DePaul students party for St. Patrick’s Day as pandemic persists
A large crowd gathers at a St. Patrick’s Day party attended by DePaul students.
Correction (3/18/2021): A previous version of this story included the headline ‘DePaul students throw St. Patrick’s Day party as pandemic persists.’ The headline has since been updated to reflect that DePaul students have not been confirmed to have been the hosts, though many DePaul students have been confirmed to be in attendance. Barrett Desotell was also incorrectly named as a current DePaul student and the host of the St. Patrick’s Day party that occurred on March 13 and written about in The DePaulia on March 17. While our reporter confirmed with several sources that he was the host of the party, it has become apparent that sources gave our reporter inaccurate information.
Desotell provided time-stamped video evidence to The DePaulia that he was not in any way involved with the party and was out of state when it occurred. In light of this information, we have removed several paragraphs of the story. The DePaulia regrets the error.
Editor’s note: This story has further been updated to change the language “Greek life” to “Fraternity & Sorority Life” after a reader indicated the former language is outdated.
This St. Patrick’s Day weekend, people across the city gathered to celebrate — including DePaul students, who threw a party on Saturday, March 13 that violated Covid-19 safety guidelines, numerous sources confirmed to The DePaulia. While many of the attendees can be seen wearing green, none were wearing masks.
Multiple DePaul students posted photos and videos of an outdoor party, gathered in large groups and not social distancing. Members from DePaul fraternities Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi were in attendance.
Angel Flores, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, was one of the party goers who posted a video from the backyard. Flores’ video shows a bagpipe player serenading the crowd from the deck above.
Other DePaul students posted similar videos and images from the party. Their posts show the numerous activities that took place, including an outdoor beer pong table.
The photos and videos also show just how large the party was, far exceeding the ten people limit as is recommended, per CDC guidelines. While the party did take place outside, which is recommended over indoor gatherings, numerous guidelines were not taken into consideration including DePaul’s health and safety practices.
According to DePaul’s guidelines, “The health and safety of everyone at DePaul depends on the cooperation of all who come to campus. By taking care of yourself, you protect the entire community.”
On March 2, Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady advised against celebrating the holiday as the country passed the one year anniversary of the pandemic.
“We are in a much better place than we were a few months ago, right? You saw we were able to expand bars and restaurants to 50% capacity, some expanded hours there, but we’ve got to keep the Covid precautions in place and I would just ask people – not the year yet for a big celebration,” Arwady said.
The city’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade was canceled for the second year in a row to encourage people to stay home.
Although the state’s Covid cases have decreased as more vaccines are being administered, residents still need to uphold Covid safe guidelines, even if they are fully vaccinated.
“All vaccinated individuals still need to follow other Covid-19 public health measures, such as masking, social distancing, and washing their hands,” the Ccity of Chicago website reads, “A person is ‘fully vaccinated’ when it has been more than 2 weeks following receipt of the second dose in a two-dose Covid- 19 vaccine series or more than 2 weeks following receipt of 1 dose of a single-dose Covid-19 vaccine.”
Illinois health officials confirmed 1,484 new cases of Covid, and 19 additional deaths as of Sunday, bringing the state’s total to over a million cases and 20,943 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
DePaul previously announced that it plans to reimplement in person classes this upcoming Fall term.
DePaul President Esteban said in a promotional video, “We pledge to maintain a healthy campus and to help slow the spread of Covid-19… while we continue to practice health and safety guidelines… please continue to take care of yourself, take care of each other, and take care DePaul.”
Clarification: This story has been updated to indicate that prior to the article’s publication, numerous sources confirmed to The DePaulia that the party in question took place on March 13, 2021.
Correction 3/17/2021: This story has been corrected to reflect that the party was thrown by DePaul students who were formerly fraternity members. Fraternity and sorority members were in attendance at the party, but the hosts are not members.
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Concerned Reader • Mar 19, 2021 at 10:16 am
Hey Editor-in-Chief-
Don’t you think you or the board should write a story about the “correction” you had to make to your recent coverage? Remember when you incorrectly named someone to hold them “accountable.”
Do you remember these lines:
“ The purpose of journalism is to hold those in power to account, especially when the actions in question potentially put others at risk”
Does this apply to the Depaulia or no? Because I notice everyone is very quiet about this story all of a sudden? You realize the Depaulia also has power? I mean you literally did just publicly condemn someone and ruined their reputation and led to harassment etc. I think that constitutes putting someone at risk.
So my question is… can you hold the Depaulia to account and “name names” on the reporter? Can you explain how you got the most important part of the story wrong? Can you explain how you’re holding the Depaulia “to account”. I hope you have the integrity to do it but as a long time reader I’m deeply concerned.
yikes • Mar 18, 2021 at 8:55 am
Yeah these frat bros are absolutely embarrassing themselves in these comments. I’m glad at least some people at this school have the decency to call out this disgusting behavior. They’re lashing out because deep inside, they feel guilty and shameful, as they should. It’s like they’re allergic to facts, claiming “you can’t prove everyone was vaccinated” —it doesn’t matter, fully vaccinated people still spread the virus, or “you’re just jealous you weren’t invited” Jealous? Of spreading a deadly virus that has killed more than 2.6 million people in the past year? You bring shame to this school.
Bobs burger • Mar 17, 2021 at 4:57 pm
Wow
Ferdagang3917 • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:21 pm
Thanks for not going on hard on us as you did the sororities. You a real one but also a snitch at the same time
ligma balls • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:19 pm
all these comments lol,,,it’s like frat boys are allergic to being held accountable
Phelaen • Mar 15, 2021 at 4:51 pm
I just wanted to add that no “upper class” students attend DePaul. The parties are astronomically different. February 28, 2012. A fraternity from rented out the Hyatt regency in downtown Milwaukee and threw a four day party occupying every room on all 18 floors. There should be a record of it somewhere. I was there. The hotel had to shutdown for “cleaning”.
This was a house party. The kind you’d expect to see at your average run of the mill public 4-Year University. Maybe 100 students. Not an upper class party.
Phelaen • Mar 15, 2021 at 4:29 pm
Depaul isn’t known for having a lot of students who come from prestigious families. That’s more reserved for North Western and University of Chicago who only admit 6% rather than 60% of all applicants.
The trouble that stems from this University as seen in the comments section is the same for all catholic based institutions in the area. You have a blend of upper middle class and minorities which tend to clash.
That and right wing fanatics are still pissed from when Ben Shaperio was denied access to the campus nearly a decade ago as if its still relevant.
Matt • Mar 15, 2021 at 2:07 pm
Can confirm I was there…jam-packed with 100+ people. What a great Saturday it was!!! GET OVER IT. If you are upset it’s only because you are jealous that you weren’t invited. Let the boys play
nice work • Mar 15, 2021 at 12:13 pm
when sitting on your couch taking screenshots of a party you weren’t invited to turns into investigative journalism <<<
Johnny Banks • Mar 15, 2021 at 9:38 am
who cares
Advintis Akar • Mar 15, 2021 at 8:12 am
Hey advintus, I guess fraternities and sororities don’t have to worry about their applicants getting withdrawn since daddy owns the company right.
Advintis Akar • Mar 15, 2021 at 7:56 am
Work for one of the big five. Just a heads up. We were just notified to withdrawal all DePaul applicants for internships due to Depaul’s repeated offences during a pandemic . The email we just received said something like: The repeated violations show a character flaw in Depaul’s academic recruitment and that somehow goes against our company’s values.
Jane Goodman • Mar 15, 2021 at 2:40 am
I hope these pieces of excrement get what’s coming to them. Inconsiderate, self absorbed wastes of space. Burn in hell fuckos.
Lori lightfoot • Mar 15, 2021 at 2:03 am
If this was in Miami no one would care lol, such a joke. These damn blue states are trippin. There were large gatherings on wacker after the election and no on said anything lol.
Corona has cured the flu • Mar 15, 2021 at 12:07 am
I laughed reading this article. “Far exceeding the 10 person limit” had me dead. But then i saw the comments. This is peak corona comedy. Some are just some frat bros who pretty much confirmed it was great party (i mean they had a bagpipe player so its hard to beat that) and the rest are the people still taking corona seriously and are screeching the typical negative comments that make people dont care want to care less. This is like one of those videos where someones girlfriend is going off on them and the guy is just sitting there smiling while he sips his beer. I could go on but my point is that this is easily the funniest article the depaulia has ever posted
Joey Schwem • Mar 14, 2021 at 11:22 pm
Stupid libs have nothing better to do than try to villainize college students. Y’all just mad you didn’t get invited. If you’re so afraid of covid stay home and stop posting articles about people having a good time. No one cares!
kelly • Mar 14, 2021 at 9:30 pm
dont let this distract you from the fact we are all paying full tuition still… and no pass/fail option this quarter.
anon • Mar 14, 2021 at 9:23 pm
Good article
Jill • Mar 14, 2021 at 9:17 pm
These dudes really said head empty no thoughts this weekend. Thank you for writing this. It’s irresponsible actions like these that create superspreader events and I expect in ten to fourteen days we’ll see another spike in COVID cases because people thought it was more important to celebrate a minor Christian holiday than stay home and save lives.
Yo I love you • Mar 14, 2021 at 8:01 pm
Sounds something a GDI would say
to “I love you” • Mar 14, 2021 at 7:56 pm
To whichever sad Greek life alumn that commented, we are both currently in Greek life. This “us vs gdi” mentality is fucking weird, and it’s also weird that you’re grown coming back to defend super spreaders. Don’t you have bills to pay?
hahahaha • Mar 14, 2021 at 7:54 pm
Lol they’re angry and crying cause they got caught 😹😹😹
covidiots • Mar 14, 2021 at 7:46 pm
lol we have frats???
Fraudulent • Mar 14, 2021 at 7:19 pm
This article is almost as fraudulent as covid. No more question at this time
I love you • Mar 14, 2021 at 6:56 pm
To “uh oh the frats are sad” and “Wait wait wait” it is clear you are the same person. As a greek life alumni, thank you for calling everyone “selfish” with a “low as f*** comprehension level”. You seem like a very nice and kind person to meet. Have a nice day and thanks for sharing!
Wait wait wait • Mar 14, 2021 at 6:18 pm
Wait wait wait so y’all are in the comments mad as hell because you told on yourselves??? I’m confused how are y’all gonna post this stuff on public accounts on the internet and then get surprised when people see it? Maybe you should focus on academics since your comprehension level is low as f***
uh oh the frats are sad :/ • Mar 14, 2021 at 6:14 pm
y’all stop crying bc you got called out for being idiotic during a pandemic. sorry you have the smoothest brains possible and aren’t able to use common sense to not go to a stupid frat party when people are dying y’all are selfish asf and deserve to be outed y’all literally exposed YOURSELVES on your own instagrams
charlie • Mar 14, 2021 at 6:00 pm
thank you for writing this! imagine caring so little about other people you risk the lives of yourself and others for st patricks day of all holidays. only people more pathetic are the people defending those frats here in the comments.
I’d rather watch paint dry • Mar 14, 2021 at 5:50 pm
How do you know everyone there wasn’t vaccinated? What’s your proof that this was from this st pattys day? Your source is literally a couple of Instagram stories. I don’t think we should be looking at a couple kids gathering outside and instead look at how it seems like you were just upset you either didn’t get invited or are just upset you didn’t get the job to join the mask police.
“The depaulia” what kind of name is that • Mar 14, 2021 at 5:37 pm
I almost forgot there was a .002 survival rate. Stop snitching on random parties because no one will talk to you and instead focus on your academics and social life. I don’t think 1 other person cares about this article
fred benson • Mar 14, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Haha mad you didn’t get a bid?