DePaul forward Cleveland Melvin was the team's leading rebounder this season (6.8 rpg) and his 16.6 ppg trailed team leader Brandon Young by just a tenth of a point. But his loudest statement may have come this week when he joined over 1,000 other DePaul students signing a petition protesting the school's proposed new arena.
The students point to the poor timing with using $125 million in public money to build a private school a new arena. This comes at a time when Chicago is closing 50 public schools, and the university is raising tuition and freezing hiring.
The students' petition was delivered the same day that 24 members of the faculty – including department heads – delivered a letter which urged school President Dennis Holtschneider to withdraw from the project, claiming it is "wildly out of line with other university priorities."
We'll wait to see if head coach Oliver Purnell feels that his senior big man is wildly out of line with Blue Demon priorities.
