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The Daily Northwestern Wednesday, October 20, 2021
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Employees ask city for ARPA fund distribution At City Council, department heads ask for more roles By ALEX HARRISON
the daily northwestern @alexhairysun
Joshua Hoffman/The Daily Northwestern
Student groups such as Students Organizing for Labor Rights and NU Graduate Workers have been organizing to support campus workers through initiatives such as a button campaign.
Service workers agree to contract
Compass Group agrees to hourly wage increase, benefit extension By WAVERLY LONG
daily senior staffer @waverly_long
Northwestern dining and service workers voted Monday to ratify an agreement for a new contract with Compass Group, the University’s food service provider. The new agreement includes a minimum hourly wage of $19.88 and a permanent extension of
health insurance benefits to all workers, according to a Monday news release from UNITE HERE Local 1, the union representing NU’s subcontracted service workers. Compass workers have been advocating for these demands for over two years. The change in pay is significant. Veronica Reyes, who works at Foster-Walker Complex, said in the release the increase from $14.05 per hour to $19.88 will help her pay for her son’s college
tuition. It’s been more than two years since Compass workers at Northwestern last received a raise, according to the release. Hundreds of Compass workers at NU were laid off at the start of the pandemic in spring 2020. According to the union, Compass did not pay for health insurance for 74 out of 260 active full-time employees in February. Throughout workers’ negotiations with Compass, student
groups such as Students Organizing for Labor Rights and NU Graduate Workers have been organizing to support campus workers. Lanette Smith, who works at Norris University Center, expressed gratitude for NU student support in the release. “I want to thank all of our students who stood up for us like we were family,” Smith said
» See DINING, page 6
Department heads from Evanston’s city government made their cases to use federal relief funding for new employee positions in the 2022 budget at a special City Council meeting Monday. The city published its proposed 2022 budget online last Monday, which includes requests for new employees in four departments. These positions would be budgeted through the next year using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which gave Evanston a $43 million emergency grant to help recover from the pandemic. ARPA funds are a one-time payment, so they will not be available in next year’s budget. Director of Community Development Johanna Nyden requested additional staff to help process permit applications for constructions or renovations. In the past, the department needed to bring in cross-trained staff members to keep up with new
applicants. Nyden added that funds could be used to update the digital application process. “What we are operating on is like if you still have the iPhone 2, and you’ve never done any updates,” Nyden said. “I think we’ve had (the software) for 15 years. We’ve never invested in it, we’ve never made any improvements to the workflow.” Many of the requested positions were for maintenance and upkeep of city facilities. These include building managers, Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning engineers, custodians, arborists, a lakefront manager and a Zamboni driver for the Robert Crown Community Center’s ice rinks. Director of Parks, Recreation & Community Services Lawrence Hemingway said the understaffing in his department leaves some buildings empty, necessitating frequent shuffling of staff members. “Right now I am juggling bodies from building to building,” Hemingway said. “I have a person currently at Levy who’s trying to keep the building clean and run over to the Ecology Center. It’s just not an efficient way, but it’s all we have.” Hemingway added Robert Crown’s maintenance needs are
» See COUNCIL, page 6
Dogtopia opens Bienen Prof. Yampolsky retires newest location Longtime teacher, conductor set to depart Northwestern after 38 years National pet care chain launches an Evanston branch By ISABELLE BUTERA
the daily northwestern @isabelle_butera
Dogs are pulling at their leashes to get inside Evanston’s newest doggie daycare, Dogtopia, just one week after its soft opening. Dogtopia is a national pet care company, offering daycare, overnight boarding and grooming at over 170 stores in the U.S. and Canada. The 900 Clark St. Evanston location, owned by Sarah Lewis, held its soft opening on Oct. 4 and will host a grand opening Friday. “We’ve really seen a transformation in the dogs,” Lewis said. ”This is a new place, it’s a new experience, especially for dogs that haven’t gone to daycare before. But now we’re seeing dogs that don’t want to leave.” Lewis, who previously worked as a CPA tax accountant, said she didn’t expect to work in animal care. That changed after she and
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her husband welcomed a new puppy named Murphy into their household in California. She realized how much impact her dog could have on other people’s lives, and was inspired by it, she said. “We ended up taking Murphy to a Dogtopia franchise there and I was just so impressed with the canine coaches: their level of training, their level of care, and the safety they practiced,” Lewis said. All playrooms are climate controlled with Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning systems circulating air every 10 seconds, Lewis said. The rooms are cleaned twice a day with a custom-made pet-friendly cleaning solution. Trained canine coaches ease each new dog into the daycare experience, Lewis said. Dogtopia staff conduct a meet-andgreet with each new pet, which includes a short health check, a nose-to-tail assessment to identify how the dog reacts to touch and slow introductions to other dogs. Loyola University Chicago
» See DOGTOPIA, page 6
By AUDREY HETTLEMAN
the daily northwestern @audreyhettleman Victor Yampolsky walked into Regenstein Hall of Music for his first rehearsal as Northwestern’s faculty director of Orchestras on Sept. 15, 1984. Now, 37 years later, Yampolsky stands in the back of a room in that same building watching two of his students, Robert Hasty (Bienen ‘96) and Alexander Chen (Bienen ‘23), conduct this year’s chamber orchestra. “What I said to (Hasty) 25 years ago, he still remembers everything I told him,” Yampolsky said of the associate director of orchestras as he watched Hasty conduct. “Amazing.” This will be one of Yampolsky’s last quarters regularly entering the practice room. He’ll retire at the end of the school year after a rich 38-year career at NU. Yampolsky came to the University over 30 years ago as faculty director of orchestras and received a professor title five years later. At the time, NU’s Bienen School of Music only had one orchestra. Yampolsky added two more undergraduate orchestras in the next three decades: a chamber orchestra for freshman and sophomore students and a separate orchestra for non-music
Graphic by Alex Miranda
Bienen Prof. Victor Yampolsky is set to retire after 38 years of teaching at NU.
majors. After a run with the Moscow Philharmonic in Russia, Yampolsky immigrated to the U.S. in 1973. Teaching in a foreign language was difficult, he said, as he didn’t always have the words to express himself in the proper way to students. “At the beginning I was frustrated because I did not have language,” he said. “And I wanted to explain a lot of things to students but I didn’t have words for it — the Russian was popping out.” That language barrier didn’t seem
to impede too much on the quality of his instruction, as alumni of Yampolsky’s masters in conducting program have gone on to create impressive resumes, and many conduct orchestras around the world. Former student Giancarlo Guerrero (Bienen ‘92), has received six Grammys. Yampolsky said he emphasizes to students how much music can impact its listeners, and how much meaning it has beyond the notes written on the page. Chen, a master’s student in conducting, first met Yampolsky at
Carnegie Mellon University during his undergrad when Yampolsky came to the school to guest-conduct. After Chen approached Yampolsky to introduce himself, the professor shared advice about music, conducting and life for the next 20 minutes, Chen recalls. “I didn’t even have to ask him. He just offered (advice) to me freely,” Chen said. “From then on I knew: not only does he really care about music, but he just is naturally a teacher.”
» See YAMPOLSKY, page 6
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