpack filled with rope, chloroform, a bat, bullets, and condoms. Their intent was to break in the Zeiger home, take out her father, tie up her mother and siblings and rape her, police later said.

He was arrested and charged with eight felonies. After a plea deal, he was sentenced to two years in prison.

She recalled the first time she revealed her story to the public, in a dance called “Unnamed.” She spoke of the emotions that lead to it and the insights and power she gained by creating it.

“I was a dancer before I was a survivor,” she said. “Dance became a way to communicate what was going on and what happened–also a way to heal. I started dancing with a different purpose–I can dance to heal others.”

On April 14, Kobe Bryant stepped onto the court and put up 60 points against the Utah Jazz in his final game after 20 years in the NBA.

Less than two weeks later, Kobe Bryant: Laker for Life, a 128-page, glossy-covered paperback book, was on stands published by Chicago’s own Triumph Books. The publishing house was ready for this. In fact, they’re ready for every game, championship, success and scandal in the sports industry, says Bill Ames, the publicity manager and acquisitions associate at Triumph.

“We have to strike while the iron is hot. There are not a lot of publishers out there that do what we do in terms of having full-color, glossy paperback books within a week of [a significant sports moment].”

Ames credits Triumph’s endless partnerships in making these quick-to-print, or instant titles, happen. He said the publisher will work with specific media outlets before a big game. Triumph utilizes the media company’s archive to generate new content for its source, putting out a book highlighting a team or player’s successes and histories in their respective leagues. Building these partnerships and nurturing the relationships has been a primary focus for Triumph Books over its 27 years.

Back in 1989, Mitch Rogatz founded Triumph Books in downtown Chicago. The company churns out roughly 100 titles a year, all with one niche: sports. A former Random House subsidiary, Triumph Books is now part of the Independent Publishers Group (IPG), with 20 employees and partnerships across the country. George Castle, a Chicago-based freelance sports journalist who has authored more than a dozen books, credits much of Triumph’s success to Rogatz, despite not having any professional ties to the company.

“He has some great acumen in the business to battle the headwinds that afflict all book publishers as the Internet wrecks industry after industry,” Castle said.

After so many years in the publishing business, Triumph Books’ content doesn’t appear to be wearing thin, despite printing similar titles each year. According to Ames–and the steady annual revenue Triumph Books rakes in–sports-related content books are as booming and desirable as ever.

“We have typical markets we go to that we know are successful,” he said. “Chicago, Detroit with the Red Wings and [various teams from] the University of Michigan, New York, and Green Bay to name a few. We know there are certain markets and fan bases that have a loyal following; so if we keep putting books out there, people are going to want that content.”

Among the most popular pieces Triumph Books keeps on shelves are its 100 Things series, which focuses on the numerous things loyal fan bases want to know about their favorite teams and players. Other favorite titles include Triumph’s biographies and autobiographies. The popular If These Walls Could Talk series pairs up a longtime writer with a sports announcer or athlete to share a behind-the-scenes look at games and events not open to the public.

Ames said they refresh outdated content after so many years to keep the fans up to date.

Triumph’s instant titles are the unconventional books that come out after a big game. In those cases, the typical cut-and-dry publishing method goes out the window and Triumph Books uses its tried-and-true method to push out new titles immediately after a win. The publishing house writes books for the relevant teams well before the big game. Once the game is played and fans know the outcome, the winning team’s book goes to print. It’s all pretty smooth sailing according to Ames, except for one unfortunate circumstance involving the 2012 Super Bowl.

“We had a book ready to go for both the New England Patriots and the New York Giants,” Ames recalled. “The Patriots were undefeated and they lost to the Giants. It was discovered that there was actually a book available on Amazon celebrating a Patriots championship. We happened to hand that content over to our sales partners beforehand [and it accidentally got published]. It’s almost without fail that we will have a championship book ready to go and that content is ready to go before the season even kicks off.”

The other cog in Triumph’s machine that makes these books happen is its publishing team. They have weekly acquisitions meetings to go through new proposals, content and photos that get turned over to the editorial department. The four staff editors will work with the partners to produce the books before the production department lays out the pages and designs the covers.

Ames said Triumph’s books will be on newsstands for many years to come. And despite scandals, controversies and embarrassments that are bound to occur with each passing sports season, Ames said fans will always gravitate toward their favorite teams no matter what.

“At the end of the day, the stands are going to be full and fans are going to be buying gear and supporting their favorite teams; sports fans are incredibly loyal,” he said. “Sports is a form of release for people. It’s a way for them to get away from everything. [The fans] aren’t just going to walk away from that catharsis that brings them so much joy and entertainment in their lives.”

Sports and memorabilia books are a catharsis for the Triumph Books team as well. Ames describes their office as “like one big family” and they take immeasurable pride in their work.

“We always say our signature is that we are the leader in sports publishing,” he said. “I think that’s just who we are.”

Immigration, gender and race are all themes of work to be shown at Columbia College Chicago’s DocYourWorld festival May 3 and 4. The event will showcase a multitude of creative projects to push the boundaries of identity, or anti-identity.

The DocYourWorld festival is an opportunity for Columbia College students from a variety of majors to collaborate by creating and curating the event. The exhibition will include non-fiction documentary works by the students themselves, faculty members, as well as outside submissions from students of other schools and professionals.

“Documentary does not fit into a box, it’s not just film. It’s radio, it’s photography; there’s even interactive documentary,” said Jessica Siletzky, a CCC freshman organizing the event.

Based on this broad horizon of what is documentary, the exhibition will feature a variety of works and live performances, including spoken word, dance, and even an interactive drag show to exemplify this year’s theme: anti-identity.

This is the fourth year CCC has created and hosted DocYourWorld. This is the first time, however, that the event has been solely curated by CCC students, unlike previously when faculty produced it.

Eric Scholl, associate chair of the Television Department and filmmaker, said DocYourWorld will be part of a new interdisciplinary documentary major recently approved by the college.

“We’ve been doing DocYourWorld for the past few years as an interdisciplinary event, and from that event we said, ‘Why don’t we have this as a major?’”

The new course major launched this spring semester at CCC, co-taught by Scholl and Teresa Puente, associate professor of Journalism, as well as Ruth Leitman, assistant professor of Cinema Arts and Sciences. The course, titled DocYourWorld, is just like the festival, with students actually developing and curating exhibitions.

“We’re really excited,” Leitman. “This group has been working on it for the past four or five years.”

Elly Tier, a senior Cinema Arts and Science major at Columbia, serves as the talent coordinator for the event. Tier, whose duties include booking and scheduling talent, wished this new major was approved sooner.

“I am jealous that it is happening after I graduate, because that is something that I have not heard of, as a student, in other colleges,” she said.

DocYourWorld, Tier stressed, is unique to Columbia College Chicago, adding “It came out as a sort of passion project from teachers; it’s kind of bound to be something amazing.”

Tier also strongly advises other CCC students to get involved with the program in the future.

“Columbia is full of kids who are ready to do professional style work,” she said. “They are ready to make things and work in the real world, but I don’t see enough of my peers actually going forward to showcase it in front of an audience.

“Something like DocYourWorld,” Tier added, “is where a dancer literally can show their piece to not just their department but the entire student body with mixed people. It’s limitless the amount of opportunities that can come out of that.”

The diversity of students collaborating for this event is unique, Puente said. “We have students from the film department, journalism, television, dance–we even have some students from China,” she said.

• The DocYourWorld 2016 festival
• 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday May 4, and 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday March 4 
• 1104 S. Wabash Ave., in Film Row on the 8th floor and in the Doc Center on the 4th floor
• A different set of creative works is scheduled for each day. 

The film is about Marianna, a transgender woman who sues her parents to obtain a sex reassignment and spotlights the sacrifices a transgender person has to make to be his or her true self.

The film shows how Poland’s laws make this journey even more difficult. 

As Marianna transitions from male to female, she is abandoned by her relatives, who are unwilling to accept her changing gender. 

“It was hard to convince her at first [to make the film], because she wants to be normal and accepted. But she also realized she needed to tell her story,” Bielawska said.

“Call Me Marianna” has won multiple awards and will be showcased in more festivals across the world. It was also shown in the 2015 Chicago International Film Festival. 

Since 1989 the Polish Film Festival has showcased and promoted over 1,800 European films in Chicago. 

The Polish Film Festival, a 17-day long festival, is a not-for-profit organization founded by Christopher Kamyszew. It’s also the largest Polish cinema showcase in America.

“Most screenings are completely packed or sold out,” Kamyszew said. 

Kamyszew started directing films in Chicago after moving to the United States. He was a graduate of theater school in Poland and attended Columbia College Chicago.

Kamyszew founded the festival 27 years ago after the fall of communism in Poland. Kamyszew said he organized the festival to bring unknown middle-age filmmakers recognition in America.

Some of these filmmakers, such as Jan Kacznarek, went on to win  Academy Awards for their work.

The festival gathers Polish Americans as well as Americans descended from other nations together to watch films in Polish with English subtitles. 

“The Polish cinema is the best it can offer,” Kamyszew said. “I wanted American audiences to witness this.”

The audience consists of all ages and is about 50-60 percent Polish Americans and 40 percent Americans of other nationalities, Kamyszew said. 

Over 600 film professionals have participated in the film festival since its debut in 1989.

 The festival has received awards from two of Poland’s presidents, along with the City of Chicago Award, the Genius Award and multiple others. 

A student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Katie Parkerson, attended the screening of “Call Me Marianna” for her class and because the topic — LGBTQ rights and activism — appealed to her.

“I like exhibitions of artists’ work done with no money,” Parkerson said. 

The Polish Film Festival helps with production and finances of some of the films and also distribution throughout North America. 

“We don’t have to get a large profit. We do it because others cannot,” Kamyszew said. 

Columbia College students say being part of such a diverse student body has made them more accepting and open toward people from many different cultures and lifestyles.

Most students have no problem branching out and interacting with students outside of their normal groups, they said.

Transfer students have found Columbia to be diverse compared to the colleges they previously attended.

One-third of the college’s student body is African American, Latino, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multi-racial, which makes Columbia the most diverse of any private arts college in the nation, according to the college website.

The college also encourages students to interact with students from all majors.

“Being at Columbia gives you more of an opportunity to interact with people from different majors,” said Trey Martin, a journalism transfer student from the University of Kansas.

“If I was still at Kansas, their journalism program would be separate from any art stuff.”

There are many opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas among many different majors, he said.

“People are creative from all walks of life,” Martin said.

Whitney Taylor, a sophomore fashion designer, said she associates with countless people in and out of her major. She finds making her social circle diverse helps with her work ethic and creativity.

Walking to class everyday and seeing the different fashion styles of her peers helps Taylor come up with multiple ideas for her designs.

“Having friends who are illustrators helps to bump ideas back and forth,” Taylor said.

Janelle Knippen, a transfer student from Carthage College in Wisconsin, said she finds being a dance major at Columbia very different from her experience in Wisconsin.

A few of the dancers in the Columbia department seem to stay in their dance groups, she said, but she prefers associating with dancers and non dancers alike.

“Since Carthage was such a small school, we were forced to interact with students outside of our departments,” Knippen said.

Many students have said the lack of Greek life at Columbia makes interactions with students outside of their social circle easier.

Having fraternities and sororities on campus makes students stay only in that specific circle.

Interacting with students of different cultures and majors not only allows students to network but also eliminates stereotypes.

“Dancers are always seen as stuck up, but when you get to know us you will understand the time and dedication we put into our art,” Knippen said.

Columbia students said when they do transition into the working world, they will have an easier time alongside people from different cultures.

“I almost fell for it,” she said.

Now Leach, who is an assistant director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Consumer and Business Education, talks to individuals about their fears of credit theft and fraud.

On Wednesday, Leach joined about fifty other law enforcement officials, community advocates and consumers at Columbia College Chicago to discuss which communities are most at risk for fraud and how people in those communities can prevent being victimized. The event was part of a nation-wide tour sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission, as well as New America Media, a nonprofit organization of ethnic media outlets, and the Community Media Workshop, a nonprofit group that promotes community journalism.

Leach warned that scammers trick consumers into giving out information by preying on individual’s vulnerabilities.

“They’re professionals, and they’re good at what they do,” Leach said.

“Their job is getting your money.”

Illinois Assistant Attorney General Cecilia Abundis, who was also a part of the panel, said college students are frequently targeted by scammers.

“Sometimes students get scammed by companies offering to reduce student debt or eliminate it all together,” Abundis said,

Abundis also warned students to be wary of scholarship scams.

“You don’t have to pay to obtain information about scholarships,” she said.

Minority communities also have to be more aware of scam threats said panelist Steven Baker, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Midwest region.

“Black and Hispanic consumers are more likely to be victims of scams than the rest of the general population,” Baker said. “There’s a correlation between low-income and minority communities, making them more likely to buy into credit card scams.”

Jennifer Beardsley, a staff attorney for the Chicago-based Legal Assistance Foundation, agreed.

“It has to do with income and education,” she said. “It puts minority communities at higher risk for scams.”

Beardsley also said distrust between minority and immigrant communities and law enforcement makes those victims of fraud less likely to seek assistance from law enforcement.

“We want them to know it’s safe, and we want them to contact us,” Baker said.

Unfortunately, however, reporting the crime isn’t always enough.

“At most police departments you’re going to be out of luck,” said Joel Vargas, the director of intelligence analysis for InterPortPolice Global Force, a global security company.

“There is nothing police will be able to do.”

“Unfortunately in most cases there is no solution that is going to be had,” Beardsley added.

Luckily though, there are precautions that can be taken to lower the chances of becoming a victim of fraud.

“Get your credit report once a year,” said Leach. “It’s the best way to see if you’ve been the victim of credit theft.”

Beardsley also advises against rushing decisions when making financial deals.

“If it sounds too good to be true it is,” she said. “Never sign documents you don’t understand. If a deal is going to be gone in an instant, it probably never existed in the first place.”

Robert Blagojevich spoke to Marin, political editor for NBC Chicago, as part of an interview and promotion of his book, Fundraiser A: My Fight for Freedom and Justice.

The interview was held in Columbia College Chicago’s Ferguson Hall and was sponsored by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a public interest group that encourages public participation and transparency in government.

Blagojevich spoke in front of a small audience of about 50 people as he explained his lingering anger over what he called, “a story of government overreach and abuse.”

In December 2008, just four months after Robert Blagojevich agreed to work as chairman for Friends of Blagojevich, his brother Rod Blagojevich’s campaign fund, the governor was arrested on corruption charges that included an attempt to sell President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

A month later, Rod Blagojevich became the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached.

Both Robert and Rod Blagojevich were indicted, Robert Blagojevich with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit extortion, attempted extortion, and conspiracy to commit bribery. Both brothers pleaded not guilty.

While all the charges against Robert Blagojevich were eventually dropped, after two trials Rod Blagojevich was found guilty of public corruption for trying to sell the Senate seat as well as extortion relating to state funds being directed towards a children’s hospital and race track.

On December 7, 2011, Robert Blagojevich watched as his brother received his sentence: 14 years in federal prison.

Although Fundraiser A is a nonfiction piece, Robert Blagojevich told Marin there are definitely heroes and villains. He hailed Michael Ettinger, his defense attorney during the trial, as his hero.

Blagojevich’s opinion on former US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who represented the Northern District of Illinois and who prosecuted both Blagojevichs’ cases, was much less favorable.

“Patrick Fitzgerald is the bad guy, not my brother,” he said.

In fact, Blagojevich said, the only thing the former governor was actually guilty of was trusting the wrong people and lying to investigators.

“They manipulated him,” Blagojevich said. “They used him. They did whatever they could to beat him down. I don’t respect it, but I understand the decision he made to testify how he did.”

Robert Blagojevich also blasted the federal government for using him as a pawn to prosecute his brother and said there was an agenda behind the whole thing.

“They have immunity from accountability,” he said. “I was quite naïve. I trusted in my government, but I learned very quickly that we’re not dealing with a fair deck.”

Despite his lingering anger at what he perceives as a lack of justice, Robert Blagojevich said he does not blame his brother for what happened. “He’s guilty of trusting people,” Blagojevich said. “He’s an earnest guy who surrounded himself with people who took advantage of him.”

Sarah Brune, deputy director for the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, applauded Blagojevich’s openness about his past.

“It was really interesting to see someone speak so candidly about such a personal experience,” Brune said. “It steamrolled his life.”

Other audience members agreed with Blagojevich’s harsh critique of the government.

“It has the veneer of great democracy, but its veneer is very, very thin,” said David Duggan, a retired attorney, writer and community organizer.

Blagojevich said he truly believed his story was one the public should hear but conceded he is ready for this chapter to be over.

“I’m prepared to move on,” he said.