The Daily Northwestern — May 5, 2021

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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, May 6, 2021

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High 48 Low 43

D65 and NU partner to train teachers District 65 teacher residency partners with NU

By OLIVIA ALEXANDER

the daily northwestern @oliviagalex

After months of deliberation, the search committee for the next athletic director recommended four candidates, including Polisky, who currently serves as deputy athletic director for external affairs. Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Craig Johnson chaired the committee, which also consisted of members of the Board of Trustees, current and former student athletes, coaches, faculty and staff.

NU will hold a press conference next week when University

Evanston/Skokie School District 65’s CREATE Teacher Residency program is partnering with Northwestern and National Louis University to train future teachers for the district starting in June.

Each CREATE resident will complete one year of inclassroom training alongside a teacher four days a week at Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Education Center, Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Literary and Fine Arts School. Residents will receive a $30,000 stipend and, upon completion of the program, a Master’s Degree in Education from either university partner as well as a teaching position within District 65.

Laketa Simpson, the district’s diversity hiring specialist, said the goal of the program is to ensure the district’s teacher population

» See POLISKY, page 6

» See RESIDENCY, page 6

Illustration by Carly Schulman

Mike Polisky, deputy athletic director for external affairs, will be Northwestern’s athletic director after months of deliberation. However, backlash to the selection was immediate.

Faculty criticize appointment of Polisky

NU faculty call for increased transparency around the selction process for athletic director

By YUNKYO KIM and JACOB FULTON

daily senior staffers @yunkyomoonk, @jacobnfulton

When Northwestern named Mike Polisky its next athletic director on Monday, some faculty members moved to organize.

Six professors co-signed a Wednesday open letter to Provost Kathleen Hagerty, calling on the University to increase transparency in the selection process.

“The hiring of Polisky… signals a troubling continuity in Athletic Department leadership

that, while successful in some areas, failed the University and its students in significant ways,” the letter stated. “We are alarmed by this decision and, indeed, embarrassed on behalf of the university.”

Polisky was named a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by a former cheerleader earlier this year. In the suit, Weinberg senior Hayden Richardson alleged that Polisky failed to appropriately address complaints filed about sexual harassment. Additionally, in an investigation from The Daily, multiple sources claimed that Polisky did not take

allegations of anti-Black racism within the cheer team seriously.

In the letter, faculty call for a third-party investigation into whether Polisky sufficiently addressed the cheerleaders’ allegations. The signees are also hosting a protest against the appointment on Friday, which will end at University President Morton Schapiro’s house.

The University pledged to take steps toward equity and support after 80 women faculty wrote a February open letter calling on the University to prioritize systemic transparency and support

for female athletes on campus.

Selecting Polisky for the athletic director position ran counter to the promises University administration made, signer and History Prof. Amy Stanley said.

To many, she said it felt like a “slap in the face.”

“I can’t overstate the level of rage that I have been hearing from my fellow women faculty members,” Stanley told The Daily in an email. “It has been a difficult year for all of us, and this is just the latest indication that the University administration doesn’t care about our concerns.”

Teachers Wade and Ogbonna sworn in as ASG executives expand Christian Wade and Adaeze Ogbonna succeed Juan Zuniga at Wednesday meeting ETHS curricula

By JOSHUA PERRY

the daily northwestern @joshdperry

Students reflect on equity work in the classroom

By ILANA AROUGHETI

daily senior staffer @ilana_arougheti

Evanston Township High School senior Mika Parisien enrolled in an honors history class instead of Advanced Placement United States History to learn about Black history and other cultural narratives absent from

» See STUDENT ACTIVISTS, page 6 Recycle Me

SESP junior Christian Wade and Medill sophomore Adaeze Ogbonna were sworn in as Associated Student Government president and vice president during a Wednesday meeting.

The slate won in a landslide election last week, and will succeed former ASG President Juan Zuniga. While addressing the new executives, Zuniga said the job comes with good and bad times, but it plays an important role in amplifying the student body’s voice.

“Christian and Ada, you have a long and challenging road ahead of you,” Zuniga said. “I know that you’ll continue the ever long mission of uplifting those most marginalized on this campus.”

Wade and Ogbonna’s platform

focuses on supporting student advocacy groups, reforming ASG and holding NU administration accountable.

The pair thanked Zuniga for ushering them into their new roles and supporting them through their candidacy. Ogbonna said she’s looking forward to helping achieve the goals she and her partner set out.

“The work continues, honestly,” Ogbonna said. “And I’m really excited to see what we can do in the next year and how we can actually make impactful change because I think it’s been a long time coming.”

Zuniga said he’s experienced difficulties in creating change through ASG due to institutional barriers and pushback from University administration.

However, he said he has faith in the power of ASG to serve the developing and diverse needs of NU students. Zuniga added that

change at NU will be powered by students’ collective voices.

“Northwestern is an old institution — really, as old as Evanston,” Zuniga said. “And sometimes it remains archaic... but what is new and what is constantly being renewed and constantly visionary is the students.”

Zuniga stepped into his role as ASG President amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, leading the Senate remotely from day one.

Weinberg freshman Dylan Jost, ASG speaker of the senate, said he was grateful for all those who have participated in ASG under Zuniga’s leadership during the pandemic.

“I know I speak for everyone when I say just how incredibly grateful I think we all are to have had you serve as the president,” Jost said. “It’s been an honor.”

Zuniga thanked the executive board and student leaders who helped him steer ASG through

Daily file illustration by Emma Ruck

SESP junior Christian Wade and Medill sophomore Adaeze Ogbonna were sworn in as ASG president and vice president Wednesday night.

the difficulties of the past year. He said the Senate members should be proud of how they’ve served the student body over the months.

It may be daunting to push through lasting progress on one’s own, Zuniga said, but when members of ASG carry on the efforts and the legacies of those who serve them and rely on the support of

their peers, big things can happen.

“It takes time and investment to bring change,” Zuniga said. “And if there’s anything I really learned throughout this year it’s that there really is no greater path forward than the one that you get to walk together with others.” joshuaperry2023@u.northwestern.edu

INSIDE: Around Town 2 | On Campus 3 | Opinion 4 | Classifieds & Puzzles 6 | Sports 8

2

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

AROUND TOWN

Questions linger around city’s police and fire drone

By CHRISTINA VAN WAASBERGEN AND ALEX HARRISON

the daily northwestern @cvanwaasbergen, @alexhairysun

Evanston Police Department’s aerial fleet is unassuming: a single four-rotor drone, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

While small, the drone makes up the entirety of an Unmanned Aerial System program, jointly operated

by Evanston’s police and fire departments. A year after purchase, the drone has not yet been employed in the field. As the departments work to get the program airborne, however, questions of legality remain around some of the drone’s intended uses.

The drone’s primary benefit is its ability to perform tasks such as water rescue and live fire analysis faster and more safely than a team of officers, according to police sergeant Scott Sophier. Sophier coordinates the UAS program, in addition to supervising EPD’s Community Policing Unit, a team of officers tasked with fostering trust between police and the community.

“Greater efficiency results in faster rescue times and faster scene clearance times, as well as potentially reduced overtime on certain operations,” Sophier said.

EPD purchased the drone, a DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Dual, from W. S. Darley & Co. in May 2020, along with an iPad and other supplementary equipment. Both EPD and EFD later purchased pilot training services from DroneUp, LLC, a Virginiabased company that services public and private clients nationwide. The two departments spent a combined $7,196 to jumpstart the UAS program.

Cook County fully covered these start-up costs by distributing grant funding to EPD originating with the Department of Homeland Security. The funding came from the the DHS Urban Areas Security Initiative, a grant program intended to assist “high-threat, high-density urban areas” with counter-terrorism efforts.

Austin Spillar, a board member of police accountability organization Citizens Network of Protection, said he doesn’t see a need for counterterrorism programs in Evanston. He also said he is concerned about counter-terrorism as an objective

Illustration by Hank Yang

CThe sole drone in the joint UAS program was bought in May 2020, but it hasn’t yet been used in a field operation.

for law enforcement, given past usages of the label of “terrorist.”

“That terrorism label, I’m certainly very wary of that and how it’s been used to provide the pretext for surveilling police protests and Black and brown communities,” Spillar said. “If we’re worried about security and public safety in Evanston, there’s ways to be very proactive in addressing those without getting law enforcement involved.”

Sophier told The Daily that EPD chose the DHS grant because its parameters matched the department’s needs to obtain the drone and pilot training.

The department did not provide a grant application form that would have explained the drone’s intended purpose when requested.

The 2013 Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act strictly limits what Illinois law enforcement agencies can use drones for. The act, spearheaded by thenstate senator and current Mayor-elect Daniel Biss, bans all police drone use other than listed exceptions,

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including missing person searches, crime scene photography and responses to terrorist threats when determined by the DHS. The legislation also outlaws drone weaponization, and mandates that data captured by police drones must be destroyed within 30 days unless used in an ongoing police action.

While he is proud of the act and its limitations, Biss said he believes Evanston should still hold itself to a high standard when applying the law to its own program.

“We shouldn’t try to be creatively looking for the most expansive possible interpretation of those exemptions,” Biss said. “We should have total clarity about any specific narrow reasons that we would need a drone, and really hold ourselves to only using it for that.”

New exemptions could be added to the act if passed as amendments by the Illinois General Assembly. One such amendment almost passed in 2018, which would have allowed police to use drones for

safety and security at large-scale events including protests and public demonstrations.

The amendment later died in committee, but EPD listed crowd management as a potential use of the drone in its proposal.

On January 13, 2020, Police Chief Demitrous Cook and previous Fire Chief Brian Scott presented the program and the UAS grant to the Administration and Public Works Committee. Scott spoke highly of the drone’s potential as a crowd management tool, calling it “essential” for traffic and crowd control.

“Not only would it be helpful in the pre-planning of those sites for an anticipated special event, but I think we could use the UAV to proactively help us discover issues or problems when it comes to traffic flow, pedestrian movement, or overcrowding at any special event,” Scott said.

When asked how the departments would assure residents their privacy would be respected, Cook referenced the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act as a standard for EPD’s policies.

“We’ll be tailoring our rules and regulations in the police department based upon this law, pretty much as we did with body cameras,” Cook said.

No matter the intended use, the drone has not yet been deployed by either department in a field operation. Training was completed during summer 2020, and EPD currently has three officers certified as drone pilots.

Sophier said the drone’s lack of use is due to personnel challenges within the department, mostly prompted by COVID-19, and efforts are underway to train additional officers as pilots. He also said the department is interested in purchasing another drone so coverage is not interrupted during a battery change.

As mayor, Biss said he will approach the drone program cautiously, drawing from the lessons he learned while legislating police surveillance technology in the Illinois Senate. ““You have to try to put in place the rules and regulations quickly as the technology is developing before a practice takes hold,” Biss said. “Because once it has taken hold, it is enormously difficult to roll back.” christinavanwaasbergen2023@u.northwestern.edu alexharrison2023@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

3

ON CAMPUS

Students compile therapy resources

www.dailynorthwestern.com

By MAIA PANDEY

eic@dailynorthwestern.com

the daily northwestern @maiapandey

When Weinberg junior Alex Turntine reached out to Counseling and Psychological Services in the winter, she was put on a waitlist because the center did not staff any specialists who could address her needs.

While CAPS gave her multiple therapist recommendations in the Evanston and Chicago area, Turntine said most of the locations had unaffordable outof-pocket costs. She set out to find a therapist herself.

“I just didn’t know where to start,” Turntine said.

“I also just don’t have it in me to go six months with a therapist to realize that they’re not a good fit, especially because this is a critical time, with school and the pandemic.”

Overwhelmed by the task, Turntine turned to Twitter to ask other NU students for therapist recommendations, she said. When others messaged her asking to pass along the information, Turntine compiled a document of all the recommendations she received.

Weinberg junior Madison McReynolds also shared a list on Twitter of Evanston-area therapist recommendations, which she had compiled from her own research. Her spreadsheet was organized by specialty and accepted insurance, she said.

McReynolds said she hoped to help students like her, who have put off seeking help because the search for mental health resources can feel daunting.

“You don’t want to wait until (your mental health) is something that you can’t ignore,” she said. “My thinking was to just make this openly sourced document, and maybe it would help one or two people, and that would be really cool.”

When she began looking for a therapist last year, McReynolds said she did not consider CAPS as an option. She said she had heard from students about the center’s history of inconvenient wait times and inconsistency.

In a 2020 Associated Student Government survey, almost half of the students who consulted CAPS reported that the treatment led to an outside referral.

The survey also found that 22.04% of these students did not follow through on an initial consultation or treatment because the wait times were too long.

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Students have compiled Evanston-area therapist recommendations for one another among limited openings at the Counseling and Psychological Services.

A freshman international student who asked to remain anonymous said they started meeting with a CAPS counselor during Fall Quarter, but had the sessions end in March because CAPS only offers short-term individual treatment.

They found most of the therapist referrals from CAPS were booked. It took them almost two months to book an appointment in Evanston, they said, and the therapist did not fulfill their needs as an international, BIPOC student.

“It was this White psychiatrist who just mocked my experiences, implying that they weren’t such a big deal,” they said. “So if you’re a person of color who is trying to look for someone who you can empathize with, who you can feel comfortable with — which is the purpose of therapy — it’s even harder.”

The search for another therapist has been particularly difficult because they have limited knowledge of how to navigate the American healthcare system as an international student, they said.

Turntine said after a phone call and email exchange with a CAPS specialist, their top recommendation

was entirely unfeasible with her work schedule and budget.

“All of us are in a pandemic, and so many people are leaving home for the first time,” she said. “To invite students back to campus, I really expected, rightfully, that they should be prepared for more students to be seeking mental health care.”

The therapist search was much easier for her after consulting with others who had been through the process, Turntine added.

Around 20 people sent her recommendations on social media, she said, and some even chimed in with additional information after she published her list. She removed one practice from the list because a student told her they had experienced anti-Black rhetoric there, Turntine said.

“It really helps to speak to other students in the same boat,” she said. “It can be embarrassing or intimidating, but there’s so many of us who are really struggling right now to find the help that we need.” maiapandey@u.northwestern.edu

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4 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

A&E

Courtesy of David Niari

arts & entertainment

David Niari’s “Fleeting Moments,” done in pastel and watercolor, shows a group of Black boys running.

Rose Cannon, owner of Cannon Fine Art Gallery, says this piece “stirs something in my soul.”

David Niari communicates resiliency through his art

By APRIL LI

the daily northwestern @aprilshowers0

Evanston artist David Niari wants his art to function as a time machine for his generation.

Niari, who is also a musician, tells stories through a combination of technology and traditional mediums, like pencil and pastels. Niari said his work focuses on social themes and perspectives from the African American community.

“I try to capture some of the stories or narratives from my community, from my time, to represent what I’m trying to say,” Niari said. “As the artist, I’m really trying to speak a message of hope and resiliency.”

Inspired by his older brothers, who are also artists, Niari started exploring art at an early age.

Although there wasn’t a clear path for commercial artistry when he was younger, Niari said he

went into the field because it allowed him to be creative. Niari calls himself a “dual artist” because, in addition to his personal work, he makes art for an advertising agency.

“I wanted to pursue art because of the joy that you create when you have a blank sheet of paper — there’s just something magical about it,” Niari said. “I was creating something that has never been created before.”

Through public service works and building connections, Niari has been active in both the Evanston and broader Chicago communities.

Niari said that as an artist, he has a responsibility to use his work as a platform to connect with his community.

“As an artist, you come to understand what the public gravitates to,” Niari said. “This helps the community because it gives a voice to the voiceless.”

Niari’s work has been featured by the Evanston Art Center and Evanston Made. He was also the

first artist to be featured at the Cannon Fine Art Gallery, which focuses on promoting the work of artists of color in Evanston.

Rose Cannon, who owns the gallery, said Niari’s art has a unique realism to it.

Niari’s piece “Fleeting Moments,” which depicts a group of Black boys running, makes her emotional because it reminds her of her sons and grandsons, Cannon said.

“Whether they’re running in fear or whether they’re running just to play, I see their activity in it, and it stirs something in my soul,” Cannon said.

“When I look at David’s work, I feel something.”

Niari helped paint the Black Lives Matter mural outside of the Evanston Art Center. Cannon said Niari’s section immediately stood out to her because of its quality, striking a chord in her.

Paula Henderson, an artist and teacher who worked in Chicago for about 30 years, described Niari as a “Renaissance person” who works in multiple mediums.

“He does a lot of different things and he does them all well,” she said. “Niari has been at this for a good long time and his life is dedicated to all aspects of representation, whether they be visual, in movement or in verse.”

Henderson, who has known Niari since he was young, said she has seen him grow into a “world citizen” who cares deeply about community and makes thought-provoking work through observing human nature and people’s transcendent qualities.

Niari said his goal is to continue to push the boundaries of his work.

Artists are multifaceted, Niari said. He wants to be known for more than just the images he creates.

“All the things that bring about love, all the things that speak on love, that transmit love, communicate love…that’s how the message is going out as an artist,” Niari said. “Just a full-body message.” aprilli2024@u.northwestern.edu

Matt Braun on latest exhibition, “For Burma, With Love”

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

daily senior staffer @laya_neel

Matt Braun is an Evanston-based artist and educator who has taught art to children both in Evanston and across Asia. Braun’s latest exhibition, “For Burma, With Love,” was inspired by his experiences in Myanmar. 20 percent of all proceeds will go to Mutual Aid Myanmar to support the Civil Disobedience Movement. The exhibition is on display at 1100 Florence Gallery until May 21. The Daily sat down with Braun to talk about the exhibition.

your painting decisions?

Braun: Each painting has a different story. The first image is more of a darker image with darker colors. I started looking through images from my travels and looking at images that stood out to me.

There was one solemn image of a monk just sitting

in reflection, and I thought that was very reflective of what’s happening there right now. Behind the monk, there was a Burmese toy that children play with, and that symbolizes innocence and an easier time in that country, especially because they’ve dealt with so much civil unrest.

The Daily: What do you hope people get out of the paintings when they see them?

Braun: With the title, it’s just to bring awareness to what’s going on in Myanmar. There’s so much negativity that’s happening in the world right now, especially with the pandemic, but I think it’s also good for people to know what’s going on and to be conscious of that.

That’s the intention of this show: to bring awareness to what’s happening in Burma right now.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Daily: How did you come up with the idea for “For Burma, With Love?”

Braun: Actually, it just fell into place. I had done a painting based on an image I took in Myanmar in 2017 and was looking to sell that one painting to donate to Mutual Aid Myanmar. I had this other work that I’ve done over the past few years that’s also based on that region of Asia. There happened to be room this month in the gallery, so we put all the work together.

I use art as a way to process things. I have really good friends who live in Myanmar and I’ve experienced the culture, so it’s really heartbreaking what’s happening there. So I started the painting with the idea that I would donate to an organization.

The Daily: What was the artistic process behind

From that painting, I did a smaller one that is more of a hopeful image. It still has a little bit of that reflective nature, but it’s more of a happy image. One of the paintings I did when I was in Nepal — I came back before the earthquake, so one painting is from 2015 reflecting on what happened in Nepal, and it’s called “Rebuild,” which is trying to inspire hope. The big painting of Shiva was part of a series I did where I was exploring different things from traveling throughout Nepal and my experiences of being brought into that culture. All of the little portraits are students that I’ve taught in the past in Asia.

Courtesy of Matt Braun

One of the paintings in artist Matt Braun’s latest exhibition entitled “For Burma, With Love.”

The Daily: What does this exhibition mean to you?

Braun: I have a personal connection with the country; I have murals that I’ve painted there, I’ve met many great friends there, but above all, I’ve always looked at art as a way for me to do social activism. It’s a way for me to express myself, but also to bring awareness to causes I feel are important, and that’s something I’ve always done in my practice. laya@u.northwestern.edu

THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

5

Students attend early screening of “In the Heights”

By LAYA NEELAKANDAN

daily senior staffer @laya_neel

It won’t be long now until the new film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” officially releases — but some students in the School of Communication got an early look into the world of the four-time Tony Award-winning musical.

The musical follows three characters living in a Latino neighborhood in New York City. The movie adaptation is currently set to release on June 11.

Communication students were eligible to sign up for an exclusive Thursday screening hosted by Warner Bros. at CMX in the Old Orchard Shopping Center. With only 45 seats available due to COVID-19 restrictions, many students scrambled to secure a ticket.

“I was excited but also panicked that I wouldn’t be fast enough to get a ticket,” said Communication freshman Amy Reyes-Gomez.

She was one of the lucky students who secured a ticket to the screening. She said within a minute of checking her email, she received confirmation of the news that she would see the movie she had been anticipating since its creation was announced.

Reyes-Gomez said she enjoyed both the movie itself and the experience of sitting in a physical theatre

again. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, every “pod” was separated by two seats in every direction to ensure social distancing, she said. Despite that, the excitement in the theatre was palpable.

“There were all these people who were just as excited as I was to watch this movie,” Reyes-Gomez said. “There were a lot of students who are Latinx, so there was that level of connection to the movie that meant a lot to them.”

Weinberg freshman Andres Polanco Molina was already familiar with the musical when he went to sign up for a ticket. Polanco Molina said he found out about the screening through a Northwestern Latinx community group chat.

The movie adaptation included changes that he did not fully understand, but Polanco Molina said he still enjoyed the experience, especially the theatre venue.

“I’ve never gone into a movie theatre with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling,” he said. “It was really fancy.”

Communication freshman Kamali Lopez Kuno echoed the same sentiments. She said she had woken up to a text from a friend telling her about the email.

But when she checked her email to sign up for a ticket, she found that her friend had already signed up for her, so the confirmation was waiting in her inbox.

Lopez Kuno said the theatre did an excellent job in regards to maintaining the health and safety of everyone in the theatre.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

A scene from the new film adaptation of the award-winning musical “In the Heights.” Some students had the chance to attend an exclusive early screening of the movie.

“They made sure there was plenty of space between the people you were with and everyone else,” she said.

“It definitely felt safe going into the theatre… and I had a really good overall experience.”

She also agreed with Polanco Molina that while the changes made in the film adaptation were surprising to see, she appreciated the intentionality with which those decisions were made.

For Lopez Kuno, “In the Heights” holds a special

personal meaning — it was the show that inspired her to pursue theatre. “‘It was the first show I ever did, so it’s really special to me,” Lopez Kuno said. “If I hadn’t done ‘In the Heights,’ I wouldn’t be here as a theatre major at Northwestern, so I was really excited that I could see the screening.” laya@u.northwestern.edu

The Block Museum expands student docents’ role

By OLIVIA ALEXANDER

the daily northwestern @oliviagalex

The Block Museum’s cohort of student docents typically facilitate discussions on art, but the role is now expanding to involve directly advising the staff at the museum.

Erin Northington, the Susan and Stephen Wilson associate director of campus and community education and engagement at The Block, said student docents act as student ambassadors. “(We’re) thinking with our docents about how to make inroads and new communities on campus,” Northington said. “To reach students who may not first think of The Block as an important resource during their time at Northwestern.”

Northington said student docents can really shape The Block. Their role, which was formerly focused on facilitating dialogues, now includes serving as in-house advisors and engaging in seminar discussions with colleagues about The Block’s mission.

Student docent and Weinberg junior Chayda Harding said they’ve worked other jobs on campus, but they feel much more involved at The Block. “(The Block staff) really care about the docent community, and having them be a really integral and equal part of the museum and how the museum works,” Harding said.

Harding said student docents give “freeform” talks

on topics of their choice, and they have written labels for actual museum exhibitions. This quarter, they were directly involved in the acquisition of an exhibition.

Docents researched six artists, narrowing the list to three finalists, whom the docents themselves interviewed. The students then selected an artist and a corresponding piece.

Harding also said their role at The Block furthered their presentation skills, which they said they had always wanted the opportunity to work on.

“My (history) major is not really conducive to those kinds of presentations or big projects that require you to show other people things,” Harding said. “This was

a cool opportunity to do so.”

McCormick junior Ayinoluwa Abegunde is a student docent and materials science and engineering major. She said her time working at The Block allowed her to step outside the “very small bubble” of students within her major.

Abegunde said one of her interests is exploring how Black hair is present in artwork, and she became a docent in hopes of exploring that as well as museum work in general.

“Being a student docent, we learn so much. We... think about so many other perspectives than I would have been able to think about in McCormick,”

Daily file photo by Sean Su

The Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Dr. Student docents saw their role expand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abegunde said. “That’s why I started doing it –– for my interests, but also just to expand my shores beyond engineering.”

Northington said the skills docents learn at The Block are transferable. Students do some practical museum work, but also engage in critical thinking, navigating challenging conversations and embracing multiple perspectives.

Northington also said student docents learn to be comfortable with ambiguity.

“Particularly at a place like Northwestern, where sometimes there can be that focus on the right answer, museum spaces resist that,” Northington said. “We’re resisting a single interpretation, and we can be open to others’ ideas.”

América Salomón, Block Museum engagement coordinator and educator, said the cohort is a dynamic and diverse group, and students benefit from being in dialogue with one another and colleagues across levels within the museum.

Salomón said she is glad the student docent community remained strong in the remote setting. Going forward, she looks forward to seeing the program’s possibilities beyond just their service as student guides.

“I have been really excited by how the distance (has) helped us to re envision what the program is,” Salomón said. “We have a lot to learn from distance even just thinking about the future of this program. I think it’s constantly in evolution.” oliviaalexander2024@u.northwestern.edu

Wirtz Center ups rehersal room capacity, eases restrictions

By DIEGO RAMOS-BECHARA

the daily northwestern @d_ramos42

In response to the decrease in COVID-19 cases in Evanston, the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts has increased the number of people allowed in rehearsal rooms and extended usage time.

“We don’t know where we’ll be in the Fall Quarter, but I’m glad to see the center slowly opening

up and allowing students to enjoy the performance spaces,” said Al Heartley, the managing director of Wirtz.

People in the center are still required to maintain social distancing protocols and wear masks at all times. Heartley said the community’s safety remains his “number one priority.”

Heartley said the response to the new guidelines has been mostly positive, with students and faculty eager to return to the stage.

Communication Prof. Melissa Foster recently

Courtesy of Daniel Calderon (Communication ‘24)

Daniel Calderon (Communication ‘24) and the cast of the Wirtz Center’s “Tomás and the Library Lady.” The show was filmed live on-stage and streamed to audiences for a limited time.

taught a voice studio lesson in person at the Ethel M. Barber Theater to 14 students. The students would select each other’s repertoire and then sing the chosen songs, all while wearing masks and maintaining 10 feet of distance.

“Most of my students had said that they were very nervous because they hadn’t been on a stage in over a year,” Foster said. “So many things had to go right for this to happen, and they all seemed so thrilled to be there. It was amazing.”

Communication freshman Daniel Calderon was thrilled to be back on the stage after over a year of virtual theatre. Calderon recently played Tomás Rivera in the Wirtz Center’s in-person production of “Tomás and the Library Lady,” which is the closest Wirtz has gotten to a performance of this modality.

“Tomás and the Library Lady” is based on a true story and follows a family of Mexican migrant workers who move from Texas to Iowa to work in cornfields in the summer of 1945. There, the son, Tomás, finds solace in the library and the librarian who works there.

The performance was filmed in-person, with actors staged socially distanced from one another while wearing masks. To disguise the muffling heard when speaking with masks, the actors prerecorded their lines, and the sound editors dubbed the recordings onto their performances.

“A lot of us do theater because of the connections you make with people on stage,” Calderon said. “I’m so happy I got to participate in ‘live’ theatre, but at the same time, it made me realize how much I missed the real thing.”

Wirtz has hosted a few in-person rehearsals, allowing students to spend time in the theatre space.

Heartley said he does not know when the center will be ready to operate fully in-person, but he can see the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

Even without many in-person performances, the theatre community at Northwestern has demonstrated its resilience. The Dolphin Show, The Waa-Mu Show and independent students all have projects in the works, adjusting modalities to adhere to safety protocols.

“We could have given up, we could have said no, we could have just simply said, ‘we’re going to sit here and wait,’” Heartley said. “Instead, we embraced the realities of the situation, and we got to work, and I think that speaks to that love of theatre we all hold dear.” diegoramos-bechara2024@u.northwestern.edu

arts & entertainment Editor Laya Neelakandan Assistant Editors Olivia Alexander Diego Ramos-Bechara Designer Emma Ruck Staff April Li

6 THE DAILY NORTHWESTERN

THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

POLISKY From page 1

President Morton Schapiro returns from a trip, The Athletic reported. An athletic department spokesperson confirmed to The Daily that a formal introduction is expected next week.

History Prof. Kate Masur, another co-signer of the letter, said Polisky’s hiring was completely antithetical to the faculty’s calls for transparency.

“When you have that opportunity and you don’t take it, it shows to me that moving forward on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion is not your highest

RESIDENCY From page 1

is representative of its student population. One of the benefits of a teacher residency, she said, is the opportunity to diversify the district’s teaching staff so students can see teachers in front of them who are “reflective of their backgrounds and beliefs.”

“We have an opportunity to be really intentional around how we are developing our teachers,” Simpson said.

District 65 Superintendent Devon Horton said students benefit from having educators that look like them, but currently the district isn’t living up to that expectation. In a district where about 21 percent of students are Latinx and about 22 percent are Black, just 9.4 percent of teachers are Latinx and 13.2 percent are Black, he said.

Horton said many families have attended schools

STUDENT ACTIVISTS From page 1

the AP curriculum.

Her teacher, Corey Winchester, taught Black, Asian American and Chicano history units. She was pleasantly surprised when he also spent multiple months covering Haitian history. For Parisien, who is Haitian, this was her first experience learning about her own culture in school.

“He really challenged us to learn about equity and race, and how it tied into history, and how it tied to today,” Parisien said.

Parisien is part of a growing community of ETHS students and student activists calling for more diverse and equitable education within ETHS. Student activist groups including Evanston Fight for Black Lives and Students Organized Against Racism have been invited into ETHS classrooms to speak about antiracist education. “(ETHS) want(s) students to feel included, and they want multiple versions and versatile history being taught and shown in classes,” Parisien said. “But it just really lies within the teacher. It’s less in the curriculum that was created.”

One of the biggest changes that ETHS junior Eden Drajpuch has experienced this year is a sense that most of her teachers, especially recent English and

priority,” Masur said.

In the lawsuit against Polisky, which was filed before the selection process began, Richardson said Polisky accused her of “fabricating evidence.” She also alleged that he prevented her from meeting with former Athletic Director Jim Phillips, who left his post in February to become the next Commissioner of the Athletic Coast Conference.

Prior to Polisky’s promotion, the University filed a motion against Richardson’s suit to dismiss “most of the complaint, including the individual defendants,” and denying that NU violated any law, including Title IX, University spokesman Jon Yates

told The Daily.

Former NU basketball player and sports executive Anucha Browne, Duke Deputy Athletic Director Nina King and NU’s Deputy Athletic Director for Administration and Policy Janna Blais — all women, including two women of color — were the other three candidates the committee recommended.

Medill Prof. Melissa Isaacson said as a woman and longtime sports journalist in a field with limited female representation, she wanted NU to rise above the pattern of male leadership in collegiate sports administration.

Isaacson further said the University’s decision — regardless of the legal rulings in the allegations

against Polisky — reflects poorly on the NU community as a whole. The harm caused by Polisky’s appointment, she said, is going to linger.

“Those who made the decision are hoping that this just goes away,” Isaacson said. “I’m not so sure it will, and it shouldn’t. This could very easily trigger some national attention that would be very embarrassing to the University, and it was avoidable. It’s just really disappointing.”

Sneha Dey contributed reporting.

in the district for years without having a teacher reflective of their background. He hopes the program will increase the number of minority teachers within the district, and eventually, expand to surrounding districts.

Prior to his arrival at District 65, Horton developed teacher residency programs in two other districts. He said successful data for these programs indicates that teachers who complete residencies often outperform those who pursue traditional teaching degrees.

“It’s really strange to think that teachers come out more effective with one year of intense support, versus the four years cycle of a university,” Horton said.”But think about the science of how you prepare doctors. Doctors go through a residency for two, three years, like practicing working… and many times they do get employed in that hospital.”

Strong candidates for the program will have a

social justice lens and truly believe students can learn, Horton said. He said the district is looking closely at teacher efficacy — if teachers have confidence in their ability to make a positive impact on their students, Horton said they’ll be able to help students understand the importance of speaking up for what is right.

Currently, the district is in the final stages of selecting its first 20 residents. Horton said most candidates will be from Evanston and nearby communities. Applicants come from a range of backgrounds and many have previously held different careers.

Kim Kelly, director of CREATE, said the program breaks down barriers for individuals who had been unable to follow their passion for teaching.

“We’re opening the door to people who are going to be excellent educators that may not have otherwise been able to take advantage and move forward

with that career choice,” Kelly said.

Residents will undergo a year of intensive classroom training, and then will take part in a gradual release, gaining more responsibilities until they lead their own District 65 classrooms.

Kelly also said the program plays into the district’s goal of narrowing its historical racial achievement gap. Outcomes for minority students have not shifted in any remarkable way for forty years, but Kelly said the residency is a potential avenue for change.

“It’s time for us to be reflective of what’s happening,” Kelly said. “How is institutional racism showing up, and how do we disrupt that in a way that is collaborative, in a way that’s collective, in a way that’s thoughtful and reflective and supporting all of our teachers.”

history hires, actively integrate equity into classroom discussions and coursework.

In their art history class, ETHS senior Nora Miller enjoyed conversations about owning art in the context of colonization. She has discussed current events in her literature class, a space they usually feel is dominated by White writers.

Teachers outside of the social sciences have also made their mark. Drajpuch and ETHS sophomore Ahania Soni remember their chemistry teacher discussing current events and highlighting female scientists. Some teachers have included supplementary readings and videos that expand beyond the perspectives highlighted in their main textbooks, Soni said.

“It was incorporated into the curriculum, rather than shoved in, which I really enjoyed,” Soni said.

Some classes are harder to revise, especially AP courses, which lack cultural narratives in the standardized curriculum. Winchester still found a way to incorporate Indigenous history in his AP U.S. History class, which Drajpuch said she was happy to see. “(Winchester) does a good job of emphasizing that history we haven’t necessarily learned about until this year is still just as important,” Drajpuch said. “Everything that shows up on that exam isn’t everything that happened.. in American history.”

A group of students and equity analysts founded in 2018 has also begun releasing the results of internal

ETHS curricular reviews. The reviews summarize the equity analysts’ findings from conduct focus groups that asked individual classes of students to reflect anonymously on their experiences in subjects like history, english and spanish.

The review committee then analyzes classes’ input and has begun to recommend curricular changes to improve students’ experience. Miller, who has been involved in the ETHS internal curriculum review group, said she finds the formal review process to be “slow and bureaucratic,” and it doesn’t focus enough on student feedback, which they said is important to creating lasting change.

For many, including Soni and Miller, it’s important that classroom discussions surrounding equity take place in safe spaces. Comfort can be difficult to achieve in a remote setting, however. Soni finds that some students are unwilling to share personal or vulnerable experiences, and overall are more quiet, over Zoom.

Another barrier to productive discussions is that ETHS students tend to share very similar political views, Miller said. This can create an echo chamber when classroom discussions align with traditionally liberal values, they said, and can create an unnecessarily political environment when they don’t.

Miller, who is Black and Mexican, feels that to avoid controversy, some teachers have passed on opportunities to include units about histories that

reflect her own identities and the identities of their peers.

Parisien said teachers of color have provided her the most support in learning about her own histories.

Among the classes she feels prioritize diversity, she said there has been numerous opportunities for students to learn more about topics of their choice. One of her favorite projects, which was assigned by civics teacher Yosra Yehia, invited students to do long-term research on a social issue which they were passionate about.

“ETHS is super, super resourceful,” Parisien said.

“But at the same time, they expect students to advocate for themselves.”

Miller looks forward to a future where curricular diversity at ETHS is universal, relying less on exam incentives and personal teaching philosophies.

They feel the ETHS administration has been supportive so far, which she hopes will encourage teachers to focus on expanding equity in their classrooms.

“It’ll take a few years for all of the teachers to feel the necessity to include more histories in a curriculum,” they said. “It will hopefully get to a point where it’s just commonplace…that the content that’s being taught is representative of the people in our high school and the histories of people in our school.”

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THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021

7

Kindergarten teacher honored with Golden Apple Award

By NICK FRANCIS

daily senior staffer @nick24francis

Willard Elementary School Kindergarten teacher Meghan Rice was honored with a statewide Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award during a ceremony Monday morning.

Just after she finished class at 9:30 a.m, Rice walked into Willard’s multi-purpose room, where she was celebrated as part of a surprise ceremony. After being greeted by friends, family and more, Golden Apple officials gave her a gift basket and community members showered her with compliments.

As part of the award, Rice will join a cohort of Golden Apple award recipients in training the next generation of Illinois teachers, as part of an initiative to address the state’s teacher shortage. In addition to a cash prize of $5,000, Rice was granted a fullysubsidized sabbatical to take classes at Northwestern for two quarters.

Golden Apple’s selection committee received over 700 applications. They interviewed parents of students and administrators and conducted class

observations to select the 10 winners statewide. The criteria for the award’s selection is broken down into five categories: instructional practices, cultural competency, civic engagement, growth-mindset evaluation and professionalism, Golden Apple president Alan Mather said.

“We want to make sure the candidates know that every student can grow,” Mather said. “Not ‘This is not a smart student,’ or ‘This is not a lazy student,’ but everybody can grow.”

Mather said Rice’s focus on equity for disabled students and students of color stood out to the evaluation panel. Her level of engagement with her students also made her an especially qualified candidate, he said.

Rice said engagement can take many different forms during a typical school day. As a singer-songwriter, she would play demos of her songs for her students. They would often give feedback and she would implement her students’ input.

“A lot of times I’ve used their suggestions,” she said, “so then it’s like ‘our song.’ ” In a full-circle moment, Rice’s high school music teacher, Diana O’Connor, was also present during the award presentation. O’Connor is a mentor at Golden Apple.

O’Connor called Rice “one-of-a-kind,” and said she was humble, gentle and inspiring. She said she was grateful to be there as Rice entered the next part of her life. Even after Rice has long-graduated, they still keep in touch.

“She’s been so special to me over the years, we have a deep friendship,” O’Connor told The Daily.

“There are very few that are like that, that you will have in your life.”

O’Connor said it’s difficult to capture the scope of her love for Rice. She said Rice just “has a light about her.”

But if Rice had to pinpoint her “magic power,” she said it would be making students feel loved. This is in part what keeps her motivated to pursue teaching in a remote environment — Rice attributed her resolve to her ability to see and connect with the resilience of her students.

“There have been mornings where it’s difficult to get out of bed,” Rice said. “(Students are) the reason I get out of bed, because I know they need me.” She paused, her voice began to shake and her eyes started to water. “And I need them too.” nickfrancis2024@u.northwestern.edu

Nick Francis/The Daily Northwestern

Willard Elementary School kindergarten teacher Meghan Rice talks to press after winning a prestigious award for teaching. The award ceremony and surprise took place around 9:30 a.m., right after Rice had finished teaching her kindergarten class.

Hindu community gets a chaplain following student advocacy

By YUNKYO KIM

daily senior staffer @yunkyomoonk

Growing up, Weinberg junior Pari Thakkar said Hinduism was a significant part of her life.

However, after she came to Northwestern, she had no one to go to with questions about navigating her relationship with religion as a college student.

“I think oftentimes, as a secular university, we tend to forget about the importance of religion for those who practice it and choose to rely on it and depend on it,“ Thakkar said.

A chaplain was necessary for the Hindu community at NU, Thakkar said.

The University instituted a Hindu chaplain position after over 150 years since its founding. NU now has an estimated 800 Hindus in its community, inaugural chaplain Amar Shah (Weinberg ‘16)

said, based on estimations from the Department of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Through OM at Northwestern, a Hindu student club of which she is co-president, Thakkar started advocating for the creation of a chaplain.

The OM executive board submitted a proposal in Fall 2019 in collaboration with Bhakti Yoga Society, she said.

However, when COVID-19 hit, the proposal was delayed due to the University’s pause in hiring.

When RSL Executive Director Kristen Glass Perez was hired in fall 2020, the students took the proposal to her and received advocacy support, Thakkar said. They then sent a letter of petition to University President Morton Schapiro, expressing the need for Hindu representation and support among RSL’s faculty.

Students were directly involved in the chaplain selection process. Shah was confirmed on April 2, and announced to the community later the same

month.

Thakkar said the chaplain will be a great resource for incoming students as well as those returning to campus after a global pandemic.

“We have several other resources that students can look towards for mental, physical and emotional wellbeing, but to have somebody who understands one’s experiences and complicated relationship with religion in these times — it is so important,” Thakkar said.

However, having a Hindu chaplain was always a necessity, OM co-president and Weinberg junior Mirage Modi said, but it has only now come to fruition.

As a student on the pre-med track, Modi said having a chaplain increases representation for the Hindu community and allows people to have conversations about how representation in medicine helps cater to patients’ needs.

“Students on campus have a mentor or

somebody to look toward when they have questions. when they’re just in doubt, when they want to learn more about Hinduism,” Modi said. “(But) from a more administrative statement, Hindu students now have a voice on the faculty board.”

Shah said he was thankful to NU for taking student voices into account instead of administrators. The University allowed students to openly participate in the chaplain applicant evaluation and selection process, he added, which he called a grassroots approach.

As an alumnus, Shah is proud that his position came from student advocacy, he said.

“I’m very proud of the steps that both Northwestern, as well as the Northwestern staff and RSL is taking to recognize that this is a need,” Shah said.

“I’m incredibly proud of the students who really were activists to make this happen.”

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The historic rivalry between Maryland and NU

By CHARLOTTE VARNES

the daily northwestern @charvarnes11

It was raining when Northwestern won its first Big Ten Tournament title in program history in May 2019. Fans wore ponchos and even the trophy was protected under an umbrella.

However, the weather didn’t stop the Wildcats from playing their hardest. NU dominated the entire game against Maryland, leading 10-4 at halftime and en route to a 16-11 victory.

Beyond the trophy, the dismal weather and the history made, another part of the game stood out to the Cats: the win came over Maryland.

“This awesome energy we brought on the field that day completely blew them out of the water,” graduate student attacker Lindsey McKone told The Daily about the game. “We just clicked and we knew that all the hard work and all the adversity that we’d gone through as a team led us to that moment.”

Over the past two decades, the Maryland-Northwestern rivalry has emerged as one of the most contested in women’s college lacrosse, both on the national and conference levels. NU has won seven of the last 15 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championships, while the Terrapins have

won five. Since the founding of Big Ten women’s lacrosse in 2015, Maryland has won three Big Ten Tournament titles to the Cats’ two.

In 2021, NU achieved their first win streak over Maryland since defeating them back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

“If you said a few years ago that we were going to beat Maryland three times in one season, a lot of fans, a lot of people would laugh,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said.

And the Cats did not just defeat the Terrapins three times this season — they also did so by decisive margins.

NU overtook Maryland by double digits in both of their matchups in March.

The teams played a narrower game during the Big Ten Tournament, but NU still won by five goals.

Amonte Hiller credited previous teams with laying the foundation for consecutive wins against Maryland.

Building up the team’s culture over several seasons, she said, helped them get to this point and this year’s players have been the beneficiaries of seasons of hard work.

“It’s exciting for the alumni to know they’ve had a part in getting us back to this point,” Amonte Hiller said.

McKone said in previous years the Cats focused on their opponents when preparing for games. This season, the team has looked internally to stay calm ahead of crucial matchups.

“In the past, we’ve always hyped up the games against them because it is a rivalry game,” McKone said. “This year, we stayed even-keeled and knew if we played our best lacrosse we would be able to win. It’s hard to beat anyone three times, so beating a team like Maryland three times in a season is great.”

Junior attacker Izzy Scane played a key part in all three of NU’s wins over Maryland this season, scoring a combined 14 goals during the programs’ pair of games in March and nine more goals when they met in Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament title game. She said winning against the Terrapins is “so much more fun” than typical games since the team’s coaching staff and the players are so talented and the matchups are so competitive.

Amonte Hiller agreed with the sentiment, saying the best part of the rivalry is how the programs bring out the best in each other.

“Despite a win or loss, the competition is great,” Amonte Hiller said. “You know it’s going to be a highly contested game and a lot of emotion and focus on the line. Anytime you get to play a really great opponent, it helps you get better. And regardless of winning or losing, to have the opportunity is a gift.”

Kelsey Carroll/The Daily Northwestern

charlottevarnes2024@u.northwestern.edu

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Wildcats make NCAA Regional NU splits series against in-state rival Illinois

By PATRICK ANDRES

daily senior staffer @pandres2001

By SKYE SWANN

At the end of a historic 2021 season, Northwestern put everything together over the weekend at the Big Ten Championship and finished third in the 14-team field — the Wildcats’ best showing in the conference tournament since 2017.

On the heels of the weekend’s performance,the Wildcats were selected Wednesday to compete in the NCAA Regionals.

NU’s total of 897 put them 14 strokes out of first place, which Illinois claimed by one stroke over Iowa with a 19-over 883. The Cats put four golfers in the individual top 25, led by sophomore John Driscoll III, whose three-day total of 221 tied for sixth.

A windy first round greeted the squad on Friday. NU shot 21-over collectively and joined every team but Penn State and Maryland in recording its worst round of the weekend.

Despite this, Driscoll III parlayed birdies on the 16th and 18th holes into a 71, giving him a onestroke edge over the Hawkeyes’ Alex Schaake for first place. Driscoll III was the only golfer in the 70-player field to shoot under par in the first round.

Sophomore James Imai rode a solid front nine to a 78, tying for 29th. Senior Eric McIntosh and graduate student Varun Chopra both carded 80s, while junior David Nyfjäll added an 83. The Cats ended the first 18 holes in a three-way tie with Ohio State and the Terrapins for fifth place.

In the second round, the Cats withstood slight regression from Driscoll III to move into a tie with Michigan State for third place. This was in large part due to wholesale turnarounds from McIntosh and Nyfjäll, both of whom turned in 72s to move into the top 30. Nyfjäll

the daily northwestern @sswann301

Daily file photo by Alison Albelda

James Imai swings his club. The sophomore’s 70 on Sunday represented Northwestern’s lowest round of the Big Ten Championship.

was particularly sharp on the front nine, reeling off a trio of birdies on the third, fourth and fifth holes.

McIntosh also scattered five birdies throughout his second round.

Driscoll III went without a birdie on the front nine and finished with a 75, dropping him into a tie for fourth among individuals. Imai and Chopra both replicated their firstround performances, shooting 78 and 80, respectively.

It was Imai’s turn to shine in the final round. The sophomore fired NU’s lowest round of the weekend, a 70, on the strength of a bogey-free back nine. The round tied Imai with McIntosh, who closed with a 74, and two other golfers for 16th.

Nyfjäll produced a second straight 72 to finish in a tie for 20th, making up for a double bogey on the par-4

10th by birdieing the eighth, ninth and 11th. Driscoll III closed with another 75, while Chopra added an 81 to finish in a tie for 62nd.

The Cats’ strong coda was rewarded with a berth in the NCAA Regionals, which will occur in Stillwater, Okla. from May 17-19.

NU, the No. 11 seed, will compete to advance to the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz. against 12 other teams: Oklahoma State, Illinois, Auburn, SMU, Notre Dame, Alabama, Baylor, Sam Houston, Little Rock, Mississippi, College of Charleston and Middle Tennessee.

They finished eighth in their last trip to the NCAA Regionals in 2019 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. patrickandres2023@u.northwestern.edu

At the bottom of the seventh inning, with Northwestern down 6-5 to Illinois, graduate utility player Morgan Newport went up to bat.

She then hit a walk-off home run, securing the Cats a win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Fighting Illini. After NU’s loss Friday’s against Illinois, Newport said the home run walk-off was a boost the entire squad needed.

“I was just trying to see the ball and hit hard,” Newport said. “I tried to keep it simple and it worked out for the team so that’s awesome.”

The Wildcats (24-12, 24-12 Big Ten) went 2-2 this weekend at Sharon J. Drysdale Field against Illinois (2214, 22-14 Big Ten), a performance that showcased a strong defensive unit and a growing dynamic offense.

NU opened the series slow, struggling to get its offense in motion on Friday. The team scored its first run in the fifth inning in a 4-2 loss. Coach Kate Drohan said the squad wasn’t aggressive enough in the early innings, but praised the team’s quick adjustments later in the matchup.

The Cats did just that for the rest of the weekend, bringing in 10 runs across the rest of the series. Newport led the team with seven RBIs and two home runs, including the walkoff that put NU back in the win column.

She said Friday’s loss fueled the team going in the rest of the weekend offensively.

“It was just setting aside those previous at bats where we felt like we failed and taking the positives that we have from (those chances),” Newport said.

Junior shortstop Maeve Nelson, freshman designated player Hannah Cady and Lewis also contributed to NU’s offensive success. All three

players tallied a home run in the series, which combined to a combined total of eight RBIs. Drohan praised the trio and pointed out Cady’s growth during the season as a first year player. She said the freshman had a “breakout weekend” and has worked hard to get playing time.

NU was solid defensively, shutting out the Fighting Illini for consecutive innings in multiple games. Newport, who pitched four innings this weekend, said it felt great to fuel the defense and silence Illinois’ lineup.

“I don’t strike people out so it’s great to feed my defense and have them make the plays for me,” Newport said. “That’s how this team builds momentum.”

Junior pitcher Danielle Williams fueled the offense with her strikeouts.

The California native totaled 20 in two complete games and allowed zero walks during the weekend.

Additionally, sophomore pitcher Sydney Supple stepped in for Newport and pitched a complete game in Saturday’s doubleheader. She had three strikeouts and only one walk.

“She has good vertical movement, meaning she spins (the ball) up and spins (the ball) down,” Drohan said.

“I was proud of her performance (Saturday).”

The Cats finished strong Sunday by defeating Illinois after a tough loss in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. Junior catcher Jordyn Rudd said the team adjusted from the loss and came back aggressive, adding that she felt the Illinois series allowed the team to improve.

With the Cats set to face No. 12 Purdue next weekend in the last road series of the season, Rudd knows that she and her teammates have to be locked in.

“We are going to continue working on our pitch selection, being aggressive and physical on the field (for next weekend),” Rudd said. skyeswann2024@u.northwestern.edu