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The Daily Northwestern DAILYNORTHWESTERN.COM
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Find us online @thedailynu
An invisible minority
In Focus
Aid at Northwestern on the rise
Low-income students seek more support, community By Sammy Caiola
daily senior staffer @sammycaiola
51 percent on
financial a
Students on aid over the years
14 percent low incom e*
id
*for class of 2017
2008
6.5%
2009
12.2%
2010
13.9%
2011 2012
14.3%
46.5% 46.5%
43.0%
14% 0
3
$$
$$$
NU students on Pell Grants
6
9
12
15
2008
2009
2010
51%
50.1%
2011
2012
Academic year Virginia Van Keuren/The Daily Northwestern
2011
Despite recession, business booming By tyler pager
the daily northwestern @tylerpager
With business booming, Downtown Evanston says it is not concerned about a decline in property values that help determine its budget. Since September 2012, 32 businesses have opened in downtown Evanston while only 12 closed or relocated, said Carolyn Dellutri, executive director of Downtown Evanston. “I think a lot has to do with people remembering to shop local and spend their money in their own community,” she said. “It always helps that we have the Northwestern University students, faculty and staff here — that helps support our businesses.” Dellutri added that Evanston has become a hot spot for businesses and believes this growth will continue.
“It’s really becoming a 24/7 district, and there’s lots of activity going on,” she said. “So with the public transportation of both the Metra and the El that come to downtown Evanston and with the amount of restaurants and nightlife that’s available, and then all the retail options, I just think it’s a great place to live, to work, to do business.” Downtown Evanston’s budget depends on a special service area tax, which is based on the value of real estate across the city. The money generated by the tax dropped 20 percent this year, according to city documents. However, a 2007 ordinance allows the organization to ask for up to $138,000 from the city to supplement the funds from the tax. For 2012, the organization asked for $77,000, but for 2014, it requested the maximum amount. On Wednesday, the city’s Economic » See business, page 7
Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
now open More than 30 businesses have opened in downtown Evanston since last September, according to Downtown Evanston. Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl says she is proud of “each and every one.”
Serving the University and Evanston since 1881
Daniel Nissani hates asking for money. For his first three years at Northwestern, the SESP senior was mostly self-sufficient thanks to his Pell Grant, a federal scholarship issued to students with financial need. But because his mom received a pay raise last year and a chunk of his financial aid was rescinded, he has had to lean on her more heavily than ever. Even with two jobs and a monitored budget, Nissani expects the rest of Fall Quarter to be rough. Nissani is one of hundreds of students who qualify for a Federal Pell Grant by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid’s standards — the same group of students the University defines as low income. Low-income students comprise 14 percent of the class of 2017, and last year comprised 13 percent of the entire student body, which Nissani
said makes them one of the largest but least visible minority groups on campus. As a co-president of Northwestern Quest Scholars, NU’s only low-income advocacy organization, Nissani has been on a two-year campaign to give these students the support and resources they need to excel here — resources already available to students in higher income brackets. Coming from a lower-class background and grappling with financial stress can make students feel lost and socially alienated, and they don’t always know where to go for help, Nissani said. “It’s all just to make them feel that they belong on campus. That they really can do this,” he said. “Acclimating is really hard for some of us. …To hear someone be like, ‘My dad just went on his private plane to another country for fun,’ that’s really biting.” As the University draws more lowincome students with every incoming class, Nissani’s experience resonates with a growing number of students. » See In Focus, page 4
Frank talks Tea Party, gay rights By Jeanne Kuang
daily senior staffer @jeannekuang
More than 250 people from Northwestern and the surrounding community showed up to hear former U.S. Representative Barney Frank speak about his personal background, experiences in Congress and political viewpoints Tuesday night in Cahn Auditorium. Frank, a Democrat from Massachusetts, came to campus as College Democrats’ fall speaker. Answering questions posed by political science and Medill Prof. Larry Stuelpnagel, the politician punctuated his talk with jokes about government figures and current events, which the audience welcomed with laughter and applause. Frank discussed what he called the two barriers to his becoming a politician during his early life: being Jewish and being gay. Though he is known for being the first openly gay member of Congress, he said he initially wanted to hide his identity. “I decided that I would simply never tell anybody (about being gay),” Frank said. “Anti-Semitism in America was still alive and well in the immediate post-war period. … The problem on the other hand was it was too late to hide being Jewish, because I had come out with a bar mitzvah.” Frank said a shift in LGBT issues in Congress arrived when more of the population came out as gay and “reality won.” He added that homophobia is becoming a “dying prejudice” in the U.S. When asked about the current state of American politics, Frank commented on the recent rise of the Tea Party movement, which he said doesn’t “accept the legitimacy of the public sector.” “The most important question in
Brian Lee/Daily Senior Staffer
to be frank Former Congressman Barney Frank speaks about his political career at College Democrats’ fall speaker event in Cahn Auditorium on Tuesday evening. Frank was the first openly gay member of the U.S. Congress.
American politics today is, ‘Do the mainstream conservatives … can they take back the Republican Party from the Tea Party extremists?’” he said. “One of my constituents when I was running said to me, ‘Why can’t you work out things with the Republicans?’ My answer was, ‘You try to make a deal with Michele Bachmann.’” He cited deep divisions between political parties as reason for the government shutdown earlier this month. Frank also spoke about the effects of the Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 financial reform law he co-authored, and advised students interested in politics to find fallbacks for the unpredictable career. During a question-and-answer session following the talk, Frank defended the need for universal health care provided by the Affordable Care Act but criticized the Obama administration
for how it has handled recent problems with the new health care marketplace. He also addressed an audience member’s question about LGBT rights legislation with skepticism. “The absolute precondition for any legislative progress in LGBT rights for the foreseeable future will be having a Democratic president, House and Senate,” he said. Audience members reacted positively to the talk. “I thought he was fantastic, hilarious, super on-point with everything he was saying,” SESP senior Sharon Reshef said. “I think he has a lot of practical ideas that seem idealistic but would ultimately help the country.” College Democrats president Lauren Izaak said she was happy with Frank’s » See barney frank, page 7
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